Creative

Laina decided to make an "I" with blocks today. Then I told her to make and "L". From there, she and Daddy spelled out LAINA with blocks. I thought that was pretty creative!

Playdate With Max

On Thursday, Laina and I headed over to Max's house to visit with Cassie, Max & Asa. I can't believe it but little Asa is already 6 months old! Laina had a great time playing with Max and his toys and then we all took a walk to their playground which was very fun. We stayed for lunch and watching Laina and Max eat Mac-n-cheese together was so precious. Here are a couple of cute pictures.

Wagon Ride To The Playground

Practicing Headstands

Laina Trying To Give Max A Hug

Max Is Not So Sure

Monster Beck

This is Monster Beck. He has lived in our house for a long long time now. At some point, many months ago, Laina decided there was a monster in the house and she started acting scared of it. Joe quickly turned this around and befriended the monster. He and Laina jointly named him Monster Beck. Some times Monster Beck is invited by Laina to join us for car rides and she asks me to open the car door to let him in the car. Last month I asked Laina to draw a picture of him and this is what she drew. I love little kids imaginations.

Auntie Di visited us this weekend. I didn't tell Laina that Di was coming. On Saturday morning Joe took Laina swimming at the Y. By the time that Laina and Joe got home from the Y, Di had arrived at the house. As soon as they pulled into the driveway, Laina recognized Di's car and Joe said she just lit up. The look on her face when I opened the door to the house and she saw Di standing there was just precious.

Di and I did some great planning for the Avon walk which is coming up very soon! We also did a 5 mile training walk. I couldn't believe how quickly the walk went when I was chatting with Di. I've done this walk a few times now and it just flew by with the two of us doing it together. Di and I also made a very fun trip to Gymboree to buy some fall clothes for Laina. Action packed weekend!

Laina's Perspective

A couple of weeks ago, the theme at school for that week was "All About Me" and the kids did different activities to learn about themselves. Some of Laina's work came home and Joe and I cracked up laughing at this stuff.

Here is a page all about Laina. The black smudges are just me digitally blacking out some info that I don't want on the web. I love that it says she loves to sing (so true) and her favorite show is Mickey Mouse Club House. I think it's so cute that her teachers think she is "energetic"...to say the least, right!

These next ones are a riot. The highlights include, "how old is mom - 50 olds" and "how old is dad - 50 olds too" as well as Laina telling her teachers that Mommy & Daddy have grey hair! That is a riot because Joe's hair is obviously brown and as for me, I spend soooo much $ and time every 4 weeks with my hair dresser to assure that I do not have grey hair! I also like "how tall is mom - little" and "how tall is dad - taller". Laina thinks that she and I are both little and daddy is big. That cracks me up. I also like that she thinks we both work at court. These sheets will definitely be going in our memory box!

Happy Birthday Evan!

Today is Evan's 3rd Birthday! Amazing. Laina and Evan have been buds since Laina started at daycare when she was 4 months old and Evan was 5 months old. They are born one day shy of one month apart. Needless to say, they are very close.

On Sunday we attended Evan's Scooby Doo themed party and Amanda sure outdid herself this year. There was a bounce house which Laina loved. There was a guy making balloon animals, hats, etc., There were party games and prizes and of course there was cake. Laina has been out of daycare for almost 2 weeks and so when she was re-united with Evan again she didn't want to let him out of her sight. All we heard was "wait for me Evan". It was quite precious. Evan was a very gracious birthday boy and even let Laina help him open a few gifts after he was rather overwhelmed by the sheer volume of gifts he received.

After Evan's party Laina became even more excited about her birthday coming up. It's a hard concept for a 3 year old to have to wait a whole month before a birthday but she's doing pretty well. She's so excited about her Mickey Mouse party. She knows we have a Mickey candle for the cake and she cannot wait to use it!

Here are some pics from Evan's party:

Laina & Evan flopping around in the bounce house

Laina shadowing Evan's every move

The dynamic duo

Comparing balloon animals

Super cool Scooby Doo cake!

Stephanie (one of Laina & Evan's teachers) speedily opening remote control vehicles so Laina and Evan can play with them

American Idols meets Scooby Doo
(she's literally singing Happy Birthday to Evan in this shot)

Rhode Island Vacation Part 1: Carrie & Alfredo's Wedding

We're back from our Rhode Island vacation and we did so many fun things that I'm posting everything under separate entries.

To summarize though, we had an amazing week. Laina stayed with Auntie Di, Uncle Tommy, Nik and Trix and she did wonderfully. She was a trooper being away from us for 4 full days. She had a blast hanging out with Auntie Di & Nik every day and despite the 6am wake up calls, we think Auntie Di had a great time too.

Joe and I stayed at a Marriott in Coventry, RI which was about a 10 minute drive from Di's house. It was so strange being away from Laina for that many days. At first we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves but we quickly settled into a groove! We slept late, ate when and what we wanted to, listened to whatever music we wanted to, watched whatever TV we wanted to...you get the picture. It was really funny because we didn't even have a car seat in our car since Di had it. We felt like a newly married couple again!

Here's the re-cap of our week. On Sunday we attended Carrie and Alfredo's wedding in Newport. Carrie was my college roommate and we've stayed in touch since we graduated. On Monday we toured two mansions and did some Newport shopping. On Tuesday we took a great lighthouse cruise and then did almost the entire Cliffwalk in Newport (details to follow). On Wednesday we drove to Mystic, CT for some great shopping at Olde Mystic Village and then ate pizza at THE Mystic Pizza! On Thursday we picked Laina up and headed to Roger Williams Zoo before heading home. Action packed week of fun. Here are the photos...

