South Carolina Adventures

Brian had a work trip last week and so, of course, I thought it would be a good idea to haul a newborn and a toddler seven hours to South Carolina. I believe I was still in the state of Virginia when I first thought, "what was I thinking?" I quickly reminded myself that (a) I could do it! and (b) I was going to visit a dear dear friend that I miss very much and our sons are all best friends and that makes perfect sense. Press on!

It was SO worth the trip! James didn't hesitate for one second before marching upstairs to the playroom with the boys and Rachel just loved on Molly as if she were her own and I got some much needed girl time.

We ventured out to the Columbia children's museum, EdVenture... this place was no joke. They didn't have little kid-size anything. Everything was big and everything was REAL.

Real tractor:

Real car:

Real bobcat/bulldozer (that's Rachel's son, Mitch):

Real bongo drums with real green screen/TV appearance:

and a REAL grocery store with checkout stands - adorable!

In real life, James' diet consists of PB&J sandwiches, apples, crackers, 

hummus, and cottage & string cheese. 

Apparently, if given his own grocery cart, he would rather dine on pears and meat. 

Big pieces of meat.

...and then we drove seven hours home with a brief (but FUN) stop in Raleigh to visit with Emily & Virginia. I'm not saying that James is the cat's meow (that would be biased), but Virginia was so excited to see him that she peed her pants. 

'Atta boy.

I'm Alive!

I MAY have spoiled you all by updating this blog so often.... I will NOT take this time to remind you all that I do have a newborn (8 weeks tomorrow!) who spits up so much that she and I both go through about 3-5 wardrobe changes every day and a toddler that rises at 6am and runs (literally) nonstop until he (blissfully) goes to bed at night so my days are a little, shall we say "touch and go." OK, there, I did it anyway.

We are all well and BUSY. Last week, I threw James & Molly in the car and drove seven hours to visit my GREAT friend Rachel and her kids in Columbia, SC. You may remember them from our adventures in Florida while Brian was away...

Strawberry picking at the world's most unfriendly farm...

Huffing and puffing our way through the streets of Seaside, FL pushing something like 150lbs of toddlers in a surrey!

...and countless hours at the beach. 

Boys in the hole!

We came back from our SC adventures on Friday and I am still playing catch up.

I promise to post soon!

Friday Photo Show - Molly 6 Weeks

With a Slide and a Door!

I went up to get James from his nap the other day and found this "fort." It is EVERY SINGLE toy, stuffed animal, and book in his room all piled up at the entrance.

Me: What is this?

James: It's my fort!

James: and it has a slide...

James: and a door!

Note to self: nothing wrong with his imagination. 

And lest you think I am exaggerating about the "EVERY SINGLE TOY" thing, here are the other four corners of his room....

 

Somehow, this industrious spirit does not translate at clean up time....

Happy Birthday B!

Brian's one request for his birthday was that we spend the day doing something that James would like too. So, we spent the day in our pajamas, building lego trucks and eating snacks. Given the fact that we had not bathed or dressed - there are no pictures of that day here.

Birthday dinner with Kevin...

The cake BEFORE I let James "help" me decorate it...

The cake AFTER....

and James' face after.... 

please note sprinkles on his cheeks and his patented, "oh, was that wrong?" look.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

Actual Weekend - Part 5 of 5: The Magic Carpet Ride

This is our great neighbor Karen who always has time for James. I was shaking this rug out to put it in our laundry room and she took the time to create this very inventive "Magic Carpet Ride." She told James that he had to close his eyes and steer the carpet with his arms.

After they played for a while....

Me: "James! That was pretty fun, huh buddy?"

James: "Yeah, but it didn't fly..."

Note to self: work on imagination skills

This was Brian's idea of a magic carpet ride. 

He WAS born in New Jersey after all....

Actual Weekend - Part 4 of 5: Planes, Trains and Buses

We had all kinds of great plans to go to the zoo on Sunday, but - it turns out - James and daylight savings time were not in on the plan. We're not complaining though. What this means is that instead of waking up at 5am, James is finally waking up closer to 6 (sometimes even 6:30 - woo hoo!).

So, it was on to plan B. In a city full of culture, outdoor activities, parks, playgrounds and festivals, we chose "taking public transportation to the airport." Seriously. Planes, trains and buses -  the transportation trifecta.

Reagan National Airport is only 12 minutes from our house and the Metro (DC 's subway) is a mile up the road. We walked to the Metro, took it two stops and got off at the airport. It took some conversation to convince James that we weren't going anywhere and we thought we might be in trouble when he started explaining (in full detail) his plans once we arrived at Sanibel, but we were saved by a giant Lego display. We could not have planned it any better. The displays were sponsored by Vestas and the theme was using wind power so each of the displays had a hole you could blow into to make things work and buttons to press to make action happen.

But wait - the fun didn't stop there. Next stop? TGI Fridays, of course! 

Here's James' view during lunch....

Here's James (and our ice cream sundae) at the airport.

and here's Molly...

Then it was back onto the Metro to head home for naps... for everyone.

Here's James on the train....

and here's Molly (starting to see a trend?)....

Two quick stops later and we are on a bus. The bus goes right down our main drag - King Street and stops about 1 1/2 blocks from our house. 

Total ride time - about 8 minutes.

Public transportation memories - forever.

James on the bus...

and Molly....

James pulling the chord to tell the driver to stop.

Yup, that's right folks. A ride on public transportation and lunch at the airport. 

Nothing but the best for our kids...

Actual Weekend - Part 3 of 5

Not a lot to say in this post. Kevin came over for dinner and while he was there he fed Molly and built Legos with James and put James to bed. He didn't even take a nap. ; )

Good Uncle.

Off-topic anecdote that happened while Kevin was here....

Brian: "James, come over here so I can change your diaper."

James: "No thanks."

Brian: "James, we need to change your diaper."

James: "No thanks Daddy, I want to keep building."

Brian: "James, PLEASE come ever here so we can change your diaper."

James: "Well, that's a nice way of asking!"

and the diaper was changed. the end.  

Actual Weekend - Part 2 of 5 PLUS $10,000 PRIZE!

So, remember when we went to the George Washington parade? It was also one block from our house (in the opposite direction). There were approximately 50 people there - total. We just mosied on over, congratulating ourselves on choosing a housing location so close to the action. When Molly got hungry, we just left the parade and everyone else met us at home. Easy peasy.

Just, as a review, here is that parade - please note the "crowd."

So, HERE is the crowd at the St. Patrick's Day parade:

Yeah - the Irish are not kidding around. People came from miles around. Not only did we struggle to find a viewing spot, but the one we found was only accessible by walking through a store and basically blocking ourselves in JUST to see OVER the heads of the 50 people directly in front of us.

Well, now we know.

Here's James at the parade:

here's Molly...

and here is a leprechaun.

OK, now for $10,000 in Coyne Cash (redeemable absolutely nowhere), can you correctly identify the theme of this parade float? In case you can't see the photo well enough: there is a pirate, a polar bear, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Snow White, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and several people just dressed in green.

Stay tuned for Part 3, Uncle Kevin Comes to Dinner.