Watching Supernanny, Feeling Smug

Holy crap. You need to sleep train your children. Do it when they're tiny and they'll always be well rested and feel safe. Wait and they will suffer and you will suffer. It just seems so clear to me.

Also, keep the clutter to a minimum. No one needs that many toys. If the toys aren't contained in the kids' room, there are too many toys. Be a good example and clean up the house once a day just like they should clean up their room every day.

We are very lucky that we have such healthy, happy girls and that Nathaniel and I agree on parenting them to be a part of the family, not the center of the family.

That being said, where is Super Pet-Taking-Care-Of Show? We are bad, bad pet parents now. Chester is actually at the vet's this weekend, getting sown up from a cat fight with a some wild farm beast. We didn't even see the wound for, like, three days. And we looked! But not well enough, obviously.

Ava peed on the basement floor again yesterday after going a week without a mistake. We didn't throw a stick for her all day. Then she knocked over a beer with her tail while Amanda and I were watching "Becoming Jane" and lapped up quite a bit of Corona while I was fetching a dishcloth. Cooper, meanwhile, was on my bed, eating a diaper. His second diaper of the week. Son of a monkey.

Cooper and Sonja have a darling and loving relationship. She gives him open-mouthed kisses on his nose and he licks her cheeks. She loves both the dogs so much-- she waves at them and they wag their tails back at her. It's all too cute.

I'm really digging my 30th year.

It's the best yet.

Is this the peak? Will I spend the rest of my life longing for this time? There's a lot of pressure to fully appreciate how much I have right now, how lucky I am, and how rich my life is. Like, if I don't appreciate what I have enough or take advantage of this golden time, it will be taken away from me. So, there's a good way to glass-is-half-empty the situation.

Nothing to say

Even when I had a tiny baby, I never was up at 2:00am. But apparently I can sleep with an infant better than I can sleep without my man. Nathaniel's been in NYC for 5 days. And I am not sleeping on the couch. The bed doesn't even have sheets on it. I'm having a blast with the girls, the house is cleaner than it's been in a while, I threw a party and cooked dinner from scratch for everyone, but I'm spiraling out of control once the girls are asleep. Obviously, since I'm writing this blog entry.

Here's what I got at the Swap Shop today:

2 little soy sauce cups, blue

"Cinderella" golden book (which it turns out we already have)

about 1/5 of a roll of Christmas paper

a fake apple for the girls' grocery cart

a super-cute duckie soap dispenser

What I didn't get:

A couple nice wool pillows

An ugly flowery three-legged stool that Maddie says, "is just my size!"

A bunch of Christmas porcelain crappolas

Day Fifteen: 3280 miles

Setting Mrs. GPS for home...

Home Sweet Home

After 12 hours in the car, we pulled into Gould Farm and our family and our puppies and our kitties and our log cabin Friday night! It was a long day but the girls were little troopers. We got a big heaping chunk of perspective on our trip and feel ready to enjoy the Spring on the Farm. The girls have shown us that we can take road trips with them and all enjoy it!

We said goodbye to Tom and Cathy and Dylan and took a nice drive through Charlottesville on our way out of town. We didn't stop until Maryland and then again for a last Chipotle lunch. We took our last stop in New York and had some ice cream while the sun set. Maddie and I decorated a pine tree with fallen pine cones (poor, confused tree) and sang Christmas carols to it.

Playing in the sunshine in Maryland

Poor baby Sonja, trying to get her Dad's ice cream cone

The dogs were excited to see us but not overly so-- they had a great time with Angie. It was so good to be home and put the girls in their own beds. They slept well and we woke up to a beautiful Berkshire morning-- breakfast at Main House and playing with cousins. What could be better?

Day Fourteen: Fun and Too Much Driving

Slept in until 8:00 today and then had a hotel breakfast with all the old people who stay at the Quality Inn. I am feeling better but Fox News was on and I’m sure my blood pressure was reaching a dangerous level by the time we left the dining room. Nathaniel said that having that drivel on in a public place is as bad as having the most radical anarchists screaming at you about revolution and burning the country down while you’re digesting your waffle (yes, he had another waffle).

We packed up and I stole two pens (!) from the room. Of course we didn’t get too far before we hit South of the Border and bought presents for Ben and Myra and Maddie spent her Easter money ($2.60) on a thimble and a sticker. And we may or may not have bought some fireworks. Who knows?

Holding her Pedro sticker and her South of the Border thimble-- yippee!

