Surviving Back to School

This school year is off to a great start, but by the time I get home, I'm exhausted! I've been able to manage dinner, but once that's done so am I!

This is what my living room looks like most nights when Mat gets home:

Purdy

Levi has a new friend- Purdy.  Purdy is a blue, yellow, and orange bird (sometimes specifically a duck or an owl) that lives in the bird houses on our entertainment center.  Sometimes Purdy travels in Levi's pocket or eats dinner with us.  Purdy really likes meatloaf and requested more the other night!  Purdy even traveled with us on our recent trip to Maryland- apparently Purdy likes to fly beside the airplanes.  (Luckily he didn't get sucked into our engine!)

Last night, I overheard Levi telling Mat that Purdy is now Harold the Monster...

Machines

Levi has always been fascinated with how things work.  Last year at the sculpture garden in Minnesota, he spent most of the time trying to figure out how the lights worked.  This past Christmas he got a set of magnetic gears that he loves, and he still loves to inspect machines and cords.  

Lately he's been excited about creating his own machines.  The other day he used play dough, a rolling pin and some cookie cutters to build a machine that made butter.  He is always very specific when he describes his machines and talks about the levers, gears, and buttons.  

Here he is describing his latest creation:

(Every time we watch this, he corrects me when I say "It makes jelly!"  He says, "No Mommy, the jelly just comes out!)

Happy Birthday Uncle Clayton!

This year we celebrated Uncle Clayton's 30th birthday with a trip to Maryland.  We were all excited, but Levi had been talking about flying on a plane again for a while.  He would tell anyone who would listen that he was going on "bacation to Maryland."  Mat had to spend the first part of the week working, so Levi and I headed out with the rest of the family.

A view of our house from the beach

I was worried- we had just barely gotten the hang of the whole potty training thing, I was 29 weeks pregnant (and tired!), and Levi was having some very "two year old" moments- but we survived and had a great time.  Levi did great on the plane ride there.  Gran was impressed with Mommy's bag of tricks, and Levi enjoyed the new books, toys, and lots and lots of snacks.

We spent most of the day Monday in Annapolis at the Naval Academy.   I loved Annapolis.  It was so quaint, and it looked like it was straight out of a history book.  The academy was absolutely beautiful.  We saw lots of boats, enjoyed the beautiful buildings, toured the beautiful chapels, and even watched lunch formation which was impressive.

Tuesday we headed to the National Aquarium.  We had heard great things about it, and I thought Levi would love it.  His two favorite things from the day were the escalators and the large pictures of fish they had hanging throughout the building.  If you ask him about it now, he talks about all of the things he loved seeing- the sting rays, giant turtle, alligator, the little blue fish he chased- so I know he enjoyed it on some level.  :)  After the aquarium we ate lunch at Phillips (thanks to a recommendation from a friend) and all enjoyed it!  Poor Mat missed out (and he heard about it for the rest of the week...)

Wednesday we headed into Washington D.C.  This was one of the things I was most looking forward to, but it was a tough day.  It was hot...really hot...especially for the toddler and the pregnant lady!  We walked through the mall and saw lots of memorials and monuments.  While they were all impressive, I think my favorites were the WWII memorial and the Lincoln memorial.  Levi liked the Lincoln memorial as well and wanted me to read every word of the Gettysburg Address to him  (I paraphrased...)  On our way back to the car, Levi had a heat-induced melt down about a stick he had dropped.  He was so upset he made himself sick.  Mommy was stressed, Levi was S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G (and I was worried he might be on the verge of holding his breath until he passed out), and we were all unsure about just what to do and how to help him.  Gran and Grandad came to the rescue with a fruit popsicle, and once Levi had some cold sugar pumped into his little body he calmed down.

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Monument

Happy Levi (after his popsicle!)

After lunch we headed to Arlington National Cemetery.  It was still hot...and all uphill but absolutely beautiful and very moving.   We walked through the cemetery and up towards the Kennedys grave sites.  Along the way we saw several funeral processions and watched a 21 gun salute.  Levi impressed me throughout the trip, but particularly this afternoon.  While we stopped to watch, Levi sat (for the most part) and whispered quietly.  Our next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the changing of the guard, but after walking a little ways uphill towards the tomb, I decided Levi and I probably wouldn't make it.  I needed a cool spot to sit down, and I was pretty sure we had seen our moments of quiet reverence from Levi already.  Although I was disappointed to miss it, the cool air in the lobby and water were a welcome relief for both of us!

