A Birthday, A First Day, and almost a Wedding!

Back to the grind! That's what it feels like in our house right now.  Weekends are suddenly very important and all of those summer adventures are a distant memory.

We were reminded of all of our summer fun recently when I went to program an address into our GPS and scrolled through the recently found addresses....Hawaii, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Antietam....it was bittersweet...but time moves on and the Rahns are getting ready for our next road trip, but first... two events that happened over the past week or so.

A Birthday:
Jack (the dog) turned 11 on Sept. 3 and because he is a four legged member of our family, we had to have a birthday party for him.  Last year, for number 10 we had a crazy party with about 20 people here.  This year, it was more of an intimate affair with just the immediate family.  We did go present shopping, and had to have candles for him to blow out.  Here are some pics of Jack's big day...

He and Don had to first share an ice cream cone!

Katie was reading him his card, before he got to open his presents.

He loved finding his presents!!!

Yep, "Seldom A Dull Moment!"  We don't do things simple in our house.....




Next event...A First Day!
The first day of school is an important time for everyone.  A fresh start, a new year, finding old friends....in our house because all of us get to experience the First Day fun....it can get a little crazy.  This year, Carleigh is in Fifth grade and loving every minute of it, and Katie is moving up the ranks in Third Grade. (Though she really wishes that she could catch up to Carleigh). 

    Fifth Grade.....Carleigh was excited to start the year with extra privileges, being the top dog at school and everything that comes with it.  Those extra privileges started on Day one as she was asked by our principal to be the "news anchor" for our school's closed circuit morning news show.  She, of course, jumped at the chance and, with two other students, did a great job of anchoring our morning news show (on TV, for the entire school to see) for the complete first week of school.  A rotating team of fifth grade students will be doing this all year, she was just the first.  I can't believe in one year, I will be sending her to the land of lockers, puberty driven adolescents, and middle school angst!  I'm not ready, but she already can't wait!!  They grow up TOOOOO fast.

    Third Grade....Katie is also off to a great start.  She is excited for the "big books - that you can't write in" and having an "agenda" (homework assignment book).  We were all very proud of Katie this year (including Katie) because every year since Kindergarten, she has had a hard time going back to school....crying for the first few days because she doesn't want to leave the fun of summer or the closeness of mommy and daddy.  This year, NO TEARS!!!!!  A little melancholy, but no official tears on school grounds!! Go Katie!

   Fourth Grade...Don and I are stuck in fourth grade again this year and slowly getting back into the routine.  It's very hard to transition back from being a stay at home mom, to full time working mom.  Those 9 weeks of summer allow me to enjoy my kids so much!  I truly appreciate every moment that I get to spend with the girls in the summer, even those too frequent arguments and statements of boredom.  I love teaching and look forward to my new "crop" every year, but the first couple of weeks are difficult as I try to remember when I did laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning.....Hopefully the next week will complete the transition and we will be back to our Rahn version of normal until June 22nd.

And finally...Almost A Wedding:
This weekend is "Get Ready for Wedding" weekend!  Next Friday at 6:00 a.m. the Rahnmobile will set the GPS for Alexandria Bay, New York (about 8 hours away) and we will be on our way to my cousin, Dave's wedding.  The girls were asked to be Junior Bridesmaids for this great event and are very excited.  This isn't just an ordinary "walk down the aisle of the church" wedding...nope it is being held on the grounds of Singer Castle, on the St. Lawrence River...a stone's throw from Canada.  Junior Bridesmaids in a wedding is big enough, but throw in a castle, a river, Canada, a fun hotel/resort, antique boats and there is a lot of excitement in our house right now!

Today I start packing for this event. I've been in back to school mode and need to transition to packing for vacation mode.....wish me luck!

Here is a pic of island with the castle, where the wedding will be held:

Chartered boats will take the guests and wedding party to the island for the ceremony, then the reception will be held at a resort on the mainland, with the Cocktail hour during the chartered boat trip back across the river.

And a close up of the castle...

The question is will Katie step up and be "big" enough to hang with the bridesmaids and ride the antique boat to the island, or will mommy be her right hand for the day?  Either way, it's going to be a great experience and a lot of fun!  

The dresses are a bright red (beautiful) with the girls holding a fall bouquet of flowers. My sister Patty is in charge of hair and makeup for the entire bridal party, so I know that they will all look beautiful.  Here's hoping for nice weather, lots of pictures and a pleasant road trip!

So there you go,  the Rahns are still as busy as ever and anticipating another travel adventure!  After the wedding, we will stay put until a possible November one night getaway.

Stay tuned for the wedding adventures.....

Let me explain "Lobster Day" - a primer for the clueless...

