Road Tripping

Apparently, my mom and I are gluttons for punishment, so last week, we decided to drive to Moline, IL with the girls to visit my great-aunt, among other people. It's a 16 hour drive, and we did entertain the notion of flying, but have you seen plane ticket prices recently? Ugh. The girls did really well on our trip to Pittsburgh, so we decided to see how far we could get them.

We started out Thursday afternoon, hoping they'd nap, and rolled merrily along until dinner time. We learned that Ela travels a lot like this:

And Lily travels a lot like this:

We stopped for dinner that night and then rolled on until we ran out of steam. The next day, we got up with the girls, and continued. We stopped in Effingham to visit one of Mom's cousins, which was a lot of fun. Then it was back in the car and we arrived in Moline in time to have a nice dinner with Aunt Margaret and my dad, who was in the city on business.

Saturday, we had a very fun day. We went swimming at the pool in the morning, then we went out for lunch at a lovely place owned by a friend of ours called Lagomarcino's. We got lucky and our friend was there, so we had a nice chat, too.

We had a little time, so we went down to the John Deere Pavilion to see the tractors, and instead we hit the jackpot. John Deere is celebrating it's 175th year, and they were having a "Farm Day", complete with animals...

...some of which wanted to eat the girls's skirts. But really, it was the very best petting zoo I've ever seen.

There were also games. Ela is still talking about milking a cow.

It was super fun.

After another lovely visit with some old friends, we headed back to my aunt's for another lovely dinner. The next day we went to see one more friend, had lunch with my aunt, and headed back onto the road. We drove until we hit Lawrenceville, where we stopped to visit Zack's Aunt, Uncle and cousins and have a quick dinner. Here are the girls with their second cousins. 

It was quick, but nice. We drove again until Lily ran out of steam, woke up a from a dead sleep and screamed until we stopped the car. So now we know exactly how far she can go before she's done. And it's really freakin far for a fourteen month old.

We had breakfast Monday morning with one more friend, and then it was back on the road for the day. We managed to make it to Winston in time to celebrate Zack's Dad's birthday with him and have another lovely dinner.

The girls liked the ice cream the best. After dinner it was a short drive home.   The whole trip went really fast, and we were busy non-stop.  It was actually a very good time.  I was really glad we could see so many people in such a short time.  And I'm also really glad the girls travel well.  I suspect it will come in very handy in the next several years. 

Fun with the Grandparents

Over the last few weeks, the girls and I have been spending some time with their grandparents. It's been a lot of fun for all of us.
First, we got to go to a picnic at John Deere, where my dad works, to celebrate its 175th anniversary.  It was quite a big to do. There was ice cream, crafts, bouncy toys, face painting, or knee painting in Lily's case...

...and of course lots of tractors and mowers to play on. Ela has read a book about "Allie Gator" about a millions times, so she was especially excited about meeting Allie.  But she was happy to climb on anything that might move.  I'm so proud that I have a girl who likes tractors (and trains). 

The surprise high point of the picnic, though, turned out to be a bouncy slide. This thing was super tall, and looked scary to me, but Ela really wanted to try it (having been scared out of the regular bouncy toys by the fact that she could barely stay standing in them).  Convinced that I would have to retrieve her, I decided to let her go and watched as she climbed the ladder to the top of the slide.  When she got up, she was hanging out as far from the edge of the slide as possible.  I braced myself for my own trip to the top, then called to her to come down the slide.  To my great surprise, she threw on a big grin, and dove down...

Several trips later, she was still making the face of terror and giggling like a maniac. So I guess I have a future roller coaster rider on my hands.
A few days after the picnic, we headed up to Winston Salem for a visit with Zack's folks.  It was warm and a very short visit, so we kept it low key.  Ela's favorite part was a trip to the pool.  We tried to convince her to go to the indoor one, but she really wanted to come to the neighborhood outdoor one, so we slathered on the sunscreen and off we went.

Lily hasn't really been in many pools, so while Ela ranged all over, gradutally getting braver, we worked on getting Lily wet without upsetting her.

I'd say we had some success. By next year, she'll be chasing her sister around.

It's really nice being in North Carolina full time.  We love that visiting family isn't such a big production just now.  We intend to make the most of it while we can!

Beach Week

Last week, the girls and I headed out to Holden Beach with my family. The older Ela gets, the more fun this gets.  This year, we had rain for the first time in a long time.  So we decided to take the kiddos to the aquarium.  Ela could have spent the whole week there. 

