Lil' Pipsqueaks

For mid-summer's eve this year, the fairies brought our family two Zebra Finches.  As we were transferring them from the fairies' cage to ours, the male escaped.  He enjoyed a few minutes of flight...but quickly grew tired.

They both quickly adjusted to their new surroundings.  And the kids made them a permanent address.

In case you can't read it, it says, "The Robins  733 Branch St.  Nesting Hallow.  While they were creative with the address...they don't seem to be as creative with the names.  They named the male Christopher Robin...Chris for short.  And they named the female Becky after the main girl character in Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  When they name anything, it really depends on what they've read or watched recently.

But James likes to call them both lil' pipsqueaks.  You'll hear why in one of the videos below.  

And yes - having a male and female means that we will soon have eggs in the wicker nest.  That was one reason we allowed the fairies to leave such a gift.  Not only are they entertaining and fairly easy to care for...but it will be educational for the kids seeing eggs in the nest and watching them hatch and then watching the little chicks grow.  We've been told that each clutch will include 2-5 eggs on average.  Oh boy!

We were surprised at how quickly they adjusted to the new nest.  Chris has already begun using the cotton balls and paper confetti that we provided to make a soft bed for the eggs.  This picture is looking into the nest from above:

The picture with the kids was taken specifically for the "fairies" who brought us the finches.  I'm sure with the number of eggs in each clutch, we'll eventually give away a few finches of our own.  

Finches are not song birds.  They sound like squeaky baby toys.  Although, the male does learn his mating "song" from his father and then adds a few sounds of his own.  But the female just squeaks.  It's cute when they play tag and squeak at each other.  And it's really funny when we play a video of finches on the computer...that really gets them going!

This video is the mating song of Chris (he has the orange cheeks...Becky is listening from her window):

This video demonstrates how "squeaky" they can be!

Parenting and Discipline

We would like to think that we are fun parents. We try to enjoy our children. While going through old home videos I found this little bit of fun. I think the "game" was more for Daddy's amusement than anything else, but Mark and Anya did enjoy it when it went right. Enjoy a few laughs on us.

Now to the present. Luke is a charming and somewhat difficult young man. Some things he will simply refuse to do and wig out if forced. Most of the time he is extremely obedient. So when he jumped on Mark's bed and broke something Mark made we asked Luke to apologize for his poor choice. He refused (as usual) so we sent him to stand in the corner of his room. He went and he stood. We continued with the nightly pickup and most of us left the room for a few minutes as we got things all put away. Then James called us all back to see that Luke had changed position.

Lest you think ill of us, we did scoop the little guy up directly after this snippet and put him to bed, where he stayed for the next twelve and half hours. It would appear that the poor guy was just tired:)

We're Not Campers...Yet

Our family went on our 3rd annual camping trip this weekend.  Each year we have learned from the previous experience.  And they will continue to get better.  We're working towards becoming "professional" campers and looking forward to the day when we camp for two consecutive nights (that's how professional we're willing to get).

This year, we decided to visit the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

I've always wanted to drive across the 17-mile bridge/tunnel that connects the mainland of Virginia to the peninsula...and I wanted to see the sunset over water on the east coast.  The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (longest bridge/tunnel complex in the world) was everything I had hoped for.  The sunset was a little disappointing due to an overcast.

As we drove through the northern portion of Virginia Beach, the thunder clouds gathered and a severe storm caused several motorists to pull over.  The raindrops were huge and, combined with the wind, it became blinding.  Then the hail began.  We got to the toll booth right in time as we were one of the last cars to get through before they closed the bridge due to 40 mph winds.  But after a few miles, we saw clear skies ahead and the storm didn't follow us across the bay.

As we set up camp, Luke got pretty sick and he actually slept for a couple of hours.  The rest of the kids enjoyed relaxing around the campfire.

The storm clouds didn't stay away very long and there was a steady rain fall for a couple of hours as well.  So everyone retreated to the tent...except for Eliza.  We quickly learned that she had difficulty getting out of the camp chairs.  So if we needed her contained, that's where we put her!  By morning, she learned how to wiggle out of those chairs.

Fortunately, it was only rain - no hail or severe weather.  And by the time it stopped, the kids were ready to head to the beach...even Luke.  There was enough of a break in the clouds that you could see the pink hue as the sun set across the Chesapeake Bay...but it wasn't the kind of shot I was hoping for.  Still, pretty cool, right?  A sunset over the ocean on the east coast?!?  It can play tricks on your mind.

