Big Pocono State Park

After Mass today we took a trip to Big Pocono State Park.  This is where Camelback ski/waterpark/resort area is also located and happens to be barely more than down the block from our house.

The possibly unfortunate thing about this place is that you drive to the top of the mountain and park.  Then there are trails back down the mountain, but they are within the woods.  So it isn't like you are having views while you hike.  And anywhere you hike you then have to hike back up to the top.  LOL....although I am not sure that it would be better the other way around either.  Either way, with small kids, hiking uphill is not the MOST fun you can have.  But it was still a lovely visit.

view from the top off the north side

it was a bit hazy and overcast so the pics of the views are not too clear.  It was really breathtaking.

This was really neat.  At the top of the mountain was this large compass and you can point it to the octagons and it will tell you what your are looking at.  So if you point the compass to Wind Gap the compass arrow is then pointing to Wind Gap off on the horizon and tells you how many miles off it is.

In the distance there you can see the Delaware Water Gap

Delaware Water Gap again

and again...I was trying to get a clearer picture of it.

This was at an area called "Vista" that had particularly nice views of the south side of the mountain

look at that face *smooch smooch smooch*  I ask her all the time, "Why don't you kiss me??"

My two gorgeous little gals at the top of a mountain

And "Alpha Baby" pushes her big brother and sister out of the way so she can be Queen

Look out world here comes Buggy!

Other highlights from the trip included using an outhouse (for your sake I didn't take pictures of that fiasco).  And Ben and Anna's first experience with a water fountain!!!

We think we will go back for a longer hike with food and water so we can make lots of stops and take our time.

Old Fashioned Hot Dog Roast

A week or so ago the kids and I harvested some big rocks from the woods and from in the garden (the soil is insanely rocky around here) to build our own fire pit.  Tonight Claudio suggested we try it out and eat dinner outside and build a fire.  There are so many branches on the property.  I assume from all the bad storms they had they had this year.

Hotdogs, baked beans, and potato chips were on the menu...and of course marshmellows for dessert!  It turned out wonderfully.  Something we never could have done at our old "Little House" with a meddlesome, cantankerous neighbor living only a few feet away!

The video below was just one of the many, hilarious, and random things the kids find to do to amuse themselves. They were going around and around and around at top speed.  Of course I turn the camera on as Ben starts choking....

Country Livin'

Things are going well here in the Poconos. We are really settling in and enjoying outselves (aside from Beatrice who is standing here screaming at me for some unknown reason. She is UNhappy right now)...

Should you ever find yourself living in the country in a house owned by people who had a great fondness for rhubarb....then we would have something in common! It is coming up all over the place here. And, well, we think it is pretty disgusting tasting. But we also hate the idea of wasting things...

So I found a recipe for honey rhubarb muffins.  The muffin part is delicious (although not egg and dairy free which is part of what is making Beatrice very unhappy)....but the rhubarb is still rhubarb.  So the muffins are quite edible and I think would be fantastic made with apple, pumpkin, even zucchini.....But only so much can be done to mask the disgustingness of rhubarb!

Loved this precious scene I walked in on this afternoon.  Ben was reading and Anna fell asleep listening...Awwww so beautiful.  A few minutes later Ben decided he was done reading and got up and took his huge bunny rabbit with him.  The bunny rabbit Anna is lying on.  She woke and was not very happy.  Ben saw nothing wrong with what he had done...blah blah blah...Luckily a granola bar and some water patched up Anna's sore feelings.

This is how Anna dresses herself.  Really she is in this phase where she dresses and redresses herself every hour.  She wants to dress like a princess, she wants to go outside and play, she wants to be Cheetarah, she wants a dress, etc etc...every mood and activity requires a wardrobe change.

This made me supremely happy!!  Hanging the wash out on the line!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Our so far very small garden!  All we have planted so far is a HEAP of onions (you can't see there little whispy tops in the picture), some lettuce, and a handful of peppers which didn't do well through a frost the other night.

Beatrice is into necklaces...as many as she can get her hands on.

And lastly we had a visit from a flock of wild turkeys!  They all started to retreat into the woods when they heard me coming to take their picture...so there is a few backsides and the rest are already out of sight into the woods.

Our First Visitors!!

Look who came to dinner tonight!!

I had just said to Claudio this morning that I have not seen a single animal in our yard.  Not even a squirrel!! So I was very excited to see these two off our screened porch during dinner!

So obviously the move happened.  It was one week ago today actually. It went well, but things have been topsy turvy since then.  Beatrice wound up getting a stomach bug while still at my inlaw's house.  By Easter Sunday she was a mess and since then it has gone through the rest of the house.  So we have quickly been acquainted with Urgent Care and the ER here and I am forever grateful for the existence of Zofran!

This picture of the Easter baskets is the only picture I got of Easter day. 

A Farewell Picture

Benjamin and Annabella were headed to my inlaws last night to stay until after the move (Beatrice will be joining them sometime tomorrow I guess).  So to say goodbye we took a farewell photo of them on the mountain of boxes in our dining room.

Bye bye small house!!

The Doughnut Microcosm...

When Ben eats a doughnut...he carefully preserves proper frosting distribution.   Ensuring each bite has a good amount of the sweet frosting.  Making for an overall delicious, enjoyable, and satisfying doughnut experience...

Annabella, on the other hand, eats the frosting off the top being careful to get as little actual doughnut as possible.  Once the frosting has been haphazardly removed and savored she asks for another doughnut and starts again....

This so completely shows the differences in their personalities.  Everything you need to know about Ben and Anna....and how they differ can be inferred from their doughnut eating....truly.

BTW, you can see above that Ben got glasses!  Doesn't he look handsome and like a smartypants????

He failed his vision test at the pediatrician's office and so we were referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  We discovered there that Ben has a pretty serious case of Amblyopia .  He is 20/40 in his good eye and 20/200 in his bad eye (basically legally blind in his bad eye).  Profound.  I had some suspicions that maybe he needed glasses but certainly was really shocked at the findings.  We also found out he is color blind!  This actually didn't surprise us either.  My dad is color blind and where Ben can identify his colors without issue he would sometimes confuse colors or be unable to distinguish shades within a color etc.  So we go for a follow up in May at which time we will likely start patching his good eye to strengthen the bad eye.

Where were we.....

Mostly just home...being super heroes...Thundercats and My Little Pony are the characters of the day..

 Growing in size and character.  Little Buggy has quite the funny little personality.  She plays jokes and looks for laughs.  She is generally just a happy little Bug.  Toddling around from one thing to the next..

Celebrating birthdays with special yummy breakfasts....the FIVE for Ben!

Gaining new skills....when Cheerios are at stake ingenuity takes over with this one.  She pushed that blue bench over, climbed up it and then onto the bench and was shoving fistfuls of Cheerios into her mouth.

 Finding the cozy corners for a little rest and reading.  Growing together and learning together..

 And the promise of new life discovered in early January only to be taken too soon in mid March.  Our newest little one was taken from us far too soon.

 Finished knitting projects..

 And putting on our travelling clothes because on Christmas Eve we got a bid on our house and our beloved PA house was still on the market!  We move in 6 days.  We can hardly believe it has all worked out.