While it is true I am not used to being low man on Lily's totem pole...nor do I particularly enjoy it...I do love to see how much Lily loves her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandfather and how very much they love her.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Consolation Prize
I think it would be safe to say that on our recent vacation Tony and I were Lily's consolation prize. Lily only wanted to have anything to do with Mommy and Daddy after she had exhausted (literally) every other possibility (family member).
While it is true I am not used to being low man on Lily's totem pole...nor do I particularly enjoy it...I do love to see how much Lily loves her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandfather and how very much they love her.
While it is true I am not used to being low man on Lily's totem pole...nor do I particularly enjoy it...I do love to see how much Lily loves her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandfather and how very much they love her.
Monday, June 28, 2010
A Few Of The Reasons Why I Love Family Vacation
I love family vacation. We're talking seriously L.O.V.E. it!
There's just something about having all of my chicks (well, almost all of them) under one roof that brings me an indescribable sense of peace. Throw in great weather, great setting, great food, and all of this on top of the fun and laughter we share and there's no place on earth I'd rather be.
Now, don't get me wrong...it isn't always all sunshine and roses. Anytime you have a large group of people with different personalities spending 24 hours a day together there are going to be some "moments". Those few "moments" are far outweighed by the uncontrolled laughter, the terrific storytelling, and the sheer joy we all find in just being together. It really is something magical.
Here are a few more reasons I love family vacations:
Family time.
Daddy daughter time.
Spending time with my dad.
Seeing all the cousins (well, almost all) together.
Seeing Lily and Bean play together.
Ladder golf.
Bubble baths.
Celebrating birthdays. Katie's 18th and Lily's 4th.
Spending time with the people that are special to my nieces and nephew.
Pool time.
The setting.
Flamingos. Flamingos??? Yep. I said flamingos.
There's just something about having all of my chicks (well, almost all of them) under one roof that brings me an indescribable sense of peace. Throw in great weather, great setting, great food, and all of this on top of the fun and laughter we share and there's no place on earth I'd rather be.
Now, don't get me wrong...it isn't always all sunshine and roses. Anytime you have a large group of people with different personalities spending 24 hours a day together there are going to be some "moments". Those few "moments" are far outweighed by the uncontrolled laughter, the terrific storytelling, and the sheer joy we all find in just being together. It really is something magical.
Here are a few more reasons I love family vacations:
Family time.
Daddy daughter time.
Spending time with my dad.
Seeing all the cousins (well, almost all) together.
Seeing Lily and Bean play together.
Ladder golf.
Bubble baths.
Celebrating birthdays. Katie's 18th and Lily's 4th.
Spending time with the people that are special to my nieces and nephew.
Pool time.
The setting.
Flamingos. Flamingos??? Yep. I said flamingos.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Lilypalooza 4 - The Summer Tour
Today is Lily's 4th birthday!! Can you believe it??? Our "baby" girl is 4!!!
This year Lilypalooza hit the road for a summer tour. We are on our annual family vacation to the Outer Banks. Trust me when I say that Lily was more than excited about celebrating her birthday on family vacation.
Four years ago we came to the Outer Banks for family vacation in June, too. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Lily was born that same week. Apparently, even back then she wanted to be on family vacation!
Today was a WONDERFUL day from start to finish. Lily (and all the rest of us) enjoyed every second!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Hobo
Our girl is a serious train lover. Nowadays (I didn't know that was actually a word!) it has less to do with Thomas and more to do with any train, but Lily still loves Thomas.
On Tuesday, we went to "A Day Out With Thomas" at the Strasburg Railroad. See the smile on Lily's face? It never left the entire day!
Not only did we ride on Thomas, we also took a ride on a steam engine. Again, Lily smiled ear to ear the entire time.
Don't worry, the train wasn't moving when I took the pictures with Lily's head out the window. :-)
On Tuesday, we went to "A Day Out With Thomas" at the Strasburg Railroad. See the smile on Lily's face? It never left the entire day!
Not only did we ride on Thomas, we also took a ride on a steam engine. Again, Lily smiled ear to ear the entire time.
Don't worry, the train wasn't moving when I took the pictures with Lily's head out the window. :-)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Dutch Wonderland
We spent the last few days in Lancaster, PA and had a wonderful time!
On Monday we spent the entire day/evening at Dutch Wonderland. We arrived at the park when it opened and hit all the rides and shows Lily wanted to see.
I'm sure this won't come as much of a surprise, but Lily is not much of a thrill seeker. Let's just say, unlike her mother, Lily is much more the monorail type than the roller coaster type. In fact, Lily reminds me so much of my mother in that regard. The tamer the ride, the better...just like her Mom Mom.
After Lily had gotten her fill of rides and shows we went to the hotel to change into our swimsuits and then headed back to the water park at Dutch Wonderland. Lily had such a blast!
Lily LOVED one of the little water slides and literally slid down it more than 50 times! She did checkout some of the other activities in the water park, but she kept coming back to this same little slide.