Fun with hats! And two pink flamingoes for Ben and Myra

My girl, trying on some Nicole Richie glamour

Then we drove right into a traffic jam and spent almost an hour sitting in the 95 North parking lot. (Que sara, says Pedro.)

Every Lincoln Towncar that we see, Maddie asks, “Is that Nana-Papa?”

We’re stopping at Chipotle’s for lunch and we just had the following conversation with Maddie:

“Do you like burritos?”
“No.”
“You like burritos!”
“No. Like chips.”

**************************

After Chipotle deliciousness (Maddie and I shared a burrito with just a little bit of rice and lots of veggies-- very "Eat This") we didn't stop again until we reached Tom and Cathy and Dylan in Charlottesville, VA. This was a mistake. Our car was on empty, Sonja slept too long, and Maddie lost her damn mind. Nathaniel and I spent about 40 minutes singing Christmas carols, trying to keep her from screaming her head off. We were so glad to get out of the car at 8:30pm and Tom's mom had made a strawberry pie that we ate with ice cream and called dinner (very "Not That").

Dylan was so excited to hold baby Sonja again and was just in love with her! It was awesome and she grinned and grinned her little Sonja grin at him. This is a great place to be!

Day Thirteen: Sight Regained

Eating some Cheerios after a good night's sleep in the Florida outdoors

We tucked the girls into their tent beds after some hot dogs and hamburgers. Maddie wasn’t a huge s’mores fan but she ate up some graham crackers right quick. Nathaniel and I stayed up late, in front of the fire, in our camping chairs—watching “Six Feet Under” on the laptop. While we were enjoying the wilderness, we heard someone come into our dark campsite. They walked up right behind us so we turned the flashlight on and no one was there! But there was a scuttling and crashing in the bushes next to us so I jumped on the picnic table in case it was an alligator. Nathaniel couldn’t see without his glasses but I was able to pick out a little grey body under the leaves—an armadillo! It was so cute and armor plated! I saw another one on the way to the bathroom and boy, they are not subtle when they are snorting in the dirt and moving through the woods. I bet alligators can hear them a mile away.

So we all slept well—it’s perfect camping weather, no bugs, cool but not cold, and not crowded. Sonja woke up at 7:10, right on schedule and said, “Ummmm” and looked over at Nathaniel and gave him a big smile. She is just a little angel. You’d have to go a country mile to find another baby as sweet. My dad said that you can tell she’s going to have a really warm personality. I think that’s totally true. Maddie has shown herself to be super warm and friendly this trip, too. She says “Thank you” to all the cashiers and servers and tour guides who’ve helped us. Two different strangers have expressed to us their concern with how friendly she is. Is it such a dangerous thing to be? Stupid dangerous world. Most people like how friendly she is. Especially since we’ve been teaching her how to say “sir” and “ma’am” while we’re down South.

My sweet Sonja, sitting up all by herself and hanging out in the tent while we break camp

My friendly little camper playing on the slide

We GPS’d our way to two phony Waffle Houses (one closed, the other non-existant) before finding one in Jacksonville. Sonja actually fell out of her car seat in the restaurant while it was sitting on the floor and she ended up under the table on her back. But we didn’t even know about it because she’s so chill that we only noticed when Nathaniel happened to see her on the floor, smiling up at us. From the brown-tiled floor of the Waffle House. Parenting award, here we come.

One of the actual locations where Mrs. GPS told us there would be a Waffle House

We headed up to Savannah, calling our insurance company and various eyeglass places on the way. We went to a Sears but there was a super cheap Eyeglass World across the street so Nathaniel went there and for $70 left with a pair of contacts. They charged extra to show you how to put them in, so I helped him in the parking lot and we had some laughs.

We drove until 8:00, our first night driving of the trip! Nathaniel started to get a little silly towards the end and I got pretty excited by all the South of the Border signs we started seeing. We barely got a room in Florence, SC and then had an okay dinner at the Olive Garden. Everyone admired our sweet Sonja, just hanging out in her seat, watching everyone go by. Of course, they all thought she was a boy because she wasn’t in pink. I don’t mind, I think she’s beautiful in blue.

She slept well in the Quality Inn and so did Maddie, except for one horrible coughing jag in the middle of the night. It was a fun road trippy day!

Goodbye Florida!

Day Twelve: Now this is Vacation!

