R develops her photography skills at GiGi and PopPop's House

We went to Connecticut this weekend to visit J's side of the family and had an AMAZING time. The first thing we did was head straight to GiGi and PopPop's house, where we had takeout lunch from Paul's. We just hung out and relaxed--RUS enjoyed picking up all of GiGi's delicate lighthouse decorations while we continuously told him "no, don't touch that!" and tried to distract him with plastic dinosaurs and duplo blocks. Too bad he's too smart for that kind of foolery.

Then we went outside to let the kids just run around. Well, outside, all RUS wanted to do was run into PopPop's shed, which is full of power tools and other lovely things that almost-two-year-olds cannot play with. We finally tried to corral the kids into a photo session. Only, R wanted to take the pictures. Here's her first attempt--it's actually really good, isn't it???

Here's her second attempt. Still! Not too bad!
Then I took the camera away and took a few pictures myself, including the one at the top of this post and this lovely one of GiGi, R, and PopPop making silly faces.

Everything is Out of Order This Month

But I'm posting what I feel like when I feel like it . . . here are some more photos, this time from our Japan trip. Remember that Friday 15 October was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day? Well, on Friday 15 October we -- me, J, Grandma, Grandpa, Geg, Local Hero, Local Heroine, A, M, and Local Heroine's parents -- were all at the shrine where Local Hero and Local Heroine were going to get married. They had a wedding run-through and had to go over some paperwork and review plans etc.
While we were walking around the grounds, we happened upon this area here. I noticed the stuffed animals and bottles of milk and formula on a shelf and asked Local Heroine what it was about. Turns out it was a prayer area for babies who have died, and you could pay 100 yen and light a candle and burn some incense and pray for their souls to go on up to heaven (or wherever). So we lit a candle, burnt some incense, and all stood and prayed for baby Alex and Surf and Cali and Little T.

Dutch Wonderland, Part II

After we got rained out during our last trip to Dutch Wonderland, we got free rain tickets to use at a later date, so we decided to take the kids and go last Saturday. It was a GREAT time, and I actually managed to get pictures of the kids with the Amish people. (You can look through the windows of the house and see scenes of life inside the Amish house. I actually really liked the decor and would totally decorate my house Amish-style if I could.)

Anyway, R and RUS had a great time. R, especially. We got there early enough to meet the princess, prince, and Duke the dinosaur. Last time R saw them but was not into going up and meeting them. This time, she insisted on hugging and high-fiving Duke each time she saw him, and she spoke with the princess on two separate occasions.
Towards the end of our time there (we left shortly after lunch), R and I got in line for the log ride and I asked her what her favorite ride was. Quite diplomatically, she said, "All of them are my favorite." But when push came to shove, this ride--the Tilt-o-Whirl--was the one she wanted to go on again and again and again. She rode it at least four times in a row, until J had to call it quits because he's got a sensitive stomach for rides like this! I was holding RUS, who was sleeping, otherwise I would have gone on it a few more times with her.
Here's our little Dutch Wonderland Prince and Princess! Ever since her trip to the apple orchard with Grammie and Grampie (pictures from that are coming in another post yet to be finalized) two weeks ago, she's had a great time sticking her head through every available picture-posing cut out thing.
This ride is hilarious. One "big person" can ride the ride with the kids, and J volunteered. The ride goes up and down, like a frog hopping, and it was really funny to see J sitting alongside all these other kids riding the thing.
This is one of the few rides R can do by herself, and even though J was all prepared to ride it with her, she insisted she wanted to do it by herself, so there she is, driving her own monster truck in the monster truck train.
The pictures are all out of sequence--this is actually the first ride she went on, and the park was not crowded yet at all, so she was the only person on the ride. It was so cute watching her fly around. J and I kept trying to get her attention so we could get a picture, but she was mostly ignoring us until J finally got this really good shot.

Something Else From Dutch Wonderland

We stopped in the Dutch Wonderland cafeteria before heading out to the car to eat our packed lunch because it was air conditioned--the day we went it was SO hot all of us were just melting in the heat. While in there, R spotted this machine and started goofing off with it, and J decided to give the thing a shot. As a kid I remember never ever, not once, winning something from one of these machines but always wanting to try (not that I ever tried very often--I can't even remember doing them, really, just that they were everywhere). Anyway, they went for it. J controlled the thing but let R push the button to decide when the dinosaur's mouth would drop.

She ended up winning not just ONE, but TWO plastic dinosaurs. They were her favorite toys on the way home and I've actually been pleasantly surprised with how much she's enjoyed playing with them since then.

