summer fun:: lego-mania and...

...other fun. This post should be sub-titled, "Stay-cation, part 1".  This past week we had originally planned to be back at the lake in NC, but ended up needing to stay near home, so hubby and I planned a bunch of fun things to do with the kids.

Enter, day 1: last Sunday we drove out to the Dulles Expo Center for Brickfair, which is officially called a "LEGO fan festival". Now, I am not particularly a lego fan. Or fanatic.  Although perhaps a little crazy about legos, especially when I step on the tiny pieces that blend into the carpet, or when I can't find a horizontal surface in the family room to put a drink down on. Seriously, though, my hubby is a fanatic of the good kind, and is busy growing up the kids into little lego fanatics as well. Even while I am typing today, they are in the kitchen, making a new creation at the kitchen table. But I digress...

So, away to the Lego festival we went. And it really was fun, and fascinating to see all the crazy things that people spend hours and hours building with legos.  Not so different, perhaps, from me spending a year, off-and-on, knitting a sweater. So, I kinda get it. And they are pretty neat to look at. See?

parade down the city main-street...

giant cranes...

Russian cathedrals...

and a fascinated family!

Day 2 of our stay-cation was a long-awaited trip to see "Cars 2" at the theater...the little guy's first theater movie ever! He had a great time, as did we all.  Its a clever movie, the popcorn was as yummy as ever, and a great escape for a few hours of fun.  Stay tuned for the rest of our crazy week....

summer fun:: beach trip

All the cousins at the Jersey Shore!

There are very few places on earth I love more than the beach. Ocean views, salt air, sandy toes, and I am a happier person for just being there. So this week was a wonderful break as the kids and I headed to Wildwood and Cape May, NJ, for 2 nights with my parents, and also with extended family of 2 of my cousins, their families, who are now cousins to my kids, and also my aunt and uncle. We try to do this annually if possible,  as our families live far and wide now, and it's great to get together and relax.  I love seeing my kids, especially the girlie, building friendships with her cousins. 

on the beach with Grandma and Grandpa

cute cousins in cute swim suits

This year we also saw her boldly go where she had not gone before...out into the waves, riding a boogie-board with joy and wild abandon. So much that I had to drag her out of the cold-ish water every hour or two to warm up and rest! Both kids loved playing in the water this year, much more than past years.

serious about that big wave...

all the cousins...out to catch a wave!

There was also plenty of splashing on the shore, digging holes and looking for treasure.  The girlie at one point kept digging and digging and finally asked, "When will I get to the bottom?"

We also celebrated the girlie's birthday with the family while we were together, and I think you can see the delight on her face.

So, all in all, it was fun, it was short, but it was the beach. And we all had a very good time.

summer fun:: farm fair

Playing a little bit of "catch-up", time has not allowed me to share a few of our latest fun events until now.  So these photos are actually from last weekend, when we went up to the Harford County Farm Fair.  The fair is the agricultural / 4-H fair for the county where I grew up, and we enjoy it's small-town feel, and hubby loves to go up for the tractor pulls.  The draft horse pulls are more my speed (and much quieter!) but truly, its all fun. 

Some of our other favorites include "Candy and Cupcake", a children's musical show, that just happens to be performed by one of my mom's best friends.  Its a fun show that the kids always enjoy, and extra fun to have Miss Candy single them out and make them feel special.

All four of us love the "Dock Dogs" competition...I always think when I'm watching them that I'd love to train a dog to do this if and when we finally get a dog. For those who have never seen it, these dogs compete for how high and how far they can jump, into a large pool, as if off a dock.

And the Farm Fair is also about all the baby animals, the 4-H and produce displays, climbing on the tractors and heavy equipment that dealers display, talking to the local firefighters, and eating lots of hot dogs, funnel cake, and cotton candy.  Its all good clean fun (ok, the cotton candy is good sticky fun). And we always have a ball.  Going to the farm fair just says "summer".

little girl turning six

On this day six years ago, my first child, my wonderful girl, came into the world.  She was in a hurry...less than 5 hours of labor, and only an hour and a half at the hospital, before she arrived.  And then she was screaming mad.  Something about this world being a lot bigger, colder, and brighter than she had imagined, and she cried for most of her first three hours.  

