Aug 04
Everyone,
Today was our last adventure with Flower. And boy was it a hot one! It seems like we kept putting off all the stuff outside, and then never actually got to do any of it. Except for this one. And this one showed that that was the right decision.
Besides the humidity and the heat, Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia is an amazing place to go! We love to come here and come often. (Often being about 3 to 4 times a year.) Why do we keep coming back? It’s not the really good ice cream they have. It’s not the beautiful rose garden restaurant we like to eat in. It’s the history. And for me, it’s the fact that the Appalacian Trail runs right through town. It’s always been kind of a dream of mine to hike the whole thing. Right now, I’ll settle for walking part of the trail in town.
Flower had never been there. And it’s beautiful. See?
Lolli’s oldest daughter, KitKat, came along too. Flower and KitKat have been come good friends this time around (and actually KitKat spent the night last night so we could get an early start. Haha…the girls stayed up late and we got started the same time we always do. (10:30-ish)
This trip was not one of the best trips we’ve done. It was hot. And pushing and carrying our monster stroller around was brutal. I was dripping sweat from my elbows about half way through. We said next time we come in summer, we are going to bring swimming suits and swim in the Shenandoah river. About half the people we saw there today were in the river cooling off. And the current in the river was very mild. There were even several places where the rocks made small pools with no current at all!
Even though it was hot, and even though we didn’t see all I wished we would have seen for Flower, it is still an amazing town.
Safire
SafireFlower, Harper's Ferry, hiking, KitKat Harper's Ferry, hiking, hot, West Virginia
Jul 19
Everyone,
Today Flower and I looked at our list and really decided what we are going to for the rest of the time she is with us. The weeks fly by fast in the summer and in 3 short weeks she will be leaving us! Sad!
Flower picked 6 things to do in the next 3 weeks. I’m excited for the things she picked! After we picked out 6 (actually 7, but we added the last thing since it was a tradition) things to do in the area, we decided to pack up and go do one of them. Right now.
So we threw together a lunch, threw the kids in the car, and drove off to this place:
Great Falls National Park, MD.
It’s so beautiful there! AND! They are doing construction big time there so they are not charging admission while they are doing construction. So locals, Great Falls in Maryland is FREE right now. Go. It’s beautiful.
We also saw a lot of wildlife there. Lots of birds, lots of fish, lots of frogs. The frogs were ADORABLE and tiny. Oh! And a lizard! Sadly, Soot our dog, chased that lizard away and no pictures of that one. The kids had a love/hate relationship with those frogs. They hopped. But they wanted to hold them. And they hopped.
Professor ended up yelling at me as we were leaving the park because “Wanna hold dagon! Wanna hold DAgon!” When he doesn’t get his way, he just yells what he wants louder. This little tantrum came because he wanted to hold a dragon fly and those things are hard to catch!
We all came home tired and filthy and hungry. What another fun day with Flower!
Safire
SafireButterfly pictures, hiking, sights around DC Butterfly pictures, field trips, frogs, Great Falls, hiking
Oct 27
Everyone,
It’s H week at our house. My friend Lolli had a great idea that we should take the kids hiking! Fun! I love to hike. Butterfly was a little less than thrilled with the aspect but after me telling her “We’re going! End of story! Put your boots on!” she complied. Both boys, on the other hand, had me put on their shoes (Shhh??) and were pounding at the door while she dilly dallied. Did you know both the boys know where their coats are? I didn’t. But I do now!
No pictures of Butterfly because she is being camera shy for me.
Also, I may not be around for the next few days. Off on an adventure!
Safire
Safirehiking, P and P, P and P pictures
Sep 04
Everyone,
Today Dad and I decided to take another photo walk. But this time we headed to the mountains. We were going to go to Golden Spike (where the east and the west railroad came together) but we got kind of a late start. The boys were cranky this morning, and I wanted to run back to the big taxidermy store and get pants I saw for 9 dollars. Seriously, a good deal since they were even more marked down at 7 dollars! Sweet!
