My blogging weakness: overdue and overwhelming posts. I haven't blogged about the beach yet, so I feel like until I do that, I can't really post anything since I'll get all out of order.
So perhaps if I just do a few bullet points about exciting things, it won't be like a real post and I can still blog about the beach later. And hey, I did finish posting the beach pictures last night, so I'm halfway done commemorating the trip :)
- We were so super busy leading up to our OBX trip. It was all good stuff, it was just a lot of stuff. Destin, Savannah, PA, OBX, lots of playdates. Mommy was a little stressed for awhile there. In fact, I don't think I mentioned it on here, but we had one of the best playdates ever during that time period. Since Alicia and Christa and I haven't been able to coordinate a GNO in forever, they surprised me with a GNO at lunch with eight kids in tow. It was amazing, I love these ladies! We had guacamole and margaritas and great conversation while the big kids ran around my safe and confined backyard and little ones napped in various rooms upstairs. It was the best [or at least the best it can be with kids! here's hoping for a real GNO soon!].
- Like I said, all our early summer plans were great, there were just a lot of them. I felt like we'd get back from a trip, spend a couple days recovering and doing laundry, only to get ready to do it all over again. So since we got home from the beach about ten days ago, we have done nothing. literally nothing. Alright, Ms. Tara came over once. The kids had a blast playing in the backyard and slip 'n sliding. And Ms. Valerie came over once with Baby Milo. But other than that, nothing. Hanging out with the grands some and lots of neighborhood bike rides. We finally made it to the Canton farmer's market. And Coleson and I had a date night to the Painted Pig [Delicious!!]. But mostly, we've just played at home. And an awesome thing has happened: the Big Two are playing together sooo well. How do you think I'm typing this in the middle of the day? They are playing together in the office. And have been all morning. I guess it's just because life has slowed down and there's not been the competition of friends and activities. Sure they still have the occasional spat, mostly fighting over toys, but overall, it's been wonderful. There have been a couple of times I've thought that I should plan something or I feel guilty not playing with them, but I truly believe that playing together like this is exactly what they've needed. We want very much to raise siblings who actually like each other, it's very important to me that they are friends, so I'm going to ride this train as long as I can.
- Chloe is a crawling fiend. She's army crawling and rolling everywhere. And she's finally starting to pull her stomach off the ground. She still doesn't go anywhere, but she's gotten up on her hands and knees several times and rocked back and forth. Any day now! She's started to get a little picky about her food and I don't push enough since she's number three and quite frankly, I just feel like I don't have the time. Meals are not one of my favorite parts of the day. I feel like we eat all day long. Oh wait, that's just Abby still sitting at the table from the last meal. Anyways, I digress. So last night I got Chloe to eat one of my homemade creations and I was super excited. I had boiled some potatoes to mash up for her, but she wouldn't touch them. So last night I combined them with a jar of mango [which she hasn't thrown up!] and then I put chunks of fresh peach in it too. The same peaches that she wouldn't pick up off her tray. She ate every bite very willing and probably would have eaten more if I had made more. Point Mommy!
- Ryan is becoming super witty - a mini me of his Daddy. Can we say sarcasm?! He said something the other day that was so random and funny. I really wish I had written it down, Coleson asked me again yesterday what it was he said and I couldn't remember! I'll try to jot down his next funny something. He is also a biking champ. He loves it and is getting really good. He's been without training wheels all summer and is up to a 16" bike. He has great balance, there's been more then once I've seen his tire hit the curb or sidewalk funny, and I've thought he was going down. But he doesn't! He can stand up while pedaling and jump off curbs and he's worked up to taking one hand off so he can high-five me. I can't convince him yet to try to lift both hands at the same time. Future BMX biker?!
- Abs is her normal, beautiful self. Oh, okay, so you know how you have that one baby friend that the whole family remembers and talks about? Mine was Jon Ryan and Coleson's was Ramona. Ryan has Madeleine. Not sure who's Abby's is, maybe Andrew, but we found out who has her as his. We went to her friend Max's house for his birthday party on Saturday. Max was in her preschool class this past year and he lives four houses down. Abby does talk about Max a good bit and I know Max talks about Abby too. We've gotten them together a few times, although they still play next to each other more than together. We met Max's grandparents a couple of weeks ago and all we had to say was "this is Abby" and it was like we were in the presence of a rockstar. They already knew about and loved Abby. But we still didn't quite get it until the party. More of the "oh, this is Abby" and then Erin posed Max and Abby for several pictures [she was the only one who got a posed picture which was then posted on facebook amidst all the family pictures]. So, pretty cool! Abby, you will forever be famous in Max's family and his childhood memories!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
super cute cows
coming someday ... OBX beach vacation 2013! and 4th of July!
But until then, here's a couple pictures of today's cow appreciation day.
But until then, here's a couple pictures of today's cow appreciation day.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
storms mean cuddles!
