Great Kids Village

On Sunday, we decided to go to a place called Great Kids Village. We went there last year when Ryan and the girls came to visit. The kids had a good time then, so we thought we'd go back again. Ryan, Kate, and their families decided to eat lunch at the cafe there, so we came a little later. They were still eating when we arrived, so I took Peyton (aka Mr. Impatient) to play while Kyle and Hunter stayed in the cafe and chatted with the others.

Peyton began his day playing with the wooden trains. I made him wear the conductor hat.
Next, he found the ball pit. Balls are still one of his favorite things to play with, so he had a blast in there.
We walked over to the grocery store next. Peyton picked out lots of fruits, vegetables, and other yummy treats for his shopping cart.

Then he went to the kitchen area to cook with his groceries.

Peyton wanted to check out these giant Tinkertoys next. I'm not sure what he was trying to build, but he had a good time.

Hunter was having lots of fun too... He actually did wake up before we left for home.

Peyton and Daddy built a castle out of these huge foam blocks. Peyton calls anything that he builds a "castle."

We checked out the big sand box next. I even played in the sand with Peyton. He tried a few times to build an actual sand castle, but obviously the sand would not hold any shape because it was dry. He just played with all of the other toys instead.

Noah and Kate played in the sandbox too.

Next, we went to the sports room. After a rousing game of Foosball, Peyton decided that he wanted to play putt-putt. He was pretty good.

Silly Peyton

The last room that we checked out before we left was the music room. Here is my little Beethoven. He loves to play instruments and sing.

There were about a million more pictures, but I thought that these were enough. All of the kids had fun at Great Kids Village. It definitely is a place for all ages to have a good time. Everyone went back to our house to eat dinner and hang out a little more. Becky fed Hunter while Sara checked him out. She gave him kisses too!

We tried to take a cousins picture. This one is ok, but I think others might have captured a better picture. The kids did sit still and allow the paparazzi to take their pictures.

Then Sara wanted to hold Hunter.

And then Lindsey wanted to hold him too.

Ryan and Becky brought Peyton and Hunter gifts. Peyton got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coloring book.

And Hunter got two outfits and a "Little Brother" onesie. All three things were super cute.

We made chicken nuggets for the kids for dinner and the adults ate tacos. Peyton, Lindsey, and Sara must have been hungry because they each ate all of their chicken nuggets and then a taco too. Lindsey and Sara made cookies with Aunt Kate for everyone to eat for dessert. They were yummy. We hung out a little while longer after dinner, and then Kate and Ryan headed back to Kate's house. Ryan and his family left to go home on Monday. It was good visiting with everyone!

National Zoo

We planned to meet up with everyone on Saturday around 11:00 at the National Zoo in Washington DC. This was my "great" idea. We didn't tell Peyton where we were going, only that we were going "somewhere fun that he would love" because we didn't feel like hearing about the zoo and the animals over and over and over until we got there.

We left home at 10:00, presumably with plenty of time to get there by 11. However, things did not quite work out that way. We ran into a huge group of motorcycles riding together on Route 32. Police motorcyclists were blocking all of the on and off ramps as the group drove because they were riding in the right lane. This made for such a traffic mess and our first delay. Then the navigation system took us all through the city to get to the zoo, which was a disaster too. All of the lights were only letting a few cars through at a time, so it just took forever. And since we were sitting still more than we were driving, Hunter started crying, so I needed to crawl into the backseat to hold his pacifier in his mouth to calm him down. We didn't make it to the zoo until almost 11:30 and needless to say, I was quite annoyed! Peyton, however, was super excited because he is just in love with animals right now.

We met everyone by the lions and the tigers. While we waited, Peyton wanted to take his picture in front of this tiger (which was actually a water fountain).

Peek-a-boo Peyton!

Peyton checking out the prairie dogs. He liked pointing them out when they popped their heads out of their little holes.

Once again, Hunter was there with us, but slept the entire time except when we woke him up to feed him.

It was a really hot day, so we only stayed at the zoo for about three hours, one of which we spent eating inside an air conditioned restaurant. Peyton loved seeing the animals, but it was a pretty miserable day overall (for me at least!) with the traffic and heat.

Sunday was the last day that we spent with Ryan, Becky, and the girls before they had to go home. I'll blog about that another time.

Chuck E. Cheese

Ryan, Becky, Lindsey, and Sara came down from Indiana for a long weekend to meet Hunter. They left their house on Thursday afternoon and arrived at Kate's house, where they were staying, late Thursday evening. On Friday, we headed down to Kate's house to visit with everyone. We all hung out at the house for a few hours. The cousins just played with Noah's toys together. They all got along very well. Becky, Ryan, and Kate all took turns holding Hunter. Noah and Sara both had to take naps, but neither slept very long because it was quite loud downstairs.

