…and some of these

…mixed it with sugar and some of this

…and I got a lot of this

I made four batches of peach and one batch of blueberry.  I don’t even want to think about how much sugar I used.  I have to make room in the freezer for all this.  That means I have to pull out grapes from last year and some strawberries and I’ll have to turn them into jelly and jam too.  I think we’ll be set for the year.  I just might have to buy another little freezer to store it all.

If you ever come to our house please ask to have a peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwich.  I’ll promise you it will taste good.

Kade enjoyed his time today without getting picked on or having to whine about what movie he wanted to watch.  Here he is playing legos.  He did this most of the day, sometimes with a movie on.

I got to enjoy a quiet day.  I exercised and was in the shower by 9!  I also got a lot of work done around the house.  That will be a post for tomorrow.

The girls made it through the first day just fine.  They both like their teachers, neither one got the one they wanted but both teachers have pets in their classrooms so that’s a bonus.  Thursday we get to meet the teachers and see the classrooms.  That will be fun.  Here’s to a good school year.

We decided to spend Memorial Day in DC.  That was a good choice.  It was a warm day but we mostly enjoyed our site seeing.  We took the train to the Mall.  The kids really liked that.

We saw the Washington Monument.

We posed for a few pictures there with the Karrens.

The kids were a little bored so they decided to play leap frog at the base of the monument.

While we were there Kade made a little friend.  We don’t know his name.  We don’t think his parents really spoke English.  Kade went up to this little boy and waved to him.  Then they started running after each other and playing.  It was so cute to watch.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

After the goodbyes we walked over to the WWII Memorial.  The kids were pretty hot.  They couldn’t resist putting their feet in the water.

Then it was time for the parade.  This was a good but L-O-N-G parade.  They didn’t throw candy but did hand out little flags and the kids didn’t complain.  That was a shock.  There were lots of bands and military people, past and present.  Here’s some pictures.  Mickey Rooney is in the last picture in the tan suit.

Like I said it was a long parade and we didn’t stay for the entire show.  We walked over to the Lincoln Memorial.  It’s bigger than you think it is.

We were very hot and tired by the time we got here so we decided to leave.  After a long hike back to the train station we went to a good little diner, The Silver Diner, for dinner.  It was pretty yummy.

We decided while we were that close to the ocean we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go to the beach.  We drove to Ocean City, Maryland.  We stayed there a night so we wouldn’t have to drive 8 hours in one day.  The city is totally a tourist city.  There are hotels, restaurants, and mini-golf places everywhere.  We went to the beach as soon as we checked in and changed.  The hotel was 1-1/2 blocks from the beach.  In those 1-1/2 blocks the temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees by the time we got to water.  It was rather chilly, so we had the beach to ourselves, but we all had a good time at the beach.  This was Kade’s first time having a sandbox that big.  Here’s all the pictures from the beach.

After playing in the waves and sand we ate at The Dough Roller.  The food, pizza and pancakes, was pretty good but the service wasn’t good.  Our server didn’t speak English very well so it was rather difficult to tell her want we wanted.

Before going home the kids had to swim in the pool.  It was a little warmer than the ocean.

These are a few things we saw on the way back to Virginia.  What color house would you like to live in?

On the way there and back we had to drive on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  I took some pictures but they don’t look as nice as this.  While driving this scene popped out of the trees.

Once back in Virginia we visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Dulles.  I will say it took me a while to become interested, Mickey was hooked right away, and the kids were bored out of their minds.  The museum is in an old hanger.  There are dozens of aircraft from several different decades.  (How’s that for summing it up.)  We went up in the traffic control tower.  That’s a weird feeling.  Mattey didn’t like it at all so we didn’t stay long.  Here’s a few pictures from that visit.

Before we left Virginia Kade had to help John mow the lawn.  He thought this was pretty fun.  The Karrens also had a drum set.  Kade loved it.

We stopped for some lunch before hitting the road.  The kids got some pizza and Mickey and I had some tasty food from Pei Wei’s.  That’s the fast food version of P.F. Chang’s.  I want one of these in our city.

We then stopped for the night at the same hotel we stayed in on the way out.  We figured we knew it was nice so why not.  The kids got to swim again.  Here they are.

We got home on Sunday, June 1st, in the afternoon.  This is the mess we came home to.

