6th Anniversary

6 years ago today, Chris and I were married on a beautiful (and hot!) summer day at the Jersey shore.  At this point in our life together, it seems like we are so far removed from that day.  

I have been wanting to take out my wedding dress for a long time now and was inspired recently by my friend to actually do it.  It was fun to put it on, especially because the kids (particularly Colin) thought it was so great and Chris got him to start calling me a princess.  I can't believe I wore that dress in the summer though; it was so heavy and hot!

Every year on our anniversary, we go somewhere for dinner and then take a few pictures on the beach.  The beach we chose today was the same beach we took our wedding photos on our wedding day.  

I think it's been a pretty fabulous 6 years with Chris and I look forward to many many more together.  Happy Anniversary Chris!

Family Vacation

We just got back from our first vacation together as a family in Nags Head (Outer Banks), North Carolina.  We had a fantastic time (although it was exhausting).  More pictures to come soon!

Summer Stuff

We've been keeping busy here now that we are FULLY into summer mode.  We have been trying out different adventures and sticking to some of the ones that we know the best (the beach).  Some of our adventures have been working out and others, not so much.  

Last night while Chris was working, we went to the local baseball stadium to catch part of the game with the kids and then hopefully make it through fireworks afterwards.  Last year, fireworks on the beach didn't go so well, but we thought that maybe it would be better now that they were a year older.  They thoroughly enjoyed the baseball and were really good for that but after my attempts to calm them when the fireworks started failed, we had to book it out of there.  Kailey just kept saying "no more booms, no more booms" and Colin just kept saying "noooooo" while he was literally quivering with fear.  Yikes.  Failed adventure.  

Since Daddy works up in the production booth (press area), we went up to visit and say hi and the kids got some prime views of the game.  

Although we aren't on the same beach anymore, being at the beach no matter where you are is still great and we have been getting into a new routine with that.  Colin LOVES the water and it has taken Kailey several weeks just to be down close to the water without quivering in fear herself.  Today she was running closer, but still wouldn't let the water touch her feet.  

There are lots of times that we have to guide them into different activities, but what I love most is when they will go off on their own a bit and make up some game or activity that will last for a bit.  

I was really happy to see that they both "met" a little boy on their own and were "talking" to each other.  I often hover near though when that happens because although Colin is really good, when he gets uncomfortable or someone is in his personal space where he doesn't like it, he will push them away since he can't really communicate to them to move away.  However, they were so cute today playing together.  

We were  pleasantly surprised today to see them carrying their own chairs (those straps are quite handy!).  Unfortunately, Colin shucked his in the middle of the busy beach road, but he still made it pretty far.  

I have been letting my issue with messes go a BIT now that it's summer and have been letting Kailey get a cone.  Although she was a disgusting mess the other night, it was really cute and funny to watch her eat her cone.  

Now how can you resist the cuteness in that picture despite the mess!

Happy summer!

Spending time with Great-Grandparents

Over the past few days, we have spent quite a bit of time with my Grandparents for various events.  Over the weekend, we were celebrating my cousin's graduation from high school and then my Poppy's 90th birthday.  

Ever since Colin first spent time with Poppy, there has been something that always draws him to him whenever we are together.  They usually spend time together and Poppy will sing some of his WWII songs to him from his days in the army.  

Poppy is very calm and soothing when he sings to him, so Colin loves snuggling in.  

We celebrated 90 years of Poppy at his birthday party on Sunday!  It's crazy to believe that he is 90 when you see all that he still does (still works at Shoprite!).  

My Grandma (his wife) is not pictured.  

Then just today, we went and spent some time with my other grandmother who I have grown up calling Grammy.  

We spent some time in her backyard and she was teaching the kids how to ride a scooter.  That in itself makes me laugh!  Oh, and can you spot her tattoos??  All after the age of 70!  

She's probably going to get mad at me for posting her age on here (yep, she frequents the blog AND has a facebook account) but she is 89 years young and is still very active as well.  

She broke out some old toys to play with with the kids which made me laugh.  This toy in the picture below was a magnetic toy with a base and then various shaped pieces where you could build different things.  I remember when I was a child her pulling this out and saying that my dad used to play with it when he was a boy.  It's just so funny to think that now MY kids were playing with the same thing.  

Colin does not have the same patience for these kinds of toys as Kailey does.  He gets really frustrated when his fine motor skills inhibit him from doing something the way he wants to.  

It was just about near impossible to get the 3 of them to look at the camera with their eyes open at the same time so this was the best I could get.  

I'm one lucky girl to still have 3 of my 4 grandparents in my life AND my kids lives! 

Aquarium Adventure

Today turned out to NOT be a beach day.  I have a hard time resigning myself to staying home and in the house with the kids in the summer despite bad weather because most often, my house turns into a war zone for many reasons.  

So, we decided to head out to the boardwalk and try the little aquarium that's up there.  I tried to park as close as I could get so that I could make the kids walk because the aquarium is not very stroller friendly.  

Walking on the way in went pretty well and most of the time to get them moving, we just made it a "race".  

Right now Kailey has this thing where she is pretty much afraid of anything that is alive and moves from microscopic bugs that most people can't see to big and large animals.  Since it was a bit dark when we walked in and the first thing she saw was a large tank with large moving fish, she just about jumped into my arms and was screaming "no! ouch!".  It took some time, but they eventually grew a little courage and walked around independently checking things out.  

I loved hearing, "Mommy, look!!" at each and every thing that was on display.  

It was the perfect size for more independence and I could give each of them a little bit of freedom while still having them in sight.  It went much better than I expected.  

Afterwards, we walked around on the boardwalk for a little bit but unfortunately, Colin does not have the same kind of stamina for walking as Kailey does.  The walk back to the car looked much like this....

...and I eventually had to carry him the rest of the way to the car.  We made it JUST in time before it started to pour.  The rest of the afternoon was spent indoors (you do NOT want to see what my family room looks like right now...yikes!).