Frogs and Bluebells

 This Spring all sorts of things that we dreamed about when we bought this house have started to come through.  The boys have gone out to catch frogs, everyone is out bike riding, and we are being surprised daily by the beauty surrounding us.  Living in Virginia can be absolutely breathtaking as each day something new blooms.  Dave went outside to walk in our little woods one Sunday evening and came inside to get me.  He had discovered a field of bluebells just inside the woods behind our house.  It was magical.  I love it here.  I hope I can remember this feeling of love during CicadaFest 2013.

Hilde and Soccer

I cannot explain it, but there is something magical about watching my girl play soccer, the sport I loved and played for so long.  She is just learning, and she often gets frustrated when she makes mistakes, but I think she is doing awesome.  She may never play again, but I find that I love going to the games.  I love to sit on the sidelines and watch the chaotic action.  I love that joy I saw on her face when she scored her first goal.  I love seeing her cheeks redden as she plays all out, running faster than I thought she could go, pushing her athletic limits and growing better every day.  Go Hilde!

The Greatest Show on Earth

This year we decided to take our kids to the Circus.  Ringling Brothers was doing a show called Dragons.  Add to that a comment from Enoch to Dave that he wants to grow up to be a clown and we just HAD to go.  We got there early so that Enoch could participate in the clown school, which he really enjoyed.  There was also a huge moon bounce obstacle course that both boys loved.  Overall, I was amazed again at how much they fit into the show.  It was almost 3 hours long and when we left there was a torrential downpour, but it was worth it.  I think I spent most of the time with my mouth wide open in shock at all of the daring stunts.

With the plethora of horses and the promise of a dragon, Phinn was beyond excited.  He barely stayed awake long enough to see the dragon at the end. He was drooping so much it was almost comical.

 I think I liked the dog show the best, it was just so darn cute.

I didn't get any good pictures of all the horse stunts because they were just moving way too fast, but I have to tell you, it was amazing and very scary.  I was sure someone was going to be trampled.

 The motorcycle on a high wire with two women dangling from it, were right above our heads.  CRAZY stuff.

 As always, the lion taming act was cool.  The picture we got is great too, look at the crazy eyes of the lion!

 Hilde's favorite thing was these girls that were in these large plastic balls suspended up way high.  The balls opened and closed and they did all sorts of tricks.

 And really, who wants to hang from their hair!  These ladies were probably 100 feet in the air spinning and spinning while hanging by their hair. Headache anyone?

 The boys loved the Shaolin warrior portion.  Enoch had joined them in their pre-show class and was enthralled watching all of their tricks.  It was pretty cool, but some tricks were pretty hard to watch.

 Dave caught the warrior jumping through a ring of knives and fire perfectly.  

The acrobats were a little off that night.  They did some amazing things, but there were a lot of drops and misses as well.

 The final act was the metal ball with motorcycles riding around inside it.  It was AWESOME.  I can't explain it to you, but they got up to 8 cyclists in there.  It was ridiculous.

All in all it was a wonderful night!

All About Phinn

Preschool sent home a handmade book all about Phinn last week.  It included self-portraits and other things.  My favorite part was the mad-libs style interview they did with him.  His answers are in bold blue.

My name is Phineas and I am 3 years old.  I have yellow hair and blue eyes.  My favorite color is green and mac and cheese is my favorite food.

My mom's name is Mom and she is 5 years old.  She has brown hair and brown eyes.  My mom looks pretty when she wears her feet.  The food mom cooks the best is bacon and I really like to go to the beach with my mom.  When mom is working, she doesn't work anymore.

My dad's name is Daddy and he is 5 years old.  When daddy goes to work, he doesn't do things and he looks handsome when he wears a sweater.  Daddy likes to cook too and the food he cooks the best is when he cooks outside.  Daddy likes me to do stuff and I like to help do things like planting blueberries with him!

I go to Preschool and my friends at school are Josh, Owen and Sabrina.  My favorite thing to do at school is painting.  At home, I like to cook stuff and my favorite T.V. show is Batman.  When I grow up, I want to be Batman!

I love the little window into this guys' mind at that very moment.  This is why I love being a mom.  These kids are fun, inquisitive, smart, and pretty darn cute.

Happy Mother's Day!

Williamsburg

For years I have been thinking of taking a family trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA.  It finally worked out for us to go, but it was a very quick trip with a lot packed in.  We spent Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday morning at the waterpark and Lodge.  Then Sunday afternoon we drove over to Dave's Aunt Janet's and we spent Sunday afternoon and Monday morning exploring Colonial Williamsburg with Janet.  Packing so much in works well for about half of the family, so we don't try this too often.  I think it was worth it this time.  I love the top picture of the boys.  Look closely at the light on Phinn's right eye.  See Dave photobombing in the back?  LOVE it.

The older kids loved the MagiQuest.  It was a fun wizardy scavenger hunt around the hotel.  We didn't budget enough time for it though.  If we ever make it back we will definitely schedule another round in.

Although we didn't get pictures of everything, the kids really loved Williamsburg.  We saw a fair bit for the time we spent there.  Enoch was completely entranced by the blacksmith and gunsmith.  I think he could have stayed there forever.

The stocks were fun too.  A lot more fun for us than it would have been to the people back in Colonial Williamsburg time!

 Janet treated us to a carriage ride around town.  It was a lot of fun and it was funny how much movie trivia the driver wanted to discuss.  We did learn some, and Phinn got to be with the horses so it was a win for everyone.

 There was a hedge maze behind the palace which reminded us of some of the English garden mazes.