Road Trip Day 9- Nebraska

June 17, 2012: it was another early morning for us, the kids are not sleeping in at all. I went for a run around Iowa City at 5:30am and got myself lost but finally made it back. James and the girls were out driving around looking for a breakfast joint and spotted me so I joined them to get Cinnamon rolls from the Hamburg inn which is a famous place there that all the presidents or candidates stop when they are there campaigning. We packed up and said goodbye to Ted and mandi who were such gracious hosts and invited our chaos into their home without batting an eye. James got a workout in at the track while we played on a playground and then we hit the road for Omaha, Nebraska. We went to the Omaha Zoo and the kids enjoyed it. They had great monkey, gorilla, bears and cats. The tigers in one area were so active and would come charging up to the glass and look right at us. It is very hot here and was sapping all of our energy. After about 3 hours we hit the road again. We're going to try and make some headway on this big state this evening. We stopped at a grocery store for dinner supplies and we're heading west not the sunset. It is flat and filled with corn fields here as far as the eye can see.

Road Trip Day 8- Iowa City

June 16,2012: today we explored Iowa City with our good friends Ted and Mandi Kehoe. We took the kids to a playground, went to the farmers market downtown where the kids went into a fire truck, took them into some little fountains in town, then we checked out The University of Iowa and after naps took the kids to the pool on campus. It was a great pool with a climbing wall that you could drop off into the water, a lazy river, hot tub, and fountains for the kids to play in. It was great and James snuck us in with his classic act like you know what you are doing routine to avoid the fees. The weather is hot here and we're having a nice thunderstorm now.

Road Trip Day 7- Chicago to Iowa

June 15, 2012: this morning we woke up bright and early thanks to the time change. We packed up and hit the road for a little more exploring in Chicago. The kids loved riding the L train so we went for a ride into town. There were some students from the Roger Morris marching band playing on the street and the kids danced to it. We saw Buckingham Fountain which was beautiful right next to the lake and with lots of sun shining. The kids were hot and wanted to soak themselves so we went back to the fountains at Millenium Park. They got all wet and had fun playing around. After getting into dry clothes we got back onto the L and went to Lou Malnetis for deep dish pizza. Then we walked home and hit the holiday road towards Iowa. We crossed the Mississippi and went into LeClaire to see Antique Archeology shop from the show American Pickers, which we are big fans of. We saw lots of stuff from the show and even saw Danielle from the show. We did not take a picture with her because everyone was doing it and it felt like too much. We got some ice cream and sat on the bank of the Mississippi to eat it. Afterwards we continued West to Iowa City to see the Kehoes! Also, my pictures don't seem to load in the order I want but I can't figure it out on the iPad so forgive me.

Road Trip Day 6- Chicago

June 14, 2012: Today we drove up to Chicago. There was tons of traffic as we entered the city so we got off the highway and found back roads in. It reminded us of that scene in lampoons vacation where they get off in the wrong neighborhood to ask directions, "excuse me homes?"...so funny. Anyways we made it to Emily's apt and parked the car and headed out. The kids really wanted to ride the L train so we did. We walked all around Millenium Park, the kids splashed around a bit in the big fountains. It's neat, they have these two huge structures that show someone's face and then all of a sudden the person purses their lips and water starts spurting out of it, it's so neat. We then walked all along the lake up to the Navy Pier where the kids rode the carousel and ferris wheel. Then we hopped a bus home. It was a long day. James and I started the day with a 7 mile run around the Orben's lake, a long drive and a long day of walking in the city with the kids. Again, it is so nice to be able to come home to a comfortable place after a day like that, thank you E.Smith!!

Road Trip Day 5-Columbus,IN

June 13,2012:Today we packed up and left Ohio, not without a stop at an awesome playground right down the street from Tara's house. Just under four hours later we were pulling in to Columbus, Indiana. Our great friends from Taft, the Orbens, are from here and have family here. Mrs.Orben met us downtown and gave us the royal treatment for the rest of the day. We went to the beautiful downtown area. It was as all American as it gets. We had great sandwiches, the kids were able to play at an amazing indoor gym and climbing structure like the one in the Boston Children's Museum as well as a fun children's playhouse. We went inside an old ice cream parlor with a marble bar and old fountain machines that have been around since about 1900, so cool. Then we headed to the Orbens lake house on Grandview Lake just 15 minutes from downtown Columbus. The Orbens have a beautiful house on the lake. We went swimming, the kids jumped off the dock, we went for a row boat ride, fished, Mr Orben took us for a ride in his gorgeous Chris Craft and then we had a nice BBQ. We feel extremely fortunate to have such wonderful and hospitable friends like the Orbens in our lives. Thank you!!!

