Happy Easter Y’all!

Dying Eggs.

Down on the Farm

Yesterday, we made the short journey to Whiffletree Farm for a fun little event called “Yolks & Folks.” My coworker, Thais, suggested that all of us baby mamas take the little ones to the event, and it was so great to see everyone, especially the ones who no longer work with us! The owner of the farm actually went to high school with me, though he was a couple of years older! He raises many animals such as grass-fed beef, chickens, pigs, and turkeys with no “genetically modified ingredients.” Many of our local restaurants offer his meat regularly as well!

We arrived at the farm midway through the event and started roaming around to see some of the animals. Jackson was really enamored with this lone brown cow, and was screaming “MOOOO!!!” at her.  He also tried to entice her with rocks for snacks, and at one point tried to climb under the fence – only avoided by me grabbing his ankles at the  very last second!

 

Jackson later happened upon an unoccupied wagon, and started pulling it along, until some mean old big kids came and stole it from his hands 😦

They thought it was pretty funny – as evidenced in the above photo. Luckily, we found another wagon a few minutes later, and all was right with the world.  Meaning, Jackson didn’t do a single other activity for the remainder of the afternoon, but pulled his wagon around, and of course, pulled his friends in it as well:

Diego had a ride!

So did Alex!

We also hung out with Ben:

And the baby of the bunch, sweet Caleb 🙂

It’s really a funny phenomenon that all of us just decided to have babies at the same time (except Caleb’s mama – she just saw how much fun we were having and needed a boy too!) and all had boys! Jackson is the oldest, born in April 2011, followed by Ben & Diego in May and June and Alex in September – Caleb came along in September of 2012. I’m just glad that Jack has so many cool boys to grow up with, all of which have even cooler mamas 🙂

At the end of the day, when we decided to leave, Jackson was very upset to go, and started having a tantrum screaming “I WANT MY WAGON!!!!!!” the entire way to the car. 🙂

1. Good Morning

2. You are Scaring me…

3. Tantrum

4. Cute

5. “Behave.”

6. Cute x 2

These were taken at a really absurd hour of the morning on Thursday while we were getting ready for school (him) & work (me). He was being extra cute and silly, and I didn’t want to miss out on the moment.  He decided after starting to eat his apples, however, that it was time to be serious and told me to “behave.” I was speechless for at least a full minute ;).

I am having a really hard time believing that one month from today, this little guy will be two years old.  I say it all the time, but it really is unbelievable how it feels like he has hardly been here, but has been here all along at the same time. One thing is for certain, though the past two years have flown by, they sure have been the greatest couple years of my life.

Two seems so big to me. Like he really isn’t a baby anymore.  In fact, he points to kids that are 6 months younger than him and says “Baaaabbyyyyy!!!!’ And his language skills are nuts all of a sudden.  He is literally communicating and able to carry on a full conversation.  I will ask what he did at school and he will tell me that he read books, rode on the buggy, and played outside with his friends.  My mind is blown daily. Just tonight, he realized that Zac (btw, he totally only calls him Zac now, daddy who?) was on the phone with Grandpa, and he held his phone up to his year and emphatically stated “I talk it!” and proceeded to have a full conversation wtih him about how he played with his trucks all day. 

The next month will be spent feverishly preparing for a birthday party, attending baby/bridal showers, AND taking a business trip to Georgia. I’ll be busy, to say the least, but while we are closing in on two years with our adult-child, I couldn’t be more excited looking towards the future to see what this little guy has in store for us – except the tantrums…he can leave those at the door!

fourpiecenugget:

Cutest kids on the block, honestly. We always enjoy our dates with Christy and J! A little thrift store shopping and Chipotle eating.

Totally the cutest.

Going to dinner with @jacklynvirginia & friends to celebrate her baby BOY!!!!!

Hubby hired me a painter to paint my entire house tomorrow (we are getting ready to sell!)…I could kiss him all day for this!

Viejo San Juan!

