Category Archives: Family

11/1/14

All Hallows Eve 2014

Never get the hang of stopping for a picture in our costumes before the craziness that is trick or treating with small children. Here we are in the crowded bustle of Columbia City in Seattle during the Halloween business walk, or whatever it was called. It was too many people in a small space getting candy from… not their neighbors. We did that for about 45 min then made our way to dinner.

The first one here was sadly the only picture we got of all of us.

After we got home, our new street had lots of candy givers and takers about. Made me want to join. So we got our costumes back in order and headed out to meet some more neighbors and trick or treat door to door. Once that was accomplished, I felt as if Halloween had been adequately observed.

 

 

10/25/14

Cora Marie is Turning Three!

Well it’s been a minute since she turned three, but we need to properly commemorate the event here on the family blog. We had just moved in to our new home in South Seattle the weekend before, so we weren’t quite in our right minds. I had decided that what one does with a large yard is put really big bounce houses on them. So in July I had ordered a bounce house to have for 4 hours for the party. I then of course had to invite a ton of people (trying to keep the party about Cora, but of course getting a little ahead of myself).

You need this.

You need this.

I like a little hokey in my life. Here’s the in invite to the party:
Party Invite

Party Invite

We’re proud to announce 
Miss Cora Marie
Will gladly greet 
Her year number three!
We’ll party outside 
But enjoy some shade
And if you like to jump
You’ve got it made!
 
Hope you can make it! 
Sean, AJ, Cora and Harlan
10/16/14

Fall is here – Pumpkin Patch Time!

We really enjoy taking the kids to the pumpkin patch. Our very first trip was when Cora was a little nugget. I’ll have to find the pictures from that because it certainly is a foggy memory. But the last two years, we’ve gone with her preschool – Preschool Adventures and their sister preschool Learning Express. It always makes for great pictures and muddy fun.

Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm really knows how to do the pumpkin patch experience. He has it all, a hayride, pick your own pumpkin, the real deal Holyfield corn maze, a cow train tractor ride, a huge selection of pumpkins and gourds for decorating, cooking, and baking, and a large farmers market selection of fruit and veggies. Not to mention the decadent ciders, kettle corn, lemonades, and hot donuts.

Cora had a healthy helping of those (snuck a few past my watchful eye).

Big thank you to Henry (Max’s daddy) for taking and sharing these great pictures with us.

 

06/20/14

2 years going on 30

Not to say that Cora is acting like an old lady or anything (because 30 is nearly dead, right?), but we have had the pleasure of watching this firecracker grow and change in ways that seem well beyond her years. I don’t even know that I can count the things, but since I really like lists, here are a few of note:

  • No more diapers! In May, she asked us, “why do I have to wear a pull up at night?” We guess you don’t.
  • discipline and remorse – she’s learned that generally things have consequences, some manufactured (you won’t get this if you do that) and some natural, if you run without looking you will run into something… and it will HURT
  • “Mama says yes” meaning she got permission from me, so she should be allowed to do it.
  • There are others, countless, but I’m too sleep deprived to recount them all, just come visit and you will get to see them live!

 

05/22/14

Family Gatherings While on the Road

When we thought about our trip, it really was a tale of three trips. The first was a lot of sightseeing in large urban centers such as New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. This was in addition to the other sites we visited such as Cooperstown, Gettysburg, Shanksville (site of the United Flight 93 9/11 Memorial) and Niagara Falls. The second was visiting family. We were fortunate enough to be in an area where we had a lot of family. In Washington D.C. we visited Brie, sister, aunt, and sister-in-law and my oldest cousin, Don May, who works in a gorgeous office in the middle D.C.

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After the big push for seeing the sights, we went to West Virginia and visited my father’s family. My parents came up to West Virginia to visit while we were there. We had four generations of the Beard family under one roof. My aunt and uncle, Jill and Rick Turner, hosted us in Hurricane, West Virginia while we visited. It was great to have the family together. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother visited, and I am always happy to show off my children. No one had met Harlan yet, so it was great to make the introduction.

