Virginia Beach Part 1

We spent a few summers with our cousins in Virginia Beach back when we were growing up . . . when we weren't at the Jersey Shore.  We would spend the week playing on the beach and bunking together in one room.  I still remember our trips there even now.  Here are some pics from back in the day (Lauren, Michael, Chris (not present this year), Megan & Christa).  These were the good, old days:

Another group photo.  Christa, Megan, Lauren (top row) with Michael on the bottom right.

Fast forward about 30+ years and we were back in Virginia beach again, this time in an amazing house filled with children of our own:

Theses 7 kids (plus two babies not pictured) were re-creating our childhood memories and getting to know each other a little bit better in one amazing house:

An amazing house that had both an indoor and outdoor pool:

Perfect for children tossing:

The ice cream truck seemed to drive our house by every 5 minutes:

We were just across the street from the beach, so an evening kite-flying walk was the highlight one night:

Evan running with his kite:

Eric's turn:

He was having quite a good time:

Not only did our house have 21 people in it (12 adults and 9 children ages 7 and under), there was another house of Weisses two blocks away (3 aunt/uncle couples and their 7 children and one additional cousin who came without her parents).  We never got a picture of the whole crew but here were a few hanging out one night at our place:

More pictures to come - this is just the first batch.

4th of July Highlights

We spent the 4th of July in Cranford this year.  First time the boys got to see fireworks and I was able to cross one item off of my "bucket list" -  to run in the Firecracker 4-miler.  I am no real runner and two years ago, I'd thought it had been impossible that I could ever complete a 4 mile run.  But I ran two 5K's last year so I decided to train for this year's race.  I completed the race without stopping to walk, though my running pace is not far from a walking pace.  I finished in 41:41 (or 10:25 pace miles).  Brian raced too and finished much faster in just about 30 minutes.  He has decided to sign up for a half marathon in October so this is just the start of the training plan for him.  Here I am coming into the finish:

On July 5th, we headed to our friends' house for the annual 4th of July Olympic games.  If you can't tell, Eric was thoroughly enjoying his plate of Doritos:

 And Evan enjoyed the slip-n-slide:

Onto the events - first event was Skeeball with 3 buckets, tennis balls and a broomstick (1 point for a ball in first bucket, 2 for second, 3 for third) and with a 60 second time limit.  Brian and I won this event.

The most comical event of the night - Tortilla Head.  You had 60 seconds to get as many tortillas onto a plate using flippers on your feet to throw the tortilla into the air.  I actually had to sew a headband to a plastic plate (which had holes drilled into it) so that the plate could be secured on our heads:

I actually got one on my plate:

And Brian got two . . . which means our team won this event too:

This was the couples relay - had to race down to one end with a frisbee between your foreheads and then race back with a ball at the waist.  Brian and I did not win this event:

Onto the blind race.  This one always provides a lot of laughs and Brian and I won this one too:

The last event was the water balloon toss and no pictures of that, but we finished 3rd there.  But for the full day's events, we took first place for the second year in a row.

Eric was having a great time on the swings:

The 4th of July was an action packed and fun weekend, which was the perfect kick off to begin our summer!

Keuka Lake 2014

I say this every year but our weekend at Keuka Lake is by far one of the best weekends of each year.  It is our "happy place".  Everything about it is incredible - the family, the scenery, the food, the memories.  And our kids just love it.  It's the perfect setting for them - calm waters they can stand in, all of the water toys you can imagine, boating, kayaking.  We are able to get away from everything and just enjoy our time there.  

Onto the photos.  I think Evan did this below over 200 times over the course of the weekend: 

Cousin jumps:

Eric and I kayaking:

Evan and Brian kayaking:

Nana with Eric and Kaylee:

Water guns:

More kayaking - this time Colin with Morgan along with Lily out for a swim:

Family photo:

Cousins!  It's nice for Eric to have a cousin who he looks like:

One of the highlights of the weekend was my first attempt to swim across the lake, equipped with wetsuit and swim cap . . . looking good:

Brian cheered me on from a kayak while Cliff & Karen followed me in the boat taking photos:

It took awhile but I made it to the other side!

After which, Cliff and Karen gave me the kayak they had been towing for Brian & I to kayak back across the lake to their house:

The crew back on the dock waiting for us to return:

Annual tubing:

More water guns. In this photo, they were continuously watering their basket full of rocks:

 Swimming with noodles as evening approached:

Other highlights include night-time swimming for Evan & Morgan by light of campfire (after 9:00 PM) and water-skiing in the POURING rain on Sunday just to make sure we got our skiing in for the year.  No cameras at either of those two events but they were definitely memorable.

Thanks as always to Karen & Cliff for hosting us - we can't thank you enough!  And to Janet & Vinnie who constantly helped entertain the kids so that Brian and I could do things like swim across the lake and go kayaking.  I was even able to finish one of my bucket list items - reading "Gone with the Wind".  The summer just keeps getting better!

