growing so fast

She's getting so big, my little opinionated, strawberry blonde spitfire.

She sooo wears me out, but I'm trying to appreciate this age. 

It will be gone before I know it!

williamsburg

We spent week before last on a fun trip to Williamsburg, VA with my parents.

We are so blessed to have two sets of parents that enjoy traveling, and also enjoy taking us along on a trip every now and then!  We honestly wouldn't go anywhere if it weren't for traveling with family.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

We spent the first two days exploring Colonial Williamsburg, which is basically a recreation of the Williamsburg Colony as it would have been around 1776 and the early years of the Revolutionary War.

Williamsburg is a great place if you like history (like me) but I think anyone can appreciate and find interesting to see how our nation's founding fathers lived.
One of the highlights for us was a working farm.  Imagine that.

They also had lots of fun things for kids to do, to get a taste of what life was like for a kid growing up in Williamsburg.

Even the adults got in on the fun and games

There were Revolutionary Minute Men

And amazing buildings to tour

And even opportunities to dress up and get in on the action

Oh, if you know Daddy Bird personally you know how truly hilarious this is.  This woman basically grabbed him and started dressing him up before he could object.  I was practically peeing my pants with excitement!

Teehee!

The Girlie Bird kept herself entertained by playing in the gravel that covered most of the outdoor surfaces.

We managed to get a rare family photo, against the wishes of the baby birds.

After a couple of days in Williamsburg, we were all ready to hit the beach.

This was Girlie Bird's first trip to the shore, and she was thrilled to say the least!

The Boy Birdie was happy to get back to the sand

and the waves.

On our way home, we stopped to visit Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.

Monticello is one beautiful place, and Thomas Jefferson was one inspiring guy.

Here are some fun facts I learned about our third president:

1. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independance at 33 years of age!  This blew me away.  I am 32 - what monumental thing have I done lately?  Hmmmmm.  Nothing comes to mind.

2. In addition to serving as president, Jefferson served in Congress, as governor of Virginia, minister to France, as Secretary of State, and as Vice President under John Adams.

3. Jefferson was a self taught architect and designed Monticello and also the University of Virginia.

4. Jefferson was an agricultural pioneer.  He cultivated a vegetable garden which also functioned as a laboratory where he grew 330 varieties of some 99 species of vegetables and herbs.  He also used rotational grazing and growing practices with his livestock and crops.

5. Jefferson loved books and had one of the best libraries in North America with nearly 7,000 volumes.  I'm jealous!

6.  Jefferson believed in abolishing slavery, but yet owned over 200 slaves himself.  It is believed that after his wife passed away he fathered 4 children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved lady's maid at Monticello.

7.  Thomas Jefferson dies on the 4th of July 1826, exactly 50 years to the day of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

There you have it! 
All in all, it was good times.
Thanks again Mom and Dad for taking us along!

(Please disregard all the gray hairs on my head in the above photo.  Please pretend they are blonde highlights.)

recovering

Daddy Bird, the babies and I got home late Friday night from a vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia Beach and Montecello with my parents.  I can't wait to tell you all about it in an upcoming post, but since I'm recovering from a post-vacation hangover of sorts, the best I can muster tonight is a stream of conciousness post.

If you are friends with me on facebook or in real life, you know about the cow shenannigans we have been dealing with over the past 3 days.  To update the rest of you, our fall calving herd of cows decided it would be a good idea to break through the fence and spend some time on the neighbor's farm, which is full of woods that are too thick and full of brush to even walk through in places.  Our cows were happy to hide from us in those woods.  It took us one day  to find them, one day to drive them back in the direction of where they were supposed to be, and this morning most of them managed to go back on to our farm.  We're missing one still.

I rode my horse more in the last three days than I have in over a year.

My. Butt. Is. Sore.

I picked beans from our garden tonight until it got too dark to see.  There are still a ton left to pick tomorrow.

I'm going to do some canning this year.  Starting with pickles this week.  Anyone have any good canning recipes?

How does a family of four go through so much laundry?

I came into contact with something today that caused my face and arms to burn and tingle like a sunburn.  No other symptoms, just burning and tingling for most of the day.  I took a Benadryl in case it was something allergy related.  Then I got in the car for an hour and 15 min drive to go pick up the baby birds.  Note to self - don't take Benadryl and try to drive.  Not safe.

My rear end is bruised.

I have to start working out.  I'm back to pre-baby weight but I'm jiggly.

Colonial Williamsburg made me feel very patriotic and Montecello inspired me like crazy.

I'm finishing up the Beth Moore study on James.  Two words - Do it.  It rocked my world and it will rock yours.

I'm watching America's Got Talent and this guy is playing an instrument made out of a baseball bat.  Weird.

That's all I've got tonight folks.  I'm going to go nurse my sore backside.