3rd Birthday!!

We had Max's birthday party at Firestation #6. Max helped decorate and couldn't wait for his guests to arrive.

The firefighters gave us all a tour of thier station and showed us how they put on their suits and how it worked to protect them in a fire. Max and some of the others weren't really wild about the full mask. The reflector strips attracted the light of the flash and made it difficult to get a really good shot. Thanks to "autofix" you can see the kiddos and some of the grown ups, and not just the glowing bars of the suit. We also got to see their living quarters and see what its like when they get an alarm call in the middle of the night. Since it was a one story station, there wasn't a pole.

The kids got to walk through the firetruck, and Max got to sit at the wheel of the big ladder fire truck. The firemen showed all of the kids where gear was stowed on the truck and what different things were used for. They even got to see the jaws of life. It was a cool tour and definitely worth doing again in a few years when some of the younger kiddos can ask more questions. There was a good echo in the garage and some of the littler ones really enjoyed bouncing their calls off the walls and windows.
Max thanked the firefighters with some cookies and a card. He thought the tour and meeting the firefighters was pretty cool, and I think the other kids did too.

Fireman Max in his birthday firetruck tshirt and firemans hat.

The cake that almost wasn't. Long story. It was yummy.

Max with his cousins

Max with Cousins and buddies Kaiden, Tavo and Jaxon. Where's Gus? It is very difficult to get 11 kids to stop, look forward and smile all at the same time. Heck, it's difficult to even get them in the frame!

Max had a really great day and came home to play with his gifts. We are all truly blessed to have great family and friends. By 7:30 he crashed on the floor. I'm sure he will enjoy the coming days as he gets to wear, use, and play with all of his gifts and he can't wait to have playdates to share.

Christmas Card out takes and gingerbread houses

Max has a birthday coming right up. Next weekend, in fact. So we spent this weekend decorating the house, taking snapshots for this year's Christmas card, and making our first ever gingerbread house. Here are some of the pictures we decided not to use for our card. It is very hard to get a genuine smile from a 35 & 3/4 month old! Stay tuned for Thanksgiving and Birthday updates!

Halloween

@$^&!*%#-- Our camera is missing. Which sucks. But what really sucks is that it had all of our St. Louis pictures on it, and we didn't have it for Halloween. So here is maybe the only picture we'll get of Max in his costume on halloween. Heather took it at work. Max is a patriot drummer, but he doesn't have his drum in the picture, so I guess really he's just a patriot.

We had a great halloween, hope you did too!

Silver Dollar City

A few weeks ago, Max went to SDC with half of his cousins. Whitney got to be the helper in a magic show. Max wanted to ride every ride we rode, and his hair gave him just enough height that he didn't get turned away. Better late than never, here are some pictures from then.

Hanging out with Matt

Max spends several days a week hanging out with his cousin Matt. They have lots of fun together. Here are some pictures, and hopefully a movie, of them playing last night.

Playdate in the park.

Max met his buddy Jaxon and his nw friend Kaiden in the park the other day. They had lots of fun playing on the playground, the horses and the slide. It was a really nice day. Here are a few pictures.

Jaxon!

Max got to spend the whole day with his buddy Jaxon Saturday. As usual, he was all smiles and seemed to love having the company. He even smothered Jaxon with a couple of spontaneous hugs a few times, much to Jaxon’s surprise and maybe a bit to soon. The very first photo I tried to take I asked them to smile. Force of habit, since Max is really difficult to photograph lately. What do you think they did? Did you guess smile? Because I wouldn’t call them smiles.

Both of them, without looking at the other, scrunched up their face real tight and goofy looking in a grimace. It was pretty funny, even though I would have preferred a picture of them really smiling.

The boys played with Max’s train set a while until Max’s mommy got home from work. Then we loaded up the car and headed to a carnival at St Elizabeth Ann Seton. They rode one outside ride together (Jaxon is smiling, you just can't see because of the steering wheel) but Jaxon opted out of the pony ride.

Inside they each got to test their arms by tossing ping pong balls and bean bags. We finally saw Jaxon’s happy dance, and he really got a kick out of the ping pong ball toss. They both thought the lollipop tree was pretty cool.

The weather was pretty gloomy, so next we went to one of Max’s favorite weekend destinations, the Library Center. Here they explored the children’s area. Max was a little possessive of the train table with the other kids, but he made sure Jaxon had a train to play with when he came over. It was really sweet. Jaxon LOVED the cube with all the stuff on it. You know, wooden beads on metal tracks, knobs in slots- stuff like that. And they really really liked drinking out of the water fountain!

Before we knew it, it was time to head to Max’s grandma’s house. Jaxon liked grandma’s beef stew- a LOT. He also liked Max’s cousins a whole bunch. In fact, I think Whitney made his day. Max showed him all of Grandma’s toys and before we knew it, Jaxon’s moms came to pick him up. The day went really fast!

