Life At The Circus

Last week was spring break at the circus.  It was an action packed week full of family fun.  We played lots and lots of games, rode bikes, and the trampoline was pretty much in use non stop.  We had Aunt Karen and the boys here from Sun night till Tuesday.    Wednesday we went to Philly and Thursday night my parents and my nieces and nephew came to town till Easter.  My brother joined us on Sat and Scott’s parents came for lunch on Sat and again on Easter for lunch and egg hunt.   It was a blast!  Every time my 3 year old prayed he thanked God that we were all together.  I was thankful too.  Warms my heart to see the cousins playing together. 

This year in History we are studying American History from the explorers to the war on 1812.  I love history.  It is my favorite part of home schooling.  And I am so grateful that we live within driving distance of so many great historical sites.  I really wanted to take the kids to Philadelphia  for a day trip over spring break.    Scott graciously rearranged his work schedule so that he could join us.  (because he is the best ever)…. I love day trips with the family.  It was such a relaxing, low key day.  We left the house a little before 9 am and were home just before 9:30.  We saw all that I wanted us to see and had an enjoyable dinner in historic Philadelphia. I know I mentioned it this summer, but I gotta say it again.  The Junior Ranger programs that the US National Parks do is just fabulous.  Especially for elementary age kids.  It gives them something to do while waiting in line.  It teaches t...

This weekend marked the end of the gymnastics season for my girls.  They both finished the season strong scoring personal bests on more than one event.  After the meet I ran into the grocery store to buy some brownie mix to celebrate and I was literally beaming from ear to ear.  I felt like I wanted to tell everyone I saw about my girls success.  I restrained myself though. However, I do want to record my emotions and thoughts on here to look back on later.  Because I don’t want to forget.  I don’t want to forget the way my 6 year old literally counted down the days to states.  She was so excited.  The morning of states she was up on her own at 6 am bouncing into our room saying, “It’s states!  It’s states!” You would have thought it was Christmas morning.  Every time I looked at her at the meet, she was smiling.  Ear to Ear.  During every warm up, every run down to the vault… she was having the time of her life and I was...

Spring weather arrived this weekend.  We literally spent the entire day outside on Sunday (other than the time we were in Sunday School and church).  It was wonderfully refreshing.   A friend from church passed down  a toddler bike with training wheels.  My littlest guy was so excited to ride a big kid bike.  I was impressed with how quickly he caught on to peddling.  After two trips around the court, he could start himself, steer, and even ring his bell while peddling. By the end of the evening, he could ride the whole way to the end of the court by himself with his siblings and we were able to pass his tricycle down to the neighbor girl down the street.  He’s a big kid now with a new set of wheels.

Every year when the circus comes to Baltimore, they do a special lunch with the elephants at the nearby Lexington Market.    It’s a Baltimore tradition.  And according to what I’ve read, Baltimore is the only city that hosts such an event annually.  When I told the kids this, they said, “Well, at least Baltimore has one good thing about it.”  Hahaha… these kids may have been born and raised in Maryland, but their blood runs black and gold….  I have been wanting to go for years, but it hasn’t yet worked out with our schedule.   It’s in the middle of the day in the middle of a work/school week and it isn’t super easy to find out the day and time.  This year we were able to go.  I was so excited!  I packed us a lunch so we wouldn’t have to spend any money other than parking.  We picked Scott up from work and drove to Baltimore.  We got there in plenty of time to secure a spot and wait for the elephants to march in....