Our Visit to Powhatan

Both Devin and Roo had a day off from school the last week of October, so we took advantage of it by doing a really short day trip to Powhatan, Virginia to visit my grandparents.  The last time we saw them was when Roo was 2, so it had been way too long.  They hadn’t even met Bubs or Miami yet!  It only took us about three hours to get there, and the kids were great in the car, like usual.  My kids love road trips because it means that they get to watch DVDs the entire time.  In our home, we’ve implemented a new rule where the kids can only watch movies on Saturdays.  They each get to pick one show, and they look forward to it the whole week.  We do let them watch a couple of short animated scripture shows on Sunday mornings while we get ready, but that’s it.  It has seriously been so great to actually be diligent about limiting their screen time.

Anyway, back to the trip.  We got there just in time for lunch.  My sweet grandma prepared lunch for us and it was then that I discovered she loves root beer too!  I must get that from her.  I hardly ever drink soda, but if I’m offered root beer, I’m not going to turn it down.  We were able to chat and find out more about my grandparents that I never knew.  My grandma showed me some family heirlooms like her parents’ marriage certificate (I found out my great-grandma was a calendar model), my great-grandpa’s reading glasses, my grandpa's German confirmation certificate and some other fun things.  I was excited to see a beautiful quilt that my grandma had made and had the chance to play the piano for her. 

The stories were one of my favorite parts!  We heard a lot of sweet memories that we are glad we now know.  I’m glad that we’re close enough to see them more often.  Something that I found out I inherited from my grandparents is my love of ice cream.  I knew it was a Crowder thing, but I didn’t realize my grandparents were included.  Right before we left, my grandma asked the girls if they wanted dessert.  She got ice cream cones ready for everyone.  I don’t remember exactly what happened (so don’t quote me word for word), but my grandpa asked for a little more ice cream on his cone, and my grandma wondered if he wanted more, to which he replied, “Isn’t that what a ‘little more’ means?”  It was so funny and I loved to see their cute little banter. 

What wonderful grandparents I have.  I love them so much!  I’m glad that our kids now know them and that we were all able to have such a fun time.

My Handsome Little Guy

I usually don’t take pictures of myself, much less post them, but handsome little Bubs was looking mighty good in his church outfit, so I couldn’t resist getting a few pictures with him.  I put him on the bed and got him laughing, which was adorable.  Unfortunately, the clarity of the pictures isn’t as great as I’d like, but I still think he is the cutest little boy I’ve ever set eyes on!

Friday Family Fun Night: Carving Pumpkins

Every Friday night we have something called Friday Family Fun Night.  It is an afternoon/night that we dedicate to doing fun things as a family, whether it is going to an outdoor concert and having a picnic dinner, or having a family sleepover in the family room.  The girls look forward to it all week and usually help with ideas for what we can do.  Since it was right before Halloween, we obviously had to carve pumpkins.  Originally, Roo wanted to paint hers, but since I still haven’t unpacked the paint, we decided to carve them.  The girls drew pictures on their pumpkins, and then Devin got to work.  He asked the girls to help him when it was time to scrape out the seeds.  I think they each barely touched the inside of the pumpkins and were immediately disgusted with the sliminess.  Their daddy saved the day by doing it all.  Bubs was chilling in his highchair the entire time, and was great as usual.  We roasted the pumpkin seeds later that night and made sweet ones and savory ones.  The sweet ones were better and even the girls loved them.  I somehow forgot to take a picture of the finished pumpkins.  For the next few days, we had the pumpkins sitting on our kitchen counter.  I accidentally brushed the side of one and felt a wet feeling.  I looked at the pumpkins and realized that they were already moldy.  Gross!  It wasn’t even Halloween yet, but we immediately tossed them.  Next year we’ll definitely take the pumpkins outside right after they are carved. J

I love Devin's face in this...

and it looks like Bubs is trying to imitate that face!

Museum of Life and Science

In October, Roo had an early-out day from Kindergarten, and Devin happened to be home early as well, so we decided to go to the Museum of Life and Science.  On Wednesdays (the day which it happened to be), residents get free admission in the afternoon, with proof of residency.  We hadn’t been there since Roo was little, and the kids loved it!

There was a soundspace room where the girls could run around a gridded floor, and their location would pop up on the screen in front of them.  It would also make a sound depending on where they would run.  Of course, Miami loved it.  That girl loves to run.  Every week after church she literally books it around the building and I try to catch her – it’s difficult because she is so small and can run through people.  I, on the other hand, don’t quite fit between people’s legs as easily.  Anyway, she loved it, and Roo did too.  I even joined them in the fun!