Sleepover

Max had his first sleep over with Gus last night. We were very honored to spend part of Gus’s “gotcha day” while daddy worked and papa is in Guatemala to get his little brother. Max was really happy to have company and did a really great job sharing toys and trying to make Gus laugh. Gus was an awesome guest, and the boys had a great time playing with Max’s toys. We had on the opening ceremony for the Olympics and Max was not interested at all, but Gus seemed to really like watching, especially the when the 2008 drummers were performing with the lit up drumsticks. Max kept saying “play in water” which is how he views bath time right now, so we got both boys in the tub and they had a good time pouring water over each other. At bed time, they were both perfect little guys, and Mommy read a bedtime story. Max LOVED having Gus sleep in his room.

In the morning, we took the boys to Krispy Kreme. Max has been twice before, and really likes watching the doughnuts being made. Gus really liked the balloon he got there, and thought it especially funny to let it go so we would jump to get it! He would NOT wear the paper hat, so we stopped trying to get pictures of them both in their hats.

They played at the park, and went to Max’s grandpas to see the new litter of Yorkie puppies born while we are on vacation. Gus really loved the puppies, and even stuck his head in the cage to kiss one. We asked if he thought Ester needed and friend and he said "yes!" but maybe we should see how he adjusts to Tavo first! I don't think Max realized the puppies were real. Then it was lunch time, nap time, snack time and play time and before we knew it daddy was here to pick him up. It was a fun weekend, and we can’t wait to have another sleepover!

Throwing rocks in the Nantahalla

Grandma has taught Max and Matt to throw rocks into water. Max really, really likes to do this.

Home Sweet Home

2,880 miles and 8 states in 11 days. Wow! Max was outstanding in the car and in our travels. We left Williamsburg yesterday morning and made a brief stop at the Old Blandford Church in Petersburg VA. Grandma had visited here once before on one of her genealogical tours. The descendent who brought her family here from England is buried at the church. Richard Yarbrough’s is the oldest grave there, and even pre-dates the church.

It is now a 300 acre cemetery with significance to Revolutionary, 1812, and Civil War dead. Thomas Jefferson’s father founded the church, and it is significant now for its artistic qualities. It’s one of only a few buildings with only Tiffany windows. Following the Civil War, the ladies auxiliary in Petersburg wanted to honor the numerous Confederate war dead buried in the cemetery. Most of them had offered their own husbands and sons in the war, and this task let them show honor. Previously, they had worked to carefully place the mostly unknown soldiers in their graves with their units. Then they wrote to Tiffany to see about arranging windows. He agreed, and gave them a very affordable rate. His only condition was that no committees be formed (any of you who deal with committees at work will appreciate that) and he just wanted the state seal and a quote from each state to be honored. Other than that, he designed what went on each window and where it was placed in the church. It is a really beautiful old church. This ladies group is also responsible for Memorial Day. With so many veterans in their cemetery, they set aside a day to honor them. The idea caught on with other groups, and ultimately led to a federal holiday.
After Blandford, we hit the road and drove hard for 2 days and tonight we are home!

What a full day. And to walk in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, and Henry was just amazing. Max did really well, as long as people didn’t talk too long. Grandma got him a very nice and authentic looking tricorn hat. Pretty much everything they sell within Colonial Williamsburg is authentic to the period. Not a lot of crappy plastic souvenirs here. We started the day with a film made here in the 50’s. Jack Lord (think Hawaii 5-0) played Virginian John Fry, a loyalist who was gradually won over to the side of the patriots. It is the longest running movie in the US, and was actually a pretty good window to history.

There are many people who are costumed actors playing roles- they do not break character. We heard the reading of the Declaration of Independence from the Capital Balcony, then saw various other vignettes performed. One was when Benedict Arnold, now a British General, rode into town to hoist the Union Jack over the capital and force colonists to take loyalty oaths. I could go on and on, but I won’t. Let me just give you the two biggest highlights.

Bruton Parish Church was the church where Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were members. This building is original and the current congregation opens it up every day for tourists. You can sit in the pews where these founding fathers sat with their families. It was very, very cool.

