Throwback Thursday - Girls' Trip to PA

I'm back for another "Throwback Thursday" post!  Today I wanted to share a fun trip I took with Scarlett, my mom, and my sister this past summer at the end of July.  We decided to plan a trip to Idlewild Park, a small amusement/water park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, about a 2.5-hour drive from home.  I went to Idlewild Park as a child, and I believe even my parents went when they were young.  It's an amusement park geared toward very young children, perfect for Scarlett's age.  On top of that, they recently revamped their "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" attraction and turned it into a "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" attraction.  Being that my little peanut is pretty much the world's biggest Daniel Tiger fan, we knew this would be the perfect place to visit.

We spent an entire Saturday there, and it was absolutely perfect.

It was a beautiful day!  And the setting of the park is just gorgeous.

Daniel Tiger!!!! Scarlett was freaking out!

She could not believe she got to see Daniel's house and knock on his door.  (This is where there Daniel Tiger show is located in the afternoons).

The best part of the day: A trolley ride through Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  Seeing her excitement and wonder was one of my favorite moments of the summer.

 

They have a cute "Storybook Forest" area too.  Unfortunately, Scarlett was having a meltdown when we first arrived and we had planned to try again later.  But by the time we got back, it had closed!  We were bummed, but Luke and I actually ended up taking Scarlett back to Idlewild later in the summer, and were able to see it.  But more on that in a future post!  Anyway, it was a cute area. 

And here's a flashback to 25 years ago in the exact same spot! (Although they have obviously repainted the big book). Here's little me with some family friends (I'm wearing the polka dots.  And I'm pretty sure that's a mullet.  it was 1990, after all.):

Anyway, back to 2015.  Here are Mom, Julie, and Scarlett waiting for the Daniel Tiger show to start

Katerina showed up...Scarlett's favorite!  She was beside herself.

...But she totally froze up for the meet and greet afterwards.  Ha!  I have to admit, Daniel Tiger and Katerina Kittycat at that size were a bit creepy.

 Later, we went to the waterpark, and Scarlett found her own personal puddle.  This kept her busy for at least 20 minutes.

And then we rode the teacups a few times

We topped off our day with some ice cream, dinner later at Panera, and swimming in the hotel pool.  

The next day we went to a local animal park called "Living Treasures Animal Park." We purchased a bag of carrots there, and were able to feed most of the animals there by hand.  A really fun experience, especially for my sister, the animal-lover. 

The Wallabies were our favorites. 

If you look closely, you can see a little Joey in her pouch.  So cool!

I had so much fun with my mom, sister, and Scarlett!  I hope we can have more girls' trips in the future. 

If you live in the area, I would highly recommend both Idlewild Park and Living Treasures Animal Park.  They're both very unique and fun places to visit.

Easter 14

This Easter was a pretty great one.  It was Scarlett's first, and we had so much fun celebrating with her and our families!

The entire Easter weekend was wonderful.  Luke had off work Friday and the weather was beautiful!  We went shopping all morning, took a walk in the afternoon, and relaxed in the evening.  It was nice to have so much time together as a family.

Saturday we colored eggs with Luke's family, and then I dressed Scarlett up in her Easter outfit to do a little photo shoot since I didn't think we'd have time on Sunday.  Here are a couple of my favorites (P.S. I got her dress at Crazy 8, and I love it!) :

 

 Easter morning we went to  church and then gave Scarlett her first little Easter basket.  She was definitely most excited about the puffs.

The bunny on the right was from Luke's parents.  It dances just like Scarlett does, and it's pretty hilarious to watch them both dance together. 

Before we left to spend the day with our families, Scarlett took a long nap.  And I couldn't resist taking a picture.  She looked so sweet!  Nothing's sweeter than a sleeping baby.

After naptime we headed to Luke's grandparents' house.  Here is our family picture:

Here is a picture of Scarlett with her Great Aunt Judy:

 

With Nana

And standing with Daddy's help

Our last stop of the day was my parents' house.  I was so tired at this point that I didn't take many pictures.  Which really bums me out.  I will have to do better next time!  But here's a cute one of my dad playing with Scarlett and some of the new toys she got for Easter.

Honestly, holidays are stressful when you have multiple places to go with a baby. Since Luke is in the worship band at church, I had to get everything ready by myself (Luke had to play in all 3 services and was gone for about 5 hours this morning).  I worry about naps and mealtimes for Scarlett when we are away for the entire day. We have a million things we have to lug everywhere with us.  And I get a little stressed and grumpy.  Halfway through the day today I had to remind myself the reason we celebrate Easter.  Jesus died for my sins and rose again!  My petty little problems seem tiny in comparison.  It is very humbling to remember the price that was paid for my salvation. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, and remembered the reason for the holiday!

