Samantha: 50 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 15 Months, Week 2 (Week 67)
Tuesday morning we had a play date at our new friend Stephanie's house with some other OBF moms and their kids. It was rescheduled from another date, and I was looking forward to getting to know some new ladies and letting Samantha and Aedan meet some new friends. The kids played inside for awhile with toys, and then we had a snack of cheese, crackers, and grapes before getting changed to go play outside in the pool and sprinkler. Their pool was about the same size as our baby pool except theirs had a small slide built into the side. Samantha really liked the slide and kept going down it over and over again, splashing into the water and into the side of the pool at the bottom. Aedan was having fun too and went in the pool for a little while, but he was acting really tired and kind of fussy that morning, making him a little more hands-on to deal with. It was really fun though, and the moms were all able to get to know one another a little bit better through it. I will definitely have to initiate and invite them over to our house some day as well.
We left Stephanie's a little too late that afternoon, making the kids extra hungry and tired by the time we got back home. It's always difficult trying to get lunch ready when both kids are being cranky and whiny. After lunch was over and I was cleaning up the dishes, I heard Aedan start crying. Samantha and Aedan were in the play room together. When I walked in to see what was going on, I saw her leaned over his arm giving him a kiss. I asked her what she did, and she avoided the question. Then, once I got closer to Aedan, I saw the bite mark on his arm. After I saw that I sent Samantha up to her room for a long time out. After talking to her, I discovered that she was pretending to be a bear where she growls and chases him around the house. He loves this game, giggling and running away from her. However, biting has never been a part of this game. She was tired and wasn't thinking about her actions, but that was no excuse for her behavior. As you can see in the picture, she bit him pretty hard, leaving teeth indentations all around his arm. The marks began to fade fairly quickly, but he had some bruising for a couple days afterwards. I didn't quite know how to handle the situation because I almost felt like she should have a harsher punishment than just a time out because she knows better than to bite, especially her little brother, and especially this hard. I knew she felt bad about it after all this happened, and hopefully she had learned her lesson and won't ever bite him or anyone else again.
Tuesday night we decided to make a family trip into Oxford together. I needed to stop by TJ Maxx and find shoes to wear with the new dress I bought for the wedding Ben and I were attending the coming weekend. Plus, we needed to stop at Kroger and pick up a few odds and ends to get us through the rest of the week. We decided to get pizza out as well and tried a place we'd never tried before called Will's. Back at the end of the semester when Ben ordered pizza for his class, Will's was one of the top choices of local pizza chains. We figured that if college students liked it, it must be good pizza. We didn't know this ahead of time, but they had a deal on Tuesdays for $10 for a large pizza, not too bad. Anyways, we were really impressed. So far, no pizzas in Oxford have impressed us, whether chain or local, but this was good, fresh, cheesy pizza with good tasting crust. We will definitely have to try this again, and it may become our go-to pizza place. Not as good as Mother Bear's in Bloomington, but still pretty good. :)
Daddy planned to stay home on Wednesday because the weather was supposed to be really nice, and we wanted to take the opportunity to go to a place called Miami Whitewater Park. Many people have recommended it to me, but we have not had a chance to make it out there yet. The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for time to get wet at the splash pad. When we first arrived the splash pad was not open yet, so we played on the large playground first. There were many places to climb as well as swings off in a different area.
The park is surrounding a lake and there was an area where some ducks were swimming and sleeping in the grass. Samantha wanted to go see the ducks and was trying to reach for them, but they would obviously run away as soon as she came near. Daddy was pushing Aedan on the swing but once he got down and saw "Mantha" somewhere else, he had to check out what she was doing. Aedan thought the ducks were SO cool. He kept pointing at them and walking after them. I told him they were ducks, and he kept saying, "dug dug" which is the word he uses when talking about Roscoe. Maybe he just knew it was some kind of animal and that's his term for them. Samantha kept trying to feed the ducks grass or rocks, which they didn't appreciate. However, we did not have any bread or anything like that to feed them at that point. Aedan was very interested in the ducks swimming in the water and kept trying to get close to the pond, too close sometimes. Samantha was good with just sitting on the rocks and watching the ducks. But we are just at that point now where we have to move on sometimes because of Aedan, his attention span, and not causing him frustration for no reason.
