Jack and Anna turn 9!

On Monday, October 3, Anna and Jack celebrated their ninth birthday. We work hard to make birthdays special around here, so of course, there was no exception for our resident twins. Naturally, we lead up to the big day with lots of discussions about their birth story and clicking through hundreds of baby pictures on Shutterfly.

The actual day began with a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and sausage. They donned their birthday buttons and I drove them to school. Thomas came home so that we could surprise them together for lunch. They knew I would be there, but they weren't expecting their dad. He's the fun one (who pretends to be a snooty waiter when we have lunch with them, so they and their tablemates were thrilled). They handed out small cupcakes to their classmates and proclaimed that they were having a great day so far.

Aren't they cute? Luke was a bit jealous of the attention (and tried insisting it was his birthday, hence his sort of inclusion in this photo).

After school, we made sure to have their current favorite snack on hand--soft pretzels. We also let them open their birthday gifts. Their main gift is a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (stay tuned, they don't know when we are going...) We let them skip homework and go straight out to play. Finally, it was 5:30 and the Darrows came over. It was our month to host dinner, so we invited them to join us for the kids' birthday dinner. Jack wanted pizza and Anna wanted cheese fondue. Cheese fondue seemed difficult to finagle with so many people, so we had Jack's dinner with Anna's cake. For her cake, she wanted a "fall theme with at least one animal." I made some chocolate trees and bought some candy bears to stick on. It was not my best cake, Anna said she liked it, but it was not her favorite, which was a fair assessment.

I totally forgot to get a picture! Here is a half-eaten tree (just picture longer branches) on the last piece of cake.

We had dinner, the kids played, then we had our cake. It was a very pleasant day. The kids were appreciative of our efforts and both of them (separately and unprovoked) thanked us for making the day so special for them!

On Saturday, we had Anna's meal and Jack's cake. As mentioned, Anna wanted a cheese fondue. Jack tried really hard to talk her out of it, insisting we should only have cheese fondue on New Year's Eve to keep it special. But, she was immovable, and obviously Thomas and I had no objection. So, we had our cheese fondue, followed by Jack's Civil War themed cake. We followed it up with a family movie night and concluded the second birthday celebration. And, because we love to drraaaaaggggg birthdays out, we still have Great Wolf Lodge to come.

No Wilson cheese fondue is complete without at least 4 different kinds of bread.

Jack LOVED his cake, he even proclaimed it his favorite one ever! I felt like it was cheating because it had inedible parts. But, it was really fun to make.

Philadelphia Trip, Day 3

Everyone was awake early again on Sunday morning. We had our hotel breakfast and then headed to our first destination--Monmouth Battlefield. The land was bought by the State of New Jersey and it was our first time visiting a Revolutionary Battlefield that was a state park and not a National Park. However, it was extremely well-preserved and very beautiful. We walked around the visitor's center, saw a short film and then explored outside for a little bit. While exploring we walked down a huge hill, across a bridge, through a bit of a corn field and then back over another bridge. While walking this path, we came across an area with thousands of grasshoppers. It was the strangest thing, they were just bouncing off our legs as we walked. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture, but it was very weird.

Can you find something that doesn't quite belong in this picture???

Another beautiful battle site, almost seems wrong that all these places are so pretty.

Then, it was off to Six Flags Great Adventure. Our season passes are good at all Six Flags, so it seemed like a good way to spend part of our last day. Since it was off-season and a Sunday, we did not expect it to be crowded. However, by our standards it certainly was! We got into the park shortly after they opened at 11 (it was only a few minutes from Monmouth) and headed straight for the Safari. They have one of the largest drive-through Safaris outside of Africa. The tour actually lasted 45-minutes, which was much more than we expected. We saw some amazing animals, including the world's most adorable baby giraffe--only two weeks old!! It was a good time of year to visit, because there were several baby animals, but the giraffe was everyone's favorite.

