St. Louis Arch

On our way to Kansas City, we drove right through St. Louis and decided to stop!  The Austrian in our group had never been, nor had the two shortest of our group!  The kids were so excited when Aunty Becca and Uncle Thomas offered to take them up while Al and I found some lunch.  It was a great little detour!

The Arch from the road

Waiting for their Capsule to take them to the top.

Peaking below

So excited

Excited to be at the top!

Loving it!

Even a quick family pic!

The Zillingers Arrive!!

While in NY, we picked-up Rebecca and Thomas!!  They flew in from Austria and planned to drive with us to KC to celebrate our Dad's 60th birthday!  First we spent 2 days at our house and then headed for Nashville, TN to spend the afternoon and night with our Mom.  

Yay!!  Welcome to America!!  Now that you've been awake for 18 hours, let's drive 8 more!!

Homemade, Authentic Apple Strudel!!

We spent a day at Virginia Beach- yay!! 

Beautiful sunrise across the Blueridge Mountains!

Al got a tour of downtown Nashville!

Lisa's Bay Adventure

I'm back-tracking here....  Back about a month ago, we did some really cool things, and I just have been busy living life and having fun, to blog about them!  Well- since I hate to be behind, you will get a brief recap- you can thank me in the comments section!!

First off- ever since I started teaching at the school I am currently working at, 3 years ago, I have heard about The Bay Trip....  A group of teachers, in the middle of the summer, go out and do nature things dealing with our beloved Chesapeak Bay.  If you know me, I am not exactly what you would classify as "nature-y." I did not sign up the first time they asked for volunteers- then the principal sweetened the deal- she would give you 5 personal days if you went on the trip!  I almost went last year- but didn't because I didn't want to be out in nature on my birthday.  Then we went to Disney and boy did I wish I had those 5 personal days....  At the beginning of last school year, I seriously considered going- and after my in-laws said they would LOVE to have the kids for an entire week to themselves, I signed on the dotted line....

In a nutshell I was gone for 5 days living amoung and feeding a large assortment of bugs and learns tons of trivia about The Bay.  The first 2 days I had to be at some park at 8am- Monday we toured a new research facility and then boated up and down The James River; Tuesday we canoed up and down a tributary of the James River; Wed we took a boat 2 hrs across The Bay and choose bunks on Fox Island- an island in the middle of the Bay that was built in the 1920's as a rich man's duck hunting club- no toilets (a composting system called The Clivus was our alternative!), limited electricity, no ac, no fans....  Thur we explored Fox Island and played in the marsh and the highlight for me, getting to tour Tangier Island!  Friday we cleaned the lodge and headed home!  

I have never been more thankful for a hot shower than I was that evening!!  It is amazing how sticky and gross you can get when you go 3 days without a shower and ac with the daily average temp hovering around 100+ degrees!  Once I showered, Al and I hopped in the car and headed to NY to retreive the kids, AND to get Rebecca and Thomas- but that is another post!

Still, it was fun, I learned a lot and had a fantastic time with some really amazing ladies I have the pleasure of working with!

Ready to go canoeing- I was almost eaten alive by some bug on this trip...

At Reedville- where we toured the small town and met our boat for the 2 hr ride to Fox Island.  You can't tell but it's 104 in the shade here....  The boat we are infront of is a replica that John Smith used to chart the Chesapeak.

Tangier

Fox Island- we stayed in that small white building!

View of Fox Island from the Crows Nest

While dredging- looking for soft shell crabs, we caught a Puffer Fish!

I sent this to the kids- so show them that Mommy is tough!  For the record, the crab was alive and I did NOT get pinched!

I seriously need one of these for Time-Out!

A beautiful sunset- ahhh

Jumping into the marsh- when in Rome....

Showing who was tough and did the Marsh Jump

Wallowing in the mud....

20 Questions....

I am totally stealing this- here are 20 questions I plan on asking the kids each year and keeping up with their various answers!

Without further adieu, here is Mr. 20 Questions!

Alden- 5 

1.    What is your favorite color? Blue

2.  What is your favorite toy? Legos

3.  What is your favorite tv show or movie?  Lightening McQueen

4. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Ice Cream

5.  What is your favorite outfit? Pajamas

6. What is your favorite friends?  The boys (boys who live across the street), Conor and Elena, MarMar and PopPop

7. What is your favorite creative activity? Cut and glue

8. What is your favorite animal? Cheetahs and lion

9.  What is your favorite song? I don’t like songs

10. Who is your best friend? MarMar and PopPop

11.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Playing soccer in a field

12. What is your favorite drink? Ice water

13.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

14. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  DreamLight, Pillow-Pet, NiNi (blanket), Lion, Tiger.

15. What do you want to be when you grow up? A policeman

16.  What is your favorite thing to do with your sister?  Watching TV

17.  What do you love about yourself?  That I love Super Heros and want to learn how to be one

18.   What do you pray about?  To God so that I’m not scared and I thank him for at least 3 things, sometimes its like 10 things!

