I got this from Cami who got it from Melissa who.....
Rule: answer the question with just one word.
1. Where is your mobile phone? purse
2. Relationship? happily
3. Your hair? unkempt
4. Work? kids
5. Your sister(s)? far
6. Your favorite thing? contentment
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream car? plug-in
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your shoes? crocs
12. Your fears? failure
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? sane
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Harry
15. What are you not good at? listening
16. Muffin? oatmeal
17. Wish list item? numerous
18. Where you grew up? Oregon
19. The last thing you did? lullaby
20. What are you wearing? clothes
21. What are you not wearing? jewelry
22. Your pet? cat
23. Your computer? iMac
24. Your life? moving
25. Your mood? overwhelmed
26. Missing? shower
27. What are you thinking about? tomorrow
28. Your car? MPV
29. Your kitchen? maple
30. Your summer? dry
31. Your favorite color? blue
32. Last time you laughed? hours
33. Last time you cried? hours
34. School? BYU
35. Love? Matt
Friday, July 27, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Henry is 18 Months Old
Today was Henry's 18 month visit to the doctors (his actually date of turning being Sat the 21st was a little overshadowed by Harry Potter....). He weighed in just under 27 lbs and is 34 inches tall. For his age that is 60th percentile for weight and 90th for height and head circum. It's fun to compare his height/weight to Evalyn's checkup a month ago: She is only 2 lbs heavier and 2 inches taller! The only sad part was shots: TWO! One in each arm. Poor guy, for the first one he gave this heart wrenching silent cry that took a minute for him to breathe before the nurse gave him the 2nd shot. Definitely made my eyes water. But he recovered after a bit and was back to his normal self. Whew!
So what does Henry like to do these days? He loves to climb anything and everything: the kitchen drawers, the table, dresser drawers, any elevated surface really, people, the stairs (where he chants his own version of "subé" from Dora), and most recently out of his crib. After a week of very long bedtime routines we resorted to buying a crib tent to contain our little Houdini. So far so good.
His favorite games are Pile on Daddy, Torment the Cat, Peek-a-Boo, Avoid the Carseat Buckle, Throw Toys Down the Basement Stairs Through the Cat Door, Eat Anything That Looks Interesting (dirt, sticks, playdough, rocks, crayons....), Pull His Sister's Hair (especially when she's sad or cranky), Swing on the Hammock, Splash in the Bathroom Sink While Squeezing All the Soap Out, Clear His Tray onto the Floor (the moment he's "all done"), and Remove All the Couch Cushions, just to name a few.
He has a handful of baby signs that he does consistently, with some variations/sounds. Moon, Please, Hot, Stars, Hat, Lights, Ceiling Fan, Doggy, Kitty, Fish, Bird, Cow, Horse, Elephant, and probably a few others I can't think of at the moment. He loves animals, much more than cars or trucks. Maybe that's just because his older sibling is a girl so we haven't acquired a vast collection of vehicles thus far.... ; )
He loves shoes, especially wearing other peoples. He gets a cute little smile when he dresses up as Prince Eric or whoever when Big Sister is dressing up in her Princess outfits. He loves to fill and empty shelves, toy containers, the Tupperware drawer over and over. Fortunately for my sanity he's getting better at putting things back "in" when he's dumped them out. : ) He loves books, usually shorter ones with easy turn pages. His all-time favorite thus far is HUG by Jez Alborough.
He is cutest when getting ready for nap/bedtime and finds his paci, puppies and gives little kisses before dashing up the stairs. He is a little more into the TV than he probably should be at this age, his favorite show being Curious George, hands down. Other shows he'll usually wander away from, but not Curious. He loves it. Especially the music at the beginning.
He's acquired dozens of nicknames, mostly from Evalyn. Here are a few: Henny, Henny Boy, Henge, The Fella, Felly, The Little Fellow, Henry Monster, The Monster, Monkey, The Hoo Hoo, and Hoo Hoo Hah (these last are a derivation of Evalyn's nickname "The Boo" or "Boo Boo Bear").
We love our little fella and all the cuteness and joy he brings to our family. He is a very sweet and easy going boy with a desire to please and discover the world around him.
(A note on the photos: Matt shot these on his Nikon with Kodachrome film.)
So what does Henry like to do these days? He loves to climb anything and everything: the kitchen drawers, the table, dresser drawers, any elevated surface really, people, the stairs (where he chants his own version of "subé" from Dora), and most recently out of his crib. After a week of very long bedtime routines we resorted to buying a crib tent to contain our little Houdini. So far so good.
His favorite games are Pile on Daddy, Torment the Cat, Peek-a-Boo, Avoid the Carseat Buckle, Throw Toys Down the Basement Stairs Through the Cat Door, Eat Anything That Looks Interesting (dirt, sticks, playdough, rocks, crayons....), Pull His Sister's Hair (especially when she's sad or cranky), Swing on the Hammock, Splash in the Bathroom Sink While Squeezing All the Soap Out, Clear His Tray onto the Floor (the moment he's "all done"), and Remove All the Couch Cushions, just to name a few.