From there we drove to a little nature trail for a small hike to help pass some time before going back to the splash park after 11:00 when it opened. Earlier in the day Aedan saw the area through the fence and desperately wanted to go in, so he was pretty excited when we got to go play in the water. Samantha went right in, climbing up the boat, running through the fountains, and going down the slides. Aedan, however, is always a bit more apprehensive about places with water and a lot of kids running around. He likes the idea of it, but it takes him awhile to warm up. Ben and I took turns keeping our eye on either Samantha or Aedan. There were a lot of preschool and daycare groups there, so there were quite a lot of kids to watch out for.
Samantha really liked the slide, and Aedan wanted to try it as well, but he can't really do stuff like that on his own yet. He can't sit up straight on a slippery slide without falling backwards and hitting his head. Daddy volunteered to take him down the slide, but it was difficult to slide down and easy to get stuck.
After playing in the water for awhile, everyone was getting hungry so we took a break to eat our picnic lunch. It's always difficult to get our kids to eat well when in a place with lots of commotion like this, but they ate enough to satisfy us anyways, then it was back to playing in the water. Samantha started to wander around aimlessly and then just sat out wrapped up in her towel. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we took this as our cue to wrap things up at the splash park. We convinced them to leave by telling them we could go feed the ducks with some of our leftover sandwich bread from lunch. They were both so very excited to see the ducks again and being able to feed them. Aedan didn't quite understand how to throw the bread on the ground for the ducks to eat, but with a little help, he participated as well.
We stopped at the boathouse and got some ice cream before heading out for the day. Aedan fell asleep almost instantly in the car, and we were able to keep Samantha awake for the car ride home so that she could take a longer nap in her own bed. Aedan is good about going back to sleep even after falling asleep in the car. Samantha, on the other hand, if she fell asleep in the car, that would be all of her nap for the day and half an hour isn't quite long enough.
Thursday morning I was undecided what to do. It was going to rain pretty much all day long. I wanted to get out and do something with the kids since we only have a week or so left before preschool starts and summer is over. Last week we saw the free movie at the movie theater and Aedan did so well that I figured we could try it again. They were playing Paddington, and I remembered seeing previews for the movie back when it first came out and thought it was cute. Anyways, we met up with a couple other Oxford moms and kids, and Samantha was excited to be able to sit next to Lydia and Alanna. We brought our own snacks and water this time so that way I wouldn't have to deal with Aedan choking on any popcorn or wanting to drink Samantha's icee. Samantha really enjoyed the movie and thought that the bear was really silly. Aedan did pretty well at the beginning, and I could tell he was getting tired, but he was not interested in taking his pacifier and going to sleep, he just kept trying to throw whatever I gave him on the floor. Then, he started climbing around on the seat and climbing over the armrest onto Samantha's seat. She liked that Aedan was trying to snuggle with her, and they even sat next to each other, with her arm around him, for a couple minutes. However, he then started climbing down the seat wanting to get down on the floor. When I tried to move him, he got even more grumpy, so I decided to take him out of the theater and let him walk up and down the little hallway that leads into the main seating area. Samantha was fine sitting with her friends, and there was only about 20 minutes or so left anyways. We had a good time, and Samantha really enjoys the experience, but I don't think we will go again. The first time when Aedan fell asleep was just a fluke because he was so tired from being out for VBS, I think. Here is a picture of Aedan trying to attack Samantha during the movie.
Thursday evening was spent giving the kids baths and getting ready for our weekend away. When Aedan gets out of the bath, we always put his hoodie towel on his head, and he runs around the house with it streaming behind him. I just had to get a this on video, although I cropped it some so that you couldn't see his naked body. He loves playing the game where you say, "I'm gonna get you!" And he runs away squealing loudly. What a fun loving little boy!
Originally, Grandpa and Grandma were going to spend the weekend at our house in Oxford while Ben and I drove to Asheville, NC for Lucy and Ian's wedding, but plans changed and they needed to be back in Upland on Sunday evening. So we decided to meet them in Richmond on Friday morning at 9:30 so Ben and I could get on the road. The drive was about 6-6 1/2 hours, which is pretty long for a weekend trip, but seems much more manageable when it's just at trip with two adults and no kids. We stopped in Lexington, KY to eat lunch at a Chuy's (had to fit that in somehow), and we got to Asheville around dinnertime. We stopped at a local restaurant called the Moose Cafe for dinner because it was a country cooking restaurant with pretty good reviews. It was very similar to the feeling of a Cracker Barrel but with more local flair. The food was pretty good, but nothing too spectacular. Ben and I just enjoyed eating out twice in one day together without having to feed kids. We were able to talk to each other uninterrupted. It was very nice and relaxing, especially because we knew the kids were in good hands with Grandpa and Grandma. This was the first time we'd been away for more than a day excursion since before Aedan was born, and it felt so good to have time with just the two of us for a change.
