Giraffes.. Come here!

One of the best parts about staying at my parents house other than just enjoying our time together was taking  the five weeks to explore.  On an abnormally warm December day, my Dad and I took the kids to the Philadelphia Zoo.  If you happen to be a stay at home mom or could spare a  random vacation day, I highly recommend spontaneously going to the zoo on a warmer than usual day.

So many of the animals were out and moving about.  We even saw the sloth climb a tree and if you know anything about sloths, they basically don't move.  We didn't have to wait in any lines or peak between others in order to get a good view.  Hands down- the best zoo trip I have ever been on!!!

The whole car ride and the day leading up to our zoo adventure Charlie kept saying he wanted to see the Gorilla.  He has had a long standing love for the idea of gorillas, but close encounters prove he is terrified of these amazing creatures.

I basically had to hold him there for the last picture.  Amazing how scared he was of the gorilla yet not of the lions.  I think he would have pet them if he was allowed.

Jocelyn was such a trooper.  She happily strolled throughout the zoo.  I can't wait for the day when she will enjoy seeing the animals too!

Sidenote- There will probably be lots of pictures in this hat.   It was a gift  from my Aunt Mary .  I absolutely love that it covers her little ears and it is adorable!

For Charlie, the highlight of the entire zoo trip was seeing the giraffes.  Hence the title of this post.  I think we may have sat in front of the giraffes for half an hour as Charlie continued to yell "Come here"

Longwood

Longwood Gardens is one of those places you are lucky to live by, but don't quite realize it until you move away.   For the last several years I have been to Longwood at Christmas time to see the lights.  Now with  our kids, I have been fortunate enough to visit at other times in the year.   In mid-November, the kids, my parents, and I went to Longwood to see the train display.

Charlie loved the Percy train.

Jocelyn's Baptism

On November 4, 2012, Jocelyn Ann Miller was baptized at Saint Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.  It is the same church that Kirby and I got married at as well as the same church Charlie was baptized at.  She is blessed to have two amazing godparents, Colin Hauck and Becky Miller.

I know she doesn't look happy here but she did happily snuggle in her Godfather's arms for about half an hour while Deacon Lynch was talking.

I wish this last picture was a happier picture of Jocelyn.  I wanted however to get a photo of her beautiful baptism gown.  This baptism gown was made by grandmother.  It was worn by my mother and her two sisters.  In its second generation it was worn by me, my sister, and my three female cousins on my mom's side.  Now Jocelyn is wearing it as the start of the third generation.  It makes me feel very proud.

We are thankful to all our family for joining and celebrating with us on this day!

This is it. Don't get scared now!

Oh my dear Kevin McCalister.  This is it.  And I am scared now!

The time has come for me to hold true to the very title of this blog.  It is time for me to learn to love Las Vegas.
But right now I must admit, I couldn't be further from it.

Saying goodbye was so much harder than I thought and I had no idea how much my heart would ache.  In college I was homesick at the start of my freshman year, but it pales in comparison to the emptiness my heart currently feels.  That, compiled with the guilt I am harboring for the friends I didn't even get to say goodbye too makes it hard to start loving this place.  Selfishly I wanted to soak up as much time with my family as I could.  So much so, that there are dear friends I didn't even get to spend time with before moving.

Before moving out here, we moved into my parents house for five weeks (which I have countless posts to write about).  My mom and I both said that living together would be great because at the end of the five weeks my parents would be ready to give us the boot and we would be ready to jump ship.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  Maybe it is simply because we knew it was only five weeks, but the love I already have for my parents grew ten fold and watching the relationships grow between my little loves and my parents was priceless. I will forever cherish this time.

So on December 30th we boarded the plane for Las Vegas.

