Beach Continued...

The first two days we were there we mostly spent at the beach (even though it wasn't very hot) and played outside. My Dad gave us all a golf lesson. I really wish I had remembered that I had my video camera for that. It was pretty funny to watch. Teagan shows the most promise of any of us.




I think Mom would have done well, if only she could have hit the ball!! Just kidding. She hit it....a couple of times.




Not sure what Macy was trying to accomplish here. She actually rode around post like that.




We had planned to go to Jamestown one day, but the it got hotter throughout the week, and Michael didn't make it there until Wednesday night, so we decided to go to the Norfolk Zoo instead. We are members of the Fort Fisher Aquarium and have AZA reciprocity so our admission was free. Can't really beat that. Of course--that was the hottest day of the whole trip, I think. The Zoo was really nice and there were no crowds. I wish I had known they had water fountains for the kids to play in, they could have worn their bathing suits and cooled off a bit.

This is outside before we went in. This is an elephant sculpture made up of butterflies. Very pretty :)

We did pay for a little train ride around the zoo to see what all they had. Here we are killing the 15 min. we had to wait for the train.

and on the train...



After we departed the train, our first stop was the new Asian section of the zoo. Very cool, but a lot of the animals weren't outside yet.

I tried to get Claire to play along and pretend the Tiger was going to attack her, but as you can see, she wasn't in the mood for playing ;)

Big, Long, Catch-Up. Days 8-16

Well, there is a bit of a lapse in entries. We went to the beach this past week, so this will be a picture loaded, LONG entry. The kids and I didn't get to leave for the beach until Monday. The van was in the shop (still is) and when we got word on Monday that it wouldn't be ready, I loaded up the car and the kids and took off. Michael didn't get to join us until Wednesday---and then, with a rental car. We packed as much in as we could with our shortened week though.

Backing up to Saturday, Macy and Claire went to Six Flags with the youth group at church. Quinn and Teagan had an impromptu tea party. This is a picture of their guests.



It was really cute the way they had them set up :D

We also put off a few old fire works that evening.



Monday

The drive was nice. We drove straight in, no major traffic, so no major stress! We arrived at the cottage, unpacked and went outside to play a few yard games and goof off. Stretching our legs felt great after being in the car for 4 1/2 hours.





Quinn and Teagan and I headed down to the beach to say hello to the ocean and we were greeted by this:



Someone beached their boat because they were having problems and then left it there. It was pretty torn up by now, but it stayed there for another 4 days before it was removed. They took it out in a dump truck. What a total waste :(

It was actually pretty cool that day, so we didn't hang out too long, but here is Quinn's beach-y wind swept look:

On our first full day there, we headed downtown to the strip (Virginia Beach, by the way). The kids had some money burning a hole in their pocket(thank you Grandma Rickard) and wanted to check out the goods in the stores.

Macy always takes my camera when she is with me and here is a self-portrait she took.



Quinn was the first to spend a few bucks. She decided to get her ears re-pierced because the holes had closed up. She chose pretty birthstone earrings. Never blinked. Never flinched. Gooooo, Quinnie!!!


to be continued....

The End of Day 7...

I couldn't continue my last post to include this because of some glitch, so I'll just continue with a new post.

Quinn made a volcano in camp today. We had to give it a try! Bring on the baking soda, bring on the vinegar! Bring on the mess!

They were less than impressed with the results, but I'm not sure what they expected :)








Quinn and Teagan ended the evening running around the back yard, catching lightning bugs for the first time this season!



Ok, now I'm done!

Day 6 and 7! Simple Things...

Teagan's Ladybug. He rescued it from certain death in the
Old Town Winchester fountain.

Claire and Quinn have been at camp this week having fun. Macy, well, she's spent a good portion of time watching Scrubs on Netflix (something she needs to finish soon, because she needs to get busy and DO something). Teagan and I have been running errands and things. All the simple things that need to happen just to keep the household going.

The summation of Day 6----a picture of a bird feeder that Quinn made at camp.


Day 7

Very busy, regular type of day. After getting the girls to camp, Macy had a hair appointment with Annie. She had a trim and some highlights put in today.

During the Process:

AFTER

Yes, folks, your eyes are NOT deceiving you! That is PINK in her hair. I have been assured that it will fade and wash out in a few weeks. :)

While Teagan and I were waiting for Macy, we ventured down the mall. We made our way down to the fountain where Teagan made a few wishes and threw a few pennies into the fountain, picked out some trash, and rescued a ladybug (see photo at top). It was fun and I got to spend some really nice time with Teagan--simple things really are the best!

Teagan has taken to wearing this cowboy hat he has had for a few years. He gets a lot of comments from strangers (compliments) to which he says "Mom, this is why I wear it in public!"

On the way back to the car, Teagan made a new friend. Who knows, maybe it is really Aslan, you never know!

Day 5 - Surprise Update!

C: It's Macy.
Previously mom talked about a Japanese horror film. Probably the best horror film I've seen in a while, actually. Its called 'Carved:The Slit-Mouthed Woman'.

''Kuchisake-Onna also known as the 'slit-mouth-woman' is said to have lived hundreds of years ago and was the wife or concubine of a jealous Samurai. Kuchisake-Onna is said to have been extremely beautiful, and also very vain. Her husband the Samurai believed her to be unfaithful to him, and one night in a rage attacked Kuchisake-Onna, slashing her mouth from ear-to-ear.''

