So, it has been roughly 6 months since I have posted anything substantial. Since then I have been keeping a running list of things that we've been doing. Originally I thought this list would be pretty short and I'd be back online within a couple months, but I was wrong.
Now, here I am... giving you a very breif update of all the events that have taken place in Jude's life over the past 6 months. I still am not able to put all the photos up, but if you check back to this post in the next couple months, they might be added. But really, I'm throwing this list out for my own sake, so that ten years from now, I won't look back and wonder "what happened in that six month period of time?". After today, I will be moving on to more current events, photos, etc.
Around mid-May, the Kennedy clan got active. We spent a ton of time at local parks. I would go for a jog, Ryan would play basketball, we'd toss the baseball around, let Jude scale playgrounds and just enjoy the weather. Once things got too hot, our trips to the park really tapered off, but it really was a lot of fun while it lasted.
Aside from that, Jude and I did a mini-playdate with Jude's friend Ava to "grandma's attick" in Wilmington. It's essentially a large room full of varius toys that Jude and Ava had full reign of.
Our STAY-cation:
Towards the end of May, Ryan and I took some time off of work. We did a good old-fashioned stay-cation. The vacation started with my crossing some stuff off my 101 list by having a yardsale and playing in the rain followed by dinner at Texas Road House.
Also, while on vacation, Ryan did a little work around the house while Barbie and I took our munchkins to a local park for a nature walk. I also took advantage of Ryan being home and went up to a local photography studio to order some of Jude's 1 year photos. We hung out around Wilmington afterwards and lazied the day away.
Ryan and I love trips to DC, so going to Washington was another event we planed for our stay-cation. We all got to see Ford's Theatre for the first time, checked out the Whitehouse from the distance, had lunch on the green of the mall and took a long walk to the Jefferson Memorial.
Thursday of that week, we decided to take a day trip to the beach. We had french fries for dinner (even Jude!), walked along the boardwalk and spent a little time in the Rehobeth Library.
Friday, was the most memorable part of the vacation. Ryan had his much anticipate "beach day in the driveway". We had sand, baby pools, drinks and just a really relaxed atmosphere to end the work-week portion of vacation.
Since it was Memorial Day weekend, we still had some more days off ahead. We went to a close friend's wedding, spent some more quality time at the park and then spent a big chunk of time on Memorial Day at a friend's house for dinner and swimming.
In Addition to Our time off work, I have kept busy in a number of other ways with Jude the past few months. We have done Cherry Picking, went to the Herr's Factory Zoo Day, spent time at the Brandywine Zoo and took Jude to his second Phillies game. We spent even MORE time at local parks taking small hikes and indulging in little picnics with just me and the sunshine of my life. I joined Barbie and one of her mom groups for a ride aboard the Wilmington and Western Railraod, went to see the 4th of July fireworks, walked through Tyler's Arborium and went to Jude's second Delaware City Day which - as always - ended with the most amazing firework display.
On a hot and sticky day we went to Ashland Nature Center, spent lots of time at my grandparent's pool and even took an over-night trip to the bay with Meghan.
Ryan and I also had events that were not totally Jude related. We had a big night out and went to see one of our now-favorite singers Jack Johnson in concert. I also threw a bridal shower at my house and have since been a big part of my brother and his wife's wedding and bachelor/bachelorette parties.
But of course a majority of my time is with Jude. Doing things to enrich his life. Things like the Delware Museum of natural History, Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Hagley Museum, Iron Hill Park and Museum and even a lunch concert. But it's not all serious. We also got to even more local parks, dipped into some Woodside Creamery Ice Cream, visited the animals at Milburn and explored Fort Delaware!
In September (yes, we are finally through the summer at this point!) our little family headed back to Washington DC and took a much anticipated tour of the Whitehouse (short, but interesting and something worth bragging about!). We also saw the Korean war memorial as a sort of "shout out" to my poppop who we had lost only weeks before. And of course, since I was on a bit of a dinosaur kick (what? Jude seems to be into them!) we strolled through the Natural History museum before heading home.
