Earth Day Birthday

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by celebrating a birthday. That's right! Maia is 1 today! Go check out the birthday post on her blog.

Outdoors

Just a random post about my Sunday spent outdoors. This is what I was doing:

Let me explain. Those stones to the left were the border around the edge of this hosta "bed". But they were no longer all that visible, given that they had been sinking into the ground for at least 10 years (they were installed before we moved in). They were being covered by red gravel, dirt, and pesky grass/weeds. So I pulled out the entire border, and then placed plain old bricks into the border (you can see those on the right). And once that's complete, I will then place the stones on top of them and spread the red gravel up to the border to hide the bricks. I am hoping this will keep the stones from sinking as easily, and it will create a nice raised border (which will hopefully keep the red gravel out of the grass and the grass out of the gravel).

And for something much nicer, here are my moss Phlox! I LOVE this stuff and would like to have it all over the place. Not sure why I don't just go plant some more. heh. I think it's beautiful ground cover.

New York, New York!

This past Saturday, I spent the day in New York with the females from my family. Namely, my mom, my sisters, my aunt Lisa, two of my cousins (her daughters, Rachel and Corinne), and a step-cousin (Lauren). We took the mid-morning train in and arrived in New York just in time to walk to Bryant Park and grab lunch to take with us. I would have liked more time to walk about Bryant Park, but the place I picked for getting my food took forever so I had to scarf, and do a quick fly-by. But I managed to snap some pictures of the park, which I had never actually been to before. Very pretty. Wish we had something like this near us. Of course, I would have LOVED to have seen Central Park, but there was no time for that at all. (pictures here)

(the beautiful Ogbin girls)

After Bryant Park, we headed back to 41st street and the Nederlander theatre, where we saw "The Newsies". I was vaguely familiar with it, since my sister is obsessed with the movie and music. Having not seen the movie, I liked the play a lot. Apparently they made some changes, and fans of the movie weren't as pleased. But I thought it was good. And I can't get the darn songs out of my head. At least they aren't horrible songs.

After the show, we passed through Times Square (again) and I remembered to take some recognizable pictures.

And then we went to Latitude for dinner and drinks. I confirmed that I really just don't like drinks with Vodka in them (ick). But my pulled pork sliders were pretty darn good. And edamame for an appetizer is always a nice thing. I tried taking a few pictures in the restaurant, but forgot to turn on the flash for most of them (darn grainy low-lighting iPhone pictures). These are the best ones.

And then, since it was late, we headed back to the train, where I had two scares along the way. First was my mom not paying attention and following people across a street when the no-crossing sign was up (I know, most ignore this, but...), when a taxi was speeding along the road. I thought for sure she was going to get hit, and my heart leapt up into my throat (so THAT'S what that feels like). She was fine, and not phased, and maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed...but I didn't like it. And then when heading to our platform, I chose to take the stairs instead of the escalator, and it did NOT dump out where everyone else was...and there were trains on either side of the platform and I didn't immediately see which one was mine. So I panicked. I knew we only had a few minutes to get on the train, but I couldn't find my family nor the train, and I panicked like a lost little girl and shouted out "Oh my god, where's my family?!" Yes folks...I totally did, and in a high-pitched crazy voice too. I would say that the people near me thought I was a freak, but I probably blended in with all the other crazies. Then I heard the blessed sound of my sister Michelle's voice, and a hysterical/relieved/shrill "Mom!?!" escaped me. Not sure why I didn't say "Michelle"...I guess because when one is scared, they turn to their mommy. So that's who I called for. And then I saw them. Not that far away. And then I saw the correct train, and it was all good. But I didn't feel well for a good 10 minutes or so. I managed to drag out my knitting and started feeling better after that. Whew.

Anyway...New York. I someday want to see Central Park. But I think I need a while to get over the crazy traffic, scary trains, nasty smells, and crowds of people!

Happy Easter

We spent Easter at my parents' place, but all of the pictures have the kids in them. So instead of posting here, I just posted on both their blogs. There aren't actually pictures with the two of them together (doh!), so they each have their own post. Here are the links to them:

Maia's Easter post
    and
Liam's Easter post

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.