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Weekend at home with cousins

Posted on July 26, 2008 7:57 am by TheAngelForever

Two weekends this month we have been away. First we went for the 4th of July to my brother’s and then last weekend to visit JL’s parents. Yesterday my brother and niece came into town to spend the weekend here. This is a special treat since they will be here again for my father’s BIG birthday and NHL’s 5th in a few short weeks.

Yesterday the kids had a blast playing with all of the toys at my parent’s house. No photos of that to share right now since we have to head out to meet everyone for breakfast soon. The good new is I that I have some from our trip over the 4th that I never posted. The interactions of Cousin S and JSL this time are priceless! You would never know watching them together that four months separate them in age. NHL has also been doing well helping the two and not getting too jealous.

The three cousins

JSL loved playing with S’s Little People school bus push and ride toy.

Hey I like this

There’s always time for a hug from a big cousin.

Big cousin hugs

All of the kids were fascinated by the big exercise ball.

Wow - a BIG ball!

At one point Cousin S took JSL’s sippy cup and wanted to test it out.

Testing out a sippy cup

Bath time for the two little ones after cherry picking. What you do not see here is JSL screaming once he got into the tub. He was not too thrilled about getting cleaned. Being overtired was a huge factor.

Photos from this weekend to come. Now we’re off to make and capture more memories!

Categories:
family fun jsl looking back nhl photos road trip weekend

Fun Filled Friday

Posted on July 21, 2008 10:16 pm by TheAngelForever

Prior to going to visit my in-laws JL and I did some research. We wanted to find something fun to do with the boys on Friday. We toyed with going to a Childrens Museum, but opted for something closer instead. We found a place called Fun 4 All Playground. It is an indoor playground facility that is half an acre filled with everything you can imagine, including inflatable slides.

When we arrived at Fun4All it was almost empty. We purposely went at 11:00, soon after they opened on Friday to avoid the weekend rush. JSL was asleep and NHL was ready to go. When he saw what was inside he did not know what direction to run in first.

Soon after checking things out, NHL and JL went to the large tower and decided to head to the top. NHL wanted to go down the twisty slide. JL went with him the first time since he had never been on anything like this before. The tower layers were actually made of trampolines and NHL quickly liked bouncing on it. Eventually they were at the top and NHL came out of the tube like a bullet. Check out the shot of him pretty much landing on his head!

The two boys were able to explore, run and play for quite some time. These are some of the adventures they had while playing in the air conditioned playground. Can you tell NHL was having a blast giving Daddy a work out?

The boys had a lot of fun

During all of this excitement this is what JSL was doing:

Not too shabby if you ask me. A place to stretch out, put your feet up and sleep.

After a while we were able to convince NHL to go on the Noah’s Ark inflated clibing slide. He was not too sure about it, but liked it so much he went several times.

Soon after this JSL woke up and we took him to the area for toddlers. Before arriving at their destination the boys stopped to look at the funny mirrors, so I snapped a photo. Check out their long legs and JSL’s monster froggy shoes!

As you will see JSL quickly warmed up to things and wanted to play on additional items.

After about two hours Bubbe and Grandpa were ready to pack up and head out. NHL must have been tired since he did not protest too much. Before leaving my mother-in-law and I noticed a jail area. We quickly managed to get all of the boys in for one quick photo.

Then it was time to head out in the hot and humid 90 degree weather. We went back to regroup before going out to lunch, shopping at the outlets and back home before a quick meal out.

Categories:
family fun jl jsl my boys nhl photos play time road trip

Boating and beach fun with family

Posted on July 15, 2008 9:14 pm by TheAngelForever

My aunt and uncle own a house that is on a beautiful lake not far from where we live. Last year with the birth of JSL we were not able to go up there and on the boat. Aunt S decided that she wanted to make some special memories for our boys and invited us for an afternoon/evening of fun Saturday. The four of us and my parents went to meet my aunt, uncle and grandmother at the house.

We slathered ourselves with sun lotion before heading up and JL and NHL had their swim suits on just in case they wanted to go in the water while on the boat. Everyone made their way to the boat, a gorgeous pontoon boat that can have up to eleven passengers. The sun was out and the weather was perfect. It was hot, but not too humid. The boys immediately put on their life jackets before we went out and everyone took a seat in order to get out of the dock.

JSL was not too sure about things. He seemed to like the boat, but was very quiet after we put the life jacket on him. The poor little guy was lost in it and likely very warm from the extra heavy layer, but it was not an option.

After going around for a little while and trying to find a spot for JL and NHL to go into the water we were traveling around again. NHL was even able to go on Uncle M’s lap and drive the boat. He literally was steering the boat and controling the speed. . . more than we had originally thought. NHL loved this and was so thrilled that Uncle M allowed him to try again later on.

Did you know that being captain of the boat makes you hungry? It seemed to do that for NHL as you will see.

We all noticed that JSL was curious about what NHL had done. Uncle M was really nice and allowed JSL to sit on his lap and skipper the boat. Much to our surprise he quickly grabbed the wheel and knew just how to move it on his own. He was so happy he finally started to smile. Uncle M definitely made his day!

To cool off we stopped the boat so NHL could dip his feet and splash in the water at the front of the boat. He had an absolute blast. It was hard to pull him away and move the boat, but we told him we were going to the beach soon.

