Wednesday night, the kids and I went over to my folks' house to go pick up Annie to bring her back to my house so that she can watch the girls for me. Jason had an eye appointment, and I needed to be his driver home. It was good that she was there because we got home from the appointment about 15 minutes after Sofy had to be on the bus, so she was able to do that for me!
After the appointment, I took Annie out lunch to treat her for her payment! We went to Burgerville that was so good, but it's gotten so expensive. It would have cost the amount to go to Changs' for lunch, but we had just had it the day before! Their newest thing there is Asparagus fries. They were so good, but I prefer my roasted asparagus with olive oil and salt & pepper.
After having lunch, she and I went over to Trader Joe's for me to get some groceries for dinner.
We got back home to help Jason get Bella ready for preschool and we waited and waited for the bus to arrive that never showed up! So, Annie went with me to drive her to school, thinking that the bus forgot her or something. Turns out that they didn't have class today and would be out until next Tuesday. Poor Bella was so disappointed, she loves going to school. It's only 2 days a week, so on the days she goes she gets so excited!
We came back home for about half an hour before going to get Alex from school. After we picked him up, I treated the gang to Frosties at Wendys for a fun, cooling snack. Alex got a full meal and actually ate it all, including the Frosty that came with his meal!
We came back home and relaxed until it was time for dinner. I made Lemon Chicken, leftover Rissoto rice, roasted asparagus, and homemade rolls. around 7:00 we drove to drive Annie to meet my Dad for him to take her home since she had errands to run today.
So, we had a fun day hanging out, enjoying some yummy food and she is always a help when we need her to watch the kids for us and she likes to do it! That is just one of the many reasons why I love being back home in Portland again! It's so nice that we are back closer to family again and that I can see them as often and I like and not drive 2 hours each way to do so! Eugene was a nice town, and we made some great friends and lived in a fantastic ward there, but it's so nice to be back home!!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Annie's Birthday
Today is my sister's 23rd birthday! So, as tradition that we've had for the past 10 years or so and when we could, we go to Chang's where the birthday person gets a free lunch!
It was pretty fun, but interesting being the busy Mom with 3 kids in 3 different schools right now. Our goal was to try to meet @ 11:45, giving me time before Bella had to go to class and after my Grandma's doctor appointment in the morning.
So, I got Sofy got on her bus at 11:00 and Bella and I drove as quick as we could within the laws of the land to get to Gladstone to go to the one by their house. I actually made good time and ended up meeting them at my Parents' house right at 11:40!
We had a good lunch out with Boni, Lexi, Grandma, Annie's friend Chantel, and Bella and I. Bella and I got finished just in time at 12:40, and I got her back and drove her to her class, with about 10 minutes to spare!!
So, good timing on my part and had a fun lunch out with some fun girls!!
Thanks, Annie for making it a time when I could go. It's crazy how busy my day can be on some days, and others I have so much time, I end up trying to come up with something to do, other than clean, which is an every day occurance. Haha!
It was pretty fun, but interesting being the busy Mom with 3 kids in 3 different schools right now. Our goal was to try to meet @ 11:45, giving me time before Bella had to go to class and after my Grandma's doctor appointment in the morning.
So, I got Sofy got on her bus at 11:00 and Bella and I drove as quick as we could within the laws of the land to get to Gladstone to go to the one by their house. I actually made good time and ended up meeting them at my Parents' house right at 11:40!
We had a good lunch out with Boni, Lexi, Grandma, Annie's friend Chantel, and Bella and I. Bella and I got finished just in time at 12:40, and I got her back and drove her to her class, with about 10 minutes to spare!!
So, good timing on my part and had a fun lunch out with some fun girls!!
Thanks, Annie for making it a time when I could go. It's crazy how busy my day can be on some days, and others I have so much time, I end up trying to come up with something to do, other than clean, which is an every day occurance. Haha!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Evergreen Air Musum
Yesterday, we wanted to do something outside as a family with it being a nice, almost HOT day! We thought of going to Newport and go to the Aquarium there since we have passes for the year. But, we didn't get going until almost noon and so, as we were driving we thought we would go to the Evergreen Air & Space museum instead. Jason has passes for that place, too, but only for one more guest.
It is pretty expensive to go inside and see the museum, but outside they have about a dozen planes, plus some tanks also. They also have a nice, fun park where the kids can play on the equipment. So, for about an hour 1/2 or so, the kids got to play there.
After a while, we took the kids inside the museum to have them get a drink of water and just in front of where the ticket counter is, there was a cute airplane amusement like ride that they said the kids could go on. Alex at first didn't want to go on it, he thought it would go up too high and he has a fear of heights, so the girls took a turn first (We were the only ones waiting to use it when we were in there). But after seeing that they barely got off the ground and was basically like a merry go-round type ride (Like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, only not so high. It just barely went above the ground). So, Alex got to have a turn and this time, a few more families found the ride and there were about 7 or so kids on with him.
After the ride, we went back outside for the kids to play again, and Jason took just Sofy to go see the airplanes up close. It is so cute because Sofy is really a Daddy's girl! When we go out together she stays right by Daddy and only wants to be with Him when we are walking together. Bella is a Mama's girl and always stays close to me. So, it's actually alot easier for us when we go out together and we already know which child we are going to be holding on to! And Alex, too likes to stay close to me. He is very much a Mama's Boy!
