Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Return to Harper's Ferry

Over the years, only after they moved there of course, we've taken quite a few trips to Harper's Ferry to visit some very dear friends who now live there. I'm surprised I've never made a post about those visits until now. Well, I guess I'm not that surprised. Keeping up with my own current events is a task that quite often overwhelms me.
I'm organizationally challenged...
And I have pregnancy brain... which will always, and forevermore, be Caden's fault. Speaking of which...

We started this game on the way to our friends house.
 Interesting... it appears I have little, chewable, thingies on the end of my cute little footsy. 
I believe Nana calls them "piddies."
 Nothin' like a swimmypool on a hot summer day. :-)


 Pudgy feet!
Cup Face!


 The return of Cup Face.
 Hrrrrrngh. It's a girl. What do I say?
 I wasn't doin' nothin!
Mom, what does "be gentle" mean?

Catching up with Caden

This post is just going to be a random collection of pictures and videos of Caden that were taken or recorded in the last few months. Enjoy.
 Yes. I know I'm adorable.

 Okay. Bye now.

All-purpose energy dance.
 I can fit a whole car in my mouth. Can you fit a whole car in your mouth?



We take our puddle slapping seriously in this household.
I'm studying!

Went to the local library for story time and found a dinosaur instead. 
That doesn't happen every day.

I'm just trying on my new shoes.
You had to take a picture of this?


 This is not Caden. This is a firefly.
Just sayin'.

 Rearranging the tupperware for mommy.

If he pays the phone bill he can talk as long as he wants.
 Wow, how did those socks get there?
 Are the mysterious socks amusing or concerning?
 Mom, look! Socks!
 These socks are awesome. 
I wonder if anyone else knows how awesome socks are?
Mom, I would like to wear one of my new shoes, but just the right one. And I want to wear it right now! NOT THE LEFT ONE! If you try to put the left one on I'll pitch a fit. 
I'm sorry you don't understand, mom, but it makes perfect sense to me.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Rest in Pieces

Well, I said I would explain Caden's ability to wreak havoc, didn't I? Gather 'round children and I will tell you a very sad tale.

Once upon a time there was a collection of four very special tea mugs. They were taller than average mugs, and could hold quite a lot of good hot tea in them. Two of the tea mugs were dark in hue, with a visage of the noble moose painted upon their side. The other pair were in the pleasant shape of men of snow, smiling, with little blue scarves drawn around their frosty necks.

These mugs were much beloved and often used by the husband and wife who owned them, and had owned them for nearly ten years. The good wife treated the mugs properly, and washed them with care whenever they needed it. The mugs in return, kept the the tea in their ceramic bellies nice and hot for the loving couple. These poor innocents never supposed that one day this happy arrangement might come to an untimely end.

Then one day disaster struck! The child of the husband and wife, who was curious and precocial in nature, was wandering at liberty in the kitchen when he saw the corner of a brightly colored dish towel draped over the edge of the counter. Upon that towel were three of the four mugs together with a drinking glass, newly washed and drying at their leisure. Up went the child's little hand and his clever fingers tightly pinched the corner of that colorful dish towel. Down came the towel and down came the mugs! One moose mug, seeing that the end was nigh as it flew off the counter top, took it upon itself to seek some small bit of revenge upon the child, and bonked him upon his little nose before plummeting to the floor; the rest were too surprised at having both the literal and figurative rug suddenly pulled out from beneath them, and simply fell like lemmings off the cliff.

The child was shocked and frightened for approximately five seconds, but quickly overcame these unpleasant emotions when, with fascination, he was, from the safety of the highchair that he had been immediately exiled to, able to watch Mommy both sweep and vacuum the kitchen in rapid order.

The moral of this story? Life happens.

Rest in pieces, my sweet little tea mugs.

Gettysburg

I don't think I've been to Gettysburg before, and I know this was Ryan's first visit. We met up with Chad and Angela and their little baby girl, Ava. Unfortunately we didn't get out of the house as quick as we wanted (Caden's fault. Yes, I will shamelessly blame it on the baby.) so we were only able to spend half a day there. We didn't get to see everything, but it was still awesome. 
What can I say about Civil War sites? They're very interesting, and kind of sad at the same time. 

 

This painting, the Cyclorama, was amazing! One thing about it that I thought was really neat was that little man, sword in hand, standing next to the tree. That's the artist, Paul Philippoteaux. That was his way of signing this masterpiece.


Caden looking up at some cannonballs. Methinks I will regret the calculating gleam in his eye. Not that he needs cannonballs to wreak havoc (explanation forthcoming in a later post).



Never get on the wrong side of a woman who knows how to make cookies.



Not being in the military myself, this is something I've never understood about the size and proportion of the various groupings of soldiers until this picture laid it all out for me. Ah! I feel smarter already.

We stood where he stood! Pardon me while I geek out over that fact.



Some type of Cedar. I was just impressed by the sheer size of it.

Our souvenir from the trip; locally made fudge. We got Peanut Butter Chocolate, Cookies n' Cream, and Chocolate Walnut. They did not last long.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Princeton Campus

Whew! We are almost caught up to current events. Who'd have thought that possible, eh?

Anyway, Ryan and I toured the campus of Princeton now that we live in NJ. What an experience. What a beautiful university! Don't laugh, but many of these pictures made us feel like we'd stumbled into Hogwarts instead of Princeton.




















 The gates of Princeton
 Like a Sir.
(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)
 We took a little break in the playroom of the Princeton town Library so that Caden could stretch his legs.

 I'm going to eat here some day soon.


















Do you see a building there? I don't see a building there.
It's urban camouflage, or urbo-flage if you like. ;-)



Not much else to say. It's a beautiful campus.