Down on the Farm

This morning McKinley and I visited a farm on our play date with Kylie & family, Robin & family and a few other friends and kiddos. We drove into the country to the home of The Wrightsman family. Of course, it was raining...but we were prepared! McKinley had his rain boots on and was so ready! We did have to patiently wait inside the house for a little while, but eventually the rain let up a bit. The kids headed out to pick some corn to feed to the horse, then we headed out to the fields of animals. The horse was a wee bit intimidating for the kids and most of the ears of corn were tossed just inside the fence. The horse did not care! It was a real treat for her to get more than one ear of corn per day and so she happily chomped away, oblivious to the children standing around her, mesmerized.

Then everyone stepped inside the chicken coop. WOW! Turkeys, baby chickens, big chickens! EVERYWHERE! All of the children took right to feeding them, so excited! I looked away for just one second, turned back around and McKinley was fully-engulfed in feeding turkeys that were nearly as tall as him. I briefly thought to myself...huh! there IS some of me in him! I mean, you wouldn't know it by looking, but I grew up in the COUNTRY. We didn't have farm animals, but my grandparents owned farmland, my parents and I lived on 3 acres of beautiful country with a HUGE red barn, a little creek running through and wild animals abounding. It was a great upbringing and I treasure beautiful memories from it. I loved playing outside at my grandparents home and getting to do things like gooseberry, raspberry and blackberry picking. Anyway, there's my boy...clearly enjoying every second with these animals.

Soon it was time for the highlight of our visit...the alpacas. We've been around alpacas before at St. Mary's, and knew they are kind animals, so I was so excited. I actually stood eyeball-to-eyeball to them! We went INSIDE their little field and were standing next to them. Those alpacas RUSHED to the children (who were holding big buckets of feed), but they were so gentle and a bit taken by their little feeders. I got some amazing pictures of the whole thing, but I LOVE this one...this little girl stood and looked right at my camera! FUNNY!

And the look on this one's face...I couldn't stop laughing when I downloaded these photos!

After we were finished feeding the animals it began raining again, so we went inside to see if the chickens had laid any eggs...and they had! So each child got to collect an egg for their very own. McKinley was thrilled with his pick...and even more thrilled that Savannah placed her egg inside his bucket. He was so careful with them! Precious.

The day wasn't over yet! We took our eggs and moved onto the pear orchard where each child picked some pears to take home. The rain continued and the kids were hungry, so we went inside where the farm owner fed the kids pbj's, fresh eggs and cookies.

Can I just say how well McKinley napped? Frankly, me too. I don't often nap but man! Between the cool, rainy weather, the early morning drive and all the events piled into two hours on the farm, this mama was POOPED!

We had such a great time and were so thankful for the invitation. McKinley learned a lot and enjoyed his time with his friends...new and old...furry, feathered and otherwise. Despite the rain and the first real day with a fall chill in the air - it was perfect.

Lynn

Recap

We have been so busy lately! So much to blog, so very little time...

So, to briefly recap events of recent:

Lunch in Indy with Diane (aka HONEY) and Shelby, my Mom, McKinley and I. Buca Di Beppo. Shopping at Castleton. Awesome! It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed spending time with Diane & Shelby. I love this pic!

Another fun outing was our impromptu dinner with the Douglas Fam. Cary, McKinley and I had a blast that evening visiting with our friends. The night was complete with Baby Ollie sleeping peacefully the entire time while our ditzy waiter danced around us and gave us over sweetened tea (YUCK. I HATE SWEET TEA), extra rice and a heart attack as he bumped Ollie's car seat, nearly toppling the newborn. YIKES! Aside from that, it was so great to spend time with them, as always. The boys (McKinley & Lincoln) were as cute as usual, arm in arm, being cheesy for the camera. So cute!

Finally, it's that time again! Spring Planting! This year McKinley picked out a pumpkin, a sunflower and a watermelon to grow from seeds. McKinley really enjoyed the entire process: moisten peat pellet with water, allow to expand, place seeds in peat, cover with soil and wait for some action! I'm happy to report the sunflower and watermelon have already sprouted and need planting this week! That was fast!

It certainly is an extra busy time for us right now! We are blessed with wonderful friends and family, fun events and special times together, and are grateful to have so many great opportunities to report!

Happy Spring!

Lynn

More Picnicing!

Lately Spring has happily relieved our winter blues/cabin fever. With another gorgeous day, and Wee Read on the sched, per Kylie's suggestion, the Douglas boys & Mommy, Semmler kiddos & Mommy and McKinley and I met at the park for a fabulous post-Wee Read picnic.

