Day Out with Thomas

My children love Thomas the Tank Engine.  It is the first thing they request to watch in the morning, they know the names of all the engines, they play with their Thomas trains every day, and will play with trains at any play date or nursery room that has them.  

When tickets became available for "Day out with Thomas" in Baltimore, I balked at the price.  We are already B & O Railroad Museum members, so to pay $21 PER PERSON seemed really steep.  We have been the museum at least a dozen times over the past 18 months so how much more can be added to make it worth almost $100 for our family to attend?

But then again how long will my kids really love Thomas?  They might be into something else next year.  So we got tickets and spoiled the kids with all things Thomas for the morning.

We skipped all the normal B & O RR Museum stuff and focused on anything Thomas related.

Best friends

For some reason, I think of Cole when I see Diesel 10.
Maybe because he has the train?  :)

Between all 4 of us we had 9 Thomas tattoos

He loved that thing

Thomas and Percy were added to the train display

How it is possible that we do not know
the purple train, Rosie?!

All the rides were "free" to ride.  That alone was probably $21 worth.

First time riding this one.  They held hands the entire ride.

The only character besides Thomas was Sir Topham Hat.  Based on Evie's track record with life sized characters, I was doubtful she would even go near.  Low and behold...

And of course we took the picturesque train ride with Thomas at the front through West Baltimore.  

Oh Braylen...

That's more like Braylen

We lucked out with a perfect morning for Thomas.  It was humid, but it was overcast for the 4 hours we were there.  We enjoyed junk food concessions for lunch.  yummmmm, soft pretzels....  We let the kids pick out two new Thomas trains, they picked Caitlin and Spencer.  We also allowed them to pick out a t-shirt each.  We don't do this sort of thing much... well, ever.  It was such a fun morning for all of us!

Animal Adventures

The fearless boy side of Braylen is growing stronger each month.  His sister likes to make him cautious by shrieking at him to be careful around bugs or when he wants to throw a toy off the deck.  I think we have a great combo going with our kids: Evie helps Braylen be more cautious, and Braylen helps Evie not be so timid.

In a span of a few days, Braylen took on two animal adventures with no hesitation.

First, this creature at Evie's preschool animal presentation:

Second, riding a "pony" (more like a horse) at Frontier Town:

These are obviously bigger animals he took on.  Ants, stink bugs, and caterpillars are all on the "not safe around Braylen" list.  While Evie will look at them, Braylen goes right in and squeezes them to death, literally.  Evie and I have a lot of learning to do about what it means to have a boy/brother.  He is just wired differently.  Hoping he will be the Hollencamp family bug killer like his Poppop :)

Glamping

This weekend we took our first family camping trip!  It's probably better to say we went to a campground than camping.  I consider camping to be no electricity and tents.  We stayed in a fully stocked cabin with electricity, including heat, a kitchen, full bathroom, TV, and beds.  It was definitely glorified camping, "glamping".

"Camping" with young kids in 2015-
Napping in bed with portable DVD player

I do love the idea of a weekend at the campground; showers are optional, technology is limited, eating lots of campfire goodies, and having pretty much nothing to do at night except drink beer with friends.

First time making s'mores!

Can you sense the panic I am feeling about Braylen
holding something at the fire?

Daddio teaching Braylen how he likes
marshmallows- burn, peel a layer off,
burn again, repeat until gone. 

YUM!

Braylen demonstrating how to protect his
eyes from the smoke

Our first official family vacation with friends!
I think it will become a late April tradition....
along with a November all-inclusive tropical trip sans kids :)

We stayed at Frontier Town, which has an added bonus of being 10 minutes from the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD.   Going in late April is dicey with spring weather in Maryland.  While I enjoyed the brisk air for campfire hanging out, I wish it would have been a little warmer and calmer winds for the beach.  Nothing some winter boots and hats can't fix though.

I wasn't joking about the winter hats and boots.  BRRR!

The girls are snuggled up while the seagulls go
after our Thresher french fries

A far cry from our last beach trip with Josh and Liz

All this boy needs is some sand and toys and he's happy

Sibling love

Reality of family shots with young kids

My attempt at the "jump shot"

Our kids were tuckered out after playing outside all day on Saturday.  I was thankful our first try putting the kids in bunk beds together went off with zero issues.  

Dads taking kids to the playground in style

It's awesome going to a campground in the "off season"-
not many people around us to the kids ran
across the road all afternoon.

After a night of rain, we woke up Sunday to a beautiful day.  We hit the beach again, this time at the inlet, before we hit the road home.

I guess when it is chilly at the beach, one wears
socks?!  I prefer Braylen's clam diggers style

Checking on the dredging process

Loving the digger

Love her!

Glamping is definitely the way to go with little kids!  Looking foward to Frontier Town 2016!

AHHH!  This shark was an actual prop in JAWS. Not
nearly as scary without the music :)

Batter up!

Evie and Braylen are born softball players.  Look at their mother and auntie-

If that doesn't scream MLB future, I don't know what will?!  

I need to comment on that picture.  My sister lovingly posted that on my facebook page after I posted two pictures of Evie and Braylen playing tee ball.  We liked to refer to ourselves as the "dandelion pickers" since we stood in the outfield picking weeds.  I think we lost every game that season.  Let me take a minute to rant about team shirts.  Why can we not give some love to petite or NORMAL sized people?!  Why does every team jersey have to be size large or extra large?!  Clearly those shirts are too big and so it Jason's 30 years later when he got his team shirt.  IT IS OKAY TO HAVE SOME SMALLS AND MEDIUMS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, moving on....