Here are some random photos from the relaxing and fun outing on the boat.

Of course the trip down memory lane would not be complete without mentioning what we found on the lake. When we were going fast we spotted something and went back to see it. JL thought it really looked like a turtle shell with a fin up. Well, he was dead wrong . . . . pun intended. This was the lovely view that had a smell to go along with it.

Once we docked the boat and closed it back up we went to the nice little beach that is part of the community. It is hard to believe, but this was NHL’s first time in the sand and building sand castles. He had a blast and did not want to stop. We were all quite shocked that he loved the water and went in without complaints.

JSL enjoyed relaxing in the shade for a while with Mimi, looking around the beach with papa and hanging out with me (those are my legs). He was not interested in the sand this time around. Next time we may allow him to explore a little more.

Finally both boys went into the water and had a blast playing with their daddy. None of them wanted to leave, but eventually we had to call it a day and head back to have dinner.

A huge thank you to Aunt S and Uncle M for such a wonderful time on Saturday. NHL continues to tell everyone about his fun in the sun and I know JSL enjoys splashing and swimming even more. Both of you are the best and we love you lots.

Categories:
family fun jl jsl nhl photos road trip weekend

Heigh-ho the cherry-o . . . a picking we will go

Posted on July 10, 2008 6:00 am by TheAngelForever

When I think of summer I automatically picture the fruits of the season. Watermelon, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries to name a few. Talk about tasty healthy snacking. When the weather is so warm and nothing sounds good, fruit is always perfect and hits the spot.

My favorite fruit by far is the cherry. I love cherries! I have fond memories from my childhood of buying bags of cherries from the store to gobble up. One fun recollection is from a summer that my two cousins came to spend time here from the west coast. Cousin M and I went to the store with my mother and we stood there for a LONG time picking out the perfect cherries. We filled up an entire bag with probably 4-5 pounds or possibly more. When we went to our house we stood outside with my father and had a cherry pit spitting contest. I do not recall who won, but I know we had fun eating and spending time together as a family.

It is only fitting that this past weekend while visiting my brother, sister-in-law and niece that we made some cherry memories for our children (I wish Cousin M had been there). We heard that there was a cherry picking place not too far from their house that had dwarf cherry trees. Those would be perfect for all of us to pick from.

We all got into my car and wandered out into territory that nobody had been to before. After a while we finally arrived to cherry land. From the parking lot you could see the amazing trees ready to be picked. Our mouths were watering from the view. We had hardly had cherries this year thanks to the ridiculous price ($4.99 a pound and up for the bing variety). We slathered everyone with sun lotion and went to get buckets for collecting our fruit.

Then we were off to find the fields with the sweet cherries. Quickly we were walking in a cherry wonderland.

It was absolutely amazing. There were cherries everywhere. Hundreds of trees chock full of cherries ready for us to pick. We set up a place and I stayed with JSL and Cousin S. Aunt M, Uncle I, JL and NHL set off to fill our buckets.

The two little ones were quite content sitting back and watching everyone. At one point S wanted to hold JSL’s hand. He was sweet and played with his little cousin. This was also where they taste tested some of their first cherries. JSL was quite partial to the white cherries that tasted much like peaches inside.

NHL was really good and asked if he could try a cherry from one of the trees. We told him it was fine. He was too cute selecting just the right one, and then finding the perfect place to taste test.

After a short time both buckets were approximately half filled with both cherry varieties. We had no real clue how many pounds we had, so we figured it was best to stop at that point and check in. We got all of our things together and went to the line to check out, weigh in and pay. As you can see cherry picking made NHL quite thirsty!

And for your viewing pleasure, I present you with our gorgeous cherries. All 22.4 pounds of the juicy summer goodness!

Those buckets are very deceptive in the amount they can hold. We were quite impressed with our haul and went back to the house to eat more cherries before giving the kids tubs and ordering our dinner.

What will our next picking adventure be? Perhaps veggies next time! Do you have any memories of summer time fruit or veggie picking fun? If you do please share.

Categories:
family fun jl jsl looking back nhl photos road trip travel weekend yummy

Wii love balls

Posted on July 1, 2008 9:13 pm by TheAngelForever

As the boys continue to grow I want to capture moments that show them at each stage of their lives. I was able to video a few things recently and want to share.

JSL is quite obsessed with balls. He loves to play catch, to roll them, to toss them, and to look for them. Anything that is round and looks like a ball is therefore a ball in his 13 month old mind. Case in point was Saturday as we were putting groceries away. JL and I bought a mini-watermelon at the store and it was on the ground. JSL found it in the bag and pulled it out onto the floor. He immediately squealed "ball" at the top of his lungs. He kept playing with his watermelon "ball" and was quite happy until he tried to pick it up. He just did not understand why it was so heavyy. I finally went to get the camera and captured some of his antics.

Another popular sport in our house involves the Nintendo Wii. NHL loves to spend time with JL to bond, especially when the Wii is allowed. He enjoys playing bowling, baseball, and golf. He LOVES playing Mario Kart Wii. It is funny listening to him talk about it. He knows all of the Mario characters from my childhood and can tell details about each of the courses and cars in depth. Tonight I thought it was time to get a video of the boys during their almost nightly routine. As you will see NHL sits on his daddy’s lap and they play together.

I love my boys!