Things You Find in Kentucky

Shapes in the clouds...

Beautiful nieces...

Interesting choices...

Personality...

Old railways on perfect spring days.

Event of the Year

So as soon as my sister told me last year the big news, we knew 2011 would be "The Year of the New Cousin". When I announced that I was going to fly down when the baby was born and take Delaney, all manner of excitement and anticipation and who-will-have-the-better-time discussions ensued.

And now the baby - henceforth known as Evan! - is here. And the trip is done. And the other kids' week with Daddy is done. And we're back to the routine (except for the yearly excitement of getting the Barn Sale ready, which has not quite kicked in because it keeps raining). For DK and I, it was such a great trip to bond more closely as she heads into a different phase of growing up. The fun of experiencing her first airplane ride with her was a privilege (Said as she put her shoes back on after getting her bag scanned and the body scan: "I was all like, 'tight', and now I'm just like, ahhhh, and let's get on the plane!"). She absolutely loved every minute of the plane ride, and had her face smashed against her window during the entire take-off. Priceless.

And Evan! He was 2 weeks old when we arrived, and completely perfect and adorable. He has beautiful eyes and we got to see them quite often. Delaney did great holding him and became more comfortable as the week went on. She liked to ride in the back seat with him, keep his pacifier handy, and give a running commentary on his faces and wild arm swings (future OSU quarterback?). John and Karyn are doing a great job as new parents and I know they'll face the long haul with wisdom, prayers and lots of love. Other things DK liked: sleeping with mom (me) in a big ol' bed; hot cocoa and danishes every morning at the motel (so like her father: she made me buy sausages that we could microwave in our room because it was only a continental breakfast); shopping!!! at Ft. Worth mall and other stores with actual selection; eating at Delaney's Irish Pub where her not-so-common-and-never-found-on-gift-shop-trinkets name was plastered everywhere; the beautiful botanical gardens; really good Texas burgers with really good Texas beef.

We road-tripped home through Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana with grandma, where snacks and other food was so available she declared she would never eat again until her birthday. After arriving home Sunday afternoon and settling in a bit, she had quite a few tears and lots of sadness. For Texas, for Evan, and probably for the "let-down" from the end of a big, once-in-a-childhood special trip with mom that had been building up in her mind since December when I told her. New emotions, new experiences; our biggest little girl is growing up.

Welcome to Our World

Leah's not the youngest cousin anymore...

The kids want to oovoo (video chat) with him asap...

"I wonder what his first word will be?" they ask. "I wonder what he'll look like when he's seven."....

"Has he worn any of the shirts we made him yet?"...

I think they love him already...I know we do! Welcome to the family, Evan Riley!!!

April 26, 2011

Separate But Equally Fun

Thankfully, we had front-loaded most of the planned stops/activities into the first part of the trip, and left free time at the end. This worked well (I think) because given our usual propensity not to be "boxed in" on any vacation, we were pretty worn out from scheduled activities by the end of our day at Colonial Williamsburg. We had a few things that we knew we wanted to fit in, but because we only had 3 days left, it was looking a little crowded and that was causing a little, ahem, tension. We made a good decision: we went our separate ways for most of Thursday and everyone had more time to relax. Mom and I and Delaney and Sara rolled down the windows and enjoyed the beautiful, sunny 70-degree day by hitting the many outlet malls and Yankee Candle Flagship store. The Yankee store was really entertainment in a very, very large store, and the girls got to make their own candle, eat some chocolate-covered popcorn, watch the "snow" come down in the year-round Christmas section, and peruse the toy shop while I picked out some great new votive candle scents (lemonade! yum!). Alas, I have no pictures of shopping. : )

Dad, Eric, Leah, Jesse and Levi headed south to Norfolk, the Nauticus Museum, and the Wisconsin Battleship tour. Other than the traffic on the way back, they had a great day and said the museum was really hands-on and worth the trip. Eric remembers his dad taking him on a real battleship when he was a young boy and had been looking forward to doing the same with his kids for a long time.

