Sunday, July 13, 2014

vacation roundup part two: new york + maryland 2014

i have a bunch more pictures that i wanted to include even though we didn't do a lot more things.  i'm always amazed how jam-packed my days can feel when i'm taking care of kids even though i don't actually accomplish that much and the same was said for our days visiting family.  my dad and charlie were only in town until the sunday after the fourth and the kids and i stayed until the next friday.  we took them to cabin john park, which is right by my parents house.  it's such an amazing place for kids and always makes me wish we had a great park like that by us.  the playgrounds are amazing and the train is, of course, a huge attraction for avery each year.  i saw a few friends, and we visited my aunt's house were avery rode her first pony.  i was way more excited than she was about this but i was just excited that she actually got on this time.  we spent a lot of time at home, no complaints here, those are always some of my favorite moments and they seem especially nice since they're some of the most peaceful moments of the day.  


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ellie's first time in a swing!

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grandma made her a frog and toad and bought her the books to go along with them and avery insisted on sleeping with them.

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i have an almost identical picture to this from 4 years ago.  i'll have to dig it up.

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this little lady really liked her grandpa marcus.  he even taught her how to stick out her tongue.

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getting ready for the train ride at cabin john.

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charlie was psyched. 

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my mom dug out a few dolls and avery pushed them up and down the driveway approximately a million times. 

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hopscotch fail.

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this little lady was happy enough to watch all of the sidewalk chalk, baby doll playing, and wagon trips up and down the driveway. 

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my mom made some amazing food as usual.  i'm still at shock that i actually have to meal plan and grocery shop again.  i really enjoyed a two week break from all of that. 

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all the babies!  we made a trip to southern maryland to see one of my best friends from college.  i cannot believe we have four kids between us.  it was so nice to spend the day together, especially because we parent pretty similarly and it is always somewhat a relief to be around someone who parents the same way as you do.  bonus points if they don't mind that your toddler runs around naked.  

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a sleeping baby.  adorable.

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this picture looks cute but really they were not into sharing with each other.  two year olds don't believe in sharing.

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and more babies! this little dude is three months younger than ellie and managed to survive her smacking him repeatedly on the head.

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as much as it was nice to see everyone we are really happy to me home.  the kids never sleep all that well when we're traveling.  they always seem to not adjust to the time change at night and yet adjust pretty quickly in the morning, which means they basically lose 2 hours of sleep a day from waking up so darn early.  i can't complain too much because avery slept in my mom's room while we were in town so she had to deal with her early morning shenanigans, while ellie and i got some extra sleep.  we all shared a room in ny and avery was pretty horrible about actually going to sleep.  odd because at home she puts herself to sleep just fine.  i was a little worried that when we got back home she would be asking for 'snuggles and hand holding' but as soon as we got back she went back to her usual ways, thank goodness.  although she is waking up really early, at least she's going to bed before 9 pm.  


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