Camping with the Settles

What a terrific weekend!! The five of us went camping with my friend, Becky, and her family. Our kids are ages 6, 5, 4, 3 and 3. They absolutely love each other! This is the second year we have gone camping with this family. It is so much fun!! We went to Christopher Run Campground at Lake Anna. There is a great swimming area at the lake along with a little beach. They have a playground and some great fishing. Ryan and Lucas (Becky's 6 year old) both caught their first fish! Ryan actually caught 4 fish before the day was over! We were all pretty proud parents! Stuart owns a sailboat and he and Mike took it out on Sunday, before we left. His plan was to take the rest of us out as well, but when they returned it was getting late and starting to rain. Hopefully next time:). On Saturday morning, for breakfast, Becky brought ingredients to make "boiled bag omelets" that the kids could make themselves. They had such a great time shaking their bagged omelet and ate every bite! Never thought I would, but we sure do LOVE camping!!!

Ryan's First Trophy

Tonight was supposed to be Ryan's last t-ball game, but afternoon thunderstorms prevented them from playing. Ryan's coach had previously made plans for the team members and their families to go to Cici's Pizza to eat and pass out trophies. --All of the t-ball players receive a trophy. There is no score keeping, therefore no champions. T-ball is a great entry for kids to let them learn to bat and field. It was really nice that the entire league received trophies.-- Since they were not able to play the game, we met at Cici's at game time. Coach Nichol introduced each player and presented them with their trophy that had their name engraved on it. Ryan was SO proud as he walked up to accept his trophy. After showing it to Mike he sat beside me and said "Mommy, this is fragile." I said, "I know, it is fragile." "It's glass" he said. No idea :). When we got home he requested we place his trophy somewhere in his room that Lydia and Emily can't reach it.

In the picture with Ryan is Christian. Christian is a neighbor of ours. Ryan goes to his house two mornings a week and Christian's mom gets Ryan to school for us those days. This is a result of our work schedules.

Completely un-related to t-ball but very funny . . . I tend to find things funny that are really a "had to be there to think it was funny" kind of thing. Tonight, after leaving Cici's we stopped at Wal-Mart. Mike had to pick up a few things and I wanted to make a copy of a picture (which never happened, but that is a story for another time :( ). Mike took Ryan with him and Lydia and Emily came with me. Our Wal Mart has recently remodeled and I have no idea where ANYTHING is right now so our walk through the store to find the photo processing place was a long one. As we were walking I was explaining to the girls that Mommy had to make a copy of a picture and they must stay with me or they would suffer consequences. Lydia says to me "Ok Mommy, but Lydia and Emily (she sometimes talks about herself in the third person) need to go check something first and then we will come back to you." Trying to keep from laughing I corrected her and reiterated the consequence she would suffer if she went to "check on something first."

Lydia's "new" bike

Last fall we bought bikes for Lydia and Emily so they could ride bikes with Ryan. We purchased 14" bikes--the same size as Ryan's. Ryan had been riding his 14" bike for a while and we thought the girls would be ready for one. It turns out they were really not able to reach the bottom pedal when their leg was completely extended. In addition, they really did not seem strong enough to make the bikes move even after my dad attached little blocks to the pedals. As a result, they were not riding their bikes. When she found out about our delima, my friend Becky said that her son Mason had outgrown his 12" bike and wondered if we would like to have it. Emily immediately became attached to the new bike! She started riding with Ryan and was loving it. We tried to make her share with Lydia, but Lydia really did not seem interested in riding "Emily's" bike. She continued to try to ride the 14" bike, but would just get frustrated and stop trying.

Last week my friend, Kara and her girls came over for dinner. After dinner we took a walk around our neighborhood. The kids decided they wanted to ride their bikes. Ryan and Emily rode theirs, we loaned one of the 14" bikes to Lynnea and Lydia decided she wanted to ride in the wagon with Olivia. Kara commented on how great Lynnea was doing on this bigger bike. She explained that Lynnea only has a little bike and she has really outgrown it and does not like to ride it anymore. She was LOVING the one we let her ride. We thought it would be a great idea to trade bikes for a while. Lynnea took our 14" bike and they loaned us her 12" bike. Perfect idea!

Today I took the kids out to ride their bikes. When we received the bike from Lynnea I immediately announced it was Lydia's so she would be excited about it. She was ready to ride her new bike! She rode her bike longer today than she ever has! She was so confident with it and knew she was a big girl riding her bike! Hopefully Lynnea will have the same reaction! It was so great being out there with them today! They were all riding their bikes and everyone was happy :).

Ryan came up to me while they were riding and said "Lydia is the slow down one."

I asked him what he meant.

He said "Lydia is the slow down one because her bike is yellow. Emily is the go one because her bike is green and I am the stop one because my bike is red."

Too funny! My children are a traffic light :).

It's Lawn Party Time Again!!! YEA!

