Grandpa Kurk's Visit (Thanksgiving Week 2014)

We have had a lot of fun lately.  There were some things I really wanted to write about, like our family date night to dinner and a haunted house.  We also really enjoyed some other fun Fall activities, like our annual trip to Bowles Farm.  There was an amazing performance at the kids' school featuring Suna, the Artist in Residence from Uganda.   And, then there is the everyday stuff of watching Luke turn from a tiny baby into a bigger baby with a personality all his own.  But, I am giving up.  None of that is going to be memorialized in the blog.  I am starting fresh and writing about the most recent thing that happened--a visit from Grandpa Kurk.

He flew in late last Sunday.  The kids had their Fall Festival on Monday, so we sent them to school. Thomas had to work, so Kurk and I met him for lunch at Panera and then went grocery shopping (thrilling for Kurk, I'm sure).  It was a pretty calm, uneventful day.  Well, except my Dad was having heart surgery in Florida, which made me a bit anxious and nervous.  Fortunately, he is doing well. Tuesday, we kept the kids out of school and went to Washington's birth place, always a fun drive and outing. Wednesday, the kids were out of school, but Thomas had to work again.  I did some Thanksgiving cleaning and preparation and we went out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  Apparently Thanksgiving Eve is the one day of the year the place isn't packed.  Hopefully, we can remember that.

While at Panera, we discovered that Luke REALLY likes pickles.  He cried when it was time to go and we tried to take the pickle from him.

Thanksgiving Day was fun.  We got up early and Thomas and I worked in the kitchen.  As is our tradition, we watched the Macy's Parade (on a delay, because there are way too many commercials), but the kids weren't that interested this year.  They mostly played in the basement.  We had our friends and neighbors, the Hoopers, and Joey, my friend from work, over.  Joey came over last Thanksgiving and I am sorry that she will be moving next year and this was her last Thanksgiving with us. Thomas made his famous garlic smashed potatoes and a delicious pumpkin cake.  I did the turkey, stuffing, cranberry 'salad,' and an apple pie.  The Hoopers brought a ton of food and Joey brought cookies and a really delicious butternut squash dish.  We could have easily fed another 10 people. In fact, we are just now starting to run out of leftovers and we have had turkey for the past 6 out of 8 lunches/dinners.  Fortunately, Thanksgiving is Thomas' favorite holiday and neither of us are complaining.  The food was great and the company even better. Definitely, the recipe for a successful holiday.

Since the sales started Thanksgiving night, Thomas and I decided to go out after the kids were in bed. I needed a new coat and got one at J.C. Penney.  Then, we went to Target and didn't buy much of anything, but still managed to spend a ton of money.  We are exactly the suckers they are marketing to!  It was really nice to have Kurk to stay home with the kids, otherwise, it isn't possible for the two of us to just go out like that.  

Friday, we were going to go to St Mary's City, but it was just too cold.  We ended up buying a Christmas tree instead and decorating it.  It is so fun to go through all our ornaments and the memories attached to so many of them.  The kids each have their special ornaments that they like to put on the tree.  When we were done, Anna wanted us to hold hands and sing Christmas carols, so we did.  It was fun and a memory I will cherish.  The kids are just so sweet and find so much pleasure in simple things.  Luke made some good progress on crawling, mainly because he really wanted to get to the ornament boxes we kept (meanly) moving out of his path.

Luke searching for his first Christmas tree

With the finished product

Saturday, we (well, Thomas and Kurk) put up the outside lights.  We went out to dinner and then surprised the kids with a trip to Flat Iron Farms.  Kurk treated them to pony rides and we had a great time walking around the antique area and seeing the animals and lights.

