Down on the Farm

Today we went to one of our favorite places to visit in the fall...  Clark's Elioak Farm.  Jocelyn and I have been there every year since she was born, and every year, she has a great time! 

Fall 2008

Fall 2009

Fall 2010

Today we went on a hayride and found the perfect pumpkin.

Jocelyn fed the goats...

And rode on the Cow Train.

Once again, Clark's Elioak Farm doesn't disappoint!  I'm sure we'll go back "another one time" as Jocelyn says.  We can't stay away from so much outdoor fun!

Flight 93 Memorial

Our Pennsylvania trip was a lot of fun.  We enjoyed the reunion and the chance to visit family, but we added a stop on the way home that makes me appreciate all the more, the things that matter in life.

I have really wanted to visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  I have been to the Pentagon Memorial which is beautifully done, and eventually I would like to go to New York.  But I want to wait until the museum is finished there.

But there is just something about Shanksville. 

On our way home from our family visit in PA, we travelled a beautiful route through mountains and valleys and small towns, that eventually brought us to the Flight 93 Memorial. It is REALLY out in the middle of nowhere.... nothing but open land.
Sometimes when the anniversary of 9/11 comes around, or I read something about that horrific day, I feel like the heroes of Flight 93 don't get nearly the recognition they deserve.  Yes, I know nearly 3000 people died that day.   New York was by far the place of greatest loss of life and buildings, and the Pentagon is a symbol of what the U.S. stands for, but the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 were the only people that day, that knew what was happening in the moment, and knew the risks, and still made a choice to take control of their destiny to potentially protect others.   Ultimately, it is thought that they prevented the hijackers from flying that plane into the Capitol Building.  I can't imagine the devastation that would have been brought to our country and our government if their mission had been a success.  

The memorial is a work in progress, but there is a beautiful white marble wall, along the direction of the flight path, that shows the engraved names of each hero. 

And through the wooden gate is a view of the stone that marks the final resting place of those heroes.

I'm not sure how to describe the feeling I had being there....   pride, sadness, awe, emptiness....  I don't know.... but I felt their presence.   The presence of people I will never know, but yet we all know these people, in our own husbands, wives, children, friends....
I hope we will never forget these heroes, the sacrifices they made that day, and the loss felt by their families.

But in part, because of their heroism, I have a greater appreciation for what I have...

Family Fun

Part 2 of our PA trip...

An advantage of the location of Pat's college reunion, was the college is only a half hour from his family, so we had a long overdue chance to visit with them.

Jocelyn "played" football with cousin Jake and then they watched a little TV together.

She got to brush cousin Megan's horse Pip, and then she got to RIDE him!

She makes a mighty cute "Jockey" doesn't she??

Jocelyn tested out the theory of gravity...

But the best part, of course, is loving on Grandma!

We had a great visit with Pat's family.  We enjoyed catching up with them and Jocelyn loved having so much free room to run around.  We hope we can get back to see them again in the Spring.  
On the way home we stopped to see the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA.  I will save that for the 3rd and last entry about our trip.  It deserves a posting of it's own for sure.

Can you ever really go back?

Last weekend Jocelyn, Pat and I made a trip to PA to visit family and go to Pat's 20 year college reunion.   We had so much fun, I will need to cover the trip in more than one blog, so stayed tuned.  This is part one!
I think Pat was a little apprehensive about going back.... way back.  I can't blame him.  I went to my 10 year high school reunion a "few" years ago, and I can assure you it was my first reunion...   and my last.  Yick!
Anyway, I had always wanted to see Pat's old college, so this was a great opportunity, and boy was I impressed.  He said it's a small college campus, but if it is, then I would hate to see big! 

The reunion was also the college's homecoming, so there was a parade....

And lots of kids activities.

And some fun stuff too!

We took pictures in front of "The Rock" and Pat's freshman dorm.

But I think Pat was most excited about seeing his name on this plaque as the top engineering student of 1991, and his wife was pretty proud of him too.

Next up.... Family fun!!

Blast from the past

Our niece is having a baby and we will soon give her a bunch of baby stuff that Jocelyn has outgrown.  Her timing, makes her very lucky, I must say. 
Today I was gathering some of the stuff together and had a little more "help" than I needed with the project....   as usual.

But it sure brought back memories of these days...

Jocelyn 5 weeks old leaving the hospital

Learning to use a cup at 6 months old

When did my baby get to be so big???

Still Clearing Out The Sand

Last weekend Jocelyn, Auntie and I went out to Ocean City to visit Grammy in her condo.  She is renting there for the month, so we took advantage of the free housing to spend some time at the beach.  Jocelyn had a blast!  The weather was actually really nice, and the water temp was just right, so we spent a lot of time on the beach playing in the water and digging in the sand.

Until she tired herself to this...

We played Mini Golf at a really fun indoor golf center. 

Jocelyn cheats...  A LOT!

And we rode on the Sea Rocket.   It was just a little windy...

But the thing Jocelyn talked about the most was the pigeon making a nest in the mouth of the shark at Ripley's Believe It or Not.   She talked about it for days after we got home.

We certainly had a fun trip to the beach.  I will say that I am not a big fan of sand.  I swear I'm still trying to clean it out of my life, but Jocelyn didn't seem to mind, as these pictures show, she is certainly a beach baby!

And then of course...  the old time photo!

Working from home

Pat has the ability to work from home, and he usually takes advantage of it at least once a week.  Today is that day, and today, Jocelyn decided to "work from home" with him!

Computer Geek Jr.

So it was only a matter of time before this...

March 2009

Turned into this....

September 2011

Jocelyn has always loved "playing" with us on the computer.  Often this involved telling Daddy what to do with his computer game characters, or pushing buttons on the keyboard that would frequently "help" his character get killed.  Or we would "play" on the Sesame Street website, which involved a lot of pointing and telling us what to do on the screen.  But recently, she is starting to get the hang of using the mouse.   We found a fun toddler game website called "Fungooms" that has easy games that help her get used to using the mouse.   I'm a little worried that we have finally created a...

July 2008

I wonder how long I have before her computer skills overrun mine???

Se-ame Srweet Place

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to the wonderful world of

Sesame Place.

Hey!  There's Daddy!

The first thing we did when we got there was eat some lunch.  (Note to self for next year - a leisurely departure will assure traffic delays.  Get out by 7:00am!)        Once we had our nourishment, we headed for the carousel.  Jocelyn scoped that out from her lunch table!

Then we headed over to the water park area.  The weather was perfect, but the water in all of the water park attractions was FREEZING, compliments of the recent downpours from Hurricane Irene.  Doesn't matter, we were game!  Jocelyn wanted to try it all, but the lines were huge for everything.  We did go down Slimey's Shutes (water slide) and meandered along Big Birds Rambling River though.   Sorry for the lack of pics, my camera is not water proof you know!

Much to our surprise and pleasure, we found out there was a parade at 4:00pm.  I only thought they came through at 7:00pm.  We got to see all the characters!

Including these two characters!

After the parade, we caught a show - Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt!

Then it was off to the balloon ride and one last trip on the carousel. 

Despite Jocelyn's best efforts to close the park, we swung through Hoopers store to bring home our very own Telly Monster, and then headed home.  Jocelyn was asleep within 45 minutes of our ride home, and when we got home, she only cared to grab Telly Monster and her lovies and snuggle into bed.  

We will of course make another venture to Sesame Place next year and Jocelyn looks forward to being bigger so she can ride some other rides, but in the meantime, here is a trip down memory lane from last years visit.  Sesame Place 2010