He has a handful of baby signs that he does consistently, with some variations/sounds. Moon, Please, Hot, Stars, Hat, Lights, Ceiling Fan, Doggy, Kitty, Fish, Bird, Cow, Horse, Elephant, and probably a few others I can't think of at the moment. He loves animals, much more than cars or trucks. Maybe that's just because his older sibling is a girl so we haven't acquired a vast collection of vehicles thus far.... ; )
He loves shoes, especially wearing other peoples. He gets a cute little smile when he dresses up as Prince Eric or whoever when Big Sister is dressing up in her Princess outfits. He loves to fill and empty shelves, toy containers, the Tupperware drawer over and over. Fortunately for my sanity he's getting better at putting things back "in" when he's dumped them out. : ) He loves books, usually shorter ones with easy turn pages. His all-time favorite thus far is HUG by Jez Alborough.
He is cutest when getting ready for nap/bedtime and finds his paci, puppies and gives little kisses before dashing up the stairs. He is a little more into the TV than he probably should be at this age, his favorite show being Curious George, hands down. Other shows he'll usually wander away from, but not Curious. He loves it. Especially the music at the beginning.
He's acquired dozens of nicknames, mostly from Evalyn. Here are a few: Henny, Henny Boy, Henge, The Fella, Felly, The Little Fellow, Henry Monster, The Monster, Monkey, The Hoo Hoo, and Hoo Hoo Hah (these last are a derivation of Evalyn's nickname "The Boo" or "Boo Boo Bear").
We love our little fella and all the cuteness and joy he brings to our family. He is a very sweet and easy going boy with a desire to please and discover the world around him.
(A note on the photos: Matt shot these on his Nikon with Kodachrome film.)
Mom My Ride
Check out this video about what a REAL mom's ride looks like.... I laughed pretty hard and figured you might too!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The Deathly Hallows
Wow. The book was fabulous, of course. It took me longer to get through than I was expecting but it was all worth it. Since I know some people who read my blog won't have read it yet, I'll just recap my reading weekend and review it in another post with a spoiler warning.
I threw together a last minute costume of Lily Potter with my pregnant belly labeled "Baby Harry". Didn't have a long red wig and my sign fell off after awhile, but it was fun while it lasted. My cloak got a bit warm in all the crowds but it was still fun to feel dressed up. My friend Barbara went as a Hogwarts student. We took a bunch of fun photos (which I'll post later).
The evening started off with being stuck on the top of a 7 level parking garage for over an hour (!!!!!) because there were so many cars/people out for more than just Harry Potter night. It was unbelievably frustrating. Adding to the torture, I was driving my husband's truck, big full-size rickety stick shift Ford. Not exactly my first choice of cars to be stuck in in a tight space with lots of stop and go. Ugh. It was close to 10:30 by the time we parked and fled. The evening was lovely though and the ride home was without incident.
Diagon Alley was packed with fun crazy people! In addition to the establishments in the previous post there was also Hog's Head Tavern (Potbelly Sandwiches) that totally had the ambiance of a wizarding hang out with their decor, dressed up Muggles and menu. (Even though the Hog's Head isn't IN Diagon Alley, it still worked.)
After strolling around the crowds outside for awhile we watched the end of the costume show inside. The winners were a Dementor, a Baby Mandrake (so cute), a Dobby, a crazy haired Trewlawney and a pink suited Umbridge. Quite fun indeed. Shortly after that they started the line-up and then came the long hour and a half wait until we finally got to the register. Fortunately they had the lines waiting outside so it was nice and cool. A news camera came by and interviewed a tired looking 9 year old witch sitting on the curb near us, asking about her evening, thoughts on the book, etc. It was close to 1AM when we finally had books in hand. I'd kept my iPod on the whole time we were in line in fear of hearing a spoiler....
We read the first page as soon as we got in the car, but I wasn't able to read anymore until after 2AM. My good friend Zuri was driving down from CT that night with her little newborn so we talked on the phone for a bit figuring out logistics. She arrived around 6AM at which point I finally stopped reading and we both slept until 11ish. After pancakes and visiting for a few hours, she left close to 2PM and I kept reading reading reading. I took another break around 9PM to get ice cream with Kellie at Coldstone and discussed the first part of the book we'd both read thus far. Around 10:30 I settled in for the long haul of finishing that night. It was getting pretty intense at this point and I couldn't put it down. Finally around 3:30AM I finished. Wow. I just sat there for a bit in that euphoric glow of a story well finished. Can't wait to discuss it!!
