Blukany: Catoctin Falls

Monday, October 17, 2011

Catoctin Falls

We've been here in Frederick for a couple of months now and every day I love it more and more. The schools are amazing, there are so many things to do, the weather is great. But I think the best thing about where we live now is the hiking. We live really close to this gorgeous forest and we have spent a lot of our free time exploring the trails. This weekend, we hiked up to Catoctin Falls. It was about 1.5 miles round trip and Mango made it the whole way by herself. All the girls love it in the forest. There are tons of rocks and logs to clamber around on and the older girls have a blast climbing all the "mountains." Mango will climb up on little rocks and act like she just conquered Everest. It's especially beautiful up there right now with all the leaves changing. I can tell already that it is going to be really difficult to leave the home we making here in Maryland.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: This is so awesome that you have access to such beautiful areas. It looks like you are all having a blast.
Mom Leman; October 18, 2011 at 8:47 PM
Wayne and Ann Cowley said...: Thank you so much for the beautiful post full of special thoughts and beautiful pictures. We remember hiking the longer version of that trail with Luke last summer. I think the fall colors add a special dimension to the gorgeous Maryland forest. We wish we could hike some of those trails with you guys!
Love you all and miss you all,
Grandma and Grandpa C; October 18, 2011 at 9:45 PM

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Kid Quotes: Adorable things my silly kids say

Mango (while on a visit to NYC): "When are we going back to our own world?" She kept asking all the way home which world we were in now.
Mango (singing): "I'm is a staaaar. And [Apple] is a star. And [Strawberry] is a star. And Mommy is a good cleaner." Me: "Huh?" Mango: "And aaaawesome."
Mango: "Can I put on a dress because boys are here?" (Luke was having a YM activity)
Apple: "You buy awesome stuff and you are more awesome than all the stuff put together."
Mango (we were in telling stories about when we have peed our pants): "When I was a baby, I couldn't walk, I could only crawl. Well, one time, I really had to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't crawl fast enough so I had an accident and peed in my panties." I love that she wanted to be party of the conversation.
Mango: "There is a boy in my gymnastics class and I don't know if I am going to marry him. I really like him, but I don't know if we will get married to each other. That makes two boys I don't know if I'm going to marry. Maybe I will just marry both. And if I meet another boy and I like him very much, I will marry him too and then have three."
Mango: "I wish I had a bear head underneath my head and then I would take off my head and if bears eat dirt I would eat it."
Apple: "I have flowers on my teeth! See? The bumps are like little tulips!" Her bottom teeth have those new-teeth ridges on them. I love that she sees flowers there.
Mango: "Bad guys eat persons. I use the goggles (binoculars) to look out for persons I can eat. I'm a bad guy." She's been attacking me with Apple's plastic sword, trying to hack off my leg for dinner. It's a little creepy.
Mango (in the tub, shampooing her hair): "May-kannie-gah!" Me: "Huh?" Mango: "Meriga!" Me: "Do you mean mohawk?" Mango: "Mookie! Mohk-hawk! Mohawk! A mohawk, a mohawk, a mohawk, a mohawk!"
Mango (in the tub): "I'm a mermaid, but I don't have any rocks to sit on!" She wanted me to go find her one to put in there.
Strawberry: "The Cosby show is seriously the funniest, and I've only watched three episodes. Although, I hate their clothes. They are horrible." (She just finished Malcom in the Middle and wanted another series to watch. I thought I'd introduce her to my very favorite show when I was a kid)
Mango: "Mommy, look in the mirror! Your face is very beautiful!" She said this right after a workout. :D
Mango (after General Conference): "That was a good thing! (really bright voice) But I didn't really want to watch it (angry voice with a glare)"
Apple: "Instead of buying clothes, can you have your mom make them for me?" (She wanted to know where I got my quilt and was super impressed that grandma had made it)
Mango (grabbing hold of her fingers): "Our fingers don't twist very good and I don't know why." I love body discovery. She was twisting her wrist around, but her fingers just wouldn't go. Time for a lesson about synovial joints.
Mango (bringing me two stuffed animals): "You know what I'm going to call them? Merida and Baby-You're-a-Firework."
Mango: "The other boy outside doesn't see the girl in the pretty dress. And he doesn't know that my fingernails got polished and my toes got polished. I don't think he ever saw a girl in a pretty dress before." I guess the guy who came to work on our house wasn't paying her enough attention, even though she was all dressed up.
Mango: "I got an idea. How about you stop putting my socks where my swimming suit goes." This girl gets more sassy every day. She even had a hand on her hip. It was funny because she started out "I got an idea," and I don't know if the mom glare I was giving her made her stumble, but she kept saying, "I mean, I mean, I mean," and changed her tone a little, but still kept going with it.
Mango: "Can you get me some water so I can do swimming lessons?" Me: "You want water for swimming?" Mango (looking confused): "Never mind. Just kidding." She was embarrassed when she realized she didn't make any sense. I think she just wanted a drink, but she ran off to her room. Poor thing.
Mango (playing on my iPad): "Dammit!" I hope she doesn't use that language in Sunbeams. When I taught nursery, we had a little 3-year-old who would curse up a storm. It was adorable, but I was worried the other kids would tell their parents about the new words they learned at church.
Strawberry: "Planning for my future is way more difficult than I thought." We are getting ready for middle school and she is having to choose only one elective among the 5 she really wants to do. Apple's solution: "Just grab him and shake him until he gives you what you want." The difference in personalities between these two is ENORMOUS! I love it.
Strawberry: "Do you know who my least favorite explorer is? Cortez. He killed a bunch of people for gold and silver which is no reason at all. And he had his guys be really mean to other people. I really hate a long time ago." History is a very tough subject sometimes. :(
Mango: "I'm going to put some stickers on Barbie's breast-es so they look pretty." Um. . . okay?
Apple (while we were watching a preview for a Gerard Butler movie): "I hope he's married when I get older because I don't want to have to marry him." I wouldn't mind it. ;)
Mango: "How daddy make a sandwich in his making thing?" Me: "What making thing?" Mango: "That he makes things in." Ah, much clearer. She finally had to drag me and point to the grill. She thinks I'm pretty dense. :)
Mango: "I like it when I taste the car." Me: "When you taste the car??" Mango: "No, no, only when it's dirty." Our roads had been salted for ice and she thought the results were delicious. Gross!!
Strawberry: "I need a last name for a princess. Her name so far is Isabella Bethany Miri, and then what?" Me: "Windsor?" Strawberry: "Um, I'll go with Winter. Isabella Bethany Miri Winter. Perfect." I love that she thinks my name is princessy. Awww.