When they both woke up, we all went to Chuck E. Cheese for some dinner and fun. We didn't tell any of the kids that we were going there until right before we were about to leave. Lindsey and Peyton were both so excited when they heard where we were going. When we got to CEC, we found a table and put down our stuff. Then we figured out what we wanted to eat, and Kyle and Ryan took care of ordering it all. I had some coupons, and tried to tell Kyle which ones to use, but he used them all, so we ended up with lots of food and 390 tokens! We gave some to Lindsey, Sara, and Noah.

While we waited for the food to come, Peyton rode some rides and played some games. First he wanted to ride this big monster truck. It rocked back and forth and did wheelies, so he really liked it!

This little carousel was quite popular with all of the kids. I think they all rode it more than one time.

Peyton and Lindsey played a game of air hockey. I think Lindsey won.

Our dinner arrived, so we took a break to eat some pizza. While we were eating, Chuck came out to entertain a birthday party. Lindsey and Sara were excited to see him, but Peyton was definitely not! We finished up our dinner, and went to play more games. Chuck was still walking around and Peyton was terrified to walk anywhere near him. Finally I convinced Peyton that I would protect him and he was ok. He took a car ride with Stuart Little.

Sara enjoyed riding the carousel.

Peyton took a ride on a see-saw with a fake Chuck E. Cheese (the only kind he can tolerate!).

Peyton loves riding this horse. It moves like it's galloping and you watch a screen which is showing you in a horse race.

We played some more games and earned lots of tickets. We're saving up our tickets from all of the times that we visit CEC so that one day we can cash them in for something really great.

Peyton and I in front of one of his favorite games.

Yup, Hunter was there too. He slept pretty much the entire time. Until... I woke him up right before we were about to leave so that I could feed him. While eating, he took a massive poo, which spilled out of his diaper and all over my hand and pants. It was awesome. I felt so nasty.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of Noah. Boo.

We left for home around 7:00 and Peyton and Hunter both passed out in the car. Ryan, Becky, and the girls went back to Kate's house. We planned to meet at the National Zoo on Saturday morning. That post is next!

Dougie's Birthday Party

My little cousin Dougie turned 13 last week. His birthday party was last Sunday at a place called Putt Putt Fun Center. Dougie and all of his friends played a game of laser tag. There were also lots of kiddie rides and arcade games where you win tickets. Each child got some free tokens for attending the birthday party. From the pictures below, you'd never know we were at the Fun Center for Dougie's birthday, because there aren't any pictures of Dougie, his cake, or his presents. Oops.

Peyton wanted to ride all of the rides with his tokens. First, he rode in the Night Rider car.

Next, he decided to ride this ATV, which he called a motorcycle.

He also enjoyed the carousel.

Then Peyton played some games. He liked this one because he got to hit things with the mallet.

After a few more games, it was back to the rides. I think he liked driving this boat.

The dump truck might have been his favorite.

Hunter was there too! He got passed around to everyone who wanted to hold him, which was pretty much everyone. He even woke up for a little while, but didn't cry at all.

After playing games for a while, it was time to eat. There was pizza and chicken tenders. Peyton ate all of his pizza so that he could play more games after dinner.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Dougie and then everyone ate cake and ice cream. Then the big kids played their game of laser tag, while Peyton played more games in the arcade. He earned a lot of tickets, which he cashed in for a sticky ball. We were so distracted that we missed Dougie opening most of his gifts.

Happy birthday Dougie. We all had a great time at your party!

A Little Bit of Random

Peyton and Hunter in their matching red, white, and blue

"No more pictures, Mommy!"

Cute baby
My anniversary roses from Kyle

Kyle and I at a wedding

Learning to ride the tricycle early

Playing with the rain forest mat for the first time

Brothers = Best Buddies

1 Month

Hunter turned one month old last Wednesday. That first month sure did fly by. I took Hunter to the doctor for his check-up on Wednesday as well. He is now 9 pounds, 4 ounces, which is the 50th percentile. I was just so excited to see Hunter on the growth chart, as Peyton was always less than the 5th percentile. Hunter gained 1 pound, 3 ounces in just two weeks. He eats like a champ! He's also 22 inches now, which is the 75th percentile. That means that he's grown a whole inch since he's been born. And finally, his head circumference was in the 25th percentile. In other news, the pediatrician said that he is doing great. He's very healthy and can track objects with his eyes very well. Hunter had to get a heel prick so that the doctor could get some blood for the PKU test. He didn't mind that much. However, when he had to get his one shot, he turned fire engine red as soon as she stuck the needle in and didn't take another breath until the needle was out of his thigh a few seconds later. He only cried for a minute or two after that though. What a trooper.

Maryland Zoo

I'm a blogging fool today, huh? It's about time though, as I'm a little behind on the posting.