This is no reflection on Amanda, who stayed at our house while we were gone.  This is the mess left from all the septic and plumbing work we had done before we left.  I must say it doesn’t look much different right now.  The yard is a little greener but that’s because weeds and trees have started growing.  The bathroom’s plumbing is now finished so some of the mess is getting put away.  We’re also taking A LOT to Goodwill.

]]> http://www.standifordfamily.com/2008/07/22/the-rest-of-our-vacation/feed/ http://www.standifordfamily.com/2008/06/29/eastern-road-trip-part-i/ http://www.standifordfamily.com/2008/06/29/eastern-road-trip-part-i/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:07:40 +0000 Mickey Standiford http://www.standifordfamily.com/2008/06/29/eastern-road-trip-part-i/ Well we’ve been back from vacation for almost a month and still no posts about our trip.  I think the reason nothing is done is because the task seems to overwhelming.  Today I decided to break the trip up into smaller segments and post a little bit at a time.  This first post will cover the first two and a half days.

On Friday, the 23rd, we packed the van and started the first leg of our eastern road trip. It was a struggle to get out of the house as the kids were using all of their extra energy to try their parents patience. We finally got on the road about 5:30 pm, stopped at Dairy Queen for supper, and arrived at our first stop, a Holiday Inn Express in Newton Falls, Ohio, around 10:30 pm. The girls were still up, but Kade had fallen asleep about 15 minutes prior to arriving at the hotel. We checked in, found our room, and finally got the kids to settle down and go to sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up, had our free express breakfast, put our diving suits (Kade’s word for bathing suits) on, and went for a morning swim in the pool. Megan seems to be learning how to swim, Mattey enjoyed floating around using two noodle floaties, and Kaden really got into jumping into the pool. We then headed back to the rode. After about 20 minutes Kelly realized she had forgotten her pillow. So it was back to the hotel. After getting the pillow and taking a bathroom break, we were back on our way to Virginia. We stopped at a rest stop in Pennsylvania. Megan thought it smelled terrible. I guess it did since there were about five different foods being made, coffee, and the bathroom right there, not to mention all the people inside. There were a lot of motorcycles parked outside. We guessed they were going to something for Memorial Day. We arrived at the Karren’s house around 5:30. Abby and Emma (and Jack) were waiting for us. We were happy to be out of the van.

John and Michelle were gracious hosts and let us use their basement apartment for the week. If you have to stay in a basement that’s the one to stay in. We had dinner on their deck and the kids loved being with each other.

More pictures from our first day in Virginia are available here.

Sunday Kelly made our favorite Cinnabon coffee cake to share with the Karrens. We went to church at 1:00. After church we came home to change and have an early dinner and then we went to the National Zoo in DC.

The only animal that was still out was one elephant. She was quite entertaining. Then we stopped by the visitors center at the DC temple.

We looked around a room that was all about the life of President Hinckley. Later we took a walk towards the temple to take a closer look. Kade said the temple was broken. We asked him what he meant and he said it wasn’t shooting fire. I wonder what gave him the idea that Moroni was supposed to be shooting fire on top of the temple. I might have to question what he’s being taught in nursery. The girls took turns driving with each other, Megan with Abby and Matttey with Emma. They really enjoy each others company. Poor Kade was stuck driving with us even after he protested.

More pictures from day two available here.

Then, in the fifth inning, she got her chance that she has been waiting for.  Coach sent her out to warm up in the top of the fifth and when it was time to go out in the field she said, “where am I going?”  I told her she was going to pitch and her face lit up.  She got the first batter to ground out to her, so far so good.  One of the next batters scored on one of those plays where the girls just through the ball around the infield, not much you can do about that.  She then made it through the rest of the inning with no runs scored.

To top it off, Megan and I rode our bikes to the game which she has been dying to do.  It was a really good game and Megan played really hard.  Way to go girl!

They didn’t have to do shots. For kids they do a “pinch” and then leave the stuff on the surface of the skin. After waiting for a couple of hours they were given the results……She’s allergic to NOTHING! Now we know. She was diagnosed with mild to moderate asthma. She was given 3 different prescriptions: 1) to take everyday, 2) to use when the coughing starts up, and 3) a steroid to take when it gets bad like in the fall/winter when she’s usually sick. Now we know the truth behind the coughing.

