Happy Halloween

SnowMen Instead of ScareCrows

Yesterday we woke up to three inches of fresh snow. I was a little surprised and taken off guard by it. It’s always delightful to go play in the first snow fall, but I wasn’t ready I had to think about where the mittens, hats, scarfs, ect were. I’m still not ready. It getting out all the winter gear just adds to the chaos of our tiny space.  Alas, I gave up trying to manage the overflowing bin of hats and gloves and just go out and delight in the new freshies and make peace with the changing season.

Owen's first sleigh ride

He Likes It!!

Today our snow pack doubled and once again I wrangled with the hats and gloves. I stuffed my kids in their puffy clothes. Wrestled with those uncooperative mittens and boots. We went out and made delightful snowmen. A Momma and a Baby as per Ellie’s request. Owen seems to be interested in the snow and smiled when Ellie showed him a snowball yesterday. Today he wanted to get up close to it and made it down to his stomach where his nose could touch it. He laughed for a bit and then realized it was cold and the laugh turned to complaint. He tolerated it well for a 7 month old. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the decedent of a ski bum 🙂

Snowman Hugs

We had a morning visit with Mr. Moose too

The chickens are not so delighted, but they are surviving, typical for a bunch of fancy ladies

Field Trip

We joined Ellie’s preschool class on Friday for a field trip to Hee Haw Farms. We had a great time. I was happy to meet Ellie’s classmates and their Mom’s. She has a great class and her teacher Ms. Camee is so fun and friendly. The farm had a small petting zoo, hay and corn mazes, a pumpkin patch, corn box, swings, hay rides, and a gigantic slide. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Ellie on the slide she was so brave and wanted to go. She waited in line patiently and was ready to go when it was her turn. When I met her at the bottom one of the Mom’s said “I think that scared her”. Yep indeed it was faster and steeper then she expected and she was in shock. No tears just a little terrified. She would not go on the smaller slide and just wanted to stay on the ground by my side for a while. I told her she is a very brave little girl. We did every activity at the farm except the hay ride because by that time Owen was hungry and I had two very tired kids on my hands.  On the way home I asked Ellie what her favorite part was she exclaimed the ANIMALS!!

Ellie thought that the Piggy on the far left was the "Momma"

Hay Jump

Hay Maze

Ellie's preschool class

her new smile for the camera

(Leslie, She looks like McKenna in this picture!!! Does she not? I think I recall McKenna pulling that same face for you.)

Corn Belly’s

My Mom had some time off this week so she treated the Grandkids to a day at the Corn Belly Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We started out by having lunch across the way at the Cabela’s Store. The kids were so caught up with the display of animals we had a hard time getting them to concentrate on lunch. It was a blast we (the adults) were pleasantly surprised by the festivities at Corn Belly’s.  From princes land to gigantic jumping pillows, cow train, and haystack mazes. There was so much more beyond that.  At any rate the kids had a ball and it was stimulation overload by the end of the day. It was a beautiful warm day and the weather was so perfect.

Ellie and Tamia being Princesses

Taking a break on the big pillow

Cow Train

Riding the Corn Maze Express notice Ellie's ears are plugged b/c there was a "monster" next door making noise and Tamia is mimicing me taking the picture Silly girls

Parker in the Corn

Parker and Ellie in the haystack maze

Grandma and the kids

Grandma and the kids with Silly Faces

The Maiden Voyage

A couple of months ago we made a big purchase. We found a little tent trailer in the classifieds. It was exactly what Gary and I had been looking for something simple with out too many bells and whistles. It’s been occupying space in our yard for some time now. We just kept stalling for various reasons, the weather, time, fears of sleepless nights, wild animals, you know the usual stuff. Do you recall last summers late season camp out? Anyway Gary and I finally pulled the trigger and packed up our gear and kids and took to the road. The goal was to make it down to the Burr Trail by Boulder Utah. We got a late start after checking our packing job then rechecking and checking again oh and then putting the chickens on lock down. So we made it as far as Sunglow Campground just outside of Bicknell Utah. It’s a great little spot not too far off the road with flush toilets and beautiful red rock walls. It lived up to its name as the sun set the red walls lit up.

