Make Playdough

Silly me...when the girls added "make playdough" to the list I decided to save it for a rainy day. What fun, I imagined, to spend a whole dreary summer day inside with the girls whipping up new playdough recipes and creating masterpieces until our hands cramped, our fingers ached, and we could create no more. Yeah, that didn't happen. Instead, I waited one 100 degree day after another while the summer days ticked by and we slowly started to run out of time. Like I said, silly me, playdough making would have been the perfect air conditioned INDOOR activity for anyone of those sizzlin' summer days. Ah well, you live and learn! Finally, after days of Bug's pleading to get started, I let go of my little fantasy, and we picked a Saturday afternoon to get working. We decided to spice things up a bit by trying out five different types of playdough recipes and experimenting to see which one we liked the best. Who knew there are so many different recipes for playdough out there?? The ones we picked were Alum, Traditional, Kool Aid, Cooked, and Rubbery playdough. We also decided to add food coloring and glitter. Making playdough with four kids and a dog in our small kitchen was quite the project, but we managed to get it done and somehow everyone got an equal turn at adding ingredients and stirring the dough. My counters, floor, and stove did end up covered in flour, baking powder, and salt, but that was to be expected. Besides, things couldn't have worked out more perfectly because the teeny one decided to take a nap after we were done cooking and the big girls and I zipped off to an afternoon movie which left Mac to clean up the mess:) We got back home stuffed with popcorn to a clean kitchen and the girls got right to work creating and scultping. They have played for hours and hours with that playdough! Next time, I won't wait so long to make it and they will have even more time to play. Oh, and there is a debate over which type was the best. I guess we will just have to try out even more recipes until we can come up with a clear winner.

Flower Picking

Thank goodness for Butler's Orchard AND for this past Friday! I am so grateful for Butler's because we have spent so many of our summer days there this past year, and if it weren't for them I am not sure what I would have done when Peanut decided to add flower picking to our summer list. I held my breath in anticipation waiting to see if Mrs. Butler's flower garden would be open again this year, otherwise, I was going to have to sneak the girls out in the middle of the night and let them loose on a neighbor's yard. That, or beg a Grandmother to let them have a go at one of their well tended gardens. Luckily, it WAS open and my sister in law, Megan, and her three girls were once again able to join us in checking an item off of the list.

After all of these hot, hot, HOT summer days we somehow managed to pick the perfect day to complete this activity. This was pure chance, because I didn't even check the weather before we walked out the door. We had a head start getting to the fields so we headed to the slides while we waited for Megan's crew. Oh, what a beautiful summer day! The sky was blue with fluffy, white clouds, and there was an actual BREEZE. It felt wonderful sitting in the grass with the teeny one and Peanut while the big girls went down the slides. Of course, I should have known what would happen when I took them to the slides. I should have known Peanut would beg me to take her down the slide. But, somehow I didn't, and so I ended up going down the big belly bumper slide. In a skirt. Without the Peanut. She chickened out when it was too late for me to turn back. Little booger!

When Megan's gang joined us we spent a little more time on the slides and then headed off to the flower fields. How it works is, you give your child a knife to hack away at the flowers and for $8.00 they can stuff as many flowers as they can fit into a cup. No joke, we handed each little girl a knife and set them off to run around the field. Welllllllll, pumpkin cutters, so they are not sharp. On the way to Butler's and again walking to the field I had a long talk with the girls about how we were only going to get ONE cup of flowers and share that ONE cup. They were surprisingly agreeable. After about five minutes of picking flowers I heard a voice ring out, "Mom, Peanut filled another cup!!" Sigh. Okay, TWO cups, no more! It really is a lot of fun to pick the flowers. They have a large variety and if I knew anything about flowers I could list the different types here, but since I don't I will just say they have a lot of different types in a lot of different colors. I can say they have sunflowers. An added bonus is all the butterflies that are swirling around you as you pick flowers. I had a sniffly mommy moment watching Girly running around the field with the butterflies. Eight years ago we picked flowers at Butler's for the first time when she was just two years old, she had chubby little cheeks and wispy blond hair, and would grab at the butterflies and almost crush them in her hands. This year when I asked her to catch one so I could recreate a photo from that long ago day she looked at me in horror because she didn't want to hurt it's wings. Ahh, she is growing up so fast! It took her a long time, but she finally was able to gently catch one by cupping her hands around it. When she opened her hands to get a picture with the butterfly all I got was one with her standing with her hands open and empty. The butterfly was too fast, just like all of the days that have flown by since that picture was taken of her proud little two year old self holding up the butterfly for her Mommy to see what she caught. Sniff. Oh, thank goodness for Butler's, so very many happy memories created there!