Anyways, after playing for a while, we were ready to come back home. On the way home, we stopped in Newburg and got some ice cream at a Dairy Queen there for a nice way to relax and to cool off! It got pretty warm!!
When we got home, I got out our 6 foot inflatable pool that my Grandma got for the kids to play in. After getting it blown up, the girls played in the water until it was almost dark and had to come in!
To end the day, I rented Hotel for Dogs from RedBox (I love getting movies from the box! You can't beat $1 rentals!!) and had a fun movie night! Jason seemed to enjoy it too, mostly because it has a Boston Terrier in it as one of the dog breeds, and Bella LOVES Boston Terriers!
So, we had a great day spending time together as a family. We've been really trying lately to do more things all together, especially now that the girls are a little older and it's easier for them to do things with us. The past few years if we did things outside, they either were stuck in a stroller that I had to push, or I would just stay home with them and Jason would take Alex out. I usually didn't mind being home and I always felt that it was good for him to have their guy time with his Dad! So, it's been nice to go out and do things together!
It is pretty expensive to go inside and see the museum, but outside they have about a dozen planes, plus some tanks also. They also have a nice, fun park where the kids can play on the equipment. So, for about an hour 1/2 or so, the kids got to play there.
After a while, we took the kids inside the museum to have them get a drink of water and just in front of where the ticket counter is, there was a cute airplane amusement like ride that they said the kids could go on. Alex at first didn't want to go on it, he thought it would go up too high and he has a fear of heights, so the girls took a turn first (We were the only ones waiting to use it when we were in there). But after seeing that they barely got off the ground and was basically like a merry go-round type ride (Like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, only not so high. It just barely went above the ground). So, Alex got to have a turn and this time, a few more families found the ride and there were about 7 or so kids on with him.
After the ride, we went back outside for the kids to play again, and Jason took just Sofy to go see the airplanes up close. It is so cute because Sofy is really a Daddy's girl! When we go out together she stays right by Daddy and only wants to be with Him when we are walking together. Bella is a Mama's girl and always stays close to me. So, it's actually alot easier for us when we go out together and we already know which child we are going to be holding on to! And Alex, too likes to stay close to me. He is very much a Mama's Boy!
Anyways, after playing for a while, we were ready to come back home. On the way home, we stopped in Newburg and got some ice cream at a Dairy Queen there for a nice way to relax and to cool off! It got pretty warm!!
When we got home, I got out our 6 foot inflatable pool that my Grandma got for the kids to play in. After getting it blown up, the girls played in the water until it was almost dark and had to come in!
To end the day, I rented Hotel for Dogs from RedBox (I love getting movies from the box! You can't beat $1 rentals!!) and had a fun movie night! Jason seemed to enjoy it too, mostly because it has a Boston Terrier in it as one of the dog breeds, and Bella LOVES Boston Terriers!
So, we had a great day spending time together as a family. We've been really trying lately to do more things all together, especially now that the girls are a little older and it's easier for them to do things with us. The past few years if we did things outside, they either were stuck in a stroller that I had to push, or I would just stay home with them and Jason would take Alex out. I usually didn't mind being home and I always felt that it was good for him to have their guy time with his Dad! So, it's been nice to go out and do things together!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sofy's IEP & Our Dinner Out
This afternoon, Jason and I went to Sofy's school to have a conference for her eligibility for special education services, and also to plan out her IEP for the next year for 1st grade.
The meeting went well, and as expected, she still definitely needs the services and will be in the Social Communications classroom (Which is a fancy name for an autism class) at least through 1st and probably 2nd grade. After today, she is eligible for services for the next 3 years. This seems so far off, but we won't need to be doing an eligibility meeting until she goes into 4th grade! Crazy at how far that seems, and yet really will be not too far off, either!!
They are going to focus on her social interactions, especially with her peers, since she only intereacts with adults and is very shy and does not interact with other children much.
They will also work on her speech a little more with original language and not scripted. They are also going to focus more on her fine motor skills. She still does not grasp a pencil/crayon correctly yet, and also needs help in the correct way to hold scissors.
She has an amazing team of teachers and specialists that are doing wonders with her, and I am so proud of her how almost every day she is growing, and truly in a short amount of time! Oh, and it occurred to me, as they pointed out, that by moving up to 1st grade in the fall she will have a full day of school, so no more 3 hour days, it will be 6!
Also they also said that she is doing so well she DOES NOT qualify for needing services for summer school!! I was kind of disappointed by that news and would have loved to have had her continue doing school in the summer, but it also shows her growth and that she doesn't need those extra days, too!
So, after our meeting, Jason and I went back home for a while, got some housework done. I took the kids to my parents last night and they kept them with Annie there so that I wouldn't have needed to bring them with us to the 1 hour meeting, there was no school for the next two days for parent/teacher conferences.
We wanted to go out for dinner since it was just us at home. We decided on Hometown Buffet. I know it's not fancy, but we had a coupon from the mail for "Buy one get one for $5.99". So, not bad that's more than half off the regular price.
We like to go to buffets often, mostly because the food is ready when we get there, and the kids don't have to wait for it to be made, we can just go up and get our food and eat!
It was nice that we were able to relax and that I didn't have to go with the kids a dozen times helping them get more food! It only took me 3 trips for my own food!! That would be a salad, hot food, and dessert trip up and down!
