Family "Camping"

We decided to go on a little family adventure in November. The original thought was to try our hand at camping. Then it got cold and we chickened out. So we opted for a hike and picnic and then a night at a hotel (yay for using Mon Amour's travel points to score some sweet free vacations).

Trying S'mores.  Hibou likes them. Papillon prefers her marshmallows untoasted and separate from the rest of her treats.

Exploring.

We took the girls on a brief "hike", but had made the mistake of telling them about the hotel in advance. So Papillon spent the entire time asking if it was time to "go to the hotel and watch TV yet".  Clearly we need to get outdoors more often....

Eventually we did head to the hotel. And after a lovely cozy night, we did a bit of non-wilderness exploring. 

This particular adventure came with endless ice cream samples. Huzzah! 

What is it about kids in overalls that are so darn adorable?

Drum and Bugle Corp Concert

We like to take advantage of all kinds of free things. In this case it was a free drum and bugle corp concert near my parents house. 

We played a little hide and....

...seek! while we waited for the show to start.

Hibou, clearly unsure about this experience.

Drums! And Bugles!

So loud!

On the way out, Hibou discovered this exciting new way to look at something behind you - through the legs!

Peach Picking

Fresh picked peaches are soooo much different than store bought. So, obviously, it being peach season, we made the trek out to our favorite orchard to pick some peaches!

Check out that peach!

Taste testing!

We got to ride the tractor too and from the field, and then too and from the field again when Aunt Mimi arrived.

And no peach picking adventure is complete with out some tasty ice cream!

An Erie Graduation: Abridged

First, an apology. An apology to this trip. Which was totally fabulous, but which will not get its due blog-time.  I am just waaay too far behind in blogging to give this event the time it deserves.  Too many blog-able things keep happening. And so, for the sake of more recent blog-worthy events, this trip must be presented in only the most abridged version. 

Here we go:

At the beginning of May, Mon Amour and I packed up the girls for a little weekend trip to see my "little" brother graduate from college.  (He is 6+ feet tall and a college graduate...but he is still my "little" brother)

Essential parts of our trip included...

Lots of fun food such as milkshakes (that taste better when shared with Grandpa) 

fizzly beverages...

...more milkshakes...

...curly fries...

...another milkshake for good measure...

...and a milk coma for Hibou.

And of course, at one point during the weekend, there was the main event...the graduation! 

Graduations are generally tortuous events for everyone. I am not saying thatthey are not an appropriate way to celebrate the accomplishment of graduating, and I am definitely not encouraging anyone to skip your graduation ceremony says  - your mother will tell you that you will regret not going if you skip it...its probably true, so go, graduate with all the pomp and all the speakers and all the listening to other people's names be read! 

All that to say, we were prepared for the worst: two tiny children, one hot auditorium, a few too many speakers in the program and a couple hundred names to read through in the middle of the evening is pretty much a recipe for disaster.  See how tired Papillon looks before we even get started? 

But guess what!  Little Brother's College deserves an award for this ceremony!  Such a great balance of formal ceremony, casual enjoyable-ness, and spectacular efficiency!   Speakers were short, sweet and to the point, name-readers flew through the names and we were out of there before anyone could have a melt down. Less than 2 hours, all told, I believe. 

Leaving just enough time for a few congratulatory photos before the girls desperately needed to sleep. 

Congrats Little Brother!

Another highlight of the trip was the beach.  It wasn't exactly beach weather, but that doesn't mean you can't sit on a picnic blanket in the sand and have a fun time. 

Papillon did NOT want her toes to touch the icky sand...so she stayed on the blanket

Hibou did not want bright sunlight in her eyes...so she slept. 

Papillon helped provide the tunes courtesy of  Aunt Mimi's phone. 

Our 2nd visit to the beach was quite windy - armed with sand-protective-footwear (aka socks) Papillon collected quite a few rocks (which Grandpa dutifully carried for her)

Hibou required more than just socks to protect her from the wind and sand...yes, she's in there somewhere, and no, I am not smothering her. Just keeping the wind away. 

There was also much kite flying on this particular windy day. But I forgot to add any pictures of that...like I said, I am definitely not doing this trip justice. But...on to even more adventures!

Road Trip Part 2, Niagra Falls

Day 2 of our road trip, we took a little trek up to Niagra Falls.  It was still cold, but sunny and pleasant none the less. 

Here is Papillon and Grandpa in front of Horseshoe Falls.

I had been to Niagra Falls once before, but it was a long time ago and we saw it from the Canadian side. This time we stayed State-side which provided a very different view.   It goes without saying that the falls are most impressive.

We walked from Goat Island (don't ask me which it is called that) where you can see Horseshoe Falls, around and off the island to the other side of American Falls. Papillon walked happily for a bit, but poor Little Brother's back hurt from bending over and Papillon wouldn't let go of his hand. So She ended up being carried by Grandpa most of the way.

We had to take the obligatory close-to-the-edge picture for Mom, complete with a "No Climbing Over Railing" Pose.

Little Brother taught Papillon "Where is Canada?" to which she enthusiastically  pointed and said "Eh!" like a good Canadian.

Grandpa taught Papillon "what a waterfall does" which involves a swoosh sound and a nifty hand motion. Papillon got very good at it.

While looking for a tourist shop to warm up in (note to self, Niagra Falls basically closes in the winter, so its probably best not to go in January. Oh well, you live and learn) we found this pretty sweet sign - you may have to click on the picture to see it.  It says "Unattended Children will be given an espresso and a free puppy". Clearly we had to get a picture of Papillon looking unattended next to the sign.