Tony and I had so much fun watching Lily having so much fun. You know what I mean???
After a long, full day at the park Lily and I headed back to the hotel with the self-proclaimed "duck whisperer" to feed the ducks. Tony did have the ducks actually eating out of his hands, but Lily was content to throw the feed to the ducks. As for me, let's just say I had no idea that my nicely painted pink toenails would be mistaken for duck feed again and again!!
Tomorrow I'll post about the fun we had at our "Day Out With Thomas". Oh, and if you want to see how much Lily has grown since our trip to Dutch Wonderland last year click here.
On Monday we spent the entire day/evening at Dutch Wonderland. We arrived at the park when it opened and hit all the rides and shows Lily wanted to see.
I'm sure this won't come as much of a surprise, but Lily is not much of a thrill seeker. Let's just say, unlike her mother, Lily is much more the monorail type than the roller coaster type. In fact, Lily reminds me so much of my mother in that regard. The tamer the ride, the better...just like her Mom Mom.
After Lily had gotten her fill of rides and shows we went to the hotel to change into our swimsuits and then headed back to the water park at Dutch Wonderland. Lily had such a blast!
Lily LOVED one of the little water slides and literally slid down it more than 50 times! She did checkout some of the other activities in the water park, but she kept coming back to this same little slide.
Tony and I had so much fun watching Lily having so much fun. You know what I mean???
After a long, full day at the park Lily and I headed back to the hotel with the self-proclaimed "duck whisperer" to feed the ducks. Tony did have the ducks actually eating out of his hands, but Lily was content to throw the feed to the ducks. As for me, let's just say I had no idea that my nicely painted pink toenails would be mistaken for duck feed again and again!!
Tomorrow I'll post about the fun we had at our "Day Out With Thomas". Oh, and if you want to see how much Lily has grown since our trip to Dutch Wonderland last year click here.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
And They Said It Wouldn't Last
Ok, I don't know who "they" are...and I doubt "they" really said it wouldn't last...but either way we sure fooled "them".
Today is Tony and my 10th wedding anniversary!!
To celebrate our anniversary we returned to the restaurant where we had our wedding reception. Unlike the 101 degree evening (seriously) 10 years ago, it was a positively beautiful evening. We sat outside and ate and tried to figure out where the last 10 years have gone.
I think it is safe to say if anyone had told Tony and I 10 years ago that on our 10th wedding anniversary we would be dining at the same restaurant while a babysitter watched our 3 year old daughter at home we would have thought they were crazy!
Back then we imagined we'd be spending our 10th wedding anniversary some place exotic. Isn't it great when life turns out even better than you imagined!?!
In honor of our 10th wedding anniversary here's a little slide show of some of my favorite photos from our wedding day.
Oh, and Patti if you're reading this...I think this makes you 4 for 4 ;-).
Today is Tony and my 10th wedding anniversary!!
To celebrate our anniversary we returned to the restaurant where we had our wedding reception. Unlike the 101 degree evening (seriously) 10 years ago, it was a positively beautiful evening. We sat outside and ate and tried to figure out where the last 10 years have gone.
I think it is safe to say if anyone had told Tony and I 10 years ago that on our 10th wedding anniversary we would be dining at the same restaurant while a babysitter watched our 3 year old daughter at home we would have thought they were crazy!
Back then we imagined we'd be spending our 10th wedding anniversary some place exotic. Isn't it great when life turns out even better than you imagined!?!
In honor of our 10th wedding anniversary here's a little slide show of some of my favorite photos from our wedding day.
Oh, and Patti if you're reading this...I think this makes you 4 for 4 ;-).
Friday, June 04, 2010
Free Lizzie
Today we released Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, and Lizzie.
If you were counting, that was a total of 6 Lizzies. Apparently, I can't count. All along I thought there were 5 larva, 5 chrysalis...but, there were a total of 6 butterflies not 5. Oops!
Turns out they weren't all named Lizzie either. Instead, we had 2 Lizzies, 2 Lilys, 1 Emily, and 1 Elizabeth. Go figure.
I was a little worried this morning that Lily might be sad about letting the butterflies go. Nope. Lily was actually quite excited to release them so "they could go and find their mother." How sweet is she?!?
I know this is going headlong into the category of 'too much information', but I can't help myself. During breakfast this morning Lily said, "I have butterfly underpants and you have butterfly underpants. I think we should wear them when we let Lizzie go." I was completely surprised by that request, but how do you turn down an offer like that? Don't worry...we had shorts on, too!
One of the butterflies (I think it was Elizabeth ;-)) was kind enough to stop by and pay us a little visit before she flew off. Lily got the biggest kick out of that.
Lily really enjoyed this entire experience and so did I. I've got to say it's the best $8.99 I've spent in a long time!
If you were counting, that was a total of 6 Lizzies. Apparently, I can't count. All along I thought there were 5 larva, 5 chrysalis...but, there were a total of 6 butterflies not 5. Oops!
