Wordless Wednesday

Why issuing an ultimatum to your kids is never a good idea....

I have found it incredibly frustrating lately that I can not get my children to both smile at the same time while looking in the same direction AND not making any goofy faces or bunny ears for a picture. 

Really I don't think I am asking for too much!!! 

So, today, after a serious of pictures that had

one not smiling - Ariel, one not looking - Carter

and one making "gangsta" signs - Carter, again!

 one with his mouth open - Pierce; and again the "gangsta" signs....

 and yet another not looking (and with a cheesy smile) - Ariel and yes "Gangsta Carter" again

and one final not looking - MOM MOM!!!!

I issued the final ultimatum.............

"We are not taking any more trips to Disney World until you can look at the camera, smile, and keep your hands down at your sides within 15 seconds of being asked!!!"

Guess what???

Yup....they quickly figured out how to do it!  Now they want to know when we are going to Disney!!!!

It's Road Trip Tuesday

Summer vacation officially started for us at the end of the school day on Friday!  Yippeeeeeeee!  Can you tell I am excited?  I live for summer vacation - unstructured time to spend with my kids doing fun things.

Yesterday I announced that Tuesdays during the summer would be "Road Trip Tuesdays" and asked the kids to pick "North or South".  They picked North and with a direction in mind I began to think of places to go.  Where did we end up?   Nottingham, Pennsylvania at the Herr's Snack Factory for a free tour.

What a great destination!  The visitor's center at the snack factory was clean and the staff super friendly.  I had called before we left to make reservations for the 11am tour.  The tour groups were small and our guide, Andrew, was great at presenting and explaining what we were seeing.  I give kudos to any company that allows the public to view their working plant operations.   

A few amazing facts we learned today is that nothing goes to waste at the plant...any corn chips that fall off the conveyor belt are swept up and taken to the Herr's Angus farm down the street and fed to the heard of 500 Angus cattle.  The same is true of potato peelings discarded during the chip making process.  Also, the heat from the fryers is recycled and used to heat the entire building during the winter months. 

The best part, though, had to be sampling potato chips RIGHT off the production line.  They were warm and fresh and absolutely delicious!  This was definitely the highlight of the tour for the kids....well, maybe the adults too :-)

The kids were very excited that Mom Mom was joining us on our road trip! 

The factory tour was such fun that it made us want to find out what other tours are available.  There was a great book for purchase in the store about all the factory tours available in the United States - Watch It Made In the USA - A visitor's guide to best factory tours and company museums.  I am placing my order for this tonight!

After leaving the Herr's Factory we went to lunch a cute little place right down the street - Nottingham Breakfast House. 

The next stop on our journey home was North East, Maryland, a small town in Cecil County.  The destination was a store on Main Street called The Silver Buckle where I was intent on spending some of my birthday money on a super cute pair of Switchflop Flip Flop Sandals.  And spend I did :-)   Ariel, who was super annoyed at her brother, perked right up at the chance to do a little shopping.  It's amazing the power of retail therapy! 

The boys were very patient while the girls browsed in the shops so the next stop was for ice cream!!!

I love this one -- Ariel is "feeding" the pig her ice cream

What a great day!  Have I mentioned I love summer vacation?  I wonder what adventures next Tuesday will bring? 

minus 20 and counting.....

So happy to make this check mark -- another 10lbs down.  It is slowly coming off but that's okay!!!

Go Gators!!!

I am happy to cross another item off my 101 things list but I am even more happy at the reason I get to cross it off.  Ariel decided to play field hockey this fall.  I am so proud of her for venturing out and trying something that is completely new to her.  Coming from the girl who proudly proclaimed "shopping is my SPORT!" this was a big venture.  She is playing rec field hockey for the Perry Hall Gators soooo.......what better reason than to go out and buy a sweatshirt from my alma mater than to proudly support my daughter and her team!!!

Surprise Trip to "a" beach with the kids!

Some may say this is a slight stretch since the actual item on my list is "take the kids on a surprise trip to the beach" and if you live in the Baltimore-area and say "the beach" it is usually understood that you mean Ocean City BUT since it is my list I think I can allow some lee-way in the interpretation.

Our plan was to take the kids tubing on the Gunpowder River.  This is an acutal item on my "list" and I was excited about our plans.  However, rain the night before and a chilly morning didn't make river tubing look too promising so we decided to take the kids to the beach at the Hammerman area of Gunpowder State Park. 

2nd Item Done -- Lose 10lbs

It feels good to check another off the list especially when that one involves losing weight!  Yes, the scale shows I am down 10lbs!  Now on to the next 10.