Trip to NC

I think this is going to be the last of the "catch-up" blog entries. I mean, it's August 17th and it's at least 85 degrees in State College. If I haven't caught up on spring/summer activities, then I should probably just move on. Right? Anyway, the last one is about our trip to North Carolina on Father's Day in June. I considered it my last chance to get home with only one baby in tow, as well as one more chance to see my grandparents again. It turned out to be a well-timed visit because my granpa went into the hospital just a few days before we arrived. I was still able to visit him and say hello, show him my big baby belly. Then, the day we drove back north, he passed away. It was sad, as it always is when a loved one passes away, but also sort of a relief for my dad and grandmother since he was 91 years old, was in his own little world in the hospital, and had lived a full life! I was able to fly back down for the funeral the next weekend and get to see more family, but it definitely made for a different memory of our trip to NC. I'm just glad we (me, Jason and Hayden) had gone down when we did, because we'd been debating weekends for a while. Sorry for the somber bit of news, but I just can't write about the visit without writing about my granpa. (and getting a tiny bit teary too.)

So anyway, expect for the whole side story with my granpa, the trip was fairly uneventful. Both the drive down and the drive back up were on the terrible side, mainly because they were excruciatingly long. We left after work on the way down, thinking to avoid DC traffic and managed to still somehow, at 10 o'clock at night, end up sitting in 1.5 hours of construction traffic south of DC. We didn't get in till 3:00 am and that wiped me out for the next day! Luckily Hayden slept most of the way and wasn't nearly as exhausted as me and Jason. On the way back, we hit stopped traffic we assumed was for a bad accident (seeing a helicopter fly in, and cop cars sneak by on the sides) so we tried an alternate route that probably added an hour to our trip. (who knows how long traffic was stopped?!) The weather in NC was record-breakingly hot which made for a bit of a "weather-lag" (like jet-lag!) for us, since it was a high in the low 60s the day before we left, and then highs around 100 in NC!

Some highlights - we learned that Hayden is a mosquito magnet and that her bites pop up really big and pink fairly quickly. We introduced Hayden to playing in a creek, and she had a great time dipping in her toes and tossing in rocks. We ate copious amounts of frozen treats, much of it free!, in honor of Father's Day. Blizzard and Dooley continued their doggie friendship - playing noisily and swapping the bean bag back and forth. And Hayden also had her first bite of hush puppies when we had an absolutely delicious lunch here - and she liked my chicken a lot! Plus we also learned that Hayden is a big fan of soup - specifically pasta fagioli (pronouced fah-jool at my grandparents retirement home!), though she only wanted the broth and pasta, not the beans (which are what makes it fagioli!). All in all, a pretty good visit. I'll stop rambling now and just post some pictures below.

Eating pasta fagioli down in Southern Pines. We didn't actually order her any, but then she ate two cups worth!

Great Granma Jane (for Hayden) and Pop-pop enjoying lunch. They're probably smiling so big because they can't believe Hayden eats soup!

This is not a soup cup - this is the ice cream glass. Let's just say Hayden had a GOOD lunch in the dining room. :)
Playing the piano and singing with Pop-pop. This happened many times during our visit.

Looking REALLY sleepy as she colors on the Father's Day card for Daddy. It was her choice to get up so early - but I did suggest the activity. I don't think the sleepiness affected her art productivity. The dogs in their element - nature and water - when we went for a short hike in Duke Forest.Hayden throwing rocks into the creek. So fun!

Look! She got her feet wet!Hayden and Mommy wading in the (muddy) creek water. It looks sort of gross, but felt really good on a hot day. I was surprised Hayden liked it as much as she did. Maybe she'll be a nature girl like Mommy!
Hayden snuggling in a towel in the backpack before we head back up the trail. Not sure why felt the need to bundle up since it was HOT but she liked it!

The "dads" enjoying free frozen yogurt on Father's Day.
Hayden trying to show off her blue mouth while eating her 'rainbow dream' selection of frozen yogurt. For the record, the blue color dyed not only her mouth, but all the way through... just so you know!
Helping Pop-pop wash the cars. This is a regular activity when we come visit (so much dirt we accumulate in PA!) and Hayden loves to help!