Every since Mattey was this little…

…she’s had trouble with asthma. Now that she’s this big…

…we finally know the truth and how to treat her asthma. Here’s to no more coughing.

I can now show the first rag quilt I made. My mom got it for Mother’s Day.

One big event for May was Mattey’s 7th birthday. She was very excited to turn 7. We had her party the Sunday before her birthday. We had it at Nana and Papa’s house because ours was a mess in preparation to have septic and plumbing work done. Mattey got some great gifts. She wanted a white and chocolate cake but wouldn’t let me put the raspberry filling in the middle. Here’s the birthday girl (I can’t believe she’s 7 already):

Megan had a Spring Concert for school. This is her second concert being in the school choir (it’s only open to the 3rd & 4th graders). The music teacher gave her a CD with all the songs on it and she practiced her songs all the time. By the night of the concert the whole family knew all the words. Here’s Meg at the concert. She did great. They aren’t good pictures but what can you do without a huge flash? (She’s supposed to look like that in the second picture. She’s a soldier for the Battle of New Orleans.)

Another huge thing we had the unfortunate opportunity to experience was having our septic system replaced. This is such a mess. First you have to find someone who you can count on to do the work, then your yard and sometimes your home can be torn apart, and then you have to pay big bucks for it. The first step, finding someone to do the work, took us a while. I should really say Mickey since he did all the leg work but we decided together. We went with A&R Wastewater Management. They did a good job as far as we can tell but what do we have to compare it to? Everything is working and it passed inspection by the county so I guess it’s good. To prepare for A&R to work I had to move hundreds of flower bulbs. I gave a lot of them away since I don’t have room to plant them anywhere else. (Mickey did make me a flower bed beneath our tree. It looks great. I’ll post pictures when the flowers are really blooming.) Mickey had to remove the fence, take down the swing set and move it, take down the basketball hoop, move the shed, and the really sad part, cut down the grape vine. (Sometimes it’s nice to have a bad back.) I wanted to move it but the roots went too deep so there was no way without using dynamite. And I couldn’t take cuttings because it’s the wrong time of the year and I didn’t have anywhere to keep them safe while I was gone on vacation. I’ll have to get a couple new ones and wait for a good crop. That was a lot of work.

We decided to redo some plumbing while we were at it since our water left the house in three different locations and at three different levels and the old septic tank, which collapsed, was buried under the garage. We had to do a lot of work for this project too. We moved almost everything out the laundry room and the storage room or the dark room as the kids call it. Everything was piled up in the toy room and office. Mickey had to remove the ceiling in the laundry room, cut pieces of dry wall from the wall and ceiling in the toy room, and remove some tiles from the office ceiling. The plumbers from Frog Plumbing, Inc. were good. The owner made sure not to leave us with a huge mess. He had his sons do clean up. We also had them plumb in a half bath in the basement. We are looking forward to having this done. A second toilet is a good thing for five people, especially when some people like to take a long time in the bathroom. I won’t mention any names, girls. Oops. Mickey has to frame in the walls before they can come back and finish this work.

Seriously, I am lucky to have someone like you and I am thankful for all that you do for me.  I love you!

It was held at The Res in Mishawaka, IN.  Kade and I got there a little after 6:30 pm, grabbed our gear, and headed down the trail towards the camp site.  We then helped my Dad setup the tent.

Next it was time to build a campfire.  We all helped build the log cabin of twigs and with the help of some dryer lint and one match, we had a great looking fire.

After a quick trip to pickup some breakfast supplies, we took a three generation picture and then it was time for some dinner.

We had hot dogs and dad and I topped them off with some chili and cheese.  Towards the end of dinner we had a few small sprinkles of rain but nothing too bad.

The night came to an end with a spiritual message about the commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, which is the basis for the Father and Son Campout.  It was getting quite late so we headed off to our tent while others stood round the campfire telling stories and jokes.Kade slept through the night in his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag while I on the other hand didn’t get much sleep at all.  It rained on and off through the night, but we stayed warm and dry inside the tent.  Unfortunately we had to leave a little after 6:30 am to get home in time for Megan’’s softball game so we missed out on breakfast.We had a really good time together and oh yes, this story would be incomplete if I didn’t tell you about Kade’s favorite part.  He got to pee in the woods and thought this was the funniest thing.  I guess the camp site did have a restroom but that was too far away and they always smell really bad, so Kade helped water nature.