Coloring with Jessica while the adults keep an eye on the weather

One of my favorite vacation days! We woke up at Ruth Ann’s after a nice family sleep together and there was a wild storm raging, even threatening tornadoes! Very exciting. We got clean and Maddie had her appetite back so we fed her some good stuff and she played with Jessica. Jessica was home from school and showed us her impressive collection of grasshoppers. She is so nice to Maddie and Maddie thinks she’s terrific!

My parents and Uncle Walt came over to say goodbye. Maddie got so excited that she stood at the open front door, watching for them through the rain and screamed when they came in. She’s going to miss them so much! We finally left and Nathaniel was a little crabby. I drove through the rain and traffic while the whole family slept. We stopped for some fast food for a late lunch and Nathaniel had Taco Bell. He brought Maddie with him but she wisely refused the burrito he bought her. He ate everything he ordered: A burrito supreme and a baja gordita. I got a Wendy’s salad and chili (sans finger) and Nathaniel made me promise to never let him eat at Taco Bell ever again. I felt pretty superior about my fast food choices… until I spilled chili all over my white shirt.

We stopped outside of Jacksonville at the Kathryn Hanna campground and set up camp in a fabulous Florida site, dripping with Spanish moss and shaded by tall trees. It was beautiful and had three playgrounds and a lake (full of alligators!). Nathaniel and Maddie gathered fire wood and kindling and Nathaniel made a soft bed of Spanish moss to set the tent up on. Sonja sat in her Bumpo and supervised while I unpacked and organized our stuff. Then we changed into bathing suits and headed for the Atlantic Ocean, which was about ½ a mile away.

Better than a tarp!

What a fun playhouse, Dad!

We walked out this long walkway, past dunes and gazebos, to a empty beach. It was just us and the waves and the seashells. It was definitely our “True Romance” moment that I’ve been fantasizing about. There were cool pools for Maddie to play in and Sonja, our sitting up baby, sat and watched us from her blanket. She loved grabbing the sand in her fat little hands and she didn’t even try to stuff it in her mouth.

My beach babes

Nathaniel and Maddie dug a huge hole and I wrote “Rundle” with seashells in the sand. Then Nathaniel went for one more swim in the ocean and lost his glasses in the waves. My poor, blind sweetie! Oh, well, at least it wasn’t his wedding ring.

Nathaniel, looking very abashed after being bashed by a wave and losing his glasses!

Day Eleven for Reals: Puking

Up early to get out the door and on the road. It will be sad to leave Gainesville and all our family, not knowing how long it will be before we see them again. Hopefully it will be before Sonja graduates high school, which is how long it’s been since I’ve seen my McMahon cousins!

I slept with the girls again while Nathaniel camped in the tent and it didn’t go super well. Sonja spent about an hour pooping, cheerfully. Then Maddie puked and puked and puked. She didn’t want to puke in the toilet but she puked everywhere else. Poor little muffin. Too much Easter.

We had breakfast with Uncle Pete at Clock, which I highly don’t recommend. Then we headed to the ocean! Finally! After months of waiting and all of Maddie’s anticipation, undaunted by Benjamin’s warnings against going in because of sharks, we were actually headed to the ocean! When we stopped and Maddie asked (as she always did whether we were stopping for gas or a pee break), “Go swim in the ocean?” we could say, “Yes!” Only, on the way there, she puked again. A terrible spewing puke that went everywhere, all over herself and Sonja and their car seats and clothes and hair and special blanket and scared the bejesus out of Maddie. She was tied into her car seat and it was just too sad. Nathaniel got us off the road immediately and we stripped her down and cleaned her and settled her down and tried our best with the car seats and Sonja and wondered if we should cancel the ocean. It was so unfair! We decided to keep driving to Tampa and see how things went. She dropped off to sleep once we were on the road again.

Maddie with her puke bucket and Sonja's blanket since hers was a biological hazard

We got most of the way to Clearwater Beach before she woke up and started telling us her belly hurt. We stopped and let her have some fresh air and did this many times before we caught up to my parents, who were waiting for us near the shore. Sonja had exploded a poop all over herself and we were all a little ragged by then but we sucked it up and soldiered on. My parents helped up change the girls and Nana took Maddie down to the water while I fed Sonja in the car. I missed it, but Nathaniel said that he took Maddie into the ocean and she just hated it. She had gobs of suntan lotion and sand running into her eyes and snot coming out her nose and the waves just overwhelmed her and she said, “Out of the ocean, please. Out of the ocean, Daddy.” Nathaniel said it was just too sad.

