Catonsville 4th

We have lived in Catonsville for eleven July 4ths.  We have been to ONE Catonsville 4th parade.  Catonsville residents would be ashamed of us.  The 4th of July is  BIG DEAL in Catonsville; it is an all day event starting with a run, kids activities, parade, then ending with fireworks.  This town goes all out for the 4th and it is know throughout the area that C-ville is the place to be.  

As transplants, we didn't understand all the fanfare with the 4th.  The 4th of July is always ridiculously hot and going to a parade at 3 PM in that heat didn't appeal to us.  We have never gotten invited to any of the house parties going on around Catonsville.  By the emptiness of our parking lot at the town house, we were clearly one of the few residents NOT at some kind of party.  So we begged my parents to rent the beach house over the 4th so we could just avoid the whole Catonsville thing we didn't feel part of.

But alas, here we are in 2016, and it's time to embrace our Catonsville residence, especially now that we are IN Catonsville.  The parade route is a block and a half away and our new neighbors are not from the area either; it's time to start our own party and traditions.

This 4th was rainy and chilly, so our grand plans of a fun outdoor party got dampened.  We know what we need for next year to improve the party, a pop-up tent!  After a yummy lunch, we all walked up to street to the parade where a neighbor put out chairs for us.  (Chairs go up weeks before the parade to reserve spots.  It's a Catonsville thing- no one touches them or moves them.  It's just what everyone does)

Shout out to Jess for reserving us spots

The parade is HUGE.  The kids really enjoyed the marching bands and all the groups that passed out candy.  The Orioles Bird made an appearance too; Braylen was thrilled

 

My favorite float 

Our gathering was small, but some of my favorite Catonsville people were with us.

The lady that made me want to stay in Catonsville

BFFs

This guy is a winner too

We lasted about 1.5 hours at the parade (yes, it went another hour I think) with our soggy bottoms.  The parade was entertaining, especially the "secondary parade" of random people walking down the street with inappropriate attire (crop tops, boobs hanging out...) and beers in hand.  It felt like the Ocean City Maryland boardwalk at night.  I could take a little less of that and more organized floats.  But what does this transplant know about the Catonsville parade...

Anyway, we did the parade and party, no fireworks this year.  We'll ease our way into the C-ville 4th; we've got a lifetime in this house to figure it out :)

Thanksgiving 2015: Lancaster Fun

The Stefany clan was together at G and Poppop's house for Thanksgiving this year.  As always with the Hettinger and Hollencamp cousins, it was a circus.  There was lots of tormenting snuggling Parker, balloon catching, running in circles, playing all together, fighting, crying, laughing, "family" playing....  The usual stuff when the 4 of them get together.

I am noticing a pleasant shift of inclusion with the cousins.  When Braylen was a baby, Evie and Hannah did their thing and Cole was the odd one out.  Then when Braylen was a toddler, the older 3 hung out more and Braylen was the loner.  Now Cole wants to play with Braylen, things like wrestle and sword fights, but nevertheless, play WITH him.  We are very close to the girls in one area playing family and the boys outside doing their own thing.  Should we add another baby to the mix?  Heck. NO.

The weather was nice enough that we spent time at the playground (without coats even!) and were able to check out Dutch Wonderland all decorated for Christmas.  G, Poppop, and Parker enjoyed a quiet evening while the eight of us took in the twinkling lights and amusement rides.  I find it somewhat ironic that so many of our friends in Maryland go to Dutch Wonderland all the time, but I haven't taken my kids yet and my parents live 15 minutes from it.

Here comes the phone photo dump...

Girl cousins waiting patiently for our turn on the ski
lift ride to take us across the park.  Hannah and I were
nervous up so high while little Evie wanted to lean forward
to look below.  A long ride for this height fearing mama...

I was pretty sure Hannah was going to barf after this bouncy ride

Boy heaven

Emotions were brewing...

Yep.

Flying!  Jason kept the crowd laughing with his comments
about the way his crotch was feeling on this ride :)

Supergirls!

Finishing up the night with the carousel

Now it's time to gear up for all things Christmas!

OCNJ 2015: Fourth of July

Thanks to 4th of July falling on a Saturday this year, G and Poppop splurged, renting the house for two weeks so we could view the fireworks from our beachfront deck.  Well, maybe some other reasons too like Poppop could spend every day on the beach and never get tired of it.  After last year's rainy 4th, I am thankful we had a beautiful day to do all sorts of 4th of July celebrations.

The whole crew got dressed in red, white, and blue.  Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill always guarantee a fun time when they are with us.

The silly ones in the family

Early risers enjoyed watching the morning action on the beach.

Hollencamp kids up and ready for the day

Boys and garbage trucks... the joy.

After breakfast, it was time for the parade.  We went back and forth whether the kids should ride their bikes in the parade this year.  After seeing how slowly the parade moved and how many children were riding bikes plus candy being thrown plus no one paying attention in front of them, I think we made the right choice.

Red was definitely the hot color this year

Waiting... somewhat patiently
(Luckily we are at the beach and I assume that girl on the left
is wearing a bathing suit...otherwise I would be worried)

Watching the parade from the street. 

This 4th was even better because the McDonald family was also in OC that weekend.  We added 5 more people to our deck for firework viewing.

two sets of Shippensburg sweethearts and five adorable kids

Bad picture, I know, but wanted to capture our view up the coast.
The distant lights are Atlantic City

Eliana making designs with the sparklers

Braylen was completely mesmerized by the show

I have to admit, the OC fireworks were just ok.  The ones we saw from our deck the night before over Atlantic City were amazing, even from many miles away.  However, Braylen's delight and reaction to the fireworks was priceless.  As well as the popcorn party at 9:30 PM.  It was fun to wait out the fireworks with some extra friends.  