The other highlight was dinner. We ate at the Kings Arms Tavern. There are several taverns here that serve historically accurate menus in traditional surroundings. This was a rebuilt building, but our menu we each had authentic colonial meal. Heather had Game pie. It was a great big potpie with rabbit and venison inside. She shared with Max, and said it was delicious. Grandma had the Tavern Keepers grill plate. She had duck sausage, shrimp and beef. Grandma also tried a rummer- rum with apricot and peach brandy. I had the Tavern special, and a mint julep (when in Rome…) Mine started with peanut soup. It was very rich. I think it was creamy peanut butter cut with cream and heated. It was actually very good, and we all shared it. My main meal was Chicken, ham, green beans, mushrooms and potatoes. It was all really good. We all shared with Max, and his favorite was the duck sausage. Probably because mommy kept telling him it was a hot dog. Mine also came with dessert, and we all shared the rice pudding. Each of us got a plate of relishes. In colonial times, meat was served with a selection of relishes and so the saying to eat with relish, or to relish a meal. We had a chopped ham relish (Max ate mostly this) a corn relish, and a pickled watermelon rind relish. The last one tasted like sweet pickles. We were taught how to “tie one on” with our half yard of cloth napkins we had to tie around our necks. This covered our entire fronts. Musicians roamed the room playing old tunes, and it was a really nice way to end our time here.

Colonial Williamsburg does for the Revolutionary war what Silver Dollar City does for the Ozarks, but it is in the actual historical setting. There are 88 original buildings, and the others have been painstakingly rebuilt. John D Rockefeller recognized in the 1920’s and 30’s the history was in danger of being lost, and used his wealth and power to ensure its preservation. If you get a chance, come. Every American should visit at least once.

Good night from Virginia, DaWN

ps- just the one photo tonight- low camera battery and crappy signal at hotel.

Random musings from the road

Grandma lived in the Southeast for a while, and acquired a taste for a weird southern treat. If you have been o the area, or are a fan of Alton Brown’s show Good Eats, you have probably heard of boiled peanuts. They take the peanuts and boil them in salty water for hours while still in the shell. You can ea them hot or cold. It is not for everyone. This isn’t a snack you get at a neat and tidy store or restaurant. People have big kettles in their front yards or at their businesses. It took some time before we found a place we found a place that was ok looking enough to stop. Grandma took her peanuts back to the room and put them in the fridge. Well, Max saw them later and pointed and exclaimed “Dog Poop!” He could not be convinced we had not lost our minds and put dog poop in the fridge. Grandma tried to convince him it was peanuts by snacking on them, but I really don’t think he was convinced.

Max has reached a stage where he does not want to be photographed. We have probably deleted as many pictures of him as we kept. The family photo taken on our balcony at Nags Head looks good because we promised him a sucker if he would smile for grandma. Just a few weeks ago, he would flash a million dollar smile every time he saw a camera. As a result, we haven't taken as many photo's as vacations past.

We had lunch today in a local favorite, and we stumbled there by accident. The Old Chickahominy House serves very traditional dishes and we were blown away by the quality of our meal, especially the old fashioned, coconut pie! Here is a link if you want to know more http://www.oldchickahominy.com/

At Colonial Williamsburg, we are using the buses to shuttle us around. They are quick, convenient and air conditioned. So far, I think it is absolutely Max’s favorite thing here.

Bye bye beach, hello early democracy!

We left our little hotel by the sea today and made way to Virginia. Along the way, we took a bridge/tunnel to the historic triangle area. Max loved the bridge tunnel. I wasn’t as enamored. You start out on a bridge over the Chesapeake Bay. We saw several cargo ships and military ships in the bay. The next thing you know, you begin to descend into an underwater tunnel. Yes, you heard right. Bridge turns into tunnel while over the water. And it was a looooonnnnggg tunnel. But we didn’t drown, or even get wet, and somehow managed to come out alive. Our first stop was Jamestown. This was very cool. There were replicas of the Susan Constant, Discovery and Godspeed ships. All of these were open to visitors to tour, and hosted by people in period costumes. Max took a moment to reflect upon the hardships of colonialism on the deck of the Susan Constant.

There were interactive exhibits, an Indian village and a replica of the settlement. There was lots for kids to do, especially kids a little older than 2. If it hadn’t been so stinking hot, we would have stayed here longer. There was also a museum with period artifacts, and a film about the importance of the Virginia charters.

We elected to save Yorktown for a future visit and headed to Colonial Williamsburg. Just about everything here closes around 5, so we only had time for a few things. We did tour the Governors Palace, and it was super cool. This is a replica, as the original house burned down, but it was reproduced with extreme attention to detail, and many of the original tiles, bricks and artifacts were used. It housed 6 British governors, then Patrick Henry, the very first democratically elected politician in the colonies. It also housed Thomas Jefferson as VA gov briefly, until the capital was moved to Richmond. Maybe it’s the history geek coming out in me, but it is just really amazing to be walking the same spots as Henry, Jefferson, and Washington. We tried to get Max to wear a tri-corn hat, but he was determined to have mama wear it instead.

Max may be a little young for some of the stuff we did today, but tomorrow we are looking forward to more hands on activities.

Pizza guy should be here any minute,

Dawn