A Slip Down A Wooden Slide

After a little break from the list to do some much needed household chores, we are back on track!!

First item on the agenda...slide down the wooden slide. Now, this little addition to the list did not come from my girls or I, it came from Jennie, the BFF. She has been trying to get me down this wooden slide for some time now but our schedules never seemed to work out. Soooo, to ensure that we made it there this summer I added it to the list. This slide is located at Mt. Tabor park, which is located God knows where because I followed Jennie and her neighbor in my car and I have no idea where they took me. I just know we passed a LOT of farms. The slide is a huge wooden contraption that looks kind of like a bowling alley lane with a big pile of wood chips at the bottom. Jennie told me it was going to be a lot of fun, what she did not tell me was that it was a little, umm, hazardous. I became a little suspicious of this fact when glancing around the park and spotting several signs saying, "MT. TABOR Park is not responsible for any accidents". Hmmm...haven't seen that sign at any of the other local parks that I have stumbled upon. The next little clue was when we walked over to the slide and saw the other kids whizzing down at out of control speeds twirling and hitting the walls. I glance at Jennie. What in the world has she gotten us into???? Well, it was on the list, we came all this way, so what else was there to do but climb the ramp and take a turn down the slippery slope. Besides, you know your kids are in for some good, wholesome fun when most of the other kids who are visiting the slide are Amish. The big girls were all for it, they were a bit nervous, but they went up right away and came on down. Peanut took some convincing and I had to go on up with her. So here we go again, brave mama face, smile, drag her a little, and slide. Wheeeee! It was fun, a little scary, and my heels were burning from trying to control my speed by digging them into the wooden planks, but fun all the same. The hardest part was the bottom. More wood chips were needed because you just kind of hit a little one foot drop which had me worrying about kids falling back and hitting their heads. We did have a few tears due to slide burns, but that was from the little ones who were refusing to use the towels or pillowcases that we brought along. The big girls even upped the ante by using wax paper for an even faster ride. We ended up on the slide for about 45 minutes and had to stop when all the kids were either dripping with sweat from climbing the ramp or too scared to go down for fear of future burns. The park also had swings and the biggest self propelled merry go round that I have ever seen. You could have fit about twenty or so kids on that thing! The kids loved it and are already begging to go back to take their cousins along. A good plan, although, I have visions of the daddies whipping my little ones around that merry go round while they hang on for dear life with their legs flying out behind them! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and if you ever decide to visit be sure to pack a lunch or snack, or at least lots of water, to replenish the children of all the energy they use climbing the ramp so many times.

Dress like a cow!

A funny thing happened this time last year, my mother and I stumbled into Chick Fil-a for a late lunch with the girls and discovered...cows! People dressed like cows that is! I was sitting at the table when I looked to my right and saw a whole family dressed like cows. "They sure are strange," I thought. Then I look to my left. More cows. What in the world was going on? The whole place was filled with people dressed like cows. It took a good few minutes, but my mom and I finally figured it out (with the help of a sign), it was "Cow Appreciation Day" and if you dressed like a cow you got a free meal. Last year I said, "Those people are NUTS! I will gladly pay for my own chicken sandwich, thank you very much!" This year, well, ahem, this year I am sporting spots. Cow spots that is. On my shirt. On my toes. On my children. And, um, on my mom, sister, niece, two nephews, and my best friend's boy. I just had to do it. I just had to join in on "Cow Appreciation Day" when I knew it was coming. I saw the sign and somehow it got added to our list. This year WE were the crazy people everyone was staring at and thinking, so not worth a free sandwich! But guess what? Even without the free meal, I would have done it again!! It was just too much fun to dress up like cows! You should have felt the level of excitement in my house this morning while we were dressing up all the kids...it was like getting ready for the prom! Giggling girls running around everywhere, checking each other out! And, that was just my mom, sister, and I. You should have heard the kids!! Then, we had to drive to pick up my friend Jennie's son up from daycare. A small group of children staring at me like I was crazy, and their teacher said nothing! She must have been warned. Jen must be telling stories about me because the woman didn't even blink. I am not sure what the residents of Frederick thought about the caravan of cows driving through town, but I am sure we caused quite a few double takes. Once we got to the restaurant it was fun to mingle among the other cow folk. Although, I must admit to partaking in some odd form of cow snobbery. I mean, really, some of those other cows just had paper spots pinned to their shirts!. Ours were the far superior felt spots properly glued to our shirts (even though I goofed on the ears a little and we all looked a little like Shrek). Truly, I don't see why we don't do this everyday! We should go to McDonalds dressed like clowns, Roy Rogers dressed like cowboys, Burger King dressed like royalty! The list goes on and on. And, I am sure my family would go along with me. They must be used to my crazy ways by now...it took hardly any convincing to get them to dress like cows after all! I think they secretly love that I force them to do all this weird stuff! I wonder what else I can make them do...hmmmm!?!? I can't wait to find out!

