Tag, You're It!

Somehow we over schedule trips away in the fall, my favorite season to enjoy at home.  We have been on the go the past three weekends as a family.  We loved all our trips, but after traveling here and there most of August and September as well, I am ready to not pack a bag (except a hospital one) until 2013.

We got to see most of our family, a bunch of our beloved college friends, vacation, and attend a wedding.  So, tag, you're it if you want to see us.  We are not traveling again until after H2 is here. 

Weekend away #1- Vacation to Williamsburg. 

If you didn't notice my post, scroll down.  Remember that I backdate things so even if you are checking 80 times a day, I might not post until after the event, but still date it the day the event occurred. 

Weekend away #2- Lancaster

My childhood best friend, Michelle, tied the knot on September 29th. 

Such a handsome couple!

While we attended the wedding....


Trying to entertain ourselves between the ceremony and reception


 ... Evie (and Parker) had a blast at G and Poppop's house



Evie loved my Cabbage Patch doll as much as I did back in the day


Even though we were only in Lancaster for 26 hours, it was such a heart warming trip.

Michelle and I were inseparable most of our childhood.  When I think back on my childhood, I think of 4 main things:  Going to Nana & Poppop's house, trips to OCNJ every summer, swinging with my sister singing to Belinda Carlise, and creatively playing with Michelle for HOURS every day.  I am rather shocked neither of us became authors, veterinarians, cyclist, or professional croquet players by the amount of time we spent writing books, playing vet, riding bikes (with detailed neighborhood maps), and playing croquet.  I still love this girl to pieces and wish we lived closer to continue our special friendship. 

"M & M"

Michelle's family is an inspiration to me.  With four kids, the Christoffel house was always bumping.  I have very fond memories of taco dinners with her family and playing with her siblings.  The 4 of them have grown up to be such beautiful people and remain a close knit family.  Michelle's family is the reason I want a bigger family.  Her sisters' toast was right on with my thoughts- they had such a happy childhood thanks to their parents.  Thank you Christoffel's for making my childhood a memorable one!  I'm excited to get to know Joe, even though he cheers for the wrong green team

Another big part of my childhood was visiting Nana & Poppop's house.   Everything seems more fun at grandparents' houses.  Maybe because they devote all of their time to playing and loving grandkids :)  I see my parents creating a similar environment for their grandkids.  I think they might have more toys than we do at home!  The newest addition is the "little house"

The proud first renter

Whatcha cookin'?  Excuse the nasty looking bruise on her forehead-
Evie wants to go down the stairs standing up and hit the end table.  Ouch

Even though Evie can't tell us how much she loves time with G and Poppop, I know she does.  She was all smiles during her visit and went to bed easily for them.  She had fun doing the loop with Poppop and watching the coo-coo clock.  She happily played with all G's garage sale "steals". 

A huge thanks to my parents for keeping Parker while we traveled!

Weekend away #3- Martin's

It was Jason's turn to see his childhood best friend, Todd.  We traveled to West Grove, PA to their new house.  The Martin's have a lovely house with plenty of room for 2 toddlers to play and 2 dogs to roam.  Evie warmed up immediately to Luke, Todd, Lisa, and Shamrock. 

Besides the kids not sleeping at night and the foul smell of nearby mushroom farms, we had a relaxing visit. 

Everyone wins in this shot. 

I was impressed how well Luke shared his toys with Evie.  We had
very few tantrums over toys!

A wagon ride with a cute boy

Shamrock & Parker with slightly different approaches to snatching
dropped goldfish

Rough housing with Jason

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends that have remained our best buds over many years.  It's so much fun to raise our kids together now.  Here's to growing old together too :)

One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by Air

Evie made her second trip to Boston via airplane this weekend.  The first time she went, she doesn't remember because she was in my belly.  It seems fitting that her first real flight was back to Boston to see our best buddies the Evans'! 

In all my comedic motherhood books, they will flat out tell you not to travel by plane with a child under 2.  You don't want to be "those people".  Well, we were, and it went very smoothly!  We timed our flights with her naptime, which worked like a gem on the flight up.  Evie served as the welcoming party on the plane, giving a smile to all passengers that passed by our seat.  As soon as we were in the air and the humming of the plane soothed her, we were golden.  The travel time is 50 minutes once in the air to Boston.  You can't beat that for our first flying experience with a little one.


My travel companions on the flight north

While in Melrose, we hung around the Evans' gorgeous house, enjoyed the screened in porch, watched the kids play, and sat around playing SORRY by candlelight.  Oh yes, we took our SORRY playing to the next level, romantic.  It wasn't planned that way... we lost power for 2.5 hours due to a wicked thunderstorm.

On Sunday we tried to take the "T" into Boston, but the line was not operating from Melrose.  We decided taking a bus with two strollers and all our loot for a picnic was a bit much.  So we drove in.  We had a lovely picnic lunch under a big shady tree in Boston Gardens.  Everyone around us was eating pizza from a local joint and our healthy lunch of fruit salad and tomato/moz/basil salad wasn't satisfying enough.  We did get a pizza, which I will admit was not as good as it looked.  We walked around the area a little longer then headed home.

I've been to the Boston area 3 times now and have yet to have lobster.  When Erin heard this, she insisted we get some steamed lobsters for dinner that night.  Besides some lobster meat here and there with dishes, I haven't picked apart a lobster.  Crabs... different story.  I liked the lobster, but there is something about a 2 hour crab picking marathon that I love.  Lobster is more satifsying to get a huge chunk of meat with little work.  And dipped in melted butter.  Yum! 

Monday was a wash out, literally.  It rained most of the day.  Our flight back to Baltimore got pushed back 1 hour.  Once we were on the plane, we sat on the plane for another hour while they fixed something (I couldn't hear the pilot), then we had to wait while Air Force One landed at Logan.  Evie was fidgety, but I think everyone was.  By the time we got in the air it was 2 hours past Evie's nap time.  She fell asleep as soon as we got moving again.  Besides the fact that I left my neighbor with very little gas in my car and we were driving on zero miles until empty for a mile or two, we made it home safely.

We made it back and forth from Boston without death stares from airplane patrons, we filled our tanks with some Evans love, and thoroughly enjoyed getting out of the mid-Atlantic for a few days.  I will classify it a successful mini vacation.

Boston Round 2