I am a lawn party addict. I love them! In a post last summer I explained our local custom of lawn parties (click on lawn parties in my labels). Last night was the first one of the season for me. They don't really start full force until summer actually starts, but some areas get theirs in earlier. Last night was the last night for the Elkton Fire Department Lawn Party. After having spent all day with us, Kara and her girls agreed to go with the kids and me to the lawn party last night since Mike could not go with us. The thing that I really love about this lawn party is the fireworks. There are other lawn parties that set off fireworks, but this one sets them off in a field and you park so close to the field where they are letting them off (not dangerously close) that you can actually see the people lighting them. We always get a good place to park so that when it is firework time, we can get our lawn chairs out and have a great view of both things. We ate dinner at the lawn party and we rode a few rides. Ryan rode his first roller coaster (small kiddie size) and loved it! All four kids rode the barrel of fun (we called it the cups) for the first time (well first time for my three anyway). The car they are in spins around while the entire ride spins around. Lydia HATED this one. She screamed "STOP SPINNING" the entire time she was riding. She never actually started crying, but when she got off she said "I don't like the cups!" After sharing some cotton candy and snow cones we headed out to watch the fireworks. They ended up starting late and the kids were tired so we decided to go ahead and go. As we were leaving they started so we pulled into a nearby street to watch them. It was a great view and we were inside the car so it was not as scary--well at least to Ryan and Lydia. After I heard them talking about the fireworks a little bit I turned to see if Emily was ok since she was not talking--it was then that I saw Cousin It (from the Adams Family) sitting in her seat. She had taken her blanked and put it over hear head. I asked her why she was covering her head with her blanket and she said "because the fireworks are too loud." I couldn't help but laugh. Best thing, from this street, I could still see the people setting the fireworks off. The pictures and movie are not very good--they were taken with my phone. In the roller coaster pictures, Ryan is in the first car.

Play Date

I love to get together with other moms (parents) and their kids and have a playdate. Not only is it a GREAT time for the kids, it is a GREAT time for the moms!! The kids entertain one another and the moms get to visit. A definate win win! :) Today we had a backyard full of kids and parents all around. This weekend is Mike's weekend to work nights so the kids and I tend to make plans on these weekends that involve other kids since the weekends that he is off--we tend to cram in family things that we can't do the weekends he works. My friend Kara and her two girls, Lynnea-6 (who is in Ryan's Kindergarten class) and Olivia-1 (who goes to my center) came over to play on the swingset and swim in our little pool. Since I knew they were coming I invited Benita (the wife of a guy that Mike works with and is working this weekend too) and her little boy, Tommy-2. They all had such a great time! Kara's sister, Claire stopped by, Benita's husband (who is on the day shift this weekend), Tommy stopped by in his patrol car to see everyone for a bit. The kids played with their water guns, diving toys and even tried to bring the horseshoes into the pool. Even Olivia had a good time trying to ride the bike we traded/loaned to Lynnea. Too fun!!

What a great weekend!

This past weekend was such a great one . . . and I even had to work a half day on my day off :). It started on Friday when I was due to volunteer in Ryan's Kindergarten class for the last time this year. I am only able to go every other Friday--this coming Friday will not be my Friday to volunteer and then they are out of school next Thursday. Can't believe this year has gone by so quickly!! I can't believe he is going to be going into the 1st grade! Where does the time go? Anyway, Friday was Field Day at Ryan's school. The older grades went on a fieldtrip, but the grades that did not go on the fieldtrip had a Field Day. I was able to volunteer for the Field Day and had so much fun! Ryan's class stayed together as they went through the game stations. They had a three-legged race, potato sack race, dizzy bat race, blew bubbles, and other relays. It was so neat! Ryan had such a great time and managed to get unbelievably dirty!

Last week we finally got the kids a swingset. We had always thought it was not necessary to have a swingset since we live within walking distance of a school playground and within very close proxmity of another school playground, but the kids are getting to the point where they can go in the backyard by themselves . . . and had nothing to do in the backyard:). After putting our swing set together, the kids had such a great time with it this weekend! Several of our neighbor's kids came over to play with them--we have now become the popular house. While the kids were swinging Mike and I finished up our deck that we moved. Well, almost finished . . . we still need steps on it :). It is looking so great!

Finally, yesterday we pulled the kid's swimming pool out of the shed to see how it fared over the winter. We have had so many people tell us that their pools and other summer toys only last that given summer. Holes infest the toys and they are not able to be inflatable the next summer-we lucked out! No holes!! The kids splashed and splashed and had such a great time swimming all afternoon! And, bonus for us . . . we don't have to buy a new pool! :)

First Camping trip of the Season

This past weekend Mike and I took the kids to the KOA in Natural Bridge Virginia. For some reason, when we made reservations, we thought we were camping at Jellystone Park in Natural Bridge, but when we arrived they did not have a reservation for us. The Jellystone people called the KOA people and asked if they had a reservation for us. Sure enough . . . they did. So, we traveled about 5 miles out of our way, but that was not too bad.




On our way out of Harrisonburg, we stopped to get gas and some groceries. The children proceeded to climb up to "Ryan's bed" which is the one that is above the cab of the motorhome. Emily somehow got onto a sleeping bag that took her on a shed ride off of the bed and down headfirst to the ground. She hit her face on the dinet area table on her way down and then hit her head when she landed on the floor. She ended up with a nice black eye. Don't know how long it will be here, but she looks as if she has been in a bar fight:).

The campground had some great activities for the kids to play. They played Candy Bingo and Rattlesnake Hunt. There was a hay wagon ride for the kids to "hunt for Black Bart" with their water guns. Ryan was given a "loaded gun" and was quite excited when he saw Black Bart waiting for us in the bushes. Black Bart and his posse shot water at the hay wagon riders with HUGE water pipes. The water they had far outweighed the water we had to fend them off:). After the ride, Ryan was branded with a Sheriff badge and Lydia and Emily were given one too since they are the sisters of the Deputy. We took some nice family walks, the kids rode their bikes, played huge checkers and played on the playground and we settled down for smores Saturday night.

Around 8:30 Saturday night some scary looking clouds blew our way and began to dump buckets of water on everything. We packed our things up and went inside the camper hoping to wait it out. It ended up raining the entire night so we all went to bed early. We were scheduled to leave on Sunday so the rain did not dampen any of our plans. It was a great weekend and we are looking forward to camping with the Settle clan in a few weeks!!!

Ryan took the picture of Mike and me :)