Today we went to Longwood Gardens to see the beautiful spring flowers. I’ve lived in PA for 10+ years and have never been. Jenn’s lived in PA all her life and has only been once. We’re such bad state citizens!
Anyway, we got there and saw a sign that it was Kite Day. Well, we didn’t really see a sign, Madeline saw a bunch of kites and went running to the kids saying “I want to share a kite.” Thankfully, they had simple kites for sale for $8, so we got Madeline a butterfly kite and the fun began.
Honestly, I had no idea she even knew what a kite is. We try to keep her sheltered from all things “fun”, you see. Must’ve been that pesky daycare! Or maybe the GRANDPARENTS!
Regardless, we are now proud kite owners and Madeline had an absolute blast flying the kite. It was a great day for it, with a wind chill of -40! She was a real pro, too. I thought she would let go of it within the first 5 minutes, but she hung on for dear life as the 50mph winds dragged her across the field.
She then handed the controls over to me so she could teach the butterfly how to fly (yes, really). I think she has a future in coaching.
“GREAT JOB, BUTTERFLY.”
“YOU’RE REALLY DOING IT! YOU’RE FLYING!”
“I’M GOING TO CHASE YOU”
This went on for an hour or so.
Finally, Mommy had the brilliant idea of telling Madeline that it was other kids’ turns and we had to leave and we’d come back later so we could actually, y’know, go look at some flowers. (See the part above where I mention keeping her sheltered from “fun” things).
We then moved on to the other parts of the gardens, which were pretty awesome, even if it was a bit colder than expected. When we got inside the conservatory, Madeline had a great time in the kids garden playing with all the water. She also got a big kick out of smelling all the different kinds of flowers, and there were some real good ones there too.
So here’s what we learned from this trip. KITES = AWESOME!!!!
Just wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We’ve got a few photos posted from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, with more to come later hopefully. Santa was very good to all of us, but Madeline especially (of course!) She got the Princess Jasmine doll that she’s been talking about for months, along with a new kitchen and about a million other things that are currently strewn about the house. She’s actually playing quietly behind me as I write this. We hope Santa was good to you too!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Some video and photos from our latest snow adventures! Hope you are all keeping warm.
Snow Angel from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.
It’s hard to believe, but there are only 25 more shopping days left until Christmas and the holidays are in full swing. Wednesday night, we actually managed to get Madeline to sit with Santa without too much fussing (OK, OK, we bribed her with a stuffed penguin). And today we headed out to Linvilla Orchards to chop our tree.
Madeline really enjoyed the hayride, but was not too enamored with the tree selection process. Once we had chosen our tree, we headed back, roasted a few marshmallows and had some warm apple cider. Nevermind the fact that it was sixty degrees out; warm apple cider is good in any weather! After that, we visited with the animals and Madeline got to pet and feed the horses, which was quite a thrill.
We then proceeded to bring the tree home, where Daddy realized that he either underestimated the size of the tree or overestimated the size of our house. One broken tree stand later, we are the proud owners of a rather large Christmas tree. Well, at least there’s plenty of room under there for an iPhone (and plenty of princess stuff, of course)!
Yesterday we had Madeline’s 3rd birthday party (a little early) at Bette’s Fun Center. Madeline had a ton of fun going on the moon bounces with all her friends and eating birthday cake. After the moon bounce extravaganza was over, we came back to the house with Nonni, Pop-pop, Popper and Grandmom to play some Beatles Rock Band.
Enjoy the pictures below and thank you to everyone for coming!
You can view all the photos on Flickr.
This year Madeline was Snow White and got a pretty sizable haul before the rains came. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
A couple days late, but here is our vacation update! Last week, we took Madeline down to Fenwick Island/Ocean City. Once again, it was an amazing week. We had great weather, and while the surf was a little rough and Madeline was a little scared of the ocean, we made the best of it! It only took her a day or so to warm up to putting her toes in the water and watching the “crazy clams” dig with their tongues (feet?) back into the sand.
Later in the week, Nonni and Pop-pop came down to take Madeline on the rides on the Boardwalk. We had a ton of fun taking turns going on rides with her. We ate ice cream almost every night, before which Madeline claimed “I’m gonna have a mustache!”
Below is the video and you can see the pictures here.
Enjoy!
Fenwick Island 2009 from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.
On our first day of vacation, we went to Camden(!) for the Caribbean Carnival with our friends Colin, Leslie, Maggie and Nate. It was a beautiful day and Madeline had a great time, as you can see in the video below.
Caribbean Carnival from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.
Today we all played hooky and took a trip to Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium.
We started the day as we start most of our trips south of the Mason-Dixon, at Waffle House so Daddy could get his hash browns…scattered, smothered, covered and peppered. Delicious AND nutritious!
It was then another hour or so until we arrived at the aquarium. The weather was a little overcast but overall nice. Madeline was incredibly excited to see the fishies! The dolphin show was awesome; Madeline was saying “WHOAH” and cheering every time the dolphins jumped. We also got a chance to see the new jellyfish exhibit.
After that, we wandered down to check out the shark tank. Madeline makes the greatest shark face, showing all her teeth, and the sharks obliged by showing us theirs!
We then attended the “4-D” Planet Earth movie, which was great until the snake “bit” me in the back and just about gave me a heart attack. If you haven’t yet had a 4-D experience, we all highly recommend it. Madeline had a blast!
After the aquarium, we spent a couple hours walking around the Inner Harbor. We even took out a dragon boat! [Daddy Rant: I would love to know when Philadelphia is going to actually DO something with Penn's Landing instead of just talking about it for as long as I've been alive. Walking around today was awesome...so many great restaurants and museums and things to do. I love Philly but when it comes to the waterfront experience, Baltimore has it beat hands down. End Daddy Rant]
Despite being overcast earlier, the weather really turned out nicely. By about 4pm, it was absolutely beautiful and we had a great time just walking around and exploring. Of course, as we were looking for dinner, we discovered the Port Discovery Children’s Museum, which closed at 5pm…oh well, next time.
We headed to the Power Plant Live area for some dinner at Mex. After that, it was time to get in the car and head home.
Madeline slept the whole way home, dreaming of fishies and sharks and turtles the whole way, I’m sure!
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