Saturday, April 30, 2011

its in his heart

Logan had a second t-ball game this morning, and unlike Wednesday night, the weather today was perfect.   Its fun to watch him play. He's so focused and can hardly wait his turn to bat.   He's very serious about it, too. 

Consequently, he attended a birthday party for the coaches son later this afternoon.  I was talking to our coach and he paid Logan a nice compliment.  He said "some kids just 'have it' and you can see in Logans' eyes and you can see it in how he plays.  He's good, he's really good. He stays focused, he knows what to do, and he's a great hitter."  

Its fun to watch the kids play.  For most of them, its the first time they've ever played a team sport.  Sometimes they have no idea what to do.   They run to first base and just keep running.  Or when the next batter hits, the kid of first base will run back to home plate.  Once, Logan ran to second base and just kept on running into the outfield.  When they're on the field, they aren't always sure where to throw the ball.  Its pure entertainment.  But, its also priceless and it fills my heart watching him do something he really loves.





I've written many times here about how parenting Logan is always both challenging and thrilling, and a learning experience every step of the journey.  Logan is such a complex little person, and every day presents a whole array of challenges, battles, discussions, negotiations, laughter and yes, sometimes tears.  Watching him at t-ball is a chance to see him in his purest little boy form, experiencing something that brings him joy and happiness.

Watching your children experience pure joy doing something they're passionate about...well, it just doesn't get better.  I feel lucky everyday of my life that I get to share all of these experiences with my boys.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

tattoos!

The bad news is, Logan's 2nd ever t-ball game got rained out tonight.   We arrived half hour early for practice, and the very second the kids stepped on the field to start the game, the sky opened up and we all had to run for our cars. 

The good news is, we left there and went to get the boys tattoos. 

Just kidding Dad, don't have a heart attack!

A local restaurant has kids nights on Wednesdays, and they have a fabulous face painter who just works for tips.  We were her last two customers on our way out tonight. The boys opted to have their arms painted, not their faces.  Logan chose FIRE! and Dylan chose a SNAKE! and not 10 minutes later they were both decked out with these pretty darn cool 'tattoos'.








Tuesday, April 26, 2011

magic of the Easter bunny

As always, the Easter bunny delivered big time and the boys awoke to baskets full of goodies Sunday morning. 



Sadlly today, Dylan had a realization there is not an Easter bunny.  He told me he recognized the handwritten note the Easter bunny left him and Logan as Andrews' handwriting.  Then he looked me dead in the eyes and said "Mom, tell me the truth."   I couldn't lie to him.   I told him he can't tell Logan, it has to be a secret. And he can't tell other kids either, especially younger ones.  He seemed fine with this revelation, and not surprised at all.  In fact, he also said he knows I ate the carrots since I love them.   Luckily Logan was out back when this conversation took place.

But funny enough, he didn't ask a single thing about Santa.  He hasn't put it all together yet.  To me, that will be more crushing because there's just such a sentimental magic about Santa.  I'll be sad to unveil the truth to him someday.  I know a lot of kids his age already know about Santa, so its just a matter of time. But I think I'll steal my answer from my good friend Shawn and what she tells her kids, "Those who believe, receive."  I guess maybe somehow, its easier to believe in a jolly fat man circling the world in a sleigh in a single night than it is a giant furry bunny hopping around.   Maybe its the sleigh verses the hopping. 

Monday, April 25, 2011

one year later

I took this same photo of the boys last Easter, in front of the big tree in our front yard. 


Its amazing how much they change in a year!


Saturday, April 23, 2011

blue hands

If I could invent an egg dye that didn't turn your hands all of colors of the rainbow, I could make a million dollars.





Happy Easter!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Shenandoah Caverns - a gem of a day

Yesterday we decided to keep the day trip adventures of spring break going, and took a car ride out to Quicksburg, VA (about 1 1/2 hours from Loudoun Co) to the lovely and incredible Shenandoah Caverns.  I haven't been there in many years, but I remembered it as being even better than the well-known Luray Caverns which is nearby.

It was a gorgeous day, and we really had a fabulous time.   The caverns currently have a coupon on their website that is good until August 1, 2011.  Children ages 6 - 14 get free admission with a paying adult (one free child per paying adult). Children 5 and under are always free.  Adult admission is $23 per person, and you won't have to pay for your kids (usually $10 per child). So for a family of four, $46 isn't bad at all for an entire day of full on incredible sights and interactive educational fun.

