Vacation to Deep Creek Lake, MD!

About two weeks ago, we got back from our second summer vacation. We stayed in a lake house in Deep Creek Lake, MD. It was a privately owned house with a private pool and hot tub, but was in a community, so it had some nice amenities like free par-3 golf, free mini golf with your own putter, and a catch and release pond. We went in the middle of August but the weather was very chilly the week we were there. The highest it got was 78 and that was only one day. Most of the days were in the 60s. Brrrr! I actually only got in the pool one time the entire week!

 

We went on vacation with Seth's parents, and both brothers and their families. There were ten kids under eight-years-old, for a total of 18 people! The house was perfect, though. There were six bedrooms, and we seemed to have plenty of space. Carter slept on the floor of our room on an air mattress and Addison slept in the closet. Ha!  



 

The house - called Midnight Dip

 

 

The gorgeous living room, viewed from the loft up above (which served as the main post for the kids in the nerf gun wars!) :)

 

 

On a hike to explore the trail behind the house. We stopped for a quick photo op.

 

 

There was a nice fire pit out back, so we definitely had to make s'mores!!

 

 

Oma celebrated her birthday while we were there. I made chocolate cake with peanut butter icing!

 

This day (I think), we went to the movies. Seth stayed back with Addison but I took Carter to his first movie. We saw Planes. It was pretty good and he did really well sitting still!

 

 

 

We also took a day to go to Swallow Falls State Park to do some hiking. It was super pretty but it passed some INTENSE rapids which had us all watching the kids like hawks. It had rained a lot recently so the falls and rapids were much more intense than normal.

 

 

 

Carter was Opa's boy on the hike.

 

That afternoon, we did family pictures. Oma purchased shirts for each of the grandkids that had their name and age on it. It was a cool way to show the diversity in the grandkids (though there sure are a lot of threes!) :)

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty much the only photo of the grandkids with Oma and Opa that was useable. With that many kids, someone was always unhappy. There came a point where it almost became humorous (or maybe because if you didn't laugh, you'd cry?? Hmm.).

 

 

 

This would be the view from the ice cream shop. Insane, right? There was a delicious creamery just a few miles away, so we had to try it!

 

 

We also did a pontoon boat tour. I've got to be honest--this one had me worried. My kids HATE life jackets. Carter did okay with the life jacket but does get motion sick so I was watching him out of the corner of my eye the entire time. I kept him distracted as much as I could. Addison wasn't a fan of the life jacket, as I suspected. We pretty much kept her hands full with a snack at all times so she wasn't attempting to rip it off.

 

 

 

 

On one of the last days, we checked out the Deep Creek Lake State Park discovery center. There were life animals (like turtles and stuff) and a class about aquatic life in the lake.

 

 

This is Carter looking in the aquascope at what's in the lake. He didn't see much, I'm told. :)

 

 

On Saturday, there was a local airplane, antique car, and EMS vehicle fair at a local county airport. We took the kids to it and they enjoyed going from plane to plane checking things out.

 

Oh! And one of the days, we went on a mountain coaster. Basically, it's a single or double rider coaster that goes all the way to the top of the mountain and then you come down on tracks just like a coaster. You can brake if you want or fully accelerate. Carter rode with me and Seth rode alone. We all did the "full acceleration" method and it was a BLAST! Carter loved it. I don't have any pictures except one cell phone picture because cameras and phones had to stay secured during the ride.

 

We had such a great time on the trip. We actually did get to relax a decent amount, too, which I wasn't so sure would happen. Seth got to play golf with Matt a few times, fish with Carter, we played games, went out for dinner, found a dynamite coffee shop, went shopping, and more!

Life Lately.

I wish I had time to blog more, but life has been hectic. I have another entire vacation to blog about, plus who knows what else in between?!

I thought I'd do some "life updates" about what's up with us. I love looking back on these things down the road and remembering what life was like day-to-day and what our kids were doing.

1. Carter is growing up so insanely fast. He literally talks your ear off and goes from sun (son? ha) up to sun down, with a two-hour nap in between (thank you, Jesus!). He is losing so much of that cute baby-talk, which is good and bad at the same time. What was once "lellow" is now yellow, "ket-ku" is now clearly ketchup, and so on. BUT, one thing remains: chocolate chips are STILL "rocklate chips" and popsicles are still "pop-ick-els." The movie "Madagascar" is pronounced "out-of-gas-car" to little man. Precious. Oh, and he still calls anything stringy "ties." (think: hair, melted cheese, pulled pork, ribbons, etc.) He FREAKS if he gets a tie--in any of its definitions--in his mouth.

