Fun on the Fourth

The five of us had a GREAT Fourth of July weekend!

We got to see fireworks not once, not twice, but THREE nights in a row! Friday night was a spontaneous event as we pulled off the side of the road, on our way home from getting ice cream, to watch fireworks right near our house.

Saturday night we went to one of the oldest Independence Day celebrations in the country at Lititz Spring Park. Lititz is just a short drive away from us here in Lancaster County. It is one of the cutest little towns that has kept a lot of old fashioned traditions. Over 14,000 people venture out to Lititz to take part in this each year. This event is the "thing-to-do" here. We were brave and took on the crowds and the traffic to participate and it was totally worth it!

This is how the night started...

Three excited, energetic, eager kids ready to have fun. Remember this picture for later.

We listened to a great concert and Abby and Nate had the best seats in the house!
The kids had fun "hanging around" while waiting for the fireworks...

We don't have any pictures of it, but part of (a HUGE part) this event is the Lititz Spring Queen of Candles Court. This is a pageant for young ladies of the local highschool graduating class. Basically, it's like Miss America for a small town. We got to watch the pageant and the "queen" get crowned. Once the queen got her crown, she lit a candle and then a candle for the eleven girls in her court (runners up). Then those candles were used to begin the lighting of over 7,000 candles throughout the park! The candles were lined all along the stream that flows through the park and it was spectacular to see. Unfourtunately, our camera stinks and the pictures came out terrible! So take our word for it, it was beautiful! But anywho, who needs the Lititz Queen of Candles when you have these two gorgeous princesses!

And then it was time to wait for the fireworks to begin...

And what a show it was! These were by far the BEST fireworks display I have ever seen! They were amazing and we had front row seats:) Once again, our camera isn't the best, so this picture doesn't give you the full effect...but you get the idea:)

Remember the cute picture of how our night started? Well, here is how it ended...

Nathan passed out during the finale and poor Abby is forcing this smile and Emma is not in the picture because I am dragging her along beside me! It was a late night but so much fun!

And our celebration didn't stop there! Sunday night we got to see MORE fireworks. Not nearly as good as the night before, but still festive and fun. The kids also had fun with sparklers...

And no celebration is complete without a pig pile on Daddy!

Hope you had a happy 4th...we sure did!

Happy Father's Day!

Emma, Abby & Nate had so much fun celebrating their Daddy today. Jake adores his children and shares unique bonds with each of them.

These kids LOVE their Daddy!

We all want to send Happy Father's Day wishes to Grampa Marshall, Grampa Daly, Pop-Pop, Pepere and all the other great daddies in our families. We hope you all had a great day!

Beautiful Baltimore Day

We awoke this morning to a dark and gloomy day and the pouring rain. And with Sunday's weather forecast not looking any more promising than today's, Jake and I started to search for something fun to do indoors with the kids. We decided to drive down to Baltimore and visit the Maryland Science Center.

It was a long drive, but totally worth it! We had so much fun exploring all the different exhibits and even catching a show in the planetarium.
The kids got to touch a cloud...

This next exhibit was an all around favorite. It's a large pulley with two ropes on either side. On one side the rope is placed higher up on the pulley which makes it easier to pull. On the other side the rope is placed at a lower level which makes it more difficult to pull. Emma, Abby & Nate went up against Daddy in this challenge and they won! They didn't really care where the rope was placed or why it is that they won, all they cared about was the fact that they beat Daddy in a game of tug and war! If you look real closely at this picture, you can see Jake on the other side pulling with all his might...

Here is another favorite...

You had to sit in a chair and then try to lift your own weight using the ropes. I think both girls did this so many times that the probably have rope burn on their hands!

Emma was brave and laid on a bed of nails. She didn't seemed nervous about it at the time, but looking at this picture now, she looks a little concerned...

We all tested our balancing skills...

Nate had fun listening to different sounds with the headphones...

Abby got lots of information about the human body at this exhibit. She thought it was jut so funny that when she picked up the phone someone automatically starting talking to her. I don't think she understood that it was a recording and she thought someone was actually talking to her and telling her the same information over and over again. She's too cute!

This is Nate's foot in comparison to a dinosaur's footprint. He thought it was a swimming pool!

In the dinosaur exhibit we saw this crazy looking creature, a Savannah Monitor. I don't know too much about him, I just thought he was interesting :)

The kids had fun looking for fossils...

Look at teeny, tiny Abby in comparison to this dinosaur!

Nate touched a "tornado"....

In addition to all of this fun, we also saw a show in the planetarium which was a huge hit with each of this kids. All in all, I think Emma got the most out of this trip educationally, but Abby and Nate had a lot of fun and learned some new things too. It was a great trip and I am sure we will go back someday.

By the time we left the science center, the rain was gone and the sun was shining. So we took advantage of the beautiful weather to walk around and explore Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Nate was absolutely exhausted by this point and in no mood to pose for a photograph, but some very friendly stranger offered to take our picture so we did. Four out of five smiles after a very long day is a success in my book!

Beach Bums

Going to bed early (very early) on a Saturday night...pathetic.

Getting up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning...slightly painful.

Gas prices...rising.

Driving a total of 6 hours round trip in the car...ridiculous.

Spending a beautiful day at the beach...totally worth it!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Yesterday was Jake's birthday. He was able to have the day off from work, and I was only working a half day, so we were able to drive to Greencastle to spend the afternoon with the kids. I had a few surprises planned for Jake and the kids and our first stop was something the whole family loves to do...bowling!

The Birthday Boy... Nathan had so much fun, he even got a strike!

I love how Abby puts so much spunk into everything she does!
And Emma's game has improved so much since the last time we went bowling, she did great!
After bowling, we went to Pizza Hut for some dinner and presents. The kids brought along some very special gifts for Daddy that they each made...

Jake thought that this was the end of the celebration...but he was wrong! When we got back in the van, Abby discovered a present behind her seat. It was so big, she needed Emma's help to get it out. Hmmm, what could this be?

Jake, very confused, he unwrapped a set of grilling utensils, a grill brush and a grill cover. He is confused because we don't own a grill...well, at least we didn't own a grill. Can you tell by his face he is surprised? For those of you who know Jake, you know that it is almost impossible to surprise him. It can be extremely frustrating and I am not sure why I even try sometimes. But I am glad I did this time because it worked!

And here it is (well, it's in the box)! We all can't wait to enjoy some delicious food Jake will make us on this grill.

Happy 33rd Birthday Jake! We love you so much!