I know that this blog is typically about all things Jackson & parenting, but sometimes I can’t resist a post about things unrelated.  Things that are a big deal. Early this week I traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a conference. (Yes, I work for the most awesome company!) I have a colleague who is from Puerto Rico, so she was able to give me some amazing tips on places to see on my downtime from the conference (which dismissed at 3 PM, leaving plenty of daylight for seeing the sights!).

I touched down on the island around 1:30 PM local time on Sunday.  The weather was gloriously sunny and 85 degrees – a nice change from 30 degree Virginia.  Upon arrival at the airport, I hightailed it over to my hotel to check in and see what was nearby.  The Sheraton Old San Juan is situated right next to the cruise terminal, giving an expansive view of the harbor and ships.

The streets of Old San Juan were filled with tourists on Sunday – hundreds of people jumped off of their ships, eager to take in the historical part of the island.  I did some walking, and the first thing I noticed were the lovely blue cobblestone streets. Throughout the entire town, you feel the uneven blocks beneath your feet and see the grayish blue hues peeking up at you, giving the illusion that the ocean hasn’t quite ended at land.

Something about this city was so very…San Francisco to me.  Maybe it was the hilly terrain, or the way the buildings were lined up. The pastel colors or ornate balconies, windows, and doors adorning the homes. Maybe it was just because I love SF so much, and it is also surrounded by water and rich with history.

After a long morning of travel and an afternoon of exploration, I went back to the hotel to rest up for the conference. Monday morning I headed downstairs to begin my work and am happy to say that I learned a LOT from this workshop, and I think it will come in handy. Towards the end of the workshop, the power suddenly went out and backup generators kicked in…until they went out too. Being that it was pitch black in the ballroom where we held our meeting, we wrapped it up for the day a bit early.  I took advantage of the opportunity to see what Old San Juan has to offer. The city provides free trolleys for tourists and residents to get around the area. 

I hopped on and made my way to my first stop – the Castillo San Cristobal. This place was a huge fortress situated on the coast, providing crazy views of not only the coastline, but the city as well. To reach the top, where the views are, you travel through a dark tunnel, complete with dungeons and dim lighting, opening up to a stone beauty that kind of reminded me of Ancient Rome for some reason.

At the top there are ancient lookouts, including a World War II lookout providing panoramic views of the water

Atop the Castillo San Cristobal, I could see clear up the coast: La Perla Slum, San Juan Cemetery, & El Morro included. I decided to walk the remainder of the way – it is my favorite way to experience a city, after all.

First up was the La Perla Slum.  I had read a bit about the slum online, and it was highly cautioned that tourists NOT enter the area. I heeded the warnings and snapped a few photos from afar. 

While it was a slum – if I had to pick one in the world to live in, it would probably be one on a beach like this. Just past La Perla, El Morro & the San Juan Cemetery stood in the distance.  The cemetery has been around since the 1800s and is marked with a very Grecian looking pink dome. As far as cemeteries go, it was probably the most beautiful I have ever seen:

 

The cemetery lies at the bottom of the lawn of Castillo del Morro. I was probably the most excited about El Morro, as I had heard so much about the fortress.  The lawn provides a place for people to fly kites on a clear day. There were SO many kites.  It was lovely. 

Once you trek up the massive hill and enter the fortress, you are pleasantly surprised by bright yellow walls with contrasting white trim in the main portion of the fort.

This place was MASSIVE, and had amazing views of the coastline as well.  The stone of these fortresses are so weathered, giving them such unique beauty, and when I think about the things that these ancient walls have seen, I am immediately intrigued – lost to the potential scenarios in my head. It has been around since 1539. FIFTEEN THIRTY-NINE!!! Old & very charming. Fun fact: the USA’s first shots fired in WWI were done from El Morro.

After leaving El Morro I walked back to the hotel, but not before happening upon a very old church – Iglesia de San Jose, which was built in 1532. It also held the entombed body of Ponce De Leon for 300 years until it was moved to the San Juan Cathedral, where he still rests.

I spent the remainder of the trip at the workshop and trying to get an earlier flight home to beat the snowstorm (successful!). I was rather impressed that I could get around and SEE so much within a 3 hour time span.  I highly recommend that you just walk around if you are ever in Old San Juan.  I love old things, and I love history – and this place is packed with both.