Thanks Kristen and Ian!!!

As you may know, some friends of ours gave Alexander a trampoline that they weren't using.  We had them over for dinner to say thank you and it was so fun!  It is amazing to see how the boys have all grown so fast.  They had a great time together once again!

This is Alexander and his friends Sean and Aidan in August of 2009.

  

This is Alexander and his friends Sean and Aidan in July of 2011!

They also have another little one!

Sorry we didn't have a little pal for you to play with too Evan!

Kristen and Ian...we can't say thank you enough for giving Alexander the trampoline.  As you saw that night he's a pro!  We really appreciate it!

Little tid-bits

Here are some random tid-bits!

 I never thought I'd want a smart phone...until Brad got one! My phone broke and I needed to get a new one anyway, so I figured I'd go for it. I got it a few weeks ago and I still feel like the stupid thing is "smarter" than I am, but I'm getting there! I downloaded a kids game where animals zoom accross the screen and you have to touch them to collect them. Alexander LOVES it.  Besides it being incredibly addictive it helps with his fine motor skills too!

  I thought this picture was too cute not to take! 

Here are my boys playing on the phones!

We got a bird feeder.  Can you see it outside the door?

Alexander is eating breakfast with the birds.

 He loves to watch them, but he doesn't really get that he as to talk quietly or else they'll fly away yet!

I think you can piece this puzzle together. Let's go over the clues. Nail polish...nail polish aaaaaaall over the bottle...little nail polish covered finger prints right next to the bottle...hmmmmm...if you said, "Alexander got into Steph's nail polish and dumped it all over himself, the floor and his clothes then spread it around like finger paint" then you guessed right!  There I was sitting on our side porch sipping my morning coffee and admiring the sunshine filled morning (and my feshly pedicured toes) and I heard (or thought I heard) Alexander quietly playing in his bedroom. It's a rare occurance but it has been known to happen once or twice before. So I come in and find Alexander NOT in his bedroom, but sitting in the middle of the living room in a puddle of red nail polish. I'm not kidding, it looked like he had red gloves on. His cheeks are covered, legs and arms are covered and it is all over the floor as well. The kicker is, this isn't regular nail polish. I got the new nail shelac that has to cure under a UV light and it's incredibly sticky. (It also costs $15 per bottle.) I had to use 3/4 of a bottle of remover to get it off my screaming 2 year old. Ok, I may have been screaming a little bit too! I was so furious (at him and me for accidentally leaving it out) that I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of him. I did however calm down enough to get a picture of the evidence!

Memories and Happy Birthday

Every summer my dad's family would take a summer vacation to the beautiful Ithaca, NY.  We stayed in a cabin at Robert Treman State Park.  (Only the best campground EVER!)  There are zillions of amazing memories as we returned year after year... the incredible waterfall swimming hole, walking the gorges, swinging contests, candy runs to Tops Supermarket (WARHEADS!!!), Leah and I performing the backup vocals to Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise" song on the boat, making new friends seconds after we pulled in, writing in the family scrapbook, catching and naming tadpoles (I will never forget you George and Georgina!) and the list could go on and on and on.  One thing I totally forgot about until this week when I had some accidental wax overflow was that Leah and I would burn candles and make these fun wax creations.  We would hold candles over other burning candles and let them drip and swirl into big blobs.  I thought it would be appropriate to post this today in honor of Leah and her birthday! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH!!!

Here's to the memories we share and the memories to come...Love ya sis!

"Pappy's Bo"

Translation..."Cappy's Boat!"  Alexander calls my dad Pappy right now because he can't do a lot of "C" words yet.  We were a little nervous about taking Alexander out for a couple hours on a long sail, but he had been (and hasn't stopped) talking about "Pappy's bo" so we knew we needed to take him out.  So, my dad suggested we just motor out of the harbor and around Annapolis for 30 minutes or so.  Alexander LOVED it!  He actually sat still for the first 25 minutes just taking it all in.  Of course, the last 10 minutes we had to pull out the chips to bribe him to sit still just a few more minutes! 

 Alexander and his Pappy! 

 Just taking in the sights

Out come the potato chips!  Whatever works right?

It was a fun time on the boat.  I didn't even fall in this year!

4th of July

What a wonderful weekend we had in Annapolis! As always there were a TON of family there. (That just means there's lot's of love to go around!) My dad, Eileen, Grandma Dietrich (Eileen's Grandma), Jamie, Zoli (their adopted son from Hungary), Joel, Bri, Isaac, Eli, Brad, myself and Alexander were all under one roof. Alexander had SOOOOOOOOO much fun with Isaac who is also 2. They got really close really quick. Isaac referred to Alexander as, "his Alexander" and would correct anyone who called him Alex by saying, "It's not Alex, his NAME is Alexander!" Here are some pictures of our trip.

 This isn't Alexander's first trip on an airplane, but it is his first trip where he knows what's going on!  He was so excited to be, "High in the sky" as he puts it!

 Grandma Dietrich...almost 98 years old and still fabulous!

See all of those people in the pool?  Ya, that's all us!  From left to right...

Eileen, Joel and Isaac, Bri and Eli, Zoli, Brad and Alexander, Sarah (family friend) and Jamie

 Cheeeeeeeeese...

 Alexander and Isaac chillin' out together and eating some Cheese Puffs

 "Cheers!"

 Jamie and me being silly before Karaoke! 

Jamie has been on bed rest for the past 2 1/2 months and this was his debut back to Ebb Tide!  He was like a celebrity in that place.  He rocked the house until 2am, but we old folks called it a night at 11.

A few mornings Brad, Alexander and I took a walk down to the beach.  Since Alexander got up at 5 freakin 25 the first morning we figured we'd make the best of it!  It was wonderful family time and we got some beautiful pictures.

 My favorite.  Put your orders in folks...I'm definitely printing this one!

 Looking for crabs

Me and my boy

 The boys blowing bubbles

 "Oooooooooh...big bubble!"

Ok, so most of you don't know, but I love puzzles!  (I know I'm such a dork!)  I never do them because I have so much other stuff to do all the time, but hey...I was on vacation!  Jaime had started this 1000 piece puzzle of New York State and over the weekend I finished it!  At this time everyone was in the living room hanging out and I didn't want to be alone in the other room, so I set myself up in Grandma's chair!  If Leah was there we would have had that done the first night! 

 "What's up?"

 A favorite activity...riding down the ramp at lightning speeds!  Isaac was a little more safe and would put his feet down, but Alexander just barreled down!  (He's not naked I promise!)

Jamie played with that Mickey Mouse toy when he was little and the boys loved it. 

Connecticut Children's Museum

Last week Alexander and I went to the Connecticut Children's Museum with Brian, Cathy, April and Amelia. We had a great time! Here are some pictures from our adventure.

 This is a full size whale outside of the entrance. It actually shoots water out! If you look close you can see the water droplets coming down.

Inside the belly of the whale...I guess Jonah had a lot less space than we thought!



 Alexander playing with balls and this weird swirly cone thing.

 

This was a fun room that just had toys, a little slide, and a fun playhouse.

Of course Alexander found the trains to play with! 

 Looking at frogs

This is an echo tube.

This is a baby aligator.  It was CRAZY!  It kept attacking the glass when anyone would walk by.