After the tour, Kara decided she wanted to try out a small roller coaster, unfortunately, she hated it. Jack and Anna (and Thomas and I) love roller coasters, but Kara hates "big hills." This roller coaster (I use the term loosely) didn't have any big drops, but it was fast and loud. We rode a few kid rides, as Luke was about to mutiny, and then had our lunch. Then, we went on a ride that was actually fun for everyone, the Parachute Training Center.  It lifts you 250 feet into the air and then you slowly come back down. 250' is really high! I sat with Jack and Luke and was really nervous for Luke (and kept a tight grip on him!), but he did fine. It was our first family ride that had a bit of a thrill.

Anna is a little nervous about heights, but she decided she wanted to give it a try anyway.

On the trick-or-treat trail. They actually got some good candy.

Luke did not like this ride. He was very scared and we felt terrible! He's extremely daring, but usually he has a big sibling or parent next to him.

The lines were long for the major attractions, so Thomas and I had to skip the big rides. They actually have the fastest and tallest coaster in North America and Thomas really wanted to ride. Next time! He and Jack did ride one stand-up roller coaster, which reinjured Thomas' head. It was his first day headache free and the bumpy coaster ruined that for him. We should have known better when there was no wait for that particular coaster (they have something like 13 roller coasters). In contrast, the one we had heard was really good had an hour wait.

The kids rode several more rides, we had dinner and left around 6. The haunt people were starting to arrive, which meant it was time for us to depart. The drive home was (thankfully) uneventful and everyone was in their own bed by 10. The park is a lot bigger than our usual Six Flags, but it was also much more crowded. Their "light" day was comparable to a fairly busy day at the Maryland park. There were more (and better) rides and better food selections in New Jersey, but our park is just right for our family, although, I do hope to visit the New Jersey park again to ride some of the coasters that we missed on this visit.

Overall, it was a great trip. It wasn't fun that Thomas spent so much of it in pain, but he is a trooper and pushed through with nary a complaint. With a few exceptions, the kids were great and got along well. I can't wait to go back!

Philadelphia Trip, Day 2

Everyone was awake nice and early on Saturday morning. We enjoyed our free hotel breakfast and then headed back into Philadelphia. Our plan for the day consisted of one thing: the Franklin Institute. Some friends of ours had recently done a Philadelphia trip and after hearing about how much they enjoyed the Franklin Institute, we changed some plans around to give it its own complete day (originally, we were going to go to The Constitution Center and Franklin Institute on Friday and the rest of the historical stuff on Saturday). We got there shortly after it opened and bought our passes.

The kids loved it all! We had to drag them out almost every exhibit. Luke was funny, he found something in each area that he liked and just didn't budge. It was pretty cute. My favorite thing was a little paper airplane making station with some wind lift (you had to try and fly them into a recycling bin). I also loved the planetarium. Thomas liked the electricity room, Anna liked the giant heart, Jack loved climbing around the brain and Kara's favorite was the sports area where she and Anna raced repeatedly. Luke also enjoyed the racing, he had a whole pattern, he would race down the track, then into the basketball area where he would interrupt someone who was seeing how high they could jump by racing through their court. Every. Time. We tried to stop him, really, we did.

Early morning wake-up!

Playing with electricity

Flying planes

Luke made us set up these dominoes over and over and over and over

Climbing around the brain, watch out for those synapses!

Choo choo! This area had a really fun activity where you had to look at clues to determine whose fault it was that a train crashed.

Designing their Mars rovers.

On your mark...get set...GO!

We had lunch at the Institute and basically stayed all day. After the museum, we drove around Philadelphia, trying to get more of a feel for the city, before heading back to our hotel. We stopped off for groceries so we could have dinner in our room; one of the definite benefits of staying at a Residence Inn is the kitchen area. By the time we got back and made dinner it was well after 6. Nobody had slept well the night before, so we were anxious for everyone to get a good night's sleep. We had everyone in bed by 7:45 and I think all the kids were asleep by 8:30, with Thomas and I only slightly behind them.

And that concludes Day 2.

Philadelphia Trip, Day 1

I have been wanting to visit Philadelphia for a couple of years. Last weekend, we finally made it happen! The kids always get a Friday off in September for the local fair. We generally use that as an excuse to visit somewhere. The past few years we have gone to Williamsburg, but this year we decided to change it up.