Luke helping Daddy with the lights

Kara with the 1951 Ambulance

Today, Kurk had to fly home.  His flight didn't leave until 3:40 and it was at Reagan, so we decided to squeeze in a trip to Mount Vernon.  After we strapped Luke into his stroller, we called for the girls, who were playing in the grass in front of the car.  Kara ran into the parking lot and almost got hit by a car.  Naturally, we yelled at her to stop and then reminded her about being cautious in parking lots. Whenever she gets embarrassed, she covers it with a tantrum.  And, apparently, she was really embarrassed.  She refused to walk, so I carried her, crying, in front of all the tourists.  At one point, I told her that George Washington would be sad to see her acting this way, to which she loudly responded, "I don't care.  I don't care about George Washington... or the Revolutionary War."  This amused the  school group we were passing.  Unfortunately, their chuckles and stares only made Kara madder.  She refused to do the house tour.  Anna didn't want to go without her, so the girls sat outside while the boys, including Luke, saw the house. The positive was that I got some nice pictures of Anna.  Kara kept wandering away (but, not too far) and a security guard must have thought I was a neglectful mother, because he followed her and stayed within a few feet of her (she was mostly sitting on a bench, so I know he wasn't worried about her doing something she wasn't supposed to). For the record, I also kept a close eye on her, I just did it from a distance.  She was wearing a neon jacket and I made sure to always keep her in my line of vision.  Finally, her mood improved and we were able to enjoy walking the grounds.  Then, Thomas chose to race the kids and Kara ran right into him, causing her to fall on the ground.  Once again, there were a few smiles from strangers and she got embarrassed.  We were able to cajole her out of that potential tantrum with the promise of lunch, but it was a rough outing for our little Kare Bear.

One of my fun pictures of just Anna

And, here she is right on the center front steps

Another family shot with Kurk

The site of the racing injury.  It is amazing to see how much land surrounds Mount Vernon.

After that interesting visit, it was on to the airport and guess what we passed?  A Krispy Kreme!!  A dozen (well, minus a couple) of Christmas donuts are now sitting on our counter.

To pass the time on the drive home, we played the "guessing game," which is a common car game.  One person asks a question and declares a prize (a high five, a hug, the choice of what to watch during nightly television, etc.) and the others in the car have to guess.  Questions are usually very random, for example, "what color am I thinking of" or "who is my favorite friend at school," and it is a game the kids generally love.  The other favorite Wilson car activity (because we are mean and only let them watch a movie if the drive is more than 3 hours) is using Rhapsody and going around the car and letting each person choose a song to play.  We can count always count on Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, and Weird Al getting playtime. 

And, I am now all caught up on my blog!

Halloween 2014--Kori Edition

Your first question might be, why is the title of this blog "Kori Edition."  Well, because, I, Kori (obviously a fan of the comma) am writing it.  Now you might be thinking, well, duh, don't you always write the blog?  Why, yes, that is generally true.  But this time, Thomas and I are doing something fun.  We are both writing a Halloween entry, covering the exact same day.  We are going to offer our children (and anyone else who reads this) two perspectives on the same event.  Fun, right?  So, this is Kori's version.  We did some other fun Halloween stuff, like a family date night to Golden Corral (the kid's favorite restaurant) and a Haunted House.  Hopefully, I will remember to write about that in the future, because this blog covers only October 31st.  On to my version of events:

Last year at this time, we were on our Disney cruise.  This year, we got to hang around at home and enjoy trick-or-treating through our neighborhood.  Not exactly an even trade-off, but one the kids were happy to experience.

Halloween fell on a Friday, which I think is the best possible day.  The kids all had parties at school.  They were supposed to come dressed as their favorite book characters.  We found books that corresponded with their Halloween costumes.  I thought it was kind of a "wink/wink" sort of thing, that the school didn't really expect them to come as book characters and that it was just pretext to let the kids have some fun, which I certainly appreciate.  When we went to the character parade, I saw that we were in the majority, but there were actually a good number of kids who came as legitimate book characters--lots and lots of Harry Potters, for example.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Thomas' grandmother gave the twins a lion costume way back in 2007.  They wore it for some pictures, but were too small to trick-or-treat.  I can't remember why Kara didn't wear it in 2009, maybe I forgot we had it?  Regardless, I came across it when I was looking for clothes for Luke and I built a whole theme around it.  The older kids were excited--Jack was going to be a Scarecrow, Kara was going to be Dorothy and Anna was going to be Glinda.  I figured I could wear a wicked witch costume and Thomas could be the Tin Man. Alas, it was not meant to be; one by one, the children changed their minds and my vision of a coordinated Halloween has been forever vanquished (they are getting a bit too old, I figured this year was my last shot).