The last three summers have been great spending the 4th at the beach.  But it's time to bring the celebration back home.  Our town of Catonsville goes hog wild over the 4th, like people set up chairs on the parade route weeks in advance.  I think it's time we experience the 4th Catonsville-style.. for at least one year :)

Halloween 2014

The kids were super adorable again this year for Halloween.  I put zero effort into Halloween; the kids wear whatever hand-me-down costume we have from their cousins.  Conveniently for me, my kids have no opinion about what they want to wear.  I think is mostly due to the fact that I don't make a big deal of Halloween, Disney movies, or superheroes.  Little ones in fuzzy animal costumes is the cutest thing in my opinion and I will make every effort to dress at least one of them in one as long as I can (and I have a hand-me-down).  

The hand-me-down for Braylen was a Mickey Mouse costume.  When we tried it on months ago, it looked huge on him, so we put together a Bob the Builder looking costume as a back up.  It was chilly tonight therefore we opted for the Mickey costume.  He was so stinkin adorable in it; I'm glad we went with the animal costume

Shockingly, he did not touch the hood once

Miss Evie was a cheerleader.  

Just for the blog record- this was the year of Disney's movie Frozen. I saw many girls dressed as Elsa and Anna.

Yesterday, Daddio did his yearly job of carving the family pumpkin(s).  Daddio takes great pride in his two creative jobs: Kids' birthday cakes and pumpkin carving.  A friend shared a really cool pumpkin they made using their drill.  Brilliant!  Daddio took pumpkin carving to the next level!

The power tools come out!  I can just hear Tim Allen grunting.

Two happy boys with power tools

We might not watch Frozen yet, but we sure love Daniel Tiger!  For those of you that don't have toddlers obsessed with Daniel Tiger, it is a spin off of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  I love the lessons Daniel teaches my kids!

In daylight, it doesn't look that exciting....

But with a candle in the dark, pretty awesome!

Pizza inhaled, 6 PM hit, and it was time to trick or treat!

As with the past two years, it took Evie about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea of trick or treat.  Braylen was ready to go from the first house.  Daddio took them around while I handed out pretzel bags to the masses (ha!  We had a light showing this year).  

After an hour, the two of them came back with full pails.  As soon as they came into the house, they emptied their pails and moved candy between bins.  It brought back memories of sorting out my candy back in the day.

That's a lot of candy for two!

Braylen was fixated on the "roller" he received.  He carried it in his hand from the time he got it until the time we went up for baths

"Roller" AKA Rolo

The kids were well behaved and adorable together.  They are so blessed to have each other to do all of this stuff together.  

Decorating pumpkins with stickers that just arrived from Mema

Sharing :)

If that all wasn't enough, we came up with one more special treat- glow sticks in the bath!

Fun with the lights on....

... but totally radical (dude) with lights off!

Why did we come up with a fun bath activity the night we are
late doing baths?  Oh well.  Stock up on glow sticks, friends!

It was a fun night had by all.  Hoping for some extra sleep in the morning ;)

OCNJ 2014: 4th of July

Hurricane Arthur spun out in the Atlantic Ocean, raining on our parade.  Literally.  The rain, gusty winds, and high surf kept all of us inside and out of the ocean for most of the 4th.  We were disappointed we couldn't go to the bike parade like last year.  We had to come up with our own 4th of July activities.

Even though we were stuck in the beach house for the morning, we dressed in our finest patriotic attire

We also had a patriotic looking breakfast table

Hannah and Auntie Laura orchestrated a rainy 4th of July station rotation.

Hannah makes a map of all the stations

Evie needed a tablet and pen just like her big cousin

The master plans

Hannah directed the adults and kids to their stations.  

Legos

Coloring and Stickers

Doctor Office

"Go Fish"

After the stations, we pumped up the volume on the iPad, put on the John Philip Sousa station on Pandora, and marched around the loop.  Despite no firetrucks, I think our parade was pretty darn silly and entertaining!

Oh Poppop... the things you give the kids..

Hannah holding the centerpiece
Even "Monkey" had some holiday spirit

We ran out of flags, so we moved to flag
paper plates

Every good parade ends with a ride on an Uncle

Still happy after hours trapped in the house

Meanwhile outside...

Braylen longingly looks at the beach.
"The people in this house have gone crazy
Get me out!"

The rain stopped and all the non beachfront vacationers came
out to look at the larger than normal waves.

We followed suit with bike rides up the alley and a windy walk on the beach.

By evening, the beach was filled with families playing football, soccer, and kids running around.  The surf was still rough, so only surfers adventured near the ocean.  The sky was blue and the sun was shining.  It was a perfect evening for 4th of July events.  Even a little cool!

A beautiful sky after the hurricane passed

Crashing waves

We created a stir by bringing our leftover bread to feed the seagulls

Once one seagull notices a torn off piece of bread in your hand,
about 30 more fly in from miles away in .2 seconds.
Hannah didn't quite understand that she needed to throw them
the bread instead of letting them pluck it out of extended hand.
Bird flu much?

I used to think this was fun.  The seagulls were really
aggressive.  I was ducking and running for safer sand.
Braylen thought it was hysterical

I think the kids all would have loved another full day on the beach playing with the sand and in the ocean.  I'm thankful they got one more chance to run around and throw sand before we packed up to head home.

Hopefully a beach lover for life

Good-bye beach
See you again Summer 2015!

Even though OC called off their fireworks in the morning due to the weather, there were plenty of fireworks booming and crackling all night long set off by vacationers.  We really wanted to sit on that awesome porch and view the light shows from the shore towns up and down the coast.  Oh well.  It was still a great 4th even if it wasn't quite as we all had hoped.