Camping Fun! - Day 1

We finished off Jonathan's vacation week by camping for two nights at Myles Standish State Forest. This was pretty much two years after our first camping trip.

Check in wasn't until 1:00 on Thursday, so we took things easy getting ready. We only encountered a little traffic on the way. I was relieved when we made it to the park entrance, but didn't realize it'd be another 6 miles to check in. A long while and lots of Lily crying later, we made it to our site and set up camp.

Jonathan set up a fire and we had your typical camp dinner of hot dogs and s'mores.

The sun began to set and we could tell the girls were tired. Lily easily went down at 8:00. The older two took a little longer. Sarah eventually woke Lily up, just as I was close to falling asleep, and that began our long night.

Jonathan was able to get Lily back to sleep while I took care of Sarah. I could hear Sarah's breathing and knew she had conked out. Ahhh, what a beautiful crisp evening filled with a hum of crickets and other creatures. But then I heard Lily again around 11:30 or so. Jonathan attempted to lull her back to sleep. I attempted to feed her. She proceeded to break quiet hour rules. Finally I told Jonathan I'd try and feed her in the van and put her back to sleep. She ate fine and fell asleep. So there we were, reclined in the passenger seat "sleeping". We lasted from about midnight to 3:00. I was getting cold and so decided to try the tent again. She went down fine in the pack n play. Then I hear the shuffling of little feet and hear Abigail telling me she didn't like her sleeping bag anymore. She crawled in with me and then complained about the lack of room. Eventually she decided her sleeping bag wasn't so bad after all. Lily woke up again. Jonathan gave it a shot to no avail. I fed her again. She fought sleep and broke quiet hour rules again. And so on.

I really wanted that sun to come up. This was turning into a long night. So, you may wonder, how does a sleepless Mommy pass the time? What a silly question. She writes a limerick, of course!

There once was a girl named Lily

Who must have thought camping was silly

Cause when she got there

Her "sleep log" was bare

And it wasn't because she was chilly

Here's a post bad night of sleep picture of Lily for your enjoyment:

Nine Months!

Lily is 3/4 of a year old now. She is looking less and less like a little baby.

She is scooting around like crazy and now occasionally crawls on her knees a bit. She easily transitions from sitting to scooting and back to sitting again. And now she's decided to start climbing! Needless to say, she is into everything.

Lily had her first ear infection last week. Let me tell you, it is not easy giving her medicine. She is also sporting two bottom teeth. I'm hoping these are what is causing her interrupted sleep at night.

So that's our little Lily update. More to come in a month!

Vacation Kick-Off

Jonathan is on vacation this week. We hope to do a lot of fun things but also relax (if the girls will allow it ;-). We started vacation off right with an outdoor concert. My Dad's bluegrass band, Ask Me Later, played in North Andover's summer concert on the common series for the second year in a row. The girls had a blast last year, so I expected the same this year.

The weather was perfect, not too warm and with a nice breeze. The older girls spent most of the concert running around with Bridget and dancing. Auntie Laura taught them how to play London Bridges and also did a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie. Lily spent most of the concert wiggling and scooting around looking for a prime piece of grass to eat.

Once again we had a great time and wouldn't mind more "gigs" like this outdoor one. This was a great kick-off to Jonathan's week-long vacation.

Photo Fridays 08.10.12

Date Night?

What is Date Night you may ask? Well, for me and Jonathan it typically means dessert and a movie on Netflix (and, oftentimes, I end up falling asleep during the movie). When you have three little ones it's hard to get out much. And for me, it's hard to stay awake!

Jonathan surprised me with a date night out last Thursday. He made arrangements with our friends Jennifer and YiFeng to stay at our place while the girls slept. I had a feeling something was going on when Jonathan asked me if I had any milk stored for Lily and if we were going to have any leftovers from dinner (for Jennifer and YiFeng).

Jonathan whisked me away to Boston where we had a nice walk along The Boston Harborwalk. We then went to get ice cream, but not until a quick trip to the ATM because the shop only took cash. We ate our ice cream by one of the fountains on Atlantic Avenue.

I think it is so critical to spend at least one evening a week with Jonathan for "date night". If we don't set aside time once a week to invest in our marriage we will easily become distracted with our girls, our work, our to-do lists, etc. Thank you Jennifer and YiFeng for making last week a special one where we could get away for a few hours!

Family Reunion

We went to a family reunion of sorts at my Aunt's house last Saturday. It was a great chance to see family we haven't seen in a while.

The girls started and ended our visit with fun in the pool. I decided to hang out with Lily and then Bridget in the ball pit.

 

 

 

 

The skies opened up, but not until everyone had lunch raffle prizes were handed out for a fundraiser. We spent a lot of time in the garage, where the kids took turns at breaking a pinata. Abigail loved swinging at it. Sarah went for her turn and ran out of the way crying-I don't think she liked having so much attention on her.

 

 

 

 

It got to the point where it was a tad too early to leave, but if we waited longer the girls would maybe fall asleep for an easy transfer to bed (we had about an hour drive). The girls didn't mind at all, they had fun quietly playing with a Dora playset and then not quietly crashing into it with their cousin's car (they learned a new game called "Bam!").

We had a blast. It is always a good time when you gather family together. It gets even better when they bring their guitars and singing voices along too.

Vacation Bible School

Last week was Abigail's second Vacation Bible School (VBS) experience. We went back to Immanuel Church because we had such a great experience last year.

Here are the girls ready for their first day at VBS.

This VBS was for three year olds and older, so Sarah missed out again, but she still had a blast. While Abigail was learning songs, making crafts, and learning about God's word I was doing the same (minus the songs) in the Mom's Cafe. I loved being able to stick around while Abigail was in VBS. Lily came with me and wasn't too much of a distraction. During VBS/Mom's Cafe Sarah played with a few new friends in the nursery. I'm really looking forward to next year when she gets to experience VBS for the first time.

Last Thursday night was an evening of song and celebration for everything the kids learned during the week. Of course Abigail loved getting to be on stage for a bit. Once her turn was over she didn't stop singing and dancing along (and Sarah loved joining in too). Here's a video of different snipits from the night.