Trip to visit Aunt Lisa

Many of you may not know this, but I talk on the phone, email or text Jim's sister Lisa on a regular basis. You may have seen those cards or sayings "sister -in -law by marriage, friends by choice." I can honestly say this about Lisa. I wanted to spend some time with her and her critters so I put it on my calendar. The trip to North Carolina takes about 9 hours so when Parker had a 4 day weekend at school, this was the perfect time to go. Jim had a deadline at work, so I went with the boys by myself.

Our first stop was Bruceton Mills to have a brief visit with Grammy and Grandpa Rayburn.

My boys are pretty good travelers. I attribute this to the fact that it takes us 30 minutes to get to most places. The have logged many hours in the car seats and they were quite the troopers on our trip to North Carolina. Parker often keeps me company asking me questions from the exit signs, to passing Sheetz trucks, number and word questions.

The boys loved having the animals at Aunt Lisa's house. This particular week she was fostering some extras. This kitten has splashed in her water and then rolled in the litter box, that explains the towel. Parker loved holding her.

Parker also made an obstacle course for the kitties. I am not sure that they appreciated it as much as he did.

Our mode of transportation for the weekend was a mini van. This allowed all or part of the dogs to accompany us and had room for car seats too. This was new for Lisa, driving a van with kids. I joked that she looked like a soccer mom.

You can see we brought our snacks along. Later I learned that Pip makes an excellent car cleaner, she eats the crumbs.

We were there to witness Lisa becoming a local celebrity at the school. She did a demonstration with Pip. Later on people would come up to her and say "you were the lady at my school" or recognize Pip. Here is one my action shots. She had learned to wave, but I was never quite quick enough with the camera to catch it.
Lisa was willing to sit with the boys while I went and looked at a few shops. Somehow running wild boys and blown glass don't mix. I appreciated the break to go by myself and not have to worry about them breaking something. I fell in love with the blown glass.

We went to lunch at a lovely restaurant with a view. The food was really good. And the best part was, there was a dog waiting for any leftovers, no waste.
Lisa took us a to a park so the boys would have something fun to do. While there, she took a run with Ben. Parker joined her at the end.
We ended the day with a bon fire at her friend John's house. I would never turn down a chance to make s'mores. It was great. He had quite the set up for outdoor entertaining. A pond, bench, and a firepit. And as is with most guys, bigger is better when it came to a the fire.

Due to our big fire, we used bamboo posts that I have used to stake tomatoes on to roast our marsh mellows.
The dogs loved having my boys around. They anxiously waited for any crumbs to fall.

We set Pip loose in the car before I left. Her she is loving life.


And here is Preston telling Cleo good bye. I loved that Cleo was always happy to see us and greeted us at the door.

We had a fun time visiting Aunt Lisa. The trip home always seems longer than getting there. Wish she lived closer so we could visit more often. The boys came home knowing the names of her animals and knowing a little bit more of who Aunt Lisa is.

October 2010

Ok I have been reading others' blogs and they seem to do a better job of keeping up with it. I am putting the whole month into 1, based on the pictures I have to share.

Pumpkin Patch

There is a family here in Warriors Mark that plants a field of pumpkins. It is self-serve type. We took the boys over one afternoon and got our fill of pumpkins.

Our drama child left the house with out shoes.
I made friends with a cat.
The big ones were for carving, the small ones for eating.
I canned applesauce. I get the apples from Way Fruit Farm, just up the road 15 minutes. We used Macintosh apples. They smell great cooking on the stove.
Jim and I hosted a couples Halloween Party for our friends. I love Halloween and it was sure fun to get dressed up and get out the dishes and put yummy food on them.


We went trick or treating. We live close enough we are able to walk on foot. I dressed up too. The kid in me loves to do this. It was a cold night, so I had the long johns on underneath and the boys had a few layers on too.

The kindergarten class did a costume parade. That was fun to watch. And the teachers all coordinated their costumes too.

Parker is the Superman and his teacher, Mrs Bock is the orange crayon.
Parker was quite concerned until he saw me. There are 7 kindergarten classes and a lot of parents had showed up that day. He finally did see me, but I didn't get a picture of him smiling.

See the teachers, they are a box of crayons. What a great idea!
And what was Preston doing during all this? Hanging out in his stroller trying to stay warm.

Stay tuned for November's update coming soon.

The First Day of School

The day that your child is born, school is looming in the future at some point down the road. It is a right of passage for both the child and the mom. We kept pushing this day off for as long as we could. But time kept on going and the day finally arrived that I now have a kindergartner.