In addition, I decided to use the fishing rod I had been carrying since we left Seattle and managed to catch 12 fish in the creek behind the house. These weren’t big game fish (small mouth bass, sun fish, and another type of fish referred to as a creek chub), but it was fun to catch them with a dry fly.

CatchingFish

After West Virginia, we went to Frankfort, Ohio and visited my uncle and god-father Gary May. I enjoyed seeing his house without all of the ice and snow I was used to seeing. Typically, trips to Frankfort have been at Christmas, so I haven’t seen the full trees or even a thawed pond. It was great visit, but it was a shame that my cousin Susie was unable to join us.

The final stop in seeing family was to visit AJ’s uncle Chris and his wife Joanne in Cridersville, Ohio. On our way to Cridersville, Google maps got confused and directed us in a round-a-bout way around Dayton, and as a result allowed us to avoid a potentially dangerous situation with tornadoes.

Also, before we made it to Cridersville, we stopped in to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. We didn’t realize how many astronauts have come from Ohio, and the museum a was small but very fun stop. Cora managed to crash the space shuttle quite spectacularly multiple times.

In Cridersville, we visited with Chris and Joanne and had a great stop, in addition to some real good food. Ahhh, Texas style grilling and barbecue (and old school drank!). When we left Cridersville, we were excited and anxious to get to Chicago and get in the RV.

It was a real and rare treat to be able to see so much family with the kids.

 

05/12/14

On The Road With Little Kids

Many have questioned our sanity in trekking across the country for 6 weeks with two children under 3 years of age. And there have been a few days in our last 9 days in which I, too, have questioned our sanity. However, I would like to share some tricks we think we’ve figured out how to work it.

  1. Balls
  2. Books – audio books for the kids
  3. Plenty of snacks
  4. Big gas tank in the car
  5. Snacks
  6. playground mapper (Google, bing, anything that will show green spaces)
  7. more snacks
  8. Know your daily distance limits
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The kids play better together outside than in.

A hungry kid is an angry kid. Food keeps them and you happy. Playing in the car with a lightweight ball is actually more time consuming than you would think and not nearly as dangerous as trying to ignore screaming toddlers. Reading books seems to really work for Cora. The audio books from the Seattle Public Library were a nice addition to the collection for the trip, and when she would leave the headphones in, she would stay engaged for about 20 minutes. Having to stop for gas more frequently than you need to stop to exercise the kids is BAD. Tactical location of parks for meals is a great way to make sure you don’t live at McDonald’s or the mall to get some laps in for your kiddo during much needed breaks.

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Snuggle time before we hit the road.

It’s  wishful thinking that this list of ideas would always work, but I figured some of things were unique and might help others considering a long road trip  with little ones.  We have resigned ourselves that we can’t be on the road for more than 5 hours of driving. That is not total time on the road, that is the amount it takes to get to the destination  It will take at least 1.5 – 2 hours to do the playtime, feeding and potty breaks necessary to keep the sanity you were aiming for to begin with.

Making a picture frame to decorate the RV.

Making a picture frame to decorate the RV.

Harlan plays peek-a-boo in the Jeep.

Harlan plays peek-a-boo in the Jeep.

 

05/7/14

New Yooooooork City!

We like New York, it’s flashy, it’s unique, full of people and sights and sounds we don’t see often. It’s also a place we love to visit but could never live in. We learned a lot about our opinions this time around visiting with small children and a car. We chose to stay in Brooklyn to save some money since we would have a car and hoped for a bigger room to fit us all. We found a hotel through Hotels.com which sounded too good to be true, because it WAS. Bedford Stuyvesant was the neighborhood we ended up in, in a hotel that was much smaller than we hoped. The neighborhood wasn’t too bad once you got over the smell of urine and the bustle at rush hour(s), and it was really close to the A train to Manhattan. However, we didn’t know how many people would also be trying to get into and out of the city during rush “hour”. Which was not pleasant holding little bitty ones and their stuff. With your face stuffed with other people’s backs, bags and backsides, or being skipped by trains that were too full to fit anymore, the travel left a bad taste in our mouths. We’d gotten pretty minimal in our day pack for sightseeing but it still involved a stroller which isn’t that easy to get on and off the subway. We did get some entertainment on the train however. (An example since my video never wants to load).