We left around 7 on Friday morning and rolled into Philadelphia shortly after 10. We picked up our tickets for Independence Hall and walked to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. We enjoyed some New York style pizza and sandwiches and walking around to see the amazing offerings. Luke was funny, he didn't like how flopsy the pizza was, and he made me feed it to him. To be more accurate, I should say that he didn't like holding it, because he definitely liked eating it!

From there, we went to the President's House and saw the Liberty Bell. Then, we did our tour of Independence Hall. We had a great, enthusiastic guide and it was fantastic! We got to see the Rising Sun chair that George Washington sat in while he presided over the Constitutional Convention. It was pretty cool to think about all the amazing people who have been in that room. Unfortunately, Thomas had had a cluster headache the night before and he was still in pain. He decided to sit out the tour with Luke, while I took the bigger kids through. I felt really bad for him. After the tour, we debated heading to the hotel, but Thomas' little break served him well and he wanted to push on. We finished up at the visitor's center where the girls completed their Junior Ranger Books and collected their prizes.

With the Liberty Bell

Making notes in their Junior Ranger books about the inkstand that was used to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (how cool is that???)

Standing where President Lincoln stood

Taking their Junior Ranger oaths

Fun picture from the lawn of the National Constitution Center

After the gift shop, we had just enough time to see the Constitution Center. They had a really good show that everyone enjoyed, but the rest of the museum was just okay (at least for the price).

One cool thing was a life-sized gallery of the signers of the Constitution. Luke insisted on having his picture taken with Alexander Hamilton, although Luke said he was "Luke". Luke didn't even know there was a bandwagon to jump on, yet here he is singling out the star of the hit musical.

Kara liked Mr. Wilson from Pennsylvania, for obvious reasons (could be a relative...)

Anna chose Mr. Livingston of New Jersey

When we left, everyone decided to take advantage of the giant frame (check out Luke in each photo, that kid moves fast!)

When they closed, we went to our hotel (which was across the bridge in New Jersey and then to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. It was an incredibly full day!

Labor Day Weekend & Luke's "School"

We were blessed with great weather for Labor Day weekend. There was potential for a tropical storm, but fortunately, it stayed far away, so we were able to enjoy the nice temperatures and finally get outside!

Saturday, we went to Mount Vernon. We got to see Washington's 16-sided barn in action! Every visit, we've seen the barn and heard about how it was one of Washington's inventions. I knew the purpose was to more effectively separate grain from straw. But, I never quite understood how it worked. It was not what I envisioned. Basically, they would put the wheat down on the inside perimeter of the barn and 2-6 horses would run over it and the grain would fall through the slats and be collected below. They let us sit in the barn and brought in two horses to demonstrate.

The horses in action

The "horses" were actually some type of pony, they were super friendly.

Choppy water, thanks to the tropical storm churning somewhere out at sea 

We walked around outside, had lunch and then decide to check out the grist mill and distillery--another place we hadn't been. Unfortunately, Kara (and Anna to a lessor extent) was in rare form, so Thomas stayed outside with Luke and the girls, while Jack and I did the tour. It was impressive! Washington sold his pure flour as far away as Europe and we got to see how the process worked. I was hoping that Thomas could do a tour after me and Jack, but the girls spirits (and behavior) hadn't improved, so we headed home by way of Krispy Kreme.

It's kind of hard to see, but here's Jack with the giant grist mill wheel.

Sunday we went to Fort McHenry. Thomas had been wanting to go back for a while and we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. We left shortly after breakfast. I packed a bag of treats that got lost between the kitchen and the car (and still has not been found). So, we stopped at a gas station on the way and let the kids pick out snacks, probably the highlight of their day. Actually, we all had a good time at Fort McHenry. It was our second time there, but I don't think we saw the movie the first time. At the end, they raise the screen and the blinds and you see Old Glory flying while our National Anthem plays. It was surprisingly effective at evoking some of the feelings Francis Scott Key may have felt. Of course, we toured the fort and everyone had a good time running around and exploring.

Making plans with Major Armistead

Jack guarding Kara

Quite the view!