2. Addison is a teething monster. I mean that in the nicest sense of the word, but she is craaanky between 5 p.m. and generally 7:00 p.m. and has been crying out during the night and waking up freakishly early again. PRAYING those bad-boys come in soon or mommy and daddy might lose their ever-loving minds! (Sidenote: I'm pretty sure God makes babies so stinking cute between 12-18 months because they are terrors. Just sayin') :)

3. Seth is back to school so the insanity of every weekday morning has begun. But, he did quit his part-time job so we have FAMILY TIME AGAIN. It makes me incredibly happy.

4. I am majorly itching to re-do our kitchen and have gone on a full-fledge research mission to find something that is both cost-effective and nicer than what it is now (i.e. not super...sort of 1990s countertops). I will find a solution!!!!

5. It was four years ago this week that we found out we were pregnant with Carter. So crazy!

Family Vacation Re-Cap!

Well, we've been back from vacation for about two weeks and I am finally getting time to sit down and blog about it!

We spent a week in Massanutten, VA with my family. We had two separate condos (it was to be just one but a week or two before, my mom and dad booked a second one for them. For peace or space?? :) Anyway, the kids and the families stayed in the other...). 



The golf course right across from our condo. The guys golfed a lot that week, and I'm sure enjoyed a few breaks from the chaos!

While we were out for a walk, we saw the guys. The kids were all very excited to grab a quick ride on the golf carts!

There were tons of activities at the resort and we did many of them, but not NEARLY all. At nights, we mini golfed, went for ice cream, out for dinner a few nights, go-karting, and more.

We also went to Luray Caverns one day. We did the tour, had lunch, and checked out the museum and toy shop.

The resort has an awesome waterpark, which we hit up one day. I wasn't sure if Carter would love it or not, but he had SO MUCH FUN. He absolutely loved all the crazy slides and shocked me big time. He did everything he was allowed to do and was exhausted beyond measure when the day was over. Addison did okay, but wasn't able to do much (nor interested in much). We did a lot of holding her. After lunch, Seth took her back to nap and I stayed with Carter. Jason played with the boys which gave me sister, Ashley, dad, and I an opportunity to do some of the no-kids-allowed slides which were so much fun! Then, I took Carter back for a nap and Seth came back to hang with everyone. It worked out well for us. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures since I didn't want to risk my camera getting wet!

They had a lot of fun at the petting zoo!

Carter and Seth made tie-dyed shirts. He was so excited and it was cute to watch him make it!

We also went zip-lining, which was fun and...scary.

All in all, we did a lot of swimming, going for walks, golfing (for the guys), and exploring. We had a great time and actually got to relax a bit (a few times while the kids were napping, I even got to READ on the deck, take a nap, and go to the pool. Glorious!). Thanks, mom and dad!

That time I went zip lining...

So, I went zip-lining on vacation.

(I'll pause for a second for you to laugh.)

Now, I'll tell you what happened so you can laugh again. My parents have the pictures on their camera because I obviously could not take any, so for now this post will remain photo-less.

It's for the better, if you ask me.

My sister, Jason, Bradley, Ashley (his fiance), and Seth were planning to go zip-lining on vacation. I wasn't really planning to go but they sort of twisted my arm into doing it. I do like adventurous stuff and while flying through the tree tops at insane speeds while strapped to a wire doesn't exactly sound like a blast in my book, I decided to give it a try.

We opted for the canopy tour which was 4 or 5 zip lines as well as various ropes courses and whatnot.

Everything went pretty smoothly to start out. The small "practice run" wasn't big and allowed me to practice manually braking myself as a hurled through the air. (Sidenote: I learned on the very first line that I am an AWFUL braker. Like....awful. I pretty much slammed into the platform on the other side and prayed I didn't knock myself out. I mean, seriously, who can stop themselves with a gloved hand by just "gradually gliding your hand on the wire" BEHIND YOUR HEAD???).

I made it just fine through the first two zip lines, and even the third (which was my favorite, because you could act like a fool on the line AND there was no need for braking at all--WOO HOO).