Since then, she has retained her flair for the dramatic, and still takes on new things with great energy and enthusiasm.  This summer, as she turns six, I have loved seeing her reading chapter books that she couldn't have a few months ago; I have watched her joy as she learned to boogie-board at the ocean with her cousins; I have seen her gain confidence swimming in the pool.  I see her as a girl who makes friends easily, who smiles readily, who loves a new adventure.

Happy sixth birthday, baby girl! You are my love and my delight.  I can't wait to see what God will bring to your life this coming year!

living in an alternate reality

In the past week, we have spent much time in the alternate reality that is a hospital.   I don't want to dwell too much on the details here, we have shared much of those through emails and calls with family and friends, but my mother-in-law has been in an ICU with a serious illness that came on very suddenly and is still little understood.  Thankfully she seems to be responding to treatment thus far.

In the many hours of time in waiting rooms over the past few days, I have had plenty of time to think.  Hospitals truly are a unique environment, especially around the ICU.  Time has much less meaning...day and night blur as activity happens round the clock.  Visiting at 1 am or 5 am seems as normal as mid-afternoon. Time sometimes seems to go by very slowly, and other times rushes by.  We learned quickly that very little activity, being told "no change", and progress that is slow enough to make a snail look like a sprinter, is actually preferable to any sign of rapid activity or major change, which is almost always bad.  We are learning to love the boring days for the slow progress that is afforded by them.

The human side of this alternate reality is strange as well...people who are brought close by loved ones who are suffering, many people in waiting areas who do not look each other in the eye for fear of what they might see there, an insular world where it seems nothing is happening beyond the hospital walls.  Weather, world events, daily routines at home all seem meaningless there.  All focus is on our loved one, and while we can do nothing to help but be there by her side, it is enough. 

At the end of the day when we come out of the hospital, blink in the sunshine and head home, we re-enter our normal world, realizing that it is just a bit more fragile than we thought.  I hug my husband a little tighter, and wrap my arms around my children, trying to give them just a little more love. 

( I may be more absent from this blog over the next week than usual, but hope to return to more regular posting soon.  Take care....Katie)

summer fun:: hoop-a-loop

Since the kids were small(er), hula hoops have been called "hoop-a-loops" around here, thanks to an episode of Special Agent Oso, where they first heard the term! A few weeks ago we saw children's folk singer, Elizabeth Mitchell's video of How to Make a Hula Hoop (on SouleMama's wonderful blog).  And an idea was born!

Today it is ridiculously hot. So in the mid-day, when we really couldn't bear to be outside, off we went to the Home Depot to get our supplies.  The nice guy working in the plumbing department, I have to give him credit. He didn't so much as blink or smirk when I told him we were looking to make hula hoops! And he helped us pick out the right pipe (not too flexible, not too expensive!) and connectors. Here we are with all our supplies:

PEX 3/4" pipe (8-10' per hoop), brass connectors, pipe cutter (didn't work so well--have hack-saw on standby!), electrical tape for decoration (very important!). Cut pipe to length (10' for adult/large kid, a foot or two smaller for littler ones). Soak pipe ends in very hot water for a minute to expand so pipe connector can be pushed in.  Seal connection with electrical tape, and decorate with colored tape. Hula hoop!

One of the best things about a home-made hula hoop is that these are bigger, and a bit heavier, than our "dollar store" version.  This makes it MUCH easier to hula hoop! The kiddos were quite impressed at mom's "hoop-a-loop" prowess.  But I can't do it at all with our store-bought hoops.

Decorating...

It helps to stick out your tongue...

Happy hoop-a-loop-ing!

create:: mermaid dress

Here is the latest in my summer of the sewing machine! This type of sundress is easy, fun and quick to make...I made several for her and for me last summer, but this is the first for this year.  The shirring (gathering) at the top of the dress is done easily with elastic thread in the bobbin (regular spool on top).  And who can resist adorable mermaid fabric (found at my local Joann's)?  Just right for the 100 degree weather we are having!

(...and now, off to spend as much of the rest of today as I possibly can in the pool...)