He brought her back to the beach and she ran up to our blanket behind the lifeguard station and wanted Nathaniel to come too. But he sat in the sand and started making a seat for Sonja in a little pool of water and told Maddie that he was going to stay near the water. And he said that he could see her decide, right there, to have a good time. And to enjoy the damn ocean, in spite of everything. So she came back and played in the sand and her eye didn’t stop crying and her nose didn’t stop running and I’m sure her little belly still felt crappy but she had a good time at the ocean.

Maddie, making the best of it and loving the ocean!

We put Sonja in the pool of water and she sat up! All by herself and for a long, long time! We now have a sitting up baby! Maddie helped bring her water and build a little fortress around her and she even went out into the ocean to bring back endless pails of water like a little sorcerer’s apprentice. Way to go, little trooper!

She really did like it until I took a picture! I swear!

When we were oceaned out, we rinsed off and de-sanded as much as was humanly possible (the white sand was so fine that it didn’t even grit in your teeth like regular sand does. It got everywhere. It got into my dad’s closed car trunk. I forgot how much sand is a part of the ocean experience.) We hit the road and drove to Ruth Ann’s house in Tampa for dinner with her family and Uncle Walt and Aunt Claire. It was so nice to see everyone and they fed us a delicious, laid-back meal. I was so tired. I hope I was sociable. It was nice to be with some Meuniers! I love having such a large, generous family!

Day Eleven? Ten? I've messed up my days! Anyway, it's Easter!

Happy Easter!

A real quick entry:

Church: Sonja an angel, priest very nice, other kids soooo cute in their Easter duds, nice time with parents, very long service

Dinner: Delicious and Southern! Plentiful and overabundant!

Family: So cool. They have their own softball team and play other teams every Tuesday! The young folk are all so bright and enjoy being together and they organize stuff to do with each other—very tight. And I got to see one of the twins, Taylor, who was born on the day I last left Florida. Nineteen years ago. I saw him get cleaned and have his tiny footprints stamped before his mother even held him. And now he’s a grown, handsome man with plans and ideas and a life! The baby I held whenever I could get my hands on her when I was 11 (and who in my mind’s eye looks just like my Sonja) is now a beautiful woman who holds my baby!

Chelsea and Sonja-- Chelsea wasn't even born the last time I was here! Now she's going to college to be an English teacher!

My Dad and cousin Kim

Egg Hunt: So cute! And the Easter bunny gave Maddie $2.60! Score! She basically just followed Breanna, her three-year-old cousin around and spotted an egg every once in a while and then stopped looking and ate jelly beans.

So proud of her eggs!

Nathaniel played cards with my aunts and I talked with my cousins and we all stayed up until midnight (well, not the girls of course!). It was a super-great Easter!

Day Ten: Our tent rocks!

Maddie was so happy to see her Nana and Papa again!

We spent one of the best night's of our vacation sleeping in the tent! It was the perfect temperature and we could look up to the skies and trees above us as the morning light came in. As soon as Maddie woke up, she said, "Turn light off! Turn light off!"

We had a delicious breakfast of sugary breakfast cereals and then met my parents and Uncle Pete at the Gainesville teaching zoo. We took a fun tour of the animals, an unfortunate number of which were of the bird variety.

These guys live to be 170 years old!

These peacocks were everywhere, even running free in the parking lot.

Then we ate out at a Southern B-B-Q joint and Nathaniel drank a bucket of sweet tea. I was reading the book "Eat This, Not That" and brought it into the restaurant with us. But there was a lot more "Not That" on the menu than there was "Eat This."

Some family came over for dinner and we all stayed up too late! I put the girls down inside and slept with them, which was so lovely and cuddly. Nathaniel said that he had the best night sleep of all of us, sprawled out alone in the tent.

Day Nine: We're Here!

Florida!

FedEx finally delivered Nathaniel's computer cable to Jenny and Sandy's house this morning at 10:28-- with a good 2 minutes to spare on their guaranteed delivery. It was hard to leave everyone and I hope we can come back soon-- I still want to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and eat more Flying Biscuits.

It was a long day of driving but the girls took it like champs. At our first rest stop, Maddie kissed a tree. For lunch, we went to our first Chik-Fil-A and it was delicious, just like the cow said it would be. Maddie got to play in her first fast food playground and Nathaniel got the milkshake he'd been craving. Then we headed back down Rt. 75, with Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys entertaining our way to Florida.

There are a lot of places near the border of Florida that want to give you free orange juice. And there are lots of places to see girls who are ready to bare it all-- at least according to the giant billboards. (I don't seem to see many of those billboards in the North. Oh, Bible belt, why don't you do a better job keeping pants on?)