But then. Zip line 4. A long one. The instructor said to give the person some "words of encouragement" (i.e. a PUSH!) and off they'll go.

Guess who was first to go? Mmm hmm.

Guess whose husband pushed them violently fast off the sending platform? Mmm hmm.

Guess who approached the landing platform BACKWARD? You guessed it.

Well, I hit the platform on my feet but so fast that I slammed into it and then BOUNCED OFF and started going the wrong way on the line. The guide was yelling "grab the line! grab the line!" which, when panicking, is not feasible. I tried grabbing the line, but my upper body strength is null, so I KID YOU NOT, I went all the way back to the very center of the line and stopped. Awesome.

I remembered them saying in orientation that if you aren't near the platform you'd have to manually "walk" your hands end-over-end until you got to a platform, but there's no way that was happening since I was probably 150 feet from either platform.

And? I HAD TO BE RESCUED. They had to call for back-up and I sat up there, dangling from nylon for like 15 minutes. I tried not to panic because they said the gear can hold 10,000 pounds safely. They ended up stringing a rescue rope over to me and pulling me in, but the ego was long bruised (and seriously, SO ARE MY INNER THIGHS. OUCH!).

When I got in to the platform, they told me that was the first time they ever had to use the rescue rope and I was mortified. Then he said "nah, just kidding. I used it twice already today." Phew.

Long story short, I survived, but the last 450 foot zip line had me absolutely panicked because of what just happened. I almost fell off that landing platform as well, but the good guide grabbed my foot and saved me from a repeat experience.

Fun? Sure.

Ever do it again? Not so much. :)

EDIT: I just went to youtube and searched "zip line rescue" and a TON of videos of rescues came up. Must be common. :)

A few random things.

My brain is fried. Though I--for obvious reasons--did not announce it publicly, Seth was in Chicago this past week. And my kids were not the kindest to me. :)

So, here are a few random things from this week.

1. We were at a wedding reception on Saturday (they got married in HI but then had a reception back here in PA) when Carter told me to "shut up." Um? WHAT DID YOU SAY, little boy? I promptly picked him up and removed him to the outside of the reception place to have a little discussion. I told him that we do not EVER say those words to mommy or anyone and asked him if he thought Jesus appreciated him talking to his mommy like that.

I KID YOU NOT, he looked at me, rolled his eyes and said "Praise father and holy ghost" and started to walk back inside.

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED??? For starters, he's obviously referencing a line from the doxology, which he knows well. But did my three-year-old really just say that to me?!?

He obviously got scolded again for the disrespect, but that ranks up there in the list of times I've had to hold myself from laughing while disciplining because seriously?? Where does he come up with this stuff?!?

2. Addison has a double ear infection (it has been 8 weeks since the last one, after all), which explains her MISERY for much of the time Seth was gone. I couldn't possibly leave the room without her freaking out and don't even THINK of even turning your back to stir dinner on the stove, lady. Holy cow, the screaming. I can still hear it days later. And Carter and Addison are playing so poorly together lately (lack of sharing much?) so it most certainly escalated all minor "anthills" into "mountains." I'm so old to say that.

At one point while Seth was gone, I declared that if someone offered me my full-time salary to be a stay-at-home-mom, I would say thank you, but no thank you. It's for some and not for all. I'm a better mom for working.

3. I need a date night. Of the overnight variety. (see #2).

4. Addison went from "sort of" walking to practically running. And I sort of love it. Sure, it means we'll never sit down again, but she's 25 pounds, so that part is nice. Plus, I've never seen anything cuter than chubby baby legs in brand new sneakers, booking it down the hallway, while accompanied by squealing laughter. I dare you to find something cuter.

5. We leave for vacation this weekend. Our neighbor is house and dog-sitting for us and we are excited to get away and maybe enjoy SOME relaxation. Please, kids? :) 

Have a great week!

Fourth of July

We had an excellent fourth of July. I can honestly say that it is the first time in awhile that we had an almost 100% stress-free day, so that's a bonus.

 

Before we headed to my parents for a picnic, I had to snap a photo of these two love bugs in their red, white, and blue!

