Skate Park Savvy

Somehow, between the nap and school schedules our field trip quota has been waaay down this year. As a result, it seems that screen time is at an all time high, as is general whiney-ness! (Big surprise!)

In an effort to increase our joy and savor life a bit more we headed out of the house and got busy at Zero Gravity Skatepark for Toddler Time. They have a great thing going over there-- it's your typical indoor skatepark complete with lots of crazy ramps, bars, etc. Take away the skateboards and skater dudes and you have one totally awesome toddler playground. They even put in a little bounce house which is always a hit with little ones.

Maxwell had a blast slipping and sliding all over the place and Cornelia was in baby heaven just crawling around getting filthy! :) Maxwell did take her down a few ramps, but nothing was quite as thrilling for her little ten month old self than freeeedoooom!

Although it's only the end of March, I've started to set my sights on Summer vacation and just how we are going to manage keeping the whiney factor down and the fun factor up-- my solution (and this is not revolutionary by any means)-- STRUCTURE! I've started to think out a few fun idea for the summer months. I'm thinking that field trips are going to play a role and I'm thinking about trying to be a lot more deliberate in making our outings an educational experience too.

So here are my ideas and I'd love to hear more! Hit me with some comments peeps!

1. Notebook Time: I plan to have a small spiral bound notebook for each of the older kiddos where each day we will draw a picture (or two) about what we've done that day and write a sentence about it. In Maxwell's case, I will write what he dictates and in Ruby's, she will write her own using "Kid-writing". Not only will it be a great memory of our summer days, it will be great practice on some skills they have been working on at school. An added benefit is that it will help me be deliberate in making sure there's something super cool to draw each day!

2. Journey Around the World: I found some great curriculum at our local library that will be a fun naptime event. The kids will have little passports and each day we get to visit a new place. They learn about the place by doing a craft, hearing a short story, or even making food from the country. I think it will be big fun for all of us.

3. Daily Devotionals and Bible Memory Verses: We do some of this already, but I want to be more intentional about it and actually carve out time in our day to make it important and something we all look forward to, rather than just squeezed in here and there.

4. Hikes and Field Trips: I found a great resource last year where kids can earn badges by doing little nature hikes and doing activities along the trail. Time to break out the Kelty pack and enjoy some great outdoors time!

5. Exploring our own backyard: We have a great yard for kids. It is just hilarious to sit outside and listen to Ruby and Max exploring in the woods. They have a blast imagining all sorts of adventures and discovering new things. We also have a small creek on our property that may be fun to look for water bugs, etc. in. Maybe we can even take a field trip to Daddy's lab and look at the water through the microscope!

Can you tell I'm excited for summer! Good thing Spring Break is just around the corner. We'll have to take some of my ideas for a test drive.

Hope you are enjoying the onset of spring and getting excited about all family time to come!

NC Mountain Fair with the Johns Family!

We were so blessed to have Michael, Julie, and Asher Johns come visit us last weekend! We had about 24 hours packed with fun, including a trip to the fair. Needless to say, Maxwell and Ruby have been begging to go back to the fair ALL WEEK LONG. I'm so glad we went at the end of the fair because I had the excuse that they fair has moved on and we'll have to wait til next year! Here are a few memories from the day.

After a long morning nap in the stroller with Asher, Cornelia spent the afternoon in the Baby Bjorn. She loves chewing on the cloth in front so it was drenched by the time we got back to the van.

Ruby and I took a spin in the bumper cars and gave Max and Julie quite a few good bumps!

The petting zoo was a big hit with all of the kids. How many times in your life will you have a chance to feed a camel!? We had to seize the opportunity!

One year old Asher is a real cutie! I think he was a bit overwhelmed at times with the noise level and flurry of activity around the Nelson house! At the fair he just soaked it all in.

Thinkin' about sleep... boy, that sun is hot!

Maxwell and Ruby driving a jeep at the fair.

Julie and Maxwell getting ready for some bumper car action!

Ruby is our little dare devil! She and Michael had a great time time on the Pirate Ship! Thank goodness it didn't go upside down. Mommy's not ready for her little girl to grow up that fast!

Max, Jared, Michael, and Ruby went on the Black Widow. That was a mistake that Jared and Max won't make again any time soon! It was the first ride of the day and Jared said, "No more spinning rides for me!". Max huddled in a ball for the whole ride, poor guy! At least he didn't lose his breakfast!

Michael and Ruby on the chairlift.

Maxwell and I on the chairlift. This is the wildest ride I can handle these days. Motion sickness and sun beating down on you for hours on end are not a good combination!

We had a great visit at the fair: seeing the animals, riding the rides, and eating some greasy food. Most of all we enjoyed the relaxing day with sweet friends and family! Thank you, God, for your amazing blessings!

