East Coast Summer Tour

 

 This summer we extended our east coast tour by another week, in hopes of escaping more of the brutal Texas summer heat.  While we had great fun, I think we brought the heat with us for part of our trip. We began our trip by heading to Pennsylvania first...me, Matthew, Ellie and all of Matthew's "babies".

 In the few summers that we have been doing this trip, the kids have already made their list of "must-do's".  An old fashioned train ride in the Pennsylvania country side is at the top of Matthew's list. This year he was not as scared of the loud train whistle as he was before.

We added a visit to the Winterthur Museum Children's Garden!  This life sized bird nest began two weeks of playing "baby bird".  More "baby bird" pictures to follow.

 The Enchanted Mushroom Fairy Circle was a close second to the bird nest.  As soon as you entered the ring of mushrooms, a cloud of mist began pouring in...it only took Ellie a few minutes to find the sensor that tripped the mist machine!

 Matthew enjoyed gently fanning away the mist while perched on a mushroom.

 Next we headed down to Rehoboth Beach, DE!  This sand pit was a daily feature, and yes, needed re-digging by myself and Nana, with the "help" of Ellie and Matthew.  The kids had a ball chasing waves (bigger than our Gulf waves), building sand castles, and hunting for sand crabs.

 This is what happens after a full day at the beach.  So, sweet!

 This sweet, calm picture may have been taken only seconds before the arrival of the massive wave that Nana and I had to rescue both kids from, while accidentally throwing my Kindle into the ocean...thanks for the new one, Amazon!

 Matthew made anew best friend on this trip.  Now, that's some of the best sharing I have ever seen...both from child and cat!

 We spent a day at Sesame Place again this year, and convincd Nana to come with us!  We even convinced (tricked?) the kids into going on some of the bigger water rides.  Matthew loved them, sitting tall, waiting for the spray of water!  Ellie...was pretty mad at us for a while.

 Once we got to Grandmas house in NY, the three (Stooges) cousins were right back at it....fun and games and silliness all around!

 This time they welcomed cousin Ian into the games...I think they ate just about every meal at this little table outside.  Now that's one way to keep the crumbs to a minimum with seven kids 5 and under, in one house.

 We went to Gilbert Lake twice! Matthew is my little fish, actually swimming with the little fish :)

 Ellie, again the cautious one, preferred to stay in the shallow water where she could see her toes...I know how you feel Ellie :)

 Cousins! Friends! Even though they haven't seen each other since Christmas they picked up right where they left off.

 Ahhh...the "baby birds" return.  With nests made out of pool noodles covered by towels, this game went on for days.  They even fed each other "worms" (spaghetti).

 Ellie took a real liking to "baby Shane" who with the addition of Keegan and Sloane, is no longer the baby of the bunch.  She said she felt like a teenager, helping Shane in her new bathing suit.

Matthew in a fleece...in July.  What a wonderful opportunity to be cool for a while!  Although the kids were a little confused by the cold mornings.  They kept asking when it was going to snow! Thanks for a wonderful trip everyone!!!

Texas Bluebonnets

For five years now I have wanted to do the required Texas Bluebonnets photo shoot. That is, it's required if you have children, and live in Texas. Year after year I have ooh-ed and ahh-ed over everyone else's photos. They are all so beautiful...the children and the flowers.

The grow everywhere, on the sides of the highways, in the cow pastures, in the oil fields. The only trick is getting to them safely. I spotted a field between here and Ellie's school that had a piece of the barbed wire missing, and I knew that was our spot. As I was talking this up to the kids, here's what was really going through my mind....this is a Texas field...poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, scorpions. This was worth it, right? The pictures were going to be great!!!

I had them both by the hand, I tried to push the long grasses down ahead of me and have them walk behind me. Well...the very first thing Ellie did was step in a patch of stinging nettle....and shriek and scream uncontrollably. And what did I think? "....this is a Texas field...poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, scorpions." Fortunately it was just nettle. Yes, it did hurt, but she calmed down enough to get some slightly red eyed pictures. Poor thing. Oh, but I wanted those pictures.

Eat Your Heart Out, Eric Carle!

It is no secret to anyone that Matthew is involved in his very first love afair...with the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Eric Carle. He can recite the entire book, he has a blanket, two caterpillars, two copies of the book, Eric Carle's framed art on his wall, a quilt, curtains, a caterpillar birthday cake....and then he learned how to draw...

In the last week, his artist switch has turned on. I remember when this happened with Ellie. One day she was scribbling, and the next day she was coloring inside the lines. I thought someone else had drawn the picture for her!

I went into Matthew's room the other day and found this....

He had done this all by himself, found the tape, figured out how to cut a million little pieces, and he hung his work of art, his very own Very Hungry Caterpillar, signed by the artist. He nestled it in it's rightful place, amongst the other Eric Carle artwork. Melt my heart!!! It was so sweet that I waved the rule about not taping thing on the wall. Since then, I bought some frames and have made him his own little gallery wall in his room (without tape).

The first is of course, the very famous caterpillar and his piece of watermelon. The second is a family portrait. We are all sporting new hair dos.

Western Day

It's been much too long since the last post. We have moved on from Christmas trees, to gardening. You'll be happy to know that Matthew has recovered from his Flat Stanly incident with the tree quite well. (non-teachers...Flat Stanly is a little boy who is flatten by a falling bookcase, and is then able to fit in an envelope and mail himself all across the country.) However, the great Christmas Tree event will never be forgotten, thanks to Ellie...it has become her favorite story to tell, even months later. What are big sisters for!

After having been in TX for eight years now, I think I must finally admit to myself that my children are Texans. They say "y'all", have each already owned several pairs of cowboy boots, and don't even realize that not all bathing suits come in the form of sun-repelling long sleeve shirts. I now have some great pictures to document their Texas roots. The Child Study Center recently held their very first Western Day. The idea began as a day to let everyone wear their best boots and western garb to school, but you know TX...go big or go home!