A photo of those in attendance for Lobster Day, 2010:

Seldom a dull moment, the theme of our lives here in Purcellville, was questioned about 9 years ago.  Katie was one week old.  It was a HOT day in early July - right after the 4th. Don and I were going stir crazy with a 2 year old, a one week old and a crazy dog.  We decided to leave!!

We couldn't go far....we packed up everything we would need for the day (which is a lot when you have a newborn) and headed southeast.  An hour later we were at my parent's house in Springfield; Rocky and Rina knew we were coming and greeted our carload of apparatus (for a day's visit) with open arms.

Prior to our arrival, as we were driving through Gilbert's Corner - taking the scenic route - Don announced that we would stop at the Great Maine Lobster truck that we had seen numerous times before on our travels.  Why?  Don't know...we were sleep deprived, it sounded like a good idea, and we needed to do something we hadn't done before. We pulled up and bought two huge lobsters, and a bag of oysters. Why? I hate seafood, Carleigh was 2 and wouldn't eat it, and Don had never really tasted, or eaten much of it either....but it sounded like a good idea.  Who knew.....9 years later.  It was a rather costly purchase, but we didn't care...

So I called my dad from the road, and explained the purchases we had just made and did he have the supplies and the know how to prepare this stuff?  Yes, yes and more yes were the replies....so we headed on.

The day in Springfield was the first relaxing day we had had since Katie was born. They had a baby pool for Carleigh, Jack was being taken care of, Don took a nap and I was able to just hang out with extra help for the baby.  Everyone had a great time.  Just us and my parents. Prior to preparing the dinner, we had the swimming of the lobsters.  We released them into the baby pool - Carleigh and Jack got a kick out of that. The Lobsters and the oysters were consumed by mom, dad and Don.  Hamburgers were put on the grill for Carleigh and I, and we all had a great dinner.

We left to drive home that night, after dark and felt refreshed and relaxed.  It was a great day and we remembered it for a long time.

So long, that we decided to recreate the day a year later.  Katie's one year birthday came and another hot July day.  We decided to do "Lobster Day" again.  This time, my sister and her husband came over to mom and dad's.  Another stop at Great Maine Lobster, another full day at Rocky and Rina's house.  This time there was more fun, and less relaxing.  Lots of silliness with Carleigh and Katie and lots of  family time.  Seafood for those that wanted it, and picnic food for the others.

A tradition was born! "Lobster Day" became our summer holiday.  It would be a day of gluttony!  Lots of food, seafood and picnic food for any that entered.  Silly games and activities would be included.  We basically stuck to family members - but over the years, the attendees have changed and the numbers have fluctuated.  Everyone looks forward to Lobster Day and over the years we have started accumulating decorations and apparel.

Lobster Day was offically the first weekend after Katie's birthday (unless the 4th of July was there).  We couldn't mingle Lobster Day with another holiday.

For the 3rd Lobster Day - we decided to organize a surprise Retirement celebration for my dad.  We invited my uncle and his family from Slippery Rock, PA to come down to surprise his brother.  It was a great Lobster Day - this time celebrated in Purcellville, with dual celebrations occurring.

The Slippery Rock contingent has been at every Lobster Day since! 

The Location of Lobster Day has changed over the years.  It is a summer holiday, but location is to be determined.  

One year, my sister had relatives in from Rhode Island for Lobster Day weekend...so she sponsored.  Ev's cousin and her family, including two young boys had a great time celebrating Lobster Day with us. We had moon bounces, kiddie pools, sprinklers, water baloon tossing, and of course the obligatory Lobster and LOTS of food.

Another year, we celebrated mom's retirement with lots of surprises.

So there you have it, Lobster Day is our summer holiday.  It is a day to spend with family and close friends eating and acting silly.  You never know what games or activities will appear.  You never know what additional celebrations might pop up on the day. And you never know who will be there. But you are guaranteed to laugh, eat and relax!  With Don in charge of games and activities, there will ALWAYS be something amusing going on.

Pics from Lobster Days past:

2005:

2006:

 

2007:

2008:

This year was no different! This year Lobster Day became a movable holiday.  We were in Hawaii for the annual weekend, so we chose a weekend in August when everyone would be home.  My uncle from Slippery Rock came solo this year. New attendees were Dave and Tammi (Don's cousins who live close by). 

Lobster Day, 2010 included:

The decorations

A watermelon seed spitting contest

Happy Chrissy

Katie eating Oysters

Jack enjoyed meeting the live lobster.

The ladies enjoyed running to the ice cream truck.

The men enjoyed the food inside.

The token lobster - only one to eat it was Don. 

 

Seldom a Dull Moment!  Always finding ways to make our own fun!  Summer is about over and our focus will shift to a new school year, fall activities, schedules, routines and homework!  It's okay - we've had our fun adventures...time to buckle down and get serious!  