June Highlights

The month of June has flown by.  Here are some highlights from the past month.  This first picture below was taken at the park near my parents' house when we were there for Matthew & Claire's birthday party:

Evan's second-to-last t-ball game where everyone in the team got participation medals:

We also headed to the Delaware Park to introduce the boys to horse racing at an early age.  We went with 3 other families and the boys loved it.  They loved the horses, the tractors that would come smooth out the course and the excitement of the races.  We let them pick a horse for each race and Evan even picked a winner one of the races . . . and won a whopping 80 cents.  Better than losing though!

Then this past weekend, we headed to the Phillies game as a family.  The game was a lot of fun and the boys did great - we made it 7 full innings:

Evan posing in front of Mickey Mouse:

Best shots of the day:

July is going to be an amazing month . . . been looking forward to it all year.  More to come soon!

Evan - 4 Year Old Update

This update is long overdue but Evan turned 4 years old last month and it was a week later when he got to the doctor for his stats.  Evan measured just under 41 inches (62nd percentile) and weighed 39 lbs even (75th percentile).   His height is continuing to catch up with his weight!  

Evan is coming out of his "terrible 3's" and four has been really fun so far.  His memory never ceases to amaze me.  Just last weekend, we took him some place that he hadn't been in a year and he knew where he was and why he had been there a year prior.  He is a true "first child" in every sense of the word.  He is a rule-follower, likes to be the boss (and tell his brother exactly how to play the "right" way), cautious and shy . . . I wonder where he gets that from??  Hmmm??  Much of the time, he takes care of his big brother.  Just the other day, a little kid kept causing problems for Eric and Evan almost went over and threw a punch. 

So far this year, Evan started t-ball and seemed to like it - outside of the disaster of the first game  (when he refused to play) and the last game (when he wouldn't play because there were gnats).  He loves to give his me, Brian and Eric kisses and hugs . . . even when Eric doesn't necessarily want them.  Evan loves all things animals - as I type this he is climbing on the couch pretending to be a kitty cat.  The zoo is his favorite place to go.  His other favorite hobby is playing with cars/planes.  We have more matchbox cars than any family should ever own and they are spread all over every inch of our house.  Evan differentiates the matchbox cars from the Disney Cars by telling us that the matchbox cars are "the ones without eyes".  And I think we now own every Disney Plane but two.  His love of trains is starting to fade, which makes me sad.  He doesn't play with his train table as much anymore and Thomas is definitely more up Eric's alley than Evan's at this point.  Evan also really loves the pool.  He continues to take swimming lessons and it's taking him some time, but he'll get the hang of it soon.  And in the meantime, he loves to play in the water whenever he gets the chance.  

Things are going well with Evan at school too.  He really likes learning and has learned his letters and numbers this year.  He's learned the sounds of the letters too but he's not getting close to reading or anything yet.  We have a work-book at home which we do from time-to-time.  He calls this his "homework" and often asks me if we can do homework.  

All in all, Evan is such a good little kid who has a great big heart.  He even cooperated a little bit for his photos this year.  As usual, taking his picture has proven to be a challenge.  But this year was a little bit easier than the last.  Here's to hoping the next year goes SLOWLY because I am not ready to have a kindergartener in a little over a year!

Sesame Place 2014

Last Monday (6/2), we decided to take a half day off of work and take the boys to Sesame Place.  I had been wanting to get there before the majority of schools were out so that the crowds would be minimal.  We could not have had a better day to go.  It was in the high 70's, sunny and the park was fairly empty.  We didn't wait for any ride longer than one line's worth.  And our kids aren't the most adventurous when it comes to rides or characters, so this could have ended up being a big bust.  But they surprised us!  They still weren't a fan of characters.  Evan wouldn't even get in line to meet Elmo.  And, well, the look on Eric's face says it all:

I didn't get the picture in time but Eric was holding on to Brian's neck so tightly that Brian put his arms out sideways and Eric was just hanging there.  

We went on our first ride, the carousel, and Eric was crying to get off.  I was thinking the day would be doomed and we were still at least 15 years away from getting to Disney.  But then Evan discovered the water slides . . . and he LOVED them.  This was a really big one that went through a tunnel.  But as long as he could share a tube with his dad, he was willing to try anything.  He rode this one 5 times in a row!

Sesame Place had just opened a new area called Cookie Monster Land on our visit and this was an Oscar the Grouch themed ride that they both loved:

Evan even got adventurous putting his hands up:

And the "teacups" were a hit.  I don't have the stomach for spinning rides anymore, though, so I just watched.  

Let me preface also that my kids won't ride any ride that goes off the ground by more than 2 inches.  There was an Elmo ride not too different from the Dumbo ride at Disney and they weren't going on that . . . or anything that went off of the ground.  But we somehow convinced Evan that the roller coaster stays on the track and does not leave the ground.  He had been saying before we got there that he would ride the roller coaster now because he was four, but the moment he entered the park, he was refusing.  Well, by the end of the day, he had worked up some courage because here he is . . . first seat!  Throughout the ride, he was telling me he was scared and he did not like it, but he went on again with Brian right after he was done with the first ride.  So maybe Disney is a little closer than had been thinking it would be!

And here is Eric smiling on the last ride of the day:

We had a fantastic time!  Evan has asked us if Santa can bring him a water slide for Christmas.  I don't think that is going to happen, but I did find a water park near where we are going on vacation in July so we will definitely be visiting there.