Labor Day Weekend

As a last hurrah! for the summer we went on a weekend getaway.

 We spent the first day and night in Strasburg, PA (Lancaster County) exploring Cherry Crest Farms, riding the Strasburg Railroad, eating and relaxing at our hotel.

Jacob loved this slide

Feeding the goats

Mama and Jacob building with the life-size Lincoln logs

Checking out the buggy-I feel like such a tourist in this shot

 

Looking out the window of the train

The other leg of the train trip. Jacob has been talking about it ever since:

"Mama, I like da riding da train!" and "Thank you Baba (Doug) for riding da train!"

The second day of our trip we drove further north and west to the State College area up in the mountains. It was beautiful. We enjoyed napping, reading, hiking and just generally being out in nature and away from the city. Doug also got to see the test wind turbine that Penn State has up.

Here's a picture of the bed and breakfast we stayed at.

We had fun...now it's back to school and work!

My little Picasso

Today after nap time we broke out the paints. Jacob is daily growing more interested in art and more fluid in his expression (sometime I need to post a picture of the precious masterpiece he drew on his bouncy ball). Almost every day he asks me "Mama, draw something?" or says "Draw something da Chelsey" (draw a picture to send to Chelsey). I had planned on getting some art done this afternoon during his nap because I have not had the time to do so for awhile. I didn't get the chance, however, when he woke up he was immediately interested in opening my art box and I followed his lead.

I LOVE his painting! This picture doesn't do it justice because of our horrible camera.

 Our collaborative piece: I drew Jacob while he periodically reached over to embellish his own portrait.

My favorite part about this activity was that I got to make some art WITH Jake. His spontaneity and expressiveness were infectious. It made my day.

R.I.P. Goldfish

We weathered the hurricane well this past weekend, however our two goldfish did not. Three days...is that some kind of a record?

Happy Birthday to the Best Boy in the World!!

Yesterday was Jacob's Birthday! We celebrated in the morning with a trip to the park with cousin Charles. This was probably the best gift Jacob could've gotten. He was crying for Charles in the morning and told me "park da Charles!" when I asked him what he wanted to do.

 After nap we had some messy playtime with tub paints, shaving cream, and Daddy!

Got Daddy right in the eye! :)

Daddy also surprised us with two goldfish for Jacob's present. Jacob loved watching them eating dinner.

We will have cake and ice cream with the fam later on this week...stay tuned for more pictures.

Snake Bubbles

Yesterday I found a great website with a ton of great activity ideas for sensory and experiential learning through play. We tried this one after he got up from his nap...

A string of foamy bubbles comes out when you blow into the end of this contraption.

All you need is a water bottle, rubber band, washcloth, and some dish detergent mixed with water. Click here for the directions.

 Jacob had a bit of a hard time blowing the bubbles by himself so I made most of them and he ran off across the yard after them yelling "there it goes!" or "get him!" ("him" being the bubbles). He also enjoy squishing them with his feet.

Running and jumping in the muddy puddle out front was also a must, of course. We had a blast!

The Beach!!!!!

 Went to the beach yesterday with the Fam....

Cute little backs

 And fronts:)

Charles thinking deep thoughts

Playing in the "cuddle" (Jacob's word for puddle)

The waves were too scary but they didn't want to miss out on the water!

No trip to the beach is complete without ice cream

Jacob with Mama (sadly Doug couldn't make it)

Bekah, Lizzy, Abe

Abby, Jacob, Dad, and Jacob

Erin and Micah were also there but unfortunately I didn't get any pics with them. We had a blast!

Jacob at the park :)