 

We went fishing before our picnic lunch, and it was so cute to see Carter fishing with his daddy for the first time (and using his new fishing pole from his birthday). Unfortunately, we only caught two small fish and Carter's attention span was less than stellar for the whole fishing thing. :) We told him we'd come back after dinner to try again and headed to my parent's for the picnic!

We spent lots of time swimming (BONUS: Addison took an awesome nap after lunch, allowing mommy some relaxing time by the pool) and generally relaxing. Then, as promised, we told the kids we'd try fishing again. We ordered take-out from a local restaurant and headed back to the pond at dusk.

 

Kenna holding one of her daddy's catches.

 

Seth caught a large-mouth bass, and so did I. My photo will not be posted since my darling husband was attempting to touch me with it during the picture. :)

 

We left with cute, jammied kids around 8:30 p.m. We had chatted about stopping to see the fireworks in Harrisburg on the way home, but as we were a few miles away, we could see that they started them almost 30 minutes early. I was so mad!! BUT...it ended up working out perfectly. We got off an exit on the other side of the river (where the masses usually are), and pulled off along the road and opened the windows of the car. Carter got to watch them, and we got to stay in the comfort of our air-conditioned car. As the grand finale began, we began to slowly drive again, and we LITERALLY hit the highway ramp as the last boom went off. It was absolutely perfect timing, and I was giddy that Carter got to see fireworks and was so excited about it.

Such a fun day! :)

A Camping Trip!

I'm back! Life has been busy, with near-constant activities going on all summer! Last weekend, we went camping with Michael, Sarah, and Ethan. We almost always camp with them, and it's definitely a tradition. Last year, we went when I was super pregnant and Carter was two.

 

I would not advise that.

 

BUT, this year, Carter was a much more manageable three years old (seriously, so. much. better.), and I am most definitely NOT pregnant, so it was perfect. My parents kept Addison so we could enjoy ourselves without a one year old.

 

Let me preface the pictures by saying that I forgot my camera (I! forgot! my! camera!) so these are all from my phone. Thank goodness I at least had that!

 



 

When we got there, we were able to set up without rain, though the humidity was UNREAL. However, pretty much right after we got all set up, the sky let loose. I'm talking torrential downpours. Michael and Sarah hadn't arrived yet, so we hadn't done dinner. Uh-oh! We plan all our meals to require a fire, so I knew things could get interesting. Fortunately, just that morning, Seth's part-time job boss gave him a mini propane camping stove, and it was perfect to make hot dogs and corn on the cob. We also have a canopy that we put over the picnic table, so we stayed relatively dry! :)

 

When the rain stopped, we immediately got the fire going!

 

 

Here is our cabin tent. :) We bought it last year and I seriously LOVE IT. It has so much room. We had a queen size air mattress, Carter's toddler bed mattress, all our bags, and still tons of room leftover (to the right of his bed below is probably 8 feet of tent yet!)

 

At 9:30 p.m., Carter calmly walked up to me by the fire and whispered that he was ready for bed. Um?? AWESOME. He went to sleep right away, and slept straight through.

 

 

He still got up early (5:50 a.m., to be frank), but we had electricity at our site and I brought his mini DVD player, so he just watched Cars until a more reasonable hour, thus giving mommy and daddy some more snooze time. :)

 

 

 

 

Carter and his bud, Ethan.

 

 

On a walk!

 

 

After lunch, the boys were definitely in need of a nap, but we weren't sure how it would work out. Carter fussed that he wasn't tired and didn't need a nap. I kid you not, he fell asleep like this within five minutes. TOPS. He slept for two hours (and so did I--it was glorious!).

 

 

 
Carter finally got to use his new fishing pole from his birthday, too! We didn't catch anything, but we could literally see fish alllll around the bait. They must not have been very hungry!

The campground also had a pool, so we did some swimming. Needless to say, we stayed busy with two toddlers. :)

After dinner, we headed to Cabela's for a change of scenery. The boys loved the aquarium, and all the animals they saw in the store. I think what they really wanted was the treat we promised them afterward!

 

 

Ice cream time!! :)

 

Same thing Saturday night as well...around 9:15 p.m., he politely asked to go to bed, and slept like a log til 6:30 a.m. on Sunday. I found him like this at about 6 a.m., still out cold. SO cute.

 

We had so much fun and despite the awful forecast, we really only had one bout of rain. It was gorgeous all day Saturday. Can't wait for our next adventure!!