the rings are her favorite!
she LOVES the runway bounce!!! She was hopping and bouncing all over the place!
Summersault!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
A Gymnast in the Family
Well as most of you know, Hailey has a lot of energy. Ryan and I talked about different ways to channel her energy into something productive, learning, and helpful. We decided on a tumbling or gymnastics class. There is a place in Ashburn, not far from us, called The Little Gym and they teach different tumbling and gymnastics skills to young kids. We went to a trial class at the beginning of September and she loved it so much I couldn't resist. She seriously fell in love with the place! Her face lit up and she just zoomed around the gym the entire time, loving every second of it! So I enrolled her in a year-long membership! And so far, it's been worth every penny! I love watching her face light up when I tell her we're going to the gym or when she sees the gym room, or when she accomplishes something they are teaching. It's been so wonderful so far!
A Day in DC
The day that Ryan's family left, his cousin came to visit for a few days. We took a day to show him around DC via rent-a-bike and metro! We got to leave Hailey with my mom for the day, which was so nice! We started off in Chinatown for some Fuddruckers lunch! yummm!
trying to be all "business" like
thats better!
our rent-a-bikes at the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Washington Monument
biking along the mall, past all the memorials
thought he was being sneaky doing a selfie on my phone.
on the metro home
yea- pretty much sums me up.
Hailey was so excited to see us when my mom picked us up from the metro station! hahahah
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Birthday Number 2
Well, regardless, it has been an incredible journey and I am so proud to be her mommy! In the past year I have watched her go from a wobbly walk to a bouncy run that makes her hair flow like a cape behind her. She has grown lots of teeth and lots of inches in height.
We decided to celebrate her birthday a little early this year while we had Ryan's family and my family all in one place! She was so excited to take out all the tissue paper from the bags! Hahah but of course, the best part was the chocolate lava cake she got all to herself! It was great to be able to celebrate with both sides of the family! That is a rare treat for us, since our families live on opposite ends of the country (poor planning on our part! haha).
(her new undies for potty training.. when i work up the courage to do so)
(Elmo book!!!)
(Elmo snack pack!! Love that this shot has both Grandpa's in it!)
trying on her new outfit! and showing off her squinky smile
Zoo And More!
On the last day that we had Ryan's family with us we went to the National Smithsonian Zoo in Washington D.C. It was SOOOO hot! But we had a great time and Hailey absolutely LOVED seeing all the animals and making their sounds.
After a very hot and sweaty couple of hours at the zoo we went to Old Town Alexandria and had lunch on the marina at the Chart House. It was fantastic (but we were all so hungry and hot that any food in an air conditioned room would have sufficed)! It was kind of a fancy place with white linen table clothes, and the crayons they gave Hailey added a nice pop of color to them! I was thoroughly embarrassed until the manager came out and gave her more crayons! Great lesson teach her there... ug. Anyway- Hailey was all over the lemon wedges. I think she ate all of them! Her expressions were priceless! And of course the COMPLIMENTARY bread was excellent as well. Please don't make the same mistake we did in asking for some of "that there free bread you got!" The word is COMPLIMENTARY! :D
Saying goodbye was hard. Our trip was so short- yet so full of fun! Hailey and I had to part ways with the rest of the group after lunch to go pick up Ryan's cousin, Marcus, at the train station while Ryan took his family to the airport. It's always so much fun getting together with them and can't wait to see them again!
love this sweet picture of Hailey and her Papa Ferons
The Fam Damily Reunion
Well, here I am again a few months later trying to play catch up! We had the honor of Ryan's family coming out for a few days to visit back in August. We have really missed them since moving out here to VA. Unfortunately we weren't able to rope them all in, but we sure enjoyed the ones that came!
Ryan's father's father (Grandpa Ferons) lives up in Pittsburgh, PA and has been planning a little family reunion up there since January! And being so close and being all about "family unity"- I automatically signed us up for the occasion! I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I do feel that a little bit of back story is required...
Grandpa Ferons has had a hard life, and by hard... I mostly mean hard liquor. The family likes to refer to him as "pickled". We're not sure how he has made it this long with his... "condition". The first thing he ever said to me was at my wedding and he asked me if I had any vodka on me, because he couldn't find the alcohol. But we love him anyway! :)
So Ryan's parents and his sister Elyse, and brother Kyle, all flew out to spend some time with us and to see our new home. And we took a few days to go up and spend it with Grandpa Ferons' too. Like I said before, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
Grandpa Ferons spends his summers at the R.O.C. (Royal Outing Club) Summer Camp. It's a family "resort"/getaway. When I think of "royal" or "resort", I think up-to-date plumbing, clean living spaces, relaxing, etc. Well, Ryan pushed all of those fantasies out of my head and tried to prep me for what lay ahead. When we drove into camp, I saw four cinder block buildings: 1 for men's lodging, 1 for women's lodging, 1 mess hall/cafeteria, and 1 "beer garden". Grandpa Ferons greeted us with a beer in hand and a, "What the hell is your name, again??" and showed us around the camp.
The whole camp is lined on one side with a small river, which they call a "crick". The other side of the camp is lined with the two bunk houses and mess hall. The entrance is a parking lot of dirt and gravel, and on the other end is a pool/pool house and a huge field. The men's bunk house smelled an awful lot like B.O. and dirt mixed with must, mildew and more B.O. The women's bunk house smelled much better, but was still fairly dirty. The cinder block bunk buildings reminded me of a jail cells or military bunk houses. The windows were high up and propped open with sticks (allowing any number of insects to come in and feast on the slumber of innocent women and children) but too high to escape from if in danger. The cots and bunks lined each side of the building, leaving a wide pathway down the middle for suitcases and hanging laundry. The beds were only a foot or less apart.
