Patapsco State Park Camping

I love camping. I really, truly do. But I do have some rules when it comes to camping. Actually there is just one rule I have followed over the years: I don't camp with babies. Nope. I can't think of anything worse then getting up in the middle of the night, in a tent, to nurse a baby. Well yes I can- being in the middle of a campground and trying to get your screaming baby to sleep in the middle of the night. 

Over the weekend I added another rule to my list: I don't camp while pregnant. We did this in Europe when I was pregnant with Clara and I vowed never again. Seems like I forgot. My discomfort, however, was my family's gain. Seeing the smiling, smoores smeared faces of those kids almost made sleeping on the ground while 7 months pregnant worth it. Almost. 

And the fall would not be complete without a stop a the apple farm!

Indian Summer

Summer is stretching on this year, and I'm taking that as a special gift just for me! The nice thing is that the humidity and heat have decreased some, so our Saturday outings have been perfect. Below are some pictures of some excursion including Roosevelt Island, Baltimore and the National Aquarium, and of course my favorite, The National Book Festival. This year was extra cool as the boys were able to listen to and later meet one of their favorite authors- Jeffery Brown. 

Another highlight was going to the local Ukrainian Festival with one of my best friends from college and her family. They recently moved to the DC area, and it was so awesome to see her after all these years!

Lake Canandaigua

With 4 kids, and one more on the way, it isn't exactly easy (or realistic) for the two of us to get away as much as we would like. As our good fortune would have it, Andrew's former colleague and good friend planned his wedding in upstate New York on beautiful Lake Canandaigua. Andrew was asked to be one of the groomsmen, so we had to call in the grandparents and ditch the kids for a weekend. It was tough...

Seriously though, the location for this wedding was incredible and we had the best weekend. The bride was Jewish, so we got to see some really cool Jewish wedding traditions- like the breaking of the glass and the "Hora" (the chair dance). So. Much. Fun. We danced like fools all night long, and at the close of the evening the groom ushered everyone outside to surprise the bride with an amazing fireworks show over the lake. Perfection.

The morning after the wedding Andrew and I woke up and had breakfast along the lake and then took a 10 minute drive to Palmyra where we went to church and toured some of our church historical sites before heading home. Walking through the Sacred Grove with no one else there was incredibly special. So glad we had this weekend to ourselves!

First day of School

And just like that we have three in elementary school! Afton started kindergarten, Luke started 3rd, and Sam is now the big man on campus in 5th grade! Watch out world, this triple threat os ready to take over! 

The first day of school was also eventful on the home front. After a milk shake up gone wrong, endless dress-up changes (the bathing suit/winter glove combo below was by far my favorite), this little one wore herself out and crashed on the couch. I promptly laid down and joined her. 

Civil War History Camp

Our family LOVES history. Nerdsville? Absolutely! 

So knowing our love of all this historical, what could be better than history camp? Not much!

The boys attended a four day camp which focused on the Civil War. They were divided up between Union and Confederate solders (Sam and Luke were Union) and learned all about the war by having reenactments, skirmishes,  musket drilling ("cock, aim, fire!") and marches. Since we live so close to many of the battle fields, there was also a trip to Antietam Battlefield. Watching the boys in their uniforms, perform reenactments on the ACTUAL battlefields was nothing short of magical. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are so lucky to live here!

   

 

     

And baby makes 7....

Ever since Clara was born I have been debating whether or not to have a 5th child. In the end we decided to take the plunge. Are we crazy? Most likely. In the moments when I am not experiencing shear panic over having 5 kids, I'm pretty darn excited about it. Since we already have 2 of each, we also decided not to find out the gender of this child. You would think my personality would not be suited for this, but I'm having a lot of fun not knowing. I'm just ready for this child to get here- I'd forgotten how hard pregnancy is. The baby's room is ready (we never put away the crib from Clara) and I even pulled out my 0-3 month girl and boy clothes and put them in the baby's dresser. We really are getting the most bang for our buck with our baby gear! Now we just have to wait 20 more weeks for this child's arrival. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Utah

Here's the thing: when you have been spoiled for two years with European vacations, it is a little hard to get excited over vacationing in the US. For example, going to Utah. We decided to make this our big summer 2 week trip and I was so not excited about it. I was looking forward to seeing family, but the sites? Not so much.

Well, I would like to publicly state that I was WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Utah was AWESOME and we had the best time there. Despite my husband's Eastern upbringing, he fancies himself something of an outdoorsman. If he could, he would settle in the mountains in a heartbeat. I really don't blame him. Utah is such a diverse state and we were able to do and see so much. Plus, we were reminded once again just how awesome our families are.

We started the trip in Southern Utah at Zion National Park. We were so lucky to be able to stay at a friends cabin and enjoy a few days at this truly amazing place. Everywhere you turn you are faced with jaw dropping views.

  

  

  

  

With 4 little kids it would be impossible to do The Narrows, but we did about 500 yards of it- along with the elderly and other families with young kids. Someday it will happen!

 

After Zion, we headed over to Bryce Canyon to take in the views, hike around a bit, and have a picnic lunch.

   

After our Southern Utah Adventures, we headed up north to meet up with my parents, my brother Dan, his wife Kristin and baby Landon. First up was a picnic and hike up at Silver Lake. 

   

Dan and Kristin are HUGE Salt Lake Real fans, and they were kind enough to deck us out and take us to a game.

   

Andrew and I took the boys to SLC for Music and the Spoken word on Sunday morning. It was a first for me as well and so cool! We also attended the "Days of 47" parade. Parade with our prophet in it? Check!

   

Another excursion (minus Afton and Clara) was a hike up to Timp Caves and then a trek through the caves themselves. So cool!!

  

   

Heritage Park- Another first for us with lots to do. It was a super hot day, but the kids loved it!!

  

We bought  passes to Snowbird which gave us all day access to their chairlifts, mountain roller coasters and fliers, alpine slide, ropes course, trampolines...is was so much fun! The best part? The place was practically empty so no long lines!

   

     

The tail end of the trip was spent up in Park City for the Willis Family Reunion. Again, have I mentioned how great our families are? I love being on the East, but I wish we could see these great people more often! We spent one afternoon at Olympic Park doing the ropes courses. The highlight was when Afton stopped mid course and refused to move, causing a huge backup. It was pretty high up and we could not convince her that she would NOT fall to the ground if she slipped. Poor thing. With the coaxing of a staff member she eventually moved on. I'm sure their were some annoyed people, but admissions did say 5 and up!

And lastly, Andrew and Pete with a couple of their cousins. Great memories of a great trip!!