Galentine's Day

I hope you all had an excellent Valentines Day!  And I'm proud to say that I am in the middle of catching up on blog reading!  I haven't had much time to read blogs in the past 3-4 months, but I really feel like I'm missing out, so I'm going to try to make it more of a priority.  And commenting, too!  The interaction is one of the best parts of blogging, and I really miss it!

But on to Valentine's Day.  Luke actually left at 3:00 AM the morning of Valentine's Day to catch a flight to Houston.  And he didn't take me along.  He and a couple of guys from the worship band at church went to the Passion Conference.  To say I was a little annoyed about the timing would be an understatement.  But I decided that this would be a good experience for him, and decided to embrace the time alone with my girl.  Plus, Luke took me out to a Valentine's Day dinner at Bonefish Grill a week before the holiday, so I can't be too angry.  He also tried to surprise me with flowers, but they ended up being delivered while I was away for about 14 hours, and they froze outside.  Sad story.  Thanks a lot, Fed Ex.  But it's the thought that counts!

We did send Daddy off with some pretty cool Valentines, though.  I found these for Luke HERE at the Dating Divas blog.  He is a huge Star Wars fan, so I thought they were perfect.  And free!  I printed them on card stock, one from me and one from Scarlett.  Our printer ink was a little low, so they aren't perfect.  But cute anyway!  We also got him some chocolate, and a new fleece blanket.

The feet are supposed to be a heart.  Footprint projects are harder than they look, especially with a squirmy 7-month-old!

Luckily I ended up having fun plans for Valentines Day while Luke was out West, not freezing his butt off like me.  My mom, Scarlett, and I headed to Columbus for the day to visit my sister.

When I heard Scarlett stirring in her crib that morning, I greeted her with a new stuffed animal, just for Valentines Day.  As you can see in the picture below, she was clearly thrilled.

Her lack of enthusiasm was due to the fact that she was still tired.  That worked to our advantage on the 2.5 hour drive, because she slept most of the way there!

In Columbus we headed to Julie's house where my mom gave us all Valentine's Day presents.  Yes, she still does that.  And I will probably do that for Scarlett too when she's 29.  Then we went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, and spent the day shopping at Polaris, a big mall with lots of fun stores that we don't have near my house.  

 P.S. - I chopped all my hair off.

I ended up buying about 7462 things for Scarlett, because let's face it:  shopping for her is a lot more fun than shopping for me.  I did treat myself to this sweater from Loft, which just so happened to be 50% off.  It is so "me."  Pink and girly.

found HERE

To finish our day in Columbus, we visited my sister's new place of employment.  She is now a design consultant at a La-Z-Boy corporate store!  She sells their furniture by helping people pick out the style and prints they want, and she also goes on home consultations.  Scarlett was contemplating this remote-controlled recliner, but we told her she needs to get a job before she can purchase any expensive furniture! 

I think I could have stayed all weekend and continued to shop the entire time, but we headed home in the evening.  After stopping at Pizza Hut on the way home where Scarlett serenaded the entire restaurant and stared at a bunch of men sitting at the table beside us for about 20 minutes, we crashed for the night!  It was a pretty fun first Valentine's Day with my girl! And a fun Galentine's Day with all of us.

Oh!  And I got a head start on next year's Valentine's Day!  Pottery Barn Kids is probably my favorite store right now, but I don't have the money to buy a lot there.  (Who does? am I right?)  I have been loving their Valentine's Day plates and cups all season, and was hoping they'd be on sale.  They were!  So I bought Scarlett her own plate and cup for Valentine's Days to come.  I will probably try to scoop up as much of their adorable Peter Rabbit stuff as I can the day after Easter, too! 

 

Wicked

One of my and my mother-in-law's birthday presents from Luke's family was to go see Wicked when it was on tour in Cleveland a few days after Christmas.  I had seen it before, but it had been about 6 years, and I really didn't remember it, so I was over-the-moon excited to go again!

Luke's sisters had given us the CD of the soundtrack for our birthdays too, and I listened to almost nothing but that for a month.  I was singing the songs in my sleep by the end of the month.  Ha!  I barely even listened to Christmas music this year because I was too busy listening to the Wicked soundtrack.

Luckily the day we went it was beautiful and in the 40s or 50s, so we were walking around Cleveland in late December without even wearing our coats!  It felt very strange to me.

The show was, of course, amazing!  I decided it's my favorite show, which is saying a lot, because I have a mild (okay, not so mild) obsession with Phantom of the Opera.  I've seen Lion King on stage too, and I still think Wicked is better.  It has something for everyone: beautiful costumes and set design, a love story, beautiful music, comedy, friendship, it explores the nature of good versus evil, and it's all based around a classic story that so many people love.  I've seen it twice now, but wouldn't mind seeing it a dozen more times in my lifetime!

After the show, we all went to eat at a little restaurant beside the theater, and headed home for the evening.  It was such a fun day, and the perfect birthday present!