Thanksgiving

(Oops, I thought I posted this a few weeks ago!)

Thanksgiving this year was spent in Florida visiting Rich's dad and his wife Carolina. It was a great trip and we are very grateful to Papa for making it happen. If you ask the boys, it's a toss up whether they'd say their favorite part of the trip was Legoland or playing on the beach. Both were so much fun!

Legoland was perfect for Quinn and Nolan- really geared to their age set. Even the bathrooms were kid-sized. There were plenty of rides for both kids and lines weren't very long, especially on the first day. Two days there was just right. They came away with great memories- and a lot of legos!

The condo we stayed in was right on the beach which made it very easy with the kids. They could have spent hours and hours each day just playing in the sand. The surf there on the Gulf Coast is great for kids because it doesn't get big, just super gentle ripples. Apparently the water had recently dropped in temperature so the only ones in it were tourists from the north like us. It still felt good!

Threes

While the boys and I were in Huntsville last week for our likely final Alabama visit, we hit the parks we'd miss the most. Within 2 minutes of being at a great one with a huge wooden castle, Nolan slipped on the trex decking and fell flat on his face. A fat lip and bloody mouth didn't hinder him for long! One of his teeth seemed loose and it hurt to brush and floss in that area.

Fast forward a few days and it started bleeding again. So last Thursday morning he had a (slightly) emergency dentist appt. The dentist determined that his tooth needed to be extracted. He was very brave and seemed to take it all in stride. No tears, no drama. Awesome! Nolan will have a less toothy grin for the next 4 or so years until his adult tooth grows in.

Later that afternoon he got in a scuffle with a 3 1/2 year old on the playground and walked away with a chomped cheek, teeth marks included. Luckily the skin wasn't broken!

So the third thing to happen is that Quinn ran into a pole on the playground after school today. He was playing running games with 2 friends, looked back behind him, then turned his head forward just in time to run smack into a pole. It was like a cartoon where the character goes flat on their back with birds above their head. But not funny. He was in shock and pain. I was also in shock because a HUGE goose egg immediately formed on his eyebrow. I thought his skull was cracked and called Rich to have him pick us up and take Quinn to the doctor right away. Meanwhile, Quinn is crying and hears me say "doctor" and begins to cry harded. Thankfully, other moms on the playground rallied around us and were trying to figure out how to get us either home (needed carseats) or to the doctor. Then a few of them said it had happened to their kids and looks terrible but the bump goes down, followed by a black eye. Phew. We did call the doctor to be sure there wasn't anything to worry about. Just keeping an eye on him for the next few days. I'm not sure what we'll find when he wakes up in the morning. Poor guy.

Camping

We've gone camping many times this summer (and are going again this weekend), mostly to Larrabee State Park just south of town, but also a longer trip to Vancouver Island over July 4th weekend.

We met up with Grammee and Grand Al on Vancouver Island. This is a fun park near their hotel in Sidney. (I'm playing with collages to try to get more pictures in a shorter space. Bear with me!)

The Province of British Columbia has beautiful campgrounds! This one at French Beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca was on the beach and had plenty of privacy in the sites. The picnic table was gorgeous!

Fall 2010

I was going through pictures to do some much needed posts and came across some really cute ones from last fall. I'm not sure if I kept up as poorly then as I do now with the blog so I thought I'd share some pics. Remember, these were taken almost a year ago!

Bike Riding

The boys LOVE bikes! Quinn doesn't really ride in the stroller anymore- he's usually on his bike. Nolan wants to get in on the action too and is working on learning to ride Quinn's old bike with training wheels.

Hawaii

We've been home from Hawaii for almost a month now (sigh)- it's high time I got some pictures up! Without further ado, here they are...
The boys were ready to go! The 6 hour flight wasn't too bad though they had a hard time sleeping since it was light the whole time. Coming home was much better- they both were asleep before we were up in the air. 

Kauai

We spent our first week on Kauai. It was our first time there and we definitely will go back given the opportunity! It was beautiful! Grammee and Grand Al were able to join us for a few days :). 

This is a view of the pools at the Kauai Marriott in Lihue where Kitty and Al stayed. We all had so much fun swimming there! There was a kids pool with a water slide. 

We stayed at a place called Fern Grotto Inn. It is just south of Kapaa in an excellent location. The hosts were awesome and even left a motored jeep for our kids to play with (they have 5 year old twins). 

 Grand Al hooked up Quinn, me, and Grammee with a helicopter tour of Kauai. Quinn loved about 20 minutes of it until he began asking if we were going home yet. He even fell asleep at the end! Nolan's puffy face is the result of an allergic reaction to mosquito bites. 

This is a rare family picture at the Waimea Canyon. So beautiful! If only the boys would cooperate with having their picture taken. 

Quinn and Nolan were so funny with these swimming goggles. 

Beach time. We couldn't get enough of it! 

Quinn's favorite treat- shave ice!

Big Island

The second week was spent on the Big Island with my parents and Jeremy and Mechaune. We pretty much stayed on the Kona side of the Island this time. Lots of beach time (though not enough now that we're no longer there!). 

This is the Green Sand Beach. It was a cloudy day so it's kind of hard to see the olive green color of the sand. It takes a sturdy 4wd or a 2 mile hike to get there, unless you catch a ride with a local! There were 3 or 4 local guys at the parking lot who would take you to the beach (for a fee). Quinn and Rich are sitting in the cliff in the second picture. 

Rich and I were able to get away one day and go zip lining. So fun! 

Rich took a surfing lesson but unfortunately, I only got pictures of him coming in! 

Spring Day

This has been a busy, productive morning so I thought I'd continue the productivity with a long overdue blog post! We've spent a lot of time in the back yard enjoying this gorgeous spring day.

Jack enjoyed being outside too. 

Garlic sprouting in the garden!

These are Quinn's hyacinths. They were leftovers from his baby shower five years ago! I love it when they come up every year. 

After taking pictures and playing for a bit, I went back inside to work on lunch. It's so nice to have the boys at a place where I feel comfortable letting them play in the back yard while I'm inside. Here's what I made for lunch...

And a final picture of Nolan trying to keep his diaper on!