Costco Days

Really?

Costco isn't THAT boring is it?

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha

Now that we're now somewhat settled out here, it was time to make Dr. & Dentist appointments for everybody.  The dentist came first & we found an awesome pediatric dentist office in Newport News.  I was amazed at how great these guys were.  They took ALL MY KIDS back at the same time & had 5 technicians cleaning their teeth at once.  1 hour is SO MUCH BETTER than 4 or 5 in a dentists' office.

Not only did they do a great job (5 kids & NO cavities), but they had so many things for the kids to look at, touch, & play with.

Lorien liked brushing the dragon's teeth.

Craiger was fascinated with their fish tank.

And Taya wanted to be a dental tech herself.

It was a great experience for everyone.  Bladen screamed for 10 minutes when we first got in there, but once he saw Craiger getting his teeth cleaned without crying he decided he'd be okay.  They actually had a lot of fun & came home with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, & bouncy balls.

It was great.

Trek's 34th Family Birthday

The girls had an early out school day on their daddy's birthday so as soon as they walked through the door they started decorating like crazy.

Lorien was in charge of the BLUE streamers.  You can totally tell by the decorating that Lorien did it.  

ha ha ha.

Cadence was in charge of the RED streamers.  She made a cute red curtain leading into the kitchen.

(You can see it in the background of Lorien's blue decor.)

I bought some balloons for Trek when I was out running errands that day.  I even got balloons with a 3 & a 4 on them for 34 years old.

As soon as he walked through the door, the kids jumped out at him & yelled 

"SURPRISE!"

Trek opened LOTS of fun presents from family.

Home Depot Gift Card from my parents

Taya made him a streamer.
ha ha ha

 

Cadence & Lorien made him coupon books for him to use.

The kids & I got him a stereo system for his new car.

Justin & Cari got him a mini-speaker for his iPhone

Grandma K. always sends money in a card.
SO SWEET.

Mamoo send an AMAZING pirate card with $20
in the bottle.  SO COOL.

Craiger's favorite part of birthday parties is the 

CAKE 

He wanted a Ding Dong instead of the real cake.

I made Trek pizza for his birthday dinner.  As much as I HATE PIZZA, it is his favorite so I made him one with ALL the toppings he loves.

I was lazy this year with being preggo, barely moving, etc. so I bought a Cold Stone Cake for Trek's birthday instead of making my own.  The girls each picked a mix-in for the ice cream & wound up making an amazing cake.

Chocolate Cake, Chocolate ice cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Chocolate Shavings, & Oreo Cookies mixed in, with Chocolate Ganache on top & Reese's to decorate.  I thought it would be chocolate over-kill, but it was beyond FABULOUS.

Happy Birthday Trekkie.  I love you.

Trek's Birthday Breakfast

Man, I thought the end of Hostess was really going to ruin our birthday breakfasts, but I guess there's plenty of look-alike companies out there.  As it turns out, Little Debbie makes little round cake thingys that are identical to Ding Dongs.  Hooray for birthday breakfasts!

January 25th is Trek's birthday.  He's the first of a whole slew of birthdays in the Potter house.

(February is exhausting for me.)

But he's the first one that gets to enjoy all the benefits of having a birthday including the infamous Potter Birthday Breakfast.  I made him his very favorite:

biscuits & gravy, bacon, & a Ding Dong (I'm still calling it a ding dong)

Good Morning Birthday Boy.  You are 34 years young today.

34 years old!

We had a great morning.  Trek loves being surrounded by his family.  We had a lot of fun celebrating together before school/work.

Cadence's New Pet

I totally forgot to mention that Cadence got a fish tank for Christmas this year.  That meant that if she saved up her money, she could buy a pet fish so long as she took care of it on her own.

She saved up $30 & bought some gravel, water conditioner, fish food, & a beautiful large goldfish for her new tank.  She cleans the tank on her own every Saturday & the fish looks great.  (I really truly thought it would be dead after a week).  She's a great little mommy for her pet.

Also, Auntie Tylee sent Cadence a $15 gift card to Claire's for Christmas.  We were finally able to take her to a mall here where she spent her gift card on 4 new pairs of earrings.  Thank you Tylee for thinking of her.  She had a blast picking out the perfect earrings.

