Camping Out

One of the things that Ken and I wanted to do for our vacation this year was to go camping. One of the reasons is that camping is a lot cheaper than other vacation ideas, but mainly because we had both camped a lot as kids and wanted to pass along that joy to our children. We had gotten a lot of camping gear as wedding gifts, but I am extremely embarrassed to admit that most of it had never been opened! The first major decision that we made was that a whole week would be too much for us just starting out, so we chose to limit our first trip to three days/two nights. We gathered up all the gear, wrote lists, packed suitcases, and pulled our hair out got everything ready. We headed out to Sherando Lake on Monday in the early afternoon. The trip is about 45 minutes to an hour and Henry fell asleep just as we were pulling into the campsite. We picked a site that was one away from the bathroom. We were also pleasantly surprised to find showers. We were expecting just toilets. We set up our new 10 person tent and got the rest of the campsite ready before Henry woke up, so it was a very well-timed and convenient nap! We decided to inflate the boat to go out on the lake the first day we were there. That boat was heavy!! Frances enjoyed being in the middle of the lake although the questions she was asking started to worry me. She was so "concerned" about falling in that I could practically see her weighing that option! Thankfully she did not go overboard. Henry actually tried a few times, but we caught him just in time. We paddled out to the far end of the lake and then paid a visit to the island in the middle of the lake. After we got back to the campsite, Ken made a fire for our first dinner-smoked sausage, macaroni & cheese and carrots. After cleaning up from dinner, we decided to take a walk around the area. We saw a path that said "Overlook Rock 0.5" I thought out loud "How long can it possibly take to hike half a mile?" The answer, unfortunately, was "A LONG TIME!!" We made it to the lookout at dusk and then hiked down in the dark. Frances asked enough questions about bears that we finally yelled at her to cut it out! We got back to the campsite and I took Frances with me to take a shower. The sign on the door said to push the button several times for hot water. Not only did we have a shower, but it was to have hot water! Only problem...it was SCALDING! I had to wait for it to go back to cold before I could rinse the two of us. I never could figure out warm-only hot and cold. I would have greatly preferred cold, but most of the time it was hot-too hot to stand in. Our first night was interesting, to say the least. Henry took a LONG time to settle down. He climbed all over the rest of us. Frances managed to go to sleep pretty easily, but Ken and I took a bit longer. Sleep finally came, but morning came much earlier than I had expected. The second day we tried to go fishing, but Henry was much more interested in throwing the lures in the water than he was with playing with his new Cars fishing pole. After we gave up on the fishing, we got ourselves ready to go swimming. I was actually dreading this part because Henry HATED the beach and water at the lake last year. He wouldn't go near it. What a difference a year makes!! He jumped right in and spent the whole time running back and forth in the water, chasing fishes, throwing sticks and have a rip-roarin' good time! Frances put on her floatie and twirled around the lake-she even went under and got her face wet a few times! Tuesday evening's dinner was hamburgers, baked potatoes, and bananas. We also got nice a sticky making S'mores. Wednesday morning we woke up and had a nice breakfast of "hashbrowns" (fried baked potatoes, really), left over smoked sausage and cereal. We were supposed to check out by 11, so we started packing up as soon as breakfast was over. We had planned on hanging around for a little while after we packed up, but it took us most of the morning to get everything back in the vehicles, so all we did was visit the Visitor's Center and head home. All in all it was an awesome trip. There are a few things we will do differently next time; but the family will certainly be camping again!! In fact, when we got home on Wednesday afternoon, I asked Frances when she wanted to go camping again. "Ummm...Thursday?" "That's tomorrow, Sweetie," I said. She says, "Oh. Uh...Friday?" Nice try darling, but not that soon!
PS I am being lazy tonight. Blogger has been giving me trouble recently when I go to move pictures around, so I give up. Here they are, in no particular order:

"What chocolate? I didn't see any chocolate!"

"I don't wanna say 'cheese.' I wanna say 'marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers!'" Casa Del Liebers

"I am the marshmallow monster!!"

"Finger lickin' good!"

"Mommy, please don't take my picture! I'm having a bad hair day!"

Happy Anniversary!

It was eight years ago today that we said "I do!" Happy anniversary, sweetheart!