Admission to the caverns also gets you admission to three other attractions on their property, so we made an entire day of it.  The owner of the caverns, Earl Hargrove, apparently owns, among other things, a parade float building company.  His company designs massive parade floats that have been used in the Rose Bowl Parade, Inaugural Parades, the Miss America Pageant and many others.  There is an entire exhibit hall of these floats, some of them you can climb onto/into. Great photo taking!  Also, upstairs from the cavern gift shop is an entire display of automated store front windows (Mr. Hargrove's first business endeavor).  Lastly, there is a "Big Yellow Barn" on the property at the bottom of the hill.  They handed our boys a scavenger hunt sheet with items to find within the barn, and gave the boys prizes once they found everything on the list.  The barn is really not a barn at all... its a combination gift shop and display area for old stagecoaches, beekeeping paraphanilia, wine (they do tastings!), and many other items.  They have a barrel train ride outside for kids ($1 per child), and they also have some fenced animals the kids can feed and pet.  We spent at least an hour making friends with the goats and bunnies.

Now you see why this turned into an all day excursion, there was a lot to do! There is also a big dinosaur outside of the caverns kids can climb onto.  I saw it when we pulled up but we forgot about it later. 

Beware, there isn't a restaurant on the property. There are picnic tables if you come prepared or you can drive one exit down like we did and pop into Denny's (hadn't been to one since college!).  I do believe there is a snack bar that opens at the caverns more towards summer but I don't know what they sell there. The gift shop has lots of cool crystals, jewelry, rocks, and novelty items kids love.  It seemed very reasonably priced.  The staff, from our cavern tour guide, to the cashier, to the guy mowing the lawn, were all very nice and extremely kid-friendly.


I've been bringing the boys' wallets everytime we're going to a destination.  If they see something they want to buy, there are no arguements. They're allowed to use their own money on whatever they want (unless its something ridiculous and outrageously expensive, then I try to steer them to a better choice).  We still use the bear jar reward system, so they are always trying to earn their $5 rewards by filling up their bears.  They also get money for birthdays and some holidays from relatives.  So what did they each buy yesterday?  Dylan spent $2 on a giant lollipop, which he lost interest in after 20 minutes of licking.  Logan bought a $3 potato gun.

Speaking of potatoes, the staff told us about another destination not two minutes from them. The Route 11 Potato Chip factory is just down the street, so we hurried before their closing time to check it out. Unfortunately they weren't cooking any chips yesterday, but we saw the factory and sampled some tasty chips.  We'll have to go back sometime when they're cranking out chips, just to see how its done.

As if all of this wasn't enough, the caverns staff also gave us directions to one of the last of eight covered bridges left in Virginia.  It was neat to see in person, and drive thru.  Very picturesque.  We stopped in Strasburg on the way home to grab an ice cream cone, wanting a sweet end to a superb day together.

The boys are at such great ages to take places.  They really were in awe of and interested in the caverns and the parade floats.  But, they aren't too old yet to still take pleasure in feeding some bunnies, and licking a soft serve cone.    They have the patience to listen to a tour, but they still loved running around outside and taking it all in.  They didn't complain about the car ride, and they loved the spirit of adventure of our day.

We're a family that loves to be on the go, and we go on a lot of outings.  It was more difficult when Logan was younger, but we're finally able to do just about anything we can dream up, and I'm loving it.



























Thursday, April 21, 2011

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg VA

Monday, we took a day trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg with my Dad and Bobbie.  We've had this planned for a while, and the boys were so excited.  We thought by going on a Monday the park wouldn't be completely packed.  Ha!  It seems the whole world is on spring break this week (I thought our county was super late this year but I guess tons of other school systems must be closed by the size of the lines in the park).

Still, it was a GREAT day, and we really enjoyed the park.  I hadn't been there since I was four or so, so I barely remembered it.  Its a beautiful park; very picturesque with lovely gardens and lots of 'leisure' stuff for families to do together (train ride, boat cruise, zoo animals, etc.)... not just all thrill rides.  The boys went on a ton of rides with Grandma Bobbie and Andrew.   My Dad and I just sort of observed, especially after a topsy turvy ride early in the day on a flight simulator left us feeling a little queasy.   I've turned into a total ride wimp in my old age, ugh!  Its funny how your definition of a great theme park changes as you get older and bring your own kids.  I don't really care if I go on any rides; its all about watching my boys grinning from ear to ear all day. 

We stayed at the park almost all day... about 10 hours worth, and not once did either of them complain about all the walking.  This was a good measurement of how I hope they'll do in November when we go to Disney for the first time, with all that walking and super amounts of excitement.  I was very proud of them both; they did great all day at this park.  No strollers, either.  We did have to carry Logan's stuffed animals, since he won about four of them playing games.
















A great day, we just loved the park and can't wait to go back someday!