My Trip Home-Part 1...The Arrival

Alright....For the second half of the summer (mid-July to end of August) I was in Washington. I have a lot to share about that trip and I want to get it all down before it gets too far away!

First things first, I had to get there.  I was really excited about this but I had my doubts too.  I was nervous how Katelyn would do on the flights.  I had three different flights and a couple layovers and it was going to be a very, very long day if she didn't feel like cooperating.  I was so relieved because she was heavenly!  After check-in and security we ran...well she ran, I walked and followed her bouncy excited run...all over the airport.  By the time it was time to board, she was excited about the plane and checked out my seatbelt and the airplane magazines and the fold down tray and then was ready for a nap!  She did this with each layover and I hardly needed the bag of quiet toys I brought.  The flight home was very similar.  We needed the bag of toys a little more, but she did so well!  Hooray!!

The part I was excited about was my arrival at the airport!  Little did my family know, I was 6 1/2 months pregnant!  I had a stranger get a video of my Dad and sister Tracie's reaction when they realized my growing belly.

It was such a fun surprise!  My dad's first thought was that I wasn't going to be able to play tennis with him!  I did bring my racket and we played three different times!  I was holding Katelyn in front of me and then I pulled her to the side when I said, "We're here!" which generated the squeal from my sister...perfect!  My brother got engaged in January, we found out we were pregnant in February and we were trying to decide how to announce it to our families and thought it would be so awesome to wait until I went home for the wedding!  We survived and had to tell a lot of lies because we kept getting questions about when we were having more kids...especially from Mom and Dad!

Our flight arrived at midnight so there was a crew at home that were kind of sleepy eyed but came to say hello.  My youngest brother Luke (18) gave me a hug and wasn't sure if I had gotten chunky or if it was a baby.  He was staring at my belly and looked so concerned and as I gave Matt a hug (he didn't notice/have any idea) Luke even leaned over to be able to see my belly around Matt and my hug.  I made eye contact with him and smiled and that must have been the trigger for him because he smiled back and asked, "Are you having a baby?!"  Matt probably thought he should smack Luke for going against the man-code and asking, but then realized my belly and wondered how he didn't notice too!

My mom heard that I was home and came to say hello before she really went to bed.  She was "waiting up for me" or took a little nap so she came down with sleepy eyes.  She didn't even have her glasses on and noticed my belly and after she hugged me then she asked about the big belly saying, "So what is this belly all about?"  She couldn't believe I had kept it a secret for that long!  My parents thought I might come home and announce a baby, but not that much of a baby!

I mailed out pictures of us with the balloons and our announcement to the family members that weren't at home...little did I know, the pen I used to write a note on a card with the picture was not a good choice.  It is a "Pilot Frixion" pen, so it is erasable with friction or with the eraser on the end of it.  The science behind it is that the heat of the friction is what makes it erase.  I wrote all of these notes on the cards, put the cards and the pictures in the envelopes, stamped and addressed them.  Nothing fancy.  I had them sitting in the car one day while I ran around town and with it being the middle of July, it was hot in the car and the heat caused all of the addresses and return addresses to disappear by the time I got to the post office!  I traced over the indents to rewrite the addresses, but I wasn't willing to open them all up to check my notes on the cards.  I heard that most of them were fine and could still be read or they could hold them at the right angle to read the indentations where the ink had disappeared!  The pictures are what had the announcement on them so it was fine.  Silly pens tried to get the best of me!

My brother's family that lives in Virginia, Chris and Tricia, had a fun time finding out.  We were about 5 months along and they were over visiting just because.  I was wearing a shirt that seemed as if I was trying to hide something and they were both trying to figure out if I was pregnant without actually asking.  We had pizza and smoothies for lunch and were getting ready to head out to a nearby park and Katelyn was taking off out the door without me.  I was talking to Chis and he asked, "What is in that belly?" as he poked it.  I was pretty smooth and instantly responded with, "Just that extra slice of pizza." and then I headed out the door to get Katelyn before she got into trouble.  Chris felt terrible and like a jerk of a brother for just calling his sister out on gaining a little weight!  We told them later on in the evening and he felt VERY relieved!

So everyone found out one way or another, but it was fun and hard to keep it a secret for so long!

Katelyn Figuring It Out

This was written up about 4 months ago, and I meant to add to it but never did.  She just had a birthday so I will just post this and then update more with her birthday post coming up hopefully soon!

I am amused with Katelyn and the little things she does.  Sometimes she may drive me crazy, but at the end of the day when all she wants to do is snuggle, I can't find much to complain about.