Brainard-Palooza, Part 2

After leaving Raleigh on Monday, we headed east to New Bern, NC to visit with my dad's brother Bob and his wife Mary. They have a beautiful house on the Neuse River and were very gracious hosts while we were there. Henry and Frances had plenty of toys to play with since Bob and Mary have 6 grand kids of their own. Frances worked all of the puzzles at least twice, while Henry was fascinated with a blinking bouncy ball that he played fetch with while acting like a puppy for two days.

New Bern is apparently named after the city of Bern, Switzerland and has something to do with bears (I was on vacation and not paying attention to the whole story!) So, anyway, there are lots of bear figures all over the place. Frances and I had our picture taken with one.

We walked around downtown and got to see where Pepsi was invented. We also checked out a local flea market where the kids got to see a few pirates. (Incidentally, YES, that is a flower in my son's ear. He also had his toenails painted that week. Wanna make something of it??)
We wanted to go sailing on Bob and Mary's boat while we were there, but we had to wait a few days for some clouds to clear, so we went to the North Carolina Aquarium instead.
While there, Frances met her possible future husband, Henry almost got eaten by an alligator Aunt Anne admired the jelly fish,

and both kids had a run-in with a shark.

It was a great place to visit and the kids (and the rest of us) had a great time!

(l to r: Aunt Anne, Frances, my mom. I wasn't wearing blue, so they wouldn't let me in the picture)

We did get to go sailing one afternoon, although it rained most of the time we were out. Henry enjoyed himself long enough for us to get out of the harbor and then started getting really restless, so we went below (AKA the "brig").

Thanks for the great time, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary. It was great to get to spend some time with you!

Brainard-Palooza, Part 1

This past weekend I went with my parents and the kids to a family reunion in Raleigh, NC. My dad's parents had 4 kids; three boys and a girl. We have not all gotten together for a very long time. We were together in '84ish for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, but I had not seen most of my aunts, uncles, cousins...since my grandmother died in 2001.

For future reference: Uncle Bob is the oldest brother. He married Mary and they have three kids: Laura, David and Mike. Laura married Dan and they have two boys, Alexander (3) and Nicholas (15 months). David married Michelle and they have a girl, Sydney (6 in July) and Matt (3). Mike married Ti and they have two girls, Ivy (4) and Anna (2). My dad is the second oldest. He married Madeline and they have John who married Jessica. I am next and you already know more about me than you ever wanted! My "little" brother, Alan came next. Uncle Larry has Ben and Gabby; neither of whom are married yet. Anne is married to Jim, and they do not have children.

My parents came up to Harrisonburg Thursday afternoon so we could leave early Friday morning for the 6 hour drive. I packed up two baskets of things for the kids to do and thankfully we were able to borrow Stacey's portable DVD player just in case.

We drove to Raleigh and checked into the hotel. Then we headed out to Laura and Dan's house for our first get-together and dinner. There were 8 kids between the ages of 15 months and almost 6! They had an awesome time chasing each other around the house and playing with all the new toys. The adults had a good time catching up with each other and talking, while dodging all the kids. We had dinner together and spent some more time playing and catching up. We left the shindig and headed back to the hotel, but not before my mom handed out the awesome Brainard-Palooza t-shirts she had made for everyone!

On Saturday morning we went out to David and Michelle's house for breakfast and then took a break at the hotel until the afternoon's picnic. Laura had a cute cake made representing the 4 "kids:" Uncle Bob who has a boat and likes to sail, Blair (my dad) who is a librarian, Uncle Larry who lives in England and likes to garden and Aunt Anne who plays the oboe.We ate Carolina barbecue and talked and made a huge mess with bubbles! My kids got to ride a train around the park! On Saturday evening we had dinner at a nice restaurant in downtown Raleigh.

Sunday morning, my mom, Frances and I went out to church while Henry and my dad stayed at the hotel. I was really impressed that Frances went off to Children's Church at this strange place she had never been to before! They invited all the kids up and encouraged visitors to come along. She went right up with all the other kids and left without even looking back!

After Mass some of us went to brunch at a restaurant near the hotel. Henry got restless during the meal, so he went and rode the escalators with Uncle Larry's friend Helene and me. He loved it!!

We took another short break and then my parents, kids, brothers, and David and Sydney headed out to the North Carolina Museum of Natural History where Frances and Sydney almost got eaten by a giant praying mantis, Grandpa tried to feed Frances to a dinosaur, and Henry showed Uncle Alan around.

After the museum we had dinner and went back to the hotel again for the evening.