The weather was AWESOME! Still cool enough to wear a jacket but sunny and breezy enough to make you think this spring thing is going to stick around for a while.

We lunched in a shelter and the kids loved it! They didn't/couldn't stay still for long though, soon McKinley was begging to walk the little train tracks. So, I told him to ask his friends' Mommies if they could go and off we went, leaving Robin, Kylie and baby boys behind to rest and bond.

We had a blast chugging along the track together. Midway through, the kids started getting a wee bit antsy, so I rounded up four great sticks, handed them out and started directing traffic. We did some great little activities, ala simon says, and the kids were loving it. Then we marched. And we marched. And we marched....all the way to the little train garage where we each had to knock on the garage door (wonder who's idea that was??? Trains. Garages. McKinley.) We headed back to the babies and mamas and it was time for Lincoln to head home for naptime. Savannah and McKinley decided they should hit the playground for a bit, so Robin and I packed everything up and hit the playground! The kids played together for a long time, it was sweet to watch. They climbed, they swung, they pretended to sleep in the tunnel (much to the chagrin of a young cowboy-boot-wearing boy who just really wanted to play in the dang tunnel).

Very soon it was past naptime, so we headed out...not without some major protest from McKinley, despite being given several 5, 3 and 1 minute warnings from Robin and me. It has been so long since we could all run and play freely without risking frost bite, I can't blame the kid too much!

It was a fabulous day spent with wonderful friends and adorable kids (obviously...look at the pic!). Can't wait to do it again!

Lynn

The Funny Thing About Wee Read...

...is that through it, I have quite suddenly (and happily) become a kid-magnet. I would have never seen it coming!

Two of our couple-friends are expecting Baby #2, and both mommies are on bedrest. Cary and I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to help out when we can. Today at Wee Read I took Savannah along with McKinley and me, where we met up with Kylie and Lincoln. Kylie needed a rest and is too far along in her pregnancy to get down on the floor with Linc (a total pre-requisite in Wee Read), so I happily took on all three of the kiddos. Before long, our 3 (McKinley, Savannah and Lincoln) had completely lost interest in the actual reading and activities and were instead inthralled with simulataneously attacking yours truly. They began making enough of a scene that ALL of the children (and there were GOBS of them today) got into the game and started attacking their own caregivers. I am pretty sure our librarian was pretty displeased, but she quickly got over it because there was no denying how adorably cute it was to see these kids run to the front of the room, turn around and squeal with delight as they ran AT ME.

I love little things like this that come up and smack you in the face and make you realize that a little bitty person (or persons, in this case) can do something as simple as be a CHILD and spread a smile across your face for an entire day. How very lucky I am to have the opportunity to have this moment to spend with some fun little kiddos.

Lynn

4th of July; Takes 1 & 2

Happy WET 4th of July!
Oh well, we made the most of it, indoors. It.Rained.All.Dang.Day.

I can hear the conversation between me and my mother-in-law now..."Remember the 4th of July where we stood in the rain to watch the fireworks?" We trekked through the CONSTANT rain to Bloomington to spend the weekend with Cary's parents. Our plans were to have a nice meal together and send all the boys outside to play! Wrong. No outdoor play today. Next, we planned to pile into the car and go watch the fireworks at IU. We did that...under umbrellas. We could barely see what was supposed to be a gorgeous display, but it was fun all the same! Seeing how happy McKinley was in his Grandpa's arms and announcing, "Done with fireworks!" several times as he became unsure of the big booms made it even better!

Of course, it cleared up today and the Terre Haute fireworks were rescheduled for this evening...thus, Take 2:

We made last minute plans with Kylie, Ben & Lincoln and Rick, Robin and Savannah to meet at the top of the old T.H. parking garage and watch our city's fireworks all together. This time it was much warmer and drier and man, did we have a view! You can't tell that in my pictures because I forgot to set the camera on 'fireworks'....duh.

McKinley kept ooohing and ahhhing and saying, 'Oh! Pretty fireworks!' and laughing hysterically. He was wound up with his little friends there!

I can't even explain how cool it was for me to step back and watch my son and husband with our friends together for something so fun and meaningful for our country. And had it not been for Kylie & Ben's GIANT CAN OF CHEESY POPCORN I have no idea how three toddlers would have so easily made it through an entire hour and a half of waiting and watching. Whew! I've already signed them up to bring the popcorn next year...what a lifesaver!

