{Staycation #2, Mud Fun, and Missing Toothfairies}

Man, am I behind with my blogging! Over the past five days or so I've been trying to post about some events in our lives, but I haven't been able to load my photos. It's been beyond frustrating. But what makes it even worse is what I just discovered: I was trying to upload a photo that was saved as a layered PSD file. If you digi scrap, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, it basically means I was trying to load a photo that is saved the total WRONG way! My own stupidity was the cause of my frustration all along!

So now that I figured out what was going on, I'm ready to tell you about some "schtuff".

A dear friend of mine, Amanda, told me about a staycation that she and her family took recently. It sounded like fun, so Cory and I decided to go check it out. The destination? The Old Bedford Village in Bedford, PA.

Old Bedford Village is a collection of almost 40 very old buildings that have all been donated and restored to "original" condition. (Read: Most are log, wood floor, and smelly.) Reenactors are located in a number of the buildings and will teach you about what life was like at that time. It was a little bit like Colonial Williamsburg. Here the girls are in one of the stores. I think this may be the candle-making store. This is the General Store and Post Office. You can still buy candy here, so the girls each enjoyed a chocolate Cow Tail.

There are all sorts of buildings here, everything from homes to schools, to a jail. This photo was taken in front of the two-cell jail. Wouldn't it be great to have one these in your backyard for those moments when the kids are driving you batty? "Go to jail!"

But then they have to go and look all cute and stuff. Like when they posed here in an octagon-shaped schoolhouse.

Sasha the teacher is busy with her instructions while the ornery student Clara tries to sneak away in the background.

In the bakery we enjoyed monster-sized cookies. They are actually baked right there in the old oven and are made with ingredients from "way back when". You can tell, too. They don't taste like cookies of today!

There is a big church that is actually very pretty inside. It may still be used today. I don't know for sure.

One of the last stops was a tailor's shop. But the real attraction was the rooster sitting on a barrel on the front porch.

Old Bedford Village is a really interesting place to go if you are into history. Cory and I enjoyed it and the girls liked parts of it, but they definitely didn't think it was an awesome trip. Musty smelling old buildings don't hold quite so much appeal for the younger set. But if you have time, visit the Village and then go on the covered bridge tour. There are some incredible bridges in Bedford that make awesome photo backdrops!

The next day we headed to Cory's parents' house for a cookout. Just as we finished eating, the clouds rolled in and the rain started to fall. We got everything inside just in time, and then we all ended up sitting on the porch watching the rail fall hard. I'm talking buckets and sheets of rain. The kids tried all they could to get wet. I was adamant that they NOT get wet because we had to drive home and didn't have extra clothes. So they stretched their arms and legs out under the roofline and got splattered as much as they could without getting soaked.

Enter my boneheaded husband. As soon as the rain subsided, he quietly got up, motioned for the kids to follow him, and headed out the gate to the backyard. I knew immediately what he was going to do.

The yard is sloped in such a way that when it rains a little stream with lots of puddles forms. Do you see where this is going?

The whole time Cory and the kids were walking, I was yelling for them to stop. I just knew what was about to happen, and I also knew that the girls were wearing brand new clothes. Sasha happened to be wearing her absolute favorite WHITE shirt. Uh-oh.

Yeah, it was a kid's paradise and a mother's nightmare. Sasha, Clara and Jude had the time of their lives marching through the little stream, running and jumping in the puddles, and becoming absolutely covered in rain, mud, and . . . um . . . all the run-off from the barn that sits just above the yard. Do you get what I'm telling you? There is COW POOP in this water, people!

The kids didn't care. They just wanted to make the yard a big slip and slide.

And every time a big splash like this was made, Cory would double over laughing. I could see that he was itching to run and jump, too.

When it was all said and done, the kids were beyond any kind of filth you can possibly imagine. But they were happy!

We marched them straight to the shower with their clothes on to try to get as much of the gunk off as we could. Then they stripped in the shower and their MeMe soaked their clothes in soapy water. All three kids had to go home wearing one of their Pap's barn shirts that were HUGE on them, but so darn cute.

And wouldn't you know it? All the gross dirt came out in the wash! Yay! I suppose this was one of those moments a kid remembers forever because it was naughty fun. The mess was worth it, I suppose.

Finally, I have the tale of the Missing Toothfairy to share with you.

Sasha has had a wobbly front tooth for months. For about three weeks, that sucker was so loose she could move it so it was almost completely horizontal in her mouth. I kept thinking it HAD to come out soon; it could only be hanging on by a thread! But it held on in there for three long weeks before it finally came out last week. I think we were ALL happy to not have to watch that thing twist and turn every time Sasha talked or ate!

So just like we did with her other lost teeth, we cleaned the tooth and put it beside her bed for the Tooth Fairy.

Imagine my horror when I awoke the next morning to the sound of Sasha crying that the Tooth Fairy didn't come. AAAACCCKKKK!!!! How could I forget? What kind of mother am I? After consoling Sasha and telling her the Tooth Fairy must have been busy, Sasha calmed down and got on with her day. That night the Tooth Fairy left her money and a new Fancy Nancy book. Her note explained that there were lots and lots of kids who lost their first tooth and she simply couldn't get around to everyone. Sasha was happy with that and all is well.

Parents, take it from me. Always make it a priority to play Tooth Fairy before you get too tired and forget. This is a mistake you do NOT want to make!

I'll be back soon to post some other updates - lots to share including my princess's 4th birthday party!