I love a good storm. And we sure had one tonight. I had mowed the lawn, took a quick shower, and then gone to sit out back and enjoy the last few minutes of sun- it's probably my favorite time of day. It was so beautiful watching the clouds, but they quickly got dark and within five minutes I was chased back inside by lightning. And sure enough, as soon as the thunder started, Abby was up crying. Never fails. My poor sweet girl just cannot handle thunder. It doesn't even phase the other two.
So I ran upstairs and met her in the hallway. We went into my room and she sat on my lap as I hugged her and tried to comfort her. It was one crazy storm, non-stop thunder and lightning for about ten minutes. The lightning lit up the whole house. Sitting there calming Abby and playing with her hair in the midst of the storm was very peaceful to me; I doubt Abby would have agreed! The storm passed as quick as it came, and it wasn't long at all before Abs was fast asleep on me. Oh, what a wonderful feeling. I love cuddles and I don't get them often. Just one more reason to love storms :)
So I ran upstairs and met her in the hallway. We went into my room and she sat on my lap as I hugged her and tried to comfort her. It was one crazy storm, non-stop thunder and lightning for about ten minutes. The lightning lit up the whole house. Sitting there calming Abby and playing with her hair in the midst of the storm was very peaceful to me; I doubt Abby would have agreed! The storm passed as quick as it came, and it wasn't long at all before Abs was fast asleep on me. Oh, what a wonderful feeling. I love cuddles and I don't get them often. Just one more reason to love storms :)
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
clap your hands!
Today we went to the movies with Ms. Christa and Ms. Alicia and all the kiddos. We saw Rio during one of those summer kids' movies [translation: dollar movies with lots of crying babies, perfect for us and our eight kids]. It was a good time though. The movie was cute and the kids were super well behaved and seemed to really enjoy it. This was both Abby and Chloe's first movie theater experience. Abby sat next to me and had very minimal wiggles and stayed in her seat. I wore Chloe in her snugli so she wouldn't try to throw herself out of my lap repeatedly. The snugli worked great, along with a large supply of cheerios.
Super cool moment: at some point in the middle of the movie, the birds are all singing and dancing and one of the birds says something along the lines of clap your hands. So Chloe, in her snugli on my lap, lights up and goes crazy clapping :) Yup, she one hundred percent knows what she's doing when she's clapping.
Super cool moment: at some point in the middle of the movie, the birds are all singing and dancing and one of the birds says something along the lines of clap your hands. So Chloe, in her snugli on my lap, lights up and goes crazy clapping :) Yup, she one hundred percent knows what she's doing when she's clapping.
Friday, June 21, 2013
CMC
I've been putting this off way too long, so here goes. But I must confess I am more than a little overwhelmed by the thought of everything I should put in this post. So we'll see how it turns out I guess. Chloe Marie is well over ten months now. And I didn't do a post with her nine month checkup info. Oops.
So think back to early May :) Chloe weighed in at 14lbs, 10oz at her nine month, which is off the bottom of the chart for weight. She was 27ins which is maybe 25th percentile. [they give us charts now instead of the numbers, so it's a little harder [for me at least!] to read]. Her head was 17.2 ins which looks to be right about 50th. The next question is usually: how does that compare to her sibs? So here's Ryan's 9month stats:
He weighed in at 17lbs 2 oz and is 28.5 inches.
And Abby's:
She weighed in at 16lbs 11 oz and is 27.25 inches.
So wow, our Itty-Bitty really is an Itty-Bitty! [although basically as tall as her sister was].
So let's see, current day, Chloe is ten plus months old. She sits like a champ. And one of my favorite of her tricks, is that she can spin in circles while sitting. She uses her feet and rotates around and around on her bum. Another family favorite trick is Chloe's turtle pose. She spreads her legs way apart to sit [better for balance I think], and she is quite fond of bending forward until her face touches the ground. We make silly kids.
She's been rolling all around for some time, but she recently added an army crawl to her repertoire. She still doesn't pick her belly up, but we're all different, that's what makes us us :) Now that she army crawls, moving forward is a lot easier, which means things like crawling in between the corners of the couches. Or crawling around the legs of the barstools and under the table. She also likes to beeline for the bathroom, which is just nasty. cat litter crumbs. big sibs using the potty. Enough said.
Chloe can be a good eater sometimes. She's not a huge fan of her bottles [four a day, about six ounces each]. Typically she much prefers food, but the past week or so, she's been pretty opposed to it. In fact for about three days last weekend, she flat out refused anything on a spoon. Mouth sealed shut, arms flailing. She only drank and ate cheerios. I think her teeth were bothering her. That's what you say when you don't know what else could be wrong. She likes her cheerios and star puffs and teething cookies and yogurt bites. She doesn't pick up much else. I think her teeth bother her. She'll eat anything mushy, except avocado. When her teeth don't bother her, that is. While I feel like I am doing my best to enjoy the baby stage, this third and final time around, I do look forward to her eating more finger foods soon.