So, it was a nice day! Oh, and earlier today I got to spend time with my Grandma and was her chauffer this morning, and went shopping with her for some things she needed. I haven't seen her since Christmas, since she's been spending half the year in Utah with Aunt Rick, and we lived in Eugene and had the kids in school and such. So, it was nice to spend that time with her, talking about how my kids are doing and hearing her talk about her childhood and raising her kids.
Today was a good day!!
The meeting went well, and as expected, she still definitely needs the services and will be in the Social Communications classroom (Which is a fancy name for an autism class) at least through 1st and probably 2nd grade. After today, she is eligible for services for the next 3 years. This seems so far off, but we won't need to be doing an eligibility meeting until she goes into 4th grade! Crazy at how far that seems, and yet really will be not too far off, either!!
They are going to focus on her social interactions, especially with her peers, since she only intereacts with adults and is very shy and does not interact with other children much.
They will also work on her speech a little more with original language and not scripted. They are also going to focus more on her fine motor skills. She still does not grasp a pencil/crayon correctly yet, and also needs help in the correct way to hold scissors.
She has an amazing team of teachers and specialists that are doing wonders with her, and I am so proud of her how almost every day she is growing, and truly in a short amount of time! Oh, and it occurred to me, as they pointed out, that by moving up to 1st grade in the fall she will have a full day of school, so no more 3 hour days, it will be 6!
Also they also said that she is doing so well she DOES NOT qualify for needing services for summer school!! I was kind of disappointed by that news and would have loved to have had her continue doing school in the summer, but it also shows her growth and that she doesn't need those extra days, too!
So, after our meeting, Jason and I went back home for a while, got some housework done. I took the kids to my parents last night and they kept them with Annie there so that I wouldn't have needed to bring them with us to the 1 hour meeting, there was no school for the next two days for parent/teacher conferences.
We wanted to go out for dinner since it was just us at home. We decided on Hometown Buffet. I know it's not fancy, but we had a coupon from the mail for "Buy one get one for $5.99". So, not bad that's more than half off the regular price.
We like to go to buffets often, mostly because the food is ready when we get there, and the kids don't have to wait for it to be made, we can just go up and get our food and eat!
It was nice that we were able to relax and that I didn't have to go with the kids a dozen times helping them get more food! It only took me 3 trips for my own food!! That would be a salad, hot food, and dessert trip up and down!
So, it was a nice day! Oh, and earlier today I got to spend time with my Grandma and was her chauffer this morning, and went shopping with her for some things she needed. I haven't seen her since Christmas, since she's been spending half the year in Utah with Aunt Rick, and we lived in Eugene and had the kids in school and such. So, it was nice to spend that time with her, talking about how my kids are doing and hearing her talk about her childhood and raising her kids.
Today was a good day!!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Kah-Nee-Tah Fun!!
Early Friday afternoon Boni called me and said that she was taking her kids, and also her friend, Kelly and her kids, to go to Kah-Nee-Tah on Saturday for a fun day! She asked if we wanted to join them and at first thought no, but after a few minutes, thought, Ok!!
Kah-Nee-Ta is a fun place just over the other side of Mt. Hood where there is a natural hot springs. They have a nice pool where the water is naturally heated. They said that the heat was 104*, but they add cool water to keep it at 92*! It's so nice to go swimming in nice, warm water!
All growing up, we would go to there just about every summer or so. Especially if we weren't going to be going on a longer vacation. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Portland and really doesn't cost too much to go, so it's a nice place to go to get away for the day and feel like we went somewhere exotic! My Mom and her family went when she was growing up and for the most part my Grandma liked to go because she said it reminded her so much of her of Wyoming, where they have a natural hot springs too and the red rock mountains around too!
I got some new swimming suits for my kids. Got Alex's @ Old Navy for $10, and the Girls' @ Ross for $5.99 each!! When Jason came home from work I asked he wanted to go with us, and he said sure!
So, yesterday, we woke up about 6:45 AM to get ourselves ready to meet them in Estacada for me to follow them. I wouldn't remember how to get there! We met them around 8:30 and got to Kah-Nee-Tah around 10:30!
The kids had so much fun. I bought Alex some swim goggles and snorkel and he had so much fun swimming around with that. I got the girls those arm floaties and Bella floated great with that, that she practically swam by herself, but still needed to be close to me! Sofy stayed by Jason the whole time! She stayed close to the wall of the pool and didn't want Daddy to go to far out with her, but after a while would let him take her farther away from the wall, as long as he held on to her! He also took her to a little kiddie pool that she was more comfortable with!
Around 12:30, we got out and decided to have a picnic lunch we brought with us. They have a nice grassy area just for that reason, and there is also a river running right by the pool, so we got a spot near the river and used a bed sheet to sit on and had a nice picnic of sandwiches, chips and crackers, and juices that we brought.
We went back in and swam some more until about 3:00 and thought it was time to leave. After getting everything packed back up we left to go home about 4:30. We drove for about an hour and half and stopped in Sandy to get some dinner and went into KFC for some chicken (They have new grilled chicken that is really good!). We then went next door to a McDonalds and got some ice cream Sundaes for a nice dessert and let the kids play for a for a few minutes, since we still had a good hour or so drive still!