So, we did it, we dressed like cows! Another item completed from the list, even though this was a late addition, we got it done. And, I learned a little, too. I learned that making cow costumes actually costs MORE than what we would have paid for our meals, and that it takes a whole lot of time to cut out spots, but it sure is a whole heck of a lot of FUN!

Play in a Waterfall AND go to the Zoo

Wow! We are really on a roll now! Because Monday was a holiday and Mac had off of work we decided to knock two items off of the list. We started off at Cunningham falls to "play in a waterfall." Joining us were Mac's parents, his sister, and her family. Now, technically, I could have claimed three items because we DID hike to the falls, but I will leave it at two (unless, of course, we don't go on another hike before Labor day, then this one will count). With two strollers in tow we decided to take the lower, easier path to the falls. The girls, all seven of them, seemed to have a fun time walking on the way up. There were critters to see, a toad, two chipmunks, a salamander, and a millipede, wild raspberries to taste, and rocks to climb, lots and lots of rocks! Peanut wanted her picture taken on EVERY single one. Needless to say, it took us a while to reach the falls, but get there we did! Hmm...when I decided that we must play in a waterfall this summer I didn't quite realize what the falls would look like. A huge, treacherous rock with water trickling down! How were we going to play in that? Should I risk my little darlings, life and limb, to cross an item off of the list? Well, yeah, we gotta do what we gotta do. Kind of. We cheated. Just a little. We actually played at the BOTTOM of the falls where they collect in a nice little pool. Well, Mac, my brother in law, and five of the girls did. We just had to ignore a little, tiny sign that said, "No Swimming." Of course, nothing could have prepared my little princesses for the shock of cold mountain water (please refer to "go swimming" blog here). Bug and two of my daredevil neices jumped in right away. Girly had to be encouraged a little, persauded a lot, and finally, bribed with silly bandz to go across. Peanut opted out of this one, no amount of silly bandz was going to get her body in that water, not that I blame her! She decided to do her own thing and had the best time sorting and making little piles of rocks all over the huge, rock base. We left the place behind with it looking like some weird form of "The Blair Witch Project." Everywhere you looked there were these odd, little pile of rocks.

After the falls and a quick lunch, we headed to the Catoctin Zoo. Now, this zoo is where you go when you want to get up close and personal with the animals. Tucked right off of 15, it looks like it would be a little hole in the wall that maybe houses five animals. However, once you enter it is really rather nice. Some of the animals probably could have bigger cages, but they seemed to be very happy and very active. No giraffes or elephants, but they do have lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, deer, tortoises, snakes, and many, many more animals. They also have a new safari that I am dying to try and on some days camel rides. While at the zoo, my family is one who definitely likes to take their time. The girls love to watch the animals and Mac loves to narrate what they are thinking, the animals that is. Very amusing, to me at least. Which, I guess is a good thing considering I married him (and he also does it with pictures). We got to feed deer, goats, fish, ducks, a three legged donkey, and a llama. The girls even got to pet tortoises, before I realized that their tiny hands were tucked into the pen and screeched for them to take them out. You really DO get up close and personal with the animals at this zoo! The tigers are so close you could really just jump a small fence and get mauled if you wanted to. Luckily, we saved that for a future list. The teeny one just loved all the animals and spent about ten minutes growling at the tiger. Like I said, we really like to take our time at the zoo! Even though the place is mostly under shade, it was HOT on Monday and we all started to wilt after a while. Tired, sweaty, hot, and dirty we decided to call it a day. After a mini family tailgating party with Popsicles and watermelon we all piled into our cars to head home. I eagerly situated myself in my seat and grabbed the camera to look at the pictures we had taken. I started laughing. The camera screen said, "Battery exhausted." Mine too, camera, mine too!!