Speaking of those troublesome teeth, she has two on the bottom and four on the top. They are big, like her Mommy's. Sorry! The ones on the top have all come in together at basically the same time the past couple weeks.
Chloe loves the grass. She loves baths. She loves the pool, especially if the water's warm. She got that from her Mommy :) She is a big fan of splish splashing. Yesterday was her first time in the float and she was about as happy as I've ever seen her. She loves her big brother and sister. Ryan is really good at getting her to laugh. And they both adore her. She loves to swing. She loves to chew on things.
Oh my goodness! I am ten months old already!
She's a great sleeper, although very light. Almost everything wakes her up, but she just rolls over and goes back to sleep. I don't even try to kiss her when I say good night before I go to bed. Even pulling the fan chain will startle her. She naps ideally twice a day still and sleeps almost twelve hours at night. She's usually the first kid up, shortly after 7:00, but she's happy to lay in her bed until whenever. She seems to be attaching herself to a little purple elephant that we gave her for Valentine's Day. I love it! She sucks her left thumb [all the time!!] and always falls asleep on her right side facing out into the room. I love that she usually has the elephant in her arms.
Chloe's personality seems to be pretty laid-back, taking it all in. She is always super observant. She likes to watch TV and she nailed the vision test at the doctor. She was in a trance watching that screen, even the tech commented on it and she watches kids watch tv for a living. She is lot like her big brother in that she seems to want to be able to do something perfectly before she'll do it. They were both late sitter-uppers and crawlers and walkers.
Chloe can clap and is getting pretty good at doing it when we encourage her. At first it was pretty random and we weren't convinced she knew what she was doing. She definitely does now and seems to love the attention when she does it. A couple of times I've thought she waved, but she certainly doesn't do that on a regular basis.
Oh, she had a physical therapy evaluation in late May. Dr. Bowman was a little concerned since she has been physically a little behind at both her six and nine month appts. But she did great and the therapist did not think we needed any sessions, yay! She agreed that Chloe's a little behind, but there's no reason for concern. She did several things to test brain and reflexes and that sort of thing and Chloe could do them all. It just comes back to she's lazy :). Her upper body was a little weak, which explains the lack of crawling, so there's a few exercises that she suggested that we don't do as well as we should. But she's off and moving around so much more than she was even then. She'll catch up in her own time. She'll learn to walk before we know if and as my friend Christa likes to remind me, no school or job application is ever going to ask when you learned to crawl or walk. Early or late, it doesn't really matter, almost everyone averages out in the end. [she is convinced Ryan is above average, but that's not relevant to Chloe's post :)]. Anyway, the PT appt was pretty interesting and fun in its own way , all the different exercises and whatnot. It was nice to focus solely on Chloe for an hour.
Alrighty, Chloe Marie, we love you Little Peanut! Sorry for the delay on your post, but the quantity [and hopefully quality too] perhaps will make up for it! I am all out of words!
So think back to early May :) Chloe weighed in at 14lbs, 10oz at her nine month, which is off the bottom of the chart for weight. She was 27ins which is maybe 25th percentile. [they give us charts now instead of the numbers, so it's a little harder [for me at least!] to read]. Her head was 17.2 ins which looks to be right about 50th. The next question is usually: how does that compare to her sibs? So here's Ryan's 9month stats:
He weighed in at 17lbs 2 oz and is 28.5 inches.
And Abby's:
She weighed in at 16lbs 11 oz and is 27.25 inches.
So wow, our Itty-Bitty really is an Itty-Bitty! [although basically as tall as her sister was].
Hmm, there's not a very good 9month picture. It's getting really hard to get her to hold her signs! They are so much fun to wave around and to chew on.
Chloe started sitting up at the end of April, just in time for her 9month pictures. She's a little, err, lazy. I suppose that would be partially my fault. She's my third and my baby. I carry her a lot and she spends a lot of time in her stroller or carseat while the Big Two do all the things they do. Plus she still spits up. All. The. Time. So after she drinks a bottle, I put her in the blue chair to digest. It seems to be a catch 22 there. The doctor tells me as she gets stronger she'll spit up less, yet if I let her down to exercise she spits up everywhere. We will need new carpet by the time this phase is finally said and done!
So let's see, current day, Chloe is ten plus months old. She sits like a champ. And one of my favorite of her tricks, is that she can spin in circles while sitting. She uses her feet and rotates around and around on her bum. Another family favorite trick is Chloe's turtle pose. She spreads her legs way apart to sit [better for balance I think], and she is quite fond of bending forward until her face touches the ground. We make silly kids.
She's been rolling all around for some time, but she recently added an army crawl to her repertoire. She still doesn't pick her belly up, but we're all different, that's what makes us us :) Now that she army crawls, moving forward is a lot easier, which means things like crawling in between the corners of the couches. Or crawling around the legs of the barstools and under the table. She also likes to beeline for the bathroom, which is just nasty. cat litter crumbs. big sibs using the potty. Enough said.