Here's some of her fun little things she does that make us smile.

Her talking.  She picks up on so much and we say and it is so fun to hear her try and say the words with her pronunciation.  She can't form the sounds that come from the back of her throat like the C/K, G, X, and Qu and substitutes other sounds for them....She has

Her name has progressed over the past few months.  It used to be "tay tay" and then "tay tuh" then "tay nuh" then "tay nen" and now it is "tay tin".  She is getting close!

She narrates a lot of what she does as she plays.  She likes zippers and key holes with her keys (tees) we gave her and will say "opet in toes" as she opens and closes them and she does this for at least 30 minutes each day...one of her favorites.  If she comes across any keys, she gets excited and heads off to find a key hole to put the key in. 

She also loves her stuffed puppy and bear right along with her baby dolls.  She takes care of them and sometimes when we ask Katelyn to help or do something, she assists her "friends" and has them do it for her...eating, going to bed, picking things up, giving good bye hugs and kisses and waves, and diaper changes.

She can't get enough of peek-a-boo and being chased.  She loves the thrill of it.  The pitter patter as I pound my hands on the floor behind her makes her giddy and excited.  We have to be careful as we chase her and when she plays with others because she likes to try and get to a room and then close the door quick!

She loves wrestling and tickling like any kid.

She doesn't have a favorite between David or I.  She just wants the other if one of us told her no or doesn't have enough sympathy.  She likes me to put her to bed, but she won't go until she gives Daddy a "hud in tiss".  When I try to drop her off at nursery, she wants Daddy.  As she wakes up, she sits up in bed and calls for both of us until we come say good morning or until she gets tired of calling for us and comes to find us.  When one of us gives her a high 5, she goes off to find the other to give them one too.

She loves to "tuh-ler" and to play with stickers.  She likes to color a little bit with each color. Possibly more than coloring, she likes to put the crayons in the box and then dump them out and put them in over and over again.

Summer Camping

We have been busy and having fun and I finally have a second to sit and write down all of our adventures over the last two months!  I have caught up with the laundry and I am taking a break from cleaning and unpacking to write everything down.

I am starting with camping.  This summer we went twice.  The first time was at the end of June with my brother Chris and his family and some friends of theirs.  David doesn't get excited about camping.  The work, effort, and planning that goes into camping doesn't make sense to him when we pay rent to live in a nice place that is better.  Now if I was willing to move our family out into the woods permanently, then he would be fine with that because it is so much cheaper than paying rent, but when we already have a nice place we are paying for he doesn't get very excited.  

So I try to make it as painless as possible and pack and plan everything  so we can just get in the car and go.  This first camping trip went well with not really any issues.  We enjoyed the company and the setting. We all worked together on meals and starting fires and the kids had fun running around together.  I like that men feel like the outdoors is their territory and they build the fires and put up the tents and they even do some of the cooking if we women let them!  I don't know why David would have any reason to dislike camping :)  

Katelyn loves anytime we let her play in the car and "drive" and sometimes we let her sit with us and actually drive short little errands that don't require us to get on real roads.  She loves to do big people things.

 These three had a good time!  Liam is a good cousin and friend and bridges the age gap and plays with both his older friend and younger cousin.  Marco didn't seem to get bored playing with the little kids either.

 Chris and Tricia brought a hotel tent that had three rooms so we shared that with them and we all had plenty of space.

 I love this cute girl!

And she loves her cute boy!

 We enjoyed the good company and snuggles with our kiddos.

 Chris had a helper that wanted to take over his fire making job...well only the parts he shouldn't help with :)  Marco is just a curious boy who was trying so hard to be patient while he waited to cook his hot dog.

 These kids always want to be such good helpers!

 We went on a hike and Katelyn was so slow so we carried her most of the way.  Tricia and Chris wouldn't let my pregnant body carry her the whole time so we passed her around and Liam wanted to be carried too we all got more than we wanted out of this short hike.

 Katelyn's cute little chubby toes are so good at collecting all sorts of treasures and she loves to pull off her shoes and look for "yuckies" and proclaim her toes clean when she finishes looking between each toe as she pries them apart.  This is a task she takes seriously!

 We needed some ice cream at the end of our "rough camping" and we discovered Bruster's that reminds us of Tillamook Ice cream with all their yummy flavors.

 Hugs all around to say goodbye as we finished with our yummy ice cream!

