Fishkill Fourth of July

We shipped off to Fishkill to usher in the Fourth of July this year. The kids had a blast with all the toys at Nana and Grandpa's house. The boys decided they had to revisit all their old toys.
Emily was excited to have completely different toys for a couple days.

Then, Emily couldn't understand why her brothers kept using her toys. Can't you just see her thinking - what are you doing?

How cute is this picture? Look at Emily chilling with Grandpa.

We did manage to get decent weather to head to Splash Down - the local water park. We went with Luka and Aidan so the kids went non-stop for a couple hours. By the end of the afternoon, all the water slides had worn them out.

The next day Nana and Grandpa were nice enough to let us host a barbecue at the house. Unfortunately, the weather was not very kind to us and we had to stay in doors. We managed to make lots of food and to still have so much fun. It was so nice to see friends and enjoy the day together.

When we made it home after the long weekend, I thought is was so cute that Garrett and Emily went off to play together. So cute.

Second Half of June

The rest of June was very relaxing. We spent a lot of our free time enjoying the pool. The boys are making huge strides swimming. During the week, the boys are now in full swing at camp for two mornings a week, swim lessons twice a week and track club twice a week. Track club got them running on the track and taught them lots of new games. Of course, the ice pop they got at the end of the session was always good motivation. They even would share some with Emily. One of their favorite games was called Drip Drip Drop. To explain simply, it is duck duck goose with a cup of water - notice how wet Garrett's shirt is at the end of the game. The last Saturday in June we ventured to the zoo which was lots of fun. The boys were able to spot all the animals but the highlight of the day was definitely the cougar. She was walking around her lair and it was so much fun to watch.

We really did sit there for quite some time.

Happily, we have had a great start to summer and are loving the beautiful weather.

Buzzzzzz

Check out our summer crewcuts. What handsome young men.

Redemption: Race Day

Here is one of Grandma's pictures from the week during a picnic in the park - my boys are so handsome.
June 12th the family was up bright and early because it was Redemption Race Day. Brian was bound and determined to finish and finish strong. It was a matter of pride. To start the day, they had kids races. Garrett's race was up first and he decided to get pumped by eating a granola bar.
Garrett was lined up for his race (50 yard dash) and as the announcer began "Ready , Set", a huge woman stepped in front of Garrett. The announcer says "Go" and Garrett had to run 50 yards just to get around the woman so he can start his race. As you can see, he did a great job and came in all smiles. Claiming the grand prize of a balloon.

Next race was Connor's which was half a mile. Connor was so excited to run the race.
Here he is lined up at the starting line. As you can see, it was kids of all ages.

Connor ran the race with all heart - he never stopped, he was so determined, he flew around the town square and he finished the race in 3 minutes 40 seconds. Seriously, he could run a mile faster than his mother ALREADY. He also won a prize: a green Live Strong Bracelet. Go Connor!!!

Redemption time: At the starting line and pumped to begin the race. (Daddy is on the right side of the picture next to the man with the long sleeve blue jacket.)

Boy did we cheer for Daddy when he took off. We immediately headed towards the last turn where we were entertained by a bagpiper. It was like a blink of an eye and the racers started rounding the bend. We couldn't believe it when the 12th person to come around the bend was Daddy.

Daddy took off on a last minute sprint and almost caught the guy ahead of him.

Daddy finished in an impressive 19 minutes 27 seconds which is amazing because he was grouped with elite runners. Congratulations to all my all star runners - the boys club did phenomenal today.

Mission redemption: Completed and Successful.

A Whirlwind Weekend

After the last few days of school, we headed off to Long Island for a whirlwind weekend of events. I headed down with the family on Thursday to try to ease the pain of traveling on the kids. Daddy met up with us on Friday to partake in all of our adventures.

On Saturday morning, I had planned to run a race with Jen in Bayville. Back in April I fell down the subway stairs and landed square on my kneecap. Let's just say I can't run or walk without pain at the moment so my hopes of participating went down the drain. However, when I signed up, I also signed up Brian. As a good sport, he decided to run. Here are my boys before the race.

