BDay Recovery and The Fair

After Madeline's friends left her party, we spent some time in her room playing with her doll house. But first Daddy crashed and Madeline took care of him:
After we helped Daddy up, we set the timer up for a picture of us with Madeline's b-day present (Ethan was having a well-needed nap):

Even Daddy had a blast playing!

...and he was so proud of his work:

Once Ethan woke up , we headed over to catch the last day of the Columbia County Fair. After an already busy day, it didn't take Madeline long to crash!

The first thing Madeline wanted to do when we got to the fair was ride the carousal. But apparently she didn't want to ride the horse:

...she wanted to ride on the sleigh with all of us:

Ethan was very overwhelmed by all the stimuli...he clung on to Doug or I the entire time:

They had a petting farm that we walked in to look at. We didn't buy any food to feed the animals, but the family ahead of us kept giving Madeline food to feed them...so it worked out great for us!

Madeline tried to fish bowl game once...and didn't get a single ball in...

...but we still ended up with two fish!! (we later realized, after she played one other game, lost and still got two prizes, that the best time to go to a fair is on the last day they are there!)

They each got to choose 3 rides to ride on...and boy were they excited!!

Doug and I couldn't believe that Ethan actually went on some rides by himself!!! He LOVES these rides, although he may not look like it in the pictures. As soon as one ended, he was running to another saying, "peas! peas!"

The boys at Ethan's first Fair experience:

Cuteness:

As her last ride, Madeline desperately wanted to ride the teacup with Mommy (the fish came too):

As we were leaving, Doug ran into a guy he works with, so he snapped a picture for us:

We had such a great evening!

Savannah, Ga

September 4, 2010
We've lived in Georgia for a little over two and a half years now and had yet to visit Savannah!! A crime!! On a whim, Doug decided we'd do a day trip (including a 3 hour drive each way) to spend the beautiful day in a beautiful city. (Doug was also scheduled to have knee surgery later that week, so he wanted to do something that he wouldn't be able to do for a while).
Ethan was excited to see all the boats:

...and the airplanes!!!!

We walked along the water for a while and checked out a few of the shops, then took a pretty walk to lunch:

I think the kids' favorite thing while we were there was the trolleys. They wanted to ride one, but it was so expensive and we really didn't have the time for it since we were just there for the day. We said we'd take a longer visit sometime and take a tour on a trolley:

Doug had heard about this restaurant, Pirate's House. So this is where we had lunch. It was yummy :)

Madeline was amazed at how the lemonade was made:

...and Ethan was just tired!

While Ethan napped, we check out a few shops....well, mainly the candy shops!

I could hear angels singing:

Madeline had her after-lunch-and-Ethan-is-sleeping snack:

Then we walked around some more of Savannah and admired some of it's history

The kids were getting tired and needed a little break, so Daddy strolled them around...

while I went inside of the Cathedral of John the Baptist. It was built in 1873 and looked just as amazing on the inside as the outside:

Doug and I loved looking at the moss:

Ethan was ready to do some running around again:

He watched a squirrel for quite some time, which is what he was doing when I took this picture (he looks sad, but he wasn't...the day outside was getting to his allergies!):

The kids and I love water fountains:

We eventually made our way to an awesome park. The kids played for a bit while Doug and I sat on the bench and enjoyed the beauty. Madeline had a little spill and when I pulled out the baggy of band aids, Ethan was so insistent on putting it on "Belle." So we let him:

While the kids played a little longer, Doug walked around and took some more pictures. I'm not even sure what this is, but we hope to take a weekend trip back sometime soon and attempt to soak it all in :)

Savannah is beautiful!

A Radio Flyer Family Now

I have two main purposes behind the beginning and maintaining of our family blog. One, the original purpose, is to keep our family (mainly in Maryland) as up-to-date as possible with the everyday lives of Madeline and Ethan. From the major episodes, to the minor spills...we want our families to feel like they know us and haven't missed a beat in between visits. From what I hear...it works pretty well. In fact, I get many emails/phone calls if I don't keep the posts coming on a regular basis. The second reason, one that I stumbled upon, is that this can now serve as my scrapbook for the kids. One day, I plan on having this printed out into books for us to have and save. Doug, the kids, and I will be able to look back at all the things we did while they were little and how blessed we were that our family, although 600 miles away, have always kept us close in the hearts and minds, as they are in ours.

With that said, a few weeks ago we went to a birthday party for a little friend of ours, Little Owen we call him, who turned 2. He had a Radio Flyer tricycle that Ethan loved riding around on. I thought it would make a good gift for Ethan's second birthday, but my mom and dad decided to surprise the kids with some summer-time wheels! My mom sent me and the kids to Walmart (they have the best prices on these by the way) to pick them up...and that in itself was an event for the kids. As soon as Ethan saw the scooter in the box, he grabbed it off the shelf and wanted it open! "Oh no!" I thought. "He's going to have a meltdown and I'm not even going to make it out of the store with this." However, I told him that we had to pay the lady first and then we could open it. Those of you who know Walmart, know how far of a walk it is from the bike section to the checkout. Well, Ethan proceeded to push this scooter, in the box, from the back of the store all the way to the front. It was quite the scene. But we paid the lady and were on our way home for some fun.
Now, you're probably thinking, "Does a kid with two skinned up knees like this really need a scooter and tricycle right now??"

Oh yes!! All part of the fun!

The day before picking up the wheels, I happened to be across the street at Goodwill....uh, I mean our neighbor's house, when they started giving us a few hand-me-downs. Ethan had been riding around on one of the big-kid scooters and wanted to wear the big-kid helmets, so Wendy pulled out an old one that doesn't fit her kids anymore and gave it to Ethan. It's perfect!!!

He was eyeing up this compartment to figure out how many cars/trains/rocks he will be able to tote around:

I'm surprised at how well he was able to get on all by himself....but then again, it's Ethan:

The next day:

We decided to take the kids to the park to play with their new wheels. We figured Madeline could use the scooter and Ethan the tricycle, but Madeline was insistent on squeezing on the bike (guess we'll bring her big-girl bike next time):

Then Ethan took over:

And Daddy helped Madeline get some momentum:

That's one way to get around:

Ethan LOVED pushing Madeline on the tricycle. And Madeline LOVED being pushed (did I mention it was 98 degrees!):

Things were going well...

everyone was happy...

Then:

Thankfully, there weren't any tears, but the kids were hot and tired and could see the playground...so Daddy helped out:

We played for a short bit, then headed home for some AC and naps :)