Fireworks and Marshmallows

In trying to "catch up" on blogs, the next big thing after the beach trip was the fourth of July. It is one of my favorite holidays. Good food, fireworks, outdoors, summer time, no pressure to travel or give gifts, what could be better?! We celebrated pretty low key this time around, inviting over our Aussie friends, Ali, Matt and Lachlan, to celebrate the fourth with grilling, s'mores, and then fireworks.

our Aussie friends! :)

As we have demonstrated in past posts, we like to dress by "themes", so we were all in red, white or blue. Here's my attempt at a cute 4th picture for the girls. As you can see, it didn't go so well. Too much wiggling and squirming. And despite her expression, Hayden did not get to try her first beer on the fourth.

Since we were going to spend a lot of time outside, we thought that getting out the pack-n-play would be a good idea to corral the babies and give them a safe, soft place to play. Even Hayden wanted to get in and play. Of course, we didn't really think about the threat of another monster-Eliza...


We had a yummy dinner and then we moved on to dessert. Hayden and I had succumbed to marketing at our favorite grocery store and bought GIANT marshmallows. Here Hayden demonstrates the size - a regular large marshmallow and a GIANT marshmallow.
They came in regular and strawberry in one bag. Hayden and Jason liked the pink ones. I thought they were gross. :) Here are a couple more demonstrations of size...


And then we used them for s'mores. Perhaps a bit too much inner marshmallow that was hard to get toasted, but still...YUM!!!


After stuffing ourselves with GIANT marshmallows, we headed into campus to go to our favorite spot for the fireworks. We made sure to bring Hayden's blanket for comfort measures. It was a good thing we did, because she was not interested in watching the fireworks. She spent the whole time under the blanket, with maybe one peek outside. She didn't cry or ask to leave, she just didn't want to watch. She even got under the blanket before we sat down.

Eliza started off in the wrap, and I was hoping she would go to sleep. That's what Hayden had done when she was a baby, and it was pretty late. And she was content to watch the fireworks for a little bit.
Even Lachlan was nice and comfy with Ali, watching the show.

But then Eliza decided that she was not Hayden, and she had no interest in going to sleep. Nor did she care much about the fireworks. I let her out of the wrap and she spent the rest of the show (it goes on for about 40 min or so!), cruising around our camp chairs, dancing to the music and having a great old time.

We have loved Fourth of July in State College, they have the best fireworks. 45 min, set to music. Amazing! Click here to see a video.
Happy Fourth of July!

Vacation II

Our beach vacation was not just a nuclear family vacation - it involved the whole DeRousie side of the family. In addition to the four of us, there was Grammy and Granddad, and Uncle Aaron, Aunt Jen, and cousins Lucy, Will and Liesl. It was great to be able to spend such extended time with our extended family! Hayden in particular had a blast with her cousins. She loved playing in the sand and water with them (though admittedly, they aren't actually in the picture here).

Liesl

Hayden got introduced to new games - like drawing on the iPad and playing pile-on (can you see Hayden's hair in the middle of the pile?!).

Eliza was a big hit too. Will came to see her every five minutes or so to say hello. And Lucy and Liesl checked her out regularly - even on the beach. Eliza tried to join in the play whenever possible.

With 5 kids to entertain, but wanting to avoid sunburns, we found fun things to do that weren't outside - like the aquarium.
And the mall with the carousel, food court and play area. Hayden loved the carousel. When it stopped the first time, she started crying because she didn't want to get off.

Sailing away with Will.

Happy Meals all around. I think this was Hayden's first Happy Meal ever.

The kids get treated to ice cream. Cheers!

Eliza tries her first teething biscuit. She REALLY liked it.

The other big fun thing we did at the beach was celebrate Aunt Jen's birthday. Inspired by Cake Boss, I decided that the kids and I should make an ocean cake in honor of the occasion. Somehow it's not quite up to professional standards, but it was fun to do and tasty to eat.

the ocean cake, close up. Notice the sand and the water sections with appropriate candy decorations!

Afterwards, Hayden had a great fun playing, but didn't want to leave. She thought maybe she could just sleep in the table. We didn't think that was a great idea.

Almost the whole crew, ocean side. It was hard to get a picture of everyone in one place! We were all too busy having fun.

Vacation I

Here's one of the long over due posts. At the very end of June (spilling over into July), we went on our first trip to the beach as a family. We joined the rest of the DeRousie clan for a week at Virginia Beach. It was Hayden and Eliza's first trip to the beach and they had a lot of fun. Both of them took to the ocean and sand with such gusto that it made their beach-loving (some might say obsessed) mom proud.

Since this post is so overdue, I'll just post pictures with some commentary. First I'll stick to pictures of the beach and our little family. Next post (Vacation II), I'll show you all the fun we had with the DeRousie side of the family.

Here's Hayden (and Eliza) being introduced to the ocean. Since the ocean is one of my favorite things, there was a formal introduction. "Toes meet ocean, ocean meet Hayden's toes." It was love at first sight.

Not only did Hayden love the ocean (when asked do you want to go the pool or ocean, she picked ocean), but she picked up the technique of rinsing your feet off in a flash!
We were lucky enough to stay in an ocean front hotel. You can see it behind me and Eliza as we pose in front of the famous Virginia Beach beachball statue. We did not have ocean front rooms, but that didn't stop Eliza from having a great time looking out the window. Towards the end of our stay, Jason and I ventured up to the exercise room at the top of the building (19 or 20 floors) to check out the view.



We did have a great time, and I learned a lot about what makes a good family vacation with small kids. Having a pool, as well as the ocean, to play in was terrific. Both kids had a great time in the pool. But I'm not sure I'd recommend a beach vacation with a crawling baby. Eliza had fun in the sand but boy was it hard to keep an eye on her! She grabbed the sand and wanted to eat it. And with her big sun hat on, it was hard to see what she was up to. But we managed, and everyone had fun.

Can't you just hear her making happy screeching noises?!

(yes, Eliza is eating my finger while playing in the waves.)

Surveying the waves with Daddy. She even went out past the waves with us on a calm day.

We had a very nice trip but we were very happy to reach Pennsylvania on the way home. The rest area we stopped in just inside the PA line had snacks - cookies and lemonade! And Hayden helped us capture the perfect sign for the end of our trip. We were smiling to be in Pennsylvania...

.....but in case you didn't already know - We are moving to North Carolina! More details later, but we move in a couple weeks so Jason can start a new job. That's what's been keeping me so busy! Good thing we already had our vacation this summer!