A few pictures of spring. We've been lucky to have a longer spring than normal. Usually- it's two weeks of sixties and seventies then jumps to the nineties by the first of May. Don't get me wrong though, I'll take it over the poor Minnesotans who will be getting snow this weekend!
Catalina and Maverick are blessed with having great grandparents on both sides, who spoil them to death, just as it should be. TJ's mom and dad spoil us too. Every so often the kids go up and visit TJ's parent's in Richmond for a couple of days. This last time, they went up for a whole week! The kids didn't stop talking about for days after coming back...riding the choo-choo train (Amtrak), making cookies and going to the park.
Mommy and Daddy were thrilled to! We took the opportunity for a weekend away and went to Wilmington, NC for the weekend. It's a big film town, college town and historic town. We stayed in a great b&b (Verandahs) and got to sleep past 7:00AM!!! Also, I got to read a book..For.A.Whole.Hour! We also did our requisite Segway tour. Ok, don't laugh, they're REALLY fun. Stop laughing! Ahhh...time away...there's nothing like it. It makes it all that much sweeter when the kids come home.
Happy New Year to all. We haven't made any resolutions in our house. We think it's bad luck. But, we did start the year off with a bang. Just like last year, we rented a cabin in the mountains near Asheville for a few days. This time, we took my parents. Unfortunately, it was too cold to do much...seriously, zero degrees. That is NOT why I live in NC. If I wanted that kind of weather, I'd move back to Kansas. My poor delicate Southern skin just can't handle it anymore. Give me 96 degrees any day. We had a good time anyway. We toured the Biltmore's gingerbread house competition and decorated trees. And, went to the kids' museum there which I think TJ and I like more than the kids.
Oh yes, and of course, we ate. And ate. Thank goodness I won a Nintendo Wii Fit from work before the holidays or I'd have gained 20 lbs. over the holidays. The Wii has provided us and the kids with lots of entertainment through the bad weather we've been having. They love to 'do jogging' and 'play yoga'. What's sad is they actually beat my dad on the the jogging game...that would be my dad the triathlete. It's hilarious. We've also found the boxing game to be a new key to marital happiness. Angry? Just beat the living hell out of each other in Wii boxing and all is well.
Finally, an update. Christmas has come and gone, but some of you haven't seen pictures. We did have a great holiday. The kids' favorite gifts were the letter peg board from Tia and Tio (Briana and Damian), the workbench from Grandma and Grandpa, the watches from Nana and Grandpa and the handmade blankets from Mommy. As usual they were completely spoiled. Next Christmas...only College fund donations!
We spent Christmas eve, as tradition with my parents, Briana and her husband Damian...they've been married since June but it's still weird to see my sister married. And then Christmas morning, we did stockings with them and ate homemade donuts. Then, we went and saw Sherlock Holmes...it was AWESOME! I love Sir AC anyway but then to put in Jude Law and Rober D Jr was magic.
Halloween is so much more fun this year because the kids kind of got what was going on. The knew they would dress up and get candy- but really, what else do you need to know about Halloween? That morning, we went for a hike- it was incredibly beautiful weather- 70 degrees where the kids got filthy playing around the lake. We love going on hikes b/c it provides so many opportunities for them to learn observation, search and problem solving skills. We always ask them to find things along the trail like "find the pink mushroom" or " How many black rocks are there?".
Then we went home and got ready for trick or treating. I made the kids pirate costumes and TJ converted their wagon into a pirate ship. They really did like trick or treating except for going past the really 'done up' house in the neighborhood. Maverick took one look and started screaming. Catalina on the other hand LOVED it, even the man in the massacre mask. She is truly my daughter. I try not to fantasize about my kids' lives to come as I don't want to have any expectations of them other than to do their best and be good citizens. However, now I have these images of her and I going to scary movies and haunted houses together *sigh*. After trick or treating we came back and I made dinner for us and my folks- I love doing a Haloween dinner. The picture up there is of my 'pumpkin puke' dip. Really 7-layer dip. I just can't wait until next year.
October is our FAVORITE month. We have the State Fair, nice hiking weather and Halloween- what could be better? We braved the fair this year even with the H1N1 threat. To be a little safer we went early on Sunday morning and it was pretty empty. We only went on one ride- the Ferris Wheel only b/c the rides are such a rip off. We generally like doing other stuff like seeing the freakish vegetables, the animals and crafts and such. Then we went to our local Farmer's Market and picked out pumpkins for Halloween. As you can see, M&C had theirs all picked out but Mommy's back and wallet directed them to ones a bit smaller. When we carved the pumpkins Mav absolutely hated getting the squishy innards out so Lina had to help out in that department.
It's getting cold now so that ends our camping season, especially after this one. The forecast was to be cool but OK- cool to us Southerners is 50 degrees at night, 60 during the day. So, we pack up the tent and other odds and ends and head to a town about an hour from the house. Packing for car camping with two toddlers isn't exactly a light job even for us- the people who brought a total of two pilot cases to the week long pick up trip to Guatemala.
We spent the rest of the day at the campground- playing on their playground, walking around their pond and drinking hot chocolate. Then, time to go to bed...holy crap, it got COLD! We ended up sleeping in our clothes with coats on- the kids even had an extra layer on top of that. It was ok as long as we didn't move. If we moved, the cold air would seep in and we'd automatically wake up. The kids didn't wake up at all- but TJ and I were awfully tired the next day- I'd brought some oatmeal to make for breakfast, but NO WAY I was cooking outside- so we got in the car and headed over to IHOP to eat inside! The radio said it was 34 degrees- it felt like 20. Anyway, once we warmed up we were ready to tackle the zoo. We LOVE going to the zoo when it's colde. In fact, that's the only time we go. There's nobody there, it's not sweltering and the animals are way more active in the fall/winter. Just think- if you were a 250 lb. lion with a fur coat on, or a polar bear, would you be up and around in July? I don't think so. My favorite is the polar bear, the kids favorite is the zebras/giraffes and TJ's fav is the otter. Luckily, we were able to see all of them up and busy.