Saeda in the house!

We had such a great visit with Aunt Emily, Uncle Steinhouse, and Saeda-Cakes. We went out for Sushi, had a ladies-night, went mini-golfing, played at the park, celebrated Daddy's birthday, ate good food at home, slid down the yard in the rain, amongst other things. The boys loved being with their cousin, and Saeda learned some new things: how to blow a zerbert with your tongue out, that sitting in a tub of toys is fun, that swinging at the park is a blast, that she has two cousins in Virginia that adore her (well, Alex really does adore her and Hunter at least just tolerates her....she did play with all of his toys when he wanted to play with them, after all!), and that her Aunt Christine and Uncle Fly love her as much as their own kids.

We had the best visit with you, Holty's!!! Can't wait to do it again!

Diving Board

Take a look at this little fish!!! He hasn't had lessons in over a year...he just kinda learned on his own!

Dirty Du

On July 26, Frank took part in the Dirty Du - a Duathalon that consisted of a 5k trail run, a 10 mile mountain bike ride, and another 5k trail run. And, HE WON IT!!!! It was awesome and we were so glad to be there to cheer him on and and see him finish first!

In between laps, the boys played near the pond and Alex had his first experience with fishing!

Such a great day!!

NY Part 5 - The End

Friday was our last day in New York. We spent it at GiGi's house. It was a nice afternoon spent talking at playing with GiGi. That night after dinner we went to Aunt Erika and Uncle Paul's house. Of course I couldn't leave with a picture of Buster Brown (her actual name is Daisy but I think my name is much more fitting...plus the boy's think it is funny that I make Aunt Erika mad by calling her dog Buster Brown.)

We had a fantastic visit to New York this summer!!! We had so many fun-filled adventures and now we have some incredible memories!!!

NY Part 4

On Thursday we went to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester with Nana. It was AMAZING!!! The boys (and Mommy and Nana) had a fabulous time!!! There were so many cool things to do - sitting at a green screen that made it look like you were on Sesame St. with one of the characters, a cool arcade filled with ever video game you can think of, fun-house mirrors, a miniature Wegmans to shop in, a funky room that looks level but is really at an angle (which is why Alex looks like he's standing at such a weird angle--Mommy couldn't be in this room! It made me sick to my stomach!), a toy museum, a train, a carousel, an aquarium, a great food-court, and lots of other hands-on activities that were new to all of us!

It was a great day and definitely worth the 1.5 hour drive to get there!!!

NY Part 3

We left Grammy's house in Binghamton for Nana and Papa's house in East Syracuse on Monday afternoon. The next day, we took a trip to Auburn for a get-together with all of Mommy's family! Before we got to the party, though, we made a quick stop at the Auburn Bass Pro Shops for a while. The boys loved seeing the fish and all of the neat animals they have all over the store. After we had our fill there (which wasn't very long thanks to two wild boys!) we headed over to Aunt Norma's house for pizza and fun! It was great to see so much family that we haven't gotten a chance to see in so long!

On Wednesday, we took a trip to Onondaga Lake Park with Nana and Papa. We rode the tram and played on the playground. The boys love any place with a playground and mommy loves any place where the boys can get tired out!

NY Part 2

On the third day (Sunday) of our visit with Grammy, we took a trip to Ithaca, NY so Daddy could take a bike-ride and afterwards we did a little site-seeing. We hiked up some of the gorges and then went to Cornell to show the boys where Daddy went to college. We stayed all day and had dinner at one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite Mexican restaurants - Viva Taqueria. Yum!

Monday was the last day of our visit with Grammy, and we spent it at Binghamton's Children's Museum. It was a blast!! The boys were able to experience first-hand a bunch of really cool things - ATM's, an ambulance, a fire-truck, a grocery store - that they normally wouldn't get to touch too much. It was a great place and we look forward to going there again on another visit with Grammy. The best part was that it is about 5 minutes from Grammy's house!!

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!