The Wilson 6 Chronicles

Wow- I just realized that it's been over 2 months since I blogged. I find myself just throwing the pictures on Facebook and just forgetting about them. But with the new year rapidly approaching (maybe too rapidly), I find myself resolving to be better about blogging in 2010. In that vein, I thought I would do a series of posts to catch up with the Wilson crew since I last blogged.

Alden's girlfriend and Eleanor's best friend, Sophie, on the hay rideRunning for pumpkins
I had so much fun as a chaperone- the kids were pretty well behaved and it was fun to watch Alden interact with his friends. It also made me realize that under no circumstances do I ever want to be a 4K teacher.

Okay so maybe it has been over a month since I last blogged. In my defense, I have been a little busy- Zachary broke his leg (thus taking away my main assistant while Justin is gone), Justin has been gone a lot, we've been going to football games, Eleanor has been going to dance classes, and all of that one top of the everyday stuff that we have to do. We've done a few things here and there but have been pretty hampered due to Zachary and his crutches but this past weekend, we went to Festifall at Walnut Grove Plantation so I could get my history geek on and let the kids run around like a bunch of heathens. I love any kind of historical celebration or reenactment- I just think that they are pretty cool. And secretly, I think that it would be very cool to do it too. But as you can see, I've got enough on my plate now- I can't even keep up with a blog much less a historically accurate lifestyle. Anyway, the kids and I had a blast at Festifall with my friend Amanda and her crew of kids. The kids all mesh well together, the weather was pleasant, and no one had an absolute meltdown when they fired the cannons. I ended up getting stung by a bee (for the first time ever!) about an inch below my left eye so the day ended on a painful note but otherwise, it was a pretty great day.

Today was Alden's first day of 4 year old kindergarten and he was super excited. He has asked daily for months if it was the day for him to go to school with Zachary. And it's a day that I have dreaded from the day he was born. I know that I am extremely lucky in that I get to spend every day with my kids and yes, there are days that they drive me insane but this is a day of bittersweet tears for me. Up until this point, I have been the main person in Alden's life- I get him up in the morning and I take him outside and I do his bidding along with whatever has to be done during the day and from this day forward, he's going to have someone else who is going to influence his outlook on things. Yes, I know that we don't live in a vacuum so he has other people in his life but I fancy myself as his main woman. lol And now, it's the point of no return- every school day from here on out, he is going to head into a school and away from me. Plus, I felt guilty for breaking up the Alden/Eleanor partnership. Alden has really only remembered a life with Eleanor as his constant playmate and I worried how each of them would react. Alden was fine at drop-off but Eleanor cried and didn't want to leave Aldi. But I know that underneath all of my irrational emotions, he is entering a bright new phase of life where a new world is opening up for him. He'll learn this letters and numbers- he'll learn about reading and math- about relationships with other kids. And he'll learn about a whole world outside of his home and while that is a good thing, I can't help but wish it didn't have to happen just yet.

We had Harper's 1st birthday party on Saturday and had a wonderful time. Our little house was full of friends and family and laughter which is just the way it should be to celebrate such a fun occasion. I baked chocolate chip cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing (thanks to the Martha Stewart cupcake book for the recipes) and they were yummy yummy yummy. I've got buttercream left over in the fridge and I have to fight the temptation to just dig into it with a spoon which is saying something because I am not really an icing fan. Harper enjoyed her cupcake and really didn't make that big of a mess- she is usually a fairly non-messy eater anyway. And she is not one to waste a bite of food so she keeps the crumbs to a minimum. :) This was before she started eating- right after we sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candle.And this was after- notice the shiny face- apparently buttercream is an excellent moisturizer.

