Mini February Vacation Getaway:)

 The kids and I had such a fun weekend!  Gabe would have too, but he was on call, then working on a presentation he has this week. Just to add salt to his wounds his car also got towed in Portland, which really cut into spending time with friends and working on his presentation. Anyhow, we left early Saturday morning and met Nanny, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, Uncle Dennis, Trey and Jacob at the Children's museum in Bangor.  We stayed way longer than I thought we would... they have a fantastic museum with lots of cool exhibits.  I would say James's favorite was the water section, while Noah really enjoyed all of the things to ride on.  We then dragged the kids to the Grasshopper Shop which was closing in Bangor and got some really great deals.  

Since James fell asleep in the store we opted for a later nap and went to lunch at Nickey's Diner on Union street.  We met the rest of the Pelkey's (minus H:() there and pretended to all be in Florida instead of the freezing north.  Noah loved all of the old cars and things to look at! From there we went to check in at the hotel.  At that point everyone was beyond tired.  We took a little rest, then went swimming.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Noah does in the water now.  He is still certainly far from being able to swim, but his confidence in the water is incredible.  He got right in with his lifejacket and swam to the other end of the pool all alone!  This is the same kid who would latch onto you out of fear and not let go until you were back out of the pool, just a few months ago.  He just doesn't seem to get scared in this sense any more.  There were several incidents where he went under water, but just laughed about it.  This was baby Trey's first pool experience and he did so well!!  After we dragged Noah out of the pool we went over to the Auditorium to watch some Tourney basketball.  Both kids (besides the extreme fatigue at this point) held together very well.  It was really funny to see James yell and wave his hands when the crowed would cheer.  They both were enthralled when they got to go and sit next to the band at half time.

The next morning we did some more swimming, then everyone laid on the bed while we packed everything up... The kids had been to 3 days of day care that week and from the busy weekend, they were EXHAUSTED!  But, everyone was happy and I got some great pics of my parents with the grandkids.  We left around noon and both kids slept for the ENTIRE car ride home. 

Daddy Turns 30!

This Valentines Day, Gabe turned 30... Noah didn't care how old he was (his guess was 5), but he did care that he had a school bus birthday cake and a party.  Noah picked out this school bus cake back in January and kept it a secret from Gabe this whole time.  He picked out some special decorations from Mardens and from our supply of random party leftovers.  He was really beside himself with pride and excitement for this party.  He was a bit disappointed when I had to tell him that "no, lots of kids won't be here", but he got over that pretty quickly.  The cake does have his signature "flags" on it... I am not sure that package will every run out.  

Valentine Fun

All of these little holidays are so fun this year.  Noah really understands them and learns lots about them at preschool, then is really excited to celebrate them at home.  James has no idea what is happening, but he gets so excited when Noah does... and he learned about chocolate this year... I think he is a fan.  He is a funny guy because he has learned that if it is something good, he needs to eat is really fast before someone else does, and if he always has one in each hand, it is to his advantage.   The kids and I had a very fun day between Noah's valentines day party at preschool and our mini valentines party at home... they were only a little crazy from all of the chocolate:)

Winter Plague and a Fun Trip to Augusta

Normally in the winter we are sick pretty much continuously.  The kids will have a runny nose for months, stopping just long enough so that we know that a new cold is starting.  As a product of the kids being in daycare and us working in pediatrics, it is just something we accept.  Well, this week has been a bit heavy on the illness, even for us.  Two Saturdays ago James started with a rash and I with a sore throat, then by Monday, I too had the rash... scarlet fever (strep throat with a rash).  By Wednesday Noah had it too... luckily nothing a 10 day course of Amoxicillin can't fix.  I thought, ok, everyone is on meds, we should be good for at least a week.  Friday night at 11pm- James starts vomiting (and not just a little) so he "slept" on my chest for the night. This marks the 3rd round of the GI bug for us this year. By Sunday James was looking way better (except for some diarrhea, but we happily take that over the vomiting), we had been extra careful not to spread germs, and we were preparing for our Superbowl party.  At 3:30 pm Gabe says to me, "I am not feeling well".  I thought he was kidding since we had been talking about canceling the party for the previous day... nope.  I immediately sent him into quarantine in the cellar and he emerged Monday at around noon... it was rough.  I did get to enjoy all of the Superbowl food we had made for 12 people all by myself:)  Here is to hoping that things will look up from here... or at the very least we will get a little bit of a break.  

When I sat down to write this post I thought that I didn't have any pictures, but to my pleasant surprise I did.  A few weeks ago Hillary braved the snow to come home for a long weekend from college.  After many delays and sleeping at Logan Airport she arrived and we got to spend a few hours bringing her to meet Holly in Augusta.  To kill some time we checked out the Augusta Childrens museum.  The word museum in this title is a bit misleading, but it was a fun little play space for the kids to enjoy for a bit.  They really liked the diner best.  Thanks for a fun trip Hill!