Mini Vacation Philly 2015

We decided to head back to Sesame Place this spring and introduce Sam to the fun. They both loved it!  I love making memories with these kids.  We are fortunate that our hotel points afford us the chance to go to so many cool places at a more reasonable cost.  We take advantage of Groupons, coupons, and more discounts as well.  We save pennies all year long for these mini vacations and this one definitely didn’t let us down.  I love how the kids race to the elevator to guess which car will win.  I love that Sam is tall enough to push “1” when we go down.  Abby takes care of the higher floors.  I love how they loves these trips.

They did great at the parks.  Not so great at dinner out with friends.  They loved the hotel pool, the water park rides, and visiting the Please Touch Museum.  They high-fived all the characters and were genuinely excited for all of them.  Sam especially loved Zoe and Bert and Ernie.  Abby was a big fan of the Count Splash Park and the water slides.  Sam has skinned knees upon skin knees because he had trouble walking in his Crocs.  Oops.  Ahh, the joys of being young.  Daddy and Mommy loved having a 2 bedroom hotel room and that the kids slept two for the four nights in their own room and ALL NIGHT LONG.  Ahh, the joys of being parents of the young.

The trip – even the 7+hour car ride home- was pretty awesome.  Making memories!  I’m always reminded of the American Express commercial – “One More Day”.  The commercial encourages you to use all your vacation days before you lose them.  We definitely don’t have that problem! Now, on to planning the next fun trip!

Yeah, no..they didn't have any fun at all, did they??

Playing Catch up Part II

Now that much of our family is on Facebook, it seems redundant to update the blog.  I recently went for pedicures with a friend of mine and she asked about the blog.  It made me realize that the documentary aspect of the blog should not be overlooked and often times I blogged about the small moments.  Maybe my half year resolutions can include better maintenance of the blog? Maybe….

Stay tuned for 17+ blog posts that I recently prepared on a 7+ hour drive!

 

Game Room

I was asked to be on a steering committee for church that is overseeing a very generous donation.  My individual team is the Game Room, a room which provides a place for children at our church to play during worship as well as other special functions.  It was a all hands on deck project and the kids often helped during the many evenings of prep work, painting, and organizing.  Our team of six church members was a great blend of wisdom, hard workers, positiveness, and a let’s get ‘er done attitude!  Here are a few pictures from the start, middle, and end.  We had our open house on  June 7th and we had so much fun. 

Tim turns 40 in style

After months of planning, we almost pulled off a pretty sweet 40^th birthday party without Tim knowing!  I inadvertently let the cat out of the bag a week before, but we still had a ton of fun!  Sixty five guests joined Tim and I at the Portland Sea Dogs and got to see Tim throw out the first pitch at the game.  Several of our Vermont friends made the trek down and family from all over came up as well.  Many of us met at “Beer Mecca” prior to the game and took in some of Tim’s favorite local breweries.  While I ruined the actual “throwing out the first pitch” surprise, he didn’t know who was going to be at the game.  Almost at every corner there were folks he didn’t expect to see.  “Forleos??”  BAM!  “Hey, that looks like Sean and Sally??! Wait, it is!”  BAM!!! Yeah, no barbeque for us – instead an awesome day at the ballpark.

Family, baseball, fun, and beer – what else do you need when you turn 40?

Tee Ball 2015

Abby moved up in the world and was on the Oriole’s this year (remember she was on the Yankees last year??).  We spent Saturday mornings and one night during the week at the field watching Abby and 6 of her teammates hit base hits, homeruns, and field solid grounders.  Of course, there was the “everyone run to the ball” moments and the “how do I hit the ball off this tee?” moments.  Lots of fun had by this blond 5 ½ year old.  In no time, little brother Sam will be playing. 

Kindergarten Open House

Not only is it my brother’s birthday today (Happy Birthday, Uncle Rob!) we also had our open house for Abby.  She had her screening a few weeks ago and this was our time to tour the building and meet her teachers, staff, and administration.  I cannot explain how excited I am for her.  I rarely think sadly on the time gone by because I’m absolutely certain we’ve made the most of it.   But, man, 5 years has gone by pretty fast.  “Oh, the places you will go”, our little Miss Abigail Jean! Can’t wait to see what’s in store for you. 

Mother’s Day 2014

While I didn’t spend this Mother’s Day with the kids as planned, I was in Montreal with Tim.  I had elected to have LASIK done in Canada and haven’t regretted it.  We went up for a long weekend and because of a fairly rare complication, I had to stay one more day. Really nothing major, just a little folding of the cornea.  Totally annoying, but it happens.  Overall, the surgery went smashing and I can see without glasses or contacts.  The first few weeks were difficult as one eye was slightly blurrier than the other, but when you’re 10-20, that’s going to happen.  Plus, the eyes are still healing.  (update: I’m one month out and the eyes are doing well!.  A rather unique Mother's Day adventure.