Then we camped with about 8 families from our ward this last weekend for Labor Day.  The place we were going took about 4 hours to get to from our place and with a stop for dinner it took about 5 hours.  We weren't too thrilled about this because it was raining almost the whole time we were driving and sometimes it was raining so hard we had to slow way down to even see the road and other cars around us safely.  This wasn't very encouraging and even I had a hard time being excited for our camping weekend.  We finally got to our campsite and we had friends help us get our tent up really fast in the dark and in the rain.  We decided to call it a night and hang out in our tent and hope that we  were going to wake up to clear skies.  It was very humid and wet and our little tent snugly fit the three of us with our queen air mattress...and I am about 5 weeks away from my due date.  So we play a few little games in our tent and chat to stay out of the down pour and hope that our tent really is waterproof.  We managed to get to sleep and hoped we somehow wouldn't have to try and roll over each other and go out in the rain to go potty!  Me and my pregnant self didn't get so lucky and it rained pretty much all night we think.

The next morning it was mostly not raining and just a few sprinkles here and there.  We went to church looking and feeling so wonderful after the great sleep, but the skies cleared up once we were out of church!  Oh the blessing of going to church!  And Katelyn was so adorable that someone gave her a brand new baby doll in the box and everything.  She loved it and it was a random simple thing and they said her daughter had too many dolls and Katelyn looked like a perfect mom for that doll.

We got back to camp and took a nap  and just enjoyed a peaceful Sunday in the woods.  We made shish-ka-bobs for dinner with chicken, tomato, onion, potato and peppers and  they were so good!  Such good flavor since I marinated them over night and then the smoky flavor from the camp fire added a special bonus.   

We enjoyed the night chatting with friends and making ice cream in bags and  making campfire cones (ice cream cones filled with nuts and chocolate and marshmallow and anything you want that might taste good all melted together when they get warmed up by the fire.)  We loved the evening!  The terrible start to our camping trip luckily was the worst of it. 

I love this picture of Katelyn because it shows her curly hair.  Her hair is pretty flat and straight on top, but she has some curl in the back  that is adorable.  The humidity and sweat gives it an extra amount of curl too!  She also loved having all these glow stick bracelets and necklaces, but I like the curls!

These tire swings were a little dangerous but all the kids love them.  Katelyn would swing forever if she could and David can't ever say no to anyone that wants to swing!

The kids gave him a few pushes too and let him have a turn.

We came up camping on Saturday and didn't get there until dark, so we missed out on the adventures that they all went on during the day.  We stopped by to see what we missed on our way home.  There was this waterfall that was a short hike in and really pretty, but once we got down to the stream it was really rocky and wet and me being pregnant and David carrying Katelyn didn't seem like an ideal place for us.  There was also a guy who had fallen and hit his head on the rocks and was bleeding and getting medical attention near the falls so we decided we were close enough and headed back out.  

 Here I am at 35 weeks!

 Our next pit stop was at the natural water slides.  These weren't as impressive as we thought they would be.  David tried it out and felt like he had to scoot a lot of the way.  Some sections of it were fun and would carry him, but others just didn't have enough water or maybe he had the wrong technique.

We walked around and at the bottom of the water slide were some areas of calm water so we thought we would go swim around in those to cool off.  It was nice and we just people watched as we enjoyed the water.

As we were heading out, David and Katelyn were walking out and it was so cute watching them walk hand in hand being careful on the rocks.  I had to go back and grab my shoes and slipped a fell on my side.  I fell on my hip, elbow, and shoulder and they have been super sore ever since.  It scared me and everyone around being so pregnant.  Everything is fine with me and the baby and other than the bruises on me, but he has been moving around like normal and I haven't had any contractions or bleeding.  Definitely scary though and I am glad I fell to the side and not forward.

I was frustrated with myself because I knew I needed to be careful and I had been the whole time and I made sure every step was well thought out, but that one moment where I turned around quick and was thinking about how I almost forgot my shoes was when I slipped.  I was so bummed and worried about our little guy.  He always moves like crazy when I start eating anything so we thought it would be perfect to get some ice cream from Bruster's.  It did the trick and our little baby was moving and tossing and turning taking in all three scoops of ice cream with me.  I got an almond coconut ice cream that was heavenly and cheered me right up!