Jam-Packed Trip to Ohio

Whew. It's been a really really busy few weeks for us. We got back two days ago from a whirlwind trip to Ohio. We spent one night visiting one of my best friends from college. She has a son who is 3 months older than RUS. We even dressed them in matching outfits! That was a total coincidence, though. RUS got the outfit from J's grandmother & great-aunt back in June, and when I dressed him in it, D mentioned that her son had the same outfit. I took more pleasure than I ever expected I would at seeing them in matching clothes.
Here's us! I'm impressed that J got a shot where everyone was looking at the camera. R has been VERY camera-shy lately--she insists she doesn't want any pictures taken, or she looks very grumpy at the camera pointed at her--so it's been hard to get pictures with her in them.
After leaving D's house, we drove to my grandmother's house for her birthday bash. Here she is with both kids--you can just see how thrilled R is at having her picture taken. Thank goodness for my Aunt C who really got R to open up and start enjoying herself. I think she was a little intimidated by all the strange adults she didn't know. But she remembered Aunt C as we've spent time at her house several times before when R has just had a blast running around and playing jack-in-the-box. So they wandered around my grandparents' property and pretty soon Aunt C had R talking about the balloons and feeding everybody different flavored balloons.
My grandma also has tons of baby and kid toys that she's saved from when we were kids--someone dug up this little wooden rocking horse that might have been Local Hero's when he was a baby and RUS looked so cute riding on it. He is such an easy-going baby that he just loved being passed around and held by anyone who wanted to hold him. I'm frankly surprised we haven't experienced any separation anxiety with him at all yet.
Then we drove to my parents' house and stayed for 1 day before heading back to Delaware. We had no agenda for the day other than spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Geg. My mom got so many smiley pictures of RUS, it was awesome. I'm still trying to get one that's really good of his one little tooth. I call it his pirate tooth because he looks like an old toothless pirate when he smiles really big. I've even started trying to figure out if I can wrangle a pirate costume for him for Halloween!
We went to a delicious thai restaurant to celebrate my birthday and then had cupcakes back at home. R was really tired as she didn't nap, which is why she looks thrilled to be having cupcakes in this picture.
We left the next morning to head back and while we were running around getting everything in the car (well, while J was loading the car and I was packing up my stuff) RUS fell asleep on Grandpa. I couldn't resist taking this picture.
The drive home was really really good: we are really lucky to have kids who do well in the car for long drives. R spent most of the drive--there AND back--reading this Dora book over and over again with her LeapFrog Tag Reader. I have the story memorized. And all the activities. So does R. It still is so crazy to me that she wanted to read that book over and over and over and over again. I honestly don't get it: what is it about Dora that is so captivating and addictive? At any rate, it was great to have something that kept her really focused and entertained for so long.

Dutch Wonderland 2010

There is an amusement park about an hour from us that is geared towards young children R's age, so when a bunch of women from a message board I frequent all decided to go, J and I took R and joined them. (Grammie and Grampie watched RUS for us). It was a GREAT time, up until the torrential rains started. It was seriously a monsoon-- we got completely soaked, like to the bone running from the bathrooms to an awning. We tried to wait the rain out a bit but it just POURED, although I was glad we waited through what seemed to be the worst of it before driving home in one of the biggest storms all summer.

Anyway, R loved all the rides and couldn't wait to keep going on more. Because it rained we got rain tickets and will try to go back sometime in August.
This bulldozer ride was the first one she went on. It was really funny because the little girl she sat next to wasn't pushing her joystick thing, so R kept trying to pick up her hand and tell her to control it.
This was a little schoolhouse equipped with a chalkboard wall and chalk and erasers. R and this little girl had a great time drawing circles and then erasing them-- we had to pull her away!
It's funny but it seems like every children's museum or zoo we've been to lately has involved a cow that kids can "milk". All the kids were crowded around this gently competing for chances to milk water into the bucket.

Then this train ride was one of the last rides she went on and she was already getting really tired. She looks plumb tuckered in this, but of course once she got off the first thing she said was, "I want to go on another ride!"

**I started this post shortly after the trip but it took me several weeks to actually get pictures added and post it on the site. It's now August 7th and I just have to add that we drive past Dutch Wonderland on our way to Ohio and both times R squealed in delight, "The musement park! There's the musement park!" She talks about it every now and again, and we saved the park map and she pulls that out and uses it to have adventures with her Yellow Crystal Princess Dora doll.

