Easter!

We kicked off Easter two weeks ago at our Neighborhood's Easter Egg hunt.... Ella's first.

Easter Egg Hunt #2 was on Friday at a local park with some friends from church.

And Easter Egg Hunt #3 was ON EASTER with all the "Court kids."  This is the perfect neighborhood and court for our kids to grow up!

Going through their loot!

Time to dress in our Easter best for Church!

After church, we headed over to Dave's sister's house for a family dinner.  In addition to yet one more egg hunt, the highlight of the evening was Tanner talking his cousins into taking him on some laps around the go-cart track!

Dave's mom made this adorable bunny outfit for Ella's cousin Becky (who is actually holding her in this picture) who turns 15 next month.  Sadly, this is likely the last time this cute little bunny outfit will be used by one of Nana's grandkids.  But it was well-loved by many!

It's so hard to believe that this little bug-a-boo was a tiny 6-wk old little nursing fetus being held by her daddy for her baby blessing last Easter.  And just one Easter later, she is running around putting eggs in her basket.  The first year of life is full of such growth and change.  I am so grateful for this little bunny.  

On this Easter Sunday, I am reminded of the many blessings that I have.  So grateful for my family, my Savior, my freedom and my four little ducklings.

And now, after staying up late doing a million blog posts to get caught up..... I am finally caught up!

Mini-cation!

As Spring Break was winding to a close, Dave and I decided to take the family on a "mini-cation" - a one night overnight trip to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia.  We headed out Friday and spent the night at a hotel with an indoor pool and hot tub.  That was a major highlight for the kids!!  The next morning, we headed to Harpers Ferry.  I came here as a kid, but haven't been back since and Dave has never been, but it's less than two hours from our house, so we figured it was a great mini-cation destination!

Beginning our hike on the C & O Trail!

Lacey working on one of her Junior Ranger assignments.

I've read about the Junior Ranger programs available at various State and National Parks and wanted Lacey and Tanner to try it.  So, we printed out the packets ahead of time and got to work!  To become a Junior Ranger Apprentice, the kids had to do 8 different activities described in the packet, go on a hike, ask a Park Ranger a question and watch a movie.

Our hike was along part of the Appalachian Trail.  I am quite confident that Ella Grace may be the  person ever to take her first steps and hike the Appalachian Trail within three weeks of each other!

By the way, miss Gracie Girl.... it is a good thing you are so dang cute since you screamed your head off for two solid hours (from midnight-2am) in the hotel!  And did your fair share of screaming to and from our destination as well!  But, overall, you're a trooper as we drag you around with the "big kids" everywhere!

Maine 1, 165 miles to the left and Georgia 1, 013 miles to the right.  Basically, this is the half-way point!

One of their activities was to dress up as they did in the 1800's.

It's official!  They are Junior Rangers!!

Spring Break!

Monday, April 14th.  What to do with four busy little kids for a week of Spring Break.....  Dye Easter Eggs....

And head to Kinder Farm Park

To see the 14 baby piglets!

Adults On The Loose... Round 4

Saturday, April 12th

Adult Easter Egg Hunt selfie!

Dave and I just participated in the Annapolis Adult Easter Egg Hunt for the 4th year in a row.  It has become a tradition for us!  And, this year, we recruited some neighbors to go with us.  They hid the eggs a little too well this year.... Dave and I only got 3 each.  But we had fun nonetheless and got a free car wash out of it, so all in all, a good time!

Ice, Ice Baby

She's been asking to do this for quite some time, so I am so glad we finally squeezed this in!  Lacey actually had a friend who had a "Frozen" themed birthday party at an ice rink.  I went with Lacey knowing she'd need some help on her first time.  And, quite honestly, it's been years... decades actually, since I've been ice skating.  But we were excited to give it a go together!

                                               Holding her own!  

      We both had a great time and she's already asking when we can go again!

My Baby is Walking!

