Pontoon boat riding and the bump makes an appearance

It was Grandma's birthday this weekend so we had a lovely picnic at Black Hill Park and then went for a ride on a pontoon boat around the lake. It was super hot and muggy so we were glad not to be doing anything that required exertion, like walking or even canoeing around the lake! The pontoon takes you around to all the little inlets, there is a breeze, beaver lodges, dragonflies and other fun lake things and all for just $4 a person! The captain of the boat gave us a little history of the lake, but more interestingly, he pulled out furs of the creatures that actually live in the park around the lake. It was fun and a little creepy to touch beaver pelt, coyote, squirrel, fox and even mink! The kids had fun putting the smaller animals on their arms and freaking the parents out.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Family Photo taken by Uncle Travis

HOT

Wearing a groundhog. Much hand sanitiser was used after. 

Summer holidays some more

Last week was another busy one but lots of fun. We rode in a pontoon boat to look for dragonflies. We found just a few but Emma had a lot of fun looking at the provided charts and guessing which were the dragonflies we were seeing. We also spotted a couple of great Blue Herons skimming along the lake away from us, a number of turtles sunning themselves and a lone deer in the woods. We also went to play at Cabin John playground and picnic area where there is a mini-train. This was with a couple of other Butler School families and it took her a while before she was ready to play with the kids instead of me. On Saturday, Keir took Emma down to a fun day of all things Civil War. General Stuart (a re-enactor on his horse) and his army marched into Rockville and arrested a whole bunch of Northern traitors. We had been talking at breakfast about generals, armies and such and I had mentioned how the army would requisition people's livestock and food for the war. Emma completely fixated on this, I suppose as something she could understand. When she saw General Stuart ride in on his fine steed she stuffed her water bottle and snacks behind her so that he could not get them! K explained to her how the General had told the assembled crowd of 300 people not to "fear for their belongings" and so she allowed him to lift her up to his shoulders for a better view of the handsome fellow. I have a few photos here of last week, and also some random ones off my phone as it slowly recovers from it's toilet dunk. Included are some pics of Grandma in civil war costume. We didn't have a good one of her face, but she is the lovely lady in the pink with hoop skirts! Just one more reason Grandma is awesome. Also included are a photo of a friend Theresa, who we met in Kenya and is now living back in the States, a picture Emma drew of K on her board, the cat being patiently tortured with hairbands, feeding the chickens at the farm-share whilst wearing protective headgear and marking on the star-chart when she had slept through the night.

Dear Emma, 2 July, 2013

Dear Emma, In the car today you asked to play the kid and the monkey game. I said I didn't know how to play and you would have to teach me. You told me that I had "teached" you the game and then you proceeded to sing; " I wrote a note, I wrote a note and then I dropped the note. A monkey found it." I realised you meant the clapping song "I wrote a letter to my love". You loved that we clapped during the game and then when it came time to catch the monkey you had to run screaming all over the house. Of course we couldn't do that in the car so instead we just sang the song over and over again. You soon became bored of the lyrics and made up your own. "A little monkey picked it up and pooped on it. Then he squished it with another note and put it in his pocket." Which led naturally to a discussion of how one would get monkey poop out of the note and also out of a pocket. Hugs Mom

Dear Emma, 1st July 2013

Dear Emma, Today you had a high fever all day and did not feel well. You actually opted to lie down quietly every now and then in a "nest" of pillows on blankets on the couch. During one of these sessions you were quiet for a while and I thought you had fallen asleep. Then you chirped up and asked me "Mom, is the baby naked in your tummy?" I responded that she was and you then said to me: "Well, you share your chocolate with the baby, you should share your clothes too." Hugs Your Mom

Quiet Day

On Saturday, after a busy week, Emma asked me if we could, please Mommy, just have a day to watch movies? I slowed the pace on Saturday, and Sunday too, and today has been quite glacial. We had a slow breakfast, cleaned the house and stayed in our pajamas 'til nearly 2. On Sunday we had been strawberry picking with Dad but the berries are not great so Emma and I have laid them on wax paper on a cookie sheet for freezing, for something we will come up with later. She played a while upstairs with her doll house before she declared it filthy. I set her up at the kitchen sink with soap and water and a towel and she has been occupied washing all the doll house goodies for 45 minutes now. She is wet through, the counter, the floor and parts of the ceiling are wet, but she is happy as a pig in mud and so am I!

Picnic

Yesterday we tried to go creeking. I don't think I have ever done this, unless A-level Biology and Geography fieldwork counts? I imagine it to mean that you wade up and down a creek and find fascinating stones, creatures and other creek stuff. Unfortunately, it had rained, well, more than a little bit. The creek that we chose is on a floodplain. In usual circumstances one crosses a lovely green field, take a short walk in a cool woods and end up on a stony beach. This time we trekked though a mud paddy, and then halted when we saw the woods were essentially a swamp. We were with friends, one of whom is a nearly four year old boy. He said, "there's crocodiles in there" and we abandoned. We piled back in the car with our very wet shoes, studiously ignoring the fisherman putting on waders and gumboots, and headed off to a playground. It's actually an excellent playground with lots of different things for the kids to do and a good flat (dry) bit to put your picnic blanket under a tree. We all had a blissful three hours outside, swinging, jumping, eating, climbing and chatting. Then we came home to put our sneakers in the wash and agreed that when it was hot and dry we would try the creek again!

