Another Fun Week...

has come to an end, unfortunately. My sister, Kelly, and her husband, Andrew, were here for a week. I was using their coming to help me get over being back from Virginia. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do! They left yesterday, and today has seemed so dull. I've spent the day attending to some of the house-wifey duties that were neglected while they were here because I rushed over to my parent's house every day as soon as I could to spend time with them.

The big thing that happened while they were here was that our niece, Braelynn, was baptized.
The family members that were there at the baptism.

Dad and Mom with four of their girls.

Emmitt kept getting woken up from his naps at grandma's by cousins (and once by grandma!) so this was him one night at dinner. He was out!

Kelly and Andrew came over a couple of nights so we could hang out after the kids went to bed. Mila requested that her bedtime story be read by Kelly each time :)

Brennae and Mila played and played this week. They spent an entire day wearing these dress-up clothes.

Of course we went to Young's Jersey Dairy. We've been enjoying Young's a lot this summer. A friend of ours knows just when and where these special packs of Mountain Dew are sold that have a coupon on the can for a free scoop of ice cream. One scoop at Young's is huge! We bought four Mountain Dew packs from our friend, and we don't even drink it! It is an incredible deal whether you like the pop or not! 

One of Mila's summer favorites--bubble gum ice cream!

 Emmitt with a mohawk and chocolate goatee.

 Tori, Kelly, and Andrew enjoying the good stuff.

 The kids were standing at this gate trying to call the cows over like dogs and moo-ing so loudly. 

 Four of the sisters. Tori looks good in diapers.

 I know I said a few posts back that the lighting on my camera has been a little strange lately. Well, I'm sure you've noticed that on this trip to Young's it was looking really bad. My genius brother-in-law, Andrew, wiped off the camera lens. Problem solved. Not sure why I didn't think of that. Much better lighting in this one of the kids.

We love Kelly and Andrew! We can't wait until they come at Christmas!

Today Mila and Emmitt came to me while I was doing dishes looking like this. Mila said they had babies in their tummies. I obviously didn't do a very good job teaching Mila her body parts :)

Mila's Half Birthday

On Monday the 13th, we celebrated Mila's half birthday. We have been celebrating a lot of birthdays lately, and she is always sad that it's not hers. I had a couple little things for her that I had gotten really cheap, so I thought we could liven up a mundane Monday. She was so happy! She kept telling me all day that it was the best birthday EVER!

I blew up balloons to have on the floor in the living room when she woke up. They were left over from Valentine's Day when Sam and I were engaged, so I've had them forever. When she came out of her room, she saw them and asked me what the balloons were for. I said, "Happy half birthday!" She had the most confused look on her face for a second. Then I said it again, and she got really excited. She wasn't sure how old she was so she said, "Am I five or what? Or am I four?" 

Daddy brought home some special balloons after work.

It was FHE anyway, so I had Mila pick out our treat. We sang, "Happy half birthday to you..." and you know the rest.

I love making this cute girl happy!

P.S. We went to the zoo last Saturday. It was a cool, cloudy Saturday in August, and the zoo was completely packed. The parking lot was full so we had to park in a grass lot, which was also almost full. After we saw the tigers, the kids started pretending they were tigers. They were roaring and trying to climb up some rocks, and I could not get Emmitt to walk. So all these people were trying to avoid the kid that was roaring and climbing around on all fours. It was so funny!

Virginia Beach, The Finale

Our last morning in Virginia, we woke up to the kids sleeping like this. 

We got dressed, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and headed to Williamsburg and Jamestown. On the way there, Cheryl looked up more about Williamsburg and found that it was $40 per person! We did not go to that either. On to Jamestown we went. The actual spot where they landed is an active archaeological dig site so there isn't much there but the chapel the settlers built and a statue. We didn't want to spend money to see barely anything with bored children, but about a mile away they have a really nice museum, a replica Native American village and settler's fort, and replica ships. We could have spent a couple of hours in the museum alone! It was so nice with a lot of interesting information, but the kids didn't think things were quite as interesting, so we took the abbreviated tour. The other parts the kids really enjoyed because they had a lot of things for them to touch and try out. It was definitely worth the time and money spent.