By 13 months, none of my kids were walking.  But by 14 months, two of the three were.  So, after booking our 10-day trip to Vietnam/Korea, and realizing we left 6 days before Ella's 14-month mark and returned 4 days after her 14-month mark, I started getting VERY nervous that I might miss her first steps.  But, I just decided to wait and see what happened.  My nervous state got even worse when Ella hit her 13 month mark and wasn't walking, but started cruising along furniture and doing other things that told me it was close.  Do I push her and try really hard to get her walking before I leave?  Or, do I do everything in my power to halt the progress?  I ended up leaning toward the latter.  I instructed my parents and Dave's parents to not do anything to encourage her to walk while we were gone.  I checked in on a regular basis and was always so relived to get the report that Ella was not yet walking.  But, towards the end of our trip, the messages were more like, "She's not walking yet, but getting VERY close, so hurry home!" The day before I left to come home, I got this type of message. I was so relieved and happy that she had held off for me!  BUT, when I walked in the door on March 29th, Lacey greeted me by saying, "Guess what, Mom, Ella started taking steps!"  WHAT???  I made my parents fess up and they said that literally, just the night before, on March 28th (14 months 3 days), she took her first wobbly steps.  Then, the next morning (just an hour or two before we got home), she started to practice a little more.  SO, she greeted me on the 29th with showing me her new trick - walking! I'm SO grateful I made it home within 24 hours of those first steps and have loved seeing her progress.  Today is now 2 weeks and 3 days from those first steps and look how quickly she has picked it up!  She's now wearing tennis shoes (I never bothered putting shoes on her up until a couple weeks ago since she was never on her feet!), and almost running on unsteady surfaces like mulch!  Amazing! I will admit, there is a part of this that is very hard for me.  It's no secret that I'm a baby lover.  I could hold a baby, especially my baby, all day long.  And once they start walking, they want to be held less and, they just start looking more like "little people" or toddlers and less like babies.  BUT,  I am having fun watching her learn to take her first steps in life.  And she's still such a little peanut.  In fact, I just barely moved her up to Size 4 diapers.  

So.... Go, Ella, Go!

Addendum:  Yesterday (April 14th), we spent the afternoon in the back yard as it was beautiful weather.  Ella was on the grass and plopped herself down before the three steps leading to the deck.  She squawked, as usual, waiting for me to lift her up to the deck.  But, I could tell she was thinking about "trying" to attempt this herself, so I held back.  Sure enough, she figured out how to get up one step, then two, then three and wallah!  She was on the deck!  I figured this would take a lot more practice and it would be days, possibly weeks before she figured out how to climb an entire flight of stairs in the house.  How wrong I was!  Early this morning, I was running around getting ready for work while Ella was crawling around in the basement.  I heard her squawk from the bottom of the stairs - her communication to me that she wants to come up!  But I was in the middle of the something, so I didn't get her immediately.... so you can imagine my complete shock, when just a minute later, there she was in the kitchen with me!  What???  Yes, she can now climb an entire flight of stairs in no time.... just hours after learning how to climb her first stair.  I am in awe at how quickly all this mobility is taking place.  Just one month ago from today she hadn't taken a single step.  Now, she's all over the place, has almost completely given up crawling and is flying up the stairs.  Craziness!

Cam on! (Pronounced Kamoon)

Saturday, March 29, 2014

We returned from our 10-day hiatus.  And why were able to take this fabulous trip?  Because of this fabulous foursome back home!  "Cam on" means THANK YOU in Vietnamese.  It is a phrase I used countless times during the past 10 days.  But never did it mean more than when we said it to these four people upon our return home.  Cam on to our wonderful parents who did SO much (including tackle a lice outbreak!!!! - I feel SO bad about that!!) while we were gone.  

They look happy here, but.....

Come on and tell me how you really feel???!

Yes, parents, we are back and ready to relieve you and take it all back on.

Cam on.  It's good to be home!

I've Been to North Korea

Friday March 28, 2014

Disclaimer for every picture in this entire post:  None of us have showered or slept in 2 days.  We flew out of Saigon/HCMC at Midnight on Thursday night after going NON-STOP all day the day before.  Our flight was 4 1/2 hours long, so definitely not long enough to get any sleep - especially with them waking you up on a regular basis to serve food, drinks, etc.  But, with the two hour time difference, we arrived in Seoul at 6:30am and had a jam-packed day in front of us, so we sucked it up and RAN through the airport to soak in as much of Seoul as we could before heading home the next day and just counted on our adrenaline to kick in and hoped not too many people complained about our smell :)

When I say RAN, I am not kidding. At all.  I have been fascinated with North Korea for years.  Especially since reading books such as Nothing to Envy and others.  My friend, Kim has lived in South Korea for a year and a half and Pete is in the Air Force.  So, they were able to book a tour to the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone), but we had to be there by 9:10am.  Our flight landed at 6:30, but was a few minutes late.  We were in the back of a plane with hundreds of people.  As soon as we got off the plane, we RAN as fast as our legs could carry us with our bags in order to beat the rush to Customs.  It worked.  We flew through customs, then RAN to baggage claim.  Our bags (thankfully!) came quickly, then we RAN with all our luggage and such in order to make the 7:00 train that would take us to Seoul.  We actually made it!  Can you believe we got off a fully loaded plane, went through customs, went to baggage claim, collected our things AND made it all under 30 minutes?!!