We came home and realized how sunburned we are and are now so sore from it, especially me, I am the fair one in my family. My back, arms, just above my chest, and legs are all sunburned! Alex's back got quite sunburned too, and so did Jason. I don't think I've ever known Jason to sunburn before. We got some Aloe Vera and that helps so much!! Sofy got a little bit on her arms and legs, but is fine today. I put sun screen on Bella (And I actually), and so she's not so bad. She's kind of pink, but not sunburned. I'm sure in the next few days she'll be having a pretty cute tan! Not, be I'll just freckle some more!!
I forgot how pretty the drive is to get there! It's pretty neat that we get to literally pass by Mt. Hood right next us and cross over it and see it behind us! We saw alot of snow for a while, and then got near where the hot springs are and the pretty red rocks and a little bit of green grass and trees all around. Oh, and there were alot of horses along the way. I don't know if they are wild horses or just alot that someone owns there (Kah-Nee-Ta's on an Indian Reservation), but we saw about 50 or so horses along the way, alot of them just standing near and in the road!!Alex was excited to see several babies too! They were so cute!
So, we had a great day with our family and it's so nice that we can have a day to spend together and create memories for our kids! The kids want to go back and I'm sure that we'll find a day again to go back up and have a day of swimming fun again!
Kah-Nee-Ta is a fun place just over the other side of Mt. Hood where there is a natural hot springs. They have a nice pool where the water is naturally heated. They said that the heat was 104*, but they add cool water to keep it at 92*! It's so nice to go swimming in nice, warm water!
All growing up, we would go to there just about every summer or so. Especially if we weren't going to be going on a longer vacation. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Portland and really doesn't cost too much to go, so it's a nice place to go to get away for the day and feel like we went somewhere exotic! My Mom and her family went when she was growing up and for the most part my Grandma liked to go because she said it reminded her so much of her of Wyoming, where they have a natural hot springs too and the red rock mountains around too!
I got some new swimming suits for my kids. Got Alex's @ Old Navy for $10, and the Girls' @ Ross for $5.99 each!! When Jason came home from work I asked he wanted to go with us, and he said sure!
So, yesterday, we woke up about 6:45 AM to get ourselves ready to meet them in Estacada for me to follow them. I wouldn't remember how to get there! We met them around 8:30 and got to Kah-Nee-Tah around 10:30!
The kids had so much fun. I bought Alex some swim goggles and snorkel and he had so much fun swimming around with that. I got the girls those arm floaties and Bella floated great with that, that she practically swam by herself, but still needed to be close to me! Sofy stayed by Jason the whole time! She stayed close to the wall of the pool and didn't want Daddy to go to far out with her, but after a while would let him take her farther away from the wall, as long as he held on to her! He also took her to a little kiddie pool that she was more comfortable with!
Around 12:30, we got out and decided to have a picnic lunch we brought with us. They have a nice grassy area just for that reason, and there is also a river running right by the pool, so we got a spot near the river and used a bed sheet to sit on and had a nice picnic of sandwiches, chips and crackers, and juices that we brought.
We went back in and swam some more until about 3:00 and thought it was time to leave. After getting everything packed back up we left to go home about 4:30. We drove for about an hour and half and stopped in Sandy to get some dinner and went into KFC for some chicken (They have new grilled chicken that is really good!). We then went next door to a McDonalds and got some ice cream Sundaes for a nice dessert and let the kids play for a for a few minutes, since we still had a good hour or so drive still!
We came home and realized how sunburned we are and are now so sore from it, especially me, I am the fair one in my family. My back, arms, just above my chest, and legs are all sunburned! Alex's back got quite sunburned too, and so did Jason. I don't think I've ever known Jason to sunburn before. We got some Aloe Vera and that helps so much!! Sofy got a little bit on her arms and legs, but is fine today. I put sun screen on Bella (And I actually), and so she's not so bad. She's kind of pink, but not sunburned. I'm sure in the next few days she'll be having a pretty cute tan! Not, be I'll just freckle some more!!
I forgot how pretty the drive is to get there! It's pretty neat that we get to literally pass by Mt. Hood right next us and cross over it and see it behind us! We saw alot of snow for a while, and then got near where the hot springs are and the pretty red rocks and a little bit of green grass and trees all around. Oh, and there were alot of horses along the way. I don't know if they are wild horses or just alot that someone owns there (Kah-Nee-Ta's on an Indian Reservation), but we saw about 50 or so horses along the way, alot of them just standing near and in the road!!Alex was excited to see several babies too! They were so cute!
So, we had a great day with our family and it's so nice that we can have a day to spend together and create memories for our kids! The kids want to go back and I'm sure that we'll find a day again to go back up and have a day of swimming fun again!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Bella's "Catapiller"
I wanted to tell a cute, quick story of Bella so that I don't forget about it. I've always been told to write down the cute things our kids do and read them later and remember those little moments!
Yesterday, I was finishing cleaning up the kitchen after lunch and Bella had been playing outside while I was doing that. She came into the kitchen and said, "Look what I found, Mommy! I found a catapiller!!" It was actually a worm wriggling around in her hands! I thought, "ICK!!" I told her to take it outside where it lives and put it back in the dirt.
A few minutes later, I thought to myself, I've got this cute little girl that has alot of Tom Girl qualities to her that I never had, and still don't have being a girl! Bella loves to play outside, and jump in the dirt and especially in mud puddles and she loves little critters and gets so exited to bring inside to show me!