Jack decided to be a Revolutionary War soldier.  We found a great costume online and ordered it.  Well, we thought it was great, but a lot of people thought he was a pirate.  There is a picture of George Washington at his school wearing an extremely similar uniform, but I think his 6/7 year-old classmates are more familiar with pirates than 200+ year old uniforms.  Regardless, he was happy.  And, his costume was legitimately based on one of his current favorite books.  He said he was the only one in his class who chose nonfiction.

For the past couple of years, Anna and Kara have chosen their costumes by going to Target and browsing the shelves.  That is what they wanted again this year.  Kara chose a peacock costume and Anna chose a cute witch.  I really liked their choices.  For school, Kara used our book, "Three Peacocks and a Hen."  For Anna, we borrowed a book from a neighbor that featured witches, I don't even remember the title. 

I signed up to send in juice boxes for all their classes, but told their teachers to let me know if anything else was needed.  I ended up making cupcakes for Jack's class and sending carrots in for Kara. 

Everyone was very excited on Friday morning.  Even Luke.  Okay, not Luke.  The kids were out of bed early, dressed and ready to go.  It was fun bringing them to the bus stop and seeing all the fun costumes.

Before school photo

What a festive bus stop!

Thomas was off from work and we finished the cupcakes and then dropped the cupcakes off at school.  We had a peaceful morning and even went out to lunch.  After lunch, we headed to the school to see the character parade.  It is always interesting to see the kids with their friends.  Kara ran out of line to hug us, Jack waved enthusiastically for quite a while, and Anna, oh Anna, well, she refused to acknowledge us until right before they were going to go back inside, when she deigned to pose for a picture.  I have to admit that I worry that if this is 7, what is 15 going to be like?  Hopefully, she is just getting the snootiness out now!

Jack was fond of issuing this Revolutionary salute

Kara coming in for hugs

And, showing off her plumage

Anna and our neighbor Ryan, who incidentally loaned us her book

We were very anxious to hear about their day after school.  They were very anxious to tell us (even Anna, she is always happy to tell us about her day, which I appreciate).  They played outside with their friends until dinner. I had made crescent "mummy dogs," which were actually pretty good.  Finally, FINALLY (if you're the kids), it was time for the main event.  We decided that Thomas would take them down one street while I handed out treats and then we would switch.  Here's a little confession--I hate handing out treats.  I don't know why.  It just feels so awkward to me.  I don't mind when it's kids I know, but I just really don't like it when it is strangers.  But, I sucked it up.  Thomas had Halloween music playing, which was fun and I probably only had about 20 kids come in the 45 minutes or so they were gone. 

Yummy, mummy dogs

Ready to go!

Next year, we might just put up a sign with the candy and take the kids out together.  When it was my turn, we ended up walking with some of our neighbors (who are very sadly moving next week).  That was really fun for the kids.  They have an 11-year old daughter that Anna and Kara worship.  Thankfully, she is an awesome kid who is willing to play with her young neighbors.  We are going to be sooooo sad when they leave.  But, I digress.  The kids loved going door to door.  They were very polite--one neighbor told me that ours was the only group that had every child say both "trick-or-treat" and "thank-you."  So, I was proud of them. It was fun walking along in the dark.  This was our third year in this house, but the first year with the neighborhood complete, which was awesome.  My only disappointment was that the guy who handed out full-sized Hershey bars two years ago had his light off this year.  I can't say I blame him.

With one small street left to go, Jack had to use the bathroom, he ran home and then decided he had enough candy and he wanted to keep Thomas company.  It took us almost two hours to go to all 60 houses.  Luke was in the stroller and didn't make a peep the entire time (at least not when I was with him).  He fell asleep about 15-minutes before we finished, but I would call his first Halloween a success.  I hope his great-grandma was watching and saw that we finally put her costume to good use!

When we got home, as expected, the kids dumped out all their candy.  Thomas immediately removed all of Jack's nut-containing treats and the girls were happy to make trades.  We put them to bed shortly after 8 and turned off our light.  It was a very successful, fun Halloween.

