Floriday Vacay Day 3 - Part One

I know all of these vacation posts are draaaaaging out - but I can only find little bits and pieces of time to write.  So I'll slowly but surely make my way through the week (hopefully before our next vacation).

We woke up Tuesday morning and scarfed down breakfast so we could go to the beach.  The most ironic part of our trip - we were so close to Clearwater and yet Phillies Spring Training had ended the week before.  So instead of seeing the Phils in Clearwater, we saw the Gulf Of Mexico instead.  Fair trade in my book.

We were in the car ride down and told the boys that they'd probably be able to see their feet in the water.  Ry responded from the back seat, "That's so cool!  Since the Atlantic Ocean is brown so you can't really see anything except jellyfish and bottles."  Awesome.

I just wanted one nice picture.  Just one nice picture boys!?!  At least Charlie went in for the smooch at the end which sort of made of for the train wrech of a photo opp.

We ended the trip with hot dogs in the sand and an outdoor shower.  Although this sounds very peaceful it was actually a total mess and not at all productive, which is why we had to spray the boys down with Patty & Steve's garden hose when we got home.  Not optimal (or warm), but necessary.

The next part of the day was spent at the Lowry Park Zoo - an awesome afternoon to be documented later.  And so yes, these posts will draaaaaaag on some more...

Take A Hike

One thing is for sure - you won't ever hear me complain about this amazing weather.  Getting the boys outside makes me realize how cooped up we've been, so we're soaking up the sun every chance we can get.

Yesterday afternoon we hit up Stroud Preserve to throw rocks in the river and hike around the park.  We made lots of new dog friends and discovered that the maximum attention span for a hike is about 5 minutes.  Noted.

This is where I accidentally dropped Dean's sippy cup into the river below.  As you can see, the boys were totally fascinated with the fact that I did something I wasn't supposed to.  They're still talking about it today. 

Pic Download

Today I noticed that I have 758 pictures on my phone and a zillion more on the computer.  I wanted to dump as many as I could into a post so I could start blogging with a clean slate.

It's sort of like the weather lately - out with the cold and in with Spring.  We've been spending as much time as possible outside - the park, the yard, the alley.  I still think it's funny to say to the kids, "Go out and play in the alley with your friends!"  It's even weirder to say, "So the other day I was hanging with my neighbors in the alley drinking some beer..." 

It's a little (just a little) more refined than it sounds.  Anyhoo - here are the pics.

Toothie

All of my boys were/are late to get their teeth.  Dean will be 2 in a few months and we're still waiting on some of his chompers to pop through.

For this reason, it wasn't a huge surprise when Ry was late to loose his first tooth.  This didn't come as any sense of comfort to the poor kid, especially when he was the last of his friends to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. 

So imagine our surprise and delight when he lost #1.  Only to be followed by a literal loss because he misplaced said tooth about 5 minutes after it fell out of his face.

So we wrote a note and lo & behold, the Tooth Fairy still came.  Cut to yesterday when he was eating an apple, and out popped #2.  I put it in a plastic bag so we were sure not to loose it.  And whaddaya know - we lost it.

Phil whipped up this note and all was well with the world:



I don't know where all of these teeth are going.  I figure (a) Sammie is stock-piling them for some doggie arts & crafts project, or (b) There really is a tooth fairy scooping them up. 

I calculated that we'll eventually work through 80 lost teeth (I did that math myself).  Hopefully we get this under control before the other boys get into the mix, otherwise Sammie is going to build up quite a collection.

You'll Probably Only Appreciate This Post If You Know Harry Potter. Sorry.

It was quite an eventful couple of days for us Muggles. Chestnut Hill held their Annual Harry Potter weekend complete with Quidditch Training, Defense Against The Dark Arts classes, and a Wizarding Chess Match.

Of course all our boys wanted to do was eat candy and buy Potter paraphernalia (they were particularly impressed when Daddy ate a barf-flavored Bertie Bott's Bean), but they did get a kick out of the sorting hat.

We were standing in line for a few minutes, and Ry started to get stressed. Really stressed. "I better get picked for Gryffindor" led to "I better not get picked for Hufflepuff" which led to "I don't want to do this."

By the time we got to the front of the line I could actually see the panic on his face. As I hollered, "I'm SURE you'll get into Gryffindor" while staring at Dumbledore with a threatening face, he reluctantly stepped up to the plate. Low and behold, GRRRRRRYFFINDOR!


Cole hopped right up and said to Dumbledore, "I hope I get into Slytherin." The sorting hat agreed, and I have to say that there's something to Cole getting into the house associated with "ambition, cunning, leadership, and resourcefulness."


After all of this excitement the boys were begging for Hogwarts robes. And with a flip of our magic wand (i.e. wallet) their wish came true.

Happy early Halloween to all you witches, wizards, and Muggles out there in blogland!

Apple Of My Eye

The boys went to the orchard to pick apples yesterday. A quote from Ry: "When I'm in heaven, I'm going to thank God for planting apple trees - 'cause I really love apples."

Amen my man!

Daddy Day Gone Wild

We all have our own approaches to parenting. Some go with the "Let them use their imaginations and explore the world" approach.


Others choose the "Foster their creativity by any means possible" approach.


Then there's those who choose the "Let your 1 year old run around in a room filled with paint, then photograph him lying on the floor wearing 2 different shoes, and finally take off half his clothes in a public museum so he can splash in the water" approach.




Luckily for our boys, Phil chooses all three of the above. I don't think there's any right or wrong way to do this parenting thing - but I do know that some fun along the way should definitely be part of the equation.