A big day

Yesterday was a big day. A very big day. And this is the only picture I have of the whole day:
Yesterday was the first day of school for Nate. The first day of first grade. It's a magical day with all of those "firsts" in it. We were a little worried come Saturday when Hurricane Irene was making its way up the East coast, and there were worries about the power going out. What if there was no power at the school on Monday. Or horror of all horrors, what if there was no power at the school on Monday, and they couldn't get it up for the rest of the week. (There are other counties in the area that are experiencing that right now!) What if we used up all of our snow days in the first week of school? But mostly, what in the world was I going to do if I couldn't send Nate to school on Monday? (Insert comment here about how I love my children dearly, but the constant fighting of the past few weeks is sending me over the edge.)
However, due to a lucky stroke, we not only survived the Earthquake last week without any damage, but we also got through the earthquake without so much as a power flicker. So Nate started school on Monday. And how happy we all were.
Now, starting school was not the only thing that made this a big day for us. After Nate went off to school Graham was invited to a party at our local Pump it Up. Graham called it the funnest place on earth. Olivia would agree if she could talk.
So those are some pretty big things, but wait! there's more!!!! Not only did those things happen, but as it turns out, it was also my birthday! The big 31. And I'll say that 31 sounds a lot older than 30. Thirty was a new adventure, a sign that I wasn't a kid anymore. But 31, well, now I'm just in my 30s. Oh well.
It was a great birthday. Jesse went into work early to get things back up and running after being shut down in prep for the hurricane, so he got home really early as well. He was home in time to get Nate off of the school bus. Then we went out for an early dinner (apparently, 31 is the age when you start eating dinner before 5:00.) Then we went out to Borders and Barnes and Noble to pick up a few presents that Jesse had not had a chance to get.
I ended the night with my good friends Colleen and Jana (written in alphabetical order.) We enjoy going to Glory Days grill after 9pm when appetizers are only $5. We're cheap. So yeah, good birthday for me. Nate went to school, Graham had a fun party to go to, and I got to have fun with family and friends.

Beach Vacation

This year at the beginning of the summer some of our good friends moved away from us. Their next adventure included living in a place about a half an hour from the ocean. Combine that with one of Jesse's relations offering her house to us any time we wanted to go to the beach, and we figured we could make a cheap and easy trip to the beach this year. We left on a Friday morning, at about 8:30 or so. The kids were very excited to go. Aunt Cammi came with us, and the boys loved having her here, and I loved having her help. I think she enjoyed herself as well.
We started our trip with crossing the Bay Bridge. Have I said how much I love the Bay Bridge? It's just so Maryland! We dropped some stuff off at Kate's house, and then we went up to Rehoboth beach to meet our friends. Can I say that the best part of the whole thing was the amazing parking spot that we got? Literally 50 yards from the beach, and right outside of Fun Land, which would prove to be useful.

Olivia tolerated the waves and water at times, but she really enjoyed playing in the sand. She didn't care if her paci got a little sandy. (And this picture was taken within minutes of getting there and getting dressed. She didn't have her paci for much longer than that.)

The problem with Friday was that within about an hour of getting to the beach there was thunder and lightning, and we were evacuated from the beach. But the boardwalk was still open, and there was no rain yet. One of the reasons that we went to Rehoboth was that there was this Fun Land, which for $20 you could buy 90 tickets. The rides all cost 1-3 tickets per rider, so we were still able to have several hours of fun for not a lot of money. :) The kids didn't care at all that their water fun was cut short.

The kids really enjoyed visiting with Tage and Mason, and riding the rides with them.

They talked me into going on the teacup ride. I did OK for the first 15 seconds or so. After that it was a battle, and just thinking about it is making my stomach upset!

It's hard to say what Olivia thought of the Carousel. She didn't crack a smile once, but then again, she was pretty tired. She got to ride it twice though.

On Saturday we got up and headed out to Fenwick Island State Park in DE. It was pretty much a perfect beach experience. There was no boardwalk, so we missed all of that crowd, but there was still a nice bath house, and refreshment stand. The weather was perfect- and best part- at one point a herd of dolphins swam by. They were jumping out of the water, and were around the beach area for quite a while. It was pretty neat. They were so close some people tried to swim out to get to them. (Probably not a smart idea though...)

The boys just jumped at the waves the whole time.

That night we went to our friends' house for dinner. The kids once again really enjoyed playing together, and even though it had only been about 2 months since they'd moved, we enjoyed catching up.

On Sunday we went to church with them, and then started the drive home. We got hit by pouring rain at one point, but other than that, the drive was uneventful.

So what a fun little beach weekend. We'll probably have to do it again next year.

Our August

After such a big trip in July, I left our August plans quite empty. Nate and Graham were finished with their swim lessons, which left our days blissfully free to be lazy in these hazy days of summer. We have left the house from time to time. One of my friends that I met when Nate was a tiny baby is working to become certified in teaching yoga to kids, so she asked a mutual friend and myself if we would let her use our kids as Guinea pigs. Nate and Graham really loved doing the yoga. I can't say that it was relaxing and a zen filled environment, you know, since there were 10 kids ranging in age from 6 to 10 mos, but it was fun, and I did get a few good stretches in! Another thing that we're happy about happened today- Olivia started to take steps. We've been working on this for a while now, since I was pretty sure she was able, but she just wasn't willing. Today I broke out the M&Ms, and sure enough, she was willing to walk to me. She can now walk across the room. Remarkable progress considering that this morning she wasn't taking more than one step at a time.

