Wheatland Ferry and State Park

Jack recently saw a kids' show involving a little boy who gets to ride on a ferry boat. Naturally, we were inspired to head out to a nearby ferry that connects to a state park! This was adventurous for many reasons. :)

Mommy's favorite part of a state park visit...

(I'll give you two guesses.)

...proved to be difficult. While I was trying to coax not-quite-crunchy leaves to burn and wishing I had brought more pre-kindling, Jack was wandering around explaining the many reasons that the situation was not okay with him.

The smoke was going to Get him. The (two, in the entire park) bees were going to "stung" him. He needed to wash his hands. He couldn't eat his apple because it was dirty. Evie was going to take his piece of cheese. And the smoke was really going to GET him, Mommy.

As soon as I got it burning he changed his tune and was very excited to have fire-roasted hot dogs. Then we had a new problem: If you want to have a hot dog, you have to help Mommy find some sticks for the fire! Well, after some coaxing and instruction on where to look, here he is excitedly displaying the world's tiniest stick. :)

"Wook, Mommy! I found one stick!!"

Yay, hot dogs for everyone!

"Seriously, do you have any idea how delicious these are? Mommy, we're going to need yours too."

Here's Evie trying to figure out how to make the magic plate produce more bites for her....

And I was able to get one picture before we boarded the ferry for the drive home. Jack has officially declared that this is the Best Ferry In The World. I'd call the trip a success. :)

Where is the house?

We've been working on buying a house for about two months now.... For the last week or two it has been pretty rough. I keep thinking we're all set and then another problem crops up. We were shooting for the 15th as a close date and we're now being told that it may be as late as the 26th or 27th.

I'm not usually a complainer; I prefer to just hold my tongue and work out a way to fix the problem. This time, however, I am really losing my patience! There have been several rounds of repairs, paperwork, etc., needed, and the sellers' realtor has not been the most reliable or responsible with helping to get the sale completed. (Exhibit A: he told us that missing gutters had been replaced, when they hadn't, so we wasted a lot of time having an incomplete repair job re-inspected.... Long story, but I think re-hashing it will just make me grumpy.)

I planted a whole lot of seeds in little pots to give my future veggie garden a head start, and they are now filling up our dining table, getting leggy and dying off one by one. I'm not sure if it's the lack of adequate direct sunlight, the dry air from our heaters, or too much/not enough water, but they are not doing well. I want to get them in the ground as quickly as I can. The weather is finally turning away from winter's constant rain, and I'm told we'll even see sun later this week! Time to get some plants in the ground, just as soon as we have a yard!

We found out today that we may not be in the house by Easter, which was previously my big "consolation prize" after having missed the deadline to move by the 15th. I was looking forward to doing an egg hunt in our new back yard for Jack. Well, I'm hoping we can work something out with the sellers so we can still move in by Easter, even if we haven't officially closed the sale by then.

In summary, and in an attempt to regain some of my usual optimistic outlook:
Yes, the house appraised much lower than our agreed-upon price and that added some time to the negotiations, but thankfully we have motivated sellers. That means we chopped a significant chunk off the price we're paying, instead of losing the sale entirely.
Yes, the bank appraiser is being exceptionally strict on her requirements for certain repairs and upgrades that are needed before we can close, but that means there will be less for us to take care of after we move in.

That's about all I can file in the "optimism" column for now. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow we'll keep working on our gradual packing and hope that we get a firm close date worked out ASAP so we don't end up with everything packed and no place to go. I've already stalled on the packing quite a bit. It's hard to know that you'll be moving within a week or so, and not be able to get things boxed up and ready. However, the difference between moving in 3 or 10 days is rather big, especially when you have two young children to account for!

Is this normal for the house-buying procedure? I feel like most people have a close date, and that is the date they actually close the sale!! Please wish us luck and think happy thoughts about the Bowlings moving SOON!

18/365: Fire Station

A while back, the fire department had a pancake feed where they brought all their engines out into the street for everyone to admire. The city blocked off the street. (That's something they are quick to do if it's for a kid-related activity.... Thank you, Mac, for being so family-friendly!) They even had three engines driving loads of kids around downtown.

One of my friends called me and let me know it was happening, so of course we set out to get a fire truck ride. :)

We jumped right into the line to wait for a ride, but it was a long one. We passed the time playing "Go touch that fire truck...."

"and come right back to tell me about it!"

I didn't actually get any pictures when it was our turn to ride. Jack was WAY too excited for me to do anything but juggle him. Technically they were only giving rides to kids 3 and up, but apparently we asked very nicely. We even got to sit in the front seat with the driver!!

