Having Fun In Pennsylvania

It has been exactly 2 months and 3 days since we moved from our house on Bush St. The first few weeks living in Pennsylvania were a tad rough. Lilly was overly clingy; Christopher tested the limits. But over time we settled in. Lilly woke one Thursday morning, happy and independent. Christopher started taking naps again. I was getting accustomed to cooking in Lulu's kitchen. I have had small moments of homesickness which have quickly abated. I realize now that home is not a place as much as it is a feeling. As long as I have my family with me, the magic follows. I am determined to enjoy living here in Pa. I want to thoroughly explore the area over the next year. Here is what we have been up to:

One perk of living with Ryan's parents is the opportunity to go on day trips with Lulu on her days off. Here we went to see the "Star Barn" then had a serendipitous picnic and playtime at a nearby playground.

Christopher shows us his pole sliding skills.

Within 20 minutes of our house is an extension of the NCR trail. I bought Lilly a bike seat we hit the trail!

Christopher insisted on bringing he backpack, in which he stashed a bottle of Gatorade. He would pedal a minute, get off, take off back pack, take a drink, put on back pack and finally mount bike. Repeat process every few minutes. Our bike trip took forever.

Christopher has grown immensely in the bike riding department. Its funny to think that he couldn't make one pedal revolution at the beginning of summer. Now he is going miles, pedaling uphill while standing.

Tuckered out from pedaling.

Our Summer... So Far!

Busy, busy, busy. That describes our days of late. If we haven't been at the beach or the pool or a party, we've been visiting doctors! June into July found us all taking turns with one illness or another. From strep throat to croup (and an ER visit), to ear infections and pulled necks, we had it all. But enough talking about the negative, on the flip side we have also been having so much fun. Nothing too extravagant, just everyday family fun stuff. I have been savoring most of the day to day things we do because in our near future we will not be living in this neck of the woods. Change makes me so sad and sentimental, especially since having kids. So I have been soaking it all up, and soaking up lots of sun too!

Lilly has been doing very well on the potty. She pees every time she sits and poops almost 5 out of 7 days. Here I caught her reading a High Five. I took the picture from around the corner, sneeky-like. When she heard the camera go off she looked like this:

Busted! She is so funny.

Gymboree had a "beat the heat" open play session for free. I met four other playgroup moms and their kids there. I worry about missing out on playgroups once we move. I love those moms and kiddos!

Audrey sneeks a kiss to Lilly at Gymboree.

Me and my boy.

Mid June Lisa and I took Christopher on an Urban Pirate tour around the Baltimore Harbor. It was great fun. He was a tad off but I chalked it up to the heat. Later that day I realized he a fever and subsequently strep throat. Poor pirate.

Lilly loves feeding the goats at our local petting farm. I'm really really going to miss this place when we move. Its one of our favorite spots and is only minutes from our house.

Sprinkler Fun

Camping With Kids

Skyline Drive on return home.

A worn out CRW after he passed out during dinner.

Afternoon quiet time coloring.

The wagon providing a nice nap spot for Lilly.

Sophie snuggles up to Christopher after an afternoon at the pool.

The wagon ride back from the pool.
Christopher mid bounce on the bouncy pillow.

Christopher showing off his catch from the pond.

The highlight of the trip: the campfire. Christopher fell asleep in the chair on Saturday night while watching the fire.

Christopher being a big help with setting up camp.

We finally did it! We "roughed it" with kids. Well, sorta roughed it; we camped at a Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground in Luray Va. but I'm going to say it still counts. We went with a group of friends on Memorial Day Weekend. Ryan has never been wild about the idea of camping so close to other people. We are used to back woods camping where there isn't a soul for miles. So being on top of one another takes some getting use to. But after this weekend, we realize that this style of camping works for the phase of life we are in. That is: the busiest, craziest and messiest phase of life; one with young kids! The campground had a pool (absolutely necessary in 90 degree heat), a bouncy pillow, playgrounds and a pond. Every couple of hours there were organized activities like crafts, concerts, dance parties and fishing tournaments. Things went very well. Lilly fell asleep every night easily on the bed in the pop-up. We never used the pack-n-play, she stayed put until I joined her later in the night. Ryan and Christopher slept on the other bed. Christopher absolutely LOVED camping. He played hard and slept hard. He even fell asleep at the pic-a-nic table Sunday night during dinner. He just fell backwards with his eyes rolling back in his head! Luckily Ryan was there to catch him. We learned a few things on our maiden camping-with-kid trip:

1. don't feed babies a huge pancake breakfast then push them on swings, things tend to come back up!
2. Nap the kids later in afternoon when they are so exhausted their bodies don't have a choice but to pass out and the heat has backed down. This way they wake later and can stay up late for campfire. If they don't nap, be sure to pad the ground around them in case they pass out like CRW.
3. We need a screened room with ground turf on our pop-up. Lilly really needed a "safe zone"
4. Forget #3, we just need a bigger pop-up!
5. The wagon was worth its weight in gold. I think we put a few miles on it just walking the kids from point A to B. It also worked for nap-on-the-go with Lilly. Also, I bought a canopy for our wagon when we returned home, gotta watch that sun!
6. Book site early enough so you are close to your friends. This way we can enjoy evening festivities while the baby sleeps in camper close by. We procrastinated when we booked and were a 2 minute walk from our group.

In all it was a FUN trip. We took our time coming home via Skyline Drive. We stopped and had a picnic lunch and soaked in the scenery. It was a great weekend and I can't wait to camp again!

Philadelphia

The carousel; a highlight of the day.

Silly Lilly.

Sophie and Christopher blow dandelions in front of Constitution Hall.

The Liberty Bell. And I think Lilly is picking her nose. Not sure.



The kids are doing a happy dance on the streets of Philadelphia after an hour and a half car ride.

I am not sure about other kids out there, but when Christopher becomes interested in something, he just runs with it. Lately it has been the Star Spangled Banner. Then later the Liberty Bell. I find it funny that a 3 year old has as much interest in patriotic themes as these, but he does. So of course, I indulge him. At Christmas he received two US maps. One is interactive and taught him about the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. He wanted to know why it was cracked, who put the crack there and so on and so forth. Then he began telling me, "Mommy I want to go see the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia". Usually with requests like these I cannot appease him because its more like "Mom I want to go on the moon". So when I can accommodate his request and it seems like a reasonably good idea, I do. Recently my friend Cara and I had been talking about getting out to see new things with the kids and Philly was first on the list. We chose a sunny Tuesday, packed a picnic and hit the road. It was a super easy drive, especially with Cara as my co-pilot. We parked in the historic district and set out to see the Liberty Bell first thing. Christopher was happy to see it. I explained to him as best I could about the circumstances in which it arrived to Philadelphia. Later I heard him tell Ryan "Early Americans (I don't remember using that phrase lol) wrote on a piece of paper about new freedom and they bonged the bell for everyone to come read it. But they bonged it too hard and it cracked. It was fragile." I was impressed at this dialogue when I only explained it once or twice.

Afterwards the kids ran around the mall in front of Constitution Hall to burn off some energy, it was gorgeous. I loved the short time in Philadelphia and I plan to go back really soon. I can't believe that was my first trip. Pathetic. After a picnic lunch in the gardens by the mall we went to the "Please Touch Museum". The kids really enjoyed it, especially the carousel at the end. I am so glad we went. It was an easy, low stress and educational trip. I hope to do more like this in the future.

Easter

Our Easter was lovely. After several weeks of cold rainy weather, Easter Sunday delivered the warm Spring day we'd been waiting for. It was so nice watching the kids hunt eggs in shorts and sundresses. After a nice meal, we spent the remainder of the day outside. We relaxed in the shade, ate three delicious cakes and burned calories while chasing kids. Early evening brought thunderstorms so we packed tired kids in our cars and headed home.

Leif displaying the bunny cake he was so eager to eat.


Christopher definitely needs to work on his egg hunting skills. He couldn't find them even when they were pointed out to him!

Lilly found one egg her own with a little help from Daddy.

Before the hunt began all the kiddies lined up. Then: "READY, SET, GO!" they were off.

Kevin with baby Tessa.

Tessa and my Mom. So far Tessa is the only McClain grandchild with blue eyes. After 5 kids, and 6 grandkids, my Dad finally got his blue eyed baby!

Christopher steals a smooch from his sister. Lately the two have been getting along so wonderfully, even though Lilly looks not too enthused here.

Sophia in her lovely dress with silly bunny ears. She wore the dress all day, refusing to take it off. This is so different than I remember being as a child. I couldn't wait to get those itchy tights off!

The baskets sit at the ready, waiting for the egg hunt to begin.

Lilly L.O.V.E.S. Sam. Loves him.

I couldn't get enough of Lilly in this dress. Precious.

Lilly and Emma had matching dresses compliments of Lulu. Kristi and I thought it would be a great idea to get some pics of them together. Trying to get pictures of two wiggly babies is hard to do. This was the best of the batch.

Good Friday we had Cara and Sophie over for some Easter crafts and egg dying. The kids had tons of fun and with surprisingly little mess.

This free slideshow design customized with Smilebox