Outside there was a little petting farm, but part of it was being renovated, so we only got to see some goats, llamas, and a pig.  The museum has an absolutely beautiful Butterfly House.  The girls were fascinated by all the different butterflies we saw, and the hubby kept trying to get one to land on his hand so he could show the girls.  There were even cards that told you what kind of butterflies they were.  I was trying really hard not to get creeped out about one landing on me.  Yes, I know they are butterflies and they are beautiful, but they are still bugs and it just makes me shiver thinking about it.

Attached to the Butterfly House is an insect exhibit, with all sorts of gross bugs (read: huge cockroaches, large spiders that aren’t actually encased in any sort of container, a tarantula as big as Roo’s face, etc.).  I obviously didn’t want to go in the area, with my creepy-crawly fear.  Since Devin was along, he insisted that we go, since the girls were curious.  Luckily we did, because we saw our sweet friends from Chile there.  Our friend and her family live in our complex.  Their youngest son is in Roo’s kindergarten class, and Roo absolutely adores him.  I think the little crush is reciprocated.  Crazy how it starts at such a young age!

The last thing we did was go on the Dinosaur Trail, where they have life-size (I think) replicas of various dinosaurs.  Considering that we recently introduced the classic movie, “Land Before Time,” to the kids, they ate it up.  Seriously, Roo wanted pictures with every.single.dinosaur.  They just loved it and were able to play on the first dinosaur on the trail.  There was also a place where the girls were able to dig for fossils.  Miami was serious about this and probably would have dug in the dirt all day long if we had had the time.  Our friends joined us there and we walked around the trail as we chatted until the close of the museum.  On our way out, we ran into one of my best friends, who told us that some other friends from the ward were there as well (we didn’t see them).  It was apparently the popular place to be that day.

We didn’t even get to see a lot of the things there, so we’ll probably go again once the weather is warmer.  It was such a fun day with wonderful memories created.  We love having Devin around to do fun stuff with, and especially having Roo home early from school. 

Yes, I did take this one.  I should become a professional photographer or something.  Just kidding!

Mommy/Daughter Date: Farmer Mark's Pumpkin Patch

When a friend who used to be in our ward sent out an email about a trip to Farmer Mark's for this past Tuesday, a couple of days ago, I knew that we would go.  Roo had gone with her kindergarten class just last Friday (the school is across the street), so Miami was excited to do the same exact field trip that her big sister had done.  Since the hubby had worked the entire night before, he was home sleeping while Bubs napped, so me and Miami got to go on a date.

It was so nice to walk around with her, even though she was basically running around.  We got to do a tour with all of our other friends from the ward and there were a lot of kids there.  In the spring, the farm is a strawberry patch.  We had previously picked strawberries here when Miami was just a newborn.  I think this upcoming spring we'll have to go and do it again.

Farmer Mark showed us some honeycomb and where he keeps his bees.  He also showed us the strawberry patches.  I think he said they have around 30,000 strawberry plants in the field.  So many!  There was a nice little pond with some ducks in it in the back.  While Farmer Mark was talking about the strawberries, Miami decided that she was going to follow some little boys down toward the pond and throw pinecones over the fence.  I couldn't persuade her to stay, so we went and threw pinecones until the tour continued.  She loved kicking the dirt around as she walked and in the process, got her boots really dirty.

The next stop was the chicken coop.  Farmer Mark showed us how a chicken can fly (when you throw it over a fence), and let the kids throw kernels of corn into the coop to feed them.  Miami absolutely loved this.  She probably took ten handfuls to throw in and feed the chickens.  The kids also had the chance to pet the chicken.  Miami is my child who loves the concept of animals, but when it comes time to get near them, she tells us that she is "just a little scared."  Surprisingly, she touched the chicken a few times.

After the chickens, we got to see the cow.  We had to keep our distance, and since Miami wasn't a fan of that, she started playing in a dirty ditch with some other kids.  She loved picking up the dirt and sand in the ditch and throwing it.  As our outing went on, she got filthier and filthier.  When I tried to motion to her to come back to me, she gave me a little smirk and tried to walk away from me.  Too bad she's so cute!

She didn't really care to have her picture taken with the cow, but she was excited when Farmer Mark talked about having chocolate milk and showing us how to milk a cow.  We tried to keep going on the tour and see the goats and woodchuck, but Miami decided it was time to just go into the pumpkin patch with one of her friends.  Luckily, I was able to snap a few pictures of her before she went and sat in the dirt with her friend.  They playing happily, pouring dirt in their shoes, while I got to talk with my friend, Amanda.  The tour went long though, so we had to leave soon after and quickly pick a pumpkin.  We had a running race back to the car, and Miami was able to run almost the entire way (which was decently long).

Miami had so much fun and I enjoyed the one-on-one time.  On the drive home, she told me how we are going to paint pumpkins with Roo for our weekly Friday Family Fun Night.  And after Roo got home from school, both girls compared their tours and realized that they were able to see all of the same things, which made them happy!