Poconos Vacation

Last Sunday, as I was getting ready to depart my mom's house for the Poconos for a week long vacation with the family, we had an unexpected emergency. I had decided to take the kids to McDonald's for lunch since Brian was taking a nap after flying up from FL that morning. After killing about 20 minutes on the playground, I decided to head back to mom's to wake up Brian so we could get on the road. I went to start the car's AC before buckeling in the kids and as I was leaning in with Aiden on my hip the car door swung back and sliced a nice little dash in his forehead! It was bleeding quite a bit, so I stopped at mom's to get Brian and then we headed to the closest ER.

The visit to the ER was pretty easy compared to the norm. By the time we got there Aiden was happy and smiling completely unaware of the cut on his head. The nurse decided that instead of stitches we cold just use a little glue to seal it back up. I think we were out in less than an hour and hopefully the little scar above his eye will fade over time. Ironically, we were at the same hospital 2 1/2 years earlier with almost the same injury for Hallie. It was Christmas Day in 2006 when she tried to get her stocking down from the fireplace by herself and the weighted holder crashed onto her nose.

From the ER, we headed towards the turnpike to start the drive to the house my parents rented in the Poconos for the week. It turned out to be a fun, relaxing week. Hallie was anxious to test out her new Barbie fishing pole that daddy had bought her. There was a nice fishing lake behind our house where Hallie caught her first fish! Her attention span is still a little short for fishing. She enjoys throwing in the pole and then wants to run off and play until she catches a fish. We also had canoe at the house that we were able to use. Hallie and Daddy took it out into the lake to do some more fishing.

Our nights were filled with campfires, S'Mores, games, and sing-a-longs. My mom loves to play her guitar outside by the campfire and my dad loves to make the fire as big as he can. The last night Brian was there he brought home fireworks and sparklers. Hallie loved lighting up the sparklers and dancing around in the dark with them.

My favorite part of the vacation was the day trip we took to Bushkill Falls. We went on a short little hike with the kids to the falls, and then I went on a longer route with my brother and his wife, Sara. Overall, it was a fantastic trip - the best part was that it was only a 2 hour drive back to my mom and dad's. We'll be spending a few more days here in PA and then will fly back to FL on Wednesday night.

VACATION!

What a week! It definitely was not easy for us to get to my mom's house in PA. I've never had trouble flying Southwest before and usually make it to the gate with plenty of time to spare. For some reason, this past Tuesday EVERYONE from Florida decided to fly out on Southwest! We had to wait in line for 40 minutes to get our bags checked, and of course the guy that we get to check us in is clueless and waisted another 10 minutes. We ended up making a mad dash through security and were the last ones to board the plane. So then I had to stand in the aisle with my 2 kids waiting for someone to volunteer to move so we could have 2 seats together. Ahh!

Anyway, we've been having quite a memorable time since we've been here. Yesterday Ruth took us to the Elmwood Park Zoo which is by her house. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the nice exhibits they've had there. This morning, I picked up Brian from the airport and we'll be heading to the Poconos with my family for a week. Hallie is super excited and can't stop talking about it. Aiden is loving spending time with his grandparents and has finally laid down for a long nap with his dady. He has quite a bit of sleep to catch up on!

A few Things . . .

I finally have a chance to write again after another busy week with my family. We had a great 4th of July weekend with Brian's sister, Nancy. We spent the day of the 4th at the beach enjoying the sun and calm waters. Hallie can never seem to get enough of it. She goes from one family to another searching for kids to play with, any age. Aiden has finally learned not to put the sand in his mouth and is content just digging in it. He also enjoys just being held in the water, occasionally kicking and splashing. After 4 hours at the beach, we headed home to shower, barbecue, and do a few fireworks. Brian still enjoys setting off his own fireworks, so he stocked up on quite a few to do with the kids. When he left for work, we returned to the beach to watch the show put on by the city. One word: spectacular! The next day, Nancy, the kids, and I headed to Miami to take a boat ride around the Bay to see the mansions. It was truly an enjoyable weekend.

The next day, we packed up our SUV and headed up to Orlando to visit Universal Studios for the day. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day for our family, and one day of walking around in the hot sun and waiting in lines was plenty! We were able to see quite a few of the 3-D experience shows and go on a most of the rides, thanks to the "child swap" room that Universal has. Brian and I even took a ride on the new Mummy rollercoaster! Luckily, we did not need to use the childswap on the ET ride, which is Aiden's first official ride. He sat in a seat all by himself and had quite an out-of-this world experience. After buying matching shirts for our family of 4 and taking a few family photos, both kids crashed in the car and slept soundly for the rest of the night.

The next day, we left Orlando to head up to Ocala to visit with Brian's family for two days. Aiden reached another milestone this week at his Nana's house and uttered his first word. He is not a happy camper when I set him down (and give my poor back a break, which is still suffering from holding him for hours in the long lines at Universal) and has started crying, "Mamamamama" - which is code for "pick me up! pick me up!"

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us in Ocala so instead of visiting a park or a pool, we were faced with a day of rain. So Brian and I decided to take the kids (Hallie, Aiden, cousin Paul, and almost-cousin Dalton) to see the new Ice Age in 3D. Hallie spent the rest of the day playing with her cousin Paul, who is also 4. She always has a blast with him!

So now we are home and I'm getting ready to leave again this Tuesday to visit my family up in PA. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing vacation and spending a week in the Poconos with them.

He did it!

For a month now, Aiden has been getting really close to crawling. He'd get up on all fours and rock back and forth, but instead of crawling for his toys (or the cords hanging off my computer) he would roll to them. Well, today he finally did it! He made the long trek across his room to get a toy that I kept pulling juuuust out of reach. He made this big accomplishment 1 day before turning 10 months. I'm so proud!!!

Another Cinderella Story . . .

Another busy week for us here. Last Sunday we got up early so Hallie could attend a "Meet N Greet" with Cinderella and then we headed off to the beach for her best friend Ashley's birthday party. She was having a blast in the ocean with her friends when it unfortunately started raining. We then spent the next hour huddled underneath a canopy wating for the rain to let up. By the time it did, I had had enough and headed home. Oh well, Hallie had fun!

The rest of the week continued with Hallie attending ballet camp every day. Thursday night was the group's performance of "Another Cinderella Story". I was very impressed with the show that was put together in only 2 weeks time. One of the owner's, Miss Tina, explained to me that the whole year of doing dance is 40 hours. The girls attending the camp dance for 80 hours in only 2 weeks! Hallie was there for 1/2 days so she didn't get quite that much, but we were still pretty impressed. Today was her last day of camp and they took a field trip to Jumpers (a bounce house place).

We also finished up swimming lessons this week. Unfortunately it seemed to rain each day at 5:30 (the time of our class) so we only got in 2 lessons this week. I'm going to try to sign Hallie up for classes again before the end of the summer. Aiden did exceptionally well and is almost able to float on his back. He's also learned how to grab onto the wall after "falling" into the pool. Back on land, he has almost started crawling. He took about 3 "steps" today before he fell back on his butt. I'm sure he'll be getting there soon!

Brian's sister, Nancy, is here for the weekend to celebrate the 4th tomorrow. We're planning a day at the beach and will then return there for fireworks at night. Next week, we'll be heading up to Universal Studios for a day and then to Ocala for the rest of the week to visit Brian's family.