But enough whining, here’s the other good stuff about our visit to NYC !

The 9/11 memorials:  Washington, DC, New York, NY and Shanksville, PA. The National 9/11 Memorial was a breathtaking site – the sheer size of the memorial as well as the sense of depth created by it. The water features gave you a sense of rushing and then immense calm at the deep pits in the middle. Because it was much busier, in the middle of the financial district, and the airport-like security, it had a very different feel than the Pentagon Memorial. I definitely recommend seeing it if you’re in New York. You really have no excuse- it’s free, it’s accessible and it’s a very significant marker of US History.

We also played the tourists for this trip to the Big Apple. I had never been to Liberty or Ellis Islands before so we hopped on the ferry to see each. Plus the “castle” where the tickets are sold, Castle Clinton, was nice to explore with Cora. The ferry trips were long (the wait to get on from Battery Park and from Liberty Island in particular) and the kids were kind of done, but I got my fix for the Lady Liberty. We skipped Ellis Island – waved to it without getting of the ferry – then headed back to Brooklyn.

I always like to talk about food when I travel. The first night we ate dinner at Shake Shack as recommended by our neighbors in Seattle. No offense, but What-a-burger might be the winner here. Although those custard milkshakes were a close second. Courtesy of Bed-Sty we were exposed to some Caribbean food from Jamaica Grill in the neighborhood and we enjoyed some oxtails, jerk chicken, beef patties and plantains. Made me miss Reggae Hut in Houston. Good meal! Two nights in one city really only means one day of activities for that stop, so a few meals and the ferry was about all we had time for. But they were worth it and we will definitely be back when the kids are older to explore more.

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Statue of Librety – you could pay to have that on a penny.

Bedford-Stuyvesant Proud

Bedford-Stuyvesant Proud

 

 

 

05/5/14

First Stop: Our Nation’s Capital

We elected to spend 4 nights at our first stop in order to give ourselves a chance to adjust to the east coast time zone, see the sights and visit family. While we know the kids won’t remember this trip outside of the pictures, Sean in particular has a passion for our nation’s history and there is plenty of it in Washington D.C. The story will mostly be told in pictures but some highlights not pictured from our activities include:

  • National Archives to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (no pictures allowed)
  • Walking around the national mall (carrying, pushing, chasing, dragging Cora)
  • Dining at a busy hipster restaurant – Busboys and Poets (owned by Andy Shallal featuring lots of vegetarian and vegan options)
  • Hanging with our family (my sister and Sean’s cousin)

We managed to pack in more activities than we thought we could with two little ones in tow. Some of that is definitely due to feeding the baby on the go and a steady supply of snacks for big sister. Maybe on my personal blog I’ll share some of the revelations and tribulations of traveling with small children as I have learned them.

Wireless access on the road being what it is, I will have to add pictures later, but more posts will be coming sooner.

Day 1:

We took our time getting up and had breakfast in thanks to the hospitality of my sister. We strolled to the National Mall to take a look around and see what it was like with Cora in the borrowed stroller (thanks Tara and Henry!). Harlan was in the ergo baby carrier (also a recent addition to our travel gear) and that had its ups and downs and well. Cora only scraped her knee once and stayed dry all day. We had lunch with Sean’s cousin at a Texas-themed Mexican restaurant called Austin’s (pretty close to Tex-Mex) and checked out the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. Unfortunately, we’d reached the end of Cora’s goodwill with our excursion and headed back to the condo for naps. Sean dipped into the Air and Space Museum solo while they napped. For the evening we ventured over to Busboys and Poets in the Vista neighborhood and then went home for bed.