Mat flew in Wednesday night.  We were all glad to see him!  I was glad for him to finally have a few days off and glad to have his help.  :)  Thursday was a busy day, but I think most of us would agree that it was one of our favorite days!  One of the things Uncle Clayton really wanted to do was to spend some time out on a sailboat.  He arranged for us to go out with Captain Phil on his sailboat for the morning, and it was so much fun!  He took us around the harbor in Baltimore and had lots of interesting tid bits about sailboats and the city.  Levi had a good time except for the fact that he had constant hand holding from one of the 6 adults.  He was not a fan but he survived.  :)

After our morning on the water we had time for a quick nap and then we headed back to D.C. for a baseball game.  No Kelso Family Vacation is complete without a baseball game!  We had great seats, the Nationals won, and Levi did GREAT!  He stayed in his seat (well...our row of seats...) the entire time and enjoyed eating, playing with the chairs, and more eating.  It was a great night!

Friday morning was a relaxed morning (and one of my favorites).  Our house was right on the water.  We had a private beach as well as two kayaks and a canoe to use.  Levi loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water.  We took turns going out on the boats, and Levi even had has first trip out on a kayak.  When he and Mat came back in, Levi was helping paddle.  I asked him if he had fun, and he said, "Yes, but I'm a little disappointed because I got in trouble!"  Apparently Daddy was a little worried that Levi's desire to help might actually tip them over!

 Working hard on his sand castle

Saturday we spent the day in Delaware (with the rest of the eastern coast apparently!)  We spent a few hours exploring the area, and then headed to the beach.  It was packed!!!  I'm not sure I've ever been to a beach that was that crowded.  We didn't stay for very long, but Levi enjoyed digging a large hole in the sand with Daddy, making a sand castle and running from the waves.  He would venture out into the water, and then as soon as a wave would start to come in, he'd turn around and run yelling, "Get away!!  It's coming!!"

We had a wonderful week!  We are so thankful to be able to make such fun memories with our family.  

Howdy Ma'am!

Levi walked in the door the other day with Pops and looked at Grammy and said, "Howdy, Ma'am!"

He's a pretty cute little cowboy if I do say so myself.

Music Man

Levi loves music.  He especially likes to ride in the car with Dad because "Daddy listens to good music...loud!" (And partly because Daddy drives fast- according to Levi).   He loves playing guitars with his Daddy, but his newest favorite thing is to make a band.  He gathers his instruments and performs for us.

I tried to get a video of him sing his They Might Be Giants song, but no luck yet... 

Lake Whitney

We spent this past weekend in Lake Whitney with my dad's family.  My grandparents, aunt and uncle, parents, cousins (and their families) and my sister and her husband were all able to be there for the weekend.  My cousin found us an amazing house that was perfect for all 25 of us!

There were plenty of things to keep everyone entertained- ping pong, pool, shuffle board, a nice backyard perfect for hitting golf balls, and of course a wide variety of games (which always includes Scrabble!).  A little bit of relief from the heat would've made the backyard and outdoor kitchen a little bit more enjoyable.  

 Mom and Aunt Kristi

 Ping pong, pool, shuffleboard

 The little guys hanging out on the GIANT beanbags

 "Playing" darts with Grammy

Sitting around talking (we're good at this!)

My sweet grandparents

It was a fast weekend, but we had so much fun catching up with everyone.  There were quite a few new cousins (or 2nd cousins or whatever...) this time, and we all enjoyed watching them interact.  Levi was very confused about who all of these kids actually were.  I kept telling him they were his cousins, but he kept insisting they were just friends.  He enjoyed playing with all of them though!

 Pop and Gigi and all 7 of their great grands 

(We'll have 2 more to add to this picture next time!)

 I LOVE the silly faces in this picture!!

Getting this picture could be an entire blog post in itself...

You can see from this picture that my cousins and I share the same height challenges.  :)  There are quite a few TALL husbands, and they enjoyed towering over (and poking fun at) all of us.  My sister is by far the tallest of this crew of grandkids, and she isn't all that tall!  

Pop and Gigi and 6 of their 9 granddaughters

We've already started planning our next get together, and we can't wait!  We missed a few family members this weekend and are hoping that the entire family will be able to be there next time!