We got into Gainesville in time for pizza dinner and ate outside in Kathleen and Richard's beautiful backyard. Nathaniel wanted to sleep in the tent so he set it up and we all enjoyed a pleasant, bug-free evening outdoors.

The girls went to sleep pretty well but they are all ready finding one another too amusing and it took a lot of giggling before they fell asleep.

Day Eight: Loving life in the ATL

Jenny and Sandy have a beautiful house and adorable doggie named Maddie! Sandy's brother Jon also lives with them and I hope he doesn't mind that our Maddie rearranged his DVD collection this morning.

We're off to the Aquarium and will post pictures later!

*******************************************************************

Here's Nathaniel recording the global coordinates for where we parked our car into Mrs. GPS so we can walk around Atlanta and still find our way back.

What? That is very specific chiropractic!

The Coco-Cola building is opposite the Aquarium and almost as expensive to tour!

I hear there's a fountain of Coke inside, but that may just be legend.

Finally it feels like we're in the South! The sun is dangerously UV-raying us and the air is humid and the sidewalk is melting our soles.

The aquarium was packed. The highlights for Maddie were: 1) The man in the orange fish costume who hugged her. 2) The whale slide where she came out of the whale's mouth. And 3) the lights on the floor that she could step on instead of looking up at the shark swimming over her head. That's why kids have free admission.

Walking through the tunnel that lets up see up into the huge tank.

Baby Beluga! This was a rescue whale from Mexico and couldn't have been more friendly and sweet. Maddie and I sang to it and she really liked seeing him.

A diver feeding a hungry octopus

We took her home to nap afterward and Sonja and I tried to make it to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Memorial Center but the traffic was against us and Mrs. GPS and I had a falling out and Sonja and I ended up at a RiteAid, buying chocolate.

When we finally got back, everyone was home from work so we went out to Piedmont Park and let Maddie play on the playground while I fed Sonja and the sun set. It was so lovely. There were tons of cute dogs and we got to see some buildings that Sandy had inspected during construction. It was just beautiful and in bloom.

Then we went to dinner at Flying Biscuit and ate some good Southern cooking. I think we're all going to come home 10 pounds heavier (well, maybe not Sonja). We should have gone to bed early but instead we stayed up to watch "3:10 to Yuma" and I painted my nails. I really botched it and ended up with more paint on my toes than my nails. And I chose a hideous color. I'm not meant to do my nails in this life.

Day Seven: Halfway through!

Cooper Riis didn't work out so we went into Ashville with Greta and Elwyn yesterday and ate a pile of Mexican food. Then we took the kids to a playground to tucker them out and admire the way the snow was falling from a blue sky. Admire with anger.

The kids deserved some fun after being so good at the restaurant. I had fun with Elwyn, too!

Always cheerful, little Sonja enjoys the playground in her snowsuit!

When we returned to the castle, Greta and John were working before we even got out of the car. We made a nest for Sonja to sleep in again and then we turned in early. I love the castle, but it really was like sleeping in a castle. Our bed was tall and thick with comforters, covered in gauzy netting and dust. There was a heavy black chandelier over our heads and old mirrors decorating the room. And cold, medievally so. We pulled Maddie into our bed both nights and used her like a hot water bag. Sonja pulled her blanket up over her head and buried herself. But it was fun to snuggle in and watch some old "Six Feet Under" on Nathaniel's iPodTouch.

We woke up early and headed out. We stopped after a couple a hours to eat at a Waffle House (making the whole trip worthwhile for Nathaniel!) and ate another pile of food. We thought we'd go to the Atlanta aquarium but when we got to Jen and Sandy's house, it turned out we were all tired and dirty so we bathed (I fell asleep in the tub) and did some laundry and watched TV: "Hip Hop Wives" and "Beyonce: Revealed." We don't have TV and are very susceptible to the flashing lights and sounds.

More later.......

Day Six: Snow?!

Getting ready for Easter with a fat, fluffy bunny!

Here's just one side of this amazing house-- and the impressive tower.

The roof is going up soon.

Looking down from up in the tower with Greta and Elwyn

We woke up to a beautiful snowfall and some surprised daffodils. Greta made us delicious pancakes for breakfast while Elwyn and Maddie played with his giant indoor tractor (castles are big!). We climbed to the top floor and then up a ladder into the tower where we could see the organic blueberry fields, the purple mountains, and their terraced gardens—amazing!

