We have had a great first week of vacation. We arrived at Lori's last Saturday just in time for dinner. We headed straight to Baja Fresh! The kids spent the evening playing in Lori's backyard with Alina and Aidan. On Sunday Aidan had his birthday party. The boys had tons of fun and were torn between spending another night at Aunt Lori's or heading off to the mountains! We arrived in Pennsylvania Sunday evening and they dragged Pop-Pop out to do everything possible before it got dark. Their first stop was the candy tree. Pop-Pop has a tree that grows lollipops just outside his kitchen door! Their next stop was the money tree that is planted safely in the garden surrounded by an electric fence! The boys have been checking that tree daily needless to say. So far it has grown lots of coins and one dollar bills. There was a lot of rain there the last few days we were there so the boys are expecting twenties to be growing by the time we get back to Pennsylvania! Monday was beautiful and we all spent the entire day outside. I took Hanzie on a few long hikes and he was completely exhausted by the end of the day. Since I didn't have my bike with me, I had to jog. Most people know that I hate running! I actually did much better than I thought I would. I jogged around the pond a few times and then jogged the hiking route with Hanzie which is through the mountain. Tuesday afternoon Lori arrived with Alina and Aidan. The boys and Alina had a blast playing together. The boys taught Alina how to skateboard across my mom's new hardwood floors! They went for numerous four-wheeler rides, tractor rides, etc. They have also been fishing just about every day. On Wednesday it was extremely hot. We took the kids into town to get ice cream and it was 97 degrees! Thursday morning it started raining and kept raining off and on until we left after lunch today. The boys weren't bothered by the rain and kept up with their normal routine, minus the campfire since it was too wet to build one. Noah tried hard to convince Pop-Pop to use the dry firewood that was in the basement, but finally gave up on the idea. This morning they got in a fishing trip when the rain let up to just a drizzle. Noah caught a giant catfish and had to be saved by Pop-Pop. I guess the catfish was a bit stronger than Noah and started pulling him into the pond! After fishing and lunch we packed up and headed to Bowie. We stopped by my friend Anna's house to see her renovations. Her projects are all turning out beautifully, although I know she is anxious to have it all done! After Anna's we were off to Grandma Pat and Pop-Pop Bob's house to meet up with Aunt Kate and Dad. They were very anxious to see their dad that they hadn't seen in a week! I think Chris was a bit more anxious to see them though. After a short reunion, we headed off to Baja Fresh for dinner. Now we are in the process of packing up all over again to leave for the Outer Banks in the morning. The boys are excited about seeing their cousins tomorrow. Of course the entire family is saddened by the loss of Chris' Grandma Covney earlier this week. I think it is wonderful that everyone will be able to spend time together this coming week.

I miss my family! That's the song I wrote for the Naked Brothers Band. Nat and Alex have nothing on me. (Inside joke for Jen and the boys.) Anyway, Jen and the boys left early this morning for Aunt Lori's house. Jen drove the entire way, but they did manage to make it safely and in great time. I volunteered to work today in exchange to take off this past Wednesday in order to go to Universal with the family. Turned out to be a wise choice because I was bored out of my mind today after work. I am definitely lost without Jen and the boys here! I miss you guys!! Hope you have fun this week and I will see you on Friday.

Well, we are sort of packed and ready to go. All the laundry is done and some of the clothes have found their way to the suitcase. There are a lot of things that still need to be done, but it will get packed, eventually! The boys, my mom, and I leave VERY early in the morning to head to Lori's house for Aidan's birthday party. On Sunday we leave for the mountains for a bit. Chris will be stuck here working! At least he gets to avoid the drive. I think I would trade places!

Noah has perfected just about all of his magic tricks. I use the word "perfect" loosely! Here he is doing his best Criss Angel. He walks around the house saying, "I am a Mindfreak!" It is actually quite humorous!
The boys are currently watching The Naked Brothers Band marathon leading up to the new episode. It goes without saying that The Naked Brothers Band with be on the Florida Schrader's play list at the OBX. Perhaps it can mix in with some of the apparent country craze. The boys and I are Top 40 freaks so watch out!

We made it to Universal today. It was hot and sunny the entire time we were there so we didn't have to encounter any storms. We arrived early and there were no lines. The boys were able to do all of their favorite rides. By mid-day it was quite busy, but since they hit all of their favorites they were ready to go anyway. They were able to do the Flying Unicorn roller coaster over and over again and we also were able to get on E.T. Those are their Universal musts. We didn't have to wait for any of the Dr. Seuss rides either. All in all, not a bad Universal experience minus the heat!