Ben and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Asheville and decided to get up on Saturday morning to go on a hike or two off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a great day and beautiful weather. The drive was BEAUTIFUL up through the mountains, and the views from the top were breathtaking.
We stopped along the parkway to take a 3.8 mile to see some waterfalls. There were lower falls and upper falls. It was a moderate hike with some stairs to climb as well as rugged terrain with rocks and tree roots to step over, one of those hikes we would have never done with kids in tow. That was our mantra for the weekend, doing things we wouldn't be able to do if Samantha and Aedan were with us. We had a wonderful morning hiking together and talking. I'm glad we chose to spend our morning this way. :)
After hiking, we got Subway sandwiches for lunch, stopped by the outlet mall to get Ben some new Nike tennis shoes, and then went back to the hotel to get ready for Lucy and Ian's wedding at 4:00 p.m. They got married at a working farm. The ceremony was outside under a large tree for shade. It was simple, but very nice and sincere. The reception was in a large banquet room on top with stalls for animals down below. We saw a few people we knew from Ben's grad program at IU, and got to catch up with them some. They had barbecue and southern sides buffet style for dinner, followed by dancing and cake. We had a good time but felt like we were old people when we started getting tired around 8-8:30. Having kids makes staying out later hard to do sometimes. :) We were so glad to be able to attend Lucy and Ian's wedding. Here is a great picture of the two of them before they cut the cake.
Since the kids were going to be staying the night in Upland on Sunday night as well, Ben and I had the whole day to ourselves. We bought tickets to tour the Biltmore Estate and were really looking forward to our time there. We checked out of our hotel and arrived shortly after the house opened. It was unreal how large it was, as to be expected, I guess, since it was around 178,000 square feet, four acres of house spread over four floors. Here are some pictures of the front from the raised platform across the driveway.
From there we picked up our speakers for the audio tour and made our way around the inside of the house. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the rooms, which is unfortunate, because they were decorated exquisitely. The house has 35 bedrooms as well as 43 bathrooms, which I found to be amazing since most homes in America in 1895 did not have any indoor bathrooms. I love touring old houses like this because it gives such an interesting glimpse into the lives of people in history, like the house is frozen time time, exactly like it would have been over a hundred years ago.
These first two pictures were taken by me of the loggia and the view from it. Mr. Vanderbilt had a tower built so that he could decide what the perfect view would be, and from there they made designs for the house so that this perfect view could be seen from the first floor, as you can see in the picture.
Here are some other pictures I got from the Biltmore website, since we couldn't take pictures inside, found here and here. They are in no particular order of where they are located in the house.
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| Banquet Hall |
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| Grand Staircase |
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| Loggia |
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| George Vanderbilt's Bedroom, Located on the 2nd Floor |
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| Edith Vanderbilt's Bedroom, Located on the 2nd Floor |
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| Breakfast Room |
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| Gymnasium, Located in the Basement |
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| Halloween Room, Located in the Basement |
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| Main Kitchen, Located in the Basement |
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| Library |
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| Oak Sitting Room |
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| Servant's Bedroom, Located in the Basement |
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| Third Floor Living Hall |
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| Swimming Pool, Located in the Basement |
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| Tapestry Gallery |
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| Winter Garden |
After we finished our tour of the house, we returned our listening devices and went to get some lunch. They had several choices of restaurants and we decided since we didn't have kids and had already been on our feet for awhile, that we would try the sit-down restaurant. Once we finished our lunch, we headed off towards the gardens.
After we were done at the gardens, we drove to the Antler Hill Village which was set up to show you "the everyday lives of families who lived on the estate raising livestock, tending crops, and working at Biltmore Dairy in the early 1900s." There wasn't too much that interested us there, so we just briefly walked around before finally leaving Biltmore around 3:45. It was time for us to head home, as we still had a long drive ahead of us.
We had a good trip back home, relaxed together, talked together, read a book to each other, making it home around 10:00. Ben and I were pretty tired, so after we got unpacked and settled in, we went to bed. It was so strange being in our house by ourselves, no kids in their rooms, and no dog wandering around. Ben and I had a wonderful weekend together. It was so refreshing and rejuvenating. I love having one-on-one time with my husband, and this weekend was just what we needed.
Plus, Samantha and Aedan were having a great time and were being loved on by Grandpa and Grandma. We talked to them each day and got great reports of their behavior. I asked them for some pictures, videos, and commentary, so here are some words from Grandma.