The mess hall was fairly clean and lined with food, whether it was fresh or stale, I tried not to think about. But the meals were still good each night! So I had nothing to complain about :) The beer garden... was basically an outdoor bar, with a roof and complete with brick fireplace, pool table, games, and snacks.
We spent lots of time running around the little play ground in the middle with Hailey, shooting off fireworks in the big field, and playing games and roasting s'mores in the beer garden. We even found a rope swing up river for jumping in and floating down.
One of my favorite, yet regrettable incidents was with Elyse on the merri-go-round. Has anyone else ever experience the first-hand dangers of those pieces of "children's" equipment? What idiot thought of those for children's playgrounds, anyway??? They are more for adults, and only under supervision and under no circumstances should you be under the influence... not even peer influence. Well, Elyse was pushing it around and around then tried to hop on... it didn't end so well. but when we could finally breath enough to be sure she was okay- we laughed some more ;) it was pretty funny.
One of the nights we were there, after some drinks, Grandpa Ferons went to take a "leak" behind the beer garden and got in a fight with a tree. The tree won. He split his head wide open and spent the next two days bleeding like a leaky hose from his forehead and refusing treatment. We were all very concerned... especially since he looked pretty scary wearing the same pants the whole time, blood stained and all!
For the most part, we really did have a great time! It was great to get together with extended family members and all endure this camp together :) We spent lots of time swimming, jumping in rivers, talking, telling stories, and playing card games.
Hailey even thoroughly enjoyed herself! Especially the night she kept us up until 5am... yea that was great. But at least she was happy about it. :)
She did NOT want to hold the frog- but was very adamant that it sit in her lap!
my handsome husband in his natural habitat
Ryan's father's father (Grandpa Ferons) lives up in Pittsburgh, PA and has been planning a little family reunion up there since January! And being so close and being all about "family unity"- I automatically signed us up for the occasion! I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I do feel that a little bit of back story is required...
Grandpa Ferons has had a hard life, and by hard... I mostly mean hard liquor. The family likes to refer to him as "pickled". We're not sure how he has made it this long with his... "condition". The first thing he ever said to me was at my wedding and he asked me if I had any vodka on me, because he couldn't find the alcohol. But we love him anyway! :)
So Ryan's parents and his sister Elyse, and brother Kyle, all flew out to spend some time with us and to see our new home. And we took a few days to go up and spend it with Grandpa Ferons' too. Like I said before, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
Grandpa Ferons spends his summers at the R.O.C. (Royal Outing Club) Summer Camp. It's a family "resort"/getaway. When I think of "royal" or "resort", I think up-to-date plumbing, clean living spaces, relaxing, etc. Well, Ryan pushed all of those fantasies out of my head and tried to prep me for what lay ahead. When we drove into camp, I saw four cinder block buildings: 1 for men's lodging, 1 for women's lodging, 1 mess hall/cafeteria, and 1 "beer garden". Grandpa Ferons greeted us with a beer in hand and a, "What the hell is your name, again??" and showed us around the camp.
The whole camp is lined on one side with a small river, which they call a "crick". The other side of the camp is lined with the two bunk houses and mess hall. The entrance is a parking lot of dirt and gravel, and on the other end is a pool/pool house and a huge field. The men's bunk house smelled an awful lot like B.O. and dirt mixed with must, mildew and more B.O. The women's bunk house smelled much better, but was still fairly dirty. The cinder block bunk buildings reminded me of a jail cells or military bunk houses. The windows were high up and propped open with sticks (allowing any number of insects to come in and feast on the slumber of innocent women and children) but too high to escape from if in danger. The cots and bunks lined each side of the building, leaving a wide pathway down the middle for suitcases and hanging laundry. The beds were only a foot or less apart.
The mess hall was fairly clean and lined with food, whether it was fresh or stale, I tried not to think about. But the meals were still good each night! So I had nothing to complain about :) The beer garden... was basically an outdoor bar, with a roof and complete with brick fireplace, pool table, games, and snacks.
We spent lots of time running around the little play ground in the middle with Hailey, shooting off fireworks in the big field, and playing games and roasting s'mores in the beer garden. We even found a rope swing up river for jumping in and floating down.
One of my favorite, yet regrettable incidents was with Elyse on the merri-go-round. Has anyone else ever experience the first-hand dangers of those pieces of "children's" equipment? What idiot thought of those for children's playgrounds, anyway??? They are more for adults, and only under supervision and under no circumstances should you be under the influence... not even peer influence. Well, Elyse was pushing it around and around then tried to hop on... it didn't end so well. but when we could finally breath enough to be sure she was okay- we laughed some more ;) it was pretty funny.
One of the nights we were there, after some drinks, Grandpa Ferons went to take a "leak" behind the beer garden and got in a fight with a tree. The tree won. He split his head wide open and spent the next two days bleeding like a leaky hose from his forehead and refusing treatment. We were all very concerned... especially since he looked pretty scary wearing the same pants the whole time, blood stained and all!
For the most part, we really did have a great time! It was great to get together with extended family members and all endure this camp together :) We spent lots of time swimming, jumping in rivers, talking, telling stories, and playing card games.
poor butterfly had broken wings when we found it :(
"floating" down the "crick"
My excellent form in rope jumping... I don't want to toot my own horn or anything- but I do believe I hold the farthest jump... just saying :)
Ryan's not too bad himself ;)
Hailey even thoroughly enjoyed herself! Especially the night she kept us up until 5am... yea that was great. But at least she was happy about it. :)
not sure what is going on here.. probably a song of some sort, or a really animated story telling!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)