Here they all are in Jurassic Park. The were able to scan some dinosaur eggs in the lab.
Just outside the lab they all got to pet their favorite dinosaur baby. Somehow, this one didn't get all stinked up. (Noah confuses extinct with all stinked up.)
Chris braved the Popeye ride with the boys. It was so hot that they begged to get on. Sissy Chris and Sissy Ethan had to wear ponchos! Will and Noah were brave.
Wait, did I say Sissy Chris and Sissy Ethan? I might have meant Smart Chris and Smart Ethan based on how drenched these two boys are!
Those are some wet butts! I guess the poncho didn't protect that area!
Posing in front of the Super Heroes' rides.

These are some big glasses!
There was a cool indoor playground that we have somehow missed on all of our past Universal visits. There was a cool musical section with gigantic instruments. There was also a sand play area and a water play area. In the water area was this tornado maker.

Now, it may just look like a bunch of characters to you, but this was a sweet 80's Rewind stage show.
We were also able to finally see the Beetlejuice Monster's Revue show. The boys loved that! Just picture Beetlejuice, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Dracula all rocking it out on stage.

We decided to hold off on Universal until tomorrow since Chris can join us. I think it may have been a mistake. They are calling for severe storms. I suppose we'll just arrive early and then leave as soon as the storms begin. We took the boys to see Happy Feet at the kids' movie. Once again, I had never sat through the entire movie so it was the first time I had seen it. It was really cute. The boys are out swimming while they can. They will be two weeks without a pool! I'm doing laundry and trying to clean up a bit before the packing frenzy begins on Thursday.

Before Jen and I went on our 10 mile bike ride tonight, Ethan was begging to go with us. Neither of us thought that he could make it, so we just told him that I would take him when I got back from my ride with Jen. Well, I figured Ethan would just lose interest and forget all about it. When we got back though, he said, "Are you ready to go now?" I couldn't exactly say no, since I had already promised to go with him. I'm proud to say that he actually made it the entire 10 miles!! I could have turned around at any point and he wouldn't have known the difference, but he was doing great and was not complaining at all. I guess he was so motivated that he didn't even think about the strong headwind on the return 5 miles. That and I had my Camelbak on and he is really pushing hard for me to get him one. Maybe his mind games worked on me? Maybe he really does need one? Hmm...smart kid. By the way, this is a picture of Ethan after getting back.

Grandma Ann arrived in one piece. Let's hope she leaves the same way! The second we walked in the door from the airport, the boys made her get her swimsuit on and jump right in the pool. After dinner, they dragged her outside to show her all their fancy bike/skateboard/scooter stunts. This morning it was straight to the beach.

Where are the waves?

Here they come!
The beginnings of their sand castle.
Ethan working the sand.
The final product!
The boys spent almost the entire time in the ocean. We brought Chris' boogie board and they took turns on that. We had to promise them play time at the little beach playground to get them to agree to leave the beach! I have a meeting at school this afternoon. The boys are planning on swimming with Grandma once I leave. Tomorrow we try for Universal Studios.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially our own! The boys have once again very unselfishly planned a special day for Chris. It started off with Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. (Chris is not a big fan of donuts.) They then decided that they would sacrifice some of their time and play Wii with their dad. They decided that we should take Chris out to lunch before we pick up my mom from the airport. After a lengthy discussion on which restaurants had the best desserts and/or kids prizes, they chose one! I don't know how they'll manage getting through the day doing all the things that their dad loves. There has also been some mention of hitting Toys R' Us since it is right next to the airport. You see, their dad LOVES Toys R' Us!

The boys had a fun evening with Drew. Drew was more interested in Hanzie than he was in any of the boys! Before dinner, we went for a swim.
Hanzie was a bit jealous of all the attention that Drew was getting and spent most of his time here (aka in my face)!
After dinner, we went for a stroll through the tourist district. The boys decided to stop in a couple of the surf shops in between their arguments over who was going to get to push Drew! They picked out the $269 surfboard that they MUST have. It is made for kids learning to surf so it is soft and has rubber fins. I'm sure it will end up in our garage one day in the near future! The boys have another new fascination thanks to Chris introducing them to Criss Angel. They are constantly doing new magic tricks. Here they are impressed by Drew's trick of getting free from the stroller!
It is amazing how quickly kids learn! I only had to show Drew how to tap the drum once and he was a pro for the rest of the evening. Prodigy, must be!