Peyton has been obsessed with animals for months now. He just loves them! His favorite toys are the ones that involve animals, like his Little People Barn. He is always making animal sounds, loves to read books that feature animals, and will constantly tell you little tidbits about various animals like what they eat and where they live. We've been wanting to take Peyton to the zoo, but it has been so hot this summer that there hasn't been a good time... until last Saturday, when the high was only supposed to be in the low 80s. We waited until Friday night to tell Peyton that we were going to take him to the zoo the next day, because had we told him any earlier, it is all we would have heard about until we got to the zoo on Saturday.

Peyton came into our room around 6:45 Saturday morning, which is way earlier than he normally wakes up, even on a weekend. I know it was like Christmas Eve for him and he couldn't wait any longer to wake up and go to the zoo. Too bad it doesn't even open until 10:00 and we had to wait for Kyle and Hunter to wake up anyway. Peyton wasn't too happy about that and asked me about 10 times that morning if it was time to go yet. We left the house around 9:30 and arrived at the zoo a little after 10:00. About every five minutes during the car ride to the zoo, Peyton had to remind us where we were going and what kinds of animals we were going to see.

When you first walk into the zoo, there are two of these lion statues. Peyton didn't want to sit on it alone, so Kyle got in the picture too.

We started off our tour of the zoo in the children's zoo area. There are lots of photo ops in there, including turtle shells, a cocoon, and this bird's nest for the kids to climb in. Again, Peyton did not want to get in any of them, but I was finally able to convince him to sit with me on the nest.

Here's Peyton as a turtle!

We continued through the children's zoo and saw animals like ducks and sea otters. Next we went to the barnyard area. There were animals typical to farms, like horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and donkeys. Peyton and Kyle went into the petting zoo, while Hunter and I stayed outside. Peyton got to brush several goats. I think he loved it!

After the petting zoo, we headed into the barn so that Kyle and Peyton could wash their hands. In the barn, Peyton got to pretend that he was riding a horse.

Here is some proof that Hunter was at the zoo too. He's with a cow. Hunter loved the zoo about as much as he loved his first walk around our neighborhood - he didn't open his eyes one time.

I won't bore everyone with a slide show of the 30+ pictures of all the animals that we saw. But, we got to see various birds, turtles, rhinos, zebras, a leopard, cheetah, giraffe, lions, monkeys and elephants, among others. Peyton was quite disappointed that there were no tigers or hippos. There used to be tigers and hippos at that zoo, but I'm not sure what happened to them. In fact, several exhibits were closed. For as expensive as going to the zoo is, I'd like to think they could at least take care of their animals properly, so that they could all be on display. Guess not...

Anyway, Peyton had a great time at the zoo and definitely did not want to leave. It was creeping into his nap time though, and he and Kyle had to go to a birthday party later in the afternoon, so we had to go. It also got a little hot in the afternoon. I think the weathermen were wrong about their low 80s prediction. Peyton told anyone that would listen to him about the zoo over the next few days. He told his teachers and friends at daycare and even asked me to call Grandmom, Pop-Pop and Uncle Jer so that he could tell them about the zoo too.

Happy Anniversary!

Today, August 6, 2010, Kyle and I have been married for FIVE years! It seems like forever since our wedding, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday. Time flies when you're having fun, right? In those five years, we've been fortunate enough to have welcomed two wonderful little boys into our family. We have our health, happiness, and each other. What more could we really ask for?

Then - 2005

Now - 2010

I can't wait to watch the wedding video tonight, like we do every year. And yes, I'm sure I'll cry AGAIN. Tomorrow evening, we're going out to dinner at Chiapparelli's in Little Italy without the kids. It'll be the first time we'll be leaving Hunter. I know he'll be in good hands though, and it'll be for a few hours. And most importantly, I don't know about Kyle, but I could definitely use a little adult time!

How Lucky Am I...

... that I get to call these three adorable guys my family!?

First Bath

Last Friday, July 31, Kyle and I gave Hunter his first real bath at home. Below is one picture from that experience... But don't let his calm expression fool you. About 30 seconds after we were finished taking pictures, Hunter started to wail and didn't let up until he was dressed in his pajamas and swaddled in a blanket. He hates getting his diaper changed, clothes changed, and apparently also taking a bath. I'm sure he'll get used to these things in time. But for now, if you're going to do one of those tasks with him, get ready for some loud crying!

First Walk

The weather was beautiful on Wednesday, so after dinner we decided to take a family walk around our neighborhood. It was Hunter's first tour of where we live. Peyton rode his tricycle.

And Hunter was so excited that he slept the entire time.

I pushed Hunter around.

But Kyle wanted to get in on the action too.

We walked for about a half-hour, but then we had to get back home because Peyton needed a bath. It was a fun family time.