Trip #2 to PA--Grammy and Granddad's "mountain house"

I'm really struggling with dragging and moving pictures in my posts these days. Ever since I upgraded my internet explorer I seem to be having difficulty, but I wanted to go ahead and get some pictures posted from our trip to Eagle Rock. A few weeks ago I took the kids to Eagle Rock and we spent a week with my family and the cousins just hanging out and playing. They got to play at the lake, ride paddle boats, swim at the pool, go to a train museum, go to Knoebel's Amusement Park, blow bubbles, play in shaving cream and just hang out at the house with each other. I can say a great time was definitely had by all, as shown by all the pictures we have!

Kellan and I on the train

A budding photographer

Playing with shaving cream...funny kid

Blowing bubbles with grammy's homemade bubble mix and random household objects

The train station...the boys were VERY excited!

So sweet...cousins on the train

Mia

One of my favorite photos because Kellan took the initiative to put his arm around his taller sister all by himself...LOVE it!

My dad, the kids and I

Cool view of the roundhouse (I think that's what it's called?)

Kids checking out the roundhouse

Kellan fell in love with fooseball while we were there--he played by himself for over an hour at a time!

The big kids also got in on the shaving cream fun

I will have to put the Knoebel's pictures in a separate post--I can't deal with moving any more around in this one!

July 4th

We enjoyed a 4th of July at home as a family this year. We had friends over for BBQ and then let the kids enjoy some sparklers and fireworks outside followed by an evening water fight between adults and kids! These pics are a bit out of order but here are some photos of our day.

Little Man

Sibling Love

Kellan enjoying his first sparkler! He found it fascinating.

Tate enjoying his first sparkler

Kellan is all geared up for the water fight with his squirt gun

Big Sis

Visit to PA #1-Grammy and Granddad's house

A few weeks ago the kids and I packed up and headed to Philly to spend some time with family and friends. I was able to catch up with some old friends and enjoy a yummy lunch at Chickie and Pete's, and the kids were able to spend quality time with ALL of their cousins!

The kids spent a day with Nolan and Mia, going to Tyler State Park, swimming, and painting bird houses.

They got to spend time with Kaylee catching lightening bugs and decorating "fireworks" t-shirts.

They got to spend time swimming with Carter (no pictures here because I got to take Carter in the pool for a little dip!).

Alex enjoyed jumping off the diving board until she realized there was a hornet's nest under it, and even after we sprayed the hornets continued to linger so she wisely decided to stay away.

The kids liked checking out the horses and goats behind Grammy and Granddad's house. It's like having access to their own private mini-zoo!

The kids also enjoyed jumping on the small trampoline--here is Kellan getting his little workout.

Overall it was a great visit! Coming soon I'll post about our second PA visit to my parents' place in Eagle Rock!

Blueberry Picking

Last week my friend Ashley and I took our kids to an organic blueberry farm. It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids enjoyed filling up their buckets with fresh warm blueberries! They encourage you to eat while you pick so I took care of the eating while the kids focused on picking. I think Kellan accidentally ate some unripe blueberries in the beginning before he realized which ones he was supposed to pick, and that kind of turned him off to eating them. Typically he loves blueberries but he enjoyed picking them more this time! The farm will also pay you to pick blueberries for them to sell at the farmer's market, so once the kids filled up the baskets to take home, Haley, Tate and Alex worked together to fill one bucket then split the profits! Ashley, Kellan and I preferred to sit in the shade under the tent and chat with the girl who was working while munching on some snacks. The big kids were quick workers, running from bush to bush working as a team to pick all the blueberries. They were cheap labor--the girl probably could have paid them half the rate and they still would have been just as excited! She didn't get how much $3 each meant to young kids :) - she was impressed that they were so eager to work so hard for such a small amount of money. The kids all talked about how much they couldn't wait to go back and do it again....now I just have to figure out what to make with all the blueberries I have left!

The Blueberry Pickers--Tate, Haley, Kellan, and Alex

My sweet girl hiding behind a blueberry bush

My adventurous boy crawling through the bushes

Tate is Alex (and Kellan's) new buddy-he is the same age as Alex and their dad works with Marlon. The 4 kids bonded quickly and really play well together!

The blueberry fields--Tate and Alex off and running

Unrelated to blueberry picking, here are a couple of pictures of Kellan playing UNDER his train table. He played under there for a good 20+ minutes so I snapped a few photos.