Today was a beautiful day.

It started with an unusual sort of morning where Alan was exercising (normal, not unusual), I did not (a little unusual), and the kids played upstairs by themselves for a long time (definitely unusual for the mornings!)  I got breakfast cleaned up, packed for our day, and even sat down and did a little work on the computer!  I kept looking at the clock thinking we must be late, but nope, plenty of time.

When it was finally time to go we headed to a Weight Watchers meeting and we met my Mom and Grandma.  With them, me, and the kids we had 4 generations at WW!  Those of us weighing-in had good numbers on the scale and that alone equals a good day in my mind! :)

After Weight Watchers I took my mom (and kids, of course) to our local farm for our CSA pickup.  The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining so we hung out there for awhile and I snapped a ton of photos! (not unusual!)

A few weeks ago we saw the eggs and this week the baby birds were cheeping away.

Playing with photo editing. They had PYO flowers today and the kids had fun with that.

Eve decided she did not want this one and "put it back."

Please ignore his funny face and enjoy the lighting.

I LOVE this view!

When we got home the kids arranged their flowers in little vases and a bowl of water.

Beautiful! It would have been a good night to have company over for dinner. :)

After lunch we all had quiet time.  The kids did a great job today of staying in their rooms for the entire time.  They even played together upstairs for an extra half hour before coming down for snack.  Meanwhile I got some WW soup made, food prep done, the kitchen cleaned up, and even a little down time for myself.

In the afternoon I was hoping to bake cookies but the kids insisted on playing outside instead.  Bugger kids ;)  They played on the swing set (I took pictures) and then we all rode bikes for awhile.  Yep, me too!  They insisted.  It was fun.  The big news of the afternoon is that Lex decided today was the day to ride without training wheels!  I was telling him that maybe Grandpa Tom could help him practice tomorrow and he said, “Let’s just do it today!”  Um, OK!!  It took him all of about three minutes to figure it out!  Seriously.  He’s awesome :)  When I came in to pack up he decided to stay out and keep practicing.  He still needs practice on his starts and stops, but he amazed me this afternoon!

Upside down Lex

This girl needs a nap! Or a hammock :)

"Here Mom, hold the baby just like this while I go on my rocketship to Pluto."

Baby ended up in the "back pack" instead :)

Alan had no car at work so we went to pick him up and decided to have dinner out.  It was yummy, everyone was well behaved, and I managed to stay within points for the day.  Like I said, a good day!

Eve thought these flowers were as big as her head, then had to go compare. Once there she decided they would make nice pillows.

I added videos to a few older posts. I don’t always get them uploaded as quickly as the photos. Check out Back to the beach and Red, white, and blue scones.

After a brief, but intense, rain storm this afternoon the kids decided we should go out and look for a rainbow. We put our rain boots on and puddle jumped our way up the road and back. No rainbows.

Before going in we decided to check on the black raspberries growing in the backyard. They are ripe for the picking! The kids picked and ate and Lex did a great job taking care of his little sister, picking berries for her and rescuing her from the prickers.

In with the black raspberries are lots of pricker bushes, baby sumac trees (those things grow like weeds!), and miles of grape vines.  We knew the grape vines were there in years past but this year they are growing like mad!  I was cutting prickers and pulling out sumac and grape vines when what to my wondering eyes ahould appear?!?  Grapes!!  So cool.

Grapes!

Princess Eve decided to sit waaay over there and then demanded Lex bring the berries over to her. That didn't last long.

We were going to ride bikes before we got sidetracked by the berries. Lex was a sweaty boy in this 100% humidity with his helmet and boots on!

We also found a huge grasshopper that the kids tried to feed berries to, a golden colored slug, and a cool caterpillar with a big eye spot.  Eve kept calling the slug a “swigs” and was very concerned for its welfare.  It was a great visit to the backyard.

A cool caterpillar with a big eye spot on it's behind.

We went out to find a rainbow but ended up finding so much more!

Sorry for the cell phone pictures. I didn’t think to bring a camera for our quick walk down the road. Of course that was silly of me!

Subtitle: Christmas in July

Just back from yet another busy weekend. I’m having fond memories of last month when I was convinced life would slow down once school ended. Silly me! We just keep going and going. Today, however, is a down day. Washing car seats, laundry, dishes, blogging, etc. The kids are almost up from quiet time and I’m going to see if I can ignore them long enough to get this blog post done :)

This weekend was our much anticipated (for me) trip to Santa’s Village and Day Out With Thomas. When I first (months ago) told the kids about our plans they were thrilled but last week they seemed to have trouble keeping it in their heads. I think they were still recovering from the 4th of July and our last trip! Once we started packing excitement grew.

