Park Quest 4 and 5 and other fun

We did these on different days but I'm just now blogging so they're together.
PQ 4 was a nice hike to identify big trees.

Park Quest #4- Susquehanna

Cute Baby #5- learning to crawl

Ft McHenry 

Not a park quest but our last day at the park with our beach friends.

Saying good bye to "Beach Friends"

PQ 5 was disc golf and a hike to the rapids. Such a pretty walk! And I was amazed how much better the kids are at disc golf this year. They change so fast!

PQ #5- Patapsco Valley Disc Golf and rapids

Park Quest 6 and 7

We headed out early Monday morning for Park Quests 6 and 7. We had our frequent on the go breakfast- egg muffins- but my short cut of using egg substitute was not such a good idea. When I took them out of the oven Sunday night, I saw they left a lot to be desired. so... I disguised them with biscuits. I was very happy to find this list of Ambleside Online books so we can listen to some of our AO books in the car. 

PQ 6 was South Mountain- a hike on the Appalachian Trail. We were blessed with a beautiful day- perfect temperature for a hike. 

We took a picture at the Basic Quest turn around spot- Weverton challenge but it was such a great day we decided to continue and do the bonus quest.

We enjoyed the beautiful view and surprised some hikers at Weverton Cliffs. One saw me carrying Baby C in the Bjorn and asked if I carried her the whole way. I started to make a joke but decided a simple yes was better. the trail was pretty steep but the kids really did great.

so great that we headed to South Mountain Creamery for 2 for 1 ice cream- yum!! Love that place! After eating some yummy ice cream, we got to play in the park and see baby cows, goats, and sheep. I didn't tell the kids that next week they'll get to live with a calf at the Cole Farm.

even Baby C got to play!

We had a little bit of an adventure finding Cunningham Falls but still enjoyed PQ 7. On our scenic route, T and baby C got a nap, we got to see the Cunningham Falls beach, and drove through a beautiful national park. We enjoyed the lock box hike but the kids' favorite was the aviary, turtle pond, and zipline. Fun times!

Thankful!

We're enjoying adding things to our thankful journal. we don't yet add them daily but as I think about it. Daily would be good. I don't usually write my thankful entries here but today we had some unusual ones:

I'm thankful that

1- no one broke into our house last night

2- we have a good alarm system

3- the thieves weren't super hungry- they left the granola bars in the car

4- for all the things the theives didn't take- bicycles, tennis racquets, strollers, ...

5- the thieves weren't too needy- they left behind the nickels and dimes

6- they didn't take our Park Quest book- we've already done 7 quests!

7-we didn't have anywhere we needed to be this morning

8-they left our vehicle registration

9-our glove compartment is much cleaner now

10- kind neighbors called to check on us when they saw a police car in the driveway

11- the police weren't here because we were in trouble (as one child thought)

12-new neighbors stopped by to give their phone number in case we ever need anything

I could probably come up with a dozen more but I'll end with

I got to pray with our children for the thieves- we've been talking about the verses that say "do not return evil for evil but pray for blessing for those who persecute you" and today we got to live it. 

So much to be thankful for!

My favorite place in Baltimore

Trip Number Two and PQ 1-3

We were so excited to be able to spend some good family time with James after his graduation. We've been really blessed over the last couple years to be able to have a lot of family time but it's especially good when it's more than a weekend at a time. We really enjoyed both of our trips during his leave. First was exciting amusement park and big city. Then last week we spent in the great outdoors. 

We signed up for Park Quest again this year and wanted to camp out and do a few Park Quests to start the summer. We had so much fun at James Island last year that we decided to go back. We were too early for crabbing but we still had a great time. I'm learning how to use photos from James' phone.  well, I'm learning and I'm tired so these pics aren't in order. :)

Not part of our trip but she's just so cute :)

And again :) we like her big brother too!

out for a walk sporting our tie dye shirts 

This was actually PQ #2- Assateague Island

The touch tank at Assateague was neat- especially the horseshoe crab

We did go inside a little- the nature center is full of nature books, games, crafts, and animals

Practicing our boating skills

Park Quest #3- crabbing at James Island. It was too windy to canoe

How'd this pic get here? C made his own bike trailer

Nice to have big brothers to cuddle you!

PQ #2 Assateague Island- hiking, geocaching, and old timey games

We got to see the snapping turtle have a 3 course dinner

This was so cute- T was showing KG a turtle. 

Our 2nd night dinner- chicken quesadillas 

The observation tower

Park Quest #1 for 2013: Canoeing at Pocomoke River State Park K^3

Pre-canoeing fun at Pocomoke River

Burpees Day One

Our new camping dessert: camping brownies received mixed reviews- the second night we went with old standby s'mores (with Reeses) 

This view brought us back a second year!

Love Assateague Island- beach fun and ponies too!

and kite flying! what a day!

And baby's beach tent didn't blow away!


We had a terrific camping trip! Looking forward to the next great adventure!

Can you tell me how to get...

how to get? how to get to Sesame Street?

we planned to go to Philadelphia during James' leave time. We ended up having a super trip but not what we planned.  We didn't make hotel reservations until two nights before and the hotel we were planning on staying no longer had rooms available which turned out to be a good thing! We found a room for less money (a super military discount) which was right by Sesame Place. We'd never been but I knew that it was free for active duty plus 3 dependents. Our kids are perfect ages for sesame place so we decided to go. We drove up Wednesday morning and were able to check in to the hotel at 9:30 am. By 10 we'd settled into the hotel, walked a couple minutes to the park, and were walking in the gate!

 The longest lines were for the characters- with 2 or 3 families in front of us.

 The parade was really cute.

 The rides were fun- James and I took turns riding and hanging out with Baby C.

 this was one of the kids' favorite rides. Baby C loved it too- so fun to watch.

 The water slides were a blast! and we had perfect weather.

 Baby C did nice napping in the stroller, in the swing, and on my lap. We even got chairs in the shade by the Count's Castle to watch the fun.

 The kids loved when the count's bucket dumped water on them.

 We were all worn out at the end of the day

 We enjoyed the playroom at the hotel too- well baby C was napping but the rest of us did.

 A great day of fun- we got to the park when it opened and left when it closed so we had some worn out kids.

We had a short but good day in Philly. There were a lot of school groups there so we couldn't get tickets to Liberty Hall. but we got to see the Liberty Bell. There's not much I would have changed about our trip but next time I think I'll pay the $1.50 per ticket to have a guaranteed ticket to Liberty Hall. We did get to go in a few historical buildings and the kids really enjoyed seeing printing in the printmaking shop. Their other favorite thing was doing the Junior Ranger Program- they passed out a good sized booklet with questions/ activities for the kids to do. The Park Ranger who gave them their badges made it such fun.
One of James' favorite things in Philly was the Philly Cheesesteak. It was good- even without the cheese! We had a super trip! And confirmed some good reasons for homeschooling: 192 we can go on trips when most kids are still in school so places aren't crowded.  193 we can spend time together as a family when James has time off from work. 194 we can enjoy a day in Philly and count it as school!     (I made up those numbers but we do have lots of good reasons!)