For my mama*

It's a funny thing, the way God designed families. You're born, you grow up, you leave your mother and father and get married and start a new family. Generally, this means you also do not live with your siblings, because they have grown up and left and started families, too. And in effect, what this all actually means, is that no one who lives in your house when you are married and raising your own children knows that you have become your mother.

You sound exactly like her when you tell everyone that Cheerios are it and Do Not ask for anything else.

"Yes, you have to match up all the socks" rolls right off your tongue without a thought.

You find yourself tracing words over and over on scribbled lists and notes while on the phone.

You look at your hands...enough said.

However, your husband, your children -- they don't know that that's not really you. That's your mother. You know, the one you're so different from? She made stacks, you purged (but now you might need a stack or two from time to time...and don't touch it!). She forgot things, you remembered (except now, when you forget). She thought of her family first, you thought of yourself first (is that changing yet?!? Please change me Lord...).

Now though, to them, to your family, it is you. Because you are now The Mom. So thank the very good Lord that since we all become our mother sooner or later, I have a mother who gave me a full tank of love to pass on to my family and beyond each day. Because now, in many ways, I find myself becoming my mother:

I am so glad to see and be with my children and husband every day.

I laugh; at myself, at big things, but especially at the little things.

I am an optimist.

I do what needs to be done, even when I'm tired.

I am rejuvenated by and rely on music in so many ways. Passing that on to my children is so important to me.

I pat people.

I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. I will never give up on seeking Him.

I'm so thankful I'm becoming my mother. I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday.

*I never actually call her mama. It just sounded right for the title.

I can share it here!!

GREAT news from my sister and brother-in-law!

They're expecting their first child!




Can you tell I'm excited?!?




My editing instructors would've failed me for using this many exclamation points!!!!!


Love 'ya, sis. Can't wait to be Aunt Heather all over again. : )

Listmakers

The kids spent a night with the grandparents this week. Four of them were enjoying filling me in on their adventures of helping grandpa feed the animals. Then Delaney decided to make a list...

Delaney: I think my order of favorite animals would have to be...cats, chickens, cows, dead cow.

Leah: Mine is...cats, chickens, cows, dead cow.

Jesse: My favorite is cows, then cats, then chickens, then dead cow.

Sara: Ummm....cows, cats.....dead cow, chickens.

(Now that's a girl after my own heart!)

Some Holiday Fun 2009

My favorite July photo (so far)

Random

I have posts in my head, really I do. I am ambivalent about writing them down, I think. So again tonight, I will post a random family picture. : )

Being silly with their Arkansas cousins:

New joy

I'm a great-aunt -- again! Our oldest niece and her husband had their second child, Jaylyn Rose, on March 18. We were thrilled to meet her this weekend. Eric and I have finally hit that we-miss-babies mode, so these grand-nieces are quite the perk.

Sara, holding Jaylyn:

Jaylyn's older sister, Kyleigh, with Leah and Sara:

Hmmm...what day is it?

I'm definitely in that zone where we've been gone so long and I don't know quite where I am or what day it is. Monday? Really? It doesn't feel remotely like a Monday. I feel a strange pull to stand at my own kitchen sink and do dishes. Then I would feel centered. Ha!

It did start to feel kind of Monday-ish, however, last night when after the Norton Christmas celebration was over, Delaney started to feel bad and threw up a few times through the night. Then it hit Jesse today so I spent most of the day reading my book while keeping an eye on him. It was the "over-quick" variety, so it hasn't actually been too horrible (except, I'm sure, for our hosts who have to put up with our children who seem to throw up every single Christmas while they're here). Just a reminder that we are back in reality. It really did seem like all illnesses and colds and troubles were suspended while we were in Florida. Do families who live in Florida get stomach viruses in December?

Anyway, we and our germs will be heading home tomorrow. Only one more packing and unpacking to go!

