Weekend Fun!

We had a really busy weekend May 16-17! Started Saturday morning with pictures for Baseball, then we had a baseball game and then off to 6 hours of Relay for Life. I didn't actually bring a camera to Relay which turned out to be a good thing - we had one "go inside" warning at dinnertime - storm coming - turned out it was just black clouds and a light show but no rain. Then around 8:45 - another warning. Shelby and I decided to pack it in which turned out to be a good idea. This storm wasn't a false warning - it was a good spring storm. The event ended up being canceled around 11pm.

Then Sunday! I had promised to take Shelby fishing and despite having WAY too much work - we went. It was cold (ok - 60) and overcast and very windy but we went. Turns out that sort of weather makes for great fishing (who knew?). Shelby caught a ton of fish (little fish - don't know what they were) at Locust Shade. We also got a little lesson about the food chain reinforced.

A little boy came down to the lake and dropped a baby duck (white feathers coming in but still covered in baby down) in the water. We thought maybe he had taken the baby from the water and the baby was looking for its parents. We named it Peep-E in honor of the racket it was making. It swam right over to us and Shelby was even able to pet it before it tried to bite her!

So we found a Park Ranger on our way out and asked about orphaned wild animals. The very nice Park Ranger informed us it was probably a dumped Easter duck and that, well, some fox or eagle would be having a nice dinner.

Shelby basically said - poor Peep-E - part of the food chain. That was the end of that! Of course, on the way home, the car in front of us hit a woodpecker that managed to fly off in to the woods near Quantico. Gotta love life lessons.

Pony Rides!

We have had a crazy day today! Our friend Neva had her birthday party today and her surprise visitor was a miniature horse named Danny. Shelby got a brief ride before we had to run off to our baseball game. Thanks to our friend Colleen, we have a little bittie video of her ride.

Swim, Swim, Swim

So no pictures, but Shelby had swimming lessons today - just by herself with a substitute coach but she swam 50 yds of backstroke today! We had a very brief pause at the wall in between laps but she did it! I am not sure it would have qualified during a swim meet and it wasn't what anyone would call FAST but hey!!!! 50 yds when you are only 3.5ft tall.

A Trip to the Driving Range

Shelby got to visit one of her favorite places for the 2nd day in a row on Sunday. Dave and I took her down to the local driving range where she informed Dave that we would be getting two large buckets of balls. Dave laughed but we ended up buying two! We saw two groundhogs on the range which watched carefully while Dave tried to hit them with golf balls. The groundhogs were more than safe!

Daddy Gets a New Toy but Shelby May Like it More!

Dave bought Captain Phil's old John Deere (which mostly looks like it just rolled off the assembly line) and I am pretty sure Shelby thought Santa Claus had come a little early. She was SO excited to help mow the lawn (she tried the old push mower last week and lasted just two swipes!). As you can see from the look on her face, Dave probably will never get to go back to the solitude of mowing the lawn by himself!

Mudcats Basball Begins!

The Mudcats took on the Raptors (ok - really - not so much took on as were on the same field - hahaha) this morning at 9am. The kids had a great time and Shelby even got an out with a great throw by her friend Luke. Daddy, Uncle Ryan (her friend Reilly's Dad) and Coach Bird did a great job with the kids... You can see more from the game at www.wllmudcats.com and click on our photo albums. Only 15 more games to go!!

Baseball Practice Starts!

Shelby is playing Little League baseball this spring. This is her 3rd season of t-ball but her first with Little League. Her team is the Carolina Mudcats (the poor t-ball kids get the farm league names!). The season starts on April 17 - should be interesting!

Acting Class

Shelby is taking acting classes - which she loves! This is a little snippet from some things they did on parent observation day.

Happy Birthday Mamie - Part II

Luke - the youngest of the great grandchildren (almost 2) can't be bothered to perform on command. So here are so clips of him.

Happy Birthday Mamie!

Our grandmother (Shelby's great grandmother) is celebrating her 89th birthday tomorrow. We were lucky to make it up to her birthday last year but it was not to be this year! So the great grandkids have sent their birthday wishes.

Snow Days Part II

We finally got some reason snow this winter - in MARCH! It started snowing Sunday night - the kids a baseball camp were totally out of control - snow sickness or something. We woke up Monday morning - it was coming down in buckets (at least for DC it was buckets). We spent quite a long time shoveling (not very well according to Dave who was at work!) and then went sledding. Shelby had a great time on her inner tube!

It's Snowing!

The news finally had snow in the forecast when Shelby went to bed last night. The first measurable snowfall of the year. At 7:30am she woke up and the roads were covered! Hurray. I managed to hold her off until 8:30 before she was allowed to get dressed and head out in the back yard with the dog. The snow isn't right for snowballs but she did get most of the deck shoveled off! More to come later - will try to go sledding later today.