After an easy drive (my kids are top-notch travelers!) through spectacular scenery we arrived at Santa’s Village. I was having last minute doubts about whether this would be any fun since Lex isn’t really into Santa and, well, it’s July, but of course those were silly thoughts. We had a great time! There were rides just right for them and the lines were very reasonable (even non-existent at some rides) and the weather was a touch on the cool side, which was perfect for a day of walking around. The sun came out in the afternoon and heated things up a bit. We rode the rides and played the Elfabet game and ate some goodies and had a great time!

Santa's Village awaits!

This might have been the most fun ride. We did it twice, switching partners, and everyone loved it! Lex even tried his hand at driving for awhile :)

The view from the top of the ferris wheel.

…quiet time over… kids are up… successfully ignoring them so far…

Lex loved the ferris wheel. He and Alan rode it while Eve and I rode The Himalayas! (a ride I loved at the fair many years ago, but it was too loud and fast for Lex). When we met up again Lex insisted on taking me on the ferris wheel because "it's the most fun ride ever!"

"Look at that nice rock Mom. Do you want to take a picture of me sitting on it?" Umm... YES!

Crazy family! Good thing Alan has long arms! :)

Eve feeding reindeer cookies to the reindeer. This place made me laugh because they had stalls for all eight reindeer (I didn't notice if there was one labeled Rudolph), but there were two to five reindeer in each stall. So the kids had no idea which reindeer was Dasher or Dancer or etc. You'd think one per stall would have been more useful for perpetuating the myth :)

Cupcake chairs! I love them!(I think my camera was on the wrong setting for much of the day :( )

Lex is practicing his senior portrait pose :)

… Eve is bored… must be quick…

Riding the reindeer carousel. They were all Rudolph. Eve loved that.

The water park! Their newest addition (added last year, I think) We avoided it completely. By the time we got to that side of the park it was late afternoon and I was too tired to even consider changing into bathing suites and entering the chaos. Fortunately the kids seemed to agree and didn't argue much.

Taking a break to watch a show. See everyone eating ice cream? We were hot and tired and I decided ice cream was in order. By the time I got to the front of the line I was met with "Sorry, our ice cream machine is broken." Denied! Probably for the best anyway.

This might be the world's most boring ride. It was the last ride of the day and our longest wait in line. The fire engine went around the building and the basket went up and down while you used a hose to spray the building. There were broken LED numbers on top so I think the point was to spray in the circles in the yellow fire and earn points, but the numbers didn't work, the hoses barely worked, and the whole thing moved slowly. The kids liked it, but Alan and I agreed it was the most boring ride ever!

On the way out Lex said "Don't you want a picture of me and Eve in that sleigh?" Of course! Sadly Eve disagreed. Oh well.

After we left Santa’s Village we drove up the road to our B&B. It was a cute place but I was too tired and hungry to take pictures for the rest of the day. We checked in, went to a local deli place to grab dinner (pizza slices) then crashed in front of a little TV to watch Oliver and Company on VHS. Ahhh… 80’s flashbacks everywhere! Then off to bed.

Eve will not be ignored any longer so this is going to have to be a two-part blog. Stay tuned for our exciting adventures with Thomas the Train! Peep peep!

I found four quince fruits on our tree!

I think it is the final weekend for PYO around here. Glad we made it!

Twins? I can see why people might get that idea.

I regularly get asked if my kids are twins. It happened at the science museum this afternoon. We were eating lunch (under the fancy new pavilion!) and a nice man came over and asked if the kids were twins. I said no and gave my usual half-hearted laugh and explanation that she is just tall for her age. Then taking a guess I asked if his kids were twins. Yep. They looked nothing alike and were only barely the same size. I would never have thought they were twins. Funny how people often think Lex and Eve are though.

Lex insisted on one of just him alone. In fact, the "sitting on the earth" photo shoot was his idea and Eve elbowed her way into the first shot. :)

The mud table. Eve's favorite outdoor activity here. She will stay put for as long as I let her, building sand houses and islands and creatures and whatever else her imagination comes up with.

Where's Waldo?
The place was packed today! Camps and daycares and tourists, oh my!