Then we took an hour long train ride to the city, jumped in a cab, dropped our stuff off at Kim and Pete's, jumped on a bus, then RAN to our meeting spot of our DMZ tour and made it in the nick of time. Phew!!

Our first stop, en route to the DMZ was the National Museum of Korea, the sixth largest museum in the world.  We had to get a picture with this "propaganda" pose that was subtly or not-so-subtly EVERYWHERE.  These islands we are posing with are off the eastern coast of Korea.  Japan claims they are theirs.  So, Korea goes out of its way on a regular basis to show these islands as a part of its country.  In fact, here at the museum, they encourage you to pose with these islands while waving Korean flags.  We obliged :)

The outside of the National Museum of Korea

Arriving at the DMZ!

After three separate passport checks, we were led to the back of a building, owned by South Korea, that faces this building, owned by North Korea.  This is a North Korean guard looking at us.  His binoculars are in his hands.  And notice every window of the building is blackened.

Here is our full view from where we were standing.  There were 5 very small buildings separating the big South Korean building we were standing behind and the big North Korean building across from us, seen in this picture.  The three middle buildings are painted blue and are owned by South Korea.  The two buildings (one on each side) painted white (you can see part of one off to the right) are owned by North Korea.  The soldiers you see in front of us are South Korean soldiers guarding us during the brief time we are allowed at this site. 

It was a little bit of an eerie feeling when you would see the North Korean guards stare at you through their binoculars.

Because the North Koreans can see you so clearly, there is a dress code you must abide by.  The South Koreans want the North Koreans to know that the "outside world" is not destitute.  They have money and are not living in deplorable conditions as many North Koreans are brainwashed to believe.  So, while we were allowed to wear jeans, they couldn't have any holes.  Men had to wear a shirt with a collar.  We had to have closed-toed shoes.  No shorts or tank tops, etc.

And then for the highlight of the day.... we got to go IN to North Korea!  Here I am inside the center (of the 5) building that straddles the border.  I am on the North Korean side of the building with this South Korean guard who is guarding that door that opens to North Korea.

We're in North Korea!

That cement block is the dividing line between the two countries and I am on the North Korean side of the border taking this picture of the border.

Straddling the border - one leg in the South and one leg in the North!

This is a memorial at the site of the famous "tree incident."  There was an agreement that there could not be any obstructions between the guard towers of the two countries.  During the summer months, this Poplar Tree blocked the line of sight between a UNC Checkpoint (CP#3) and an observation Post (OP#5).  The North Korean Army had taken advantage of this on numerous occasion and grabbed UNC personnel from CP#3 and dragged them into NK territory.  Therefore, it was decided that the branches needed to be pruned in order to increase visibility.  On August 18th, 1976, a group of soldiers began pruning the tree.  The North Koreans observed for ~15 minutes without any incident.  Then, out of nowhere, their Lt (Lt Pak Chul) exclaims that they needed to stop immediately "because Kim Il Sung personally planted it and nourished it and it's growing under his supervision." Capt. Bonifas ordered for the pruning to continue.  A short while later, a group of 20 or so North Koreans came barreling over the Bridge of No Return and began bludgeoning the tree pruners.  They beat Capt. Bonifas to death.  Another Army Officer was able to escape to a ditch of sorts near by, but the NK's found him and used one of the tree axes to kill him. 

The infamous Bridge of No Return. 

What history is here.....  Such a solemn place.....

And that is all the pictures I have of our experience.  Not because I didn't see more (like the fake North Korean town they have "for show" and other such interesting things) but because we had a South Korean guard with us at all times and were told what we were allowed to take pictures of and what we weren't.  And there were many times we were told we could not take out our cameras.  But, I am so grateful we had this fascinating opportunity.  I am actually shocked we were allowed to do this at all and allowed to take the pictures we did!  Thank you, Kimmer and Pete for making this happen!

We arrived back in Seoul ~4:30.  As you might imagine, we were all EXHAUSTED!  But we also knew, this was our one and only chance to see all things Seoul, so we soldiered through! Our next stop was to Gyeongbokgung, a palace built six centuries ago by the founder of the Choson Dynasty.

From there, we went to Insadong, a great part of town where much of the neighborhood has been preserved to look as it once did back in more traditional times.

Love my hubby

And love my Kimmer!

Finally reunited with their cute kids, they took us to one of their favorite places for dinner - Korean Bar-b-que.  So fun!  And Delicious!!

And then one more stop.... to Dr. Phish!

Getting ready for the nibble.....

Natural Foot Exfoliation....

And this became our final memory of the trip.  What a fun, adventurous, non-stop, exciting, fulfilling trip.  Loved every minute!