This weekend we are going on a trip to the ocean. It is our last hurrah of the summer. We are excited to see the Harrisons, and to have Aunt Cammi come with us. It's looking to be questionable weather wise, so cross your fingers for us. Hopefully we'll have at least a little bit of sun!

Loudoun County Fair

A couple of years ago, while Jesse was in Las Vegas at some hacker conference, Darryl took the boys and I to the Loudoun County Fair. The boys had a fun time, and we don't make it to fairs very often, so when he asked if we wanted to go again this year, I said yes. Even though it was after dinner time when we got there, it was still very hot, and we went through all 37 bottles of water that we brought pretty quickly. We visited the livestock barns, and the boys liked looking at all of the different animals, but they were really excited to go to the carnival fairway. Grandad graciously bought them a bunch of tickets, and they went to town having a great time on all of the rides.
They loved this monkey house thing. I had to go through it with them since Graham was too short to do it on his own.

Good thing I was there too, since Graham got stuck on this spinner thing. It was funny at first, and then his leg went off in a funny direction, and then not so funny anymore.

They loved this dragon roller coaster. I'm hoping that if we make it back to Hershey Park next year that they will be more adventurous about trying the little roller coasters.

I just love Graham's face as he's riding the motorcycle.

These bugs were another favorite.We tried to get over to the rodeo. It was crowded, and the boys had a hard time seeing. In addition to that, it just took forever for them to get going. First there was the long opening remarks and introductions. Then the first 3 or 4 riders didn't make it much out of the gate. Plus there was this guy who wouldn't go back into the chute, so we all kind of sat around waiting for them to get him back in the pen.

And this guy got hurt, and that took some time too. I guess that after we left, things picked up a bit, but the kids were just bored, and it was getting to be bed time, so we moved on.

The first thing that the boys asked to do when we got there was to ride the "little horse." Finally, as we were getting ready to go, and Grandad was off picking up a treat for Grammy, we let them take a pony ride. This was Nate's first ever time to ride a pony, and Graham's second time. Previously, Nate has wanted nothing to do with pony rides.

We could have done a camel ride, but opted out of that.

So the boys had a blast again, and are already asking to go back. We'll have to see- this may be the year that we make it to the Great Frederick Fair. We've lived here for 8 years, and never made it there!

Family Pictures

So here are a few of the pictures Layna took while we were at the reunion. Now I just need to decide for sure which versions I like the best, and then which ones I want printed out, how big to get them, and then where in the world to put the ones that can't just replace the outdated one! Suggestions anyone?

Utah Trip: part 3

On Friday at about 10:00 or so, we all had to be out of the vacation rental, so some families headed home, and others headed well, elsewhere. Our flight was Saturday morning, so we had a whole day to fit some more fun in. We hadn't made it over to Temple Square yet, so that is where we started. We were there with David's family and my mom.

We walked around the grounds for a bit, and went into one of the visitor's center.

We looked into the old Tabernacle.

And then took an abbreviated tour of the Conference Center. The kids were at the end of their patience.

We then took a while figuring out where to go next. We wanted to go to a Rocky Mountain Chocolate shop, but had to figure out where the closest one was, and how to get there. Eventually we got onto the Trax, and went to find one. It was hot, and the kids were tired of walking, but they survived!

We then finished up with the few remaining items left to do. We dropped off a borrowed item at Becky's house. They boys thought it was really funny to see Eden again. We stopped in at Jesse's Aunt's house for just a minute. It was bad timing there, as we got there right as they had to leave to make an apt at the Temple. We then headed back into the Utah Valley. We needed to return the booster seats that we borrowed, so we met Chris at an In-N-Out burger. (Which, I've had several times, but upon further reflection, I really don't think that they are any better than Five Guys, and I may even like Five Guys better! Take that California!)

After that we headed back to the hotel. We were staying in a room next to my mom, but we tried to keep our crazy to ourselves. The kids watched a movie to put them to sleep, and that was that. We traveled home the next morning, the kids doing a superb job on the flight again, and then it was home sweet home!

I really enjoyed this vacation, and thought it went well. The kids were happy considering all that they were put though, and I had such a great time visiting with my family. A big thanks to my mom for paying for the house, and everyone else for their great hospitality while we were away!

Utah trip: Part 2.6

Part two of our Utah trip was the whole point of spending millions upon millions of dollars to fly the 5 of us out there: my family reunion. This reunion consisted of my siblings, their kids, and of course, my mom. We found a house in Park City that was large enough to fit all of us, and all descended upon Park City on Monday late afternoon. It was a lovely time, the kids loved playing together, and I loved being with my brothers and sisters.
Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the week that didn't really fit into the other categories, or were forgotten. :)
Melissa took the little girls aside and helped them make some fabric flower hair clips. They had a great time. At our reunion last time, 4 years ago, everyone sat around on our laptops. This time, we all were on smart phones, iPads and iPods. Not really anything has changed, just the mode of delivery!

Some of the 1 year olds lined up eating.

We ate really well. We all took turns making meals, and everything turned out to be very delicious.

Between the boy cousins, there were 3 personal gaming devices. During most of the down time you could find the boys gathered in little clusters playing on these.

The house was a very nice space for us. The bedrooms fit most people's needs. The boys were able to sleep on the floor next to us, and Olivia eventually had a pack and play to sleep in on the other side of our bed. There was a little delay in getting her the bed though, since apparently someone had stolen the bed that was supposed to be there. It wasn't until the second afternoon that we finally had a place for her to sleep. Poor Jesse slept on the floor the first night!

Well, only one more vacation post to come! Almost finished!!!