After traveling through Pennsylvania Dutch country, we continued to head East towards the coast.  Our next destination was Ocean City, Maryland.

Now I will be the first to admit that when it comes to beaches, we are spoiled in the South with the Gulf, but there is something about the Atlantic Coast and it’s boardwalks that I love.  It makes me feel like I have just stepped into a movie or something.  I just need The Drifters playing their hit in the background, and the illusion is complete for me.  Edie, on the other hand, didn’t even need any Motown.  She was moved just by watching the street vendors.  When she came upon some techno music outside a body piercing establishment, she let the beat overtake her and spontaneously decided to put on a show.

This video also includes footage of Roark’s first beach experience which explains why their is only a little bit of beach footage.  He refused to behave and kept insisting that he wanted to play in the sand.   Despite my manhandling and trying to keep him out of it, he somehow managed to get sand all in his diaper or as I always say, in his nooks and crannies, and then decided that he was done for the day.  Edie had a blast at the beach like she does most places, but unfortunately for her, it’s still going to be several years in our future before Roarkie is ready for the sand and sun.

Ok, so I’m a day late on our Monday video post, and I actually have a very good excuse as to why I didn’t post yesterday.  It was my birthday, and I didn’t feel like it.  So there.

When most people travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they go to see the beautiful countryside with Amish farms and windmills, but not us.  We drove right through all of that and set up camp at Edie’s most favorite place on earth-Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park.  There were no horse and buggies or children in bonnets and caps, but there was a princess and a dragon and about a zillion rides all geared towards children age six and under.

To read more about our day (yes, we only spent one day at Dutch Wonderland…one very full day), you can read the post here.

Well, it isn’t a family vacation video, but it’s a video nonetheless.  And without building it up too much, it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

Last September, Edie began taking dance classes at a local dance studio near our house.   She’d really been enjoying it and having a good time, and I really enjoyed the fact that it was very little inconvenience to me.    None of this driving-kids-across-town, several-nights-a-week nonsense.  This was  a low-commitment, low-cost activity that she could participate in.  She was happy.  I was happy.

Then about two months ago, all her friends started talking about the wonderful world of soccer.  Soccer, soccer, soccer! Everywhere we turned someone else we knew was playing soccer.  So about a month ago, she announced that next year she wanted to play soccer instead of dance.

“Whatever you want, ” I said. “But I’d wait to make that decision until after your recital.”  Let’s face it – I know my kid, and at even at age four, the girl loves a stage.  I had a feeling that after her recital, she might forget all about that soccer idea.

It could just be me.  Watch the video, and then tell me if you think I’ll be spending my Saturdays next year at the soccer field.  Enjoy!

After driving almost 1,000 miles and listening to Roark fuss for about 750 of them, we finally arrived at one of the biggest waterfalls on earth.  That’s right, Niagara Falls.  We actually stayed in northern New York because we didn’t want to drive the motorhome over the border.  Oh I’m sure real RVer’s do it all the time, but for this trip, that was not on the agenda.  After all, putting on a Maid of the Mist poncho in that wind was enough of a feat for one day without inviting customs in to tour our motel on wheels.

In rained most of the morning, so we were RV bound for a good part of the day, but eventually the sun came out.  And so did we.  Since we towed a car, we were able to drive into Canada in the afternoon and spent the evening in one of the biggest tourist traps known to man.  To read more about our day at the falls, go here.  To watch a video of our day…well, you know what to do.  Enjoy!

Well, it’s time for another video!  I know you have been waiting all week to see footage of the next stop on our cross-country adventure.  Well, wait no longer!  When we last left off, we were leaving our friends’ in Floyds Knobs, Indiana and heading further north.  Our ultimate destination was Niagara Falls, but we had one more stop along the way before we reached that goal. We traveled through Ohio’s Amish country, even made of couple of wrong turns along the way, but we eventually arrived at our landing spot for the evening-Berlin, Ohio, or more importantly, the Holmes County Fair complete with pigs, carousels, and funnel cakes.

Again, to read the vacation journal regarding our evening with tractor pulls and livestock, go here.  Otherwise, enjoy the show!

I’m not fooling myself.  There are a handful of people that periodically come to this blog, maybe even read some of the entries from time to time, but I know what you are really looking to find.  You put up with my ramblings about my kiddos, maybe even enjoy the pictures a little bit, but what you’re really hoping to see is that Ken has posted a new video.

The truth doesn’t hurt my feelings.  I love the videos too, and I have enjoyed watching him over the past several months as he has been editing away on our vacation footage.  If you have been a guest in our house during this time, I’ve probably even forced you to watch them.  And if you haven’t, well, now it’s your turn.

For those of you who are new to the blog, or like my sweet husband, just can’t remember what you ate for breakfast, here’s a little reminder:

Last summer we borrowed my parents’ motor-home, loaded up the kids, and spent two weeks on a road trip across this beautiful country.  We started in our great state of Alabama and headed north through Tennessee until we hit our first stop:  Elizabethtown, KY, to see the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

From Abe’s house, we moved on through Kentucky, and finally pulled into the lovely town of Floyds Knobs, Indiana where we visited with some old friends for the night.  For my travel log and more info on our first stop, click here.

As for the vacation videos, to watch the video in it’s entirety is somewhat of a time commitment, so we have decide to post segments of the video every Monday over the next several weeks.  Here is the first installment.  Enjoy!

A few days before Christmas, Roark took his first steps, by which I mean, he started walking. When Edie was learning to walk, she took a couple of steps one day, and then didn’t try again for weeks. Roarkie, on the other hand, decided one day that he was ready to walk, stood up, and started walking. He’s a determined little guy and has been practicing every day since. He’s to the point now that he rarely crawls anymore.

He reminds me of Maggie Simpson, and even though he falls about every tenth step or so, he gets right back up and keeps going. He is so proud of himself that as he walks towards me he’ll giggle and clap. It really is one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen, and I can’t help but kneel down and cheer him on with every clumsy step.

To celebrate Roark’s new skill, Ken made a new video. Enjoy!

During our cross-country trip this past summer, we stopped over in Ocean City, Maryland.  You can’t go to Ocean City without walking down the boardwalk.  So that’s pretty much what we did one evening.  This is Ken’s video of that night.

Before you watch, you should know that Edie’s dancing was completely spontaneous and on her own.  As she passed by a body piercing stand, there was music blaring, and she just couldn’t help herself.  She BECAME the music, and she just had to dance.  Lucky for us, Ken just happened to have the camera already rolling.  Enjoy!