Adventure Journal

Jonah’s Birthday

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:06:57 -0500

Jonah received a lovely “Birthday Wishes” book from his classmates. After school on Friday he picked out the traditional dozen balloons (blue, green and brown with a Star Wars mylar) and opened his presents from us and Grandma and Grandpa Felten.

We had his party on Saturday at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. It was awesome. We built a T-Rex, dug for fossils, made volcanoes and had cake and ice cream of course. There was the skeleton of a triceratops on his cake! After the party we spent the rest of the day with our friends in the museum. It was a great day. We are spending the rest of this weekend building the tons of Star Wars Lego ships. :)

Legos, Ice Cream and a campus walk.

Sun, 3 Feb 2008 15:21:05 -0500

For the past two years the Morehead Planetarium has hosted “LEGOpalooza” at which a local Lego collector sets up every single Star Wars Lego set ever released. Our kids go nuts over it. This year we got to spend our day with our neighbor, Anna. The first part of Legopalooza was a Rover Challenge. The teams built rovers to match the real Mars Rover and then got to test their vehicles on a track designed to mimic the surface of Mars. After we explored the Lego exhibit we walked down Franklin and got some ice cream and then took a walk around campus. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Holly Jolly Christmas

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:03:34 -0500

After spending Thanksgiving in Maryland, Christmas was low-key and intimate this year. We picked our tree from a local tree farm: a gorgeous Leeland Cyprus.

On Christmas Eve we were all decked in Christmas pjs and opened up new outfits for our Build-a-Bear stuffies and then watched Stardust and danced.

We decorated cookies this year which was a beautiful mess. Naomi and Ado had mounds of icing and sprinkles on their plates.

One of our favorite months.

Thu, 1 Nov 2007 14:54:04 -0400

Pumpkins, Halloween and of course Naomi’s birthday! We spent a day at a local pumpkin patch with hay mazes, hay rides, a corn maze and of course loads of pumpkins. We even picked our own cotton from a small field.

Naomi had her annual Pumpkin Party where we decorated pumpkins and hunted for ghosts in our yard.

Halloween was awesome as always. Jonah was Anakin, Naomi was TinkerBell and Ado was Obi-Wan Kenobi. One of our neighbors had a cooler of beer for trick-or-treating parents-- hilarious! After trick-or-treating we spent our evening gorging on candy, pizza and our neighbor’s amazing pumpkin cheesecakes. Mmmmm.

Trips & Visits

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:30:17 -0400

This summer was packed!

Grandpa Felten came down in early June and built us a new henhouse for our baby chicks, but when one of them began crowing we had to find a new home for the chicks but plan to get more in the Spring of 2008.

We spent two weeks at the beach in June, one week with the Arnold family and one week with the Felten/Miley family.

In July we had baseball games, zoo trips, visits from Angie and a trip to see “Our bestbest Grandma” in West Virginia. (This is what Naomi calls their great grandma.)

In August we had a Felten Sibling Weekend, the Rainbow Soccer season started, my Fall semester started and of course, Jonah started First Grade.

Over Labor Day weekend in September we managed to get another beach trip in though it rained the entire time.

Memorial Day Weekend

Mon, 28 May 2007 18:07:17 -0400

We drove to my parents house in Maryland for Memorial Day weekend and spent a lovely time painting their driveway, drawing with sidewalk chalk, watching movies and eating like kings. Smoked pork and grilled chicken, potato salad and macaroni salad-- the leftovers have fed us for a week! It was delicious and relaxing. The Foursquare games were awesome, topped only by the comfy cozy naps in the guest king sized bed. Mmmmm.

Much needed getaway.

Sat, 19 May 2007 17:46:29 -0400

The two weeks before this spontaneous beach trip were awful. My grandfather passed away (I got the call at Naomi’s soccer practice which sucked) and the trip to attend the services, though worth it in every way imaginable, was emotionally and physically exhausting. My aunt described everyone as being “raw” towards the end of the trip and I think the description was right on.

While I was gone, one of Andrew’s servers he’s responsible for at work crashed when a routine Windows update broke compatibility. (Thank you, Microsoft. Switch to a Mac!) He spent the entire next week staying up all night, catching snippets of sleep at random times and basically working continuously until he rebuilt it to work with Linux. (That’s my limited understanding of the whole ordeal.) So when Elijah’s mother asked if Jonah and Naomi wanted to join Elijah for his mini-beach-trip for his birthday it seemed a sign.

Jonah and Naomi spent Saturday night with Elijah watching cartoons, eating popcorn and playing old Atari games. We stayed an extra day and left as late as possible on Monday. Last minute beach trips are expensive but I have to say this was worth every wave filled second.

Yes, We Have Chickens

Sat, 12 May 2007 17:37:42 -0400

Jonah’s Kindergarden class hatched eggs as part of their Spring series about farms. And he was very interested in getting a baby chick. So despite insisting to our friends, Matt and Katie, that under no circumstances was I going to get chickens (I clearly didn’t plan for the circumstance of six-year old asking so very politely) we have chickens. We originally had one, Ginger, but after a harsh lecture from the Feed Store Lady regarding the trials of lonely chickens we had to get a second, Rosemary. Rosemary is a week younger than Ginger and much shier. She cries whenever she’s alone.

The chickens are doing very well and are huge already. Hopefully we’ll build a henhouse soon and a real enclosure.

I call them Spicy Ginger Chicken and Lemon Rosemary Chicken. Mmmm.

Adonis’s Second

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:24:50 -0400

We celebrated Ado’s second birthday with a small cookout of neighbors and friends over the weekend. On the actual day we opened gifts and had yummy cake. Ado at two is amazing. He is talking and saying all kinds of things like, “scooter!” and “Coming, Mom!” after I call him. He’s still a trouble maker but still adorable and it’s lovely seeing his own personality come about. He adores Jonah and all things Spiderman and Star Wars and follows Naomi about as though she has all of the answers. He thinks he’s just as capable of anything Jonah does. I think he actually is.

Scooter!

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:17:24 -0400

Andrew completely surprised me with a 2006 Vino 125. It’s gorgeous! And it has enough power that I need an actual Motorcycle license to drive it. So I have a learner’s permit now. It’s a total blast to ride. I’ve joined various scooter listserves and a local scootering club. I’m thrilled. My parents are convinced it’s a “real motorcycle” so I have a full-face helmet and jacket and will probably take a motorcycle safety-class soon. Wheeeeee!