The boys arrived home at 7:00 this morning. After eating breakfast we headed off to the beach at met up with some friends. Chris took the boys out surfing. Will was a natural. Ethan and Noah did awesome as well. All of them made it up and rode the waves in. I was impressed. Of course now they all want their own surfboards! This could get expensive! The ocean has warmed up nicely and even I was able to get in. After their big night and morning, they all crashed on the short drive home. We threw them in the shower and then they all took naps.

Who picked a pepper from the pepper plant???

The boys did! Our green pepper was finally big enough to pick. They also picked the jalapenos. There was a little mishap with the jalapeno picking and Will picked a red pepper on accident. Oh well, one less red pepper. We put those peppers straight to use. The boys wanted "breakfast for dinner," so, I cooked some Egg Beaters with green peppers, onions, and jalapeno. They were so delicious! Ethan even liked it. Noah liked the eggs but spit out the green pepper. Will wouldn't even touch it. No worries, they had turkey bacon, waffles, fruit, and whipped cream to keep their bellies full. They are spending the night at a friend's house tonight. That allowed Chris and I to go for a nice, long bike ride. We actually got to ride together this time! It had cooled off nicely by the time we left. Had we been thinking we would have brought our wallets along for the ride and gone out for a drink. Instead, we just got to ride by and watch everyone else sitting outside at the restaurants.

Today we had to run up to school to pick up my FINAL paycheck of the summer! Scary thought. At any rate, we decided to go to one of the boys' favorite parks that is right next to school. It was, well, hot! We only lasted about 45 minutes.

Ethan and Noah spun on the tire swing for some time. The funniest part was abandoning them when they asked me to stop them so they could get off. Will and I had a good time just watching them figure out how to stop the swing and get off!
Another hot, beautiful Florida day!
There is a story behind this park obstacle. When we first moved here 3.5 years ago, Noah was just about to turn 2. The first time we came to this park he was determined to get big enough to get up this rope/tire obstacle. He is proud to say that he can finally do it!
Will about to test out his gymnastic skills on the bars.
The drop!
The boys are excited for the weekend. Tomorrow night they get to spend some time with Drew. They love playing with little guys. Sunday afternoon Grandma Ann arrives. They are very excited about that. They have been talking about all the stuff she lets them get away with all week! I'm sure we'll have a busy week with Grandma before we leave for Maryland/Pennsylvania/North Carolina. Chris won't be with us for the first part of the trip. I'm sure the boys will miss him. He says he is going to miss us, but I think he secretly can't wait for some peace! He will be joining us in the Outer Banks.

Chris could not have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate his birthday on! Today has been absolutely gorgeous. The boys started the morning by making decorations for Chris' "party." After making decorations they had some lunch and then spent a couple hours swimming.
Here they are patiently awaiting their dad's arrival home from work. Ethan decided that we must get Chris honey chicken and chicken and rice soup from the Chinese restaurant for his birthday dinner. (Note: Ethan's favorite food is honey chicken from the Chinese restaurant!) Will wasn't into the whole Chinese dinner so he asked for a griller. I went with smoothie dinner myself!
After dinner we all rode bikes to the park. The boys stopped at the park to throw the boomerang. I kept riding and met back with them at the house. We then sang Happy Birthday and watched Chris blow out his candles. The boys were very proud of the cake they made!

Happy 35th Birthday to Chris!

The boys made him a cake yesterday. After some debate, they decided on yellow cake as long as they could throw in some chocolate chips before we baked it. Obviously they chose chocolate icing. Ethan placed all the letters and Will and Noah did the yellow icing. This morning they placed his presents all around the cake to surprise him. They have some top secret stuff planned for him tonight when he gets home from work!

Okay, I sincerely have no idea why I ever listen to Chris! After dinner I checked the radar and saw a big storm coming our way. It was already south of Daytona Beach, or in other words, just north of us. Chris convinced me that I had plenty of time to get my miles in before it got here. Yeah, well, I didn't! Not only were palm leaves and branches flying towards my head, the wind was blowing so hard that it was nearly pushing me over! I can only imagine what I looked like pedaling in my see through shirt with sunglasses on trying to keep the rain from pelting my eyes! Luckily I was only three miles from home when it started. I was at least smart enough to stick around our area so I could easily get home from where ever I was. The boys got a good laugh when I got in so I suppose it was all worth it! The real kicker is that I was only able to go 7 miles! I learned three things this afternoon...
1) Wear a thick shirt if it is about to rain.
2) Crocs do indeed hold a lot of water.
3) I should NEVER listen to my husband!