And I thought, It's ok that she likes to do those things, even if I never did! Growing up, playing in the dirt and finding little animals and critters were so boy things to do and I never wanted to do that! I wanted to stay very far away from dirt, mud, and little bugs that were so gross to me!
Even Alex really hasn't ever been quite into wanting to play in the dirt and mud and find critters to bring to me! I guess that Bella has those qualities, and it's such a cute part of who she is and it adds some fun and excitement for me in being her Mom!
The only thing about critters that I really cared about and tried to help was having spiders in our house. I always, and still do, took them back outside and never wanted to kill them. I had it instilled in me from watching "Charlotte's Web" and how Charlotte tells Wilbur that spiders "Are very useful creatures and that if she didn't eat them, bugs would get so numerous they would destroy the earth!" So, whenever there is a spider in the house (Especially from Alex who is quite terrified from bugs, and especially spiders), they come to me, I go get a piece of paper and a glass cup, and carefully take them back outside so that they can continue to eat those Numerous Bugs!
So, perhaps I've got a girl that may one day decide to study bugs or something and that I just need to be glad that she loves to be outdoors, find little creatures to study, and also jump into mud puddles!
Yesterday, I was finishing cleaning up the kitchen after lunch and Bella had been playing outside while I was doing that. She came into the kitchen and said, "Look what I found, Mommy! I found a catapiller!!" It was actually a worm wriggling around in her hands! I thought, "ICK!!" I told her to take it outside where it lives and put it back in the dirt.
A few minutes later, I thought to myself, I've got this cute little girl that has alot of Tom Girl qualities to her that I never had, and still don't have being a girl! Bella loves to play outside, and jump in the dirt and especially in mud puddles and she loves little critters and gets so exited to bring inside to show me!
And I thought, It's ok that she likes to do those things, even if I never did! Growing up, playing in the dirt and finding little animals and critters were so boy things to do and I never wanted to do that! I wanted to stay very far away from dirt, mud, and little bugs that were so gross to me!
Even Alex really hasn't ever been quite into wanting to play in the dirt and mud and find critters to bring to me! I guess that Bella has those qualities, and it's such a cute part of who she is and it adds some fun and excitement for me in being her Mom!
The only thing about critters that I really cared about and tried to help was having spiders in our house. I always, and still do, took them back outside and never wanted to kill them. I had it instilled in me from watching "Charlotte's Web" and how Charlotte tells Wilbur that spiders "Are very useful creatures and that if she didn't eat them, bugs would get so numerous they would destroy the earth!" So, whenever there is a spider in the house (Especially from Alex who is quite terrified from bugs, and especially spiders), they come to me, I go get a piece of paper and a glass cup, and carefully take them back outside so that they can continue to eat those Numerous Bugs!
So, perhaps I've got a girl that may one day decide to study bugs or something and that I just need to be glad that she loves to be outdoors, find little creatures to study, and also jump into mud puddles!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Photo's of Gettsburg
Ok, here's just a few of the many, many photos that Jason took on our trip. He used up 3 memory cards and took almost 500 photos! With the majority of them being @ Gettysburg!
Me in front of the "Alexander's Battalion" Plaque. I just
thought it was neat that a plaque had Alex's name on it.
I don't really know who the Alexander was, though.
Jason and I on the top of Little Round Top, a more 
The Famous Minnesota Monument. During the battle
Jason @ The Minnesota Monument
The Famous Irish Brigade Monuments. Monuments like
Me in front of the "Alexander's Battalion" Plaque. I justthought it was neat that a plaque had Alex's name on it.
I don't really know who the Alexander was, though.
Jason and I on the top of Little Round Top, a more important area of the battlefield. It took us a while
to find the road to go up to it, but once we found it
Jason was thrilled to see it! It was pretty cool, though.
You can see the entire battlefield from here and you can
see the size of it (It's over 6,000 acres of land that the
battle was fought on.
The Famous Minnesota Monument. During the battle the Minnesota was given to order to try to hold back the
Confederates. However, they only had about 200 or so
men in their unit and the confederates had over 1,000.
By the end of the hold-off, only 49 survived it.
The position that the soldier and the bayonette is pointing
to is the way they ran into the enemies hands.
Jason @ The Minnesota Monument
The Famous Irish Brigade Monuments. Monuments like this one seemed a little eerie and made the battlefield seem
like a huge cemetery for me, especially the ones with crosses
or Angels on them. But, it was also very peaceful, too.
Gettysburg and Antietam Photos
A famous spot where a photo of two dead soldiers lay dead.
The Famous "Sniper" Spot where a photo showed a dead solider lying here and the photographer claimed that a sniper was killed.
It was later was revealed that the dead soldier died about 40 meters
away and was dragged and photographed here to add some "Affect"
to the picture. This spot was the eeriest for me as I can still see
the picture and know exactly where he was lying.
The Dunkard Church @ Antietam. The Next day after the battle, both sides agreed to use it as a hospital for both sides
and to bring their dead to prepare them for burial. This is
actually a replicate, though. The original church was damaged
in a fire in the 1880's and then destroyed in a wind storm in
the 1930's and rebuilt in the 1950's.
Just One of the many Cannons @ Gettysburg
A part of the Antietam BattlefieldSofy's Lost Her First Tooth!!!
If you look at her mouth, you can see the hole where her tooth used to be! This was taken last night @
Lexi's birthday party @ Chuck E. Cheese.