I'm so grateful for my dear husband's gift of taking the kids to Grammum's this weekend and letting me have this last two days of fun indulgent book reading. It's been a treat and I'm glad they were able to have a fun visit, too. I've felt like a teenager home alone with the parents gone!!
I threw together a last minute costume of Lily Potter with my pregnant belly labeled "Baby Harry". Didn't have a long red wig and my sign fell off after awhile, but it was fun while it lasted. My cloak got a bit warm in all the crowds but it was still fun to feel dressed up. My friend Barbara went as a Hogwarts student. We took a bunch of fun photos (which I'll post later).
The evening started off with being stuck on the top of a 7 level parking garage for over an hour (!!!!!) because there were so many cars/people out for more than just Harry Potter night. It was unbelievably frustrating. Adding to the torture, I was driving my husband's truck, big full-size rickety stick shift Ford. Not exactly my first choice of cars to be stuck in in a tight space with lots of stop and go. Ugh. It was close to 10:30 by the time we parked and fled. The evening was lovely though and the ride home was without incident.
Diagon Alley was packed with fun crazy people! In addition to the establishments in the previous post there was also Hog's Head Tavern (Potbelly Sandwiches) that totally had the ambiance of a wizarding hang out with their decor, dressed up Muggles and menu. (Even though the Hog's Head isn't IN Diagon Alley, it still worked.)
After strolling around the crowds outside for awhile we watched the end of the costume show inside. The winners were a Dementor, a Baby Mandrake (so cute), a Dobby, a crazy haired Trewlawney and a pink suited Umbridge. Quite fun indeed. Shortly after that they started the line-up and then came the long hour and a half wait until we finally got to the register. Fortunately they had the lines waiting outside so it was nice and cool. A news camera came by and interviewed a tired looking 9 year old witch sitting on the curb near us, asking about her evening, thoughts on the book, etc. It was close to 1AM when we finally had books in hand. I'd kept my iPod on the whole time we were in line in fear of hearing a spoiler....
We read the first page as soon as we got in the car, but I wasn't able to read anymore until after 2AM. My good friend Zuri was driving down from CT that night with her little newborn so we talked on the phone for a bit figuring out logistics. She arrived around 6AM at which point I finally stopped reading and we both slept until 11ish. After pancakes and visiting for a few hours, she left close to 2PM and I kept reading reading reading. I took another break around 9PM to get ice cream with Kellie at Coldstone and discussed the first part of the book we'd both read thus far. Around 10:30 I settled in for the long haul of finishing that night. It was getting pretty intense at this point and I couldn't put it down. Finally around 3:30AM I finished. Wow. I just sat there for a bit in that euphoric glow of a story well finished. Can't wait to discuss it!!
I'm so grateful for my dear husband's gift of taking the kids to Grammum's this weekend and letting me have this last two days of fun indulgent book reading. It's been a treat and I'm glad they were able to have a fun visit, too. I've felt like a teenager home alone with the parents gone!!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Harry Potter Night
So here I am in my quiet house anxiously awaiting the stroke of midnight when I can get in line for the final installment of Harry Potter. I've been very paranoid about hearing or reading some spoiler about Deathly Hallows since reading the news of the 1200 copies that were inadvertently sent out. I was even going to forgo tonight's Grand Hallows Ball at Borders in Silver Spring just so I didn't hear something I don't want to hear.
Then I figured this is the last chance to live up the fun Muggles as Wizards event and just be silly about it all. Someone may drive by with a blowhorn yelling "Voldemort Kills Harry" or walk around with a placard "Snape Really is Bad" or "Ginny Weasley Dies" or some such nonsense. I may overhear an in-depth conversation analyzing a recent review with such spoilers. Or none of this will happen and I'll have had a fun night in Diagon Alley (Ellsworth St) listening to a live band, sampling Butterbeer (courtesy of Whole Foods), getting a scoop from Florian Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor (Ben&Jerry's), and finally enjoying the Ball at Flourish and Blots (Borders).
The excitement was already palpable as I stood in line this morning to get my wristband. I'm in the third or blue group so it may be closer to 12:30 or 1:00 by the time my book is in hand. That is unless I win a raffle drawing for first place in line...... : ) AM I A NUT OR WHAT????
Then I figured this is the last chance to live up the fun Muggles as Wizards event and just be silly about it all. Someone may drive by with a blowhorn yelling "Voldemort Kills Harry" or walk around with a placard "Snape Really is Bad" or "Ginny Weasley Dies" or some such nonsense. I may overhear an in-depth conversation analyzing a recent review with such spoilers. Or none of this will happen and I'll have had a fun night in Diagon Alley (Ellsworth St) listening to a live band, sampling Butterbeer (courtesy of Whole Foods), getting a scoop from Florian Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor (Ben&Jerry's), and finally enjoying the Ball at Flourish and Blots (Borders).