Halloween 2014--Thomas Edition

Here is Thomas' version of Halloween 2014:

Like many families with young children, Halloween is an exciting time for the Wilsons.  Once the twins birthday celebrations have ended (their birthday is October 3^rd) everyone eagerly turns their attention to picking out Halloween costumes.  Actually, at various points throughout the year, the kids will say, “I want to be _______ for Halloween.”  But once we get into October, flippant comments about what they want to wear for Halloween go away and are replaced by actual (and seemingly gut-wrenching) decisions.  This year, Anna chose to be a witch.  It was a very cute costume.  Both Kori and I thought it was the best witch costume we’ve seen. As an aside, Anna went out of her way to let people know that she was a good witch.  However, she also kept telling everyone that she was going to use her witch powers to turn them into a frog.   Kara was a peacock.  It was a very pretty costume that had a cape that could attach to her hands.  Thus, when she raised her arms, the cape would rise up to resemble peacock plumage.  It was a wonderful touch that really made the costume stand out.  She looked really cute.  Jack has been reading a lot about the Revolutionary War lately, so he chose to be a soldier from the continental army.  I thought he looked fantastic, but people were generally confused.  Many thought he was a pirate.  Regardless, his costume was unique and I was very proud of his choice.  Luke wore a lion costume that we’ve had forever—it was a gift to the twins from their Great Grandmother.

Halloween day the kids’ school had a parade where all of the kids lined up and walked past one another to show off their costumes.  Kori, Luke, and I went to check it out.  Jack and Kara were very excited to see us.  Unfortunately, Anna was being a bit grumpy and refused to acknowledge us (undoubtedly a precursor of what it’s going to be like when the kids get into middle school and high school.)  The parade was a lot of fun and generally everyone had a good time. 

Finally, the big night arrived.  Although this is our third Halloween in our current house, this was the first time I got to participate in the festivities.  Our first year, I was in Cuba and last year we were on our cruise.  We decided to split the neighborhood into two sections.  For the first section, I took the kids and Kori stayed to hand out candy.  Then we would switch places.  We headed out right at 6:00. Luke the lion rode in the stroller and enjoyed seeing all the people running around.   It was still a bit light out, which nobody seemed to mind. The overwhelming majority of houses had their porch light on (indicating that they were participating in Halloween) which was nice.  It really is a great neighborhood in which to live.  However, I was surprised at how many people were sitting on their porch handing out candy.  When did we stop ringing doorbells and yelling out “trick or treat?” when the door opened?  Regardless, the kids did really well.  They were polite and appreciative to everyone who gave them candy.  Some of the houses had scary scenes on their porch, and I was afraid that it might have been too scary for the kids, but they all went right up.  I think the fact that 1) they were all together and 2) it was still light out, helped their courage.

We finished up our two streets and headed back to the house.  I took over for Kori and she headed out to finish the neighborhood with the kids.  Unfortunately, Jack ended up not feeling well so he came back home early.  He changed out of his costume and stayed with me handing out candy.  He is such a nice person, I think he enjoyed handing out the candy more than he did receiving it.  Finally, around 8:00, the girls and Luke returned and we closed up for the night.  Two hours of trick or treating!  While it was already past bedtime, we let the kids stay up to examine their haul.  They all ended up with a ton of candy!  Because of Jack’s allergies, there are a lot of candies that he can’t have.  It was really fun to watch him barter with Anna and Kara as he traded them the candies he can’t eat.   Kara loves M&Ms and was willing to give up anything to Jack for his.  Fortunately, he did not take advantage of her and they all handled these transactions really well. 

Halloween 2014 was a fantastic time! It is so fun to experience all of these things through the eyes of young children.  Knowing that soon enough, the kids will outgrow all of this really makes me appreciate these days.  These are memories that I will keep with me forever.  

Williamsburg Weekend

This is not a very timely post, since our weekend in Williamsburg was a few weeks ago.  But, better late than never, right?  <Note: And even less timely, since I wrote this blog about 3 weeks ago.  It is just so time-consuming to add pictures and so I have procrastinated. But, now I have a Halloween and other blogs to write, so I am forced to finish this one.>

Anyone who knows Jack knows that he is VERY interested in history.  I am not exaggerating when I say the kid knows more about the Revolutionary War than I do (although, perhaps that's more about my ignorance, than his intelligence?).  Anyway, we want to foster his curiosity and being so close to so many historical areas makes that pretty easy.  Anna wanted to go to Busch Gardens for her birthday and we decided to make a long weekend of the trip and to squeeze in some history.  (We still need to do Jack's trip to Great Wolf Lodge.)