Mila with the digging stick working in the garden. The girl said that boys Emmitt's age would basically be used as scarecrows, so their moms didn't mind if they were loud and running around. I knew we should have planted a big garden out back. Emmitt needs to start pulling his weight in this family :)

This woman was actually working on a real deer hide. This would be such an interesting job!

Grinding corn meal.

Emmitt and Lincoln sitting in one of the huts.

Our little family in front of the Susan Constant replica. It was the largest of the three ships that set sail from England. We were able to get on and tour the boat. I can't imagine spending 4 or 5 months on one of these ships!

The cutest cargo.

I was so excited when I saw this log boat! I can't explain how much I wanted to be Pocahontas  when I was a child. I remember being almost depressed about the fact that there was no way that I could ever be her. I've always had the desire to have long, straight, black hair which originated during this period of my life. I was pathetic. You better believe my little heart was singing Just Around the Riverbend! 

Outside the fort.

It was terribly hot and humid. By the time we got to the fort, the kids had pretty much had it.

Trying on the armor. After she put on the helmet, Mila said she wanted to try on the "sweater," too.

We got the kids these little wooden swords at the gift shop. Emmitt kept poking Sam in the back of the neck with it on the way home.

Not our wisest purchase. We've had lots of sword fights at our house.They took turns crying during this sword fight because fingers kept getting hit.

We had quite the rocky start to the trip, including a flat on a brand new set of tires put on the day before, and me forgetting my swimsuit, which we had to go back and get along with a few other things we forgot. Things quickly turned around. Being there was incredible and really made me miss living there. Virginia is such a beautiful place, and it was so wonderful to see friends from our old VA days. The only disappointments were not getting to see Monticello and Williamsburg. I can't believe how expensive they were! When we got home and I told my dad about the cost of those sites, he went on a rant about writing the congressman about how the American youth are missing out on learning about and experiencing their heritage because it's too expensive.  I love my dad :) I hope we can go back next year!

Virginia Beach, Part 3

Friday evening we went to the Virginia Beach boardwalk which is very touristy and commercial. It was so busy! We rented this cool thing that was a cross between a golf cart and a bike. You pedal to make it move. It was great because we could all fit on it. Lincoln and Emmitt had the best seats since they were sitting in a basket on the front. It was a workout, but it was so fun.

Mila just had to sit with Derick and Cheryl. My camera was being goofy and the lighting was coming out strange.

What a cute kite! The next time I go the beach, I'm bringing kites!

At Virginia Beach they have this really long pier that goes way out into the water. We wanted to go all the way out, but it cost $2 per person! They had this cool shell shop on the way there that the kids loved. We spent our money getting Mila some shells to take home instead.

All of these shells had little crabs in them!

There was this huge shell sculpture that I wanted Mila to get a picture with since she loves shells so much, but as she was running to it, she tripped and totally face-planted on the pavement. It was so sad!

The Saturday we were in VA, we spent the afternoon in Portsmouth at the Children's Museum of Virginia. It was awesome! I've been to a number of kiddie museums, and this one was probably the best. Everything was so hands-on and really focused on letting the kids try everything out. 

There was a train room that had this cool tunnel that the kids could crawl into. Then they could stand in this bubble in the display and watch the trains go by.

They had a couple of train tables that we had to pry the kids away from to see other stuff.

Being firefighters.

Emmitt loves Curious George. In March when we were in Utah, we watched the movie and he loved it. We decided that Emmitt looks a little like him, and he certainly acts like him :)

Can you spot the stuffed chicken behind the fence of this display? Emmitt took it from a different play area and threw it in there.

They had this cool giant furniture.

Fishing.

There was the coolest bubble room! They are standing in the middle of a bubble column!

 Emmitt had just recently started having success at blowing bubbles. He is not used to using such a large bubble wand, and he couldn't get one bubble out.

Mila and Emmitt fighting over the lever that releases the cars down the race track.

Outside they had some really fun and free activities going on like this little train ride.

 We were doing this about nap time and poor Lincoln cried and cried until they stopped the train to let him off.

It was sort of random, but in the same area they had a bunch of pirates who were holding a pirate school for little kids. It would have been interesting to attend.

Even after all this fun stuff, there is more! To be continued...