We opted to take a night flight in hopes that the kiddos would sleep.  When we got on the plane Jocelyn was wailing!!  I heard the two young guys in front of us say ...."This is gonna be a long flight".  My worst fears of this flight were kicking in!  But in the end the flight went well.  Both Jocelyn and Charlie slept on and off during the plane ride which in the end turned out to be quite a bonus.  By the time we got the kids to sleep that night they both slept in until 7am the next day and it made for a smooth transition into a three hour time change.

Charlie definitely enjoyed the plane ride.  The last hour of the ride, Charlie was awake and happily announcing that people were sleeping.  He also thoroughly enjoyed gazing out the window at the stars.  When he did, he made his amazed face and then said "Grandpa".

He may have been all smiles but for me it sparked one of many sob sessions.  My other big sob session of the night is when I walked into our house.  Imagine walking into a place you are suppose to call home at midnight (3am time at home) having had very little sleep. Your in laws have already spent the past two nights sleeping in a place you have never laid foot in.  Imagine that your furniture is unpacked.  Your clothes are unpacked.  Your dishes are unpacked.  Someone picked up all your belongings and unpacked them in a new house.  I truly think I had my first panic attack as I locked myself in the bathroom.  My heart has never raced  so fast.

The kids, as expected are adjusting better than I.  Charlie has made requests to go to GrammieGrandpa's house so I know he is completely unaware of how far away that is.  But at least now when we are out driving and headed back, if I ask where we are going, he will say Charlie's house.  For this first five or six days he called it NannyPap's house.

Okay so I will try not to be too negative in my upcoming posts.  But this is my first post in Vegas so I'm allowed to vent, right?  Just one complaint and for me its a big one.  I had no idea that every grocery store from here to Timbuktu (in this case meaning an area that is nothing but desert) has slot machines.  I know gambling is legal here, but the grocery store- REALLY?  This one concerns me because I want to keep my little loves as sheltered from the craziness of the Las Vegas Strip as possible.  Holding fast to what I believe to be normal may prove to be more challenging than I expected.  While I have promised myself to embrace this new adventure, it is little things like slot machines in the grocery store that will one day lead me home.

There are other things I dislike, but I think I should focus more on the positives.  The biggest positive of all being that I am home with my little loves.  On January 2nd, when Kennett School District, resumed classes after the holiday break, I said extra prayers of thanks to God for giving me this opportunity to be a stay at home mom.
Another positive- the roads here are easy to navigate. No one way streets.  And it is clear as day so if I am on any type of elevated highway I know what landmarks to look for.  That's not to say that the navigation on my phone hasn't been my best friend this past week and half.
The layout of our rental house is absolutely perfect. The first floor is the garage and what has essentially turned into a guest bedroom and bath.  Visitors welcome!!!  The main floor is the kitchen/dining/family room.  A huge bonus for me- as I can now see my little loves while cooking dinner.  And the third floor has the master, the kids rooms and their bath.  It truly is an ideal place for us to rent right now.   The surrounding area reminds me of being in heart of Exton on steroids.  No joke- everything (with the exception of Wawa) is within a mile of our house.
And the last one for today- sports games are over here by 8 o'clock!  This might just be the best thing for my relationship with Kirby. HAHAHA!!!

I have so much more to write and so many old posts to write.  More coming soon!  We've been battling some major sleep issues with Jocelyn for the past several weeks but I think things may be taking a turn for the better which means more posts on the way!!!

Kirby's 30th

I want to preface this blog by saying I have an awesome husband.  For my 30th birthday we went to a Miranda Lambert concert at Hershey Park.  It was all a surprise.  And he even included my dearest friends.  Afterwards we all crashed at a hotel and then had breakfast together in the morning.  On my actual birthday we went to the Melting Pot, my favorite restaurant!
So although I know he had a fun weekend, I definitely owe him a big birthday celebration when life isn't so crazy!

 o

Jocelyn cuddling with her Daddy before the celebration
 

Ready to eat cake-- sometimes its just easier to be shirtless and thrown in the bath right after eating cake

 

Presents and Cake

 



The previous three pictures were all taken on Kirby's actual birthday, October 18th.  Quiet night at home consisting of dinner, birthday cake and presents.