Chloe can be a good eater sometimes. She's not a huge fan of her bottles [four a day, about six ounces each]. Typically she much prefers food, but the past week or so, she's been pretty opposed to it. In fact for about three days last weekend, she flat out refused anything on a spoon. Mouth sealed shut, arms flailing. She only drank and ate cheerios. I think her teeth were bothering her. That's what you say when you don't know what else could be wrong. She likes her cheerios and star puffs and teething cookies and yogurt bites. She doesn't pick up much else. I think her teeth bother her. She'll eat anything mushy, except avocado. When her teeth don't bother her, that is. While I feel like I am doing my best to enjoy the baby stage, this third and final time around, I do look forward to her eating more finger foods soon.
Speaking of those troublesome teeth, she has two on the bottom and four on the top. They are big, like her Mommy's. Sorry! The ones on the top have all come in together at basically the same time the past couple weeks.
Chloe loves the grass. She loves baths. She loves the pool, especially if the water's warm. She got that from her Mommy :) She is a big fan of splish splashing. Yesterday was her first time in the float and she was about as happy as I've ever seen her. She loves her big brother and sister. Ryan is really good at getting her to laugh. And they both adore her. She loves to swing. She loves to chew on things.
Oh my goodness! I am ten months old already!
She's a great sleeper, although very light. Almost everything wakes her up, but she just rolls over and goes back to sleep. I don't even try to kiss her when I say good night before I go to bed. Even pulling the fan chain will startle her. She naps ideally twice a day still and sleeps almost twelve hours at night. She's usually the first kid up, shortly after 7:00, but she's happy to lay in her bed until whenever. She seems to be attaching herself to a little purple elephant that we gave her for Valentine's Day. I love it! She sucks her left thumb [all the time!!] and always falls asleep on her right side facing out into the room. I love that she usually has the elephant in her arms.
Chloe's personality seems to be pretty laid-back, taking it all in. She is always super observant. She likes to watch TV and she nailed the vision test at the doctor. She was in a trance watching that screen, even the tech commented on it and she watches kids watch tv for a living. She is lot like her big brother in that she seems to want to be able to do something perfectly before she'll do it. They were both late sitter-uppers and crawlers and walkers.
Chloe can clap and is getting pretty good at doing it when we encourage her. At first it was pretty random and we weren't convinced she knew what she was doing. She definitely does now and seems to love the attention when she does it. A couple of times I've thought she waved, but she certainly doesn't do that on a regular basis.
Oh, she had a physical therapy evaluation in late May. Dr. Bowman was a little concerned since she has been physically a little behind at both her six and nine month appts. But she did great and the therapist did not think we needed any sessions, yay! She agreed that Chloe's a little behind, but there's no reason for concern. She did several things to test brain and reflexes and that sort of thing and Chloe could do them all. It just comes back to she's lazy :). Her upper body was a little weak, which explains the lack of crawling, so there's a few exercises that she suggested that we don't do as well as we should. But she's off and moving around so much more than she was even then. She'll catch up in her own time. She'll learn to walk before we know if and as my friend Christa likes to remind me, no school or job application is ever going to ask when you learned to crawl or walk. Early or late, it doesn't really matter, almost everyone averages out in the end. [she is convinced Ryan is above average, but that's not relevant to Chloe's post :)]. Anyway, the PT appt was pretty interesting and fun in its own way , all the different exercises and whatnot. It was nice to focus solely on Chloe for an hour.
Alrighty, Chloe Marie, we love you Little Peanut! Sorry for the delay on your post, but the quantity [and hopefully quality too] perhaps will make up for it! I am all out of words!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
"I got three"
Abby has mastered her three fingers. In fact, she's figured out that most of the time if someone asks her name, they'll next ask how old she is. So now she'll answer "Abby" and hold out her three fingers before they can ask. And then she'll tell them: "I was two, but I got three." Sweet Abby Girl!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
PA :: five days :: 1800 miles
We are becoming quite the travelers this summer! I think we must be making up for last summer when I was huge and miserable and waiting on Chloe's arrival. This past week my Dad and I drove the kids up to PA and back. We had an amazing time!!
We left a week ago Sunday after church. We picnic lunch'ed in the car and had Taco Bell for dinner. We drove to Roanoke and stayed at a Hampton with an indoor pool. Thanks to rain, rain, and a little more rain, we arrived around 9pm. But of course we'd already promised the pool and thus a week of late nights began. Ryan was sooo excited about staying in a hotel and the pool was a huge hit. It was great and very warm. Chloe and I didn't swim Sunday night since it was a quick swim, but we did get up and all swim Monday morning before we left. Chloe liked the warm water, and Ryan and Abby are becoming quite the little fishies. We had a continental breakfast before heading out. Among other things, Ryan had a sausage biscuit and asked if we could come back to this hotel again so Daddy could get one too :)
After a longer then expected day of driving, we arrived late to Aunt Kathryn's farm in Troxelville. I love that place!! Oh, and on the way we passed my Dad's Grandmother's old apartment which was really neat. It was a little rainy at the Kathryn's, but we still had a blast. Kathryn is doing great! I think we decided she is 93 and she lives by herself. Her daughter Glenda comes to visit a lot and her grandson Brian runs the farm. The kids did well with her, especially Chloe. She's not always great with strangers, but she would literally reach and try to roll/jump out of my arms to Kathryn, I've never seen her do anything quite like that. [Abby sure, R&C no.]. I think Kathryn liked it too! Grandpa and I took the kids to see the four cows. They weren't overly sure about being that close to the cows. Aunt Barb met us at the farm, and we played in the corn crib and the hayloft. I remember playing in the corn with my cousin Matt as a kid. Funny though, the corncrib was not nearly as big as I thought it was! The hayloft was great fun too. We climbed up as high as we could and Ryan jumped once or twice [not to the bottom or anything, just off a stack about three haybales high]. Since we were late arriving, we went out to dinner with Aunt Kathryn. Oh and Dad's cousin Ken and Jane were there too, what a nice surprise! And Glenda went to dinner too, we had a nice little crowd going. The restaurant in Troxelville was closed on Mondays, so we went to the next town over. It was a great little place with delicious food. I loved my view out the window of a beautiful old white house set against a hill in the rain. Chloe sat in a highchair between Kathryn and I and she kept reaching for her and messing with her sweater. After dinner, we headed back to the farm. The kids sat on tractors, and we climbed the hayloft one more time before dark. We then went inside and visited with Aunt Kathryn and the cousins until close to 10:00. They popped real popcorn and we chatted and the kids played. Chloe hung out with Kathryn a good bit. Did I mention I love Aunt Kathryn's? It was so peaceful being in the middle of nowhere. And the atmosphere and all the family gathered around was great. I am so glad the kids made it up there to meet Kathryn and experience the farm!
We made it to Aunt Barb's late Monday night and woke up there Tuesday morning. We slept in a little and then headed to the Amish store. Among other things, I bought several things of dried fruit since the kids seemed so excited about that. So even now, they still call it "the dried up store." We also bought sprinkles of course. It was still drizzling Tuesday. We got subs from a country store along the road and I had a birch beer [tasted a lot like root beer]. We picnic'd under a pavilion at Whipple's. It was an awesome lake in the middle of the mountains. [I had no cell service this day :)]. Fortunately the rain let up a little and we walked around the lake and Ryan scootered a bit. Ryan and Grandpa also went down towards the damn to check it out. They stepped across the rocks and Ryan even took a quick swim if you know what I mean! Pennsylvania is soo pretty. We then went down to the beach area and waded in the water. That pretty quickly turned into the kids taking their shirts off [I keep extra underwear in the car but not tops!] and all but swimming. They loved it. The water was crazy cold, but it was alright as long as I only got my feet wet. The afternoon was spent back in State College, looking for camera batteries for me. My battery died at Aunt Kathryn's and if you know me, you know how upset I was! I ended up buying a flash drive and taking Aunt Barb and then cousin Teri's photos. When we got back from Wal-Mart, Katelyn and Julie, cousin Matt's kids, were at the house. Katelyn's softball game was rained out that night, so after a really really yummy dinner of chicken pan pie, we headed to Spring Creek. The kids scootered and we hung out by an old wooden bridge. Ryan then waded in the water with Katelyn and Julie. The girls are 12 and 8 and they were sooo good with my kids. They all played great and Ryan and Abby loved the big girls. Abby eventually got in the water too. They looked so cute holding hands and wading up and down that river. Although in Ryan's opinion, the best part was scootering in the parking lot right before we left. There was a huge puddle that apparently was awesome for riding through. Back to Aunt Barb's for baths and bed.
Wednesday morning we woke up leisurely again. My cousin Teri arrived around 10am with her sons, Brandon and Noah. It took the kids a little while to warm up to each other since all the boys are shy :) Katelyn and Julie came back too, and pretty soon all the kids were playing well. They loved this huge beach ball that Katelyn had brought over. They would throw it from the ground level up to the deck and back down again. Over and over. They also played a little soccer. Wednesday afternoon we hiked Mount Nittany. It was a nice trail and a perfect day. We made it to the first outlook with awesome views of State College. On the way back down, Ryan took a little tumble and got himself one nice looking boo-boo on his forehead. It's already almost better though. Ryan had a great time hiking and he really took to the big boys. Abby did pretty well too, although she did manage to talk cousin Teri into a piggyback ride on the way down! After our hike we stopped at the Sheetz gas station for ice cream treats. Ryan and Abby had their first ever slushy and loved them. In fact, yesterday Ryan told me that the slushy was his favorite part of the trip. Silly kid! We went back to Spring Creek again to cool off in the river. It was a bit more crowded and didn't have any more puddles for scootering, but we still had fun :). I pushed Abs on a swing for a long time. We went back to Aunt Barb's for baths [poison ivy rinsing-off after our hike. paranoid mommy.]. My cousin Matt and his wife Krista [Katelyn and Julie's parents] joined us for a wonderful dinner of meatball subs and plenty of yummy sides and desserts. We then went to the ball fields where Katelyn was finishing up her softball practice. We all enjoyed an evening of picture taking [THANK YOU cousin Teri!!!] and baseball. It was fun to watch my dad hit, it's been a long time since I've seen him play. When we got back to Aunt Barb's, the girls went to bed, but I let Ryan stay up. Hey, we were on vacation! He had such a great time playing with the big kids. I know they played never have I ever and duck duck goose. It was right about 11:00 when he went to bed! But it's not everyday we get to see these guys and I knew we'd be spending the whole next day in the car, so it's not like he needed to be rested up!
Thursday morning we hit the road about 7am. We stopped in Mechanicsburg to see Grandpa's cousin Paul and his wife Judy. We were pleasantly surprised to meet two of their grandkids as well. Megan is going into 10th grade and is in marching band. Erin is going into 6th grade. They were both super sweet girls and Erin Loved my kids, thus I liked her! Erin took right to Chloe, picking her up, coo'ing right back at her, making faces, picking up stuff that Chloe would throw, she even put the girls in their carseats and knew how to buckle them. I wish we had teenagers around at home! Erin was great. We all ate breakfast together at Perkins. I went out of my comfort zone and had some really yummy chicken and gravy biscuits. I'll give you one guess what my kiddos ate. Yup, chocolate chip pancakes. The drive home took forever. Lots more rain and potty breaks. A dinner stop at Chick-fil-a in Christiansburg. We dropped Grandpa off at about 12:30am and we were home a minute or two before 1am. But it was worth it! All 1800 miles of it!
Thanks so much to Aunt Barb for hosting all of us. Especially Wednesday night when all the cousins were there! If I counted right, there were eleven of us under her roof that night! Sorry for the chaos and mess :) We had such a wonderful trip and we really appreciate all the amazing meals and good times and beds. Thanks to Dad/Grandpa for sharing the driving with us and for the gas and food and hotel. We couldn't [and wouldn't] have done it without you! And thanks to both Aunt Barb and cousin Teri for taking pictures for me. I still can't believe I forgot my battery charger! What a great trip. Pictures to come eventually, but I wanted to try to get down as many details as I could while it's all fresh in my mind.
We left a week ago Sunday after church. We picnic lunch'ed in the car and had Taco Bell for dinner. We drove to Roanoke and stayed at a Hampton with an indoor pool. Thanks to rain, rain, and a little more rain, we arrived around 9pm. But of course we'd already promised the pool and thus a week of late nights began. Ryan was sooo excited about staying in a hotel and the pool was a huge hit. It was great and very warm. Chloe and I didn't swim Sunday night since it was a quick swim, but we did get up and all swim Monday morning before we left. Chloe liked the warm water, and Ryan and Abby are becoming quite the little fishies. We had a continental breakfast before heading out. Among other things, Ryan had a sausage biscuit and asked if we could come back to this hotel again so Daddy could get one too :)
After a longer then expected day of driving, we arrived late to Aunt Kathryn's farm in Troxelville. I love that place!! Oh, and on the way we passed my Dad's Grandmother's old apartment which was really neat. It was a little rainy at the Kathryn's, but we still had a blast. Kathryn is doing great! I think we decided she is 93 and she lives by herself. Her daughter Glenda comes to visit a lot and her grandson Brian runs the farm. The kids did well with her, especially Chloe. She's not always great with strangers, but she would literally reach and try to roll/jump out of my arms to Kathryn, I've never seen her do anything quite like that. [Abby sure, R&C no.]. I think Kathryn liked it too! Grandpa and I took the kids to see the four cows. They weren't overly sure about being that close to the cows. Aunt Barb met us at the farm, and we played in the corn crib and the hayloft. I remember playing in the corn with my cousin Matt as a kid. Funny though, the corncrib was not nearly as big as I thought it was! The hayloft was great fun too. We climbed up as high as we could and Ryan jumped once or twice [not to the bottom or anything, just off a stack about three haybales high]. Since we were late arriving, we went out to dinner with Aunt Kathryn. Oh and Dad's cousin Ken and Jane were there too, what a nice surprise! And Glenda went to dinner too, we had a nice little crowd going. The restaurant in Troxelville was closed on Mondays, so we went to the next town over. It was a great little place with delicious food. I loved my view out the window of a beautiful old white house set against a hill in the rain. Chloe sat in a highchair between Kathryn and I and she kept reaching for her and messing with her sweater. After dinner, we headed back to the farm. The kids sat on tractors, and we climbed the hayloft one more time before dark. We then went inside and visited with Aunt Kathryn and the cousins until close to 10:00. They popped real popcorn and we chatted and the kids played. Chloe hung out with Kathryn a good bit. Did I mention I love Aunt Kathryn's? It was so peaceful being in the middle of nowhere. And the atmosphere and all the family gathered around was great. I am so glad the kids made it up there to meet Kathryn and experience the farm!
We made it to Aunt Barb's late Monday night and woke up there Tuesday morning. We slept in a little and then headed to the Amish store. Among other things, I bought several things of dried fruit since the kids seemed so excited about that. So even now, they still call it "the dried up store." We also bought sprinkles of course. It was still drizzling Tuesday. We got subs from a country store along the road and I had a birch beer [tasted a lot like root beer]. We picnic'd under a pavilion at Whipple's. It was an awesome lake in the middle of the mountains. [I had no cell service this day :)]. Fortunately the rain let up a little and we walked around the lake and Ryan scootered a bit. Ryan and Grandpa also went down towards the damn to check it out. They stepped across the rocks and Ryan even took a quick swim if you know what I mean! Pennsylvania is soo pretty. We then went down to the beach area and waded in the water. That pretty quickly turned into the kids taking their shirts off [I keep extra underwear in the car but not tops!] and all but swimming. They loved it. The water was crazy cold, but it was alright as long as I only got my feet wet. The afternoon was spent back in State College, looking for camera batteries for me. My battery died at Aunt Kathryn's and if you know me, you know how upset I was! I ended up buying a flash drive and taking Aunt Barb and then cousin Teri's photos. When we got back from Wal-Mart, Katelyn and Julie, cousin Matt's kids, were at the house. Katelyn's softball game was rained out that night, so after a really really yummy dinner of chicken pan pie, we headed to Spring Creek. The kids scootered and we hung out by an old wooden bridge. Ryan then waded in the water with Katelyn and Julie. The girls are 12 and 8 and they were sooo good with my kids. They all played great and Ryan and Abby loved the big girls. Abby eventually got in the water too. They looked so cute holding hands and wading up and down that river. Although in Ryan's opinion, the best part was scootering in the parking lot right before we left. There was a huge puddle that apparently was awesome for riding through. Back to Aunt Barb's for baths and bed.
Wednesday morning we woke up leisurely again. My cousin Teri arrived around 10am with her sons, Brandon and Noah. It took the kids a little while to warm up to each other since all the boys are shy :) Katelyn and Julie came back too, and pretty soon all the kids were playing well. They loved this huge beach ball that Katelyn had brought over. They would throw it from the ground level up to the deck and back down again. Over and over. They also played a little soccer. Wednesday afternoon we hiked Mount Nittany. It was a nice trail and a perfect day. We made it to the first outlook with awesome views of State College. On the way back down, Ryan took a little tumble and got himself one nice looking boo-boo on his forehead. It's already almost better though. Ryan had a great time hiking and he really took to the big boys. Abby did pretty well too, although she did manage to talk cousin Teri into a piggyback ride on the way down! After our hike we stopped at the Sheetz gas station for ice cream treats. Ryan and Abby had their first ever slushy and loved them. In fact, yesterday Ryan told me that the slushy was his favorite part of the trip. Silly kid! We went back to Spring Creek again to cool off in the river. It was a bit more crowded and didn't have any more puddles for scootering, but we still had fun :). I pushed Abs on a swing for a long time. We went back to Aunt Barb's for baths [poison ivy rinsing-off after our hike. paranoid mommy.]. My cousin Matt and his wife Krista [Katelyn and Julie's parents] joined us for a wonderful dinner of meatball subs and plenty of yummy sides and desserts. We then went to the ball fields where Katelyn was finishing up her softball practice. We all enjoyed an evening of picture taking [THANK YOU cousin Teri!!!] and baseball. It was fun to watch my dad hit, it's been a long time since I've seen him play. When we got back to Aunt Barb's, the girls went to bed, but I let Ryan stay up. Hey, we were on vacation! He had such a great time playing with the big kids. I know they played never have I ever and duck duck goose. It was right about 11:00 when he went to bed! But it's not everyday we get to see these guys and I knew we'd be spending the whole next day in the car, so it's not like he needed to be rested up!
Thursday morning we hit the road about 7am. We stopped in Mechanicsburg to see Grandpa's cousin Paul and his wife Judy. We were pleasantly surprised to meet two of their grandkids as well. Megan is going into 10th grade and is in marching band. Erin is going into 6th grade. They were both super sweet girls and Erin Loved my kids, thus I liked her! Erin took right to Chloe, picking her up, coo'ing right back at her, making faces, picking up stuff that Chloe would throw, she even put the girls in their carseats and knew how to buckle them. I wish we had teenagers around at home! Erin was great. We all ate breakfast together at Perkins. I went out of my comfort zone and had some really yummy chicken and gravy biscuits. I'll give you one guess what my kiddos ate. Yup, chocolate chip pancakes. The drive home took forever. Lots more rain and potty breaks. A dinner stop at Chick-fil-a in Christiansburg. We dropped Grandpa off at about 12:30am and we were home a minute or two before 1am. But it was worth it! All 1800 miles of it!
Thanks so much to Aunt Barb for hosting all of us. Especially Wednesday night when all the cousins were there! If I counted right, there were eleven of us under her roof that night! Sorry for the chaos and mess :) We had such a wonderful trip and we really appreciate all the amazing meals and good times and beds. Thanks to Dad/Grandpa for sharing the driving with us and for the gas and food and hotel. We couldn't [and wouldn't] have done it without you! And thanks to both Aunt Barb and cousin Teri for taking pictures for me. I still can't believe I forgot my battery charger! What a great trip. Pictures to come eventually, but I wanted to try to get down as many details as I could while it's all fresh in my mind.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
always and forever
Happy 10year anniversary to us!! We celebrated with a wonderful trip to Savannah. It was a great getaway, so very relaxing. We dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's house Thursday night so that we could get up and out of town early Friday. We made it to Savannah in time for lunch at Paula Dean's restaurant, Lady and Sons. Unfortunately I was still recovering from a strawberry and/or pesticide allergic reaction, so I didn't have a great appetite. But it was still tasty, I think. I had a chicken salad sandwich and Coleson had the buffet, complete with all the southern staples - fried chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc. After lunch, we napped at the hotel and then enjoyed an evening stroll down River Street. We checked out a few shops, watched a lot of boats, and took the free ferry across the river. It was beautiful looking back across the river at all the historic buildings at dusk.
Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Tybee Island. We climbed up the lighthouse and walked the beach. We enjoyed Tybee and it's laidback, smalltown vibe. We ate lunch at the Sugar Shack - a turkey sandwich and patty melt. And of course we had to get some ice cream when we were done. Saturday afternoon we walked all around Savannah and made it to the Forsyth park, a large park full of huge trees and spanish moss and open fields and an impressive fountain. It was great to sit and people watch [especially the frisbee players] and listen to the live music and just be outside in the fresh air. On the way back we walked through lots of squares and the city market and watched kids playing in fountains. We couldn't decide on dinner and finally stopped in B&D's Burgers. I had a super tasty grown-up grilled cheese - pimiento cheese, tomato, and bacon. And Coleson had a hot dog with blue cheese and onions. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and hung out at the rooftop pool for a little bit. Sticking our feet in that water felt great after walking a couple miles in flipflops! We also watched a massive barge navigate the river, which was great even if I couldn't catch it blowing its horn on video for the kids :)
Sunday morning we walked River Street one more time and bought a few souvenirs before heading out of town.
Our hotel was great, we dined on yummy continental breakfasts and enjoyed lots of good cable TV. All the architecture was wonderful, I loved the old, Southern, New Orleans feel. And of course the river, I am not picky, I love any water :) Thank you so much to Nana and Pop-Pop for the hotel points! And thank you, thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching our kiddos for three days! We had such a wonderful, relaxing time, but it's also nice to be home and all under the same roof again.
I love you Dearie Dear and I am so blessed that you are the one I get to do life with! I couldn't ask for a better husband and best friend and father. Here's to many, many more years; we're going to make it to our 75th you know! I love you forever and always.
Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Tybee Island. We climbed up the lighthouse and walked the beach. We enjoyed Tybee and it's laidback, smalltown vibe. We ate lunch at the Sugar Shack - a turkey sandwich and patty melt. And of course we had to get some ice cream when we were done. Saturday afternoon we walked all around Savannah and made it to the Forsyth park, a large park full of huge trees and spanish moss and open fields and an impressive fountain. It was great to sit and people watch [especially the frisbee players] and listen to the live music and just be outside in the fresh air. On the way back we walked through lots of squares and the city market and watched kids playing in fountains. We couldn't decide on dinner and finally stopped in B&D's Burgers. I had a super tasty grown-up grilled cheese - pimiento cheese, tomato, and bacon. And Coleson had a hot dog with blue cheese and onions. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and hung out at the rooftop pool for a little bit. Sticking our feet in that water felt great after walking a couple miles in flipflops! We also watched a massive barge navigate the river, which was great even if I couldn't catch it blowing its horn on video for the kids :)
Sunday morning we walked River Street one more time and bought a few souvenirs before heading out of town.
Our hotel was great, we dined on yummy continental breakfasts and enjoyed lots of good cable TV. All the architecture was wonderful, I loved the old, Southern, New Orleans feel. And of course the river, I am not picky, I love any water :) Thank you so much to Nana and Pop-Pop for the hotel points! And thank you, thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching our kiddos for three days! We had such a wonderful, relaxing time, but it's also nice to be home and all under the same roof again.
I love you Dearie Dear and I am so blessed that you are the one I get to do life with! I couldn't ask for a better husband and best friend and father. Here's to many, many more years; we're going to make it to our 75th you know! I love you forever and always.
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