Boston Visit 2014

The Carlile Family, once again, was gracious enough to host us for our annual trip to Beantown.  What we didn't do may take less time to write than what we did do.  We all had an absolute blast visiting, relaxing and playing with friends:)

On Saturday, Gabe and I took the kids to Ikea in the morning because, we honestly can't visit within 50 minutes of one without going... they have free childcare and we got free lunch so I am not sure what could have been better;)  The kids were troopers, as always, and we didn't have to call AAA this time which is a new first for us!  Saturday night we played, rode scooters & bikes, bounced on the trampoline, zoomed on the zip line, had pizza and the kids stayed up WAY past bedtime for their sleepover with Rain and Suvi.

Sunday morning, after a wonderful breakfast, we headed to the Franklin Park Zoo.  The kids all got to feed the birds, experience the rhino ride/video, find some walking sticks and see the giraffes and zebras among many other animals.  That evening Heli and Narath provided a delicious Memorial Day BBQ, followed by more trampolining/zip lining/bike/scooter riding.

Monday, after we packed up we headed to Harvard Square for lunch on the patio of Legal Seafood.  The weather was perfect for outdoor dining and the kids all did so well at the restaurant!  After lunch we went to the most anticipated activity of the weekend... Opening weekend of the Legoland Discovery Center in Sommerville.  After waiting in line for nearly 2 hours (Thank you JP licks for having your ice cream shop open!!) we got in.  The kids loved playing there, but the grownups were more than a little disappointed.  Having been to Legoland in Florida this was a big letdown.  We decided that for the amount of money we paid, going to the Museum of Science or the Aquarium or the Children's Museum or back to the zoo would have been better.  There was really nothing inside that made the place extra special and the climbing structure was comparable to the ones found at a McDonald's play place.  Lesson learned, we will stick to what we know next time.

Thank you so much Carlile Family we all had so much fun can't wait until next year!!!!

May Play!

We opened the pool... it is a balmy 48 degrees... so far James has been the only one brave enough to jump in.  I didn't get any pictures, but I do have the video and will post it if I get a chance:)

We have also filled the sandbox and I am quite sure that Audrey could play in there all day.  She and the boys think that it is super funny to pour sand over her head... although we do not "allow" them to do this, she is required to wear a hat while she is in the sandbox... just in case.

The boys are pretty excited to get the kayak out in the water and have really enjoyed pretending in our garage.  The bottom picture is from today when it finally stopped raining for a few hours and the sun cam out.  I was able to convince James and Ben that it was a fun game to clean out all of our garbage cans.... how many years will I be able to get away with that?:)

Bar Harbor Visit 2014- Part 2

 

 

 

Day 2 of Bar Harbor had pretty disappointing weather, but no less fun for the kids!  Both Nannie and Grammy came down to watch the kids while Gabe and I attended the conference and kept the kids busy all day.  Their first stop was at the YMCAs activity day.  The kids competed in races (Not surprisingly Ben won for his age group and got a pretty neat prize), saw some animal pelts, visited with the game wardens and even got the try out the canoe in the pool!

After a picnic lunch at the hotel they went into Ellsworth to the movies followed by a trip to the Bangor Children's Museum AND dinner at the Ground Round.  I think that it was probably an equally fun and exhausting day for everyone. Thank you Grammy and Nannie, we appreciate it!!

Bar Harbor Visit 2014- Part 1

 

We love the fact that the Maine AAP conference is in Bar Harbor each year.  Last year Gabe had to work and we couldn't make it, but this year we did!  We let the kids skip school on Friday and the weather was beautiful.  We had a picnic at Jordan Pond House.. it wasn't open yet for the season, but we put down our blanket and picnic lunch and enjoyed the view.  We then let the kids play at the sand bar for a bit, but the weather was turning and it was getting a bit chilly for everyone to be wet so it didn't last long;)  We had dinner at the Route 66 cafe that was a highlight for the kids.  It was like a giant eye spy game while we waited for dinner.  Luckily for us it was mostly empty and the kids were allowed to have the run of the place:)

Our first stop, after we made it to the island, was to hike bubble "mountain".  This hike has inadvertently become one of our family rights of passage.  It is a big milestone when one of our kids can hike up and down by themselves.  It is a really neat thing to be able to compare as we try and hike it each year.  This year was our easiest hike yet!  All three boys hiked the entire way up and down... what a life changing thing to only have to carry one 22 pound kid!  There was a really cute moment when the boys were hiking up the mountain together and Gabe tried to discretely snap a picture... James noticed, stopped, turned around and posed... seriously this kids never agrees to a picture, yet the one time we wanted to get one of him not looking he suddenly loves the camera... :)

Spring is on it's way...slowly...

This weekend my parents visited and brought us lots and lots for pig... Thank you Uncle Jon!!!!  In the first 48 hours we had ribs, bacon (for 2 meals) and pork chops... how long will it take us to eat half of a 400 pound pig?

Our yard has some great potential, but is painfully overgrown in parts.  Last week the kids and I started digging up the garden... this may be a VERY long process. The kids have all enjoyed digging in the dirt and finding worms is providing hours or entertainment.  The best part... no bugs yet:)  Audrey is really loving the dirt.  I don't remember the boys getting this dirty, but they never really had the opportunity to play in this kind of dirt on a daily basis... Audrey is on a strict jeans only wardrobe plan when we are outside as we have already ruined many "cute pants":)

The bottom picture here is at the playground next to where Noah has baseball.  Ben loves putting things on Audrey's head and waiting for them to fall off... usually she wears a hat to protect her from this type of play;) More on Noah's baseball later...

Shaving Cream, Letters and Hose Play

Shaving cream cars is one of our favorite activities.  Even Audrey is getting in on this, but her "shaving cream" was really whipped cream since I didn't fully trust her not to eat it or get it in her eyes. We love "controlled" messy play when daddy is working:)

James was struggling a bit with his lowercase letters so we found this fantastic game with colored and clear spoons to match uppercase and lowercase letters (thank you Pintrest!). James has done fantastically with this and is now trying to see just how fast he can match the letters up.

It has been raining a lot here which has limited our outside play.  Audrey and I were working in the garage the other day while the boys were playing outside.  I knew they had the hose... it sounded like they were having so much fun... I resisted the urge to check on them because there was no fighting, no crying and lots of laughing AND I presumed that if someone was being really unsafe, someone would speak up... and to be completely honest, the few minutes of peace while I was trying to get something done is just such a rarity I couldn't bring myself to disrupt it;)  After about 15 minutes I walked around the corner and saw this... They were all completely soaked and laughing which taking turns spraying each other with the hose... it wasn't more than 45 degrees and our well water is cold... and the funniest thing here is James... his pants had fallen down and he was having so much fun he really just didn't care.  We went inside, stripped down and had warms baths right away... all in all a fun kid afternoon:)