Thats the gist of the original tale, though this movie puts a modern spin on things.
It's available from netflix for instant streaming.

I highly suggest you watch it :]

Day 5- Tuesday

Today was much like yesterday, pretty ordinary. Lots of errands in the morning and picking up, planning dinner, and computer catch up in the afternoon. Claire and Quinn were off to camp again today, so Teagan and I did the errands.

A few weeks ago, we decided that we wanted to work on a family project this summer. I thought, in an effort to keep everyone active and from becoming a couch potato, that we would come up with something that incorporated physical activity and raising money to help a charity. Quinn's immediate reaction was that we should raise money for animals. It was a good idea, and Teagan quickly followed suit, but I thought that perhaps we could raise money to help the local homeless. After a lot of bargaining with Quinn and Teagan, and finally, after promising to make a donation to the local animal shelter, everyone agreed that we would find a charity for the homeless.

We quickly set about making a chart to keep track of our progress. It is exactly 1/5 of a mile from the stop sign at the bottom of our court, up, around, and back again. So, 5 laps is one mile. We color in a square for each lap one of us makes. Our goal is 100 miles by the end of summer. We will bike, hike, jog, or walk these miles, or scooter or skate--anything as long as we are moving. I also have a pedometer in case we aren't at home.




We are hoping to make money by getting pledges from friends and family. We haven't hit anyone up yet, but we will ;)

Here is our chart with our first blocks colored. We have officially gone 2-2/5 miles. I biked two laps and walked one, as did the kids.

Those two pictures were before we started and the next one is after we finished.

Here's to a happy Wednesday!

Day 4--June 13--Mundane Monday!

We were busy, but low-key today. Claire and Quinn started at Girl Scout day camp. Claire is a helper/counselor and Quinn is a participant. She was hesitant to go, but I knew she would have fun if she did. Both had a good time, but Quinn came home and ended up with a migraine and was sick all evening. Other than a dentist appointment for Macy and regular Monday stuff, that was it! I fell asleep mid-morning watching a Japanese horror film with Macy, LOL. It actually wasn't too bad. Pretty funny though!

Here are Quinn and Claire at the beginning of camp and then after camp. They were tired but happy by then!

After:

And that is it for today!

Day 3--June 12 Sunday

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I had to have Claire at the Va. Herb Festival by 8am to help out for Girl Scouts. Turned out I got the day wrong and she was supposed to be there on Saturday. I think she enjoyed it anyway though.

We went to church, then home. Michael had a meeting for church, so we just hung around the house.

Claire did tell me about some lavender cookies they had at the herb festival. Sounded like a fun project for the afternoon, so I looked up a few recipes and found one that I liked and seemed simple enough. Some had macadamia nuts, and crystallized pineapple--that sounded good! I went with simple though.

Luckily, I have a lavender plant in the front of the house, and it had lots of blooms. I snipped and dried a few and got busy on the cookies.

The lavender before:


Dried
Batter:



Ready to be baked:

And finally! The cookies!!



Here is the recipe for the lavender cookies:

Victorian Lavender Cookies with Rose Water Icing

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon lavender, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For Icing:
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 5 1/2 teaspoons water
• 6 1/2 teaspoons rose water

Serves / Yields

About 4 dozen

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, lavender, flour, baking powder and salt.

Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes.

While the cookies bake, prepare the icing by mixing the powdered sugar with water and rose water. Drizzle over the cookies after they have cooled.

recipe from:

www.thespicehouse.com

Enjoy!!

Day 2-June 11th

The first weekend of summer break. I hadn't really planned anything, but Michael was swamped with work and decided he would go in today and pull a full day, so I figured we'd get out of the house!

We started out with a trip to the Franklin Park Pool in Purcellville, VA. I had always heard of this place, but we'd never been. So, that's where we went :) It was nice, but not the cheapest place to go. If I had spent a whole day there, I would have felt better about the money spent. We were there a couple of hours---enough to get a little burn on my arms, face, and chest, even with sunscreen.



Before pool pictures. Macy went to the car to get the sunscreen we left there.



Teagan on the lily pads and Quinn crossing the logs. These were hilarious to watch! Teagan was a trip! Quinn has always had amazing balance and did great on the logs.


Claire swimming and Teagan and Claire eating pizza. We didn't get lunch before we went, so we just got a pizza and ate there. They had a mandatory 10 min. rest every hour (adult swim), so as soon as the whistle blew, they were back in the water!

Everyone was a bit tired when we got home and they settled in for a movie on TV.
Teagan decided to work on some of his school work they sent home for the summer.
Then we danced. We danced in the kitchen, we danced in the family room, we danced all over. They found my Squirrel Nut Zipper CD and Teagan and Quinn loved it!



And then he decided to work on his muscles, LOL!

Dinner for the kiddos.....mini pizzas,


And dinner for Mom and Dad...grilled chicken and zucchini! Yummy!



And...to end the night....s'mores..............






...... a talent show put on by Quinn, Claire and Teagan. Teagan did a dance to Squirrel Nut Zippers, Claire sang Tomorrow (as in the sun 'll come out) and Quinn sang a Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana song. They wanted us to vote on a winner, but I know better, and they are all winners to me anyway! :)




Tomorrow, Claire helps with the Va. Herb Festival for Girl Scouts, but after that, hopefully it will just be a calm day.