Then is was time to open presents. Harper was spoiled with lots of fun toys and clothing from everyone. She loved everything and had played with all of the toys since Saturday. It has been fun to watch her because it is as though she knows exactly which toys are hers as opposed to what are Eleanor's. If you notice Alden in the background, he is wearing what he has started calling his "birthday shirt." We bought it for him to wear for his birthday party (partly because it matched the Diego colors) and he insisted on wearing it on Harper's birthday on Tuesday and then again on Saturday for the party. As soon as he took it off on Tuesday, he brought it to me and asked me to wash it for the party. I have such wonderfully weird kids. I love it.

On this day, one year ago, the sweetest, most perfect little baby made an appearance to complete our family. Harper Eliza was an unexpected part of our lives from beginning but has fitted in so wonderfully from the moment she was born. I spent the majority of my pregnancy worried that we might have a repeat performance of Hurricane Eleanor but Harper is such a sweet little piece of happiness. She is squishy and smiley. She loves to eat- she gets great pleasure from eating. Anything. Seriously, there's nothing that she hasn't liked so far. She has an independent streak but still loves her mommy more than anything. She likes to tag along after the bigger kids and always has a giggle ready for her special buddy, Zachary. So far, she and Eleanor get along great but we'll see how that changes when she is big enough to get into Eleanor's stuff. Alden loves to talk to her in his special baby voice. She was worth all of the weeks of uncertainty, the months of morning (all day) sickness, the hardest and longest labor that I ever endured. She was worth every single second of it- she completes our family in a way we never thought was lacking. And she's my sweetest little chunky of love. I love you and hope you have a Happy First Birthday, Harper. Love at first sightSisters (Harper is 2 months old)New Year's Eve with DaddyHarper's first snowSisterly love

Word of warning before you start reading- this post is pic heavy so if you have a slow connection (do people even have dial-up anymore?), go grab a beer because you might be here awhile. Anyway, we continued our adventure week by heading up to Tweetsie Railroad on Thursday. I've never been up there and the kids love trains so we thought it would be fun. Plus, it was close (yay for short car rides) and fairly inexpensive. We were all just glad to get to go on a vacation. It has been 2 years since we went on a vacation. We went to the beach shortly after Eleanor was born but the next summer we moved to Florida so that summer was odd (and one could argue that living in FL is kind of live being on vacation) and then last summer, I was pregnant. Not that being pregnant makes you unable to travel but it makes it tiring. But I digress. So we woke up at the crack of dawn on Thursday and headed up to Blowing Rock. After a driving altercation that ended with me rolling down the window to flip off an obnoxious driver who tried to cause a wreck, we made it up there in pretty good time. And off we went for a few hours of Old West fun. First we went on a train ride. That was pretty cool. Until we got to the part where the "savage" Indians attacked the train and I realized that, bless my bleeding liberal heart, this was kind of uncomfortable for me. I mean, the Native Americans were way mistreated by the white people so I knew that Zachary and I would have to have a talk in a few days.







(Justin again shows why he is the undisputed master of the self-portrait.)



After the train ride, we stopped off to let the kids look a the "jail" before heading up to the next part of the park. Eleanor immediately started freaking out and wailing, "I don't want to go to jail. I don't want to go to jail." So I grabbed her and we walked over the horses so she could ride for a second.

We stopped off to give the boys a chance to look inside of a tee pee. Again, I knew that a talk about Native American culture might be in our future.
I think the boys would really like to have a tee pee.

So we headed up tot he next part of the park where they had a few rides. Including a Ferris wheel. Let's all keep in mind that Justin is not a fan of heights so I was a little incredulous when he asked the Middles if they want to ride with him. So off they went. Justin recorded a video of them going around- let's just say that watching it makes my tummy hurt...from laughing so hard. I might try to upload it later but it will probably take forever because it is long. But oh so funny. Let's just say that he was trying not to totally freak the hell out and Eleanor kept trying to lean over the rail to look down. Zachary had to ride alone since I didn't want to take Harper on it but he seemed to enjoy it.