Enjoying MORE free ice cream for Dad's on Father's Day.
(Yes it was our second dessert of the day, but how can you turn down FREE ice cream?!)This is a Chex Mix smile! We love Chex Mix in the Sanford household and Hayden is clearly following the tradition.
At the pool, enjoying the sun and heat.
Apparently Hayden wanted to get her belly tan. :)

Riding on the bouncing horse that dates WAY back. At least to my childhood, if not earlier! It's vintage and yet, still fun!Catching a wheelbarrow ride with Pop-pop.
Chillin' in the car on the way home. I think this was just north of Altoona. We all had that expression on our face, though not all of us had our thumbs in our mouths. We were ready to be home!
One last picture to say "Thanks for the great visit Grandma and Pop-pop!"

Black and blue blueberries

So you've probably gathered that I'm a big fan of berries of all kinds, especially ones that I can pick myself. And now that Hayden's old enough to walk around and such, I'm training her to be a berry fiend. She passed her tests admirably with strawberry picking. Now that it's later on in the summer, we've moved on to blueberries and blackberries.

When my mom visited over Hayden's birthday, we went up to pick blueberries at this farm about 20 minutes from us that we have visited in previous summers. They have the BEST berries, huge and delicious. We have to pick in the evening so we hurried out there as soon as we were allowed. Hayden did a great job. I showed her which ones to pick - blue, not green, berries. And we brought her own bucket for carrying them.


She started out strong, picking them and putting them in her bucket. But once she got about 20-30 berries, she lost interest. She proceeded to eat all the berries out of her bucket and then started eating them straight from the bush. Then she wandered around the bushes asking to be picked up; even at 7 months pregnant, I still managed to have her on my back for a little while so she could get some mommy time. She also played in the dirt, played with a cat that wandered through, and played peekaboo through the bushes.

All in all, she managed to occupy herself pretty well so that we got a pretty good haul but I can't say that she contributed much to our blueberry picking. But I think she had a good time and she REALLY liked eating all the blueberries!

Yesterday, I decided it was late enough in the summer to go on a wild blackberry hunt. There's a spot in our neighborhood that has a lot of bushes so I thought we'd go check it out. Turns out blackberry picking isn't really all that toddler-friendly. The path under power lines was overgrown, buggy and blackberry bushes are prickly! But Hayden did a great job of just watching while I hunted down some berries for her. As long as I gave her a berry to eat every once in a while, she was really very patient. Towards the end, as she saw my little tupperware filling up, she got more adament about asking for more "black blueberries" to the point that she just kind of grunted at me and resorted to vigorously signing "more." After about 10 minutes, we had about a cup or two of berries, so we headed back to the stroller and proceeded on our walk around the block. Hayden really enjoyed the berries she got to snack on - you can see her berry mouth!

Ponytails

It's time for bed, but I just have to do a quick little post. When I arrived at school to pick Hayden up, she had a surprise for me. "PONIES" Ponies you say? Yep, check out the picture below (taken at home). SO CUTE!!!

She looks so much older I think, like a regular little kid, rather than one just in the middle of toddlerhood, especially in this picture.
Apparently they put pigtails in the hair of another little girl at school and Hayden thought they were neat. Though she seemed a little dubious when her teachers offered to put them in her hair, she let them (she won't let me come near her with a barrette!) and even kept them in for over an hour. She even let me fix them when they started coming out. I loved that she called them "ponies" and was quite proud of them, telling Jason all about her ponies as soon as he came home from work. We just had to take pictures, and I just had to share them with you! Enjoy!

Art Festivals Galore

I'm still trying to catch up on the memorable events of the summer, so this time, let's head back to Hayden's birthday weekend for the big summertime event of State College. No I'm not talking about the incredible fireworks display - I already covered that. This time I'm talking about the art festivals and all their crafty, crowded, yummy, music-playing glory.

With Grammy and Granddad in town, we decided to hit both the art festival in State College and the art festival in Boalsburg so as to expose them to the fun times that are summer art fest week. We went to the downtown festival first. Somehow, and I'm still not sure how this worked so well, I managed to pick up Hayden from school, find a parking spot and easily meet up with Jason and his parents on Friday afternoon, one of the biggest days of the festival. Hayden was willing to sit in the stroller and we headed to the Italian Street Painting display first. Hayden wasn't particularly taken with the art; Grammy's charm bracelet was much more interesting.