We had a wonderful holiday weekend -- me especially! What a treat to have my husband home on a SATURDAY! Yay for no mail! I didn't even care that it rained, it was just great to be together with everyone.

Happy Birthday, America!

Lynn

McKinley's First Pool Party

Some friends of ours, Kylie & Ben are moving into their new house and have some painting to do...sometimes this is difficult with a toddler/helper, so they needed some entertainment for Lincoln. Who better than McKinley?!
Mommy broke out ALL the kiddie pools and the boys played outside the entire 2 hours that Lincoln was with us.

My Mom was over and had a ball blowing bubbles for the boys and I had fun shooting them both down the slides! It was a great time - the first of many, I'm sure!
Lynn

Vernon weekly recap

Whew-what a busy week!

McKinley said his full name for the first time (and well, I might add). More on that later...

We had a playdate with Lincoln that involved heebie geebies and a big ol' bore bee. The bore bee tried to make friends with a very unwilling McKinley while we attempted to eat our lunch. He actually followed us over to the playground, where McKinely AND I were equally as displeased with the whole mess. Then these LOVELY, giant swarms of large gnat-like insects dive-bombed our mouths, ears and eyes as we simply tried to play on the playground. McKinley kept shivering when the gnat thingies would hit his ears, so I asked if he had the heebie geebies. He promptly replied that he had, "Heebie Geebies in ears and eyes!" lol Yikes! This was even after the application of bug repellent! We got out of there! Despite Mother Nature's blessed insects we had so much fun with Lincoln and Kylie. Hope to do it again next week with even more of our friends!

My friend Robin and I headed to St. Ben's Longaberger/Vera Bradley Bingo (I didn't win, but Robin sure did!!! :-D ) while Cary took McKinley AND Savannah to the park together (Robin's hubby, Ricky had to work). Robin did great winning a BIG raffle prize, but Cary impressed me with toting around TWO toddlers for some park fun and a great dinner. WOW! Good night!

Mamaw was put in the hospital again, but is back home and doing okay. Thankfully, it was just a prescription change.

Cary played some golf with his Dad and I did some zumba with Jen.

We continued our big makeover of the house (I'm lovin' it!) and I finally finished my...

LAST.HOMEWORK.EVER.

Dum, dum, duuuuuuuuuuum

I became BFF's with the powerwasher (ugh) and McKinley discovered that three of his very favorite things to do all involve being 'OUTSIIIIIIIDE!'

*Watering our flowers and plants with his frog watering can

*Playing his self-invented ball toss game in one of his three kiddie pools

*Using the shower-like handle for watering flowers as a microphone for his adorable singing talent

By far, though, the absolute cutest thing ever this week was the repetition of McKinley's name, "Kinney Dane Bernon" as told by MSV himself. Translation: McKinley Shane Vernon

Seriously, it makes me CRY.

What a great week, we're off to a fabulous summer!

Lynn

The Presidents hit the Childrens' Museum

It's that time again - time for our monthly trip to Indy. Last night we stayed at the Crown Plaza with the big, REAL, indoor train cars. We didn't stay in one, but you'd think we did as loud as it was! Who knew Union Station was still a fully functioning rail station -- YIKES. Three hours of a train engine running constantly at 3am got a 'little' annoying - even for McKinley. It was all worth it though because today was a total blast!

While Cary went off and did his civic duty, McKinley and I trotted off to the Childrens' Museum where we met Kylie and Lincoln for a whole day of fun! It was surreal to see TWO FILLED car seats and two baby faces in my rear view mirror...but adorable, no less. After hitting Ben's work (Kylie's hubby)we had a lovely, if not totally complicated lunch at Circle Center and then hit the Museum just in time for the MASS NUMBER of school children on a field trip leave the premises. Nice!

The Museum was still crazy-packed, but that didn't stop our boys! We headed right for the Playscape where the Presidents donned their water-proof smocks and headed for the giant water table. Then it was off to the sand table. Then the maze. Then the train table. Then the playhouse. Then the mowers...you get the idea. They were busy - so busy in fact that the time flew by and it was time to go! McKinley and I introduced Kylie & Lincoln to our tradition of riding the carousel at the end of our visit and a self-portrait picture to remember the day. I LOVE that we do this and can't wait to see how much we change as the years go by...

I am so thrilled that Kylie & Lincoln came with us for a fun day of play, I wonder if they are as exhausted as we are??? Just a few more months of our annual trips of civic duty, but I hope we can drag our friends with us again soon! We picked Cary up and headed home for a QUIET night's sleep in our own bed...sans train engine.

What a great day!
Lynn