Thanksgiving 2009

After visiting NJ, we headed off to Long Island for the week of Thanksgiving. It gave time for me to work in the New York office and for Papa to spend time with the boys. I think we all enjoyed our trip. As usual, Thanksgiving morning brought the annual football game. It was great to see all the cousins together which is very rare. I brought the bikes for the boys to play with and I think we all had fun. Plus it kept us off the wet field and from getting soaked.

Here are the participants of the football game and as you can see the age range is getting more and more diverse. It is scary to think that one day my boys might be running up and down the field.

So Brian has been talking trash to Bradley that he could beat him in a race. This has been going on since August. I don't think Brian has ever lost a race. Bradley however can run a 5 minute mile and I don't know if Brian realized that. With a little instigation, Bradley challenged Brian to a race right after the football game. Bradley is on the left and Brian is on the right. Unfortunately for Brian, Bradley was all warmed up and won the race.

It was nice to see the good sportsmanship at the end of the race.

Then, we took the boys over to see the school buses and of course had to climb this rock they saw. I thought it was an adorable father-sons picture.

Somehow I didn't manage to take any pictures of our Thanksgiving feast but I can assure you it was delicious. Grandma went all out and any food you could imagine was out on the table. Superb! On Friday, we ventured over to the Bayville arcade where we played games for over an hour. They were playing great Christmas music and we were dancing all around the Christmas tree since we had the place to ourselves. It is nice that we actually got a picture of the whole family.

A week sounds like a long time but to be honest it flew on by. Thanks for taking care of us in LV, Grandma and Papa, and for making Thanksgiving very special.

Our NJ trip

We decided it was time for a road trip in Mid-November. Our first stop NJ for the long overdue visit to Jenn, Andro, Luka and Aidan. They have totally redone their house which is gorgeous and I can only imagine how much work that took. We arrived late Friday night and headed immediately for bed because we were to have an early morning. After a delicious pancake breakfast, we headed to Disney on Ice which the kids loved. It was so cute and the ending was all about Christmas which was perfect to get us in the mood to celebrate.

All of our munchkins. Can you believe we have a picture of all of us together?After a naptime, we went for a walk to the local playground. I love this - we took the red wagon around the block and we were at a beautiful park. The big boys actually pulled the little guys in the wagon. (I use big and little loosely.) The kids loved the walk and it was adorable to watch them taking care of each other. At the playground, there was a basketball court where the kid had races. On your mark, get set, go... After we all acted like kids at the playground, we headed back to the house and went right out to dinner. We had a fantastic Italian dinner and then had a relaxing night in. Thank you for your incredible hospitality - we had a blast. Now you are in trouble because I am sure we will be back soon.

Fall Clean Up

When fall arrives, it is beautiful but work is ready to begin. One Saturday, the entire family was out in the yard raking leaves and filling bags. Some of us were more productive than others - Connor and Garrett were not that into it but once we made a huge pile of leaves they were definitely ready to jump in them. On Monday, the boys were outside with Grandma and to our surprise when we got home from work there were two full bags of leaves at the top of the driveway. I assumed Brian had found someone to rake up the leaves. Then, I heard that the boys and Grandma were hard at work.
Once again, Grandma's magical powers had both boys hard at work and she even managed to get evidence of the work in progress.

Of course Garrett thought it was way more fun to play cars in the middle of the leaves.

Then, the cars and boys had to go off-roading into the dirt.

Unfortunately, we never finished our fall clean up since the leaves didn't fall until very late in November and our first snowfall followed shortly. Brian was even out there this weekend in 20 degree weather trying to finish.

Halloween - Part 2

We were invited to The Walsh household for Halloween because Kristen simply has the best neighborhood for trick-or-treating I have ever seen. Of course, they put on quite a party with phenomenal food, drinks and entertainment as usual. The boys were enamored by Ryan's friend Caroline and she looked after Connor and Garret like they were her brothers.
The boys were ready to rock n' roll - we couldn't stop them from wanting to go get candy. They took off with us behind them and that is how it was all night.

