Fun with Auntie Rachelle

Auntie Rachelle arrived on Friday evening to spend the weekend with us. The boys were very excited for her visit!

She came with the hopes of seeing Nicholas play his first Tball game on Saturday but our coach canceled our game due to his own conflict .... but that could be a whole other subject. Daddy had to work in the morning on Saturday so Auntie Rachelle and I decided to take the boys to the playground. Benjamin threw a fit in the hall while I took my shower and ended up screaming himself to sleep. So while I stayed home with the sleeping Ben (yes still in the hall) Nicholas led Auntie on a 1.5 mile walk through the backstreets of our neighborhood - he truly does have a great sense of direction and remembers routes he has traveled before very easily. Just as they got back Benjamin woke up and we all headed to the park - Panthorn Park in Southington which we all love. We spent about 1.5 hours and then were all hungry for lunch and so headed home. Daddy got home from work just as we were finishing up our lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home hanging around and after dinner Auntie Rachelle and I went out to see The Back-up Plan - a very cute movie that we both enjoyed.

Today Steve came over this morning to go golfing with Jon so we all went out to breakfast at a local dinner before they had to head off to the golf course. Rachelle, the boys and I headed home with a quick stop to Home Depot to pick up some weed control for our veggie garden. We all went outside and they decided the weed spraying I was doing was boring and they headed off to the school playground / track. I am sure the 2 boys are keeping Auntie hopping!

Life is a Circus

especially with 2 little boys in the house! But today we took the kids to see the real Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey's Circus at the XL Center in Hartford. Nicholas loved the whole thing while Benjamin seemed indifferent to it, actually asking when it would be over. I thought it was a great show. After the show we went to PF Changs for some very yummy Chinese food, Nicholas loves Chinese food - no kids meal needed there for him.

I realized today I have had my minivan for 4 years - we bought it Mother's Day 2006 when I was pregnant with Benjamin. Today I spent the later afternoon cleaning out 4 years worth of accumulated toys, trash, dirt, crumbs ....etc out of the car .... amazing what 4 years and 2 kids (ok and 1 mommy) can do to a car - LOL!

Beautiful day in NY

We headed out this morning to Poughkeepsie, NY where we walked the Walkway Over The Hudson - an old train bridge that has been redone and converted to a pedestrian walkway. It is approx 2.5 miles total, from Poughkeepsie to Highland and back again. It was a perfect day for it too! We were joined by Mike & Deanna Sweeney and thier dog Mattingly, Mike's sister Kathy and her 2 children, as well as Andrew & Theresa Pleva. After the walk we were joined by Andrew and T for lunch at Mahoney's in Poughkeepsie, the kids like it there because it is at the train station, so while we eat they can watch the trains out the window.

By the time we finished the walk and lunch it was 3pm. From there we headed to a nice visit with Nonna who is recovering nicely from hip surgery. The kids had fun running around with a frisbee (their "plate" from the restaurant). Our next stop was a visit with Pat, Jodi, Danny, Sean and Connor Hickey where all the boys had fun playing together. Finally we dropped by to visit with Matthew Pleva and Heidi Abrams for a few minutes before heading for home @ 7:15pm. A long and busy and incredibly FUN, NICE day!