We stayed until dark and then made the short walk back to camp.  Luke fell asleep rather quickly.  And for safe measure, we had him sleep with Mr. Bucket.

Eliza was wide-eyed until 10PM or so.

Anya couldn't get her nose out of a book most of the trip!

Eliza crawled over everyone and finally collapsed at Dad's feet.  But she started to get fussy around 12:30 so Karen took her to the van until she settled down.  At 2AM, James had to go to the bathroom.  But between 2AM and about 5:40AM, Mom and Dad managed to get some sleep.  There was a surge of people (James, Anya, Eliza) waking up just before 6AM and then somehow we all fell asleep again until about 7AM.

Fortunately, the morning brought nothing but sunshine!  We enjoyed a little breakfast and then headed back to the beach.

This was the view of the bay from the boardwalk...it was beautiful:

The bay side is much more calm than the seaside.  And low tide was coming in so the kids could walk out 75 feet and I could walk out about 100 feet.  The temperature of the air and water were perfect.

James started collecting rocks and that got me looking for hidden treasures as well.  I had found a few pieces of driftwood...exciting, right?  As the low tide came in, a perfect kiddie-pool formed for Luke and Eliza.

By the way, off the shore there was a line of shipwrecked boats.  That's what you see in some of the photos.  It was pretty cool.  Anyway...back to the hidden treasures.  If you look closely, there is a darker object in the water about 2-3 feet to the left of Karen.  Without thinking it could be anything else, I tried to pick up what I thought was a large piece of driftwood.

When I lifted it up, I thought  I felt legs moving and I saw a long tail "wagging" back and forth.  Startled, I dropped it and the creature burrowed itself back in the sand.  Curiosity got the better of me, and I was determined to learn what I had found.  So I got my flip flops and attempted to pry at the corners.  But no luck.  I did, however, uncover its tail.  And this is what we pulled out of the water:

Do you like my new tattoo?  There was a guy next to us with his family.  They gathered when they saw me trying to get the horseshoe crab out of the water.  As I've grown older, I've become more hesitant to touch a wild animal with my bare hands.  I didn't have the guts to just grab the tail.  Who knew if the tail had spikes or if the crab could curl around and snap at you with it's claws.  But this guy just grabbed the tail, gave a couple of good tugs, and lifted it out of the water.  I guess tattoos make you brave like that!

It was pretty cool.  The kids were fascinated and Karen was a little freaked out that she and Luke and Eliza had been sitting so close to it the whole morning!

After a full morning of fun in the sun, we headed back to camp.

So another camping adventure was coming to a close.  We packed up camp...

...and headed back to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT).  It really is an incredible work of engineering.

There is nothing but ocean all around.  On the man-made island of one of the tunnels, a fishing pier jets out.  On our way home, we pulled off to do a little sight-seeing.  If you look above Anya just to the left, you can see the other end of one of the tunnels.  Each tunnel is a mile long.

Here's a close-up of the other end of the tunnel:

The southbound side of the bridge curves out to the left while the northbound side is directly behind the tower on the island.  It was really fascinating.

Each year we make a list of things we learned so that the next camping trip will be better.  Somehow, the list continues to grow!  But we enjoy the outdoors and we like to pull our family out of the usual routine at home. Plus, we really appreciate the comforts of home each time we return!

Anya and James

Anya participated in the Spring recital with her music school last week.  It's so fun to watch her perform.  Not sure what inspired Mark...but he did a trial run with guitar lessons and enjoyed them.  So he has his own electric guitar now.  Dad might learn to play with him. :)

We always enjoy taking pictures when all six kids are willing to be photographed.  We might not get picture-perfect smiles from all of them at the same time...but that's not real life anyway! :)  So this was our best shot given the minimal attention span of the younger ones.

We finally got around to getting pictures of James since he turned eight a couple months ago.  He's a pretty cute kid.  Here's a sampling:

And here is Anya playing (I think her teacher is smiling because Anya likes to sing when she plays):

The Capitol - Day 3

The National Zoo was a bust...I'm not gonna lie. The only time it rained was Wednesday morning - when we were at the zoo. It wasn't a downpour, but it was enough to make it unpleasant. Fortunately, the zoo had an event recently and white tents were set up everywhere. So we had plenty of shelter. In addition to the rain, we learned that the kids really weren't that interested anyway...after the fact, of course! But we spent a couple of hours there and had a good learning experience.

