road trip

Regan finished Challenge A last Thursday so this morning the kids and I loaded up the van for a little road trip.  We are spending a few days in Maryland visiting family.

while we were setting up the beds for the kids tonight Emmy said she wanted to sleep in the cradle...

and then Addie decided she wanted in too :)

These two crack me up!

williamsburg

We spent 3 days in Williamsburg with the hubby's family last week.  Besides a morning at Jamestown Settlement we spent most of the time just hanging out at the resort pool (and of course I have no pictures of that).  The kids loved all the time with their cousins and spent every night in a different apartment sleeping on couches, beds, and floors just so they could be together as much as possible.  I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few from Jamestown and a family friendly game of putt putt :)

great wolf lodge

Before Thanksgiving we met up with the kid's cousins (and aunt and uncle) at the Great Wolf Lodge for a few days of water slide fun :)

Everyone had a great time.  The big kids went down the Tornado something like 36 times!

There was much debate over weather it was more fun in the dark (at night) or when you could see where you were going.  I think it was a 50/50 split, but between you and me, it was MUCH more exciting in the dark :)

It wouldn't be vacation (for me) if I didn't get a little sewing in... yes, I brought my sewing machine and this new stack of fat quarters.  I started a new purse for myself, sewing and watching HGTV while Emmaline napped.  I finished up the purse the other night.  I'll post picture of it soon!

Adelaide got hurt while we were at GWL (don't worry, nothing major) and they gave her this stuffed wolf at the first aid station.  Her brother bought her the tiny hedge hog in the gift shop and she's been sleeping with them both every night since we got home. 

Here's the motley crew all together just before we left to come home.

Can't wait til next time :)

*I had this post all written yesterday, but somehow forgot to post it!  Anyway- this is where we found Tommy yesterday morning- scaling the advent calendar!

family vacay

We got back on the 22nd, but I had a crazy busy week and am just now sitting down to go through pictures from our trip to Luray, VA.

We left on Tallulah's birthday, but not before a breakfast of donuts and opening her birthday gifts.  This Lego set was actually the only thing she asked for for her birthday and she was very happy to receive it :)

Next it was off the the gas station for a pre-vacay fill up and car wash...

We stopped in Monticello on the way to visit Thomas Jefferson.  We had never been before and really enjoyed our short visit- despite the heat index being in the 100's.

Emmy loved riding around on dad's back both in Luray Caverns and hiking in Shenandoah.

Here are all the cousins but the two babies

And this is the newest addition to the family- we were all excited to meet our newest niece/cousin for the first time :)

We swam in a nearby lake...

and in the hot tub at our cabin

There were water balloon fights...

and talent shows.

We hiked to Dark Hallow Falls in Shenandoah (it was beautiful, but it took a whole week for my knee to recover from that 1.5 mile, steep, rocky climb!)

And before we headed home we stopped back by Luray Caverns to do the ropes course (super fun and even Addie could participate on the low ropes part!)

We had a great time visiting with the hubby's family and just relaxing for 6 day.  I even read 2 books! Divergent and Insurgent, in case you wanted to know- It is a young adult, Hunger Games esque series- book 3 comes out in October.  In enjoyed them, but wouldn't want my middle-schooler reading them (there was lots of kissing).

Saturday my mom and I took the kids to Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City.  If you live in the area and have never been, you should definitely check it out.  It was a lot of fun!

One weekend a month Mobile Mining Experience comes out and you can buy buckets of enriched ore to sift on their water flumes and search for gems.

They have lots of options to choose from, we did one bucket of gem stones, and one bucket of polished stones.

Everybody loved this activity and now every time I turn around the kids are sorting through their rocks and admiring their finds.

They also got to crack geodes, and Mike was generous enough to let each of the big kids have a turn cracking one, even though we were only buying 3 (enough for each kid to keep half).

Apparently there was once a storybook park in Ellicott City called the Enchanted Forrest and the attractions now reside at Clark's Elioak Farm.  You can read all about it here.  These pictures are of just a few of the many fairy tales represented.

And since this is a farm, I figured I needed to include at least one picture of an animal :) This little sheep and its sibling were only one day old and still a bit wobbly but oh so very tiny and cute!