NY Part 1

Our New York visit started at Grammy's house in Binghamton. Day 1 consisted of painting our own pottery and visiting the Binghamton Zoo. The pottery painting was a lot of fun (even though Hunter didn't seem to care too much for it and spent most of his time pooping in a corner!). We all made some great pieces!
Afterwards, we went to lunch followed by a trip to the zoo. It wasn't the greatest zoo we've ever been to, but the boys seemed to like it nonetheless (especially the petting zoo where the goats were more interested in eating my skirt than anything!). Alex had his face painted like a tiger and Hunter had a snake painted on his arm.
Day 2 started out in Grammy's backyard - bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles! Then we went inside to have a lick-fest with Oreo, Grammy's dog (don't worry, Oreo was the only one doing the licking and the boys LOVED it!!!) and board games with Grammy. That evening we went to the HOG Rally with Grammy and finally got a chance to meet Mike. We saw the stunt show and got back in the car before there was a downpour. Later that night we went to dinner with Grammy and Mike. The boys loved the show and Mike was a hit as well!

Summer Fun

Summer has just begun and already we are having TONS of fun!!! Our neighbors got a really cool water-slide/pool and the boys are loving it up! Notice Hunter's trunks - he wouldn't let me pull them up for him and they kept riding lower and lower. Such a silly boy!
This summer really is off to a fantastic start!

Busch Gardens

I decided to take the boys to Busch Gardens yesterday (yes, by myself). I bought the tickets because Busch Gardens has a promotion this year that if you buy a one-day ticket you can use it all season long (so basically a season-pass for the price of a one-day ticket -- can't beat that!). The weather was perfect yesterday, not quite so hot until later in the afternoon (we were gone by then) and overcast most of the time so we weren't just standing around baking. We got to the park by about 10:30 in the morning, and I was surprised to see how many people were there that early on a Thursday morning!

Hunter wasn't so sure about the first ride of the day (Oscar's Whirly Worm) but after it started he couldn't stop laughing and wanted to ride something else. On to ride number 2, Prince Elmo's Spire. Alex loved it, Hunter not so much. In fact, he hated sitting in the seat with the harness, but seemed ok when he saw Alex. Along comes the attendant who shoves the harness tighter on Hunter and of course he freaks out and Mommy and Hunter end up having to exit the ride. Oh well! Alex had a blast! Alex also rode the kiddie roller coaster by himself (Hunter was too short). Then we all rode the sky ride, thinking that it would go all around the whole park and end where it started, I left our stroller there. Needless to say, we had to get off the sky ride a couple stops away because of the line and we were stuck in the other kiddie section of the park without a stroller. Not fun! Hunter was exhausted by this point and overall being miserable. We rode the carousel and of course Hunter hated it until it started and then he loved it. The Land of Dragons was next with all of the kiddie rides that Hunter was really into as well as a lot of playground type climbing stuff that Alex thought was awesome. Finally, when the heat was getting to be too much we took the sky ride back to our stroller and decided to see the 3D Sesame Street movie (Hunter was hilarious with his glasses on - you could tell he had no idea what was going on...he would pull the glasses off everytime he saw something "coming close to him") before leaving for the day at about 2:30.

Overall, it was a fun day. Both boys seemed to have a good time. Hopefully Hunter will be more into the rides next time since now he knows what it is all about. Alex and I plan on going a few times this summer without Hunter so we can do the big rides!

Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...

So, boys being boys, my two monkeys were playing too rough on our bed last night (despite being told multiple times to stop) when Hunter fell and hit his head on the night stand. He cried for a few minutes but seemed fine. Ten minutes later as I was getting him ready for bed I discovered a HUGE goose-egg on his forehead. I rushed him off to a local pediatric after-hours place and they looked at it, diagnosed it as a goose-egg and told me to just make sure I check on him every two hours through the night. Needless to say, it was a long night for mommy. I decided to just sleep in his room because despite the doctors trying to reassure me that he was probably fine, I was sick with worry and felt better about being close to him all night long. He didn't seem to care about being woken up so much (in fact mommy worried a little bit when he wouldn't really wake up even when I yelled his name and put wet wipes on his face and belly) and he is fine this morning. He wants to show everyone his "boo-boo". Luckily the swelling has gone down and now he just has a nasty bruise.
No more jumping on the bed!!!

Also wanted to add that obviously I took these pictures once we got home from the doctor....just in case you thought I was a crazy mom taking pictures of my kid's injuries before he saw a specialist!

Silly Boys

Summer is coming...fun fun fun!!!

Moving Up

Alex's school had a moving up celebration on June 5th for the Kindergartners who will be becoming First Graders (can you believe it??). It was an exciting day for Alex (and heart wrenching for Mommy and Daddy -- where did our baby go??). The Kindergartners sang a song and then they called up each class and presented each student with a certificate individually. After the big ceremony in the gym, we went back to Alex's classroom where the teacher presented each student with classroom awards. Alex won the "Quality Questioner" award because Mrs. Bouton says that he is always asking great questions in class and making sure that if she forgets to say something, says something wrong, or needs someone to raise their hand and answer or ask questions, Alex is the man for the job!
We are so proud of what a big kid you are becoming, Alex! Way to go!

Butterflies Everywhere

One of our favorite places to visit in Richmond is Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. It's always so beautiful and we always have a good time. They recently opened their butterfly exhibit. Hunter LOVED going around and finding the butterflies. We hoped that one would land on either him or Mommy, but no such luck. Maybe next time!

National Zoo

We took the boys to the National Zoo in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. The zoo was a mad-house -- so many people! It was a hot day but a lot of fun. The boys favorite part was riding the train. It was Hunter's first time and Alex had a blast telling Hunter what to expect. The zoo was a good time too, but a lot of the animals were sleeping because of the heat. We did get to see the pandas inside, an elephant, some little monkeys and a bunch of small animals (mostly rodent types). Alex said his favorite animals at the zoo were the naked mole rats and Hunter's favorite was the monkeys.

Rusted Root

After the Mud Run we stayed at the festival to see a free concert by Rusted Root. We had brought our dinner and had a picnic there. Hunter loved dancing to the loud music (we sat right near the front).

It was a good night!

Filthy 5k Mud Run

Frank raced in the first annual Dominion River Rock Filthy 5k Mud Run on Friday evening. It was a 5k course with a few obstacles (running in the river and across the suspension bridge) and ending with having to cross through a 10in. deep mud pit.

Frank placed 13th out of 650.

Awesome, but VERY messy!!!