Tuesday morning I got Sofy up to get her going with me to take Alex to school and noticed she had a hole in her mouth! She has lost her first tooth!!
I've been wondering how she was going to react to it, either being uncomfortable with it or not even notice it and apparently she didn't seem to notice because she didn't tell me about a hole in her mouth! I think she may have swallowed it because I couldn't find it anywhere in her room where I figured she must have been when she lost it.
It is the tooth in the middle of her bottom row. I've been wondering lately trying to remember when Alex lost his first tooth and I think it was in Kindergarten, so I've been thinking she should be getting one loose soon. The strange thing is that I've been checking them out the past few weeks or so and seeing if any were loose or not and none of them seemed to be loose!
I'm glad that she's on target in loosing them though, she didn't get her first tooth until she was 16 months old! It took a long time for her teeth to grow in!
I've been wondering how she was going to react to it, either being uncomfortable with it or not even notice it and apparently she didn't seem to notice because she didn't tell me about a hole in her mouth! I think she may have swallowed it because I couldn't find it anywhere in her room where I figured she must have been when she lost it.
It is the tooth in the middle of her bottom row. I've been wondering lately trying to remember when Alex lost his first tooth and I think it was in Kindergarten, so I've been thinking she should be getting one loose soon. The strange thing is that I've been checking them out the past few weeks or so and seeing if any were loose or not and none of them seemed to be loose!
I'm glad that she's on target in loosing them though, she didn't get her first tooth until she was 16 months old! It took a long time for her teeth to grow in!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Our Gettysburg Trip
So, Jason and I spent 5 days on a great getaway for our 10th Anniversary. Jason's dream has always been to see the Gettysburg battlefield, so I said, where ever you want to go, I'll come along with you!
I'll post some pictures later, I'll just use this post to tell all that we did.
We left EARLY Tuesday morning to catch the 6:05 flight that would take us on our layover in Denver, and then on to BWI, the Baltimore airport. The flights went well and we got in around 4:00 eastern time. We got our rental car and then Jason got out his GPS to get us to our hotel that would be in Gettysburg. He got really frustrated because the GPS wouldn't work and so we just had to figure out by way of old time navigation of maps and paying attention to road signs!
I thought that area of our country is georgous! I didn't realize how green and hilly it was! Maryland and Pennsylvania were so pretty! If we ever were to need to move there, I would probably like it very much! Mind you, it would take alot to make me want to move away from Oregon and my family, and luckily that won't be happening anytime in the future, but I think I would enjoy it if we needed to! I also loved how historical it looked! So many old buildings that were still in use and how it felt like we stepped back in time!
Anyways, we got to our hotel around 8:00 (we spent alot of time trying to find a place for Jason to use his computer and try to figure out how to get his gps to work), and we stayed at the fabulous Wyndham, thank you PriceLine for a great deal on it too! It was awesome, they had it decorated in beautiful civil war paintings, statues, and furniture of the era! After we got into our room, we were needing to get some dinner, so we thought we would try the hotel restaurant (gave 10% off the tab!), but we didn't realise how expensive it would be! The average entree was $25! So, we opted to choose to get some an appetiser each, and a vegetable side. Jason got Calamari (Which, I don't like, it's too rubbery for me), and I got bacon wrapped scallops. Mine were so good, but it came with 2!! Two medium sized scallops! But, they were so good, they reminded of the food that is made on Hell's Kitchen! Very classy and elegant! Since we didn't get a big meal, we also got a dessert, and Jason got a huge piece of Chocolate cake, and I got a chocolate Lava cake that seemed like 1/3 of the size of his! Although, the lava cake was very rich, so had I had a bigger piece, it would have been a little too much, but still, the things I chose were so different in size and fulfillment than Jason's!
The next day around 10:00, after Jason finally got his GPS to work, we went off to our adventure to the battlefield! Jason was in History Heaven! He was like a kid in a candy store who got to have all of the pieces but wasn't sure where to even begin!
One thing about Gettysburg that surprised me more than anything is the sheer size of the land! It is over 6,000 acrea of land that they battled and it took 25 minutes for the units to march to just get to the other side to fight. Another thing is that it is very surreal to stand and look out and just think how many men died in the very spot and now it's a very calm and almost peaceful area. It is beautiful too. Another thing that seemed sad and eerie is that they have all over the area where the different units were at, they have georgeous tall stone monuments that to me seemed like an old cemetery. Alot of the statues had winged angels on it and I guess it really is a cemetery in a way and it was a way to honor the thousands of people who died there.
We also went to the Gettysburg Memorial Center, which just opened in 2008 and it's pretty cool. We saw a 25 minute movie about the battle and then that takes you upstairs to a circular room that has a famous painting called the Gettysburg Cyclorama! It is a painting that was done in 1888 that literally circles the room on the wall, and it looked so lifelike, it was almost like we were looking at the battle from our own eyes! It was said that the survivors of the battle would see it and just weep because of the intensity and lifelike look of it.
After the memorial center tour, we went back out and looked more at other areas of the battlefield. We did that until about 7:30 and we were ready for dinner. We went to a nice place near the battlefield and got back to our hotel around 9:00.
