Vacation 2013

While we were gone the kids had a great time playing with their grandparents and their cousins. All these pictures were taken before we left and after we got back.  It was fun to watch the kids play together with the family they don't see very much.

Maine 2013

We left the kids with Gramma and Grandpa for 2 days and took off for Maine by ourselves.  Due so some family situations and a lot of rain, we were only gone for 2 days instead of 3 but we had a great time.

We hiked in 3 parks, shopped everywhere and Daddy even got to body surf in the cold New Hampshire water.
We spent our 1st day driving and then shopping in Kittery and Freeport. There is a LOT of outlets between those 2 places.   We had dinner at the wharf in Freeport, this is what it looked like outside.  I didn't mind too much, I got my lobster and corn on the cob.

After dinner we hiked about a mile at Wolf's Neck Woods.  This was an evening hike and we had the entire park to ourselves.  Probably due to the fact that is was foggy, cold and starting to rain. This was a small park, but had lots of picnic areas and some hiking along the coast. I didn't  get any pictures of this hike, but I would love to go back when it wasn't foggy.

 We camped at Bradley Mountain state park and then started a 2+ mile hike there in the morning.  Again, we had the park mostly to ourselves.

 There is supposed to be a great view from the top. Guess what we could see?

 FOG, lots of fog.

 Hike #3 was Vaughn Woods state park.  This was a great little 2 mile hike along the Salmon Falls River.  Had it been a little warmer we might have gone swimming in the river.  This hike was through an old Hemlock forest and was very pretty. Again, we only ever saw 3 other people the entire hike.

We decided to drive South along the coast and check out the New Hampshire coast. Of course we ran into the USS Albacore and had to stop and check that out.

I will admit, it was pretty cool. 

Then we continued down the coast stopping whenever we wanted along the road to check out tide pools and beaches. 

Next up was  Jenness State Beach in NH, it had the best surfing we found. The weather was actually not horrible, so Daddy went for a swim and did some great body surfing in the cold clear water. I went for a walk along the beach and when I reached the end of the beach and turned around, I saw this.  Yep, more rain and thunderstorms.....

Despite the rain and the cold, we had a great time with just the 2 of us. 

Daddy can sew

Over the last few years I have been teaching Daddy how to use my sewing machine.  He is finally learning to do stuff without help. Since he is a den leader at scout camp he needed a den flag. Since his den is the "Blue Whales"  He created this all on his own without any help.  I was proud of him.  It is not very pretty if you look up close at the stitches, but it works and will last at least a week of camp.

It is made from an old curtain ripped in half and re-sewn in the shape and then he machine appliqued a denim whale on it.  He even made 2 sleeves on top and the side for the pole. It is identical on both sides,  so that was 2 whales he sewed on.

My sister loves this picture.  "Of course I will hold the flag while you take a picture, just let me keep reading my book."

July 4th Parade

We spent the holiday weekend at home and it was wonderful and quiet.  However, we did head out at night to the Annapolis parade and fireworks.   The kids loved the parade and getting candy from the floats.

Scout was fascinated by all the fire trucks and kept pointing at them from my lap.

 The kids were in the front row waiting for candy

 He finally got a better view.

 Then we headed over to the fireworks and watched those with some friends.

 Scout was completely scared and spent the entire fireworks curled up on my lap.

Visionary Museum again

I took the kids to my favorite museum in Baltimore, The American Art Visionary Museum.  We had a blast checking out the new exhibits and the fairy houses.   The kids didn't want to be in my pictures, but they loved the fart machine and the gift store and the man made out of electrical wire.  It is such a fun and wacky museum.

Growing Family

We took a vacation and got to see my family, which I love to do. We usually go at Christmas, but this year we went during the summer too.  The last time we were there in the summer was in 2008. This picture was taken then.

Now in 2013, 5 years later on the same steps and adding one more kid.

The kids are now swimming, lacrosse playing big kids, not a bunch of little toddlers. However, I think it was even harder to get them all looking in the same direction and not making faces.  This is the best pictures of the bunch and still you can see some mischief there.  I love it.

Growing up and re-arranging

Buddy asked last week to move Scout into his bedroom.  We have been planning to do this when school started, but decided to do it early since when Buddy is excited about something on his timeline he is much more understanding and willing to help.

So now the girls each have their own room and the boys are back together again.  However this time it is finally time to put away some of the baby stuff.  It was strange to realize how long some of this stuff has been around.  I might miss the baby stage.

This was a gift we received when Buddy was born and it has been hanging in over the crib ever since.  I took it down to put away, but then Munchkin decided she wanted it so it went up in her room for a while.

 My mom and I made this diaper hanger and organizer when Princess was born for her nursery, it is completely faded and starting to fall apart. It has hung over the changing table in 4 different houses.  It was time for it to come down, but I kind of miss it already.  We kept the frog hangers on the wall for Princess to use. My sister gave those to me and they match the frog curtains in that room.

 Now this room has lots of room for kids to play Uno on the floor.

Munchkin now has her own room, and wanted her bed angled so she has her own little hiding place.

 The boys room is huge, but now has lots of furniture in it.  The room arrangement was not my choice, but since it is their room, I let them decide.  They love it. Even if it drives me crazy.  Hopefully Scout will be potty trained soon so at least then we can get rid of the diaper pail in that room.

 Scout loves sleeping without rails and sleeping with his brother in the "Big Boy" room.

Now we just need to get the boys used to sleeping in the same room again.  Right now it takes them a LONG time to settle in and go to sleep at night.