Checking into our hotel. Laina has never been to a hotel before so she thought our room was really cool and especially liked the ride Daddy gave her on the luggage cart.

Auntie Di & Laina at our hotel.

Waiting for Carrie's wedding to begin. Check out the beautiful scenery. She got married at the ocean. What an amazing back drop!

Another shot of my prior to the wedding. Don't I look relaxed! I like vacation!

Carrie and Alfredo, newly married and walking down the aisle. I love the bubbles floating everywhere.

Carrie and Alfredo enjoying themselves at their reception.

Carrie and I at the reception. Doesn't she look beautiful!

Rhode Island Vacation Part 2: Mansion Tours

On Monday we drove to Newport and toured two mansions, Rosecliff and Marble House. The mansions bring back great memories for me. When I was little, my parents would go on all sorts of day trips to various places and I always went with them. My brother and sisters were all older and off doing their own thing so it was always just me and my parents. We made a few trips to the mansions and I remembered being in awe of these massive properties when I was little. Well, I'm still in awe. Joe and I had so much fun touring the two properties and seeing how the rich folk lived back then.

Me standing outside of Rosecliff.

Joe in the backyard of Rosecliff.

The view from the back veranda at Rosecliff. Could you even imagine having this view from your backyard?

Joe outside the Chinese Tea Room which is in the backyard of Marble House.

Joe in the backyard of Marble House. Isn't that building gorgeous!

Me in front of Marble House.

Rhode Island Vacation Part 3: Lighthouse Cruise

On Tuesday we enjoyed a lighthouse cruise around Narragansett Bay. The cruise was about 90 minutes long and we saw 10 different lighthouses and all sorts of other great sites.

Here I am on the boat.

Hammersmith Farm, where Jackie & JFK were married. When I was little my parents and I toured this house. Its now a private residence and no longer open for tours, but Joe and I got to see it from the boat.

Me on the boat in front of my 2nd favorite bridge
(Golden Gate is my 1st favorite!)

Another great shot of the bridge with sailboats. So pretty!

Joe and I chillin' on the boat.

After the cruise, we were driving down to Newport and it had been sunny and rainy and this beautiful rainbow appeared. Here's a shot from the car. If you're from the Northeast you know its been a rainy summer and this week we were so lucky to avoid all the rain showers!

Rhode Island Vacation Part 4: Cliff Walk

After the lighthouse cruise we headed on back to Newport and did a few miles of the Cliff Walk. The Cliff Walk is a 3.5 mile walk that runs along waters edge, behind many of the mansions. The view is breathtaking but what I didn't know when we started out is that a good percentage of the walk is not along a path but along rocks. You have to go through a couple of creepy tunnels and then you hit a portion that seemed as though you need to be a rock climber to complete it. At that point we turned around and headed back because it started to feel too risky. We walked for over two hours straight. I joked that it was a training walk for the Avon Breast Cancer walk in 2 months.

Joe and I overlooking the ocean.

Another shot of Joe and I. You can see the Cliff Walk path off the the left.

A shot of the Astors' Beechwood Mansion. Joe and I didn't tour this one but fell in love with it on the Cliff Walk. The next time we head back to Newport we're definitely touring this one!

Me getting ready to head through the first creepy tunnel. It's actually not a very long tunnel but because its curved it looks super long and its pitch black. I definitely conquered a fear that day!

Rhode Island Vacation Part 5: Mystic, CT

On Wednesday we headed off to Mystic Connecticut. We started the day off at Olde Mystic Village which has over 60 fun and funky shops to browse through. We didn't bring the camera since we were so busy with shopping but we had a great time. The highlight for me was that we purchased a charm bracelet for me which I have always wanted. We also picked out 2 charms, a lighthouse to commemorate our RI vacation and a ladybug which represents my "Laina the Ladybug".

After shopping we headed over to downtown Mystic to eat at Mystic Pizza. We didn't see Julia Roberts but we did have a delicious pizza and the restaurant was really fun. Part of the movie was actually filmed there. They have flat screen TV's around the dining rooms that just loop the movie over and over again.

Me outside of Mystic Pizza.

The menu with the story of Mystic Pizza.

Joe and I with our pizza.

Me taking the first bite - yum!
We went with meatballs, roasted red peppers and onions.

Joe and I in the hostess area. The room behind us is the portion of the restaurant that the movie was filmed in.

The pizza box... "A slice of heaven"....just like the movie says!

Rhode Island Vacation Part 6: Roger Williams Zoo

On Thursday morning we picked Laina up at Auntie Di's house. She was so adorable when we walked in. She just kept giggling at us. Joe and I both felt like she looked so much older in just 4 short days. As nice as it was to have a break, there was nothing like the feeling of her wrapping her little arms around me and squeezing the dickens out of me. So sweet.

We left Auntie Di's house and headed up to the Roger Williams Zoo which is something I've always wanted to do with Laina. As often as I end up in Rhode Island, I can't seem to get myself up to the zoo but we finally made it there. It was a lot of fun and we saw a bunch of great animals. Laina is still asking us what our favorite animals were.

Laina checking out the Wildebeasts!

Laina in our rented stroller.

Mommy & Laina in front of the zoo map/sign.

Penguins!

Adorable giraffe. This one was about 3 feet away from us.

Seals swimming around.

Daddy & Laina taking a break.

So we're back home now, taking it easy for 3 days before heading back to the real world next week. We haven't been on a real vacation for 4 years and we're hopeful it won't be another 4 before we take the next vacation! As fun as vacation was, it's great to be at our "back home house" (that's what Laina calls our house) and to sleep in our own beds!