The Virginia Trip was loads of fun!!

Here is my little princess, Kara! She wanted a Princess Mega Castle for her 4th birthday and here she is at the entrance to her castle!

Here is her little brother, Ryan. He is so cute! And a DEFINITE 2 year old! But I get such a kick out of him!Here we are inside the Princess Mega Castle! We look "pink" because of the fabric. But we were having a great time playing inside the castle. To give you an idea of how large this is, the entire family was able to sit inside comfortably and play with Legos and blocks. I had a ball this entire trip! We did a lot of watercolor painting together, playing with the Thomas the Tank Engine cars and trains, watching lots of movies about Dora the Explorer, Thomas and Little Einstein. Next trip I think Grandma is going to send a box of dress up clothes and we will have a dress up show for mom and dad! My daughter-in-law, Laura, does some volunteer work in her community. She is keeping records and checking on the bluebird population around their home. Laura took me with her to see the bluebird houses and check on nests. She records all this information in a binder and it is reported to the Bluebird Society in Virginia. There is some concern that the bluebirds nesting habits are being disrupted by other more agressive birds. These birdhouses keep those birds out and allow the bluebirds to nest without being bothered by larger birds.

Here is a peek inside one of the nesting boxes. You can see mama bluebird sitting on her nest. I was surprised that the bluebird didn't fly away when Laura tapped on the box before she opened it.The bluebirds also nest in the paper boxes below mailboxes in this community. The volunteers and the coordinator put wire screens on the front of the paper box with a hole that will allow only the bluebird to enter. Laura cleaned out the nest in this box because it had been abandoned. But we did find another nest that had a recent hatchling in it and the mama bluebird was nearby waiting for us to leave so she could feed her baby -- which she did after we backed the car up and watched her enter the paper box.

On Saturday the family birthday party was held with all grandparents in attendance including a great-grandmother! Kara's grandpa, Poppa, got her this pretty princess outfit. She loved it! Here are Kara's slippers! She actually got pretty good at walking in these before I left. But they are hard to walk in -- even little Ryan was trying to walk in them! Too cute!! And, hard to believe she requested a Spiderman cake!

Laura baked the cake, Dan frosted it and Grandma put on the words and web, Laura put on the red spots and the Spiderman decorations. A real family project! Kara loved it!It sure was yummy!!