The boys and I headed over to ride the cars. Zachary and Alden rode the lead car and Eleanor and I followed behind them. I let Eleanor steer the car and we spent most of the short trip in the wall. We headed back over towards the Ferris wheel because the guy was starting up the planes and helicopters ride and, on the way, Eleanor managed to walked straight into a pole. A metal pole. The one that they had chain hanging from to herd people into an organized line. Yep, walked straight into it. I only mention this in case you notice a big red lump on the side of her head later. She walked into a pole.

Then we headed up to the very top of the park to feed the animals. Zachary and I took the chairlift (omg- I love chairlifts) and Justin walked the rest of the kid up the hill on a gravel trail. There was a bus he could ride but he wanted the exercise, I suppose. UP there, the kids rode in boats and we fed some deer and goats. Basically the same animals that the girls saw at the zoo a few weeks ago, just a few more of them.

And that was it. We took the bus back down the hill. Stopped in a few of the shops and bought the kids some fun stuff that will drive me crazy for at least a month including a really cool carved bow and arrow set for Zachary. We took one last look at the train and headed off to our hotel. Next up, Grandfather Mountain.

With Justin being home all last week after a month in Canada, we took the opportunity to get the heck out of Boiling Springs for some summer time fun. So, on Tuesday, we headed up to Carowinds. I have to admit- I was really excited about this because I love love love rides. I will ride anything with a seatbelt and/or restraint bar and the higher and faster it goes, the better for me. Plus, I have tons of wonderful memories tied up in the annual visits that we made to Carowinds as a child. Seriously, I could draw you a map of the layout of the park in 1989. I remember riding the Scooby Doo roller coaster with my daddy and always having my picture taken in the Fred Flintstone car that has a Fred sitting there with his arm out. You could probably measure my growth by looking at those pictures from every year. I remember rides that are long gone from the park (White Lightning and the Flintstone cars) and always riding the same white horse on the carousel. I was majorly looking forward to seeing my kids get to enjoy some of the same rides (although many of them have different names now) and hoping to get some riding in for myself. We almost decided not to go because, as of Monday night, the weather prediction was a 60% chance of rain and who wants to be at Carowinds in the rain with 4 kids? But we decided to play odds and it really paid off for us- the day was slightly overcast and cooler and there were no lines for most of the rides. The kids were able to ride things multiple times because there were never any kids waiting to ride them afterwards. Yay. And the behavior of the kids was at a level that I have never seen before. They were so good. Eleanor was in her element because we let her walk and choose the ride which meant lots of independence. And being independent is the color of Eleanor's happy place. Alden was his normal happy self and Zachary was able to ride all of the big rides including some coasters that I didn't think he would ride. Eleanor had a near meltdown when Diego tried to talk to her and now she can relate an entire narrative that (didn't) occur between the two of them. Along the times of him trying to hug her and her setting boundaries, then calling him stupid. Alden has a similar get-away-from-me reaction with SpongeBob. I don't ever recall being afraid of the characters that walked around the park. If I remember correctly, there is a picture of me with Jabberjaw floating around somewhere and I was pretty young. I am guessing that I was older than the Middle though. It really turned out to be a fun day full of rides, Icees, soft serve ice cream in a cone, and no meltdowns. Unfortunately, the camera was left in the van so all of the pictures come courtesy of my iPhone. Getting ready to ride the balloons with the boys. Quick confession- this was the first ride that I have ever ridden that made me feel sick. I had just ridden the Nighthawk (awesome- you are inverted and ride blind for the most part!) which didn't faze me but I think since I was riding this ride with my back to the direction we were spinning, it freaked out my system. I definitely had to do some cleansing breathes.
Harper's first carousel ride
Flying the planes. Again, in my day, these were black and white (and maybe red) and I recall fighting with Shannon on making the plane go up and down.
Wiped out from all of the excitement (and humidity)

Later in the week, we spent some time in the mountains so those pics will come later this week. All in all, we had a fun, family time week with Justin being home. And speaking of Justin, a quick Happy Father's Day to wonderful dad. We all love you very much!