Sunglow

We had a beautiful sunset

The night went well. After I had a “Oh no I forgot a bag of food” moment. Gary went to town to get the precious coffee. Then I found the said bag in the truck. Oooppsssyy! Once that was all settled and we had our dinner on the fire. Soon after Owen fell asleep then Ellie was tired enough to volunteer to go lay down in the trailer. We all slept well until there was some campground drama from other campers. A few explicit words were yell and some tires spun out and engines revved. Ellie managed to sleep through it Owen on the other hand woke up and then woke up again every hour or so after that. So not much sleep was had by Momma or Dad.

Owen's First Camping Trip

Ellie's first and a half camping trip

We woke up to a chilly morning with frost all around. It soon warmed up and we headed to our original destination. Gary and I really love Torrey, Boulder, Capitol Reef and every time we get down there we day dream about having a little ranch of our own. *sigh* The drive was beautiful and the Burr Trail did not disappoint although we only saw about 20 miles of it. We have grand plans of taking a bike/car trip with the kids next summer and exploring the whole 75 miles.

Burr Trail

Ellie called this an Elephant Rock as we drove by

Adah was scared to go to the edge even with Gary there

she is right it can be scary

this is how Ellie felt about the Burr Trail

this is what Ellie does when Owen cries

So we stopped for lunch at Deer Creek Campground. Yet another lovely spot for camping that we will have to save for later. It’s a little desert oasis with a stream running through and lovely Cotton Woods for shade. The kids loved it here there was sand to play in and much to explore.

Patty Cake

Owen kept scooping up handfuls of sand and trickleing it down his face. Better then eating it.

Sand Angel

I loved this old Camper Bus some hippie fixed up. They weren't around or I might have asked for a tour

Alas, after lunch our trip was over and we reluctantly had to make the drive home. Wishing all the way we had one more day. We will be back there again soon. There is just something about those red rocks and dessert air…

Are We Ready for this?

You all remember Ellie’s stream of consciousness about how much she wanted to go to school a while back right? Well, today her dreams came true and she set foot on a new independent path. She is now in Preschool. Like a big girl. With a “pack pack”. Unfortunately her bus is a black VW jetta for the time being, but she is ok with that.  She crawled into bed with me this morning and said “Mommy I so excited for school today!” When we got there and met her teacher I could tell she was ready, ready to dive in and make friends and poor her heart into the activities. Me on the other hand I was stalling, wanting to hold her hand, awkwardly hesitating as all the kids arrived.

Owen and I eventually left and wandered around Heber until it was time to get Ellie. It was nice shopping with one kid again, being able to concentrate, take my time, and not have to say no every three seconds, but I found myself feeling a little lonely I didn’t have my “wee one” with me chatting and singing along.  Owen was good company and made things easy for me and I am actually very excited to get this one on one time with him where he can have all my attention.

Time passed soon enough and she came running out the door back into my arms and let me know with out words she missed me a little bit. She was full of all kinds of new information about the letter D and the “ddduhh duhh” sound it makes.  On the drive home she let me know she was tired. She said “Can I take a nap, in my room, where Owen wont disturb me?”  Very rarely does she make a request like this. So that’s where she is now in her bed with out any disturbances dreaming about school, her teacher, friends, and possibly the letter D…

Marcoccia Family Visit 2010

We spent the last 2 and a half weeks back east visiting Gary’s Family in New York. It was such a great time and we all loved every second of it. Especially Ellie and Owen because they were spoiled to the core by Bada and Papa and their Aunts. We packed in lots of fun with apple picking, a trip to the Adirondack Mountains, Farmland, Pumpkin Land, Ithaca Farmers Market, hike to Taughannock Falls and abundant parties at Bada and Papa’s house. Gary and I even got two more dates in while we were there. It was so nice to have a continuous conversation with him without any interruptions. Funny how little things like that slip through the cracks when raising up a family. We were also able to enjoy beautiful weather and the fall colors by the time we left the trees were popping with color.