The process started in the spring when we had to register and Parker was tested to have some idea of where to place him in the classroom.


We attended orientation a few days before school where we got to meet the teacher, take a bus ride, tour the cafeteria and get a little information on how this all works.


We went shopping for a lunch box and I found a thermos for a good buy at Lands End. I showed Preston where the bus stop was so that if he woke up, he would know where to find me. We were ready, for the most part. I found myself calling neighbors to ask questions the night before that weren't covered in orientation.

The big day came and we documented it with pictures, the way my mother did. One in front of the door and one in front of the bus.
Parker started a new tradition with preschool, where he takes my picture.

This school stuff was new to me. We wait at a bus stop with other kids, where as when I did it, it was just the end of the driveway. Now there is someone to chat with and pass the time. Most of the other kids have their folks drive them, we walk. It is about 250 ft.

Yes Preston has a cooler with him. He insisted on packing it with toys and taking it to the bus stop. Of course I ended up carrying it back.


On the first day of school it is a tradition to have the parents walk to the kids to their classroom. I had planned on doing this. We walked down to the bus and took our pictures and he got on. At this point Preston starts crying, that is all it took to start my own tears. My little guy was going to kindergarten. He was no longer home with me for me to protect him from the world.

Preston and I went back to the house. I used the bathroom and then got in the car. Well on the way in I got stuck behind bus traffic and other school traffic. I started to panic. Would I miss him getting off the bus? He was expecting me to come, I didn't want to let him down. After what seemed to be forever I finally got to the school and went in. I did not see Parker's bus out front. I went down to his class room to check on him. He was already there. He barely even waved to me. I felt so sad and unneeded and that I had let him down. I started crying as we exited the school. I ended up sitting in my car and crying for awhile.

Later on I learned that a friend from preschool showed up and saw Parker waiting for me. They offered to take him to his class. After school Parker asked where I was and I told him I tried to be on time, but I got stuck in traffic. One day when we overslept and I was giving him a ride to school he noticed the traffic and remarked about it. I think he then understood why I wasn't there to greet him when he got off the bus at school. Next year I will know to park at the bus stop and leave immediately.

When I went to get him off the bus he was all smiles. It was a good day for Parker with his first day of school.

The next day Preston insisted on wearing a back pack and carrying a lunch box just like big brother to the bus stop.

A visit to Punxsutawney Phil

If you ever read any vacation brochures they will mention Punxsutawney, the home of Punxsutawney Phil. He is the famous ground hog that makes his appearance each February to forecast how quickly spring will arrive. I have always wanted to go see where this famous ground hog lives and since it is only 2 hours from my house, I decided to take a day trip and go.

Jim was not interested in visiting a rodent, even if he was famous. So the boys and I loaded up for an adventure. It was a 2 hour trip one way through windy, mountainous roads. I don't know what I was expecting, but was left disappointed.


There were various ground hog statues around town. That was fun to see a ground hog dressed in different costumes. The local library claimed to be home of the phil, we looked and looked and never saw anything moving in his glass enlcosed cage. They did have an M & M character that the boys loved. They were a little disappointed that there were no M & Ms to be dispensed.

We went to Gobbler's Knob where Phil makes his appearance in Feb. All that was there was a stage and a sign. Oh well we could now say that we visited.


We finished off the trip with lunch at Lilly's. The boys have a cousin name Lilly and I thought they would get a kick out of that.

I can check it off my list, but I don't think I will be going back to Punxsutawney anytime soon.

Roller skating with Rebecca

As the summer was drawing near to an end, I had Rebecca, my sister save a date for us on her social calender so we could spend some time with her before she ventured off to BYU-Provo for school.

We decided to meet in Bedford, an almost half-way point and go roller skating. I had not been since my single days (at least 12 years ago). My boys had never been, but expressed interest.


Once we got in and got our skates on, the real fun began. We made a loop around the rink. Each of us split up and took one of the boys. Wow, I had forgotten how to do that. It was a lot of hard work trying to stay up and balance and keep a little one up too. I was ready to call it a night, but my boys were eager to keep trying. We had them tighten up Parker's wheels a little bit. We took turns going out with him. Preston took off my himself. He was a little trooper.



The evening ended with ice cream.

I was so sore the next few days. I could see where roller skating could really tone your inner thighs. I am sure I will have the chance to go again, as my boys will most likely want to try again.