Day 2

We visited the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. It was beautiful and well done. Cora didn’t quite get how to be behave at a memorial (and she couldn’t read the signs asking for quiet). It was the first of the 9/11 memorials on our trip and it gave us pause for the weeks ahead, seeing parts of the country touched by that unforgettable event.

We visited the mall after nap time to ride the carousel and eat funnel cake (don’t do it!). That evening, my sister watched the kids for us and Sean and I went for adults only dinner and drinks. We’re a little outside the age range for the location we picked but either way it was nice to spend some QT together.

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Harlan – Why don’t I get to ride with them?

 

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Shining children on the National Mall

Day 3 – Fairfax, VA

We were hosted for brunch by Winston, Eden, Maezie and Nina. A fabulous time was had by all, especially two little girls and a yellow slide. If you ever want to go to Honduras to help with Winston’s clinic, give him a buzz. It sounds like an amazing opportunity for outreach work. Then we continued the trek to the Air and Space Museum Extension at Dulles to see the Discovery Space Shuttle. We met up with Brandy, a good friend from Rice and one of my gorgeous bridesmaids and her family at this stop. We had lots of baby/kid time and let the menfolk geek out over aircraft and engines, the drive was worth it! That evening was dinner in and packing for the road to Gettysburg.

Day 4

It was our first travel day for the trip and we thought we should get an early start. We realized our stay wouldn’t be complete without visiting the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflection Pool, however. We packed up the condo and planned to grab a late brunch (isn’t that just lunch?) with my sister after making a stop. We stopped at the Lincoln Memorial first and took it all in (reflection pool, World War II Memorial  all the ducks) and walked back along the other memorials to our far flung parking spot. Turns out that was no minor trip, and after having lunch at the the Eastern Market on a gorgeous day, we finally got on our way to Gettysburg, PA.

04/30/14

America, here we come!

Alright, that’s a little dramatic I know, but the trip we’re about to embark upon warrants some fanfare. Sean gets a sabbatical every 5 years at his company. However, this will be the only time it is for 8 weeks and we’re taking every advantage of it. We’ll be spending 5.5 weeks on the road with our two munchkins travelling from Washington DC and meandering our way back to Seattle.

Here’s the plan:

Washington, DC
Gettysburg, PA
Reading, PA
Philadelphia, PA
New York, NY
Cooperstown, NY
Mexico, Oswego, NY
Niagara Falls, ON, CA
West Mifflin, PA
Washington, PA
Stoystown, PA
Hurricane, WV
Cincinnati, OH/Chillicothe
Cridersville, OH
Chicago, IL
Springfield, IL
Kansas City, KS
TBD?
Keystone, SD
Custer, SD
Yellowstone, WY
West Glacier, MT
Coeur d’Alene, ID
Seattle, WA
Everett, WA

If that looks like a lot of stops, that’s because it is. Did I mention we’ll have our two munchkins in tow? Let me remind you of what that looks like. I’m pretty sure potty trained Cora will need a lot more stops, and wiggle worm Harlan will like to… well you know. I’m going to get off my butt and get a cool graphical version of our trip up soon. In the meantime, just stories and silly pictures.

04/25/14

Spring 2014

A lot has happened this spring, and it’s all been leading up to a really nice break for our family. First a quick summary:

  • AJ completed her Masters from the University of Houston in Physical Education – Motor Behavior
  • Sean has had a really successful quarter with new business and connections at work
  • Cora is potty trained and has a huge vocabulary.
  • Harlan has continued to grow and flourish with new teeth, new skills (pulling up and rolling both ways).

In less happy news, my grandfather passed away in February. Rev J. Bob Thomas went home on February 12. We traveled to Dallas for the services and then on to Houston to spend time with my dad and mom. He was a great guy who was very loved in his community. He will be missed.

GrandpaBob

 

 

 

 

We also traveled to Houston a short month after that to celebrate the wedding on my dear friend Kim to Faheem on April 12. Crew Phi Crew is slowly but surely marrying everyone off!

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In short, a lot has happened this spring and we’re only going to follow it up with more craziness as we get ready to embark on our 5.5 week trip cross country in May.