 

Yeah...right.....who knows what will happen in the next few weeks, but I'm sure it won't be serious and I'm sure it will include some sort of chaos and fun!

 

Stay Tuned! 

 

Our last hurrah! Stepping back in time...

So...our last hurrah of Summer 2010 was not decided until about a week ago.  After much discussion about amusement parks, overnight adventures, and browsing the webs for places that we haven't yet been to...we decided to go for the educational! Yep, we're teachers and Carleigh fell in love with U.S. History this year, so we decided to head back in time.  Not to be forgotten that our lovely National parks and battlefields are relatively inexpensive!!

Don and I had been to Gettysburg and Antietam many times.  In fact, Gettysburg was the fifth grade field trip for our students in Sterling, but we hadn't returned in 8 years.  Antietam was another stop that we had happy memories of exploring together, before we were married.

A destination was chosen, a date was picked and the planning began. Not much planning was necessary for this adventure:

• program the addresses into the GPS
• determine driving distances to each and the distance between the two 
• figure out any hidden fees and what lunch would consist of
• give Katie a crash course on the Civil War prior to the trip, so she could get something out of it
• She really didn't need much. She had read, Magic Tree House - Civil War on Sunday...so she already had a basic knowledge
• decide what time to leave and who would let out our dog midday
• gather some snacks and a cooler of drinks for all 

And we were off.....

Our first stop was at Gettysburg.

(The night before, Don had talked to his sister, Chris, and she decided to join us for the day - it was a great surprise for everyone!)

We awoke at 6:30 a.m., on the road by 7:30 and at our first destination by 9:00....so far, so good.

Well, you know we can't do anything like the normal person.  The Rahns can't just "tour" a Civil War battlefield.  We can't just read the signs and look around......NOoooo.....we have to "become the Civil War Battlefield."  We have to act it out, and find a way to live it.

In order to achieve that goal, our first stop was at the gift shop to purchase these:

The girls were very excited to use the hats throughout our day to "act out" the battles - and we knew they would be great for some photo ops....

The Gettysburg Visitor Center has been remodeled over the past year or so and is BEAUTIFUL!  We chatted with President Lincoln for a while before entering.

We bought the hats and wandered around the museum and then we were on our way to the battlefield. We found a cannon right away.

We found the Virginia Memorial and stopped to visit there.

The girls had a fun time at each stop, trying to figure out where the North and the South were positioned - then they had to reenact it.....

We made our way to Little Round Top. They had a great explanation of how the North used the rocks on the mountain to create barricades, which they would use to protect themselves from enemy fire. We found one.

The story of Devil's Den intrigued the girls - we headed there next.  They had fun playing on all of the large rocks and boulders.

While we were on this journey, Chrissy took on the role of "Bonnet Girl."  She was our token civilian for the day.

Our drive around the 24 mile battlefield was complete. We found lunch and then we were on our way to Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland.

Once we got familiar with the area around Antietam, we headed out to explore the battlefield area.

First stop: Dunker Church - actually survived the battle, to be burned down in 1921 (and then rebuilt).

We then headed to "Bloody Lane."  A narrow road that saw way to much action on the day of the battle in Antietam.  Without a lot of graphic detail, the girls got the picture and thought it was interesting to walk on the exact spots where all of this happened...beneath their feet.......

They had to position themselves....and then the final outcome...

The south actually won this tiny skirmish - only about 3,000-5,000 dead here.

Along the tour of both battlefields, we explained to the girls how they honored the fallen Generals by creating a monument of an upside-down cannon to show the exact location where the general was mortally wounded, or killed.  The parks will tell you how many to look for, but not necessarily give you a location.  It is sort of like a scavenger hunt.  We didn't find them all, but did find quite a few at each park.

At the end of Bloody Lane was a watch tower, we climbed it and enjoyed the view.

Looking out on Bloody Lane.

Next stop...Burnside Bridge.  We had the most fun here.  It was our final stop before heading home.

Once on the other side of the bridge, we found a wall....and from behind, looking out at us....

These "strangers" decided to show themselves, and pretended to be surprised...

They then promised not to share what they had seen...

And we sent them on their way back across the bridge!

What a fun day! It was a great way to end our summer adventures, and gear up for another school year.

School starts for teacher in 5 days, and before we know it we will be on another road trip to northern New York, on the St. Lawrence River for my cousin's wedding.  That adventure is in the middle of September, and the girls are excited because they are both Junior Bridesmaids.

But first...LOBSTER DAY!! Our ninth annual Lobster Day is tomorrow!  What is Lobster Day you ask?  Well, stay tuned and you will find out.....with the Rahns....you just never know......