Road Trip Day 4-Ohio

June 12, 2012: This morning we packed up and said goodbye to the Adams family and headed west into Ohio. It was a quick and easy drive, Julia & Molly slept almost the entire way. We went right into Columbus and found Katzenberg's Deli, which we had heard of from Man vs Food. James got the Reuben they are known for and I had a turkey Reuben. They were pretty good, but definitely not worth the long line and $10 price tag. We took our sandwiches to the Ohio State Football field and explored all around the stadium. The place is huge! We ran around on the field and had a lot of fun checking it all out. Afterwards we drove 30 minutes back to Granville where my aunt Tara lives. We went to the campus of Denison University where Tara went. We worked out on the track there and then explored their athletic facility. Afterwards we went to the Granville fire department where Tara& Bob were fire fighters. They let the kids climb into the trucks and gave them little hats, it was great. We picked up some groceries and came to get settled for the night in Tara's beautiful house. We are all exhausted and happy not to be in a tent tonight, but sorry that Tara and her kids are not here to visit with.

Road trip day 3-Pittsburgh

June 11, 2012: today we spent another day in Pittsburgh. We had a relaxing morning at the house and then headed into the city. Craig took us to the Consol Energy Center where the Penguins play. It was really cool to see the locker rooms and all the facilities available to the players. We met Dan Bylsmsa when we were in the locker room. We got to see the dressing room, weight room, training room, and the shoot around room. The kids were having a blast drawing on the white board, playing bubble hockey in the players lounge, and exploring everything. After seeing the rink we went and James had a sandwich from Primanti Bros, a famous Pittsburgh sandwich place. We saw our friend Lindsay from Taft and the girls played in the fountains outside her office building. We spent the rest of the day playing at home and had another great dinner that Craig made for us.

Road trip day 2-Pittsburgh

June 10 , 2012: this morning we woke up around 7. I thought we'd be up much earlier because we were in a tent but the shady spot we had and the late bed time allowed us a little break. We broke camp and went back to Gettysburg battle fields to explore more. We went to Devils Den, High Water Mark, the wheat field, the peach orchard and to where the 20th Maine held the line in a decisive moment of the battle. It is a beautiful spot and we were lucky enough to go late in the day and very early before the tour bus onslaught filled it with crowds. We saw lots so sun burned boy scout troops and lots of smokers. After a few hours we left to head to Pittsburgh. We took a smaller route, route 30, for half the trip before getting on the highway. Route 30 was the first road across the country and is known as the Lincoln highway. There were some big passes over the Appalachian mountains which would have been fun to bike. We arrived at the Adams house and the kids all had a great time playing. It was very hot, in the 90's, so we went to their club to swim in the pool. It was fun for the kids and nice to relax. We came home and gave the kids some dinner and got them ready for bed. Anne and Craig took us to a great restaurant downtown called Meat & Potatos. The city looked very cool at night with the river, bridges, buildings and stadiums all lit up.

Road trip Day 1-Gettysburg

June 9, 2012: we started out our trip today and left Greenwich around 10:30am. We headed first into Amish country We explored some back roads at saw many Amish people at work and play. Riding in horse drawn buggies, working in the fields with horse power and we bought some home made Whoopie pies. Then we headed to Gettysburg. We went to the battlegrounds and it was great because it was a little later and most of the crowds had left. It was quiet and the sun was low, the grounds are a beautiful and powerful place. We had pb&j's there and the kids climbed on cannons and had fun running around. Around 8pm we left to find a campground. We set the tent up as it was getting dark and didn't do too badly considering it was the first time. Casey & julia were tired but molly was bouncing off the walls and didn't go to sleep until 10:30! She ended up sleeping with us. The kids slept well and we all got up around 7am. We went back to the batte fields and saw some more of the sights for a few hours. Now we're on our way to Pittsburgh

Spring 2012

June 2, 2012: .

It has been so long since I updated my blog. So I will have to give a wrap up of the Spring and what's been going on with the girls. In March we drove down to Florida for Spring Break again. We went straight through the night and made it in 18 hours. After such a successful trip last year I was worried that Molly would be very difficult or that it just couldn't possibly go as smoothly, but it did! We had a great two weeks down there. We watch the sunrise almost every morning from the beach and not long after are in the pool to start the day. We move in a constant rotation from pool, beach, bikes, food, naps and start again. The girls absolutely adore the pool.