The next day, Jason was starting to feel aweful and that he had started getting a cold on Tuesday and with the flight (We both have ear problems after a flight), it just made it worse and made his throat and ears hurt, so we found a Walmart and after getting some Advil and Sudafed, he was feeling much better. We spent this day (Thursday) doing some more touring of the battlefield and found the more important areas that Jason really wanted to see. We found some spots where famous photos of the aftermath of the battle were taken and it seemed very eerie to stand in a place that the photo showed dead soldiers on it. Very, very surreal and eerie, but also very eye opening to what happened there. We spent all day there, except for about an hour to get some lunch. We did quick fast food for the two days there, and then got a nice dinner afterwards. We left the battlefield and found a lovely Italian restaurant called La Bella! It was so good!! It's been a long time since we went to a nice Italian restaurant, and we both got a trio of pastas; Lasagna, Manicotti, and Ravioli. After dinner we drove to Frederick, Maryland where we were to stay at our second hotel.
The next day (Friday), we drove to the Antietam battlefield about 30 minutes away. Antietam is more special to me because it is the same area that my Ancestors had lived. The son (A great Uncle to me) of my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather had lived and had farm on the land. All of his children lived in the same area, so just to see where they lived over 150 years ago was so awesome! Jason was so nice for me that he really tried to help me in looking for and locating the farm and possibly the farm house that they would have lived in, but we got a litte lost and realized that the road that we should have gone down to see it was a private road and we didn't want to risk getting in trouble! But, it was an awesome thing for me to see where they had lived at the time!
We spent all day looking around that battlefield, which isn't nearly as big as Gettysburg, They had the old church there, farm houses, and the different fields and woods they used to cross and battle.
One quick observance that to me seemed to out of place was that people still lived in the old homes and other certain buildings to help keep the originality of the battlefield, and there would be these nice new 21 century cars in front of these 18th-19th century homes. It seemed just strange and surreal that people would still live there!
About 5:30 or so, we had seen all of Antietam and had heard from others that nearby was Harpers Ferry, a quaint little town in West Virginia around 20 minutes away and we thought we would go see it. It was fun and very neat that we went kind of on a back road and got to see some amazing views of the country side and all along the Potamic River! We got to the area of Harpers Ferry and after a while of figuring out how to get to it, we were able to see it. It consists of about 3 or 4 streets and it looks like it is the 17th or 18th century! They had cute little shops that would have been there and little cafes, and a couple of museums. However, we must have gotten there after closing time because there was no one there and everything was closed! But, it was still cool to see and a very cute, quaint little town!
After seeing the Harpers Ferry for a few minutes, we then drove back to Frederick and Jason and wanted to go somewhere nice since it was officially the day of our Anniversary and we wanted seafood and found a Red Lobtser. I, of course, got a Lobster special and Jason got Scrimp and Scallops.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel and thought we would go to their jacuzzi and it so nice!!
A quick thing that I thought was so cool that on our trip we went into 4 different states! Pennsylvania, Maryland, literally a few minutes in Virgina, and West Virginia! I knew that those states were pretty small, but I didn't ever know that we were driving in Maryland, and 5 minutes later we went into Virginia, and then a few miles later went into West Virginia! And then 30 minutes later from the day before we were in Pennsylvania! Not like in the Pacific Northwest where it takes 6 hours (except for washington, we're only about 20 minutes from there) or more to get into a different state!
So, that is our fun, exciting, and fulfilling trip! It felt nice to just have time to spent time together just the two of us, and I almost forgot about our kids for alot of the time! I knew that they were in good hands and that they were having so much fun at Grammy and Papa's house! BoniJean took Bella for two days and she got to have a sleepover with Lexi and had a blast!
We got home Saturday night and are now back to regular life and back to school and work tomarrow!
I'll post some pictures later, I'll just use this post to tell all that we did.
We left EARLY Tuesday morning to catch the 6:05 flight that would take us on our layover in Denver, and then on to BWI, the Baltimore airport. The flights went well and we got in around 4:00 eastern time. We got our rental car and then Jason got out his GPS to get us to our hotel that would be in Gettysburg. He got really frustrated because the GPS wouldn't work and so we just had to figure out by way of old time navigation of maps and paying attention to road signs!
I thought that area of our country is georgous! I didn't realize how green and hilly it was! Maryland and Pennsylvania were so pretty! If we ever were to need to move there, I would probably like it very much! Mind you, it would take alot to make me want to move away from Oregon and my family, and luckily that won't be happening anytime in the future, but I think I would enjoy it if we needed to! I also loved how historical it looked! So many old buildings that were still in use and how it felt like we stepped back in time!
Anyways, we got to our hotel around 8:00 (we spent alot of time trying to find a place for Jason to use his computer and try to figure out how to get his gps to work), and we stayed at the fabulous Wyndham, thank you PriceLine for a great deal on it too! It was awesome, they had it decorated in beautiful civil war paintings, statues, and furniture of the era! After we got into our room, we were needing to get some dinner, so we thought we would try the hotel restaurant (gave 10% off the tab!), but we didn't realise how expensive it would be! The average entree was $25! So, we opted to choose to get some an appetiser each, and a vegetable side. Jason got Calamari (Which, I don't like, it's too rubbery for me), and I got bacon wrapped scallops. Mine were so good, but it came with 2!! Two medium sized scallops! But, they were so good, they reminded of the food that is made on Hell's Kitchen! Very classy and elegant! Since we didn't get a big meal, we also got a dessert, and Jason got a huge piece of Chocolate cake, and I got a chocolate Lava cake that seemed like 1/3 of the size of his! Although, the lava cake was very rich, so had I had a bigger piece, it would have been a little too much, but still, the things I chose were so different in size and fulfillment than Jason's!