North Carolina Beach Vacation

I am always excited to have a reason to go to the beach. But even more excited when that reason involves a wedding! My friend Debbie got married to a wonderful guy on the beach in North Carolina, and J and I took the whole family. My parents even came along which was EXCELLENT because then J and I could go to the wedding without the kids and not have to cut our evening short.This picture of Rosemary and my dad should give you an idea of just how much R LOVED the beach. This beach was absolutely awesome--the sand was wonderful and the water was amazing. So clear and clean, and the waves were tons and tons of fun. It was so much fun, in fact, that I did not take nearly enough pictures.

We saw lots of marine life, too--a sting ray, tons of little fish, a big crab, and of course little sand crabs and other small critters living in the sand.

We arrived on a Thursday and had Friday and Saturday as full days at the beach. We made the most of our time there, spending several hours each morning out by the water, coming in to get lunch out, and then going back out at least once in the afternoon. We also took morning walks out on the sand--this was one of them. The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there. Warm enough to enjoy the water and the ocean, but not so blazing hot you were uncomfortable being outside.
We even saw a rainbow!
The wedding was gorgeous. My friend H (the one who has given R and RUS camel shirts, and who is responsible for the kids "THAIBOXING"!) was one of the bridesmaids. I thought the dresses were so beautiful, and I loved how vibrant the flowers were against the dresses. Perfect colors for a beach wedding, aren't they?
Here we are at lunch one day. I love this picture of all of us.
It was such a great vacation. Definitely well-worth the 12-hour drive there and back--we're even talking about possibly trying to recruit my brothers and get everyone out there for a family vacation out there. We'll see, though, as word is that Local Hero will be spending the next three years in Hawaii, which is also right up there on the list of "Excellent Vacation Spots."

Longwood Gardens

We'd been meaning to visit Longwood Gardens for ages. We finally went a couple weekends ago. It was totally awesome and exceeded all of our expectations. We didn't even explore half of it during this visit--we are definitely planning on going back, and hopefully soon!

R especially loved the topiaries
the trainsand the indoor children's garden.

We can't wait to take her again. If you live anywhere in the vicinity, this is an amazing place to take children and just to be outside, walk around, and enjoy a beautiful day.

Meanwhile, in New England. . .

Yesterday we dropped S off in Massachusetts for a week long writing workshop. It was a very nice day and we were all glad to take a break from driving and spend some time with JW, C, and Little Frog along the way. After a delicious meal we found a little green spot to frolic and take pictures. The girls got along great!





R and I returned to Grammie and Grampy's to stay the week. Today was another nice day and Grammie and I brought R to the park where she climbed up to some slides, cooked wood chip cupcakes with some new friends, and got a little wet with the sprinkler. After that, she was ready for a long nap. We'll see what other adventures await for the rest of our stay.

A zoo list

Sorry, no pictures for this post-- J and I have been very lax about pulling out the camera the last few weeks. It even disappeared for awhile (it was in a pocket in the stroller) and we couldn't find it for about a week, not that we looked terribly hard for it.

Anyway, this weekend Grandma and Grandpa visited and we went to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was excellent. The displays were great, and you really could see the animals up close. And we must've gone on a good day since all the animals were moving around and having fun and doing different things while we were there so it was definitely interesting.

Here's our list of the three grossest things we saw while we were there.

1. One of the two giraffes started following the other one around. Then the one in front stopped and peed and the one behind looked like it was drinking the pee as it was coming out.

2. A keeper was raking up what looked like ostrich poop and putting it into a wheelbarrow. Then the ostriches walked over to the wheelbarrow and started picking at it with their beaks.

3. At the gorilla display, a really cute gorilla walked over to the glass window where a bunch of kids were watching and leaned against it all casual-like, and then proceeded to slowly pick her nose and spend time examining her finger afterwards.

Hiking

This past weekend, we walked one of the trails at a park near our house. So fun! We're definitely taking Grammie and Grampie when they come visit this weekend, as long as the weather cooperates.

Grandma and Grandpa's First Visit to Town

My parents came to visit this weekend. Some highlights of their visit:

We took R to another orchard. It was a lot more crowded than the first one so we didn't let her run around at all. My dad and I got caramel apples, mmm!
My parents and I turned into witches.
My mom and I picked out some awesome--awesome-- cupcakes from this adorably cute little shop downtown and enjoyed them for dessert on Sunday.R wore a brand-new outfit and had fun putting rings on her feet.