The starting line.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned. I can write this blog now in hindsight because the sting won't be as bad. The runners took off and Daddy looked great running. Papa and Grandma surprised us by showing up and we all lined up along the last stretch of road to the finish line. The kids were so excited and Connor wanted to run the last bit with his dad. Well, time started to tick by and the first guy finished in about 16 minutes. A couple more minutes ticked by and all of sudden my phone rings - I immediately knew it was not good news. It was Brian and he got lost on the race course. He missed the last left turn and was not happy to say the least. I ran to the car and picked him up back in town. Unhappy is an understatement. Brian wanted to go immediately home but I explained that the kids were still at the beach. I totally felt for his embarrassment but we had to go to the beach.

I brought him back to the beach and unfortunately he had to answer twenty questions from the boys. Of course, Papa was having a great laugh. Brian walked away and called a couple people to vent while we amused the kids. There were still people milling around for a while until the medals were handed out and Connor really wanted to see daddy get a medal. Once everyone was gone, Papa in a very good natured way told the event coordinator what happened against all of our protests. Well, the coordinator thought it was hysterical and presented Brian with a Physically Challenged Medal. It was funny but let's just say salt in an open wound.


In an effort, to make the most out of the morning we headed to the luncheonette for breakfast and then across to a little farmers market. The kids danced and we started to take Brian's mind off the morning disaster. It was at this point and time that Brian decided he will do another race the next weekend somewhere in MA to redeem himself.
Look at everyone dancing.

Look at all of us in the center of town - enjoying a beautiful day.

We called over to Jen's house and decided to stop by just to say hi. We really hadn't talked much since the race didn't turn out as planned so we were very happy when she told us to stop by. All the kids got along so well and played together beautifully.

Emily got quite a kick out of Olivia and Ava.

Garrett was Ava's protector - seriously the holding hands was too cute.

The kids had so much fun with the girls and I can only hope we can do it again real soon. Sunday morning came quickly and we were headed off to NJ for Luka's birthday party. Here we are ready to head off to the party.

The funny thing about the car trip is that we were going to skip going through Manhattan but heard on the radio it was all clear. Then, we get to Manhattan and there is the Israeli and Colombian parades on two separate avenues = major delays. Well, we made it to the party a tiny bit late but we made it. When we got there, we were just in time to see the dinosaur expert explaining all the fossils. There was even ring toss and finding the dinosaur egg game.

Look at all the little dinosaurs.

Emily seems to enjoy parties as well - how cute is she all dressed up.

After the party, the Bunetas invited us over for a little pizza party and the boys played kick ball and drove the jeep around the house until it was time for bed. Thus, it was time for our clan to head back to LI.

This is definitely my fault but on Monday we went to a very important event and how did I walk away with not one picture. Uncle Kevin graduated from law school - CONGRATULATIONS!!! There was a great ceremony at Lincoln Center followed by a fabulous meal at a little French bistro on the Upper West side. What a fantastic accomplishment and we are so proud of Uncle Kevin. We won't see him all summer because he will be studying for the Bar exam but we are wishing him lots of Good Luck.

The kids did phenomenal with all the traveling and when we got home on Monday night, I don't think it was long before we were all asleep.

Graduation

Our Pre-K Graduate.

Congratulations!!!!

Last Days of School

The end of May and beginning of June brought us to the close of another school year. The boys finished another successful T-ball season. This season they were on the same team which we savoured because it probably won't happen again for a long time. Look at my handsome ball players.
Connor's last day of school is always at a local park. I can't believe I just said Connor had his last day of Pre-K. This year he is the big guy on campus so it didn't take long for the oldest kids to hop up on the roof of the play house.

Violet the clown was back again for entertainment. As you can see, she was able to hold all of the kids attention - including Emily. (Garrett was at his last day of school.)

I couldn't believe that when Violet asked for a volunteer - Connor's hand shot up in the air and guess who was selected. All smiles Connor got up and was Violets right hand man.

All dressed up as the assistant with such a devilish grin.

She told Connor not to shake the toy she had handed him - he was so good interacting with Violet they had the whole crowd laughing.

Connor our future magician.

Here is a picture of all the kids at school - it has been a great two years and after a fun summer it will be time to head off to kindergarten. Connor you are an amazing, caring and fun loving young man...We love you!