Spring Break 2016 - Part 1

I am so long overdue for a posting here and honestly  not sure I'll ever be able to catch up!  We are going from Christmas break to spring break . . . though I'll try to get back on track soon.  For Spring Break, we headed off to Orlando for a week.  The boys were very excited!  The first night we arrived, we headed to Disney Springs for dinner at the restaurant called "T-Rex".  Here we are walking around Disney Springs:

With a poster with the characters from the new Disney movie Zootopia:

Bright and early the next morning, we headed to Magic Kingdom. We were there by 8:15 for the 9:00 opening.  The weather was great in the morning and were able to get a great photo with the castle in the background:

Here we are riding the Magic Carpet Aladdin ride

Swiss Family Robinson tree house:

We got to ride a ton of rides in the morning . . . way more than we had planned.  We hit up Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets, Swiss Family Robinson, Small World, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain (Evan & Brian), Winnie the Pooh (Lauren & Eric) all before lunch . . . which was right about the time the rain rolled in.   This was what I posted on Instagram as the storm was not going anywhere quickly.  Ponchos were able to keep us a little bit dry, but our toes were raisins by the end of the day:

We paused for lunch and then hit up Under the Sea (Little Mermaid ride), Barnstormer, Tomorrowland Speedway, Dumbo, Carousel, Philharmagic and Seven Dwarves Mine Train.  We were done by 4:00 PM and couldn't believe how much we had fit in.  I think the rain only helped us in this regard.  We had originally planned on spending 2 full days at Magic Kingdom, but with our accomplishments on day 1, we quickly changed plans to hit up Hollywood Studios for a good portion of our second day.  More details to come on that later.

All in all, I couldn't have been more proud of the boys.  They haven't always been the bravest when it comes to rides but Evan rode every ride he was big enough for.  And Eric did almost everything he was big enough for as well.  Day 1 honestly couldn't have gone better.  More to come!

Post Christmas Vacation

On December 27th, we headed to the Poconos for a little post-holiday vacation.  On our way, we stopped at the Delaware Water Gap for some hiking at the George W Childs Recreation Site.  It was a beautiful hike with lots of waterfalls:

 

Playing around with the shutter speed on my camera, but without a tripod, my hands were a bit shaky and the rest of the picture looks blurry:

Boys too close to the edge for me:

We hiked all the way down to the final waterfall:

Happy boys:

Throwing rocks into the pond, a favorite thing of theirs to do:

Climbing onto every rock that we walked by:

Yet another waterfall on the way back up:

A little booty shake dance at the waterfall:

The next day, we headed to Jim Thorpe to see the town and walk around.  On our way back, we stopped for a hike at Hawks Falls.  We even got someone to take our picture at the top and bottom of the falls:

Little rock climbers:

On our way out:

The rest of the vacation including meeting up with a college friend we hadn't seen in years for lunch, a daily round of bowling at the hotel, a visit to an indoor water park and a lot of relaxation.  It is amazing how well the boys get along when we are NOT at home . . . which is part of the reason we decided to go away for a few days.  When it was time to leave, the boys were whining about not wanting to go home.  So I guess that means they had a good time!

Christmas with the Weiss Side

Christmas with the Weiss family happened on 12/26 at the new Schaller house.  We managed to get a photo with all of us in it, whoever everyone cooperated.  It was a Christmas miracle!

While we didn't take any other pictures in the chaos, we did get a photographer to take pictures of the kids for a Christmas present for my parents.  And while it was a total circus show while we were actually taking the pictures, we were more than thrilled that we ended up with this one:

This on was also in the running:

Another cute one because Matthew and Evan were cracking each other up:

Both Megan and I think this is one of the best ones of the bunch.  These two boys love to talk potty talk together:

My two boys together . . . though  it was very cold this morning and you can see Eric's red nose from the cold:

Brothers laughing:

 Cuties:

More from the blanket:

And here, they were going to throw fake snow into the air:

 And afterwards, the best picture of the two boys:

We were long overdue for an updated family photo as the last one we took was when Eric was 6 months old.  Getting 5 kids to cooperate (4 of them boys) was not easy but we were so happy with how these turned out.

Christmas Morning 2015

Santa arrived on Christmas Eve night and brought the boys a lot of treats.  Evan's pile here:

And Eric's pile here:

Eric so excited to open presents:

Legos!

Evan asked for 2 things from Santa - soccer cones and a bat mobile.  He got both!

Wild Kratts toys:

Blaze & the Monster Machines:

And from their parents, they received a bat cave and a whole bunch of Batman accessories:

Successful Christmas morning and two happy boys:

When all presents were opened, the boys were treated to Mickey Mouse chocolate chip pancakes:

 After which they were told that we are going to Florida and to Disney in March!  We are calling it "Disney Light" because aren't staying on-property and we are only going to the park for 2 days.  Our "real" Disney trip will be in the spring of 2017:

After a fun morning at home, we hit the road to NJ where we had Christmas dinner with my mom's extended family.  Here the boys are in their Christmas outfits.  It was quite warm so they didn't get to wear their cute Christmas sweaters.

And one more Christmas celebration to go . . . 12/26 with the Weiss clan!

Christmas #1 with Nana & Papa

As usual, the weekend before Christmas, we head to Elmira to celebrate Christmas with Brian's family.  Thankfully, his Aunt Shelley is quite the photographer and we get some amazing pictures courtesy of her being willing to snap away with our sometimes uncooperative bunch.  We were very excited when it started snowing as, up until this point, the temperatures had been unseasonably warm and it did not feel very much like Christmas.  Here are the kids out in the snow  At first we couldn't get Eric to come out and participate:

But he soon joined in:

Evan was actually enjoying getting his photo take and looked very handsome in his Christmas outfit:

And now Eric, who was a little chilly outside:

Back in the warmth indoors, Lily made herself at home:

All of the kids on the couch:

Eric getting excited to open presents:

All of the grandkids who were there:

 Evan opening presents:

Now Eric's turn:

Cousin hugs!

And now the end of the night, with all kids in their coordinated John Deer pajamas from Nana & Papa:

This was Christmas #1 (of 3), so lots more photos to come!