We're leaving soon for Colorado and a little freezing skiing!
Yay!
And we'll throw in a little birthday celebration for the sweetest little two-year-old I've ever seen.
Yay!
We can't wait to slide all the way down Mt .Crested Butte, in one way or another!
I'll be back to this space in a week or so...until then, stay warm...
The kids and Shelby and I went up to the city last week to check out the Lego exhibit. It was a gorgeous day, so we packed a lunch and made a day of it--playing near the canal was the highlight, for sure!
Aren't these amazing? I hadn't seen them up so close yet--they're stunning statues. And fun, too!
The Lego exhibit was fun and interesting, too, although Samara did the same thing there she does at home...Shelby and I were really impressed with the Lego buildings, though--here you have the Colcord Hotel, for you locals:
Amazing, eh?!
Day two of fall break consisted of playing at home all day together, a little piano and a little soccer, and a sweet meal with friends (oh, what a cheesecake!). We went to bed early so we'd be ready for...
Day three!
Or what we were hoping would feel like a "vacation in a day" for the family to Turner Falls. We started it off right by grabbing a little coffee and a bite to eat on our way out of town...bonus points for the first Normanite to recognize where we were! Or maybe you could guess without a picture even?
We drove south about an hour and found the most lovely spot--how we've never been here before is a mystery to me. Turner Falls is beautiful, but the park around it is equally gorgeous, and there's this super fun creek to play in, and an old rock castle to explore...everything was fun! We left the house in the pouring rain, with a forecast for more to come--but we decided to brave it anyway and so we just packed extra clothes and rain gear and this worked out perfectly. The weather was great--not much rain, but enough to keep the bugs away and to keep the temperature absolutely delightful and to keep loads of people from joining us. It was like we had the park to ourselves.
Renne really enjoyed her first hiking experience, we think. She slept through most of it, but we took that as a good sign. :)
(I made this hat for her this week and I love it! I'll have to share a real picture of it (this one's from the hipstamatic app on my iphone) so you can see the colors of the yarn--it's perfect for her.)
Ilo also enjoyed hiking--attached to Dad! We couldn't let him down much since we didn't bring enough changes of clothes for our proximity to water and ilo's tendency to bolt towards it at high speeds.
We hiked around the top of the falls and then climbed down alongside it to get to the "beach" at the bottom. It's clearly a great little swimming hole in the summer time, but it was empty for the winter...
But how could we resist? Well, somehow Matt and I managed to (no change of clothes was our excuse--never mind that it was cold enough to be wearing pants and long sleeves...) but we said yes to the little ones taking a dip.
Good thing we brought extra clothes, eh?!
We had such fun together, and all of us are excited to go back with more time and gear to play in the creek for the day.
To round out our "vacation in a day", we stopped at the Bedre chocolate factory in Paul's Valley, OK, where we got a little tour of them making chocolate, while the sweet ladies there fed us samples of their famous chocolate-covered Pringles. Yep, you read that correctly! Yikes! We each picked out a little piece of chocolate to eat after our late lunch at Rodney's Pizza in Purcell, OK. We've been wanting to try out their "famous" pizza for a while, and it was great. The kids liked it since Rodney came out of the back and gave them all a quarter. Perfect, since we were sitting 5 feet from one of those little candy machines that take quarters...
We got home late in the afternoon just in time for a little nap and then popcorn for dinner and family movie night--Shaun, the Sheep. It was really a delightful day!
Sometimes it's so hard to just plan and prepare and get out the door for a little trip, but we were so glad we did. We'd all recommend Turner Falls if you live in the area and haven't been there!
I finished another little doll this afternoon in between playing tickle time and earrings dress-up with stickers...
She's just as wonky as the last one, since she's all hand-stitched, too, and while I've been climbing around the car. It's still fun to make a toy, though! Samara says her name is Tashala.
Only two hours to go!! We're going to make it!!
Well, we are almost home, driving through Missouri now...
It's been such a fun trip, with so much precious family time, but we are so ready to be home. Only a few more hours.
