DC for a day

The World Engineering Energy Council was held in Washington DC this past December. Since Jim is an engineer that works for a company named Energycap it was only fitting that his company attend this event. The company had a chartered bus and families were invited to attend. Jim was required to attend the conference, after 10 minutes of Parker running from booth to booth I could see the conference was not going to work for us. So the boys and I ventured out to brave the subway in Washington DC and explore a museum.

I felt like a champ mastering the subway all by myself. Although it was a little spooky. Too many movies with scary subway scenes. The voice that announced the next stop was a mumbled one, so it was best to rely on the signs for the appropriate stop. As we exited the subway a nice man was handing out maps. I had confused mother or tourist written on my forehead. He gave his spiel and pointed us in the direction of the Smithsonian and then asked for money for his cause. I gave him a few dollars. I was grateful for the help, but at the same time a little embarrassed that I was paying for a free map.

We went to the museum of Natural History, we wanted to see the Dinosaurs. I toted my camera all over and only took a few pictures here at the Natural History. They had a coral display that was made from knitted or crocheted yarn. It was so beautiful and one would have to look twice to notice it wasn't the real deal.


When we had finished here, Jim was ready to meet us for lunch. We had a few suggestions of places, each place that we went to, I would peruse the menu and make a decision. I don't eat fried food, so we turned down several greasy spoons before finding a nice restaurant that seemed to have something both myself and the boys would eat.

We still had more time and decided to visit another museum. I don't remember the specific name, but it had all the 1st ladies ball gowns. We stayed until closing time. Then decided we would make the walk back to the bus. It was so cold and the walk seemed to go on forever. We even hit some less desirable spots of DC. In hind sight I think we should have taken the subway. We were the first ones back on the bus and the bus driver welcomed us on. We visited with him until the others started trickling in. It was a full day, but a good day. At least none of us had to endure the traffic and drive home, the bus driver did all of that.

Speaking of bus trips. I get motion sickness on buses. If I take Dramamine it knocks me out so much I might was well stay home and sleep. I discovered Bonine a less drowsy motion illness medicine. It worked like a charm. I was fine on the bus and still able to have energy to walk all through DC. Those bus trips to NYC are looking up now.

Dad

There is a primary song that goes, "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be."

This song takes on new meaning when you are a stay at home Mom. It signals the cavalry coming to offer relief. There would now be a chance to make a phone call uninterrupted or to sneak in a little nap without having to worry about what one will wake up to. It also signals the relief that someone else is there to help with discipline or entertaining.

The boys get just as excited for this time of day as I do. They will often run and hide when they hear Dad's car pull into the driveway. I must admit that I never get the same sort of homecoming that Jim does. And the boys never seem to tire of Jim. Given the choice they will often choose to spend their time with him than me.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving appears to be the bigger holiday in my family. Not sure if it has anything to do with deer season being tagged on the end or what. This seems be the holiday that brings my siblings home. This past year was no different. In fact all 5 of us got to be together, which is kind of rare these days.

My brother Ben loves to hunt and loves to talk hunting, so it would only be natural for him to bring a friend home to come hunting. We loved this friend even more, because they shared a delicious chocolate tradition with us. A chocolate cornucopia filled with more chocolate goodies. It was wonderful.

Having all of the siblings home also meant that there would be a house full of grand kids. They loved dancing to music and playing together.

The kids had so much fun playing with each other.

When I was younger we ate Thanksgiving at several different tables around the room. We always had a "kids" table. Towards my latter years it was kind of dreaded to have to sit at the kids table, when one wanted to be apart of the adult conversation with the aunts and uncles that are so rarely scene. Plus those aunts and uncles always seemed to take quite an interest in my comings and goings. My Mom has a large table, but not big enough enough to accomdate everyone around the same table. Besides the kids seem wolf down the food and then there are vacant spots at the the table, so we use a kids table.


Deer season makes for a long weekend for me. I have never been one to get excited about hunting. Most schools in PA close down for the first day of the season because many students would end up taking off to hunt. Jim would often get wrapped in the excitement of hunting. Everyone works together to help each other out. They even plan to break for lunch together.

Oh and my sister brought home her roommate from Korea, so what was one more? I have to laugh though, She was a sweet girl, but would come and get a drink rinse out of the cup and put it back in the cupboard. I was constantly putting her cup in the dishwasher.

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.