The excitement was already palpable as I stood in line this morning to get my wristband. I'm in the third or blue group so it may be closer to 12:30 or 1:00 by the time my book is in hand. That is unless I win a raffle drawing for first place in line...... : ) AM I A NUT OR WHAT????
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Our Family Trip Part II: Lancaster County
Bright and early (even in a very darkened room) we awoke and took advantage of the complimentary continental breakfast before checking-out and driving eastward to Intercourse, PA. Right next to Bird-in-Hand, PA. Love the names. We went on an open-carriage buggy ride through the farmland as our driver Beniel, a woodworker by trade, answered various questions about Amish life. It was so quiet and peaceful with just the sound of birds and the horses hoofs as we pulled past corn and alfalfa fields off of the side roads. The Amish farmhouse we stopped at momentarily (to buy cookies and pretzels) had an immaculate close-cut lawn (push-mower) and a beautiful vegetable garden. Not to mention the freshly hung clothes fluttering in the breeze. Very tranquil indeed.
Adjacent to the buggy rides was a restaurant, Amish house and theater, but the times of the tours didn't jive with our little ones schedules/attention spans so we decided to skip that and stop at the nearby market. We bought some fudge, dinner rolls, fresh apple cider and a pink little apron for Evalyn that she wore the entire day. I still wanted to tour some aspect of Amish day to day living so we stopped at the Amish Village near Strasburg. The tour was very informative albeit crowded with a large group that arrived just after us. Matt had to take Henry out halfway through but Evalyn made it and once we were outside again she liked the animals and waterwheel.
After lunch at a nearby smorgaspord restaurant we packed our tired children into the car once more and headed home via Route 1, crossing the Susquehanna River at Conowingo Dam. Fortunately both kids slept almost the entire drive home. We did have to stop once for a roadside potty break and again for gas in Baltimore of all places.
We were quite happy to get home early enough in the day to relax and unpack. How nice it was to come home to our own beds! Especially Henry the Monkey's newly crib-tented bed. I'm glad we made the trip but I really hope that someday it will be more fun for everyone and not just a lot of work to see a little something of nearby attractions.
I really enjoyed the peaceful environs of the Pennsylvania Dutch people and contemplating the beliefs of the Amish, Mennonites and Brethren, especially thinking of Matt's family heritage. His grandparents were active members of the Church of the Brethren. Matt shared a fun anecdote about his grandmother. In school whenever they were assigned to learn about their family heritage and ask their grandparents or whoever where they came from, most kids responded "Italian" "German" "Polish" etc. But Mia's response to Matt's query was always "We're Pennsylvania Dutch!" Simple as that. : )
For some reason I was hoping for a less-commercial take on the whole Amish experience and was disappointed with how marketed everything was. I wanted to buy some of the wares but wondered how much of a cut the retailers got and wished I could buy straight from the families that made the crafts. It sounds silly I suppose. Everyone is out for making a living and the Amish themselves probably don't mind the niche market and ease of finding buyers for their simple wares. Not everyone can farm these days so other areas of income are necessary. It just felt like I was contributing to the exploitation of a simple lifestyle.
What if Mormons had different living restrictions placed on them and were regarded the same way? How would I feel to live a voyeurist existence where people came by at all hours to see what my house was like and buy things from me for the sake of it being "Made by the Mormons" or something. I dunno. Still not sure what I think of the whole thing. Obviously there's the curiosity within me that wants to learn about the real Amish life and not just the one portrayed by the tour-guide for profit. So what does that say about me? Maybe I should just stick to National Geographic to learn about the world. Then I wouldn't feel like such a hypocrite.
 |
| Lancaster PA |
Adjacent to the buggy rides was a restaurant, Amish house and theater, but the times of the tours didn't jive with our little ones schedules/attention spans so we decided to skip that and stop at the nearby market. We bought some fudge, dinner rolls, fresh apple cider and a pink little apron for Evalyn that she wore the entire day. I still wanted to tour some aspect of Amish day to day living so we stopped at the Amish Village near Strasburg. The tour was very informative albeit crowded with a large group that arrived just after us. Matt had to take Henry out halfway through but Evalyn made it and once we were outside again she liked the animals and waterwheel.
After lunch at a nearby smorgaspord restaurant we packed our tired children into the car once more and headed home via Route 1, crossing the Susquehanna River at Conowingo Dam. Fortunately both kids slept almost the entire drive home. We did have to stop once for a roadside potty break and again for gas in Baltimore of all places.
We were quite happy to get home early enough in the day to relax and unpack. How nice it was to come home to our own beds! Especially Henry the Monkey's newly crib-tented bed. I'm glad we made the trip but I really hope that someday it will be more fun for everyone and not just a lot of work to see a little something of nearby attractions.