From there, we went to Six Flags to activate our new season passes. They had an awesome Labor Day weekend renewal deal that we just could not pass up.  I still miss Kings Dominion, but Six Flags has been good to us. It is cheaper, closer and still fun for the kids. I am comfortable taking the kids up during the week while Thomas works in the summer, something I wouldn't want to do with Kings Dominion (just too far and over the scary bridge). Also, I am looking forward to their Christmas event. So,we renewed. We even convinced a few friends to join with us, so I hoping for even more fun in 2017. Anyway, it was on our way home and Luke had been begging to "ride the choo choo," so we braved the crowds, but did not stay long.

Kara was sick Sunday night, so we stayed home on Monday. Some obnoxious stomach bug has been making the rounds through our house. It has not made anyone terribly sick, but it is long-lasting and does make its victims uncomfortable. I think we may finally all be over it (about a month after it started). In other health news, I was convinced Kara had impetigo on Tuesday morning. I made her stay home from school and scheduled a visit with the doctor only to find out it was poison ivy! You'd think with as much poison ivy this family has had, I would learn to recognize the rash. At least I can recognize the plant, although that apparently didn't help this time. Since we were outside all weekend, there is no telling where she got it, but we suspect in the woods near one of her friend's houses. The worst part about it was I got stuck in awful bridge traffic...twice. Yup, twice. I am not smart enough to avoid the same mistake, apparently. I just assumed it would've been cleared up in time for our return trip home. Nope. Somehow a 300-pound manhole cover disappeared and brought traffic in our area to a screeching halt for over 8 hours as a new one was specially made.

It was a lot redder than it looks in this picture. 

In final news, Luke has his first day of pre, pre, pre-K today. I feel guilty about enrolling my two-year old in "school," but I think it will be good for both of us. I used my first 2.5 hours of freedom to go to the gym, take a shower (all by myself, with no interruptions!) and do a quick Target trip. It is only a few hours a week, but I am excited. Luke enjoyed his first day. When I picked him up, his teacher said she wished she had "10 just like him," he was just so "easygoing and happy."

End of Summer/First Day of School/Luke story

As per tradition, we asked the kids what they wanted to do their last week of summer break. Anna said swimming, Jack wanted Brewsters and Kara picked YoKool. Jack had actually said Point Lookout, but we had just gone a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't ready to take everyone back without Thomas. So, we made another pool trip and got our ice cream and yogurt. As a funny sidenote, while we were at Brewsters, we pulled in behind one of our neighbors and then another arrived a few minutes after us. The kids thought we had arranged a little surprise, but it was just a funny coincidence.

Overall, it was a good summer. We made lots of pool trips, a few beach excursions, trips to Six Flags and National Parks and we all enjoyed the 1.5 visits from the Koc family. That being said, I was ready for school to start again. I enjoy the more relaxed pace of summer and I hate packing lunches everyday, but I like the structure and routine school provides. The kids were also ready to go back. At least Jack and Kara were. I wish there was some sort of compromise, maybe 4 days on and 3 off year round with a random week or two off here and there. That's how I would do things :)

But, I digress. The first day came and the kids were very excited. We were pleased with the teachers they got.  Kara got Mrs. Lowe, who Anna adored last year. We didn't know who to wish for for her, we have had 3 out of 4 of the 2nd grade (one used to teach Pre-K) and we thought highly of all of them, so there was really no bad outcome. We didn't know the 3rd grade teachers, but knew their previous teachers had made specific recommendations. J & A are in companion classes. They put all the twins (3 sets, I think) with these two teachers. They assign the same homework and will do field trips together. They also share a wall/supply room, so the kids get to see each other a lot during the day. It's really nice.

Now, for the plethora of pictures:

Kara got a haircut for her 2nd grade year!

I can't believe they're in 3rd grade! Anna is in Mrs. Cieka's class.

Jack and this hat have been inseparable lately. He is in Mrs. Arthur's class.

I ordered everyone an extra large, but the men's extra large (Jack) is obviously much bigger than the girls. 