Bath Time turned into Pool Time. Pool Time turned into Surfing 101.


(There are no individual shots of Will because he was skinny dipping! I'll leave it up to you to decide what Chris was doing??)

This weekend has proven to be hot and sunny! Yesterday we hung out at home and did chores. Colleen, Aaron, and Kyle came over for dinner. Kyle brought over his green machine and all the boys, Chris and Aaron included, had some fun. After dinner the kids swam for a bit. Then we headed off to Sweeties to get ice cream. The kids played outside on bikes, skateboards, and green machine when we got home while Chris and Aaron played with Aaron's fancy new computer. Noah was actually tuckered out enough to ask to go to bed. I can honestly say that I don't remember a single time that he has asked to be put to bed! This morning I went for my bike ride and now the boys have plans to swim and then go to the beach for a while this evening. I'm ready to jump in the pool as well!

Happy Birthday Dad! We hope that you have a fabulous day.

What do you do while you wait for a shuttle to launch??? Well there is swimming,

and football, and burying someone in the sand,
and reading US weekly! We took the boys and their friend Emily to the beach to watch the shuttle launch tonight. We met up with Colleen, Aaron, and Kyle. The kids had a great time playing and barely looked up to see the shuttle. They all finally started to pay attention when they heard the sonic boom. By then of course you could barely see the shuttle!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my adorable nephew Aidan!

I nearly had a heart attack about 5 minutes ago. I went outside to put some acid in the pool since we got 3" of rain last night. I saw a snake in the pool. At first I thought nothing of it since the boys are always taking their toy fish, frogs, etc out there to play with. Once it started to swim I screamed at the top of my lungs! Anyone that knows me well, and all my neighbors now, knows that I HATE any sort of reptile or amphibian! The lizards crawling all over my pool screen are adorable and fun to watch as long as they stay outside of my pool screen. Once one enters I quickly run to grab one of the boys to rescue it. I won't even touch them! Since snakes can be dangerous and Chris is at work, the job of getting it out of the pool was left up to me. It took me a few minutes to collect my thoughts enough to grab the net to scoop it out. Since it was swimming around I had to wait for it to come back to the top of the pool. I scooped it up, screamed, and threw the entire net and pole out in the yard! This is not your typical black snake either. It was a nice dulled out brass color. Chris was mad that I didn't kill it. I can't even kill a spider and he is expecting me to kill a snake??? Not to mention, if it turned out to be of the harmless variety, I would have felt awful. Don't worry Christie, I threw the pole on Gaye's side so if it seeks shelter in a neighboring yard it will be headed in her direction. She has a man home all day with her to take care of nuisances such as snakes.

I have some sort of rain curse! Last Friday evening I went bike riding just before our "tropical weather" arrived. It was drizzling and raining off and on through my entire ride. I was quite far from home and got my first flat. Some sort of wire got stuck in my front tire. Luckily the boys were all home playing video games since it was raining and they came to my rescue. Tonight we had some more well needed rain. Just as the thunder storm was winding down, I left for my ride. Once again it was drizzling and raining for most of it. I was just about home and got another flat, this time the back tire. I was able to walk it home this time.

My poor bike!

Each evening after the boys are tucked snuggly in their beds and fast asleep the stuffed animal robber comes into their room. He is very quiet and carefully tugs the stuffed animal out of the sleeping child's grasp. Here he is with Will's horse and Noah's dog. He has perfected his craft to the point that he can just go in and get two at a time without waking anyone. No worries, he does no harm to the animals. He just takes them over to his own bed to snuggle with!

A brief glimpse of our nights...

First there was my dessert. The boys were outside eating popsicles and I cut up all the strawberries and a banana. I made the mistake of taking it outside to eat it. After the boys saw it, they came in and ate all that was left. There goes my breakfast!
I guess this is called popsicle soccer??? Not sure, but they played soccer while eating dripping popsicles!
Once the popsicles were consumed they moved onto football.
Will chose the skateboard over football. He spent an hour riding his water skateboard today while he was in the pool. Tonight he worked on the traditional skateboarding tricks.

After coming in from sports, they ate all of my fruit! Here they are brushing their teeth before bed.
Finally we read some Shel Silverstein. I tucked them in 30 minutes ago and they are still popping out of their rooms to tell me something important! Noah's latest important news was that he thinks he swallowed a piece of his hair!