Jamestown Settlement

So for Martin Luther King Jr. Day we decided to take a mini-roadtrip to a historical site here near our home since it was a day off of work & school.  Cadence has been studying Virginia History like crazy lately for this big test she's been taking & she begged us to go to Jamestown since that's what the test has been on.  Jamestown, Williamsburg, & Yorktown are all BIG historical sites around here & they're all about 30 minutes away so we decided Jamestown would be fun.

They have what they call the Jamestown Settlement Museum out by where the ships actually came in back in 1607.  Just walking through the front door of the museum we knew we'd be back again & again with everyone who came to visit.  In fact, we wound up buying a year pass for everyone because we knew we'd need it.

There's a big museum & theater inside the building, but there's also 3 areas OUTSIDE that are hands on fun for kids.  We skipped the inside part & decided we'd come back & do that later.  The kids were full of energy & needed to run around so we went straight outside to see what we could find/learn.

We first stopped at the Pohawtan Village.  When the Virginia Company arrived on the shores of Virginia in 1607 with Captain John Smith in tow, they were met by the natives there. . . the Pohawtan Tribe.  You may have heard of the Pohawtan princess . . .

POCAHONTAS.

This museum was set up WONDERFULLY for kids.  We were met by a "Pohawtan" Indian maiden weaving a basket.  She showed the kids how to make rope out of grass & then weave it to make a basket.

Next we went in & out of each of the Pohawtan dwellings where they showed us how they smoked meats & cheeses & stored food.

Bladen just liked going in & out of the little doors.

Another Pohawtan woman taught the kids how to scrape the fur off of a pelt with a seashell in order to make the leather pliable enough to sew into bags, clothing, & other necessities.

The kids enjoyed running around the Pohawtan Village being little indians.

After we were done at the Indian Village, we made our way to the Jamestown Fort.

The kids enjoyed putting on the armor of the soliders in the Virginia Company.  They were surprised at how HEAVY it was.

Little Warriors

And Bladen found a gun.  He was in HEAVEN with all the
guns & cannons on the fort.

The kids took turns trying to carry 2 water buckets full of water from one house to another.  It was a LOT harder than they thought it would be.

  

We visited a few "homes" & then talked to the Blacksmith for a little bit where he taught the kids how to forge tools & swords using heat & hammers.  Then Bladen found a man with a gun (of course) & made us follow him across the fort to the firing range.  The man taught Bladen how to load the musket & let Bladen watch him shoot it.  It was LOUD, but Bladen especially loved how you could see fire come out of the front of the gun when it was shot.

We visited the fort church & the Governor's quarters as well as the barracks & the store.

The kids' favorite place was the armory. . . where they kept all the swords & guns.  (What is my kids' fascination with weapons?  SERIOUSLY!)  The soldier let each of the kids hold one of the swords while I carried on a long conversation with another soldier about the amazing trunks & woodwork chests they had in the building.

Looks like I found my weakness.  I have TONS of European antique furniture already, but now I want to get my hands on some early American antique chests & furniture.  Yikes.  Just what I need, another expensive collection.  ha ha ha.

The minute we parked our car, Bladen could see the 3 ships in the bay.  The entire time we were exploring he kept begging to go on the "pirate ships." 

It was time.  He was so excited he was jumping out of his skin.

The museum had replicas of the 3 ships that came across from England in 1607.  They actually let you go on them & run around & play with everything on them.

FUNNEST MUSEUM EVER.

The kids especially loved playing with the cannons on the lower decks.  Lorien loved pushing the wheel around to lower & raise the anchor & Cadence was a master at controlling the rudder.  Taya liked climbing in & out of the beds, & I just got seasick from the rocking boat.  ha ha ha.

After spending over 3 hours running around looking at everything, we were tired & decided to go home.  But the girls made sure they danced in the totems in the Indian Village for good luck before we left.

It was a great museum.  I'm SO glad we bought year passes.  We still need to explore the entire exhibit inside as well as the movie theater.  It was SO MUCH FUN & we learned a lot too.  I love places that teach my kids that learning can be fun.