First summer playdate

We went out to friends who have a house with a lovely garden where they grow actual vegetables, have two ponies and chickens! Emma played for four hours straight and I chatted for four hours straight and we both had an awesome time. One of the highlights for me was Em's little friend taking her out to the garden and them eating handfuls of snap peas straight off the vines and then collecting the eggs out of the coop. On the way home she crashed so hard that she couldn't be woken up, even with the move from the car to the house.

Dear Emma, 12 June 2013

Dear Emma, You only have two concepts of time. Five minutes and forty five hours. The first means a short time and the second means a long time. You mean the long time to actually be longer than forty five hours but just how long is variable. When we leave a fun place and get in the car you sit there for a few minutes while we drive away and then you realise that we are actually leaving. From the backseat you pipe up loudly and complainingly; But Mommy! I wanted to stay there for FORTY FIVE HOOOUUUURRRRRRS! Today you were conversing with Cousin Travis about how you could both become statues and stay frozen for a long time. You told him very seriously that you could stay statues for forty five hours. I have tried to explain how forty five hours includes night-times as well as day-times but you won't be swayed from using it to measure how fun something was. Or how long it is taking me to finish this blog post. Hugs, Your Mom.

Summer Holidays, Age 3

Emma is on summer holidays. Her last day of school was Friday and I am determined that we are going to do something fun every day to celebrate this wonderful area that we live in. We are going to the theater, to parks, to playgrounds, to farms, to the zoo, bowling, creeking, hiking and swimming. And that's just this week! Hah! It's so easy to not get out of your pajamas, lie around all day in the house and get bored with each other. Emma chose a colour pen and we wrote on the calendar. One activity for each day this week. Yesterday was the library (amongst other errands) and today we are going strawberry picking. Of course it rained on our first day out but we broke out the Gumboots! Today we started the day with craisin-beet muffins which are scenting the house in a marvellous way as I type.

Dear Emma 30 December 2012

Dear Emma, You were supposed to be going to sleep and you came into our bedroom. You had cheerios neatly arranged in lines stuck to your shirt. I pointed them out to you and you were very proud of them. I asked how you got them on your shirt. You carefully explained that you just suck on them and then stick them. Your Dad lay laughing helplessly into the duvet while I tried to convince you to take them off and go to bed. Hugs Your Mom

Dear Emma January first, 2013

Dear Emma, As long as your Dad and I have been together he has loved to sing the Puff the Magic Dragon song and it has made me cry. I feel so heartbroken for Puff when his boy leaves him so alone and he retreats to his cave. Your Dad has always enjoyed teasing me at how emotional I become but none the less does not sing the song while I am around. And so you have come to be three years old and heard the song perhaps once or twice. Looking for Christmas presents for your Dad in the bookstore I came across a lovely board book telling Puff's story. In this one, the last two pages where they repeat the chorus, Jackie Paper returns as an adult and brings his daughter with him. What a wonderful idea! At last Puff will have another friend. And this little girl will one day bring her children to find the lonely dragon too! We opened the book on Christmas day but it wasn't until Sunday night that we read it to you. You lay on your back between us on our bed and when Jack left, you got teary! I swear I have never said anything about it in front of you. You became sad for just the same reason that I always did! You and I had to talk and talk through the pictures of Jack bringing his daughter and you still were not resolved that the story wasn't too sad. Your Dad made up two new verses describing Puff and the girl's joy at finding one another. Now it is a story, book and song that makes us happy instead of sad. Hugs Your Mom

America, the beautiful

I kept humming this to myself when we first arrived back in the States and I can't help but think it even more now the Fall has arrived. Fall, what a perfect plum of a word, plopping from your mouth like a big piece of caramel apple. Toward the end of the Summer, Emma and I picked a few cooler mornings to go and pick berries. Her punnet never had any in them as she ate as many as she picked. Then she came after the ones I had picked til her fingers and lips were raspberry coloured. It felt more decadent than chocolate, cake or ice-cream to just pop the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and cherries of the late season into your mouth whenever you felt like it. I keep buying the strawberries from the shop because I am not ready to stop eating them. In an effort to move onto the Fall seasonal fruit, Emma and I decided to go apple picking this morning. We went out to the farm and it turned out they were having a fall festival. We fed the goats and the three little pigs. Emma said hello to Dorothy, Toto and the Tinman scarecrows. We chased each other around and around the dark straw-bale maze. Then we went on a wagon ride in a bed of straw to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun to pick out two pumpkins and load them in our bag, all the while exclaiming how excited Dad was going to be about our pumpkins. Once we were back in the car and on our way home, Emma shouted from the backseat; "What about the apples?!"