News flash: Florida has better weather than Ohio in December

That would seem like a no-brainer, (right?) especially since it seems that half of the population of Ohio has come/is here/is coming to Florida in the winter. That would be a clue. But still, after a week here (and we know that we really hit the jackpot on Tampa winter weather this week), I'm a little surprised still each morning as I head out on the balcony in my short sleeves and soak in some Vitamin D. What a very, very nice thing to get a break from the constant cold.

When we debate each day whether to find a new place to explore, or try another area of beach, or find a new adventure, for our kids, the vote always comes back to "let's just swim in the pool!" It has been the greatest blessing to have this big heated pool. They are just thriving in it. Levi and Sara are swimming like fish now and Delaney and Jesse just jump in with their inner tubes over and over. Leah has even ventured off Her Step for some piggy-back rides. Pool tag with adults is the favorite game, as is diving for pool toys. Sara has just simply amazed us, going from an inner tube the first day to now swimming under water without one breath the entire length of the pool -- over and over and over. We made her get out to eat yesterday because we were worried she would get too weak from all those calories she was burning.

Today we ventured down to St. Petersburg Pier, which was beautiful. We watched the boats, toured the small aquarium, hit the gift shops and restaurant, and rode the trolley. Jason's family had a good time riding the family bicycle around the area, but we opted to head back and -- what else -- swim one last time before starting The Packing.

We're heading back north tomorrow, for a Christmas visit with Eric's family. We can't wait to see everyone and share our stories and shells, but we are definitely sad to leave!

Here's a few more pics, from the pier today:

Shells, sand and seagulls, oh my!

You guessed it -- we've been at the beach. We (the seven in our family) went yesterday to scope out Honeymoon Island -- a small island that has been saved as a state park and has lots of great wildlife; it's just west of Tampa. It was cooler yesterday (high of 63:), so we just spent time checking out the great sea shells around the north side of the island. Delaney was in shell heaven and we collected way too many.

Today we went back (all 16 of us -- yes, Karyn and John are here!) and had a memorable day in the fun and sun. There was hiking, shelling, much dolphin-sighting, warm sun but much too much wind to be perfectly content, wading in the cool ocean, meeting visitors from mostly states other than Florida, sand-castle building, burying each other in the sand, and, last but never least, the seagulls. When it was about time for our packed picnic lunch, I got out the pretzels and the kids starting eating. We noticed some seagulls creeping near and the kids wanted to feed them. I said -- casually -- "no, don't do that because then more will keep coming and want to be fed". Levi did not heed that warning and tossed one of them a pretzel. To say the least, BAD IDEA. A true flock descended and wanted more. As we started getting out sandwiches and the rest of the food, they basically turned into crazy-commando-seagulls. They flew about 4 feet overhead the whole time and kept swooping down. Finally, one of them literally came in and grabbed Izaak's (nephew) peanut butter and jam sandwich FROM HIS HANDS. It was insane! Angie gave him her sandwich and he started eating it, and another seagull took that one. I'm not kidding. We ended up having to hide the food and if you wanted to eat, you had to do it under a towel or blanket. Once we quit eating and got them to finally mostly go away, if anyone even opened the bag that had the covered food in it, they would start to gather again. I must say I will be surprised if the children do not have a few nightmares about swooping seagulls.

Other than that, we are entertaining ourselves by checking the weather in Ohio compared to here (it seems as though someone is doing this by the hour around here). : ) Hope everyone is staying warm, and merry Christmas Eve Eve.

Some pics:

Not lost, just relaxed

Hmmm...I think I may have mentioned something about blogging our vacation. Why was I more motivated to do this last year than this time? Not sure. I think part of the reason is our vacation house's computer room is in the lower level and I don't pass the computer much and think "blog this memory". Or something.