I really enjoyed the peaceful environs of the Pennsylvania Dutch people and contemplating the beliefs of the Amish, Mennonites and Brethren, especially thinking of Matt's family heritage. His grandparents were active members of the Church of the Brethren. Matt shared a fun anecdote about his grandmother. In school whenever they were assigned to learn about their family heritage and ask their grandparents or whoever where they came from, most kids responded "Italian" "German" "Polish" etc. But Mia's response to Matt's query was always "We're Pennsylvania Dutch!" Simple as that. : )
For some reason I was hoping for a less-commercial take on the whole Amish experience and was disappointed with how marketed everything was. I wanted to buy some of the wares but wondered how much of a cut the retailers got and wished I could buy straight from the families that made the crafts. It sounds silly I suppose. Everyone is out for making a living and the Amish themselves probably don't mind the niche market and ease of finding buyers for their simple wares. Not everyone can farm these days so other areas of income are necessary. It just felt like I was contributing to the exploitation of a simple lifestyle.
What if Mormons had different living restrictions placed on them and were regarded the same way? How would I feel to live a voyeurist existence where people came by at all hours to see what my house was like and buy things from me for the sake of it being "Made by the Mormons" or something. I dunno. Still not sure what I think of the whole thing. Obviously there's the curiosity within me that wants to learn about the real Amish life and not just the one portrayed by the tour-guide for profit. So what does that say about me? Maybe I should just stick to National Geographic to learn about the world. Then I wouldn't feel like such a hypocrite.
Our Family Trip Part I: Getting There and Longwood Gardens
I would call it a vacation since we left home and sought out fun and interesting destinations. But in my mind a vacation should also involve some leisure relaxing, and that was in short supply. As it was the trip oscillated from pure torturous misery of trying to get our children to sleep without destroying the hotel room to a few minutes of occasional blissful family enjoyment.
Our trip's planned itinerary was to leave Thurs AM and arrive at Longwood Gardens in SE Pennsylvania just before noon and enjoy touring the grounds for several hours before driving down to New Castle, DE on the Delaware River for a night's stay with our free hotel points and swim with the kids in the hotel pool. The next morning we'd drive the 1.5 hrs to Lancaster PA where Matt would take the kids to a children's museum while I would have some free time to explore yarn shops, quilt shops, markets, etc. After another night's stay using our free hotel points we'd then explore the Amish countryside and markets before heading home on Saturday.
Reality didn't play out quite so smoothly of course. I stayed out late on Wednesday night watching the new Harry Potter movie with some friends : D and so the departure didn't happen until close to noon. Evalyn was very impatient and all she wanted to do was get to the hotel so she could swim. As we drove northeast along 95 assuming our children would nap along the way it was very apparent that they were both coming down with a virus of some sort. Evalyn refused to swallow anything and was drooling all over the place while crying and trying to fall asleep. This woke up Henry who was tired and also uncomfortable. We stopped halfway to our destination to comfort our miserable children only to discover that Evalyn had wet her carseat but not told us!! After trying to force down some Tylenol and feed them a late lunch without much success we seriously contemplated turning around and calling the whole thing off.
We persevered though and opted to ditch the Gardens for the day and head straight for the hotel and see if swimming and sleep improved the situation. The pool was fun for everyone. Henry was a little timid at first but liked splashing and bobbing while being held. Evalyn loved it of course, even tried jumping in before Mommy or Daddy was ready to catch her! We went out to dinner and decided for early bedtime for the kids in hopes of having a little down time for us. It took over an hour to get Henry to sleep in the pack n pay. This was after pacing and rocking him to sleep since any attempt of laying him in the crib caused him to stand up and try climbing out. We also tuned the clock radio to loud static to lessen the distracting noises. Finally by 9:30 both kids were sleeping in our now very dark hotel room. It took so much effort to get them down that we didn't want to risk any lights or sounds for a movie or reading. I kept thinking, when is going out of town and staying in a hotel a fun family thing to do and not a maddening torturous event?
The next morning everyone seemed to be feeling better. After a breakfast at IHOP we drove the short hour or so through the Brandywine Valley to Longwood Gardens arriving just after they opened. It was a gorgeous day with a cool light breeze. We started with the Topiary Gardens and fountains, walked by the waterfall and carillon clock tower then headed to the Children's and Idea Gardens. These were fabulous. Each section (perennial, herb, vines, vegetable, ground covers, etc) were designed to teach and show how to use the different plantings in your own garden. There was even a complete "Example Garden" of how to incorporate it all into a sample suburban yard, front and back, complete with a tool shed and green house. Quite inspiring.
Next we strolled by the Pierce-DuPont house, admired some huge trees, took in the vibrant colors of the Flower Garden Walk, and called it good. My pregnant body was flagging and the kids were ready for lunch and naps. It was a great morning, we were both glad that it ended up being a morning tour rather than an afternoon one. I wished I'd had the energy to walk through the conservatory and over to the lake areas. Hopefully we can come back in the fall and enjoy the gardens in that season, too. I was amazed at the simple elegant beauty of it all.
