Florida Vacation 2017

We used our tax refund money and booked an impromptu vacation to Florida to stay at Grandma Reggie's place.  The first couple of days were a little cool - upper 60s/low 70s - but that didn't stop the boys from playing on the beach and in the sand.  The rest of the week was warm - mid 80s - and gave us lots of opportunity to swim in the ocean, the pool at the condo, or the town pool.  With swimming 2-3 times a day the boys have both become two little fish.  Even Parker swims by himself chasing around big brother or chasing after a water toy.  Now if we can get them past the cold lake water we'll have two little fish in Maine this summer too.

When they weren't swimming we were still busy.  We went out to dinner at the new Crabby Bill's for Parker's birthday.  Another day we caught the Captain Memo pirate ship ride.  On that ride the boys are given pirate squirt guns and have a shoot out.  They also got pirate mustaches, played games, and had a pirate dance party.  Another day Daddy and Brady took a ride on the Sea Screamer.  Unlike what the name suggests, it no longer does high speed rides, but rather the wake attracts dolphins and they get quite the dolphin show off the back.  And Mommy got to fly an ultralight overlooking Clearwater, the beaches, and even a shipwreck.

After spending the last 3 months in Mass, Grandma Reggie was happy to be home, see Jeff, and enjoy the warm weather.  We know she looks forward to getting back there soon!

From the airport to the beach in less than an hour

Breakfast on the condo balcony

Spider man scaled it

Captain Memo's Pirate Ship adventures

Brady can swim dog paddle and on his back!

Hulkamania 2017

Building canals on the beach

Parker can swim dog paddle!

Sky surfers ultralight, it's easier than a bike!

The boys playing water soccer

Sea Screamer ride and dolphin show

Brady fed the pelican

And a few bonus videos where still photos just don't do it justice:

Brady Turns 5 & Well Visit

Wow, hard to believe our big guy is turning 5!  He's getting so grown up becoming a little man with his own thoughts and ideas.  He still has tremendous energy, imagination, and curiosity, and his independence grows with every passing day.  When Mommy told him he was turning 5 he came up with a list of things he wants to do at 5 including ride a bike without training wheels, play t-ball, go to kindergarten, and read.  These are all big kid things, Mommy's little baby is getting all grown up!

We can tell Brady is literally growing fast as he doesn't stop eating.  He eats as much as us adults.  We often have to give him two helpings, and 30 min after dinner he's already saying "I'm hungry".  The bottomless pit!  A funny thing he started doing is collecting rocks.  He finds them at school, on walks, in the backyard, and saves them in his pockets.  Then when he gets home he saves them in his rock bag (a converted lunch bag).  He's started quite a collection of various types of rocks.  In addition to rocks he's started bringing home plastic jewels from school.  He calls them diamonds and shares some of them with Mommy.  The others he puts under his pillow with a few other random treasures he's collected.  Love his curiosity and appreciation but we probably need to return these items to school.  Speaking of school, on his birthday he told Daddy he would drop him off at work and could drive himself and Parker to school.  Thankfully time isn't passing that fast!

Brady also had his 5 year well visit - he weighed in at 40.6 lbs (50%) and a height of 41.5 inches (22%) with a BMI of 16.6 (81%).  He got a clean bill of health and is a normal healthy 5 year old.

Since Brady shares his birthday with his Uncle E, we treated the both of them to a birthday dinner.  Going back to our Texas roots we took them to the closest thing here in the northeast for good Mexican.  Brady was excited to share his birthday dinner with Uncle E.  They got to share the sombrero and got free fried ice cream dessert.  What else could you want when you're 5 (or 37)?

Next weekend the boys will have their joint birthday party with the family, should be fun!!!

The birthday boys

Brady's 1st Tooth and 1st Ski Lesson

After a week of wiggling, Brady lost his first tooth!  The magic moment came while Brady was chewing on Captain America's head in the tubby and Parker bumped him, out popped the tooth and a little bit of blood.  Daddy was quick to rescue the tooth so it didn't go down the drain.  Brady was very excited but he did turn a little pale after he saw and tasted the blood.  We put the tooth in a plastic bag and under his pillow for the tooth fairy.  In the morning Brady woke up to a $1 under his pillow, he was so excited!

 4 Years Old and Lost A Tooth!

This past weekend Brady also had his 1st two-hour ski lesson at Wachusett.  This was good for Brady to help him forget his crash in Vermont and put him in a group lesson with other kids his age.  They skied on the small hill going up the magic carpet and down the hill on their own.  He practiced his pizza wedge to slow down, turning, and side stepping up hill.  Brady had a great day and at the end of the lesson asked the teachers if he could do "just one more?"  He ended on a high note.  The temps have really warmed up this week and our 2ft of snow is melting fast, we probably have ~9" left.  It's getting wet and sticky, good snowman snow.  Hoping it hangs around long enough for one more ski trip north to Cranmore so we can use our vouchers.