These scoops are not small scoops by any means and so having three of them made for a ton of ice cream.  These pictures show both of our cones with about 5 minutes worth of licking already done.  They were melting faster than we could eat them and I could barely get David to look at the camera because he was trying to keep up with the drips.  We ended up getting out of the car so we didn't have to inhale the ice cream and then I was able to enjoy it and let the drips fall in the grass.  We were laughing at ourselves for thinking we needed three scoops and decided next time we are only getting two...maybe even one....or maybe three to share would be just right!  I couldn't eat mine very fast because I was laughing most of the time at David trying to keep up with his.  He was so determined to not let it drip away and he was going to town licking frantically to save the drips.

Katelyn enjoyed hers too and wasn't sure what was so funny.  I needed the ice cream and the laughs to get the baby moving and cheer me up and it worked great.  Now I just need to be more careful and be more cautious!  

This camping trip had a lot of ups and downs and we are done camping the year for sure.  The rain wasn't too fun and falling was scary, but most of all I was so glad to be back in my own bed when we got home.  I love having space to move my watermelon belly and not having to wake up and walk in the rain to go to the bathroom at night.  I don't miss trying to roll over and get comfortable on that air mattress...it is hard enough when you aren't pregnant!  I will enjoy my friends inside and we can all be a little be less stinky.  I love nature and it's beauty and smells and sounds, but I am too pregnant to enjoy it all like I am used to.  I won't make David go camping again until next summer.  For now we have plenty to get ready for for this little guy to make his arrival and my bed is way to nice to give up for an air mattress in a little tent anytime soon!

Telling the Father

Oh this whole pregnancy has been fun for us.  I can't complain one bit about this pregnancy!  Yay!

David was out of town and I was home and was making plans and getting ready for David's Valentine's Day countdown gifts.  I wanted to give him a little gift each day in February leading up to Valentine's Day.  I had some planned gifts that I would send with him when he went out of town and we were also moving in February.  I think we moved on the 11th...Happy birthday to Julia :)  So I wanted to be prepared and just be able to enjoy the excitement of each gift each day but I had a feeling that I would find out yes or no before Valentine's day so I was trying to figure out how to break the news to David if I found out we were expecting. 

I had been paying close attention to my body anxiously anticipating how quick/slow I would get pregnant, but not getting my hopes up just in case we were supposed to hang tight for a bit.  I took a test one morning while David was out of town and the positive result was so exciting.  Katelyn didn't understand that my tears were happy tears and she was on the verge of crying herself because she often cries when others do.  She gets sad when they do, and it made me laugh a bit and I just gave her a big hug.

I still had over a week before Valentine's Day when I would tell David and was wondering if I would be able to keep it a secret until then.  Maybe David was paying attention to my cycle or something (seriously?!), but the day after I found out I was pregnant, he asked me over the phone if I knew if we were pregnant or not.  It caught me off guard, but I guess I convincingly responded with, "Still waiting.  We'll see in the next week or so." and he said later that I hid it well.

On Valentine's Day I put together a booklet of cards that had date night ideas for each month.  I was excited for the dates, but they were all things that I wanted to do and not so much what David wanted on most of them, so he wasn't as excited...I should have thought that through more :)  (We have been having date nights, but have almost always done different things than I brainstormed, but I will take it because we are still getting our dates in and we both like them!)  David flipped through each month and his tiredness from the long work hours...like 70 hour work weeks...and the dates that weren't quite up his ally didn't bring out the excited David that matched the giddy and excited me. Katelyn wanted to have the booklet for herself so she wasn't really helping either.  I made him look at each month because for the month of October (a good guess at the time) I broke the news to him.

Here's his response and reaction. 

Like I said...he was not thrilled by almost all the dates and probably was thinking that this was the worst gift ever and wondered why I saved if for last.  He thought this 14 days of gifts was pretty good until he got a homemade booklet of dates that I wanted to take him out on...until he got to the cute picture of Katelyn saying she was going to be a big sister.  Then he perked up a little!  He really is excited, we promise!

But seriously....Amazing Race date...he loved it.  Roller skating is always fun, David loves Chinese anything because he loves their food and ping pong,  recreating our first date sounds cheesy, but it was really a game night and ice cream cones...what's so bad about that?  Tennis and a picnic, bowling, or frisbee golf  at home would be fun but he was just tired I think :) And Katelyn was mad she couldn't have the booklet at the time and then when David was done looking through it, she didn't want it then.