Because of the rain, we were planning to just skip Arlington Cemetery and the Jefferson Memorial and head home. We had lunch in Arlington and watched the clouds open up to blue skies. So we asked the kids what they wanted to do. Karen and I were tired...but we didn't want to leave DC on a soggy note from the zoo. So we decided to postpone Arlington Cemetery for a day trip (we weren't really prepared to know what we wanted to do there anyway) and we headed to the Jefferson Memorial.

I had never been there before. It's one of those monuments that looks really cool but is just out of the way...aka not on the National Mall. But I'm so glad we went. The kids really wanted to go because they feel like they know Thomas Jefferson really well. It's kinda cute.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Peter can't see but everyone else is genuinely happy--after three days...can you believe that? They really were great considering all the walking we did. In fact, they seemed more energized Wednesday afternoon than they had the rest of the trip (with the exception of Tuesday night...they really had fun that night). So did we.
Here's a unique view of the Washington Monument as we walked around the Jefferson Memorial. I love shots like this.
Like I mentioned before, everything is so big in Washington DC. Seeing our kids next to these massive columns really illustrated that.
There are various quotes throughout the memorial. This one happened to be Mark's favorite of the group. If you want to read it, you'll probably have to click on it to enlarge the picture.
Again, watching our kids walk up and down the steps really illustrates the size of these memorials.
This picture was taken by Mark. Not bad, huh? :)
And here are most of the kids with Thomas Jefferson. I'm so glad we live where we do. Our kids are being exposed to some great historical sites. Hopefully, it will make the events of the founding of this nation more real to them. It's important for them to know that this country was founded by good men inspired by God. The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are holy documents.
Three days was just right. Maybe more for the parents than for the kids. It was a great experience for us and a lot of fun. I forgot to mention that during day two, I was taking a picture of the kids in front of the Spirit of St. Louis (the picture is the the previous post). After I took the picture, an Asian woman approached me with her camera. She pointed towards the plane and I assumed she wanted me to take her picture with the plane in the background. As I was getting ready to take the picture, she wrapped her arms around our kids and pulled them in close. It was so funny...and very sweet. Our kids ended up being in several Asian tourist photographs during the trip. I'm assuming they were all Chinese. I'm sure some hearts ache due to the laws of their land. I'm glad they were able to see what real freedom is all about.

The Capitol - Day 2

This might very well have been the longest day EVER for our family. It was certainly a good day...a very good day. But it was LONG. We were amazed the kids were still so active at 10:30PM. I don't believe we've ever kept all of them up that late. We left the hotel at 9AM and got back a little before 11PM.

As I've been thinking about our trip to DC this week, it occurred to me how big everything is there. Everything is "larger than life." The buildings...the statues...and the Air and Space Museum is no exception. The exhibits they have of satellites and rockets and planes...even the IMAX theater. Our kids look so small next to them.
Museums are an interesting thing. Sometimes people race from one exhibit to the next. Sometimes you hear something like, "Hey, come here! Take a look at this!" Children like to feel and see. Adults like to read. There is so much to take in. While it was fun to go for the kids and watch their excitement build, it would also be nice to go back to these museums without little kids to read and learn. On several occasions, Karen and I both commented how nice it will be a few years from now when all of our kids can use their own strength sufficiently to get around. We would say that after hours of carrying either Eliza or Luke (occasionally Peter) around the museums...or the miles and miles of walking!