ANYWAY, we're here! The drive down was fine, no one threw up, Eric and I got a few hours of sleep each as we drove straight through and arrived in foggy -- BUT WARM -- Florida in the early morning hours of Saturday. My brother and his family were either behind or in front of us (not on purpose!) most of the way but we didn't see each other until we got to the rental house. My favorite memory of the drive is watching the kids skip and run and have a great time at 3:30 a.m. at the Florida Welcome Center rest area. They had just woken up a bit so we took a break as they enjoyed their first time ever in the state. "Take our picture by the palm tree, mom!". They got a lot of smiles from the surprisingly-many other travelers who were taking a break at 3:30 in the morning. At least I just chose to notice the people who smiled at us.

My mother's family that lives in Florida came to the house today to visit with us, and we had a great time catching up with them. It was about 80 degrees and nice and sunny here today, and the kids swam about three different times and will sleep well tonight. It's really a good setup for the 16 of us (except for the inexplicable lack of chairs/seating?) and we are so thankful to enjoy this surreal Christmas week. I try not to even think about the cold and wind in Ohio, but someone is checking the northern weather around here about once an hour it seems. I guess that's part of the fun of spending a winter week in Florida.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. Good night!

Deja Vu?

Does anyone remember last year close to this time, when, oh, I started this blog to document a big road trip?

Little did I know that Big Road Trip #2 would come so soon. My dear father, from whom I have inherited bones which get colder than others' bones starting in October, has gotten my dear mother to go to Florida during her Christmas break the only way possible: by taking all of her children and grandchildren too.

I'll do my best to record our trip here, again, since reminiscing over last year's posts has given me great joy, and because my memory does not seem to be improving. This is our very first go-to-one-place-and-stay-there-for-the-whole-week vacation, so any readers may tire of my "The kids swam while I read a book" posts. : )

There's no one like her

Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma!

Catching up

Well, March has been busy. We'll just call these posts a March madness round-up and pretend they were nicely spaced. Of course, I may just be talking to myself here, since even my loyal sister may have given up on me by now.

Levi heard about this crazy tradition that other children participate in called "spring break", so he coerced his mother (ha!) into taking one the week of the 21st. He also informed me that we always do some painting or a house project during spring break, so we brainstormed and came up with letting them personalize their rooms a bit. A few shelves, posters, paint and lights later, here's some of what they came up with:



I have to point out what Jesse chose for his poster (it says "born to ride" under that, by the way). He is a true Norton:



And then Levi's (Ahhh, my boy!):



We also made an afternoon out of a trip to Dayton's Boonshoft Museum, a jewel of a find that we will definitely frequent from now on. The discoveries were endless, from leaf rubbing...



....to lots of dress-up and much more.



Then began the "Gauntlet of Visiting". First, extended family from Arkansas came to my parents', and a bunch of my mother's side of the family were able to get together. Here's my mom with two of her four siblings:

The next day was on to southern Indiana, where things were 10 degrees warmer but just as wet (although we had a beautiful first day and soaked in the sunshine -- and 70 degrees!! -- when we got there). We celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, and the xxth birthday of my dear mother-in-law, Doris. If I put her picture on the Internet, you would never hear from me again, so instead I'll post a pic of my dear niece and grand-niece (yes, that does make me feel old!):

Next it was home again, as we readied ourselves for visitors whom we had been looking forward to for some time...the Smith's from Alabama! Yes, the same dear new friends who opened their home to us on Thanksgiving Day as we headed north through Alabama on our Road Trip of '07, spent some of their vacation in Ohio and were able to share a meal and time with us. Actually, their five children (including boy-girl twins, of course!) were very, um, comfortable here, right, Sarah? ; ) The best part was when their five year old daughter came bouncing into the house after a verrrry long day in the van, and said, "Your house is a long way away!" We were very blessed to get to see them in person again and look forward to the next time. For you who have read this whole post, a very rare, hard-to-find picture of ....The Moms:

Now since today is the 31st, I am all caught up on March. Nothing else can happen today, right?