Casey is a strong swimmer and can snorkel in the pool and is working on her real swimming stroke. Julia had a lot of improvement over the vacation but is still not swimming independently just yet, but she is close. Molly is brave as ever and loves dunking under and jumping off the side to us over and over again. Easter was very exciting in our house, the kids loved the candy at 6:30am!

In April the girls' preschool had a day when you can come and visit the classroom and get a feel for what they do. It was chaotic but so fun to sit in with them for a little while. Julia is just so small and cute that it kills me to see her in class. It is amazing to see how much the kids grow and mature in the course of two years in preschool. Casey is so old seeming and so ready to move on (not that she doesn't love preschool, just that the difference between her and some of the younger kids is very noticeable). Casey turned 5 years old on April 30th. Wow, as a parent it suddenly seems shocking to have a 5 year old. We've been happy to have the nice weather upon us and have spent lots of time outside. Julia has taken to biking and wheels around on her big girl bike with training wheels. Molly likes pushing a stroller or lately wants to push me in things, so I have to squish into the little bikes or cars while she pushes me. In May the girls had their first sleep over. Casey slept on a trundle bed in her friend Sydney's room and Julia started out sharing a bed with her friend Maya but, of course, could not go to sleep, and had to be moved into another room. We slept over too so it was a big family sleepover and so much fun. Our big news is that we are moving. After four years at Taft we are moving on and heading back to Greenwich. James took a job at Brunswick and we are so excited. It has been lot of work for me getting the girls new schools and doctors and a new place to live all lined up. Casey will be going to Greenwich Academy, where I went, which is just amazing. She is so excited and absolutely loves the uniform and everything about the school. Julia is going to Round Hill Nursery School for a year before hopefully going to GA as well. So now onto what the girls have been doing...

Molly continues to be a handful. She is just into everything in a way the others were not. She will move a chair all the way across the house to use it to climb up onto something and get into something she shouldn't. I think she is border line obsessive-compulisve. She washes her hands a million times a day and must have used up more soap than anyone in our house. She also likes to give herself hand soap shampoos when I am not looking. I will come into the bathroom and find her with a wet soapy head 2 seconds before we are to leave to take the girls to school. She also does not like her hands to be messy in general. When we eat she always wants a napkin to wipe her hands. She loves bagels with cream cheese but can't figure out how to hold it without getting cream cheese all over her hands so she gets so frustrated that she cries and yells at me until I cut it up nice and small and place the piece in her hand so that she isn't covered in it. She also flushes the toilet about 20 times a day and will refuse to go to the bathroom is someone else's peepee is already in there. She has to go in a clean bowl. She is very loving and sweet sometimes and just still has that innocence that the other two have grown out of. She says "thank you Mama" every time I hand her anything. It is the most adorable voice too..sort of like "tank-eww muma". She continues to have a love hate relationship with her sisters. She loves them and gets a kick out of the things they do. But she can also be mean and has bitten them before and will also scream, 'NO JJ BAD' at the top of her lungs. She is an incredibly picky eater.

Julia is doing well. She is learning a lot in school. She knows all of her letters and is learning how to write her name, which just amazes me. With Casey I had more time to spend with her on it but Julia has really learned all of it in school. Her drawing has also gotten much better. She used to just draw blobs of color but lately she has drawn people that actually have some resemblance to people. It is so neat to witness this change and development. A few weeks ago I said to James that we had really turned a corner with Julia. She has always been our toughest challenge but I really felt like things had gotten much better. I must have jinxed myself. She got the stomach bug (again!) and ever since then has been such a pain in the neck. She has temper tantrums, she is disobedient, stubborn, will not listen to us, and so irrational. It drives me nuts. Needless to say, with all the work I have right now trying to pack our house up, I need nice, agreeable kids right now, not this monster. It is so difficult to manage as a parent.

Casey has had an exciting month. Shortly after turning 5, she came to me crying saying something was wrong in her mouth. She had her first loose tooth! Two weeks later it popped out into my hands when I was wiggling it. Casey and I made a tooth pillow and the tooth fairy brought her one dollar for her first tooth. She now has a second loose tooth right next to it. One day at dinner Casey declared to us that "when I get married I am going to marry Austin". Austin is a little boy in her class that gets a LOT of air time in our house. It was so funny to hear her say it. As James said, "and so it begins".