Sky Top Orchard with the Danfords!

A few weeks ago we met our good friends, the Danfords, at Sky Top Orchards for some apple picking! Somehow I didn't manage to get even one picture of sweet Annalee, but I did get a few good ones...

Ruby ready to pick some apples, rain or shine!

Carter, Max, Ruby, and Danny with apples in hand!

We're down with the apple picking!

Apple picking 2010 with our new family of five!

Whoa! That's a lot of apples!

Labor Day with the Sherrards!

We were so blessed to have my college roomie, Lindsay (Hill) Sherrard, and her family come visit us over Labor Day weekend! Lindsay is a doctor in Rocky Mount, VA and her hubby, Matt, is doing a wonderful job as a stay-at-home dad to their two adorable sons, Jack (3) and Hilton (10mo). They are a fun family and we had a great time together...

After they arrived on Saturday we headed to Hooker Falls for a little bit of swimming. The water was too cold for Lindsay and Hilton, but the rest of us all took a dip--including Cornelia!

Max floating in the clear mountain water, while Daddy and Cornelia try to get used to the chill!

Hilton and Lindsay takin' in the sun. It was supposed to be Hilton's nap time, but there were too many things to see to make napping any fun!

On Sunday we tried to take it a bit easier and relaxed around the house after going to church and having a wonderful brunch out (thank you, Sherrards!!). After naps, we enjoyed a short walk on the bike trail and even had a little bit of playground time... why don't we think to do that more often!?

Here's a great photo of Matt, Lindsay and the boys at Looking Glass Falls; our last stop Monday morning before they headed home.

Wheaton College Roomies (plus Hilton)! Neither Lindsay or I will be able to make it to our 10 year Wheaton reunion, so it was fun to have a little reunion just the two of us. We're hoping that we might make it up to visit them later this fall or winter.

Cornelia gave me a BIG smile while we watched the big kids and daddies play at the base of the falls.

Bye-bye, Sherrards! We had a great time! Come again soon!

A day in the woods

Last week we met another family out at the Cradle of Forestry for a walk in the woods. It has been so nice getting out and enjoying the nice weather--though it's getting a little less comfortable walking and pushing a stroller all the time! I just keep telling myself, "You're walking the baby OUT! You're walking the baby OUT!" That's pretty good motivation!

All along the trail we took they have stations for kids to explore nature. I made the kids saddle up on this log at one of the stops! Max looks like he's more concerned with what his friend, Eden, is doing than Mommy trying to take his picture-- pretty typical!

We got all three kiddos to sit on the hearth of this old fireplace. Eden really knows how to mug for the camera-- wish some of that would rub off on my kids!

After a picnic lunch at the Cradle, we drove up on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a few miles up to Mt. Pisgah. Ruby was thrilled that I let her stand on the other side of the road to snap this picture of Max and I! A lot of the trees were bare and/or snapped. I think that the harsh winter with all that snow and ice must have really taken a toll on the forest. Looks like it will be a long recovery at the higher elevations.

One final photo looking out over the mountains. This picture doesn't really even show how brilliant the green hills looked under that perfect blue sky. We sure are thankful to live in such a beautiful place! Now all we need are some visitors to enjoy it with us!

Disney!

In my long absence from the blogosphere, we've done a few great things-- one of the greatest was a trip to Disney World in February! Here are just a few photos from our adventure. I'll apologize in advance that the photos are starting from the end of the trip--thank you, Blogger, for being difficult as usual!

The fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom was a great way to cap off our trip. Even though it was freezing outside, we really had a super time. It was fun seeing Tinkerbell whiz down from the castle like the frantic fairy she is and the fireworks were wonderful.

Okay, so maybe not everyone was thrilled to be there after the sun went down! Next time I'm going to bring winter parkas-- just in case!

Both Ruby and Maxwell had a great time playing at all the playgrounds. Jared wondered why we had to drive a zillion hours and pay oodles of money to play at the playground areas, but even I was glad to get some respite from the lines every now and again!

Phew! This buggy "ride" was quite a hoot! Max and Ruby weren't terribly thrilled with all the stuff that was sprayed at us over the course of the show, but Mom and Dad were impressed! There is so much variety in the quality of the rides throughout Disney--and this is one of the good ones. We also LOVED the Little Nemo show at Animal Kingdom. I wish we would have had time to see the Lion King show too because we heard it was wonderful. We'll have to save that for next time.

Ruby and Maxwell enjoyed the "zoo" aspect of Animal Kingdom, though Ruby's favorite part were the rides! She went on Everest with her Daddy and also the river rapids ride and thought both were great! Daddy's little daredevil...

Cheesy posin' in front of a waterfall with Susie while Daddy waits in line. Notice, Nana, that Ruby wore her zebra pants to Animal Kingdom--clever, huh?

