Delaware

I just got back from taking the girls to Delaware.  Stephen has limited vacation days that we’ll be using up in August so he was unable to come.  So it was me, a 2 year old and a 3 month old on an airplane.  Fortunately, we were able to get a direct flight to Philadelphia so I didn’t have to worry about a layover.  The girls travelled well.  Samantha mostly played with the itouch (which we put movies, music and preschool games on for her, and she has her own earphones).  Clara nursed and slept mostly. 

It was a lot of fun hanging out back home.  My family is pretty low-key generally.  Our big activity planned was to go down to Virginia Beach (my dad had to work down there so we tagged along and hung out at the beach while he had to work… poor daddy!).  All the other days were pretty relaxed and mostly inside since it was HOT outside.  Samantha LOVED having grandma and grandpa around, and all of Dalton’s friends became her friends too.  She started using the word “friends” a lot.  “I have to go play with my friends” or “My friend’s crying” (about a random stranger’s kid crying)

Lately, to get Samantha to take a nap I’ll give her the itouch to play jigsaw puzzles on (she’s getting quite good) for quiet time.  And most days she falls asleep within 30 minutes.

The start of sibling rivalry has started while we there.  Whenever anyone said “how big” or “strong” or whatever Clara was being, Samantha had to show that she could be that too.  The funniest one was when we were having Clara stand on our laps.  As a newborn, Clara wouldn’t put any weight on her legs but now she loves being on them.  Samantha quickly caught onto the praise that Clara was getting and came over to me and said “I want to stand on your lap” when I wouldn’t let her stand on my lap (which turns into jumping in a very short period of time), she stood up on the couch next to my mom saying “look I’m standing!”  Yes, Samantha, yes you are standing.

  

 

One evening we went to Valley Garden Park for a picnic.  We have pictures of me at this park from when  I was really little.  If we wanted to have a picnic, that’s where we’d go.  There isn’t any play equipment, just nature.  Big trees (the oldest tree in Delaware), fields, hills, and a creek that runs through the middle with little ponds.  I remember my brother catching frogs and snapping turtles in the ponds, and playing baseball in the grass.

 

 

After the park we stopped by Rita’s to get some Water Ice (sort of like a slurpee, italian ice,and a slushie all combined and better).  Samantha had her first ever soft-serve ice-cream cone with sprinkles.  We got her the kid size… but it was still massive.

 

On Saturday (June 19th), my roomie, Brittney, from college came down from New Jersey to hang out for the weekend.  She had never met my kids and Samantha loved having another person that would play with her.  For whatever reason they started throwing a pillow back and forth.  Samantha would count to 3, Brittney would throw it, and instead of Samantha catching it, she’d let it hit her in the face and then she’d fall back on the couch.  She was having a ball.

  

 

Brittney played with Clara too, and got lots of smiles and giggles out of her.  She came to church with us on Sunday and even stuck around for when all the faux family came over for dinner.  She also stood up very well to be asked mostly the same questions over and over again (Where’s she going to school, what’s her major, what does she plan on doing with that.. etc…) What a trooper!  And at least one “possible set-up” was mentioned.

 

 

Here are some pictures of the girls around the house.  Samantha tried to help Clara learn how to jump, she also helped clean the house.  By the end of our trip, Clara was a jumping pro.

   

On one of our last days I took Samantha to the park down the street from my parent’s home.  As it was 95° outside, we didn’t stay long.  But she loved it while we were there.