She doesn't really understand what's going on with my belly and doesn't seem to know or care about the baby in there.  She can't see him and it just looks like I am getting a big belly.  She does LOVE and adore anyone her age or younger and will probably be more of a helper than I am ready for.  With her cousins Jake (11 months) and Mikilah (4 months) she loved to hold them and feed them if she could.  She got sick  while they were here so we had to keep her away from Mikilah and she had a tough time with that. I am going to have to be patient and let her help in her own special way as I see that we will have a constant battle between who is going to be this little guy's mom. She has been trying to nurse her stuffed animals and baby dolls lately.  Between watching Maggie, my parent's golden retriever, nurse her puppies and paying way too close of attention to the moms in the mother's lounge at church who come in to feed their babies while I fail to rock her to sleep during church she knows that something in her shirt feeds those toys and likes to pretend to be big like the other moms.

We are in for a good time...right?!

The Big 30

 I flew home two weeks ago and when I got off the plane at midnight my dad and sister were a little surprised to see me.  I guess I looked a little different than they were expecting!  I guess I am good at keeping secrets!

We are thrilled to have a little boy joining us so soon!  I am nearly 30 weeks along and due in the middle of October.  My parents and most of my family and friends have had no idea this whole time :)  My brother got engaged in January and we found out in February and when David and I talked about how we would announce it to the family, it seemed so far away to keep a secret for that long, but we made it!  It was tough and it slipped out a couple times, but I kept it pretty quiet.  So if you have noticed me looking a little chunkier or you have been wondering why my belly has been hiding from the blog for so long, now you know! 

The pregnancy has been as good as it gets and I have no complaints, luckily!  I feel so blessed for having smooth sailing pregnancies so far and we are definitely thrilled!  Now if we could just agree on what we are going to call this little guy....

Green Meadows Petting Farm

I was going through pictures and found some of a fun adventure Katelyn and I went on with friends...back in April.  A group of us moms and kids went and visited a huge and fun petting farm.  There was tons of free open space for kids to roam and play and lots of friendly animals to interact with.  

We fed a lot of animals and Katelyn had a love-hate feeling about it.  She would get nervous to get close, but loved the tickle once the animals started licking and using their lips to get the food out of her hand.  Any aggressive animals, like the sheep and goats, she didn't like because she needed them to be calm for her to feel safe.  This big cow looking animal was the only animal I had never heard of or seen...called a brahman.  They were very calm and had a weird but pretty look to them.  Smooth fur, but weird lumps and bulges. 

Katelyn loved the bunnies and guinea pigs.  She was just barely tall enough to reach over and be able to pet them.  She would giggle and get really giddy when she would pet them or if they would run across their box.  She was always very gentle and never pet any of the animals too roughly thank goodness!  Some kids would be so aggressive and I could see years of their animal life being smothered out of the poor things.  Katelyn was very kind to her animal friends :)

 This turkey cage was interesting.  She saw the turkey keeper lady holding one for people to pet so she kept holding her arms out to go pick one up, but then the male turkeys would strut their stuff and try to look macho and they didn't look so hug-able anymore.  Katelyn really wanted to get close, but kept realizing how big those guys were and that they were nearly her size and ended up leaving them.  This was about a ten minute back and forth process though, but she just didn't have the courage to take on those "men". 

 The baby chicks definitely looked hug-able!  I was holding one and had it cupped in my hand and Katelyn couldn't stop her happy feet to get a good soft hold on one.  She really wanted to hold one, but they were so squirmy that I didn't want her to squish it trying to keep it in her hands or drop it which would hurt it or leave it running around on the ground which was prime for being stomped on by the other excited kids. 

 If Katelyn wasn't on the lookout for more animals, then she was busy with the babies.  There are two little baby girls that came with us and they are so smiley, which Katelyn loves!  She likes to tickle them, peek at them as they sleep covered in their car seats, put their pacifiers back in their mouths (and if they babies don't want it back in their mouth, Katelyn assumes they are playing a game with her and will keep putting it back in every time they spit it out), and Katelyn absolutely loves every chance she gets to hold these little babies. She feels "I so bid" (big) and so helpful holding those babies and even if they start fussing, she doesn't want to give them up.  

There were some baby cows that Katelyn loved and then there was a cow that we all took a turn milking.  You have to be pretty aggressive to get that milk out!  We all laughed at how it too closely resembled all of us in our current or close enough nursing days and we felt a little embarrassed for the cow.   We are all glad we aren't that cow.

This metal "baaa"(some animals are still identified by the sound they make instead of what they are called) was a little nerve wracking for her, but I was a mean mom and wanted a picture of her on it so I put her up there and got a good shot of her reaction.  It is kind of a "C'mon Mom!  Seriously?!"

 It was a fun group of kids roaming around enjoying the animals!