Top ten unforgettable travel moments (with matt's help):
- continuous screeching from ilo
- countless public restrooms (Samara can now spell "women" perfectly)
- saleem's restaraunt in st Louis--seriously good Shawarma
- books on tape--the opiate of the older children
- watching the blue dot on our iPhones moving slowly, slowly across the country (well, the kids like to do this!)
- that horrible crick in your back from driving for 10 hours straight (are we getting older?!)
- Are we there yet?
- "if you can't get yourself under control you'll lose a dollar!" (this is because we tried an incentive system of giving each kid $5 a travel day from which we would deduct money for unpleasant behavior. It was kind of fun and interesting for the older boys, but Samara tended to lose most of hers....!)
- Awake My Soul by Mumford and Sons
- mystery flavor gum
- mom's arms and legs (doll-making in the car...!)
- "I have to go pee, mom..." "no, you don't!"
Alright, that's more than 10 but we just couldn't stop...we are laughing just talking about it and really that's the most unforgettable moment in the car-lots of family laughing!! Thank you, Jesus!
We miss you and can't wait to see you tonight!
We have a family tradition of taking a rock from everywhere we visit. We write in permanent marker where and when we got them, and then keep them in our master bathroom on the counter. It's becoming quite a pile--we love to look through them and remember where we got them, like, "Remember the parking lot of the Denver Aquarium, mom?!" Yeah, stuff like that. Romantic and exotic. :)
Samara and I found this rock yesterday in the creek and since it looked so much like a heart, we decided to take this one home...and then we realized it was dark enough to write a little message on...how fun! Matt's been back in Oklahoma for a few days, but he's on a plane right now back to Pennsylvania. Yay!
Samara with her Great-Grandma Babbie
My Grandma, that is--Grandma Posey. It was so fun to see her this past weekend--to share my little ones with her. She's lovely--we've always had a sweet pen pal relationship over the years. This is all the more sweet because she's the mother of eight, the grandmother of 27, and according to the current list I saw on her kitchen bulletin board, the great-grandmother of 22, with four more on the way. Carrie and I were chatting with her over lunch and Carrie said, "So have you been sharing any strategies with Emily about raising a big family?" and Grandma replied, "Well, you do know what the definition of strategy is? That's when you don't let the enemy know you are out of ammunition but you just keep right on firing." I laughed and laughed. That's a good one to keep in my parenting pocket to pull out for a chuckle. And a reminder that sometimes keeping on keeping on is a good strategy. :) After that, her best piece of advice was to nap more.
What a wise woman.
Amazing. And she still finds time to write to me! And to garden...if anyone wonders why I always plant nasturtiums by my back door...? It's because my Grandma does.
It was really great to get together with everyone for the family wedding. I've always loved my cousins and aunts and uncles so much--get-togethers with the Posey Clan are bound to be fun and funny, and this was no exception.
We laughed quite a bit trying to get this picture of the pregnant cousins...
and this one of the of the second cousins...
and laughed a lot more as we celebrated our cousin Erica and her sweet husband. I'm so glad I got to be there!
We said goodbye to the ocean yesterday on a rainy morning. It was sad to drive away, but so fun at the same time to be heading to visit friends and family we haven't seen in a long, long time.
We're already looking forward to our return to Cape May in 2 years!
The pictures are of my little beach projects I made before we left--shell bags made out of recycled window screens from the Habitat ReStore, with shell necklaces made by Phin John for everyone with shells he collected this week, and the "beach bags" I made for Asa (and the others) to carry their stuff to the beach...
Adelaide woke up this morning and the first thing she said was, "Samara is my best friend!" The feeling is very mutual--these two have been inseparable all week. They've also appreciated the little matching outfits I brought for them! They love being "twins". This particular set I made out of pillowcases I bought at a little roadside flea market on the way home from the lake a week ago. The lace ties were from an estate sale a few years ago...they look so charming. The girls, I mean!!
...the ocean.