Sesame Place

We got a season pass to Sesame this year. We went once when we went to Ocean City NJ and then we were supposed to go a few times this past week but the weather was questionable. We ended up going one day which made me sad but I am not going to dwell on that. I am going to talk about what I loved about the day. We may go back again in the fall.

This park is known for 'being for the younger kids'. And that is what I really love about it. It keeps the kids young because honestly, you can't do any bigger kid stuff, there is just stuff for the little ones. So the night before we go Adam and Van are super excited. Adam gets into hysterics though because he can't bring all three Elmos with him. The morning when he wakes up, same deal, crying because he can't bring his three stuffed Elmo's (even though he has stayed at both grandparents' without them) so Chip lets him bring the entire bag of Elmo's as we fit 7 people and luggage and a stroller into my van. This though honestly makes me again remember, my 6 1/2 year old, isn't so old after all. So we end up bringing my nephew with us who just turned 8 and is going into the third grade. I honestly thought he would think the park was a little lame, especially since he has two older siblings which I am sure would think Sesame Street is NOT cool. BUT, he loved it! He loved the water rides, the roller coaster and even the characters. I didn't hear that this park was a baby park once. And what got me at the end of the night there was a parade as you can see. And you should have seen Adam waving to those characters. My big 6 1/2 year old I think still thinks Elmo is his friend and got SUPER excited to see them in the parade. You can see Eric and Adam standing next to Zoe in the one picture. Maybe we'll keep going for a few more years....

This is what the barn looks like now. It is all down (the part we are doing this year anyway). If you look to the right, you can see a lot more was taken down since the last time. All of the smoke is from Chip digging up the concrete floor with a jack hammer ( I think that is what he was using, I am pretty sure). So now, things should get moving pretty quickly. It took a long time to tear down, because there was a lot of clean-up involved. Now once the floor is tore up, he'll pour more, and the building begins!

And I put the pictures up backwards again. That's ok. The first picture is what it looks like now.

As you can see, the one side is down and they are working on the second side. Chip is off for 11 days so I'll try to post more (my internet is being funny). He wants to have it down by the 11 days (well the part we are tearing down this year anyway)

Guess what the boys have been playing? Tear down the barn. :)

Here we go!!

Barn project phase 1

So I put the pictures in backwards again. :) Oh well. This year our MAJOR project is redoing this barn. It's a pretty big barn. I don't know square feet or anything but I know it's big. Every year we do a major project and this is it. We are tearing down about half the barn and putting it back up. Right now we are working on the middle part, under where the tractor is in the second picture and where the excavator bucket is in the first (which is why that excavator is there, it is scooping up roof and putting it in the dump truck once Chip cuts each piece of roof off). He is tearing the roof off, bit by bit. And then I assume he is going onto the barn part. He says that there will be 3 phases and he will do it over 3 years. I'll post pictures. This is a busy summer- this project, haying, pool maintenance and lawn maintenance, plus throw vacation in there, there's a lot to get done. But I'll post pictures as we go, I can hear him out there cutting right now, it probably looks different already. :) You remember what the inside of the barn looked like in the winter, well it will all be different, the ceilings will be higher (Yay!), the cows will be let out in one swift motion of a lever (Yay!) the barn cleaner that needs someone to scrape it, will do it on it's own (I kinda liked that job) and the barn won't leak so the silage won't be so heavy (Yay!) More pictures to come. :)

Some cute 'Furmanisms'

Here are some things that the kids have been saying/doing lately that either touch my heart or crack me up and I don't want to forget them.

A few days ago Van says to me, "Mommy, wanna play tractors? C'mon Mommy, tractors are good for you."

Anna likes to hold hands. She likes to hold hands at the dinner table and I just think it's the sweetest thing. She sits next to me on my right hand side so she holds her left hand out to my right hand it makes it a little difficult to eat for me. But it is just darling. And she likes to hold hands when she lies down for a nap too or in the morning when she comes in our room and we aren't ready to wake up yet, we'll hold hands and she'll fall back asleep. What a little sweetie.

A few weeks ago Adam and I had this conversation:
me: Did you like your lunch I packed today?
Adam: Yes, and thanks for the note.
me: Do your friends read the notes sometimes?
Adam: Oh yes, we can all read now, but sometimes they make fun of me.
me: Why?
Adam: Oh because you say you love me and you're a girl so a girl loves me. But that's OK, I don't care, you can still put it. :)

Here's another one from Adam:
"Mom! MOM!!! Come and look! There's a black butterfly!! God made a new butterfly!!!"

And one last one that is kinda gross but cracks me up just the same. Adam thinks he is getting 'man hair'. Which of course means any sort of dark/longer hair that thankfully has only been growing on his legs. :) So yesterday he apparently found 'new' man hair, between his toes. I told him that it wasn't man hair, it was dirt, which of course it was only dirt. Man hair- he cracks me up!