The Rappahannock

We went to the Rappahannock River.  It is the river that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay, which then feeds into the ocean.  George Washington would actually swim in this river as a boy.  It was really an interesting body of water because it was really shallow.  We would go about 100 feet into it and the water was still only up to our waste.  The first time that we went into the water, we could hardly get Riley to put her foot in, the second time, we could, but she would only go in a few feet.  We couldn't get Eli out of it.  I think this place (aside from the awsome family time) was the highlight of our trip. 

Just Playing Pool at the Bar!

Out in Virginia, it is not uncommon to have a great meal in a bar.  This particular bar, had a bucket of jumbo shrimp for 15.00 and so we ordered it.  Afterwards, Eli found a dollar bill.  He was so sweet and honest that he went up to a waitress and told her that he found it.  She said that he could keep it and so he put it in the pool table and played a round with Riley and Grandpa.  We had a great time, including some old men in the corner watching.  I don't think they had that much entertainment in a while.  They sat and laughed and when they were done, they went to the front and told the bartender, becareful, there are some young hustlers back there. 

Birthday Time!

We decided to celebrate my birthday and Nae-Nae's birthday.  Nae-Nae can't eat gluten because it flairs up her arthritis.  So we made a watermelon cake with whip cream.  She had no idea and it was fun to see her suprised.  I gave her pictures of my kids and Eli gave her Chima Legos.  He said, "I thought she wanted it and I knew she wanted it and she did." He gave me some bangles.  I loved them and I wear them every Sunday to show him.  Riley gave her a unicorn coloring book and me a sparkly, pink bottle of glue.  Grandma tried to talk her out of it and leave it behind, but she is too stubborn.  Oh well.  At least we had a great time.

Tire Swing

The neighbor across the street had a tire swing that she let us use while we were there. They had too much fun and they were so cute and so we had to post the pics.

Fried Foods

 In Virginia, they love their fried foods.  It is delicious, but so fatty.  I gained 5 lbs, just staying with my folks for 10 days!  I hate to see what would happen if I moved there.  Here we are eating at Savannah Joe's BBQ and it was delicious!

Library Day

Since we live in El Paso, we wanted to take a library day.  The library where we live doesn't have hardly a collection of books for children in English, maybe half a shelf worth.  It was well worth the time because we had both Nae-Nae and Grandma to read to my children.  Morgan made use of her time as well.

Hair Bows

Nae-Nae asked what I wanted for Morgan for her birthday.  Since I had several items of clothing already, I told her a few bows would be nice.  She had a hay-day on Ebay and you can see the results here.

Riley Found a New Dimension

Imagine sleeping and waking to a crying child.  You are groggy and not quite all there.  Then, while attempting to comfort the child, you find that she is not in her bed.  You look under the bed, she is not there either.  You call out for her and she is shouting, "I am under the bed." 
"Where?"
"I am under the bed."
"I can't see you."
"I am trapped."
Apparently, she was so tiny, she fell through the top head space and fell through the frame, under the couch.  The odd thing was, she couldn't get out.  Her head was too big to climb back out.  Somehow, she mustered enough pain tolerance to forcer her head through. I don't know how she even got in there, but I am glad we did.

Hike with Grandpa

Grandpa goes on this hike atleast two times a week.  He was all too happy to share it with Eli and Riley.  Eli did a good time of keeping up and did a great idea of exploring in the woods.  Rilely did ok, but fussed after a whild and Grandpa carried her on his shoulders.  We put a hat on her becuase I thought it would be sunny, but not with all the tree cover.  sometimes it gets so thick in the summer that the locals don't even go too deep in the woods.  Grandpa told her that there is a bird might poop on her head and she took it to mean that a bird will poop on her head.  She wouldn't remove the hat the entire time. 

It was quite a pleasant hike (about 1 mile loop) eventhough there are ticks and all the critters are larger than usual, hence the large daddy-long-legs.  Eli had 3 ticks (although I think they were all the same one and we failed to completely brush it off.)  We didn't want to scare the kids and so we just told them they were little bugs that bite. 

Diana!

Who knew a vacation came with a next-door neighbor playmate?  We enjoyed this sweet 6 year old girl as we went do different parks and my kids played with her every evening.  She shared her candy and toys and we shared our toys and grandma.  She doesn't have a grandma or a Nae-Nae like we do.  We are so blessed with amazing women who spoil my children with love and attention.  Oh, and toys too.  Fortunately for Diana, my mother kept some of the toys there for her to play with after we left.  Unfortunately, we did have to leave and when Diana came to play when we weren't there, she cried.

Airport

I must be crazy for taking three children, by myself, halfway across the country with a layover in the busiest airport in the world.  Actually, at first it was quite doable.  People were watching me in wonder, knowing that I had my hands full.  I felt empowered, doing things that I know were near impossible.  Then, during our layover, I learned that I was at the wrong gate and had to go back to the way I came.  It had taken me 45 minutes just to get to the gate we were at and the plane was already boarding, and we had 25 minutes until take off.  Panic! It was ugly.  The next twenty minutes of my life were full of sweat, adrenaline, tears, panic and several shouts. We barely made it, but we did.  Eli was incredible, running when I asked and Morgan stayed in the stroller.  When we finally made it, Morgan crashed.

Update: On the return flight from Atlanta to El Paso, the flight attendant would not let us sit together. Every leg of our entire flight experience the attendant would allow us to until now. The reason being because they had 5 wheel chairs on the flight and it was too difficult to rearange seats around them. They told me that I could ask the person sitting next to us if she would mind changing, but that person was not obligated to. I was so worried and so I said a prayer in my heart to allow us to sit together. I finally went to enter the plain and the attendant told me I would have no problem switching with the passenger next to us because Eli somehow got bumped to first class. Of course, the passenger didn't have a problem switching. It is amazing how the Lord watched us every step of the way on the trip.

Marshmallow Face

Another little boy in our ward had a birthday party and he had these marshmallow pops of the minions from "Despicable Me." Riley took them and ate them before I could take a picture.  I did however get a picture of her face after she did eat them.

Let's Play Hide and Seek

Where's Riley?

There she is!

First Smiles from Morgan

These next few pictures of of my darling Morgan smiling her first smiles caught on camera.  The middle picture is on of my young women named Maddie.