Monday, August 29

Nothing Can Stop Us!

Two little boys that love splashing in puddles!

James even wanted to ride his bike in the rain. In his rain boots. Just in case he needed to get off and splash in a puddle.
There is something really sweet about little boys all dressed up and ready for the rain. Love it!


Saturday, August 27

Crazy Happenings

Northern Virginia is getting quite exciting this week. Thought I would share some memorable moments with my guys. But first, a cute picture of the boys from Maine. Something about boys and firetrucks, a perfect combination.
Earthquake 2011: The earthquake hit right after I put the boys down for their nap/quiet time. As the house started to shake (really loudly by the way) I ran into their rooms to gather them up. Luke was pissed. I mean really annoyed to be woken from his slumber. James, meanwhile, thought he had caused the house to shake and kept apologizing. It was a quick shake and they didn't even remember it after nap-time. Pretty uneventful first earthquake for the boys overall. I can still remember my first earthquake, but that's a story for another time. I must say, even though I have been through a couple it is still unsettling to feel the ground move beneath you.

In non-weather news, we have a reader! Still a long way to go, but he is now reading books to us with little to no assistance. Amazing! I am half ecstatic that he has reached this milestone, and half wanting to rip the books out of his hand and demand he stop growing up. Bittersweet for sure.

Hurricane 2011: John has been watching the weather, and James is a little nervous that we are all going to blow away. He even told me our roof was going to blow away and said that if I blew away he would miss me. Time to turn off the weather and watch something a little less intense. Why do those weathermen stand in the middle of the storm anyway? Do they think we won't believe them if they aren't bracing themselves against the elements? Regardless, we are as ready as we are going to be and hoping this all blows over quickly.

Saturday, August 20

Meeting our Uncle

Uncle Slam, that is. We took in some minor league baseball tonight with the boys. They were fascinated with the mascot, Uncle Slam. Luke kept a close watch and would update us when he moved about the stadium. James insisted on a picture with him, and not the 20 foot tall blow up version, the "real" Uncle Slam. So we had to hunt him down before we could head for home.
Even though both boys were adamant about wanting their picture taken, Luke wasn't too keen on actually touching him. James meanwhile just wanted to point and shout. Myself I have always found mascots kinda creepy, so John got to navigate this one. Then the whole ride home we talked not about the game and the players, but about this blue faced mascot and how great it was that we got a picture. You can't make this kind of stuff up!

Wednesday, August 17

NYC Adventure

In route to Portland we stopped over in NYC to stay with some sweet friends. So much fun! After some authentic NY pizza we went into Times Square and visited all the usual sights. James saw two monsters he recognized and asked to have his picture taken with them. He was almost giddy when we said yes.
Hello Elmo!
And of course, Cookie Monster too!

Luke would have been even more jazzed about seeing these two, but at this point he was sleeping on Daddy's shoulder.

The part that both boys remember as their favorite was the pizza and James' milk cup. Check it out:

I think they misunderstood our order and brought us milk in a cream pitcher. James loved it and has asked for special milk since our visit.

We love NYC!

Tuesday, August 16

A Really Lucky Catch!

Congratulations to our sweet friends Marc and Christina!
The wedding included a surprise ceremony on the boat, great food, fantastic friends and yes another flash mob dance. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Go Lancers!

Monday, August 15

Lucky Catch!

Lobstering in Maine with my guys was so much fun! Not only did the boys look adorable in the big orange waders and gloves, but they both jumped right in to help.

James prepping the bait for the traps.

Luke banding the claws.

Could he be any cuter in those oversized gloves?

Although my favorite part was eating our catch. Yum yum!

Wednesday, August 3

Bear-claws

We felt like donuts the other day, and in paticular the Turner family needed some bear-claws. There are painfully few donut shops in our area, so we settled for some from Shoppers. To make it more exciting we had a trio-dessert with 2 slices of bear-claws and a scoop of ice-cream. Yum!
Luke shares my sweet tooth, and has since asked to use the red plates so he can have more donuts. Silly guy!

James, also now a big fan of bear-claws.

Sweet guys!

And finally, why we had to get bear-claws....check out James: