The Hand of God...

We did nothing to celebrate our 10th anniversary last year. Actually, not nothing, we spent the evening packing for a vacation- packing being on my list of chores that I hate the most. I hate packing almost as much as unpacking, and sometimes think it might be easier to just never go on vacations just to avoid those 2 unpleasant jobs. Actually, there is a suitcase in the hallway right now from our trip 2 weeks ago still waiting to be unpacked. Maybe I'll just leave the clothes in it for the next trip...


So, since our 10th anniversary was SO lame, we decided that this year we would definitely do something to mark the occasion. Anything, as long as we spent the day together... eventually it was decided that we would go on a hike, see a movie, relax by the pool, and eat out somewhere. My parents offered to play us for the day, God love them, and we sent them out in the morning with directions to the kids' sports events and embarked on our day without responsibilities.




The hike was amazing, exhilerating, and breathtaking. The Billy Goat trail through the Maryland side of Great Falls, definitely one to revisit. As we walked the mile from the parking lot to the trail, we saw warning signs of how risky this hike is, with some people needing a helicopter rescue! Yikes! Allow 4 hours for this hike, one of the most strenuous on the east... But we didn't see anyone coming out of the trail that looked much different than us so we thought we were qualified enough to handle it. And, we had all day if we needed it.




We stopped several times to enjoy the view, watch some rock climbers and kayakers, take pictures, and snack. Photos do not do justice to this beautiful part of our world. Who knew we could be so close to the city, but also right beside this. It was rock scramble after rock scramble with the occasional dirt path thrown in, and of course the intimidating rock wall we had to scale. I was just glad we weren't going the other direction when we arrived at the rocky ledge. Going down it might have been more stressful than going up! Every so often the delicious smell of honeysuckle or gardenias flowed out of nowhere, but we couldn't see any flowers, and butterflies as big as my fist were fluttering everywhere. A perfect day.


We soon found ourselves sitting in an outdoor patio for lunch, right beside a family with 2 whining obnoxious kids. Normally that wouldn't bother us, because we bring our own whining obnoxious kids with us to balance it out... but Tim looked annoyed and wanted to move inside the restaurant instead. They had just gotten their salads, who knows how long they would be there with those kids pouting and fussing. The parents weren't even trying to quiet them down. Just as Tim was reminding me that the whole point of today was to get away from that kind of noise, a huge gust of wind came and blew their table's umbrella up out of it's stand and crashed it down on the table, knocking their plates around. Ahhh, the hand of God. They decided to pack up everything and move inside and suddenly we were there alone to enjoy our meal. A perfect day.



Our next adventure found us poolside with our ipods and books. I haven't enjoyed a few hours of peaceful solitude at the pool like that in a long time. Of course I love playing and splashing around at the pool with the kids, but this was a totally different experience! Eventually we realized we were ready for dinner so we went to Maggie Moos and had a huge ice cream sundae for dinner before catching a late movie. A very full day, but also very relaxing. A perfect day.



The kids got some awesome grandparent bonding time, they went to the movies and out to dinner after their soccer games. By the time we got home that night, they were snuggled up having a sleepover with Gma and Gpa. It was a perfect day for them too.

The Newest Colonial Soldiers

Downtown Philadelphia: we've been wanting to visit for a while, but just never squeezed it into our weekends at Sesame Place over the years. This time, we made a special trip and wanted to do a simple walking tour of the historical downtown area... the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Betsy Ross's house were what I was aiming for, anything else would just be icing on the cake.

Everyone walks around dressed in character from the 1700s, it was really something to see. We stumbled onto the most amazing experience for the kids. We heard some fifes playing in a little courtyard and wandered over to take a look... it's always better when you don't try to plan everything out too much..... The next thing I knew, these 2 Army Generals were calling all the kids to come "enlist" for the army and join in for some soldier training. After some gentle prodding, we finally got Ryan to join Katie who had bolted over to the line of children. They paraded the kids away, practicing marching and then handed them some long wooden guns for "Musket Training." I've never seen Katie so excited and happy as when she was swinging that gun around! After their training session they all got little certificates and orders to ship out the following morning at 5am. The rest of the day that's all they could talk about!

The cutest new recruits!

Charge!!!!

A salute!

Claire's Song

I find myself referencing almost anything Claire does as "the cutest thing ever..." but bear with me. She sings now, and it's the cutest thing I've ever heard. She sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ABCs none of which sound like the actual song, but she has the melodies down so you can guess what she's singing. Her newest trick is to make up her own lyrics. Today, she composed a lovely tribute to 2 of her favorite things in all the world. It went something like this: (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)

Mommy, boobies, mommy, boobies

Mommy, boobies, mommy boobies

Mommy, boobies, mommy boobies

Mommy boobies, mommy boobies... tada!

Things to Remember about Camping

We took our first camping trip over Spring Break... just a one nighter- kind of a practice round to see if we're up for "those" kinds of vacations. Which, given my fear of insects, Katie's intolerance of heat, and Claire's innate ability to find sticky substances and smear them all over herself, I had my serious doubts that we could handle it! Plus I'm not keen on sleeping on anything other than my pillowtop mattress. And don't get me started on using leaves to wipe... So here is what I will take away from this experience, and refer back to should we ever attempt to repeat this little adventure.


Don't eat at Sonic. After 3 hours in the car you need a little airing out and leg stretching! And for heaven's sake find a restaurant that uses plates!

Make sure Claire is asleep the entire time the tent is being assembled so she doesn't wander off and get lost.

Learn to assemble tent in less than an hour.

Don't let the most clumsy child carry the lantern. Although, a huge fiery "Pumpkin" moon can be breathtaking and cast enough of a glow to find the way back to the campsite after the lantern was rendered useless.

Roughing it shouldn't involve 2 iPods, a laptop and 2 cell phones... good grief!

S'mores are just too darn messy!

April is a perfect time to camp in the Outer Banks- no bugs are out yet!

People who are afraid of the dark should not drop their lantern/night light!

On any given trip, our van is packed up as perfectly as a Tetris board... each item having its own exact placement in the cargo area. This is Tim's area of specialty. He will spend an hour just packing the car. And then I'll say, "Whoops, I need to grab something out of that bag right there," on the bottom of the stack no doubt. So in the morning after camping, I thought I'd help out and start packing up the bags. Of course I was doing it all wrong and I heard ALL about it...

The Perfect Mother's Day

No, that wasn't sarcasm... this year, Mother's Day was truly a perfect day! I enjoyed breakfast in bed and a nice, long, hot, uninterrupted shower, Tim researched some new projects to do with the kids involving paint and fingerprint poems that I had not heard before. Have I really been out of teaching long enough to have new fingerprint poems written without my knowledge? Then we spent the day hiking and wandering around the old town of Harper's Ferry, WV. There was a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds surrounding us all day.


What an adorable little church from the 1800's! The chiming of the bells welcomed us to town as mass was just getting out. If only we had been a little earlier, we could have gone to church here!
Thomas Jefferson said that the view of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converging at this point was worth the voyage across the Atlantic. "Really?" Katie commented..."Just a big old rock and some trees?" She has a totally different idea of the ideal view involving a huge field of pink flowers with a rainbow overhead and a pink sunset in the distance!

They did have a good time climbing on Jefferson Rock!
My little hiker!
Look at this cute little tiny town! We ate lunch in the "Rose Garden" of a little restaurant- it felt like we were eating in someone's backyard. We probably were! And when we stopped for ice cream, there were 3 or 4 people in line ahead of us and the cashier was flustered. She made a quick call on her phone saying, "Better get down here right away, we're swamped!" I had to laugh!
We walked along the railroad tracks, hoping a train wouldn't pass by and scare us all to our deaths. They were very loud! And poor Claire fell asleep and missed the ice cream!

One final note for next year, in case we forget about the red berry smoothie stain on the stairs... don't let the clumsiest kid carry the tray of breakfast food!

The Mother's Day Celebration

Katie and I had a wonderful afternoon at the Mother's Day celebration at her preschool! We planted flowers in a cute little wheelbarrow, and her teacher went waaaay overboard in the gifts that they made: picture frames, a boot filled with flowers, a vase handpainted with little fingerprint bugs, and cookies in a jar with recipe and chefs hat! Adorable stuff from my little artist!
Sadly, on Mother's Day morning, Katie's teacher lost her home and all of its contents in a massive fire that brought out firefighters from all the surrounding areas. Luckily her and her family made it out alive, but I cannot imagine the anguish of having to start all over. The preschool is collecting donations for this family of 6 who was babysitting someone's baby chicks and the heat lamp caught fire and torched their entire home. As if you need one more reason not to raise baby chicks...

Going, Going, Gone

Going...

Going...


Gone!

Toddler Speak

Communicating with Claire is a little bit like talking to Lassie, if Lassie also could do charades. Her language development is happening so fast, she learns new words every day, and talking with her is so much fun. I just don't remember it being so much fun when Ryan and Katie were learning to talk. Katie jumped right into complete sentences so there wasn't this awkward phase of trying to figure out what she was saying. And Ryan was always ahead of the curve in language development and articulation although we did have some fun when he was learning to pronounce the word "truck" without using the "f" sound...

Anyway, maybe that's why having a conversation with Claire is so much fun. The other day she half told/half acted out an interesting story which explained why the front of her nightgown was smeared with green goo. It went something like this:

Me: reading stories with Katie, hearing Claire run down the hall: "Hi Claire, what have you been doing?"
Claire: "Hi Mommy." Points to her mouth, "Teeth"
Me: Were you brushing your teeth?
Claire: Nodding, "O-peen." Then squeezing her hands together, "Smoosh. Mess"
Me: Did the toothpaste squeeze out and make a mess?"
Claire: Nodding, and waving her hands around like a mime fingerpainting a masterpiece
Me: "Uh-oh. Is it all over the bathroom counter?"
Claire: Shaking her head "Towel"
Me: "Did you clean it with the towel?"
Claire: Nodding and pulling me off the bed and down the hall to the bathroom
I followed her and where she showed me the towel, covered with toothpaste and the counter which she had cleaned up very nicely. She started clapping her hands and I praised her great job of cleaning up her mess. Then she slowly pointed down at her nightgown and whispered, "mess" as if I hadn't noticed that huge green glob of glue immediately and she was saving it for a surprise ending to her story!