Chasing Maddie was a big part of the tractor fun.

Pancakes! And me in Nathaniel's work shirt because no one packed me a sweater for our trip to Florida. Nathaniel needed his work shirt because Greta is, quote, "A slave driver."

Greta, John, and Elwyn have an Airstream in their yard! They’re refinishing the inside to be super homey and hip. When they leave the castle, they’ll call the camper home. I’m so jealous and miss my old school, orange shag, gold puff upholstery Airstream of my youth…

Maddie got to play with the whitest, fluffiest bunny this side of Easter and Sonja sat in the garden while her Daddy raked and hoed and laid sod. We’re heading into Ashville in a little bit and hope to see Cooper Riis before this leg of the trip is over.

Playing around in the living room.

Little Polly Flinders, playing in the cinders...

Day Five: We've Got This Down

It’s freakin’ freezing cold in North Carolina! We’ve been gypped! It may even snow tonight! The good news is that we’re staying in a castle up on Blueberry Hill and it is amazing amazing amazing. We had quite a haul with the girls but they were very good, especially Sonja who is just an angel on earth. She is such a beautiful, smiley little girl and just goes with the flow. She’s sleeping on the floor in a dusty room in the castle tonight, dressed in her bunny suit because it’s so cold, and she’s just as happy and sweet as can be.

Happy bunny in her bunny suit. So cold!

Maddie is so happy to be here, too, and was a great passenger. The key is stopping every 90 minutes to 2 hours and letting her run around and play. Her dad taught her how to snap sticks over her knee and we had a picnic in the corner of a rest stop today, hiding from the wind. Let people stare.

While we were picnicking, Nathaniel and I were talking about the plan for the rest of the trip and how he felt about it. He said, “Sweetie, I’ve had a very good attitude about Florida ever since I resigned myself to going.” Hmmmm.

We’re listening to a lot of Radio Lab and This American Life on the iPod and thinking deep thoughts about the universe and who we are and what invisible forces are acting upon us to create our “identity”. I should have put some stand-up comedy on my iPod, too.

The South is a trip.

Still Day 4: Haven't left yet

Nathaniel has said "No" to Waffle House for breakfast so I think he may be coming down with the cold Maddie and I are successfully fighting off (speaking of which, why don't all tissues come with Vick's VapoRub?)  "No" to Waffle House?  And he mentioned wanting to eat a salad for breakfast-- it must be serious.

So it'll be bagels and then hitting the road.  I'm trying to let the family sleep in a little, since we surely need it.  Hopefully today will be like this.....

Maddie and Sonja holding hands in the backseat. The two of them were laughing their heads off together yesterday on the way to Chipotle for dinner.  Ah, sisters!

.....And we will all have a memorable day in the good kind of way.  Although, I just heard some thunder and that might put a damper on the scampering in the grass that makes driving bearable for little ones.  Luckily, we have a giant red tub in the back of our car to catch the water from the place where our car leaks in the rain.  Oh, yes, thank you red tub!  Oh, curse you, leaky place in the car!

Day 4: Where Will We Sleep Tonight?

The babes, all hanging out on the porch that Tom built!

Yesterday was just what the doctor ordered-- a really great doctor, like Cathy.  We got everyone some good sleep, I got to go to a World Market and buy Easter basket cuteness and Petite Palmiers, Nathaniel got to go to Best Buy and do something to Tom and Cathy's computer to make it do something about something that they wanted it to do, and the girls got to have naps.  

We went to a terrific park and Nathaniel tried his hand at the climbing wall.  He also got stuck on some spinning thing and I had to save him.  It took me a minute because I almost peed my pants laughing so hard. 

 

There were lots of spinning devices at this park-- please note my headband from the World Market-- it might not go with a ponytail, but it was only $2.00 marked down from $7.99, 

so there you go.

The beautiful Sonja, post nap and long walk with Mommy.  She loves to swing.......

But please don't take her binkie!

These two give two-year-olds a good name.  

They are sweet little friends and both so nice to Sonja.

Virginia is so civilized, with it's beautiful weather and brick buildings and fat gobs of history.  I really love it here but I know it's going to get too hot for Nathaniel very soon.

We're off to North Carolina today, but I'm not entirely sure where we're going to sleep.  We can't get ahold of our friend that Nathaniel made plans with, so maybe we'll go to Cooper Riis.  Although, Nathaniel had a dream last night that we did that and no one knew us and Maddie was running all around and we just went to the dining room and sat down and ate.  Which actually might not be that far from reality.