We managed to pull her away by reminding her of the fishing trip we also had planned.  Ela was old enough to go this year.  Thankfully, the sun came out in time for that.  Ela giggled the whole time the boat was on its way out, announcing that it "tickled her tummy", and we had a great time catching mackerel. 

Minjee was a pro at getting our fish off the hooks.  Tristan got to be the shark catcher. 

We caught two, but I only got a picture of one.

The rest of the week we devoted to the usual beach activities: playing at the pool, hanging out on the sand, and dipping our toes (fearfully for Ela, excitedly for Lily) into the ocean.

It was a very fun week for all of us.

Snow Play

Last weekend, we headed up to Virginia for what is becoming our yearly skii trip. Due to the crazy warm winter we've had, it was Lily's very first experience with snow (which the resort could barely keep on the ground). 

She was clearly unimpressed.  I think she might like it better when she's able to walk. 
Ela, on the other hand, was delighted to be back in the snow.  She remembered the "green sled" and wanted to go down the hill with Mommy first thing.  I happily obliged.   As it turned out, one trip down the sledding hill was enough for her, and then she was ready to revisit a few of her other favorite parts of the play area:

Making snowballs was her favorite part this year.  I still couldn't talk her into wearing her gloves, though.

We played for a little while, and headed home when a misty rain started falling. We met Zack back at our rooms and tried out the swimming pool. It was quite the popular place to be, since the weather was iffy for skiing. We had a good time watching Ela work up the nerve to play in the water while Lily took an extended nap.

In the evening, I got to leave the girls with their daddy and try out the tubing area, called The Plunge, with my sister, her boyfriend and Mom.  They have a hill set up with lanes for the tubes to slide down, and with the weather so warm and a whole day of tubers come and gone, it was a little icy and a super fast ride when we arrived.  We had a great time flying down the mountain. 

So it was yet another fun trip.  We're already thinking about how it will work next year.  Will Ela be old enough (or evening willing) to try skiing?  Will Lily enjoy the snow?  We can't wait to find out!

Reunion Time

Every year, my family tries to set up a weekend where we can get together and hang out somewhere. Last year, we had a super time in Pittsburgh, so we were really looking forward to this year. My mom and aunt set up a trip for us all to the mountains of West Virginia, which was a central location for all of us.   They rented some cabins, arranaged meals, and even researched some activities for us to do. 
On the first day there, Ela got to catch up with some of her second cousins. Sammy gave her a "make-over" with some help from Maddy.  I was strongly reminded of the times when my cousins would give my sister and I make overs when we were young. 

The next day, we all went out to see a bridge.  If I wasn't so busy chatting with family, I might be able to tell you all why. I know it's very high off the ground, and I can tell you that next weekend it's Bridge Weekend there, and people will be parasailing and bungee jumping off of it.  I was pretty happy to just look at it. 

We took a group picture at the bridge, but my camera seems to have gotten passed over in the hubub.  Then we split up and half of us went white water rafting (and had a blast from what I hear), while the rest of us took it easy and got a tour of a coal mine and town.  Ela loved it.

I'd have a better picture of that, but my camera battery died.  The weather was perfect all weekend long, and we spent a lot of time just catching up with family.  It was very relaxing, and a lot of fun.

A Day Trip

We've been planning to go to Gettysburg since we lived in DC. Last week, we finally managed it.   We left in the morning, and got there just in time to have a wonderful lunch down town.  Then we headed to the museum, which is new so none of us had seen it before. It was excellent. We took in their movie and cyclorama (a painting made of the battle with a narration done over it, but it's way cooler than it sounds).  Then we rushed through the museum itself to keep the kiddos happy.  Ela made a new friend.

Having gotten our history refreshed, we headed out to the fields. We drove a good bit of the auto tour while the girls slept in the back seat.  We were pressed for time, so we didn't get a chance to take nearly as many cool pictures as we could have, given the beauty of the day.

 

It was a lot of car time, but well worth it to see such a historically imporant site. 