After failing to find a toasty place to thaw out, we opted to have lunch in the car before heading back.

After lunch, before officially returning, we stopped by the oft-forgotten, but equally-amazing-as-the-falls Whirlpool.  It's an impressively large pool along the Niagra river where the river takes a sharp turn to the right. It rushes in on the left side of the pool, goes around pool counter clockwise, but then to get out on the right hand side of the pool. In order to do this the current actually dips underneath the incoming flow.  It seems some people have ridden through the incoming rapids and around the whirlpool in a barrel. One poor chap tried to swim it, but he didn't make.

It was a pretty cool place. I would highly recommend paying it a visit if you ever find yourself in Niagra Falls. 

On the trek home, I swore that Papillon would take a good solid nap. It was, after all, a 2 hour car ride and she hadn't slept all day.  However, I was totally wrong and she stayed awake, the whole time. Crazy kid. 

Our day ended with a little dinner at a mexican restaurant. Papillon amused herself by arranging the sugar packets on the table ... .

..and drawing on a few with her crayons.

The next day it was time to make the long trek home.  We got up early and while we packed, Papillon sat in the bed having some milk and blueberry muffin for breakfast.

Papillon slept like a trooper on the way back! Her 2 hour morning nap allowed us to get 4 hours of uninterrupted driving in.  Miraculous!

On the second leg of the trip home I sat in the back with her (my arm was getting sore from reaching back to hand her things).  And we enjoyed a little peanut butter bagel for lunch. Peanut butter got everywhere...

...but it was worth it. Papillon was a happy camper as you can tell by her "smile for the camera" face!

When all was said and done, we logged 1200 miles on the road in 4 days.  Papillon was ready to be done with cars forever when we got back. But she really did a fantastic job with how much we abused her schedule all weekend long.  

Road Trip Part 1

Mon Amour was recently out of town for business again, and Papillon and I decided that we needed to take some kind of fairly significant trip to pass the time. We have gotten pretty talented and keeping ourselves busy locally, but it was time for a change pace.  

So, Papillon, my dad and I packed up the car and set off on a roadtrip to visit my Little Brother at college waaaay waaay off in the distant cold corner of nearby state.    We headed out early, knowing that the 6.5 hour trip with a toddler in tow would probably take a bit longer than that and we wanted to get there before dark. 

Papillon was a trooper and we only made 2.5 stops on the way out (the 1/2 stop was just for gas and we didn't even get her out of the car). When we arrived it was snowing quite significantly, and I was very thankful that dad was driving and not I. I trust his snow driving skills much better than mine.  We got checked in, paid a quick visit to Little Brother and then called it a night. 

The real fun started the next day which we kicked off properly with a big dose of pancakes at the appropriately named "The Breakfast Place".  Little Brother very kindly saved me from ordering the full "short stack" which would have been 4 fluffy pancakes the size of a dinner plate. He assured me that even he had never made it through the full short-stack.  I got a half stack (2 gigantic pancakes) and even my pregnant-self was slowing down by the middle of the 2nd pancake.

We got Papillon french toast, but she preferred Grandpa's Sausage Gravy.  Anything Grandpa was eating was obviously tastier than what was on her plate.

You know how restaurants give kids a paper menu and a couple crayons?  Well this place was posh, and Papillon got a whole box of 24 crayons to use! So many options, she had to share some with Uncle E.

On the way from breakfast to church, Papillon grabbed a quick cat nap. 

I had told dad he needed to sleep in later than his normal 2am wake up time lest he wake Papillon...he dutifully slept in until 6am. And at the first sound of him stirring, Papillon stands up in her pack n play and happily cries out "Hi!".  The 2nd day, at 6am, I thought Dad had succeeded in sneaking out of bed without waking her and I rolled over to take a peek...there she was, standing in her pack n play, holding on to the side with her nose peeking over the top. When she saw me move, she just lifted one hand and waved and smiled with out a word.  The cuteness melted me.     Side note about sleep: Poor thing, all weekend got no more than 20 minutes of nap at a time. She was sleep deprived for days after our return.  But she dealt with the lack of sleep admirably. 

After church, we trotted off to "Presque Isle" for some scenic touring.  It was very sunny and very cold.

The snow and wind of the previous day had blown the lake up on the branches, creating some pretty spectacular ice sculptures on the trees.

 

And on the picnic table, which of course Little Brother and his friend had to sit on...and get stuck to! 

After a morning of gallivanting about in the cold, we headed back to Little Brother's apartment to hang out for a bit.  Papillon was tired enough, and enough overwhelmed by all the new experiences that she was sitting perfectly still. So obviously I had to put her hair up in a pony tail. Carpe Diem!

Fun times with sharing her water and playing silly games with the fun family.

That evening, we headed back out to Little Brother's other church, affectionately known as "Church in a Bar".  This was a pretty nifty experience. They are very focused on the inner city crowd and they keep their service very "real".  Papillon even tested out the nursery which was most impressive, considering the church takes place in an old bar building and a good portion of the church go-ers are homeless. Papillon enjoyed herself despite being sleep deprived and in a new place; she didn't cry until I came back to pick her up at which point she took one look at me and just fell apart.  One of her new little toddler friends gave her a hug. So sweet. 

At the end of this very busy fun day, Papillon wouldn't even let me sing her a song before bed, she pushed me away and dove right into bed.