As we drove to Lancaster we realized we didn't have any addresses for our destinations of choice so we'd need to find the Visitor's Center to get a better map and directions. This involved tedious sign following with now waking children but we finally made it and fate was with us: two of our destinations were right next to eachother. I dropped Daddy and the kids off at the Hands-On House before heading to Knitnit Needlecraft Shop. My brain was a little fatigued from all the turmoil of direction finding. All I really wanted to do was nap in a cool dark room or sit in a very large comfy chair and read or knit. But we didn't drive all this way for THAT! So I browsed the yarn, looked through some patterns but didn't find anything too inspiring except some nice gray sock yarn. (wink to Kellie) Oh, and some sweet little buttons for the baby sweater I'm about halfway through. I was hoping to stumble across some quaint locally died handspun yarn to make a shawl out of that had a little story with it. Alas, I should've done some more research to actually find if a place like that existed!
The kids had a blast at the Hands-on House and I almost wished I'd done that instead. I love well designed kids museums. We drove to the hotel and Matt and Evalyn went swimming while Henry and I got take-out pizza. We started in with bedtime around 7 but an hour or so later Henry was still fighting it and I was in meltdown mode myself with exhaustion and frustration. Daddy to the rescue while I took a long rejuvenating bath before jumping back in. Henry was still resisting so Matt took him for a drive hoping for the fall asleep in the car trick while I laid down with Evalyn. When they got back 40 minutes later, she'd just fallen asleep but Henry was STILL awake. Another hour almost of pacing, rocking and radio static before he FINALLY stayed asleep. It was 10:30. To create some semblance of leisure we sat at the kitchenette with the bathroom door cracked and my headlamp on as we ate ice cream and browsed brochures planning our stroll through Amish country the next morning. Then we fell exhausted into bed.
Our trip's planned itinerary was to leave Thurs AM and arrive at Longwood Gardens in SE Pennsylvania just before noon and enjoy touring the grounds for several hours before driving down to New Castle, DE on the Delaware River for a night's stay with our free hotel points and swim with the kids in the hotel pool. The next morning we'd drive the 1.5 hrs to Lancaster PA where Matt would take the kids to a children's museum while I would have some free time to explore yarn shops, quilt shops, markets, etc. After another night's stay using our free hotel points we'd then explore the Amish countryside and markets before heading home on Saturday.
 |
| Longwood Gardens |
Reality didn't play out quite so smoothly of course. I stayed out late on Wednesday night watching the new Harry Potter movie with some friends : D and so the departure didn't happen until close to noon. Evalyn was very impatient and all she wanted to do was get to the hotel so she could swim. As we drove northeast along 95 assuming our children would nap along the way it was very apparent that they were both coming down with a virus of some sort. Evalyn refused to swallow anything and was drooling all over the place while crying and trying to fall asleep. This woke up Henry who was tired and also uncomfortable. We stopped halfway to our destination to comfort our miserable children only to discover that Evalyn had wet her carseat but not told us!! After trying to force down some Tylenol and feed them a late lunch without much success we seriously contemplated turning around and calling the whole thing off.
We persevered though and opted to ditch the Gardens for the day and head straight for the hotel and see if swimming and sleep improved the situation. The pool was fun for everyone. Henry was a little timid at first but liked splashing and bobbing while being held. Evalyn loved it of course, even tried jumping in before Mommy or Daddy was ready to catch her! We went out to dinner and decided for early bedtime for the kids in hopes of having a little down time for us. It took over an hour to get Henry to sleep in the pack n pay. This was after pacing and rocking him to sleep since any attempt of laying him in the crib caused him to stand up and try climbing out. We also tuned the clock radio to loud static to lessen the distracting noises. Finally by 9:30 both kids were sleeping in our now very dark hotel room. It took so much effort to get them down that we didn't want to risk any lights or sounds for a movie or reading. I kept thinking, when is going out of town and staying in a hotel a fun family thing to do and not a maddening torturous event?
The next morning everyone seemed to be feeling better. After a breakfast at IHOP we drove the short hour or so through the Brandywine Valley to Longwood Gardens arriving just after they opened. It was a gorgeous day with a cool light breeze. We started with the Topiary Gardens and fountains, walked by the waterfall and carillon clock tower then headed to the Children's and Idea Gardens. These were fabulous. Each section (perennial, herb, vines, vegetable, ground covers, etc) were designed to teach and show how to use the different plantings in your own garden. There was even a complete "Example Garden" of how to incorporate it all into a sample suburban yard, front and back, complete with a tool shed and green house. Quite inspiring.