The next day around 10:00, after Jason finally got his GPS to work, we went off to our adventure to the battlefield! Jason was in History Heaven! He was like a kid in a candy store who got to have all of the pieces but wasn't sure where to even begin!
One thing about Gettysburg that surprised me more than anything is the sheer size of the land! It is over 6,000 acrea of land that they battled and it took 25 minutes for the units to march to just get to the other side to fight. Another thing is that it is very surreal to stand and look out and just think how many men died in the very spot and now it's a very calm and almost peaceful area. It is beautiful too. Another thing that seemed sad and eerie is that they have all over the area where the different units were at, they have georgeous tall stone monuments that to me seemed like an old cemetery. Alot of the statues had winged angels on it and I guess it really is a cemetery in a way and it was a way to honor the thousands of people who died there.
We also went to the Gettysburg Memorial Center, which just opened in 2008 and it's pretty cool. We saw a 25 minute movie about the battle and then that takes you upstairs to a circular room that has a famous painting called the Gettysburg Cyclorama! It is a painting that was done in 1888 that literally circles the room on the wall, and it looked so lifelike, it was almost like we were looking at the battle from our own eyes! It was said that the survivors of the battle would see it and just weep because of the intensity and lifelike look of it.
After the memorial center tour, we went back out and looked more at other areas of the battlefield. We did that until about 7:30 and we were ready for dinner. We went to a nice place near the battlefield and got back to our hotel around 9:00.
The next day, Jason was starting to feel aweful and that he had started getting a cold on Tuesday and with the flight (We both have ear problems after a flight), it just made it worse and made his throat and ears hurt, so we found a Walmart and after getting some Advil and Sudafed, he was feeling much better. We spent this day (Thursday) doing some more touring of the battlefield and found the more important areas that Jason really wanted to see. We found some spots where famous photos of the aftermath of the battle were taken and it seemed very eerie to stand in a place that the photo showed dead soldiers on it. Very, very surreal and eerie, but also very eye opening to what happened there. We spent all day there, except for about an hour to get some lunch. We did quick fast food for the two days there, and then got a nice dinner afterwards. We left the battlefield and found a lovely Italian restaurant called La Bella! It was so good!! It's been a long time since we went to a nice Italian restaurant, and we both got a trio of pastas; Lasagna, Manicotti, and Ravioli. After dinner we drove to Frederick, Maryland where we were to stay at our second hotel.
The next day (Friday), we drove to the Antietam battlefield about 30 minutes away. Antietam is more special to me because it is the same area that my Ancestors had lived. The son (A great Uncle to me) of my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather had lived and had farm on the land. All of his children lived in the same area, so just to see where they lived over 150 years ago was so awesome! Jason was so nice for me that he really tried to help me in looking for and locating the farm and possibly the farm house that they would have lived in, but we got a litte lost and realized that the road that we should have gone down to see it was a private road and we didn't want to risk getting in trouble! But, it was an awesome thing for me to see where they had lived at the time!
We spent all day looking around that battlefield, which isn't nearly as big as Gettysburg, They had the old church there, farm houses, and the different fields and woods they used to cross and battle.
One quick observance that to me seemed to out of place was that people still lived in the old homes and other certain buildings to help keep the originality of the battlefield, and there would be these nice new 21 century cars in front of these 18th-19th century homes. It seemed just strange and surreal that people would still live there!
About 5:30 or so, we had seen all of Antietam and had heard from others that nearby was Harpers Ferry, a quaint little town in West Virginia around 20 minutes away and we thought we would go see it. It was fun and very neat that we went kind of on a back road and got to see some amazing views of the country side and all along the Potamic River! We got to the area of Harpers Ferry and after a while of figuring out how to get to it, we were able to see it. It consists of about 3 or 4 streets and it looks like it is the 17th or 18th century! They had cute little shops that would have been there and little cafes, and a couple of museums. However, we must have gotten there after closing time because there was no one there and everything was closed! But, it was still cool to see and a very cute, quaint little town!
After seeing the Harpers Ferry for a few minutes, we then drove back to Frederick and Jason and wanted to go somewhere nice since it was officially the day of our Anniversary and we wanted seafood and found a Red Lobtser. I, of course, got a Lobster special and Jason got Scrimp and Scallops.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel and thought we would go to their jacuzzi and it so nice!!
A quick thing that I thought was so cool that on our trip we went into 4 different states! Pennsylvania, Maryland, literally a few minutes in Virgina, and West Virginia! I knew that those states were pretty small, but I didn't ever know that we were driving in Maryland, and 5 minutes later we went into Virginia, and then a few miles later went into West Virginia! And then 30 minutes later from the day before we were in Pennsylvania! Not like in the Pacific Northwest where it takes 6 hours (except for washington, we're only about 20 minutes from there) or more to get into a different state!
So, that is our fun, exciting, and fulfilling trip! It felt nice to just have time to spent time together just the two of us, and I almost forgot about our kids for alot of the time! I knew that they were in good hands and that they were having so much fun at Grammy and Papa's house! BoniJean took Bella for two days and she got to have a sleepover with Lexi and had a blast!
We got home Saturday night and are now back to regular life and back to school and work tomarrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
