Just in case you weren't paying attention

To how nice the weather has been here.  I took this picture last night.  3/21/12.  March for pete's sake!

Dry nights

Seems our diaper and pullup days may be over.  Lily has finally stayed dry in underwear overnight for almost a week now.  Hallelujiah!  Fingers crossed but we may be past this stage of child rearing for good!!!

Today is Wednesday - that means family yoga again tonight!  Yep we are still doing it, even got our own mats now, and still loving it.  Parker snuck in last week and snapped some pics.

Donuts and the advent of Spring

In that order.

Lots of Daisy trips on the horizon so expect to see lots of pictures in the coming weeks.  Last week was no different.  We went to Yum Yum Donut Shoppe to earn baking badges. The girls saw how donuts were made and then they each got to decorate their own donut.  It was two days before St Patrick's Day so green was the colour of choice for most girls to decorate with.

And today is officially the first day of spring - however the fact that we have been wearing shorts in the afternoons for the past week or so would indicate otherwise.  The weather has just been fantastic.  Heat has not been on in at least two weeks and windows are always open including overnight which is just the best sleeping ever.  And so some pics showing the beauty that is an early spring.  We got our porch all tidied up including new chairs and a deck box so all is neat and tidy and moved the rockers from the front to the back and rearranged it so we have a wonderful seating arrangement, like a second living room almost, out back now. 

And just emphasize how great the weather is/has been - this picture was taken yesterday.  The official last day of Winter for 2012.

Girls Scouts 100th Anniversary

Way back when I was in Brownies if you had told me that I would be involved with the Girl Scouts when the 100th anniversary came around I would have laughed at you.  Guess who did not get the last laugh?  Our service unit invited troops of all ages to a birthday party to celebrate the 100th anniversary this past Sunday.  I am pleased to say that we had almost 100% participation with our Daisy Troop!  Too bad it was and has been 70+ degrees as it would have been a stellar afternoon outside but we did our duty :)

Greatest video ever.

Apparently Lily is no longer happy with her Christmas present from Santa...

Quick updates on the three girls

Rowan - so proud of her, she was selected as Student of the Month for her class!  She got to have lunch with the principal yesterday as part of her glory :)  She is thriving in her newest session of swimming and her instructor told me she believes Rowan can pass the Y's deep water band test if we come back for family swim anytime she will test her.  We have also signed Rowan up for T-Ball again - she is wavering a bit in her desire to do it again now but I think once she sees all her friends there from school she will be okay.

Lily - after Rowan was diagnosed with strep throat a couple of weeks ago Lily complained that her throat hurt as well so just before we went to Gettysburg I ran her to the doctor to be checked, no strep throat but turns out both her ears tubes have fallen out and she had an ear infection.  Great.  We'll see how that plays out in the future.  They threw her on the scale as well and she is up to 39 1/2 lbs!  A rather large increase since we were there last so we are going to keep an eye on that.  On the other hand we signed her up for soccer this spring!  This should be both entertaining and a good experience for her.  She continues in swimming as well but seems to be regressing a little as the class is bigger this time around.

Last night I took both girls to the Y with me to try something called Family Yoga.  I am about as flexible as a 2x4 so I was prepared to make an ass of myself but I was pleasantly surprised by the girls.  Rowan was a little goofy cause McKenzie was there as well but she did the poses and did them well - Lily was a trooper and stuck her warrior pose like nobodys business.  It was a hoot.

The kids after yoga class:

Jazz - damn she is big....took her to the vet to get her nails trimmed and she is now 6 months old and 61 pounds...well on her way to being over 100lbs as an adult....wow....she is a good girl for the most part though but strong as an ox and completely unaware of how strong she is.  I finally got a heavy duty harness for her to wear so I can take her for more walks now that it is getting nicer.  I tried a leader harness that goes over her snout so I could control her better but she pulled it off right away on me!  Now we have the heavy duty legs through the harness one!

Gettysburg

Parker and I took our trip to Gettysburg this past weekend.  Thanks to Joe and Diane for coming down and staying with the girls and Jazz for us!

We headed up around noon on Friday and got to our hotel called The Lodges at Gettysburg.  Such a neat place, on the outskirts of town but overlooking the battlefield (from a distance).  Instead of a typical hotel each room was its own separate cabin!  It was like having a mini house for a couple of days.

 We checked in, dropped our stuff and headed over to the visitor center around 330 Friday afternoon.

We bought tickets to the movie they show, which was great, and to the cyclorama that has been moved and completely restored.  It is a huge painting depicting all stages of the battle and it is a magnificent piece of work.  They said it was the largest painting in the United States.

 There is a scene painted in the cyclorama that was done with creative license by the artist - Lincoln had already been assassinated by the time this painting was completed so as an homage to Lincoln, the artist painted Lincoln (or a resemblance to him) into the painting in the same position he was carried out of Ford Theater.

Friday night we had reservations at The Carriage House Inn in Emmitsburg, MD.  Delicious!

Saturday morning after complimentary breakfast at the Lodges we headed to the visitor center again to meet our guide for the day.  On the way we passed a covered bridge - had to get out and check it out!

 Once we got to the visitor center we met our guide for the day, a man named Jack Drummond.  Having both been to Gettysburg previously this time instead of doing the auto tour Parker suggested hiring a guide to come with us and give us a personal tour - best idea ever.  We had him for three hours, he drove our car for us so we could look around and he was just so interesting and knowledgeable that I spent more time listening to him than I did taking pictures!

After we left Jack we headed to town to wander around and find some lunch.   By luck we stumbled across the Dobbin House.  Lunch was being served in the Springhouse Tavern which was actually in the cellar of the original house and lit only by candles!  It turned out to also be a part of the underground railroad so we felt honoured and a huge sense of history by spending some time there.

After lunch we headed back to the park to visit the cemetary.  There are two cemetaries side by side.  The original Evergreen cemetary was there before the war and that is where the name Cemetary Hill comes from if you read the history of Gettysburg.  Next to it is what is now the National Cemetary and where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address in November 1863. 

The soldiers monument now stands where Lincoln delivered the Address.

Alot of the Gettysburg war dead are buried in this cemetary.  Some by name and some known only by a number.

 That evening we stayed in the park as late as we could (7pm) and then headed to the Presidential Circle to wander around and headed into McClellan's Tavern for a late dinner.

Up early Sunday for breakfast and another quick drive through the park for a quick pic of the Pennsylvania monument and then home.