Charleston, WV

We all took a family vacation and went to see my sister-in-law in Charleston, WV. It was a WONDERFUL trip. The car ride is a bit long, but it was worth it. On the way out we took it in two trips, stopping at Darlene's (Matt's mom) place overnight on Wednesday night, then meeting up with Dan (Matt's dad) for breakfast the next morning, and then heading the rest of the way to Charleston after that. It made the 9-hour trip more bearable. And staying with Dawn and Greg was awesome. I got a chance to knit EVERY DAY! I am going to be posting a lot of pictures from the trip, and since a good portion of them have the kids in them, I am probably also going to link to this post from the kids' blogs. During the trip, the kids kept playing together, and Maia was amused to grab Liam's hand.

We got to Dawn's house and found a basket of toys to play with, and this is the first thing Liam pulled out.

Settling in and reading a book with Dawn.

Maia enjoyed traveling along the couch.

Maia found the laptop.

Playing with technology.

Look how cute I am, Mom.

Miss Maia is browsing the books at the library.

Liam built his own set of library shelves. (see the books?)

Liam is enjoying picking out books with Aunt Dawn.

This is the view from Dawn and Greg's front door. (pretty hills)

Dawn came up with the idea for Cat-In-The-Hat snacks. Mmmmmmmm...

We went to the Clay Science Center (a please-touch museum place for kids), in the center of Charleston.

In the ball pit. What fun! Liam pretended to swim.

Maia and Mommy on the pullies.

Liam loved playing with the water wheels and dams and such.

Maia enjoyed breakfast out.

Later on, eggs were decorated and dyed.

After Maia got up from her nap, we went to a small train show.

Apparently the deer have no fear. This is from the back door of Dawn and Greg's place.

Good morning, Maia!

A cat comes to visit. Maia and Liam are amused. (Maia kept making "qqqatttt" sounds, which I am going to insist was her trying to say CAT)

Liam became enamored with "The Teacher From The Black Lagoon", which Liam requested so many times that I am surprised he doesn't have the book memorized (he doesn't know how to read yet). By the end of the trip, it was definitely close to two dozen times.

Liam drew a picture with some of the scenes from the book.

And then he had the bright idea to make Black Lagoon Snacks. He helped make and pour the batter for the cupcakes, and then helped decorate them in the style of Mrs. Green, the teacher from the book.

And of course, there was the all-important clean-up of the beaters afterwards.

All finished! Don't they look good? (they are...I had three)

Here is a close up of the Black Lagoon Snacks.

And finally...the tasting! They were awesome! (again, I had three)

The day before we left, we finally made it to the playground.

The slide was VERY static-y. Liam has dandelion-head.

Right next to the playground, the ground slopes up to go way up a hill. This is a view of the playground from way up at the top of the hill (steeper and further away than it looks).

And this is the view if I look the opposite way. You can see the mountain/hills in the distance. It was much nicer to see in person, obviously. Still pretty.

And finally, the vacation was over and we had to head home. The kids were surprisingly good for the 8+ hours of driving we did. Here is Maia, on the ride home.