The kids had a 3-day weekend and we added an extra day, giving us 4 days in Williamsburg.  We drove up on Thursday morning and went straight to Yorktown.  We stopped for lunch at the Carrot Tree Inn, a favorite of Thomas and mine.  Then, it was on to the battlefield. Yorktown is to Thomas and Jack what Disney World is the rest of us (normal) people.  Although, I have to admit that even I find the whole history of the place amazing (it was not my first trip, but I learn something new every time).  It was so easy to picture the scene and the battle that took place. It was easy to imagine the troops in the redoubts and the fear that Alexander Hamilton must have felt when he led his men to attack.  The battlefield is extremely well-preserved and marked, making it wonderful to explore.  So, we all enjoyed Yorktown, well almost of all us.  I think that Jack's interest is extremely genuine, Anna's is a bit feigned (she knows we like it, so she wants to like it too) and Kara doesn't even bother to pretend to care.  I certainly appreciate the personalities of our children!  Luke was content to be outside and feel the wind in his hair.

Anna in front of the real Redoubt spot

And one of Jack in the same spot

On one of the original canons

After being in the car, it was nice to run around and explore

From there, we went and checked into our cottage.  We had a 2-bedroom cabin reserved and it was interesting.  It was in the woods and there were so many spiders and bugs, both inside and out.  I don't think the place has seen a good cleaning in the past decade.  The price was right, but I am not sure if I could bring myself to stay again.  Also, the bed was the nosiest I have ever laid on.  Every time I turned, I woke myself up.  But, for whatever reason, the kids loved it. The second bedroom had bunkbeds and a full-sized bed and they rotated to each bed for the 3 nights and loved every minute we spent there. The cabin was called Tall Pines and they still wax nostalgic about how much they "miss Tall Pines" our Williamsburg home.

Tall Pines.  Spiders included.

Thursday, we also visited the Yankee Candle Flagship store, which is always a good time.

Friday was Busch Gardens day.  We got there at opening and went to the kids land area.  Jack and Anna loved the kids roller coaster, but Kara was reluctant to ride.  Finally, she decided she wanted to go. When we got off, she said she did not like it all.  However, she chose to ride again and again.  It was very strange, I think she was interested in conquering her fear, because it was evident that she did not enjoy it, but she still wanted to ride.  We had a great time riding all the rides.  They had Halloween themed shows, none of which seemed appropriate for the kids, so we just focused on the rides.  There were no real lines and it was super-fun to just walk on whatever we wanted.  And now, the photo dump...

They were all decorated for Halloween

I loved riding the bumper cars with the kids

One of the kiddie rides, Thomas later went on the grown-up version.  Not me!

The kids loved this roller coaster, they must've rode it 10x

In the dino playland 

Scrambling it up

And, what was little Luke doing while we were enjoying all those rides???

Sometimes, he was not happy

But, sometimes he was!

Sometimes Daddy wore him (and took him on the carousel!)

Sometimes, he got to walk with mommy

Every now and then, it just got to be too much excitement

Saturday was Colonial Williamsburg.  We have been before, but never actually bought tickets.  This time, we bought the tickets so that we could visit all the areas.  Unfortunately, a couple that we really wanted to see, like the Brickmakers, were not open.  I think everyone enjoyed the jail the most.  Again, it was fun to imagine the history of the place and the events that took place.  Because trials were not a priority (you know, thanks to the war and all) the jail was very overcrowded.  It was crazy to see how it was both a family home and a jail.  I cannot imagine raising my family in a place like that!  We also enjoyed the armory and seeing some of the reenactments on the lawn.  We had a great time.

Oh no!  Someone has taken the weapons from the armory, whatever will the colonists do?!?!?

Visiting the jail. one of my favorite exhibits.  It was hard to believe that the warden and his family lived in the front of the house with the prisoners in the back.

Anna on a prison throne

Inside the armory (the weapons have been restored!)

Watching another demonstration...fire!

Jack and Thomas were so moved, they decided to enlist

Anna and Kara chose the stocks instead

Jack picked out his birthday present (and hasn't put it down much since)

Different outfit, same day for Lukey.

We left around dinner time and got take-out (Carrot Tree for Thomas and I and McDonalds for the kids) and went back to Tall Pines.

We were going to visit Jamestown on Sunday, but we were all a bit tired, so we decided to save it for next time.  Instead, we had a leisurely morning and headed home.

The end.