In honor of the hard work that our predecessors did to earn us this holiday, we are doing NOTHING.
Seriously.
Nothing.
As in we all missed breakfast and it's 3pm before it occurred to any of us to leave the house.
We picked up, did laundry, had a light lunch and are now watching "The Tale of Peter Rabbit".
It's wonderful.
Nate had a rough morning. He's waaaay over tired.
We got him down to sleep reading
"The Long Winter". He has become quite the Laura Ingalls fan and requests "a chapter of Laura" before going to sleep on most nights.
Sam has been super grumpy. I don't know how to instill a sense of gratitude in him. Everything is a comparison. It's a long, hard life to live in constant competition with others. He thinks differently than most people, which is a blessing. We need to get him to be able to use that to his advantage rather than expressing himself in sullenness and anti-social behavior.
Little kids, little problems. I know.
We'll figure it out.
I *did * head out to Pier 1 for some new throw pillows. We usually prefer plain decor, but we found we really appreciate throw pillows on our bed. They tie the room together. Unfortunately, after 3 years, the pillows have had it. I had forgotten how much nice pillows cost.
Yikes.
I have my new project for sitting in the car.
There is NO WAY we're spending $40 on a pillow I could make in an afternoon for $8 worth of fabric.
We have had our fair share of adventures the past few days, though.
The other day on our hike at Cactoctin Mountain National Park, Nate picked up what he said was a "shark tooth". I didn't think much of it. He's constantly picking up special rocks and putting them in his packets. But when we got it home, I saw the "shark tooth" was different. It did look like a shark tooth. While the top was smooth, the edges looked like they had been broken and the stone fit nicely in an adult hand.
So we called the park and took it back to the Park Rangers to take a look at.
The ranger, who was trained as an archaeologist, said that it was just river rock that happened to be shaped as a tool would. She explained to the kids the importance of leaving their finds IN THE PARK and in context. She showed the kids how to make an arrowhead and what the Native Americans used as tools and how they made fires.
We all probably learned more than if we had found something legit.
Even more proof that our National Parks Pass is worth its weight in gold. :)
Friday night we went to the Frederick Keys game.
It was Keys night for both church and Jim's work.
We got there right before first pitch and sat ourselves down in the first seats we could find near to people we knew.
Unbeknownst to us, it was right tin the middle of the Family Section.
We just knew there were 6 seats together. That was all we cared about.
Apparently, there were people standing in front of the multiple signs that said NO BEER, blocking our view of them.
So, as I was enjoying my beer, holding onto Benjamin and teaching Caroline how to keep score, a short, pugnacious security officer approaches me and yells, "Ma'am! Get out of here - you can't have that beer here! Get out of this section!" It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking to me (obviously, he wasn't speaking to the men sitting right in front of me or behind me all who were happily sipping their beer). I got up and he escorted me out of the section.
WITH my beer, of course. I wasn't about to give that up.
The good news was that I got to enjoy my beer in another section without kids crawling all over me.
The better news was that everyone saw and got got a tremendous laugh.
Especially Jim's co-workers joking, "Dang. I saw how Jim got you that beer and threw you under the bus, huh?", the guy sitting behind me saying, "Wow. This is my third beer and the Security Dude has walked by me multiple times. I don't know why he went after you!" and the older gentleman sitting in front of me who was STILL drinking when I returned.
Oh well.
It was a good game and now we know where we can't drink beer. :)
Yesterday we went to the O's game.
It was Manny Machado jersey day.
While it would have been better to see Machado on the field, the jerseys are awesome.
Even Benjamin, who didn't have a ticket, got one.
Jim did a great job getting us tickets in the shade and once I resigned myself that there would be a child crawling on me constantly, it was fun.
I went inside with Benjamin to get a little cool air and was watching the game on tv. This three year old comes up to play with Benjamin and I gave him a high 5. At that moment, Ryan Flahery hit a home run for the O's. The little boy says to Benjamin, trying to have a conversation, "Wow. We need those runs. The Orioles bullpen has been struggling over the past few weeks."
I almost fell over laughing. It was adorable.
Here are the Fantastic Four with their new jerseys...