Thank goodness they don't scare easily because that is Brian.

Here they are waiting patiently for candy.

Ryan was our guide through the neighborhood...he showed us all the best places to go and the boys simply tried to keep up. The houses in the neighborhood are really into Halloween - there were haunted houses. I mean some of the most decorated and scariest houses I have ever seen. Brian and I both loved it - so it was entertaining for all ages.

The boys went trick or treating three different times and cleaned out the neighborhood of candy. By ten o'clock, they finally agreed to come inside and then they managed to leave their mark on Kristen's house. Thank you to Kristen, Chris and Ryan for a fantastic Halloween. Even if we are not invited back, we just might show up next year too.

The following day Daddy decided the boys needed an arts and crafts project. He basically gave them all the left over wood we had from redoing our house and let them paint away. I don't think they ever wanted to come inside but they felt like real painters and loved every second.

Happy Halloween!!!

The boys are obsessed with the Disney movie "Cars." Thus, it was logical that they wanted to be race car drivers for Halloween. Garrett went to his usual class at Isis and had a little Halloween celebration there and then met up with Connor at preschool to partake in more festivities.

The kids marched in a Halloween parade through the classrooms and of course, Connor was the leader.
Garrett jumped into action and joined the parade. He listened and stayed in line the entire time. I think this just shows how ready he is to begin school.

After the parade, the kids performed three poems. The first being Five Little Pumpkins - which was classic. The kids all did so well and they all knew every single word.

Connor showing Garrett the pumpkin ring he received during class.

This was the first time I was able to watch Connor interact with his classmates and participate in class room activities. I was amazed at the maturity of my big boy - he listens so well, pays attention to the teachers and made sure everyone was okay. Connor is one of a kind and Garrett is following his lead.

2009 Apple Picking

When we returned from the wedding, we got adventurous on Sunday and went Apple picking. It was a little late in the season but there was so much to do, it was very entertaining. Plus, Grandma was with us so it was like having an official camera woman with us. The best start to a trip is getting to ride the train into the orchard.
There is an entire children's entertainment section in the back of the orchard. We saw live animals - including the cutest pigs, camels, goats and ponies. The boys were psyched to hop on the pony rides. They loved it!

This caterpillar ride is like a tractor ride which goes around the children's area.

Connor rolling down the pyramid of hay bails.

The boys were up for anything including face painting - Connor got an apple and sun while Garrett had a pumpkin painted on his cheek.

Garrett did move at the last minute when the girl was putting the stem on the pumpkin.

Walking through the apple trees...

As you could have guessed, we were unable to get one picture of Grandma but I think we all enjoyed our outing. I won't bring up the fact that I tried to make caramel apples once we got home...I messed those up big time but the boys didn't seem to mind. They thought the apples were great to lick. mmmmm!

Here, There and Everywhere

October was the month where we just couldn't stay in one place. We traveled every weekend and it was non-stop. The week after our trip to Long Island we were off to Maine. The kids loved the trip because we stayed at a hotel with a pool and they wanted to swim every minute. Of course, having Nana with us as well was pretty special. We went to eat at a nearby restaurant and this gigantic pumpkin was on display. The boys loved it but it was extremely hard to get them to sit still for a picture.

While we were in Maine, a tropical storm was brewing in the Atlantic. We were staying right near the water and were amazed at the force of the waves. The picture below was taken from the road...it usually is a beach but as you can see the water was relentless.

The weekend of the 23rd Brian and I set out on our own to go to Dino & Jen's wedding. Grandma stayed behind on her birthday to take care of the boys and it definitely felt weird to be traveling without our little ones.

The picture below I am entering into the Brian F. Sr. contest of best sunsets. I think I might have a chance of winning.

The wedding was fantastic. It was so much fun to be around all our friends and I even got to see Diane which was one of the highlights of the night. I think we all managed to have a great time.

The following is Connor at one of his last soccer games of his second season. In two short seasons, he has grown so much and matured. I love this picture because you can see him smiling from a mile away.