Dear Emma 30th September 2012

Dear Emma, Tonight I lay with you to help you fall asleep. The room smelled of the vicks we put on your chest to help you with your second cold of the school year. We could hear the puttering Autumn rain on the roof outside. I felt your chest start to move in slow even breaths and then into the darkness you said; "Mommy, you are my best friend, ever, ever." Hugs Your Mom.

Dear Emma 20th September 2012

Dear Emma, Today we brought Glynis and Gpa your Gruffalo books and Glynis read them to you on the couch with Gpa looking on. Gpa fetched the Gruffalo doll they had brought for you and had him peek over the books just as the mouse runs into the Gruffalo in the book. Your eyes were shining and you had to explore him to make sure he had orange eyes, a black tongue and purple prickles. Hugs Your Mom

Dear Emma 17 June 2012

Dear Emma, Tonight in your sleep you rolled over and complained that you were just making your bottle for your baby. Granny and I laughed together at how adorable you were. At the lunch table with Granny, Stoney and Aunty Becca, you asked to sing "be unbroken". We all held hands and you and I sang it together with me prompting you on the words. I thought you were very sweet but when I turned around Granny had tears in her eyes. Later Aunty Becca suggested we all have a race to Granny's gate. You loved the idea and got in line with us and we started running together. Aunty Becca and I calling to you encouragingly to keep you running. Then Uncle Stoney grabbed you from behind and laughing just carried you faster than Becca and I could keep up with. Hugs Your Mom.

Dear Emma 15 June 2012

Dear Emma, Today as I look at you sleeping I love you so much I want to explode into a million tiny kisses and hold you so close you will always feel the warmth of my wonder at sharing my life with you. Hugs, Your Mom

Dear Emma 27th May 2012

Dear Emma, This evening Aunty Caitlin came to listen to a story at bedtime. When the story was finished she wanted a kiss. You wouldn't give her one so she snugged you and covered your face with kisses. When you were done brushing your teeth you knocked on her bedroom door yelling goodnight. She opened her door and you ran into her arms and gave her a big hug. Then you gave her a damp kiss on the cheek and she gave you one back. When she was small and I came back from the UK or wherever she used to give me the best greetings. They are some of my best memories. I loved her small strong arms telling me how much she loved me. Hugs, Your Mom.

Dear Emma 28th May 2012

Dear Emma, Today you thought it was hilarious when I tried to feel your teeth. Is it possible that you are ticklish inside your mouth as well as in your ears? You funny, funny kid. I love you so much. Hugs, Your Mom.

Dear Emma 13 May 2012

I have decided to write short vignettes to Emma that she can read later. Just little things about her life and what she does each day that makes us laugh, cry and love her too much. SO here goes. Dear Emma, Today you didn't want to get out of the car. When your Dad took you out of the car you cried and started to crawl back to the car, crying all the time. When you realised how muddy it was you crawled back towards the porch and put on your pink hello kitty gumboots and then crawled out again. Then you came and stood at the front door and cried and cried. Nothing we did consoled you so we gave up, figuring you to be just plain cranky. I put an episode of Peppa pig on and you stopped crying, peered through the bars of the stair rails and into the lounge and watched from the doorway. When it stopped, you started crying again. I put on the Jungle Book and you came and sat on my lap and I held you and wiped away your tears. You call him Pappa Bear and Balloo can always make you happy. Even when I can't. Later this evening you were sitting with Aunty Di on the couch. She was telling me about a lion she saw with your dad and she said to me, she was Buff, Dude. You piped up - what is buff dude? In your sweet and funny voice and we all laughed. Love Mom

it's the little things

There are things about our lives here that we'll never have anywhere else.

My oven has only two settings: on and off. Also, one of the stove top buttons shoots off across the kitchen floor when the oven is preheated.

I have seen the following on motorcycles(not including the drivers of the motorbikes):
A three seater couch
A cow
Five children in school uniform (yes - that makes a total of 6 people on a bike)
A half dozen six foot two by fours
A rain water barrel the size of two bathtubs
A bathtub

Diarrhea meds with ingredients banned decades ago by the FDA and costing 50c

Invasions of flying, black crickets who can't navigate in the air

Restaurants with four dogs who put their heads in your lap while you are eating and a cat who wanders across the table.

Trucks where you can see all four wheels because the axles are so damaged the truck drives sideways towards you.

Speed-bumps are built exclusively by women. There is no explanation for this, it apparently "just is".

Obstacles to driving which include: cows; camels; sheep; goats; bicycles; motorbikes; trucks driving sideways; people; giraffes; donkey carts; trucks which can't make it up hills. Frequently all of the above will be on the same piece of road.