The real celebration was to come that weekend.  Per Kirby's request, I needed to make sure we were with family and I chose something Charlie would enjoy doing.

PUMPKIN PICKING!

I'm not going to lie, I love picking season.  Apple picking then pumpkin picking and finally the Christmas tree (sadly we won't be doing that this year).  I decided we would go to the Marlborough Valley Corn Maze.  I thought Charlie might enjoy the goats and everyone else would enjoy the corn maze before we ventured off to pick pumpkins.   Once we arrived we found out we couldn't pick pumpkins because the pumpkin patch was too muddy from all the rain.  We decided to hang out and we would figure out the pumpkins later.

This is the whole crew minus Jocelyn and I since we were taking the picture.  And yes that would be Kirby's mom sporting a pumpkin costume.

 

 

 

Clearly I was wrong about Charlie liking the goats.  They were kind enough to let him feed them but Charlie was NOT interested.  And to his defense, I must say the goat in this picture looks possessed.

 

 

Hanging out with Tia Becky by the hay bails.  Kirby, Becky, Kendra, and John created a great game of chasing each while running on the hay bails.  The game won though- they were all out of breath!

 

It took Charlie a looooonnnngg time to finally feel comfortable in the corn box (like a sand box, only corn kernels).  And when we got home I found corn kernels hidden in his clothing, right down to his diaper!!

Although it was a bust picking pumpkins at the Marlborough Valley Corn Maze, I would certainly recommend going there.  We had a great time and if we had been able to pick our pumpkins it would have been perfect.   We departed and Kirby and the Dads went to go pick up lunch (and grab a beer) from Giordanos.  The rest of us left with the intention of getting our pumpkins from Landhope (for anyone not local reading this- Landhope is a gas station/mini mart- a far cry from a pumpkin patch) .   As we were driving we passed by Barnard Orchards. (This is where we picked apples in September.)   They had awesome pumpkins!!!!!!  SUCCESS!!  We brought them back to my parent's house, had lunch, and the carving contest began!

 



I love him dearly but  I never claimed him to be normal

Charlie and Jocelyn didn't get in on too much of the carving action because it was already past nap time.

We divided into four teams.  A pumpkin for each household.  And here are the masterpieces....

Which one is your favorite??

Best wishes to my hubby for a fantastic 30th year!!

Colorado visitors

 

(Warning- I am going back in a time about a month and a half. )

The weekend of October 13th Matt and Sarah came to visit.  It was the best welcome present for Jocelyn.  They flew in on Friday the 12th and we finally got to introduce Jocelyn to them.  In true Heck tradition we kicked things on with Friday night pizza at our house in Wilmington.  It didn't take Charlie long to warm up to Uncle Eagles and Boom Boom.

On Saturday we spent all day hanging out on Dean Drive. In further Heck tradition we played a game of SPUD.   I didn't get to play for too long because Jocelyn was boycotting her nap.  Way too much excitement happening to waste time sleeping. 
October is a big birthday month for us.  Matt's birthday is the 1st; Kirby's is the 18th; and Mike's is the 22nd.  So in celebration of all the birthdays we had a bonfire, cake and ice cream, and later in the evening some Irish Car Bombs.

On Sunday Matt, Sarah, Kirby and Grandpa all went to the Eagles game.  The rest of us hung back and made a feast for dinner. Here is Jill- hard at work!

We also spent hours going over the new kitchen design.  My parents are thinking about re-doing their kitchen (major renovation).  The Eagles game ended later than we had expected due to overtime.  So, after a few practice pictures we managed to get in one good family photo. (at the top of the blog)



On Monday Matt and Sarah came over for a little more quality time with Charlie and Jocelyn.  The kiddos and I then took them to the airport!  It was a fantastic weekend!