Turns out they weren't all named Lizzie either. Instead, we had 2 Lizzies, 2 Lilys, 1 Emily, and 1 Elizabeth. Go figure.
I was a little worried this morning that Lily might be sad about letting the butterflies go. Nope. Lily was actually quite excited to release them so "they could go and find their mother." How sweet is she?!?
I know this is going headlong into the category of 'too much information', but I can't help myself. During breakfast this morning Lily said, "I have butterfly underpants and you have butterfly underpants. I think we should wear them when we let Lizzie go." I was completely surprised by that request, but how do you turn down an offer like that? Don't worry...we had shorts on, too!
One of the butterflies (I think it was Elizabeth ;-)) was kind enough to stop by and pay us a little visit before she flew off. Lily got the biggest kick out of that.
Lily really enjoyed this entire experience and so did I. I've got to say it's the best $8.99 I've spent in a long time!
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
A Butterfly Named Lizzie
Lily LOVES butterflies. Okay, she doesn't love it when they fly too close to her...but other than that she LOVES them!!!
Several weeks ago Lily and I were talking about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Lily remembered about the life cycle of a butterfly from one of the classes we took at the state park last fall.
Lily saw a caterpillar and was explaining to me how this "thing that looked like a worm" would someday become a beautiful butterfly. Lily is fascinated by that entire process. As a matter of fact, so am I!
I asked Lily if she would be interested in trying to "raise" some butterflies. After I convinced Lily that it actually was possible she jumped at the chance! I got online and ordered some Painted Lady Butterflies from Carolina Biological Supply Company.
We received the package containing 5 butterfly larva on May 19. Lily was so excited. I think she thought butterflies were going to come flying out of the box once we opened it!
Over the next week the larvae grew and grew. Lily enjoyed checking on them several times a day and reporting in on their progress. Here's what the larvae looked like on May 24th.
Well, sure enough, each of the larvae formed a chrysalis attached to the paper at the top of the "rearing chamber" just like the instructions said they would. After not disturbing the chrysalides for 2 days (as instructed) we relocated them to their "butterfly sanctuary" on May 28th.
Once we transferred the chrysalides to the butterfly sanctuary they all started vibrating and shaking in unison. It was really kinda creepy. There wasn't anything in the literature about this happening so I looked it up online. How did we live before the Internet??? Apparently, this is a defense mechanism to protect the chrysalides from birds. Hmm...how do you think they knew we were Parrotts???
Well...guess what happened today??? Yep. You guessed it. We are now the proud "parents" of a butterfly named Lizzie.
I can't begin to tell you how excited Lily is. She literally hopped and danced all around the room. It was incredibly cute.
After Lily's feet finally came back to Earth she couldn't wait to call Daddy, Dad Dad, Aunt BaBa, and Aunt Patti to tell them all the exciting news about our newest family member.
When Mary Beth asked Lily what the butterfly's name was Lily thought for a second and said, "Lizzie. They will all be named Lizzie."
And there you have it. The life cycle of Lizzie the Painted Lady Butterfly.
Several weeks ago Lily and I were talking about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Lily remembered about the life cycle of a butterfly from one of the classes we took at the state park last fall.
Lily saw a caterpillar and was explaining to me how this "thing that looked like a worm" would someday become a beautiful butterfly. Lily is fascinated by that entire process. As a matter of fact, so am I!
I asked Lily if she would be interested in trying to "raise" some butterflies. After I convinced Lily that it actually was possible she jumped at the chance! I got online and ordered some Painted Lady Butterflies from Carolina Biological Supply Company.
We received the package containing 5 butterfly larva on May 19. Lily was so excited. I think she thought butterflies were going to come flying out of the box once we opened it!
Over the next week the larvae grew and grew. Lily enjoyed checking on them several times a day and reporting in on their progress. Here's what the larvae looked like on May 24th.
Well, sure enough, each of the larvae formed a chrysalis attached to the paper at the top of the "rearing chamber" just like the instructions said they would. After not disturbing the chrysalides for 2 days (as instructed) we relocated them to their "butterfly sanctuary" on May 28th.
Once we transferred the chrysalides to the butterfly sanctuary they all started vibrating and shaking in unison. It was really kinda creepy. There wasn't anything in the literature about this happening so I looked it up online. How did we live before the Internet??? Apparently, this is a defense mechanism to protect the chrysalides from birds. Hmm...how do you think they knew we were Parrotts???
Well...guess what happened today??? Yep. You guessed it. We are now the proud "parents" of a butterfly named Lizzie.
I can't begin to tell you how excited Lily is. She literally hopped and danced all around the room. It was incredibly cute.
After Lily's feet finally came back to Earth she couldn't wait to call Daddy, Dad Dad, Aunt BaBa, and Aunt Patti to tell them all the exciting news about our newest family member.
When Mary Beth asked Lily what the butterfly's name was Lily thought for a second and said, "Lizzie. They will all be named Lizzie."
And there you have it. The life cycle of Lizzie the Painted Lady Butterfly.
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