Blueberry Picking!

Blue skies and a summer breeze...what a perfect day for blueberry picking! Yesterday the girls and I met up with my mother in law, my sister in law and three of my nieces for a fun day at Butler's Orchard. Blueberry picking is always extra exciting because you get to have a tractor ride to the field. We were in for an extra thrill this time because the driver started us off in such a jerky fashion that we almost fell on the floor! In fact, one poor little guy did end up on the floor and he wasn't too happy about it. When picking blueberries with seven little girls, how can it be anything else but a great time? Usually, these girls pair off by age, but today they tried something different. Girly tended to my baby niece, picking her up for her to pick berries. Bug paired up with my five year old niece, and together these two giggled and ate more berries then they put in their bucket. Peanut hung out with the eldest, and those two were a perfect pair because their competitive spirits took over and they searched for the biggest blueberry. It was kind of nice for things to be so different, and I was more interested in watching them all interact with each other than in picking berries. The teeny one discovered a love of blueberries and I couldn't break off little pieces fast enough, as soon as she saw one she would start grunting! I don't blame her, these are the only blueberries that I will eat. Something about a warm, juicy berry just makes it so much yummier!

For an even better time, Butler's had their slides open. Peanut convinced me to go down the big slide with her so I had to put my brave mommy face on. You know, the one I wear when I am trying to pretend like I am having a great time but inside I probably have more butterflies than she does! Hey, you should have seen this slide! It is pretty steep AND you have to go through a bumpy tunnel. At one point on the way down I started feeling out of control and began to wonder if I was going to even be able to stop, but luckily Butler's designed the slide just right and we landed at the bottom safe and sound. Phew, it wasn't too bad, we even went down again!

After we got home we decided to try out a new recipe and make blueberry crumb muffins. It required a trip to the grocery store and we tweaked the recipe a little to make a batch of gluten free ones for Girly. All the work of making muffins from scratch and the girls ended up not even liking them:( Too many blueberries they said, little stinkers! Oh well, Mac liked them and the dog LOVED them, so much so he had to jump up and knock them off the counter to eat them!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Isn't it amazing that you can't recreate a moment? It seems like it would be such a simple thing to do, but it is just NOT possible. So many times I have been somewhere and felt such a wave of pure happiness that all I could think about was how to recreate that feeling, that very moment in my life, but it just doesn't happen that way. You can't do it. Once it is over, it is gone, and I think that in trying to recreate it you take something away. I had to learn this the hard way, so many times I would feel this and even as I was feeling so happy inside, part of me was trying to think of ways to recreate it. I would plan everything out...the same people, the same place, even the same time of day, but it was never quite the same. It took being a Mom for me to learn that you can't make special moments happen, they just do, so you better grab hold and enjoy it while you can because once it is gone, it's gone, never to be experienced in quite the same way again.

Last night was a series of moments, such sweet, special ones I just wanted to hold onto them forever. We took the girls to the Keys game with Mac's grandfather, his parents, and our niece. Driving to the game the three big girls sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" the whole way there. The baby cooed and squealed the entire time, so delighted that her big sisters were so entertaining. I dressed the girls in red, white, and blue to celebrate going to a baseball game, the all- American pastime. When we got there, we found my niece dressed in red and white, completely unplanned, but perfect all the same. We had great seats. The kids ate popcorn and pretzels for dinner. They rode a carousel and jumped in a moon bounce. They played games. Bug and Peanut won prizes. Girly and my niece didn't, but they didn't even complain. The mascot came up to us and the girls were on the Jumbo screen. The Keys won. The kids all got to run around the bases at the end of the game. We watched the fireworks and the baby was so enchanted by the lights that she reached for the sky. When we walked to the car Grandpa held my niece's little hand the entire way, even though he was limping and his knee hurt. The girls sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" the whole way home. When brushing her teeth, Girly said to me, "Hey Mom, I guess some of those kids have already run around the bases a million times and that is why they didn't want to do it." I asked, "If you had already run around the bases a million times, would you still do it again?" She gave me a big nod and smile. Perfect answer. So many great moments, so sweet, and so special even though I could feel them slipping through my fingers never to be experienced in quite the same way again. Another great day. Another great adventure. Another item checked off the list.