Next we strolled by the Pierce-DuPont house, admired some huge trees, took in the vibrant colors of the Flower Garden Walk, and called it good. My pregnant body was flagging and the kids were ready for lunch and naps. It was a great morning, we were both glad that it ended up being a morning tour rather than an afternoon one. I wished I'd had the energy to walk through the conservatory and over to the lake areas. Hopefully we can come back in the fall and enjoy the gardens in that season, too. I was amazed at the simple elegant beauty of it all.
As we drove to Lancaster we realized we didn't have any addresses for our destinations of choice so we'd need to find the Visitor's Center to get a better map and directions. This involved tedious sign following with now waking children but we finally made it and fate was with us: two of our destinations were right next to eachother. I dropped Daddy and the kids off at the Hands-On House before heading to Knitnit Needlecraft Shop. My brain was a little fatigued from all the turmoil of direction finding. All I really wanted to do was nap in a cool dark room or sit in a very large comfy chair and read or knit. But we didn't drive all this way for THAT! So I browsed the yarn, looked through some patterns but didn't find anything too inspiring except some nice gray sock yarn. (wink to Kellie) Oh, and some sweet little buttons for the baby sweater I'm about halfway through. I was hoping to stumble across some quaint locally died handspun yarn to make a shawl out of that had a little story with it. Alas, I should've done some more research to actually find if a place like that existed!
The kids had a blast at the Hands-on House and I almost wished I'd done that instead. I love well designed kids museums. We drove to the hotel and Matt and Evalyn went swimming while Henry and I got take-out pizza. We started in with bedtime around 7 but an hour or so later Henry was still fighting it and I was in meltdown mode myself with exhaustion and frustration. Daddy to the rescue while I took a long rejuvenating bath before jumping back in. Henry was still resisting so Matt took him for a drive hoping for the fall asleep in the car trick while I laid down with Evalyn. When they got back 40 minutes later, she'd just fallen asleep but Henry was STILL awake. Another hour almost of pacing, rocking and radio static before he FINALLY stayed asleep. It was 10:30. To create some semblance of leisure we sat at the kitchenette with the bathroom door cracked and my headlamp on as we ate ice cream and browsed brochures planning our stroll through Amish country the next morning. Then we fell exhausted into bed.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
How Addicted Are You?
So I saw this on Cami's blog and totally had to take it. It was quite revealing to realize how into blogging I've gotten lately.
61%
61%
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Sounds like Popcorn
Evalyn said something cute on the way to church today. (She says cute stuff all the time of course ; ) As we drove down University Blvd and turned onto Adelphi she recognized the scene from fireworks earlier in the week. Our conversation went something like this.
"Those fireworks were pretty, huh?"
"They were loud! They sounded like popcorn!"
(Mommy chuckles)
Evalyn laughs and continues with "Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"
I just thought it was a fun connection she made. She's really into popcorn right now. We'd actually made some for that night to bring with so maybe it was on her mind, too.
Her recent popcorn interest is also tied to Matt's new slide projector. As part of his foray into photography, he's been shooting some slide film. It was a little hard to gauge which shots he wanted to get prints from or just enjoy looking at them. We picked one up at a garage sale a few weeks ago but the tray didn't fit right. So after another couple of weeks a matching one arrived from eBay and we had a slideshow movie night that Evalyn made tickets for and we popped corn to eat. Quite nostalgic for me since I remember slide shows my parents did of their mission pictures and from when they were first married.
"Those fireworks were pretty, huh?"
"They were loud! They sounded like popcorn!"
(Mommy chuckles)
Evalyn laughs and continues with "Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"
I just thought it was a fun connection she made. She's really into popcorn right now. We'd actually made some for that night to bring with so maybe it was on her mind, too.
Her recent popcorn interest is also tied to Matt's new slide projector. As part of his foray into photography, he's been shooting some slide film. It was a little hard to gauge which shots he wanted to get prints from or just enjoy looking at them. We picked one up at a garage sale a few weeks ago but the tray didn't fit right. So after another couple of weeks a matching one arrived from eBay and we had a slideshow movie night that Evalyn made tickets for and we popped corn to eat. Quite nostalgic for me since I remember slide shows my parents did of their mission pictures and from when they were first married.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Happy Independence Day!
Our Independence Day started off and ended patriotically; the in between part, not so much. More like a lazy Saturday. It was so hot and stormy outside with severe thunderstorm warnings and even a tornado watch that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. What we did accomplish: naps, Matt cooking his mom's yummy baked beans, Holly cleaning out/excavating the car, and the kids playing outside.
The morning flag raising and breakfast at the church was a great start to the day. Especially the music sung just before hand. The 2nd and 3rd verses of the Start Spangled Banner are so moving it is too bad we don't sing them more often. I definitely had tingles as I sung the words.