19. What’s your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play Wii and real mini-golf

20. What’s your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Play games and read books

Birthday Boy!!

It boggles my mind- but Alden turned FIVE today!!!  He requested a Super Hero birthday party- which was kinda funny since he doesn't really watch anything with super heros in it except for the movie The Incredibles....  But we ran with the theme and everyone who came to the party told me what fun they had!

Morning started off with 1 excited little boy!  Practicing a WHOLE hand!!

Birthday Tradition- Dunkin Donuts for breakfast!!

Friends and neighbors came over!  They decorated cape and masks and then headed to our cul-de-sac for an obstacle course!  It involved saving an airplane, jumping a mountain, flying over traffic, leaping over a building, and rescuing a baby.  Whew- but all in a days work for a Super Hero!

Then inside to the AC to play the Kryptonite Toss- aka, Hot Potato.

He had a blast!

Clearly his Super Powers aren't affected by Kryptonite!

Happy Birthday!!

My two loves!

Proof I was there- thanks, Karen, for snapping so many great pics, but this one in particular!

He made the best faces opening his gifts- which were all amazing!

King Alden!

It's been an amazing 5 years- I can't wait to see what God has instore for the next year!!

A Brief Recap

It has been a super busy two weeks for us- full of fun, traveling and making lots of happy memories!!  Until I have time to blog properly, here are a few pics of what we have been up to...

First off- my lovely sister, Rebecca and her amazing hubby came to visit from Austria!  We took a day to go to the beach- fun!

After a few days in VA, we all piled into the Pilot and headed for KC but stopped for a day in Nashville to see my Mom and for her hubby to show Rebecca, Thomas and Al around Nashville!

On our way to KC we made a quick detour so that Thomas and the kids could experience the famous St. Louis Arch- fun!

After that little stop, we headed to KC to spend time with the rest of my family.  My dad has always loved sailing and since we had the Pilot with the trailer hitch we took TWO boats sailing!!  My dad sailed a bigger one and Al, my brother Ian, and I sailed the smaller one.  We did orginally start off with Addie in our boat, but ended up passing her off to my Dad- that's another story!

Saturday morning we all headed downtown KC to meet up with my sister and her 4 kids to experience some fun crafting, dinos and then a puppet show complete with bagels!

The cousins and a dino!!

 The best part of this dino exhibit- you were expected to climb on everything!!

And then the whole reason for the KC trip- a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad!!

The whole gang!

What do you do when the kids get restless?  You take them to the neighborhood park and take funny pictures!

It was also fun getting to spend time with Annie, my brother's wife, getting pedicures!!

And a visit wouldn't be complete without a visit to a local "water park"- it isn't big but the kids love it!  Here they are doing their now-a-tradition- freak out the lifeguard as two little kids go off the high dive- they love it!!

It was a great visit well worth the 4 days in the car to get there and back.  More to come as there are plenty of fun stories to share!

Lady Bug Drama

For Kindergarten Graduation, Adeline received a bug container as a gift.  She was super excited and couldn't wait to find a poor and helpless bug to "keep."  They had studied bugs and their life cycles at school and she was convinced that if she found a caterpillar, it would turn into a butterfly, just for her....

She searched and searched but couldn't find a caterpillar, so she settled on a lady bug.  She found one and named her Hidy since she was so good at hiding in the container.  After a few days, I decided poor Hidy had had enough and suggested we let her go.  Adeline was devastated at first and begged to keep her until night.  At bed time, we opened the container and left it on the table on the back porch, Addie said good-bye and happily went to bed, planning on bug hunting in the morning.  

Fast forward to 6:30am the following morning- I am awoken by a hysterically sobbing Adeline.  She was so distraught she could not speak, but could only hand me this note....

Translated:

Dear hidy, 

Please hidy.  I love you.  I love you hidy.  I wish you very much came back.  You loved me to why wont you to come back, please come back. Please Hidy.

Love,

Adeline

Gut wrenching.  Simply gut wrenching....  I was, without a doubt, the most terrible mother to ever walk this planet!  This poor note is just the way she would talk- pleading with the lady bug to come back!  Feeling beyond horrible, I quickly put on shoes, and holding the still sobbing Adeline, proceeded to go out in the yard to find another lady bug.  Before we started searching we checked the bug container, and yes, I DO believe in miracles, because Hidy WAS STILL THERE!!  Granted, we discovered later that she was still there because she was dead, but that is a mute point- Adeline was thrilled and overjoyed that she had her Hidy back!  She instantly stopped crying and starting talking to Hidy.  When Adeline discovered that Hidy was dead, she wasn't upset, she simply stated that it was her time to go and that God must have wanted a pretty lady bug in heaven....  No crying, no drama.

I learned a valuable lesson- my daughter loves fiercely, forgives quickly, and trusts God completely.  She is an amazing little lady and I am honored to be her mother.  And for the record, I will NEVER make her release a bug again....