So Proud Of Our Little Man

With all the snow we've had fun sledding in the backyard.  We have the perfect hill for sledding, as long as you can stop and not crash in the woods at the end.  We've broken a few sleds and bought a few new ones.  We have a long sled that likes to go really fast and you can put 3 people on the sled.  We've also tried shorter sleds, saucers, and a blow up tube.  The boys are getting old enough they now ride together without a grown up and they just have a blast!

Brady and Parker Sledding In Our Backyard

Happy Winter Everyone!!!

Two Valentine's Studs

The boys had a great Valentine's day.  This year Brady wrote his own Valentine's cards to his classmates writing both their name and his.  He's getting so grown up!  We did Parker's for him.  The boys had a lot of fun exchanging cards with their classmates.  Then they had a school wide Sweetheart Formal including the parents dressing up.  Mommy had to work late (boo) so didn't get to go.  Daddy dressed up and did a great job capturing photos.  Keira (TX) is to Brady like Maddie (MA) is to Parker, and Parker had a great time playing with the heart balloon with Maddie.  They were so cute!  Brady had more fun jumping to the music with his classmate Owen.  Both looked little studs in their formal attire.

Valentine's From Daycare

Two Little Studs Ready for the Formal

Maddie and Parker 

Daddy and His Boys

Christmas 2016 and New Years

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Our family had a great Christmas.  Parker was awake but we had to wake up Brady Christmas morning.  The boys emptied their stockings and opened all their toys.  This year Brady got a ski helmet (from Mom and Dad) and goggles (from Parker) while Parker got a Thomas the train set (from Mom and Dad) and talking Blaze monster machine (from Brady).  They also got new sneakers, action figures, and an RC digger from Santa.  The boys were spoiled by Keira getting PJ masks and capes.  Parker is currently Catboy and Brady is Geko but it switches every once in a while.  Later in the day the boys got to see Grandpa Bob and Grammie Terry, and Uncle Paul with Darcie, Courtney, and Lewis.  The boys had lots of fun opening gifts and spending time with the family.  This was also the first day Parker went without a nap.  All the visitors and activity and the boys were exhausted, they slept well that night!

Our Christmas Hams

Later in the week we made a trip north to see great Grandma.  We also got to see Uncle Skip and Aunt Rose, all their grandkids, Aunt Diane, and cousin Natalie.  Gram is now 93 and still looks great.  Her memory is fading but she gets around with her walker and a lot of help from Aunt Diane and Natalie.  We had a great day visiting with the family and the boys got to do some sledding with their cousins.  Brady tried the saucer and sled, he even tried going down the hill surfing on the sled.  Parker loved the saucer and kept asking for "more time".  Both boys loved the snow and the little jump their cousins built.  After some sledding Daddy rolled up a snowman, it was huge!

Snowman with the big cousins

After a day in the snow, we went to visit one of Mommy's high school friends (and maid of honor) Erin.  Was great to see her, have the kiddos play together, and catch up with her family.  Funny how no one seems to age and we can talk stories for hours like things happened just yesterday.  Berta came over too and Mommy had her favorite pitcher-catcher combo to talk about the good old days of high school softball playoffs.

The next couple of days we visited with Daddy's family in New Jersey.  The first night we ate dinner with all Daddy's uncles and their families.  Was great to see everyone and amazing how much the kids (ie Dana) have grown.  We also got to toast George and Melissa since we missed their wedding.  The next day the boys got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Seminara.  Parker helped Grandpa make pancakes.  The boys opened their gifts and spent a good couple of hours playing with their new race tracks.  Mom and Dad also got a quick escape to see a movie.  We also got to spend some time with Jennie and Andy who are now a few shorts months away from their wedding.  No trip to NJ is complete without a visit to the skating rink where Parker and Brady got to show Grandma and Grandpa their skating skills.  Grandpa even got some time on the ice.  Parker did great taking steps on his own, and Brady used a walker to get even faster cruising around the ice, even saying "I want to skate every day".

Christmas with the Seminaras

Skating in New Jersey

Back in Mass we got ready for New Years.  Grandpa Bob and Grammie Terry came down to ring in the new year.  The boys got to spend more quality time with their grandparents and caught some of the new years scenes from around the world.  The boys didn't make it to midnight, but the grandparents did!  Daddy was little under the weather but woke just after midnight to see the replay from Boston.  The next day the Grandparents babysat so Mom and Dad could get a few runs at the local ski mountain.  We weren't even sore the next day!  And we spent today, the last day of our holiday vacation, on the same slopes but this time with the boys.  Parker did amazing.  After a bit of a struggle getting his ski boots on, he played in the snow bank, then he was ready to hit the slopes.  He enjoyed chasing Mommy and Daddy down the run.  Brady had a good day too, he did great on the magic carpet and rode his first chair lift with little assistance from Mom.  Of course Brady likes to go fast so he preferred skiing with Mom and Dad's assistance instead of going on his own.  After several runs the boys were exhausted and it was time to head home.

Skiing at Wachusett Mountain (MA)

We are looking forward to a great 2017!!!