It's a bird, it's a plane,... no it's my silly hubby posing at Hollywood Studios! We really got a kick out of this park and would have loved to see more if Ruby hadn't gotten sick. Instead we headed back to our condo mid-afternoon and had some much needed rest and Olympics watching. :)

Waiting in line for the Toy Story ride wasn't boring at all! We enjoyed seeing all the supersized toys, a talking Mr. Potato Head, and chatting with fellow line waiters. It's hard to get too grumpy at Disney World!

Our first day, we went to the Magic Kingdom. After arriving at 4am (due to an unforeseen snow storm) Jared and I were absolutely exhausted, but we still managed to spend a few hours at the park. Max's favorite rides were the Dumbo ride and the race cars! While Ruby and Daddy did Space Mountain we enjoyed the transit system in Tomorrowland. Max could have ridden that all day.

All in all, it was a great trip. The kids were great travelers and good sports... for the most part. Next time we hope Nana and Bobo or some of the kids' cousins will be able to enjoy the experience with us. And by next time I mean in five years or so!

Kayaking the French Broad!

Several weeks ago, we were invited to join Jared's boss, Roger, and his family for a day of kayaking and decided to take him up on it! Here are a few photos from the trip...

On our way! Jared had Max sitting on his lap in his kayak and Ruby sat up front with Hazel running here and there in mine.

Ruby had a great time while I floundered a bit trying to figure out how to paddle without ending up stranded on the rocks!

Fun in the sun!

Ruby decided to take a turn paddling. When it became clear that we were destined to float down the river backwards under loads of low branches that MAY have snakes in them I decided to take over again.

Daddy and Max, cruisin'!

Ruby and Hazel hanging out. Hazel was up, down, in and out on the trip. She only jumped out of the boat once and apparently she CAN swim (or at least doggy paddle, haha!).

We saw a lot of pretty sights along our four hour paddle (with stops), but the paddling by the Biltmore was pretty great. At least until I almost tipped the boat while ogling the Segway tour group! Oh, and then I dropped my new camera into a puddle at the bottom of the boat. Yes, I was on a roll...

So, that brought an abrupt end to the picture taking (though it turned out that the camera is fine thankfully!), but it was a great trip! We hope to try it again... maybe this fall with the changing colors.

DuPont with the Johns Family

Way back in May, we had a great time meeting Michael and Julie Johns for a picnic lunch and fun time playing at the base of High Falls with their pups and Bubba. I went to high school with Michael and we've been able to keep in touch a little bit over the years. Michael and Julie live north of Charlotte and were so sweet to drive all the way over for a picnic lunch and some LIGHT hiking!We're so happy to be here in North Carolina now where we're relatively close to quite a few of our friends.

Since this outing, the Johns family has grown to include their

sweet little boy, Asher, born just last week! We're looking forward to meeting him in a month or so after all of the grandparents have had their chance lovin' on him.

Here's a photo of my three favorite people down at the base of High Falls in DuPont State Forest. The path down to the falls is a bit treacherous, but it was really fun once we were down there. Great swimming and wading holes and lots of opportunity to enjoy the cold waterfall spray. There were even some people sliding down a section of the falls, which was fun to see. I'm glad I wasn't one of the ones sliding though---brrrr and ouch!

The rocks were really slippery and Max looked so funny slip sliding along. It's a good thing Jared always had a good hold on him or he would have been down in a flash.

Ruby thought her version of "water skiing" was pretty cool. The water was really moving fast and they all really had a blast!

This may seem out of the blue, and it kind of is, but has anyone out there ever signed me up for "Outdoor Life" magazine? Because I had a subscription show up to my PO Box out of the blue when we moved to Brevard. That one has now ended (thankfully--I'm really not much of a hunter, believe it or not!) and now another mystery magazine subscription has begun--this one to "Backpacker"! I'm a little more excited about this subscription and was really juiced when I read an article about the best places to raise outdoorsy kids. Guess what!? Little old Brevard, NC made the list!! We're #20 out of 30, but still that's pretty cool. Also, Asheville, which is just up the road from us is #11. Yeah!

I suppose I'll end this rambling post with a photo of the title family--Michael and Julie! I didn't get the dogs in, but they were there and very sweet and easy going. Congrats guys on your sweet blessing! We rejoice with you and pray that you get some sleep some time soon!

In parting, I have a bit of sad news to share. I'm sad to say (for those few that don't know) that Bubba had to return to his original family. He had some pretty major separation anxiety issues stemming from the fact that he was never left alone until he came to live with us. How do people live like that?! Anyway, we've decided to hold off on another dog until later in the summer and we'll probably just get a puppy so that we can teach him everything we think he ought to know from the start. So, I'll keep you posted on that.