 We finished it all off with a horse-pulled hay ride singing Old McDonald and B-I-N-G-O  around the farm.

Katelyn loved to dance and run in the open fields.  She had just "mastered" her new twirling move with her ballerina arms.  There was some music going near the main enterance that was just asking to be danced to.


Such a fun day that wiped all the kids out for the drive home.  A great place that we will probably visit more than the regular zoo.

Star Spangled Sailabration

The east coast states have so much history to them that I don't think we could possibly visit all the sites and museums just in the nearby states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, and even here in Baltimore.  Were able to visit one of them many places this last weekend.  The War of 1812 is having its 200th anniversary and Baltimore played a part in that war.  The city is putting on a "sail" celebration this month and we went downtown for a day of it.

We parked downtown in the inner harbor and there were some sail boats that came from around the world docked there.  They look very majestic and David had a good view of a couple of them from his office when he went in on a Friday.  (His office is right on the harbor, but 90% of the days he goes to work, he goes to the client and he rarely goes into the inner harbor office.)  We walked around the harbor and caught a bus that took us out to Fort McHenry on the other side of the harbor.

Fort McHenry is the birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner and all day they had reenactments, an air show, fireworks, and a program of singing and skits.  We spent the day with friends from church and made some new friends too.

We got there that morning at 10 and found our group of ward friends.  We sat around watching the kids run circles around us and ate.  We watched some reenactments from the war and Katelyn slept through the whole thing even though they were pretty loud with all of their "shooting".  We thought it would be really loud so we got ear plugs, but she wouldn't let me put them on her to help with the sound so they just sat in her ear all day.

Everyone on the peninsula fort area joined together and sang The Star Spangled Banner as they raised the flag from the time of the war with 15 stars and stripes.  It was neat to be singing that song at the same place that it originated.

She's so patriotic :)

 She nearly died laughing playing with the blanket as a parachute toy.  She would squeal with excitement and run in and out of it just thrilled with how much fun it was.  I was more than willing to do this for 30 minutes rather than the tiring swinging, throwing, spinning, chasing and similar games that take a lot out of us but get the same reaction.

We watched an air show that showed off a bunch of important air crafts and they showed off the tricks they had.  They also showed us some of the boats that were used in combat and their agility.  They were all okay and neat, but then the Blue Angels part of the air show started and those pilots have some intense skill.  Besides the loud sneak-up-from-behind trick, we were fascinated and oohing and aaahing.  They are so synchronized and they fly so close together sometimes.  I heard that sometimes they get within 18 inches of each other!  It looks like they are close, so if that is true then that is crazy!  It was a fun air show and it made me remember the air shows that Dad and Papa took us kids to when we were little.  

Katelyn was fascinated by the planes and most of the videos I got of the neat Blue Angels either have the glaring sun shining or I am zooming in or out too early or too late to catch the tricks as they flew by or I was filming and not paying attention to the planes through the camera.  Just a few technical difficulties!  Don't hire me to video anything anytime soon!

The second half of the air show Katelyn and her buddy Landon "Nanon" just giggled and chased each other around being cute as can be.




 Most of the group left for dinner and only us and the Weatherbee's stayed for dinner and the fireworks.  We loved chatting with them and getting to know them.  The remind me a lot of my parents in what they do and how they act ...except that they make their own honey...well they have their own bees that make the honey and they scoop it off.  They gave us some to try out, but said we have to finish the honey we have at home before we start the bottle they gave us because we will want to throw the store bought stuff out once we try the fresh honey bee honey!  Katelyn loved them too and was not shy around them like she is around most new people.  She would play hiding games with them and ask for snack or treats they were eating and just be silly.  She especially loved their mini Oreos and those are probably what scared the shyness away :)

 In these pictures she was being funny as she asked him to hold her apple, and then as he offered to give it back, she refused to grab it with her hands and put her hands behind her back.  She then saw that as an opportunity to be fed like a queen and would nibble off the apple as he held it out for her.

His wife was taking notes on Katelyn's technique and wanted to try her tricks out at home to get served like a queen!

It was such a nice day and parts of us got burnt from too much sun even though we had sunscreen on.  Katelyn just tanned and got a nice farmer's tan.  She still has envious skin that is so soft and a beautiful brown too.

All-in-all a beautiful day enjoying a bit of history and an air show topped off with fireworks!  And the fireworks may have been just as good as the ones at Rockaway Beach!  They were just missing my family and all the fun that goes into our sand couch and sandy s'mores!  Can't wait for the rest of this summer when we will all be reunited!!!