Clarkland Farm

Clarkland Farm 10/10/09

Today we went to Clarkland Farm with Skye's friends Sophia, Danielle and Jake ... the kids had an absolute blast ... running from one thing to another ...

Schuyler actually road the horse 4 times ... we bought one ticket ... she traded her hayride ticket for another horse ride and then Danielle and Sophia decided not to ride the horse so she used their tickets as well ... she absolutely loved it ... during one of the rides she proclaimed, "Mommy I want a horse!!!" ... of course she does ...

Part way through the day she stopped answering to Schuyler and when I asked her why she said, "My new name is Mrs. Plots" ... we still can't figure out why but she responded to that for the next hour and a half ... it was quite funny when she tried to explain that was her name ...

The group had such a great time that I think we are going to start planning something once a month to go and do ... all the kids love being together and all the parents had fun hanging out ...

Making Friends

Lately I have been working hard at pushing myself to get out there ... to make new friends ... to make friends with other families ... and to do more things ... this whole family is very happy to stay in our house and just spend time with each other ... but I know that it is good for us to get out there ...

So we have started making play dates ... and family outings with other families ... and it is good ... we already have tickets for next month to see Go Dog Go at Adventure Theater ... and this Saturday we are going to a big farm to get pumpkins with 3 other families ...

It may be changing how I have been doing stuff for several years now ... but I am going to work hard and make it happen ... I think everyone in this family needs this ...

Our Shenandoah Trip

This is a long post about our weekend away ... with just a sampling of my favorite photos from all the ones I took ... I'm almost finished with the video montage of the trip which has more photos and some funny videos ...

We set out for our big weekend away at 9:30 (that is after getting coffee of course) ... so we did fairly well ... we put Lincoln's big car seat in the car which he was thrilled about (he never ever really liked the infant seat) and we hooked up Skye's movie player to the seat in front of her and she got a new movie for the trip ... Mickey Mouse Playhouse in Wonderland ... I also remembered to bring headphones which schwoooo for that one ... she watched the movie the entire trip ... never changed the DVD ... we only had a 2 hour car trip and all in all we had a great time on the road ...

When we got to the caverns we had planned to visit I decided it wasn't the right one ... it was deserted and very cheesy looking ... just didn't feel like it was going to be good ... and we saw tons of signs for Luray Caverns and I had seen commercials for the place before ... so we looked up the address on the Pre (have I mentioned before I am in LOVE with this phone) and plugged it into the GPS ...

Once we got there everyone was a bit hungry and needed a bit of a break ...

After lunch we headed into the Cavern ... and it was AMAZING ... a little tough getting down all the stairs with a stroller and an excited 3 year old but we made it without any stumbles or falls ... Skye was worried it would be really dark down there so we got her a head lamp and she was way excited to get that puppy on ... let me tell you it was a big hit with everyone down there ... she got so many comments about how cute it was and what a great idea and not once did anyone get annoyed that she was shinning that thing right in their eyes ...

The formations were gorgeous ... Skye thought it looked like a cave from Dragon Tails ... and she oohhhed and aahhhed the whole way through ... so did David and myself ... even Lincoln stayed awake the whole time craning his neck to get a look at everything ...

We stopped for a quick push-up break when we got out of the caverns ... and to get a look at the garden maze we were about to enter ... it looked amazing from up above and we couldn't wait to get inside ...

The maze was so cool ... there were cute butterfly and bee wind socks that spun around ... and misters all over the maze ... tons of dead ends ... and 4 stamp stations ... I think that was Skye's favorite part because she got to stamp her card herself ... so each time we would finally find one she ran to stamp her card ... we did pretty good ... and no one got frustrated even though it could easily happen ... and the secret message from all of Skye's stamps ... "Mazes Around The World" ...

After the maze it was time to head to our hotel ... Skye has stayed in a hotel before but doesn't remember at all ... she thought it was so cool that it was "her home for tonight" ... she checked everything out and was excited to find out there was a playground right outside our room ... after a bit of rest we decided to take a drive around town and through the countryside ... saw lots of farms and the most amazing full moon ever ...

After our drive we wound up back at our hotel at the Johnny Appleseed restaurant ... Saturday night was Prime Rib night and David can't miss that ... he got the biggest piece of prime rib ... even the waitress was impressed with the weight of the plate ... Skye was just excited to get some strawberry ice cream as a vacation treat ...

Once back in the room we all just hung out having fun ... lots of tickling going on ... movies to watch ... snuggling ... it was awesome ... everyone was just so happy to be together ... hanging out ... new scenery ... it just rocked ...

I loved seeing Linc and Skye hanging out together in the morning while I got everything together ... they are going to have such a great time when he is finally big enough to play with her ...

After a quick breakfast at Burger King (where they had what I can only say was a 3 story play land area with the longest slide) ... we hit the road to drive through the Shenandoah National Park ... we were really hoping the trees would have changed more and that fall was more apparent ... but regardless it was gorgeous ... the drive was wonderful and peaceful and beautiful ... you can't go over 35 MPH while on Skyline drive so it was just a nice relaxing Sunday drive ... we stopped at several of the lookout points and the view just takes your breath away ...

After our drive through the park we all got situated again for our ride home ... several times on the way home Skye would just proclaim, "I had a good time!!" ... which made me so happy to hear ...

