Sleepy time!

We partied up a storm on Saturday with our pals who live around the block. The kids had an absolute blast and did not want to go home. There were tons of kids their age to play with and everyone got along so well. The favorite part of the day for the kids was the time spent in the hot tub. The pool was freezing so Emma kept saying, "I don't wanna go in the pool. I'll stay in the bath tub." Benny kept calling it the "hot pooh" as he hasn't quite perfected the "L" sound at the end of a word.

We woke up Sunday to another beautiful day and decided to take advantage of the sunshine with a ride out east on the island. We had no particular destination in mind, just started driving and figured we would pull over when something caught our eyes. The first thing was Harbes farm stand near Jamesport. They have nice sized grounds for the kids to run around and that they did! From there we drove by our favorite apple picking farm. We were not expecting them to be open for another few weeks and were delighted when we saw cars parked along the orchard. We parked, hopped out, grabbed a bag and set off through the trees. What a difference a year makes - last year we had to drag Ben in the wagon and I have a pic of him drinking from a bottle. This year the little man was all run run run and had a blast trying to pull the apples off the trees. Emma was much more conscientious in her picking of the good apples and we made it off the "corechard" (as she kept calling it!!!) with a bag of nice looking apples (as opposed to the Charlie Brown looking ones she picked last year!).

 

We immediately came home and Daddy cooked up one of the yummiest apple pies yet. So yummy it is already gone and it has only been 24 hours (and the kids didn't want any). Yes, I ATE 1/2 of a PIE in 24 hours. FINE, I lied, I ate 1/4 last night and the other 1/4 at about noon - BEFORE I ATE LUNCH.

Needless to say, when Daddy got home from the office this afternoon and suggested we go for a hike, I was happy to oblige. I had Saturday's BBQ and that dang pie to work off so we packed up the kiddos and hit up Avalon. We decided to try a trail we have never hiked and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ben is proving to be an excellent hiker, and attempting to keep up with his speed was a good calorie burner for me!

 

As always, Emma "dressed" for the occasion. And, our favorite quote from the hike came from her about a third of the way into the walk, "Gee, this new trail sure is hikey." 

Daddy and I are ready for bed. It's not just the sugar rush, or the constant out and aboutness of our social calendar. It's our kids. They are not sleeping at night. They go to bed pretty easy by 7:30pm, but the past week, both of them have been waking up in the middle of the night wanting to PLAY. It's like they have insomnia but don't know to be annoyed by it. Last night they were up from about 2:00am to 4:30am and no amount of shushing, or threat of discipline would get them to lay quietly. They went the entire day without TV today because of their antics and Ben lost the use of his trains for the day. If they don't sleep through the night tonight I may have to separate them again (I finally made Emma lay on the couch so she couldn't egg Ben on while he was jumping around the crib).

Emma starts preK tomorrow. I wonder what she'll want to wear...