Woodstock Traditions

I'm starting to feel that familiar twinge of sadness as the day draws near for us to make the drive back to Texas and Casa Doyle.  We've been here a month which sounds like a long time but we still have at least one important Woodstock tradition to complete along with a list of things we wish we'd done.  So, I'm starting my list for next year which will include a lot more blank space on the calendar than this visit did!

Here is a list of some of our Woodstock traditions:

1.  Liberty 5K (check)

2.  Visit a winery (check)

3.  Go on as many "dam(n)" walks with mom as possible (check, check, check, check) 

4.  Throw rocks in the river and cross the "scarwee bwidge" (check--we did this one last night)

5.  A trip to Katie's Custard (check)

6.  At least one campfire (check)

7.  Climb the Woodstock Tower (we still need to do this one)

8.  Bear hunts with Paka (check)

9.  Say the rosary on the sun porch (check)

10.  Lots and lots of family photos around Camp Kreitzer (hmmm...can I check this one off?)

#10

#8

(Brendan gave Dad the Bear Hunt book and it is very well-loved by all the grandkids)

#6

#6

#5

#5

#4 Throw rocks in the river...

...and cross the scarwee bwidge

if you look closely,

you can see the "scary bridge" behind us.

My mom and dad take communion to the local nursing home every Sunday morning.  They've met many of the residents--Catholic and non-catholic alike.  One of the women they stop by and see every week regularly asks them about their plans for the day.  She is 97 years old and my dad describes her as "sharp as a tack" because she always remembers week to week what they are doing and involved in.  One Sunday, when she asked about their plans for the day, mom and dad told her they were going to throw rocks in the river--some of my nieces and nephews were coming out for the day.  Their friend replied, "don't you have anything better to do?"  The answer of course is "no".  What could be better than an hour spent wading, skipping stones and reveling in the beautiful Virginia scenery? 

Frogs in the Pool

My mom is quite the poet.  She wrote the following poem while she and I were on a silent retreat in the summer of 2004.  She dedicated it to "Madeleine the frog-catcher".  Now, five years later, we have many excellent frog-catchers in the family.  I keep telling the girls they should kiss them to be sure they're not princes before freeing them but so far, they haven't taken my advice.  They stick to kissing their cute cousins (we may need to relocate to West Virginia).  I hope you enjoy the poem!

FROGS IN THE POOL

by Mary Ann Kreitzer

Count them

Thirty-five or more

Most are on the pool floor.

Some are sitting on the rope.  

Do you think they wait in hope

For a froggy rescue team?

Here it comes!

Tara has the skimmer tool

Used to sweep from off the pool

All the leaves and bugs that float.

Now it is a rescue boat

For moving froggy refugees

To David's basket if you please.

Five, now ten, fifteen and twenty

Goodness, gracious, there's still plenty.

And to make the matter worse

They must think the boat's a hearse.

Tara catches, out they dive.

Well, at least they're still alive.

David scoops some from the filter,

Chases others helter skelter.

Jumping froggies, hard to catch

David needs his dad's old hat.

Now they're all corralled at last.

Oops!  Not quite, that one is fast.

Little people touch and squeal,

Grown-ups joke about a meal.

Frog legs baked or fricasseed?

No!

Rescue, pond-bound froggies freed!

July 2004

"Quick--get the bucket--there's another frog in the pool!"

Take A Chance On Me

My, my how can I resist you? 

So--last week, on our actual anniversary, Chris and I spent the day and evening with the whole gang at the beach.  The adults enjoyed a solo dinner that night toward the end of which Chris pulled out a few gifts, gave me a very moving toast and re-proposed.  We've been planning to renew our vows next year on our tenth anniversary and Chris thought I needed a new proposal to go with it.  I'm still mulling over my answer :)

Yesterday, we celebrated our anniversary again by ourselves.  One of our yearly traditions while we're in Virginia is to visit a winery.  We like to go in the early afternoon, do a wine tasting then sit and talk for a couple of hours.  Virginia has some beautiful vineyards and I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite out of the ones we've been to.

Yesterday we visited the Rappahannock Vineyard which is owned and operated by a Catholic family with twelve children.  It's always funny to me when people comment on how large our family is because in the Catholic world, we're really about average.  Chris and I enjoyed our few hours at the vineyard and then headed north for dinner and a concert with Fr. Francis Peffley, the priest who married us.  We saw an Abba tribute band at Wolf Trap.  It was very good and I was only sorry the girls weren't with us to dance to "Mama Mia" and "Dancing Queen".  We picked up our godson Brendan before heading back out to Woodstock so we will be enjoying his company for the next few days.  I'll try not to bark too many orders at him as we prepare for Saturday's big bash!

We took Dave and Jes' dog Coda home on our way to meet Fr. Peffley.

Several of our girls have been date-crashers on our winery dates but Coda was the first canine.  

Home Again, Home Again (to CK)

If you've been reading Frodo Seven lately, you know that we've been relaxing on the beach for the past week.  Specifically, we were in Rodanthe on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Summers growing up always included a trip to the OBX.  Until I was sixteen, we always camped.  That year though, a hurricane came through and my parents decided it was time to move to a beach house.  There's something magical about the Outer Banks--this year even more so because we stayed across the street from "Serendipity", the house filmed in Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks.  We had a fabulous week.  All of the 13 kids got along well and details like meals and clean-up went smoothly.  We enjoyed game nights and one delicious seafood dinner for the adults in honor of David's birthday and our anniversary--Chris made that extra special but I'll tell you about that later.  I was in picture-taking heaven and took about 650 photos or almost 100 a day.  I probably won't have time to do our trip justice this week because we are now full swing into preparations for my parents' 40th anniversary vow renewal and party but here are a few pictures from our last night and trip back.