I did post to the blog from my phone on Sunday morning ... I am going to start planning these little trips more often ... it is good for all of us to get out and do something different and fun ...

Mini Vaca

So I finally caught up on my blog posts ... it has become a horrible habit writing a little something when I take a photo and then saving it as a draft ... to come back to later when I have downloaded the photos ... but I keep doing it ... I'm just happy I am caught up because in about an hour we are leaving on our mini vaca to Shenandoah Valley, VA ...

First off we are going to the Shenandoah Caverns ... which also have an Americana Museum that holds floats and other things from parades and inaugurations ... there is a Main Street USA with shops and a cafe that has an original 1957 soda fountain and of course the caverns which we are all excited about ... David and Schuyler even got head lamps to wear ...

We are also going to travel through the national park to see the changing of the seasons ... everyone is very excited to see the leaves changing colors and feel the cooler air ...

Although at this moment I am wondering because I have been up for 2 hours already (after only 4 hours of sleep) and I have yet been able to wake anyone else up ...

Long LONG Weekend

So this has been a long long-weekend ... to say the least ... and I still have one more day off ...

Wednesday I got a call from the school that Skye had a sore in her mouth and that they sent an infant home with hand/foot/mouth disease ... there was no cross over between the 3's and the infants but Skye and another girl in the class were complaining their mouths hurt ... so off I went to pick her up ...

I made a doctor's appointment for first thing Thursday morning with the doctor we love (so glad about that) ... Skye was in OK spirits Wednesday night but would complain here and there about the bumps in her mouth ...

So Thursday morning we headed to the doctor ... including Lincoln ... he was coming to work with me and I figured the doc could have a peek in his mouth too to make sure he doesn't have something ... Dr. K checked out Skye's "bumps" and said it wasn't hand/foot/mouth ... it was cold sores and since we caught it so fast he could prescribe medicine (ahhh a doc not anti-medicine - love it) ... but he said her throat was red ... then he checked Linc to see how his mouth and throat were ... he has been rather inconsolable at night ... turns out his throat was redder than hers ... so it was throat cultures for both of them ...

You get the results in 6 minutes at our doctor (love love love this) ... turns out his was negative ... even after 2 more days and Skye was saddled with strep and cold sores ... poor thing ... so we filled the perscriptions and even though she wasn't feeling great headed to work ... my dad was the only one in the office and needed a bit of help and I had a couple of things that had to get done since everyone else was out ...

We lasted about 4 hours and headed home ... everyone was crying (well not me but I felt like it) ... I decided I was staying home with Skye on Friday and my mom was going to watch Lincoln ... keep them apart as much as possible so he didn't get sick ... and it gave Schuyler all my attention for the day ...

Friday she took naps and we hung out in my bed while I worked ... it was great ... and despite how horrible I knew she was feeling she was a trooper ...

By Saturday she said she was feeling better but I suspect it was because she was invited to her "best friend" Sophia's birthday party ... it wasn't until 4 so I told her if she took all her medicine and rested she could go ... but by 1 she wasn't feeling good and wanted to stay in bed ... and she wasn't the only one ... I picked Lincoln up ... kissed him on his forehead and knew instantly he had a temp of 101 ... which he did ...

It is now Sunday night and his temp has been either 99 or 100 since then ... Tylenol isn't doing much for him ... and his gums are bright red and swollen ... so he is either teething big time ... or teething and fighting off a virus ... I'm betting on the latter ...

Schuyler was much better today ... ate a little more ... drank a little more ... and wanted to blow lots of bubbles outside ... hopefully with the extra day of rest tomorrow we all will be feeling in tip top shape come Tuesday morning ...

A worn out tired care-giving mommy can dream can't she ... ??

Rock Band

So we have our own Rock Band now ... and it is the favorite family activity lately ... Skye wants to do it every night ... once we move it downstairs it will be even better ... more room to really rock out ... but I gotta say for a 3 year old she is doing really well ... and even David and I are getting better with every jam session ...

Rock Band 8/29/09

Cupcake Decorating

So we all got together at my parents house to celebrate my mom's birthday ... I figured it was much easier to transport cupcakes that weren't decorated so the first thing the girls did was decorate Grandmommy's cupcakes ... it was a perfect activity that they literally dove into with both hands ... and Ellie and Skye were just adorable to watch ...

Since Abby is still too little to enter the decorating world she spent her time wandering the house and giggling at Lincoln ... she just loves him and it is so cute watching her around him ...

And of course Grandmommy loved having help from two of her granddaughters when it was time to blow out the candles ...

It was a very fun birthday party ... and the cupcakes were extra special since the girls decorated them ... I think it made them taste better ... and I know Ellie and Skye would agree with that!!

Independance Day

Having your anniversary on such a fun national holiday has its advantages and disadvantages ... we'd never want to go out and do something just the two of us because it is a fun family holiday (considered the disadvantage - but of course we could also go out the day before or after)

The advantage is we get to spend it with our family having a good time and being with the people who were there when we got married make it extra special ...

So like we have done every year (except 2004 when we actually got married) we went to my parents house to cook out ... hang out ... and see fireworks ... (although this year the trees were just too big to see them from DC so we watched them on TV)

We had some great food ... hanging out ... lots of giggles ... Granddaddy feeding Lincoln ... Schuyler modeling her new favorite hat and glasses ... and really can it be a bad day if you pass out with a lollipop in your hand? ... I think that is proof of a wonderful day ...