"We met at Richmond around 9:30 in the morning on
Friday. In order to make a smoother
transition, we exchanged cars. That
allowed us to take everything, even the car seats, without switching them. After we arrived home, it was almost lunch
time but we wanted to get the car unpacked, set up the pack ‘n play, and let the
kids play before we ate. Both Samantha
and Aedan did a great job all morning. I
find it interesting that Aedan copies so much what others do."
"After lunch, we went outside for a while and
I wanted to pick a few green beans for dinner.
We took a bucket, and both Samantha and Aedan joined me. Samantha did a great job looking for the big
green beans, and Aedan did a great job carrying the bucket. He saw Samantha and me pull something from
the plants so he proceeded to pull
leaves from the plants and put them in the bucket. Thankfully, it did not take long to get
enough beans for the evening meal so we were able to leave the plants before
they lost very many leaves."
"After naps and dinner, we were able to take Aedan and
Samantha outside to play. They both
enjoy the swings we have for them, and Samantha enjoys trying to climb one of
our trees. Aedan especially enjoys
getting some of the many balls out of a container we have in the garage. He seems to know which balls are for
kicking, which are for hitting with a bat, which are for throwing into the
basketball goal, and which are for hitting with a golf club. I found him trying to hit the golf balls with
a stick he found on the ground. Later in
the weekend I got one of the golf clubs out and he enjoyed carrying it around
and trying to hit a golf ball with it."
Grandpa sent me this video with the title, "Aedan can play skee ball."
"On Saturday morning we took a walk to Taylor’s campus,
walked around the Science building, and later stopped where the construction is
happening for the new student center.
Both the kids enjoyed seeing the men work and seeing the crane move
heavy pieces of steel beams."
"In the afternoon, Bill remained home with Aedan so he could
nap, and Samantha and I headed to the Kokomo water park. We were to meet Uncle Andrew, Aunt Jeni, and
Alaina there. We arrived around 1:30 and
had a great afternoon at the water park.
I had never been there before but it was an excellent place for children
of all ages. There is also a lazy river
there so Samantha and I went several rounds on that. The first time she sat in her own tube but
eventually fell out of that so for the rest of that round and the remaining ones,
she rode with me on my tube. On the way
home we picked up a pizza that Bill had ordered at TOPPIT. It was good to have a TOPPIT pizza
again. After Aedan’s nap, Bill was able
to play one-on-one with Aedan. They had
a great time together playing inside and outside."
"On Sunday the children went to church with us in the
morning, took their naps in the afternoon, and we decided to go to the
baptismal service in the evening although there were sprinkles in the
area. The baptismal service was held at
a country home owned by a couple of
church members. Several times a year our
church has picnics, services, and other gatherings there. It is a great place with a lot of
opportunities for fellowship. On Sunday
night, there was a short devotional, the baptism of 13 people, and then a
cookout. Both Aedan and Samantha did
quite well there. Samantha wanted to
climb up into their loft that is in a tree.
She really enjoyed that as well as time to play with some other children
there."
"On Monday, as soon as the car was packed and breakfast was over,
Bill headed to campus and I headed to Richmond to meet Jenny. Bill and I consider it such a privilege to be
able to spend time with our grandkids.
It is such a blessing that they do so well with us and that we find the
time with them so pleasant. It was nice
to be able to spend this time with Aedan who is now old enough to begin some
bonding experiences. He is such a fun
little boy and is very easygoing. Our memories from the weekend were good so
we hope he has the same. It is fun watching Samantha grow up and becoming this
young lady that tries so hard to be polite and grown up. She would try to carry on conversations with
me that would show a concern for “my world." For example, she would ask, “How are your strawberries?” “How are your raspberries?” “How are your flowers?” She also told me several times over the
weekend, “This food is delicious.” “Grandma, you are such a good cook.”"
Monday morning, Ben ran a couple errands including going grocery shopping so that we'd have food for lunch and dinner that day, and I didn't have to take the kids out shopping by myself. I drove to Richmond to meet Grandma, switch cars, and get the kids back. When Samantha saw me in the parking lot, she came running up to me and was very excited. Aedan gave me a huge smile and looked around, almost like he didn't expect it to be me. It was nice to have such a warm welcome, and it was wonderful to see my kids again. Even though it was a fun weekend away, it was good to all be back together again as well. We spent the rest of the day getting unpacked, doing laundry, playing at home, and having fun together after a busy weekend away.
(Blog about August 4-10, 2015)
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