One last comment, Mom, did you make us have opposite knees in the air and did you position the bat that way?  That's a classic mom thing.  Good work.

Aside for softball superstars Mommy and Auntie L, Evie and Braylen also inherited genes from the great G and Poppop.  Interesting fact- my parents met when my dad was the coach of my mom's softball team.  Before you get creeped out that he was 16 and she was 11, they were in their 20's :)

My dad was often referred to as "Mr. Baseball".  I remember him playing on the church team, but before my memory took over, we played on various other teams from little league through community teams.  The Stefany and Pronzato families are big Phillies fans; I went to many games sitting a few rows back from 1st plate.  Wiffle ball was a favorite pastime in our backyard and when we went to see my Poppop in Oreland.  

I will say, I was a little taken aback with the passion my brother-in-law has for soccer.  The Stefany's are not soccer people.  Jason said to me our kids WILL play soccer.  I don't know, I am just not a soccer mom.... 

I am pleased softball has taken the lead as the family sport so far.  Jason got "highly recruited" to be on the men's softball team at our new church and also signed up for the co-ed league.  The kids excitedly talk about Daddio playing softball, yet when we went to his practice last week, they were not quite the cheerleaders I thought they would be.  Daddio has some major skills for being a "soccer player" (I like to tease that he played the bench on varsity than the field)

Braylen received a tee ball set for Christmas which we brought out this week for the first time.  I was impressed how quickly they got the hang of it.  Clearly the softball gene is in them.

And our lefty batter

Wiffle ball is back!!  Looking forward to another generation of softball players.

Our Fearless Perch

It's round 2 of Daddio's Tuesday evening swim date at the Y!  It's Braylen's turn in the perch class.  One year ago, Evie took the same class.  We've known for a while that Braylen is pretty fearless of the water:  he begs Daddio to throw him out of the water, he flops into the water with zero hesitation, and blows bubbles in the bath tub.  Putting his face into the water was not going to be a problem at swim lessons; forcing him to stop jumping into the pool was a bigger issue.

Like before, Daddio is the only dad in the class.  Daddio and Evie were prepping Braylen for the songs he would sing in class, but alas, it's a different instructor.

All suited and floated up!
Can he be any cuter?!

The class starts off with "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush".  Braylen smiles and giggles through the whole thing.  There are lots of reasons why I have Jason helping Braylen not me; after watching what Jason can do with him as far as lifting and throwing, I think I chose wisely.

Most of the class is time spent with your child practicing skills.  One skill is using elbows to get out of the pool.  He is still working on not swallowing the entire pool.

Obviously kicking and moving arms are important to practice when learning to swim.  I am so proud of my little guy for his progress so far!

Don't even mention "starting blocks" to Braylen.  He will scream to go jump off the blocks until he is taken down to the deep end.  Braylen was the first one to jump, and possibly the only one to do it (I left).

Let's get him on skis while this fearless period is occurring!

Lefty

As time passes, the chances of Braylen staying a lefty get greater.  A lefty?  How in the world did this happen?  I don't know any family member on either side that is a lefty; isn't that a recessive gene?  It HAS to come from somewhere?!  Apparently Jason's grandfather was left-handed.  Mystery solved...

So yikes!  What does this mean?!  Jason is very concerned about how he will teach Braylen to play sports.  I didn't think much of his concern until I brought out the golf clubs today and showed him how to hold it.  He promptly flipped directions and hit it left-handed.  Ok, I get it Boo.  This means the driver he was using is facing the wrong direction

I can tell Braylen has his daddy's good genes of athleticism.  Just look at the way he is standing and aiming at the pin; that's an All-American in the making!  Can I point your attention to my daughter.  Look at her line it up nicely in the top one, then pound that puppy into the street.  That is my girl; hitting the ball off course.

He throws left-handed, he kicks with his left foot.  It appears it's not going away.  A lefty athlete is "the money maker".  Maybe there is hope Jason and I can attend a "big school" vicariously through our highly recruited, (scholarship given) athletically talented son.

It's a right-handed world and my boy has right-handed parents and grandparents.  What do we need to know about having a lefty?  Obviously he needs different golf clubs.  What else?!  To be continued...

Win-Win-Win

Why did we wait so long to get one of these?

I mean, look at the excitement from the kids?

Win #1.  I could hear the kids giggling throughout the entire ride.

Trying it out on flat ground first.
Then Daddio took on the big hill on Rest Ave.
Beach body by summer.

Win #2 Daddio is getting a workout, which equals happier Daddio.

Buckled in safely with helmets to protect those growing minds.

Win #3 Mommy can be alone in the house. 

That makes me feel like this

With one purchase must come additional big purchases...  A new bike rack and a trailer hitch on the van to hold said bike rack.  I really hope some Lycra bike shorts for Jason will be next :)

Daddio is excited about his new activity with the kids.  He already has visions of family rides around the BWI loop and the OCNJ boardwalk.  Again, why did we wait this long to get one?  I could have been cooking in peace and quiet for months or even YEARS!  Conveniently our kids are only 50 lbs combined, and with a max weight of 80 lbs in the trailer, I think I will still get months or years of time alone in the house.