But it is so worth doing these kinds of trips now. It's fun to spend time with our kids. And they enjoyed this trip as well.
The Air and Space Museum is very hands-on. And the museum has the latest technologies...I have a feeling our youngest kids are going to grow up without a keyboard.
They learned about flight. They learned about lift and thrust and drag and weight. There was one exhibit that was really fascinating. There was a tube blowing air with a beach ball globe above it. No matter which direction you pointed the tube, the globe stayed in the air.
The kids got a real feel for how a plane flies. James tested his pilot skills at this station.
We went to the IMAX and watched Hubble 3D. It was the first 3D movie any of us watched. I've never been interested in 3D and still don't get all the hype. But the theater only shows movies in 3D...so we got a taste of it. And it was really enjoyable. The kids got a kick out of the 3D illusion. They spent half the movie trying to touch the astronauts and Hubble telescope. We learned fascinating things about Orion's Nebula and how it is a nursery for new stars and solar systems. I got a new perspective of space. I think it will be a posting in my personal blog.
At lunch time, we decided to take a break, grab a bite to eat, and head over to the Capitol. And the 100% chance of rain for the day? It turned out to be a misting for about 3 minutes. The rest of the day was partly cloudy skies and lots of sunshine. Because of the 100% chance of rain, we left the sunscreen and hats in the van. Oops!
Turns out, when you go to the Capitol, the back of it is what faces the National Mall. So after a healthy hike, the friendly security guards directed us to the front of the Capitol. But then the front of the Capitol isn't the "entrance." Once you hike around the Capitol, you have to walk a block away from the Capitol to go underneath the ground and into the entrance. Oh, and I learned why it's called "Capitol Hill." Ya, while we were walking around the Capitol...we were also hiking up quite a decent incline. Boy, was it a long walk. We were resting often wherever we could find shade. The kids were slowing down. The stroller was getting heavier. And we were tired (and only about half way around the Capitol). So imagine the humor as we were resting under a large tree to hear Peter exclaim, "Look! I found an ant!" He was so excited. And it was so cute. And such a good reminder of how wonderful kids are.
So the picture below is the front of the Capitol. I don't think I had ever seen the front of the Capitol before. I had always seen it from the Mall. From the front of the Capitol, you can see the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court building. It's a beautiful plaza.
We got passes from our Representative a week ago and toured the House Gallery - the picture below. So we didn't see the original Capitol building (the center part) or the Senate. And it was really probably the best option for our family. The Capitol tour includes a 13-minute film and then a 30-minute guided tour. You can't tour the Capitol on your own. While our kids are well-behaved...they're still very young and get restless easily. We had to go through several security checkpoints and nothing was allowed inside. I mean nothing. There was a cute elderly couple sitting near the restroom enjoying an apple. A security guard walked up, put on latex gloves, and abruptly confiscated the apple. He threw it in the trash and then threw his latex gloves in the trash. I felt awkward for the couple. We went through two different metal detectors at two different times. James set the first detector off and had the guards scratching their heads. He had no belt. And James assured them he had no metal in his pockets. But it turned out that James had a fake penny about 3 inches in diameter that Grandma Christensen had given to him when we visited Lincoln's Tomb in Illinois. He brought it with him because we were going to the Lincoln Memorial that day. It was cute and the guards got a kick out of it. No cameras allowed inside either...so we have no pictures to share.
After our visit to the Capitol, we headed back to the Air and Space Museum. We walked past the Botanical Gardens and it set a nice foreground for yet another picture of the Capitol.
Back at the Air and Space museum, there were a few other exhibits the kids wanted to check out. While we were walking around, we saw the Spirit of St. Louis and had to take a picture.

Luke has been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese for weeks now (more like a month or two...it's the first thing I hear from his mouth every day I walk in the door after I come home from work). So we left DC for dinner and treated Luke to Chuck E Cheese. That part of the day was probably the most exhausting part! But the kids absolutely loved it and got plenty of play time. We headed back to DC around 8PM. We've read that the memorials are beautiful at night. And since the rain had held off all day and the kids were well energized after such a kid-friendly dinner, we decided to make a night of it. And it is true - the memorials are breath-taking at night. Do you like Peter's little salute below?
At the WWII Memorial, the kids all found the state where they were born and we took their picture. They were all cute...but this one of Peter and Luke was especially adorable.
The fountain at the WWII Memorial is absolutely beautiful. Just above Anya and James' head, you can see the Lincoln Memorial. It's about a mile away. But talk about a fun walk! I hope this memory stays with the kids for a long time.
We still had the stairs to climb, but here we are at the base. Did you know there is an elevator inside the Memorial? And there is a visitor center with a ton of information?!?! I had no idea. The elevator was a life-saver since we had the stroller. And I wish we had more time to read everything in the visitor center. The entrance is on the south side next time you're in the area and visit the Lincoln Memorial.
Another cute picture.
Complete family pictures during family vacations are few and far between. We almost missed Eliza's head in this one because she was starting to sink down in the stroller. But we are all here.
"Larger than life." This man certainly was. And I love how these statues and memorials are so HUGE. These men that we honor in reverence and remember with awe impacted all of humanity. Abraham Lincoln lived his life so he could be close to the Spirit of God and be inspired to lead this nation and set an example for the world. He was more than just a man...he was a spiritual giant among men. And the inscription above him speaks truth. This memorial certainly is a temple. And I loved the spirit that can be felt there...especially at night.