After dinner we piled in the car and drove over to Univ of MD to meet up with two other families and watch the fireworks from a nearby parking lot. I wasn't expecting much but was quite impressed. There was a live "Elvis" performing nearby on a stage and some food vendors and relatively clean port-a-potties along another side of the lot. (Being of small pregnant bladder and with newly potty-trained toddler the potties were most welcome!!) So plenty of distractions while we waited. Almost too many because one of the other little boys, just younger than Evalyn, wandered away and we all experienced 10 minutes of panic until he was found with another mom nearby. That was frightening indeed!
The fireworks were amazing! Near enough that they seemed right overhead but not so close that they were too loud or blew ash and smoke in our faces. (The video sorta captures it. Sorry about the dark patches. I was trying to pan to the boys and then Evalyn, but all you can make out is her pink bracelet!)
Evalyn didn't like the loud sounds, even at a small distance and covered her ears almost the entire time. She was done after 5 minutes. Henry loved it though. He was transfixed for the first 10 minutes and then clapped and smiled along with Mommy and Daddy. It was amazing how the big ones filled the entire sky above us. My favorite were the willowy ones that stay for a bit before melting away. Towards the end of the almost 45 minute(!!) performance the kids were both very antsy and tired, since it was nearing 10PM. We were all packed and ready to head just as the Grand Finale began. It was quite impressive. But the best part was Henry falling asleep in the car so we didn't have to do the hour-long sit by the crib routine since he is now climbing out. More on that later, I'm sure.
The morning flag raising and breakfast at the church was a great start to the day. Especially the music sung just before hand. The 2nd and 3rd verses of the Start Spangled Banner are so moving it is too bad we don't sing them more often. I definitely had tingles as I sung the words.
After dinner we piled in the car and drove over to Univ of MD to meet up with two other families and watch the fireworks from a nearby parking lot. I wasn't expecting much but was quite impressed. There was a live "Elvis" performing nearby on a stage and some food vendors and relatively clean port-a-potties along another side of the lot. (Being of small pregnant bladder and with newly potty-trained toddler the potties were most welcome!!) So plenty of distractions while we waited. Almost too many because one of the other little boys, just younger than Evalyn, wandered away and we all experienced 10 minutes of panic until he was found with another mom nearby. That was frightening indeed!
The fireworks were amazing! Near enough that they seemed right overhead but not so close that they were too loud or blew ash and smoke in our faces. (The video sorta captures it. Sorry about the dark patches. I was trying to pan to the boys and then Evalyn, but all you can make out is her pink bracelet!)
Evalyn didn't like the loud sounds, even at a small distance and covered her ears almost the entire time. She was done after 5 minutes. Henry loved it though. He was transfixed for the first 10 minutes and then clapped and smiled along with Mommy and Daddy. It was amazing how the big ones filled the entire sky above us. My favorite were the willowy ones that stay for a bit before melting away. Towards the end of the almost 45 minute(!!) performance the kids were both very antsy and tired, since it was nearing 10PM. We were all packed and ready to head just as the Grand Finale began. It was quite impressive. But the best part was Henry falling asleep in the car so we didn't have to do the hour-long sit by the crib routine since he is now climbing out. More on that later, I'm sure.
Fishing with Daddy
On Monday evening we combined dinner, FHE and Evalyn's belated fishing trip with Daddy. The weather was absolutely perfect, as a high pressure system from James Bay pushed all the humidity away for a few days. A lot of other people had the same idea. After we finished our "picnic" dinner (KFC take-out) and tried to find a good fishing spot along Greenbelt Lake, there weren't many good open places. The kids had fun though as we strolled along the lake looking at cattails, birds and flowers.
We made the best of it and Evalyn was quite happy with reeling in big clumps of algae and twigs for the 10-15 minutes or so that her attention span lasted. Then we went back up the hill to the playground and ended the evening with ice cream bars from the enterprising ice cream truck in the parking lot.
The weather was so extraordinary that day. We spent almost 2 hours in the backyard that morning simply enjoying the respite from heat and humidity. A light breeze fluttered through the trees, almost making it chilly in the shade. The light of the evening playing on the lake surface and in the faces of all the people we smiled at was a perfect end to the day. Everyone and everything was taking a collective breath and smiling together.
 |
| Fishing with Daddy |
We made the best of it and Evalyn was quite happy with reeling in big clumps of algae and twigs for the 10-15 minutes or so that her attention span lasted. Then we went back up the hill to the playground and ended the evening with ice cream bars from the enterprising ice cream truck in the parking lot.
The weather was so extraordinary that day. We spent almost 2 hours in the backyard that morning simply enjoying the respite from heat and humidity. A light breeze fluttered through the trees, almost making it chilly in the shade. The light of the evening playing on the lake surface and in the faces of all the people we smiled at was a perfect end to the day. Everyone and everything was taking a collective breath and smiling together.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
"I Don't Need a Bag"
Check out this video. It's long but has a good message (watch the first 2-3 minutes to get the gist). This is one of my pet peeves, store clerks who use 20 bags to bag 20 items. I just wish I could remember to bring my reusables more often!
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