Leading into the fall, we were able to do pumpkin picking, a fall trip to the zoo with Jude's toddler friends, a kid's (and later adult - were I got to let loose a little) Halloween party, Trick or Treating, and a few birthday parties for all of his friends who turned two the past couple of months. October's adult Halloween Party also marked the first night I spent away from Jude - one can say Jude had his first big sleepover at his g-pop's.
All of these day trips and activities have been taking place in between more regular things like Jude's Toddler Music Classes at the University of Delware, Library Story time, Stroller Roller Nature program and his Itty Bitty Sports program through a local sports complex. As some of these programs are coming to a close for the cool winter months, we will likely be moving a lot of our free time indoors.
As almost a cap to all of this, Jude and I recently went to New York for the day with a few of our friends and spent the day browsing toy stores, gazing at the Rockefeller tree, visiting Macy's Santaland and just taking in the sights. We were able to cross more off my 101 list by taking the trip on the train! It was truely and fun-filled day!
While the list of things above seems almost chaotic, it has been an amazing past few months! Jude has learned so much and grown tremendously! While I look forward to our much more relaxed winter, a little piece of me is just itching for Spring and the awakening of all the same types of activities!
This is not in any way a comprehensive list of everything that we have done, but a large majority of the events that I remembered to write down. I can't wait to share photos to see how Jude has grown over the past six months.
7 comments:
Jeeze, Supermom! I have such a hard time finding fun new places to take Matthew during the day. Where did you hear about the nature and sports programs? Those are just the kinds of things I was hoping to get Matt involved in during my time at home before I go back to work next year. That's great that you're able to stay so active with Jude -- Sometimes I struggle just to get out of the house to the grocery store! lol
Alicia, a lot of the programs we get involved in I find from a number of resources:
1. New Castle County's web page has an activities page. There are all sorts of programs that are sponsored by the county like crafts, story times, etc.
2. Another helpful page is the library home page. They have a lot of info on story times. Specifically one we attend (or attended regularly until our nature program stole that time slot) is a music and moves story time at the bear library on Monday mornings. It's free.
3. Another page I frequent is the Delaware state parks pages. They have TONS of nature programs! Monday mornings is the one we go to at Bellevue. It's 3 dollars/family and is at 11 o'clock. If you decide to ever go, let me know! It'll be happening every week through the winter. They only stop this program during the summer when they have summer camp (another thing you can look into). Other things they have on the state park pages are the lunch concerts (summer time), Nautre Babies (saturday mornings, once a month) and things like hayrides, tours, etc.
4. I also find stuff in some of those "free local magazine" things... kind of like spark but for families, not drunk collage kids. The itty bitty sports program was advertised in there. It's a 6 week program offered through Kirkwood Soccer Club. While it was advertised in there, I didn't hear about it for the first time there. Jude has a fascination for balls and so, I wanted to find a sports program he could get into, so I searched online for all the sports organizations in DE and Kirkwood was the only one that offered something.
So, basically any of those stupid magazines you get, before you toss them, just give them a quick lookin' through. I always find things for plays, family events, etc in them that I jot down the date for and if we're free, we can go to.
Also, like I said above, we do Milburn orchards (the farm portion is open all winter), museums (I've done a search before and have a page book-marked of all the museums in PA... I'm sure there's something similar for DE), parks and whatever else comes to mind.
We are pretty active with a group of moms and so the things I find paired with the things they find really gives us access to a lot of stuff going on around here.
OH! and finally... brandywinefamilybuzz.com (tell me if the address is wrong) it's a weekly e-mail news letter that they send out every Sunday with all the things going on in our area and the South East PA area. Sometimes it's a big flop, but there's occasionally some good stuff.
did you get a new laptop??
Barbie: no, my mom left hers here while she was on vacation (I'm such a user). So I'm enjoying unlimited access while I can!
also user her car, i see. mom should go on vacation more often, eh?
using*
I got a shout out!
Miss you,
-Meghan
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