Beach Week

Every year, my family gets together for a week on the beach. This year, my parents rented a house that not only was beach front, but also had a pool.   So here's how we spent our week:
Most mornings we spent our time by the pool.  Ela always wanted to go to the pool. when she woke up, but almost never would get in.  Note the death grip she's got on me in this shot:

She loved being near the water, though, and sat on the steps with her feet in for hours, playing with her toys.  Lily, on the other hand, was soothed by the water, as long as it wasn't too cold.  She only got in a few times, but seemed to like it when she did. 
If we weren't by the pool in the morning, we were out enjoying the perfect, post-hurricane weather.  We biked, walked the beach, hung out on the sand, or went jogging.  Those of us who managed to bike, walk/jog and swim all in one day claimed the honor of having completed our "vacation triathalon".  We took advantage of as much of the morning as we could before wandering in for a late lunch. 
After lunch, we'd put Ela down for a nap.  One of us would sit on the porch and read so she wasn't alone.  The rest of us tended to find our way out to the beach.  Things stayed quiet during the hottest part of the day, but before long Ela would be up again, and we'd all find our way out to the beach for some late afternoon games.  We played bocci ball, or just sat in the sand and tried to convince Ela that 1) the waves were not going to get her, and 2) the sand wasn't too hot to touch.  Sometimes we'd have success and Ela would play in the sand with us, or toss a ball around.  Again, Lily found the whole experience very relaxing.

In the evenings, we'd make dinner and some gormet popsicles.  When Ela started acting tired, we'd put her to bed (the clock didn't have a major role in our activities this week).  Then we'd play a card game or rock band or dominos until we were all worn out and wandered off to bed ourselves.
On our last day at the beach, we found the part that Ela enjoyed most for this year: crabbing.  Crabbing involves putting a piece of something bloody and gross (this year it was fish heads) on the end of a line and tossing it in the marshy water of the inlet, preferably at low tide.  This attracts crabs, which you lure slowly in until you can see them and catch them in a net. 

While, obviously not interested in throwing the line or standing in the murky water at the edge, Ela was fascinated by our few catches (all of whom we threw back when we were done). 

 

Ela loved watching the crabs swim frantically around the bucket and we had to keep a close watch on her to prevent her from trying to touch them.  She announced repeatedly, "Ela want to kiss crab!"  She settled for poking at them with some reeds, though. 
Obviously, I have tons more pictures, and even more good memories, from the last week.  I'll sort through them this week and may be post again with a few more.  It was an excellent vacation. 

Cherry Picking

On our last day in North Carolina, we took a trip up to an orchard and went cherry picking.    It was a lovely drive, and the view from the orchard was awesome.  The trees were covered with fruit.  They gave us buckets, pointed us in the right direction, and we got to work.  Ela had a partner to help her pick.

The brave folks climbed the ladders to get the fruit from higher up. 







Lily and I stayed firmly on the ground, though we did pick a few cherries from there.  Between us all, and not counting what we ate to keep our energy up while we were picking (yum!), we got four gallon-sized bags worth.  I have one in my freezer now, waiting for some attention from Zack, who promised to pit them if I would then make them into a cobbler.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Summer Travel Begins

Last week, we headed off to see the grandparents.  It was a very pleasant and relaxing week.  We spent a lot of time hanging around the pool. It took awhile, but Ela warmed up to the idea of being in the water for the summer.

When she wasn't in the water, she enjoyed the fact that parks in North Carolina actually have swings.

Grandma and Grandpa took the girls to see the ducks at Tanglewood Park.

And we even got to visit with some friends from high school and college. 

Now we're home again, and enjoying a little down time before July heats up again.  We had a great time. 

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend, Ela and I went to the annual Girl's Weekend hosted by my Mom for the ladies of our family. We leave our poor men at home (and often the kids, too) and hang out for a weekend. It's nice to reconnect with our family like that. There's lots of talking, eating and laughing.
This year, Mom's celebrating a big birthday (I won't say which one, just that she looks a lot younger), so we rented a beach house in Holden Beach, NC, for girl's weekend and took our show on the road. It wasn't exactly sunbathing weather, but it was nice enough to go out and get a little sun and enjoy the feeling of being at the beach, which everyone associates with vacation and relaxation. Ela wanted to "see the water" all the time.

She also learned the value of sunglasses.


It was a really nice break for me, too, because she spent a lot of time playing with her family.

Ela and her second cousin Sammy (who she called "Sandy" by the end of the weekend) were good friends all weekend long, too. I loved having the time to visit with family who I don't see nearly often enough. Also, this was my last trip out of town before the baby arrives in May, so I enjoyed the chance to get away and just relax. It was a delightful time for all of us.