The Desert

During the month of July we also visited my family in Nevada. Even though I really enjoy living in the lush green of Pennsylvania, I think I will always be a desert-lover at heart! :) Trees can get a little claustrophobic sometimes.

Visiting home was great. I got to see my not-so-little brother who recently returned home from a two-year mission in Uruguay, so it really had been 2.5 years. Sometimes I like to think of him as my "little" 13 year old brother still, but he's way past that (I could make some joke about how he's still a 13 year old stuck in a 21 year old body...but I won't :).

The worst part of the trip was the long airplane rides. Living on the opposite side of the country doesn't really feel any different until we want to visit family. BUT! The kids did AWESOME, so I won't complain.

Soooo, unfortunately I was really lazy and didn't get the camera out much during our visit. I seriously have about 4 pictures. (For shame!) Here they are in all their glory:












Since the pictures don't do any justice to the trip, I'll give my list of high lights in no particular order:

-Watched a sweet baseball game, Reno Aces, with the big kids (the grandparents got all the grandkids to bed while we were out! hurray!)

-Loved seeing my nephews - so darn cute. Can't believe how skinny Ethan is - and what a smartie pants! Cracked up at the quiet, subtle, cunning of Mr. Tank Hudson. Funny kids :)

-took advantage of our location and spent some time in the Reno temple - (our temple is about 3 hours away in DC!)

-loved the Nevada sunsets/sunrises and crisp mornings

-kicked out a few crossword puzzles with the fam - found a new love in the game 'jumble' (liked having Candace there to bounce ideas with!)

-won the bet with Ryan on whether or not Hudson pooped in the little kiddie pool out front - saw the floatie

-eating lots of goooood food that I didn't have to cook, mmmm mom's hot fudge straight from the jar....

-loved the dice game & mormon bridge - accompanied with an overload of Chex Muddy Buddies

-getting to play with all my old barbie dolls again - Mia couldn't get me to change the dresses fast enough

-watching Mia and Ethan and Hudson LOVE the sand at Lake Tahoe. Those kiddies would have dug holes to China if we'd stayed long enough.

-snorkeling with Dad & Brady in Lake Tahoe

-a sad highlight - sunburnt parts of Mia to a crisp! somehow I missed one spot on her shoulder and the tips of her ears (they are usually under her hair, but she had a hat on!) she blistered sooo bad :( Didn't whine at all though!!!

-nothing like flying across the water on jet skis - THANKS DAD for spending so much time fixing them before we got there!!!!

-developing a new addiction to the show Burn Notice - doesn't he look like Napoleon Dynamite? Ryan is actually out at Blockbuster right now checking to see if they have the videos for rent...haha

Good Times!

Back to work!

So, one of the best perks of Ryan's job is that they offer a full MONTH of paternity leave. As you can imagine - we REALLY enjoyed the month of July. :) But, last week was back to work. Here's a look at what we've been up to.

We started the month of July with a visit from Ryan's parents. While they were here, we enjoyed some miniature golfing:



With a two-year old in tow the game quickly unraveled...




Doesn't it look like there is a temple over Ryan's shoulder here? I'm always amazed at how many churches there are out here and how well they are attended!


I just like this picture.


We took the Paces to the Springton Manor farm one day. It's a 300+ acre farm that has been in use since the early 1700's. It is now run by the parks and rec department. Mia's favorite attraction is the friendly bunch of goats who'll eat from her hands.





Another day we walked around Longwood Gardens. (We had a slight 1-2 hour detour on our way there that morning.....one of the tires on our car went flat on the freeway, that was exciting...) Back to the Garden though - the area was originally inhabited by the Lenni Lenape tribe, then the land was purchased by a Quaker family from William Penn, later Pierre du Pont bought the land to preserve some trees. Anyway, Mr. du Pont used his wealth to create a magnificent garden that we all can enjoy now! Here are a few photos.











Yes, Ryan is painting the nose hole on a dragon statue here. This part of Longwood is the Children's Garden. The whole area is a lot of fun - the kids can splash around in all sorts of pools, there are secret tunnels, and fun things. The room in this picture just has the giant dragon water fountain in the middle and paint brushes for kids, and the young at heart, to paint the walls. Cool idea, huh?




Mia and Calvin enjoyed lots of attention from Grandma & Grandpa! Mia loved reading stories, playing chase, and talking their ears off :) Calvin enjoyed barfing on everyone and being held.








We also took Mia on her first bowling excursion. She was not so excited at first...it took a lot of convincing that the loud noise wasn't scary...





But, by the end she was loving it - and every time we drive by the bowling alley now she likes to point it out.



Ryan and his Dad were able to catch a ball game at Yankee Stadium.




On the fourth we saw some fireworks in the park. The memorable parts of this excursion were Mia's incessant "I WANT TO GO HOME" audible between the exploding fireworks, and Calvin's calmness during the show (I was expecting him to cry the whole time, I was pleasantly surprised!).


The sparklers in the driveway at home were a little less intimidating...



We also had a short visit to the Daniel Boone Homestead. The site was first settled in the 1700's. I'm always amazed at the history all around us out here. The buildings here were really neat to look at. One of the sheds had the coolest looking roof. It was made out of heavy handmade tiles that had a notch on one end that were sort of hooked over the rafters - hard to explain - but it was really interesting to see how they made it.









Finally, we enjoyed celebrating Grandpa's birthday while he was out here! We love you guys - thanks for the fun visit:)