We packed up and left early Monday morning to head to Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary's house in New Bern, NC for Brainard-Palooza, Part 2!

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

My dear, sweet little boy turned TWO! It seems like he was just born, and then I blinked and he was two. He is growing up into such a little personality! We did not have a big family get together, mainly because things have been really busy around the home front because of the end of the school year. We had our graduation breakfast at church the day before his birthday and then I will be out of town the next three weekends for vacation. We did celebrate together on Sunday afternoon with Mommy, Daddy, and Frances.
I made him a soccer ball cake and had enough cake batter left over for a set of cupcakes to take to school. They were baseballs and basketballs. He loved the cake and blowing out his candles. He also had to blow out the jar candle on the dining room table while he was at it! He opened some presents with a little help from Frances. He got a cute outfit from my parents, a truck, a set of Clifford DVDs that will come in handy when we drive to Raleigh next weekend, a CARS sheet and pillow case for his crib, and a farm set that includes a milk maid, and two cows (lately he has gone everywhere with "mama moo" and "baby moo").

I found this super fun sprinkler at Target and decided to buy it for the kids for the summer and call it a birthday present. It is 12 feet long with little hoses sticking up that spray water all over the place. The water doesn't come hard sharp, like I thought it might. Henry even went up and drank straight out of it!

• I don't have his exact stats because his "2-year" check up was last month, but he is growing right on track.
• He LOVES to eat! He shampoos his hair at the table most nights, and often licks his plate clean...literally!
• He talks more and more, and I can generally understand most of it. He can repeat words more easily, but does not always add them straight to his vocabulary.
• He loves to ride in Daddy's truck and in the bike trailer.
• He loves to be outside and play with balls.
• He is full of energy, but sleeps well at nap and night to re-energize.
• He loves his teachers at school "A-yel" for Ariel and "Jeffy" for Jennifer.
• He is starting to name his friends for me when we get there in the morning.
• He likes to clean up and put things away.
• Unlike most kids his age, he doesn't not put a lot of stuff in his mouth. If he finds something questionable on the ground he will bring it to me to ask about it. He loves it when I tell him to put something in the trash.
• He likes to grab my hand and take me places.
• He LOVES to be read to and picks out different books from the shelf every night.
• He still sleeps in a crib, mainly because we have no room for anything else. It has never occurred to him to try and climb out, but we did have to move him away from the wall at night because he will turn on the light when he decides he is done sleeping, regardless of what time it is. His sister does not appreciate that!

Frances' Pre-School Graduation (In her own words.)

We were singing. It was fun. I liked it. Yeah. My mommy enjoyed it too. Yes, she did.
We played. It was so much fun.
We ate cake. It was so much fun. We did.
My brother made a messy face. He looked very funny.

I ate a cookie with my Mommy's coat on my head.

10 on Tuesday

10 Great Songs From the Last Year

1. You Reign--Mercy Me
2. Jesus Messiah--Chris Tomlin
3. Give me Your Eyes-Brandon Heath
4. Your Grace is Enough--Matt Maher
5. There Will Be a Day--Jeremy Camp
6. Yours--Setven Curtis Chapman
7. I Will Not Be Moved--Natalie Grant
8. I Saw God Today--George Stait
9. Ready, Set, Don't Go--Billy Ray Cyrus (with Miley Cyrus)
10. You're Gonna Miss This--Trace Adkins

Meal Plan Monday

Last week went really well for me in terms of preparing dinners. I even had a night where I was running from one thing to another and slightly behind. It is the kind of night where I would typically pick up fast food for the kids. But since I had a menu all planned out already, I followed it and saved us some money and preservatives! Here's what this week looks like:

• Monday--Ken works late and the kids are with my parents. I will be home alone for dinner, so I will just have left-overs. The frig is full, so this is probably a good thing.
• Tuesday--Ken gets off early in the day, so he can fix dinner. We will eat grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.
• Wednesday--Ken works late. We will have quesadillas with chicken and mushrooms, rice and mixed fruit.
• Thursday--Frances has her Pre-School Graduation picnic, so we will have dinner at the park. I should make some potato salad to bring.
• Friday--Ken gets off early in the day. We will eat grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and green beans.
• Saturday--Ken closes, so it's just me and the kiddos. We will eat baked ham, pasta and mixed vegetables.
• Sunday--We have our Graduation Brunch after Mass, so that will count as lunch. For dinner we will have kielbasa, rice and corn.