Anyway, we decided to go to Mt. Timpanogos instead. But then the trail head to the cave was closed. We went anyway. I stopped off at the ranger station and got a list of trails in the area. We decided we’d like to see some water so off we went to a place called Crystal Lake. Now, I don’t know if it’s crystal clear because we never made it to the lake but we had a great time taking pictures.
We took the boys with us today and wore them on the hike. It wasn’t too bad, although I was pretty tired by the end. I got some great pictures and my dad and I had a good long talk. The boys did marvelously, sleeping the whole way up and back down. The paper the rangers gave me said the trail was 2.5 miles long. I think we went all but that half mile. We were close, but it was getting more steep and rocky as we went and the sun had already passed the ridge. So it was getting dark. And the last think I want to do is hike downhill on a rocky path in the dark. So we went home.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures. Enjoy!
Safire
Safirehiking, my Dad, photowalks
May 30
Everyone,
Okay, so let’s talk strollers. When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I started researching strollers. I have to admit, I am a stroller-a-holic. I seriously need to go to strollers anonymous because I have 3 strollers for Butterfly. One child, 3 strollers.
Stroller #1- We got this stroller with our car seat when I was pregnant with Butterfly. It was huge and we found it was hard to push around our neighborhood with all of our stairs. We used it a few times with the car seat, but found it was easier to carry her around.
Stroller #2- We bought it to push her around the neighborhood when she got too heavy to carry on our nightly walks. Actually, I think we bought it to take with us on one of our many trips to Utah. It was cheep and if it got trashed on the airplane, no big deal. We used it every night after that to walk around the neighborhood with.
Stroller #3- A Christmas present to me from Juice. It’s lightweight, has a carrying strap, and I love it. This is the stroller I take with me everywhere for Butterfly. It lives in our car. It’s been hiking (easy to sling over a shoulder when the pushing gets too tough), downtown, down the street, several different states (like Hawaii), and to the beach. We have really used this stroller and it shows. It’s starting to wear down.
Since that stroller is starting to wear down, I decided to get a new one with baby #2. I decided on a really nice stroller. That pregnancy didn’t work out. And when we found out we were having twins, I switched to their double stroller. But then I heard some rave reviews about a different stroller. So when we went to the store to look at the strollers, I test drove a lot of strollers. And I really liked the different stroller.
I liked it so much more than my first stroller, that we decided to get a BOB dulie. I love this stroller. And the reason why we bought a BOB over a Phil and Ted’s stroller? The sun flaps that come down were longer and had little windows in them to see the kids. We took it hiking around the lake by our house (and I use the term hiking loosely since the path is paved). We did push it on the grass some and up hills. It was no harder than pushing it on a paved path. Loving the stroller.
Hiking was cut short by Butterfly grabbing a thorny bush and getting a HUGE thorn in her hand. Luckily I started carrying around the kitchen sink in my diaper bag again because we were able to clean up all the blood and bandage it.
We did see this heron on the dock on the way home. The lake is a heron nesting sight and we see them around the area all the time. This guy likes to stand on the dock when the fishermen are there and steal their fish when they catch them. He must enough to have him stay on the dock so calmly. I was about an arms length away from him.
Bottom line: I love the BOB stroller. Do not touch thorny bushes. Try fishing away from the main dock.
Safire
PS- Yes, I have one more stroller. That makes a grand total of 5 strollers for 3 kids. This other stroller is a snap and go for their car seats. I’d like for it to live in the car while the boys are in their car seats. It is kind of hard to push. 
But I got it for free and the lady said I was the 3rd family to use it. It’s nice to not have to pull them out of their car seats to get out and walk around. However, if I need to pull one out of the car seat, I can’t push the snap and go with one hand and hold the other twin. (I can with the BOB.) Still, it works fine and when the boys grow out of it, I’ll pass it along to another family. Honestly, I haven’t been out much to actually use either stroller extensively but I hope to this summer. And of course, since the boys are in a stroller, Butterfly wants to be in hers too. That’s been fun. Good thing I haven’t gone out alone and needed a stroller. We’ll have that fight when we’re alone.
Safirehiking, Lake Whetstone, strollers