After our ride we found out that the trucks in the street were not only for looking at.... They were for climbing in!! I had no idea. For some reason we were the only people taking advantage of this, but that just meant Jack got to keep the whole fleet to himself. :)

9/365: The Countdown

Alex and I recently realized that we could have a new baby as soon as three weeks from now! Holy smokes. I feel like there must be a million things we're supposed to be doing, but darned if I could tell you what they are!

On top of any baby-related work still to do, I feel like the holidays are suddenly barrelling down on us and before we know it, it will be the new year! I'm supposed to be baking a turkey for Thanksgiving this year, too. That's something I've never done before!

...and we are still having a heck of a time choosing baby names. I tell you what, one way or another this is going to be an exciting month and a half ahead of us!

5/365: Trains!

Jack LOVES trains. These are a few pictures we've collected that prove the point:

Here's the beginning of a train ride at the zoo:

The thing about trains, is they're EXCITING. And that means they're tiring.... We quickly progress to the "snuggle and look at scenery" phase.

And before you know it, the train-nap has struck again. :D

Once, before Jack fell asleep, he was allowed to go in the actual engine part while the driver took a break. Here's him almost releasing the brake:

And examining the fire box (I think). Notice how he really is in the train all by himself. He could have driven the thing away, if he had been lucky enough to find the right combination of levers!

According to his current plans, when he grows up he is going to drive trains and tractors. I believe it, too! :)

2/365: Farmer Jack

Chris recently bought a farm, and the place is pretty much heaven in Jack's opinion. There are dogs, kittens even more pliable than Pooka, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. And that's not to mention two of his best friends, Daphne and Cyprus!

Plus, Chris makes a mean taco and he definitely loves when we have them for lunch. :)

Jack is just now able to skip his nap on some days and survive, sanity intact, until bedtime. We usually take it easy for the afternoon, reading books and doing other quiet activities. Well, today he did skip his nap and then we decided that to fill our afternoon, we would go to Chris's farm and see how big the pigs had grown since our last visit.

We ended up tromping around the farm all afternoon while Chris fed the animals. Jack was excited to see them all. He even went in the pig pen and got knocked down in the mud by three curious pigs. He didn't mind, even when he tripped and fell right back into the muck after I had just rescued him!

The big hit was the hen house, where Daphne found two chicken eggs, and Chris found five. Jack was totally impressed, especially when Chris gave him an egg to take home! Here is the single photo we managed to capture immediately after returning home: (Do you know how hard it is to photograph a tired toddler?)


Here is my darling little boy with his boots on the wrong feet, peppered with mud splotches, exhausted beyond belief, and yet still totally excited about the egg he earned for his help doing farm chores.

Right after this, he watched Daddy crack and scramble the egg. Then he ate it (followed by a few more) and snuggled on the couch briefly before conking out. All in a day's playing, right?

Daffodil Walk!

On Sunday, Jack and I went with Chris, Daphne and Cyprus for a 5k walk in farm country. It was all for the Daffodil Festival over in Amity.

We walked. Then we walked some more. We strolled. We piggybacked. We backwards-walked. We shoulder-carried! We lent the stroller to Daphne for a little while, but I was really impressed that she walked about 4k on her own!

Of course, there was plenty of nature to look at, and even a few farm animals! Jack filled a diaper when we were almost done walking, and (of course) I hadn't brought any diapers or wipes! We made do with some helpful grass and just packed him back into his pants sans diaper. By this time I was giggling.

We made it up the last hill and over to the porti-potty. I was just looking at him wondering "What am I going to do now?" when a spot of wet appeared on his pants. This quickly became a flood that soaked his pants, socks, AND shoes! "Oh my!" I was stricken with belly laughs now!

There was nothing left to do but throw his wet clothes into the stroller and take him, wrapped pretty much only in my jacket, into the daffodil fields! After all, there were flowers to be picked! I plunked Jack next to a big clump of daffodils, since he really didn't like the feel of muddy ground on his feet. He spent the time decapitating daffodils, throwing the heads in a neat ring around where he sat, and sending me into fits of hysterics every time he farted and made me think another accident was impending!

Well, we got a nice big bouquet, and no more accidents after all. A short bus ride back to the car (how could it take five minutes to return us to the beginning of a 4-hour walk?) and we were back in diaper country!

It was all very adventurous, and totally worth it! After all, I got a bouquet of free daffodils out of the bargain! :)