And, a Luke story (or three). We were at Aldi the other day and he insisted on pushing the cart. He has to stand on his tip toes and he can't see anything, but fortunately, it wasn't crowded, so I just gently kept him on course. On the second aisle, he abruptly stopped pushing and ran to grab something. He exclaimed, "Oh! I need this!" and attempted to put the item, a can of condensed milk, in the cart. That kid cracks me up! He also got several laughs from others in the store for his enthusiastic shopping. Yesterday, he said, "Mom, I have an idea!" When I asked what it was, he paused and then said, "ummmm, we can watch Umi."  (His favorite show is Umi Zoomi and he would watch it all day every day if we let him.) The final note about Luke is he likes to randomly ask us, "Yes or no?" That's it. There is no question before or after, he'll just run up to us and say "mom, yes or no???" and wait for a response. Last final anecdote, we were at Chick Fil A last week and a little girl asked his name and he said, "my name is Looty." I love it! Two year old speech is priceless! I think he is learning to say R a bit better, I will be so sad when he no longer calls Kara, Kaba. Then, he'll be able to pronounce his own name and baby speech will be gone from the Wilson household forever :(

One on One at Six Flags

Thomas and I have been making more of an effort to spend alone time with each of our children. We rotate through the kids and let them choose an activity. We have done movies and ice cream and restaurants. Thomas was off from work on Friday and I wanted to go to Six Flags. However, it was the kids' last day of camp and Jack really did not want to miss. So, it was determined that I would take the girls and Thomas would stay home with the boys. On Friday morning, Kara got upset that she couldn't find her swimsuit of choice and decided to stay home. I was feeling frustrated and ready to cancel the whole outing. However, Anna REALLY wanted to go. We decided we would count it as her next special outing and go with just the two of us.

We dropped Jack off at camp and left Thomas, Luke and Kara at home. After some issues getting gas, thanks to a giant dump trunk hogging the Shell parking lot, and a return trip home thanks to me forgetting my phone, we were off. I was still feeling kind of cranky, particularly after the additional difficulties, but we pressed on. And, we had a great time! We rode all the big water rides repeatedly. Anna was brave and tried Tornado, and she loved it! So, I decided to be brave and try Halfpipe, which I enjoyed. We rode my favorite ride, Bahama Blast 4 times, Tornado 5 times, Halfpipe 4 (well, twice for me), Shark Attack 3 times and Zoomba Falls 3 times. No little kid pools or attractions for us! We had a pleasant lunch and went into the wave pool, but it was cold! The weather was a little chillier than previous visits, which was nice because our feet didn't burn on the pavement and it wasn't super crowded.

I didn't have my camera this visit, but here's Jack on the Halfpike a couple of weeks ago.

Stock photo of the tornado.

After the water park, we had some Rita's ice and decided to do a few rides in the regular park. I wanted to leave by 4 so that Thomas could take Kara out to dinner for her special outing. Normally, we wouldn't do two on the same day, but the original plan was for Thomas and Kara to go to lunch on Friday, then I introduced the idea of Six Flags and then Kara didn't even go, so I felt bad that she was missing out on what should have been her special day, even though it was self-inflicted on her part.

I left my phone in the car while we were at the water park, so not a lot of pictures.

We rode about 4 rides and headed home. On our drive home, I turned off the radio and asked Anna what she wanted to talk about. She voiced some concerns about going into third-grade and we had a really good conversation. The entire day was fantastic. She was truly delightful. At one point she said to me, "mom, we've done what I want to do, what would you like to do?" She spoke kindly all day and was flexible and agreeable. I absolutely loved spending the day with her.  That is the best thing about these one-on-ones, we get to focus on just one child and it brings out the best in everyone. I can definitely see the benefit to having an only child (of course, I can also see the drawbacks and I am happy with 4)!

We got home and Thomas and Kara were all dressed up. Thomas had mentioned that they might have to wait for a table because, "lots of people like to get dressed up and go out on Friday night." So, Kara said they should get dressed up too. Thomas put his suit on and Kara picked out a dress. A little fancy for Olive Garden, but they were happy! Thomas said Kara's pearls got her a lot of attention. They had a great time.

Aren't they adorable?