Ellie had a huge milestone while we were there. She is officially potty trained!!!! It took a morning spent in the bathroom right before a big family party, but I was one determined Momma. She is a “big girl” now and very proud of her new accomplishment. Owen had a milestone as well he is sitting up on his own. Gary and Papa helped him work on this one day while the rest of us played in a corn maze. His longest stretch has been 10 minutes so far but he is doing well with it and loves his new perspective.

We flew in and out of Baltimore so we could have a direct flight with out any layovers. It’s a 5 hour drive from Papa and Bada’s house. I must say Ellie and Owen are good travelers. 5 hours in a car, 2 hours in an airport, 4 hours on an airplane, and 1 hour drive home. They were so good and when they did cry I couldn’t blame them because I would have like to have cried myself.

I have 266 pictures on my camera card and I even missed getting out the camera on a few occasions.   So needless to say there are a lot of photos to share…

I’ll start with our visit to ADK

The little ADK cottage

lovin' the Grandparents

Round Pond Hike

Kevin at Round Pond (He has grown a foot since we saw him last Feb)

"Sweet Tea" victims

Ellie at the cornmaze

Kevin being a good sport for the camera

Sitting all by himself

Love Ellie's new "smile for the camera" face

Playing by the Ausable River

Ballerina

Wild Women

Hike to Taughannock Falls near Ithaca, NY

Holding Owen's hand

Holding Daddy's hand

Pumpkin Land….

picking out a pumpkin for Bada and Papa

Ellie and Friends

Pumpkin Land had a funny way of feeding the goats

Farm Land…

Ellie was in love with the bunnies

Papa, Daddy, and Owen

get along little pony

A Date? What’s That?

That’s right people we had a night out! I think the last time we went out sans kids was for the holiday dinner with Avantlink co-workers last December. Technically Owen tagged along with us in my belly.  At any rate thanks to my parents we escaped for a few hours. What did we do you ask? Well first we filled our bellies with good food at Shabu on Main Street in Park City. Good sushi and dim sum. Then we wandered over to Deer Valley for some music. Not just any music our favorite music. These two brothers have taken over our air waves here at home and our little ipod is always set to a good old mix of  rootsy tunes and Gary can never go to bed at night without listening and watching them jam on youtube. So we did a little Avett Brother pirating of our own take a looksee…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gExABUiBNGw[/youtube]

and of course here’s another one for you as well

Now, I know that Gary and I talk a lot about the Avett Brothers. Gary more then me (seriously it’s like he has a little school girl crush or something). But after witnessing them live I can honestly say I fell in love with them all over again. These guys sent chills down my spine they were so passionate and fun to watch.  The bass player was a hoot and in my book any band with a cello player kicks butt. Here is what another person said about these guys “Man. People, if I haven’t convinced you yet, if you take one single thing away from ever reading this blog, if you can allow me to give you just the slightest bit of unsolicited advice, please do yourself the biggest favor ever and go see these guys live.” My sentiments exactly.

Moving on to Saturday… After playing musical beds that night. My Dad had the Maiden Voyage in our new-to-us tent trailer, Mom was on the futon, Ellie started out in her bed moved to the futon, Gary started out in our bed moved to Ellie’s bed, I stayed in my bed, and Owen dear sweet little Owen went from crib to my bed to crib to my bed to crib to my bed. Whew! Once we got our wits about us in the morning Mom and I took the kids and headed to Midway for their Swiss Days/Labor Day celebration. Oh man it was wall to wall people in that little town. We tried our best to walk through the park and see what was new in the craft booths but half way through we threw in the flags and headed out to find food and call for the Calvary (Dad) to come get us. I know Swiss Days gets crowded but this year was exceptional. So we came home and put our feet up for a while then gathered ourselves up for some more Labor Day small town fun at the Francis Rodeo.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci_IqeC3x84[/youtube]

and then there was this maylay… ridiculous I tell you ridiculous

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W1kSPS6SWo[/youtube]

After the rodeo we ventured back home for some more musical beds.

We said good bye to Mom and Dad Sunday morning. Gary went to DV for some bike riding and I stayed home with the kids and worked on a sewing project. Not much to speak of on Sunday.

But on Monday we found this in the ground under all those nice potato plants. Nice work Gary!

And we caught Owen doing this…

Next up is a trip back to the Marcoccia homestead. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.