Last picture

I always wave goodbye to the beach before I leave for the year.  It somehow looks different 

to me as I'm leaving than it did when I first glimpsed it a week before. (The dark brown house at the end of the beach is Serendipity.)

Our last night was busy.  We stayed on the beach till early evening then came back, changed and went back to the beach for a short photo shoot.  Above is a picture of me and my buddy Alex.  I told him I was going to put it on my fridge and he wanted to know if I was going to put it on the blog.  So--here it is Alex!  I love you!

After the pictures, we met three of my cousins and their families back at our beach house for a pool party.  It was a great time and wonderful to see them all.

Six of the 36 Schneider cousins!

From left:  Alice, Steve, Jen, David (wet from being 

thrown in the pool by his little sis'), Marty and Tara

Second cousins

Sunday, on the way home, we seat-swapped among the three vans until we met up in Fredericksburg for dinner and a stop at our old haunt, Carl's.  Before leaving town, 

we drove by our old house.  Grace didn't understand why we couldn't go in and take a tour.

Soundside

We caught an amazing sunset tonight as we watched the kids complete a very fun hunt for Blackbeard's treasure--more on that later.  It's hard to believe we have just one more day here.  Why does time seem to move differently on vacation?  Stay tuned to hear more about our beach adventures.  

Three Days Apart

Today's Magic Moment is brought to you by best buds Sophie and Lauren

"Lauren, we're here"

Nephews

Nephew and Godson Brendan AKA"Mr. B"

We saw Brendan swim in his last swim meet.  He took first and second in his two individual events and 

helped carry his relay team to first place as well!

As the proud mom of five girls, I often hear the question, "Are you going to keep trying for a boy?"  It annoys me because of the implication that some of our girls are failed attempts to get a boy.  Of course, Chris and I would have been happy to welcome a little boy into our family but we know that God knows best and for some reason, He's made us specialists--at least so far.  I can honestly say that I don't feel deprived, disappointed or cheated in any way because I have all girls.  One of the reasons for that may be that I have, hands down, the world's best nephews.  I think nieces and nephews are probably a preview of what grandchildren will be like--lots of fun, little responsibility.  So, I love being with them, talking to them and playing with them.  I've written before about my nephew Jonathan--the one who constantly asks me "when are you leaving?" when I visit but then wants to know "when are you coming back?" as the car pulls out of the driveway.  Then there's my godson Brendan.  He's special because of our five godchildren, he's the only boy.  He's got it all--athletic ability, smarts, goodness and great looks.  He has an interesting way of thinking and seeing the world and I love to ask him questions.  

Alex is David's oldest son and we have gotten a lot closer this year because of his Flat Alex project.  In fact, he had so much fun with it that he brought me his Flat Alex and asked me to take him back home with me so he could go to an Astros game.  He has also worn the Lance Berkman shirt we bought him just about every day since we arrived in Virginia.  Smart boy. I will definitely be buying him more presents.

Those are just a couple of my awesome nephews.  Check out the photos that follow to see more of them.  I love them all and feel very blessed to be spending a week with six of them.  A house with 13 kids and 6 adults doesn't feel crowded at all when the company is so good!

Alex tried to stow away with us

Zack is Dave and Jes' third child.  In this picture, he's doing karaoke with Mia.  I took him out for a little outing the other day and bought him a slurpee.  He wanted a medium and when I saw the size of it I said, "I don't know how you're going to drink that Zack, it's bigger than you are."  He stopped walking, put his drink on the floor, folded his arms and stood over it to show me that he is indeed bigger than the slurpee.  Too cute.

Ryan, in red, is Brendan's little brother.  He recently told his parents that he knows where God gets dressed.  He had glimpsed the priest getting ready for Mass.  More cuteness.

The blond twins.  Matthew is the youngest Kreitzer--so far.  He has the best smile and I love it when he says, "Watch Aunt Alice" and then does something cute.  He and Sophie both swam across the pool for the first time today.  Sophie still isn't breathing so she's swimming very quickly.  Congratulations you two!

Sean is Tara's baby.  He and Ella have a lot in common these days.  

They both look like angels but act like little devils.

To see pictures of my other two nephews, Jonathan and Drew, click here.

All Wet!

OK--to rewind a bit--on July 2nd, the day we arrived in Woodstock, three of Jes and Dave's kids were already out at Camp Kreitzer.  Mom and Dad had taken them on a camping trip and arrived home just in time to greet us.  Unfortunately, we missed saying hi to Rachel, Alex and Zack that first night because they were already asleep so, as you can imagine, we were very anxious to see them the next morning.  The kids and I were up at 7:30 AM and wanted to wake them up then but Paka held us off for half an hour.  At 8:00 though, we headed downstairs.  Oh- I forgot to mention that dad had told Alex that Uncle Chris would probably throw him in the pool when he saw him.  Of course we couldn't disappoint him so Chris greeted him by throwing him in the pool in his pajamas and jumping in after him.  The rest of the kids joined them and had a great time at their impromptu pajama party in the pool.  

Best Buddies

Wheee!

They had so much fun that I decided we should have a reprise in honor of David's birthday.  So this morning, Chris and Lawrence grabbed David and carried him down to the pool where he was ceremoniously thrown in in his pjs.  Some of the kids jumped in after him but some looked at us quizzically wondering if we were crazy.  The pool man who stopped by was wondering the same thing.  

The most interesting thing we did at our party was to float David's birthday cake to him on a boogie board.  The candles kept flickering but they came on just in time for him to take care of them in one quick blow.  Which means he is now officially 37.  Happy Birthday David!  We love you!

Another party activity:

Tara goes in...and the attempts to throw Lawrence in begin

And...Tara goes in again...I'm sure revenge will be sweet.  I'll keep my camera batteries charged and ready.

A heated ending