Perhaps if we had bought her a square to decorate with pastels, she might have been more intrigued. But since her coloring skills consist of a few lines that do not stay in assigned areas, I think we'll save that activity for another year. She and Granddad also did not quite get the interactive art parts either - if done correctly, you can take a picture of someone eating the ice cream cone. But it's hard to convince a two year old, in a stroller, to pretend to lick thin air. Oh well - you still get to see the ice cream cone!
We then wandered around the booths and such, not really stopping for anything in particular, just taking in the sights. Hayden was intrigued by the water play area for kids where buckets of water fall from the sky, but since she barely wanted to walk through the separate misting booth, I'm not sure she's ready for the water area yet either. So many things to look forward to! Eventually we ended up near central parklet and Hayden pointed out the soccer field where Daddy plays to Grammy and Granddad. We also saw the sand sculpture in progress and tried some kettle corn. Hayden wanted out of the stroller by this time, and we let her explore the giant metal art booth, with close monitoring so no person or art got hurt.

With a bribe of more kettle corn, we got Hayden back into the stroller and began the long trek back to the car, stopping to pick up some Thai food for dinner. (it was tasty!). We had a quiet evening and headed to bed at a reasonable hour.

The next day it was time for my favorite festival- the People's Choice Festival in Boalsburg! Why is it my favorite? Well, first, it's on grass, not downtown streets. There's more space to roam around and you can move out of the crowds. The food is clumped in one location with LOTS of tables near by for sitting. The art is more affordable and more to my interest than what you find at the downtown festival. I'll admit it did take us a few years to finally make it to People's Choice but I was so happy when we did! It reminds me a little bit of the Festival for the Eno in Durham, NC which is one of my all-time favorite summer festivals.

So anyway, we packed up supplies and headed out in the morning ready for fun. I'd heard there was a children's area in the middle (generally the art booths are laid out in a BIG circle on this big open grassy area by the military museum) with lots of stuff to interest kids. There was a train ride too, and of course, yummy food to look forward to. We partook of EVERYTHING and I tried to take plenty of pictures for documenting. I'll put them in here in smaller form, to save a little space, but I think if you click on them, you can check them out in a bigger size.

Hayden checks out the bouncy tent - again something else for her to look forward to. She loved watching the kids inside, but didn't really want to join them.
The first activity we explored in the activity tent. Searching through tiny pebbles for special seashell treasures. Hayden took everything I found and showed her, and put it in the big conch shell. Hayden, Daddy, and Grammy figure out how to make the ball circle around the funnel. Let's just say that Daddy and Grammy figured it out quick, Hayden still has some learning to do. But she was really good at just dropping it in the hole!
Hayden scoops some sort of grain at one of her favorite stations. Scooping and pouring are at the top of her favorite repetitive activities list!Hayden and Daddy play with the Zen garden. Soon, Hayden was joined by Noah!

After play time in the activity tent, it was time for food! It was a hard choice, but we all managed to pick some yummy items to sample. Jason had barbecue, I had a gyro, Grammy and Granddad had crepes. Hayden ate a whole piece of cheese pizza at her selection. (It makes me so happy when she chooses a food at something like this AND eats it. I consider that an amazing feat for a toddler!) We even managed to find a table where all of us, including Noah, Mandy and Scott, could all sit down and eat. After eating lunch, Hayden, Noah and Grammy went one tent over to listen to the band that was playing, while Jason and I went to secure dessert. I hear there was lots of dancing involved; Noah especially had a good time! I made it back in time to see a little bit of dancing, and some enthusiastic clapping.

But after some picture taking, I had to get back to my dessert: fried oreos, funnel cake and a strawberry smoothie. I'll chalk this up to pregnancy cravings, but I probably would have wanted this even if I wasn't pregnant. After all, there are only so many times you can get a funnel cake, fried oreos are just TERRIFIC, and with all that warm food, you need something cold to wash it down with! For the record, I was fully intending to share all three options with whoever wanted some - all that dessert was not just for me!

funnel cake oreos

Hayden ended up trying just a tiny taste of funnel cake and then she was taken off for an ice cream cone with Grammy and Granddad. Check out these pics and tell me if you think she enjoyed it!



It was about time to head home after we finished lunch. We checked out some more of the booths, and Grammy and Hayden tried out the train.
We managed to get back to the car and on the road just before a big storm rolled through. I think everyone took a good long nap when we got back to the house. I did anyway, and Hayden did too! What a great way to spend a summer Saturday - festivaling! And the next day was Hayden's birthday, so all in all, it was a GREAT weekend!