The Last Blast

We just got back from our last vacation for the summer. We rented a huge beach house in Outer Banks, North Carolina and we LOVED it! It was the perfect vacation to end the summer. There were 5 awesome families that came with us. There was a lot of stuff to do and see but the best part was just relaxing. Oh and the food! Each family took a turn cooking one night. All the meals were fabulous. I am sure Mike loved having a change in the regular menu. Here are a few pictures from the trip.


Our classic tower picture


Mike with his awesome moves


Stacia, this one is for you ;)


At the beach


Coming in after I got thrown down pretty hard by a massive wave



Mike is a pro



Blake taking a swim


The group


In real life this was a cool view of the ocean.




On our last day Hurricane Hanna blew in.


Right before we left for home.

Good food, good friends, good fun

We took a day and went to Atlantic City. The weather was perfect! Not much else to say but that I have now been informed that it is NOT called the beach out east. It's called the shore! So there you go.



My hobo son




Mike was buried in the sand


And Blake was worried that he would never get out
So he began to dig him out.


Ending our day right by feeding our hungry
tummies at Gino's pizza.

If the vans a rockin' don't come a knockin'

Ummmmmmm, yes! My husband bought a VW Bus, pop top and all. What a funny guy I know. It's actually been pretty fun to have around.

Mike's brother Robbie taking it out for a drive.


Make Love Not War!


returning from the drive

Monkey Joe's

Monkey Joe's is Blake's new hang out, which makes it our new hang out as well. It's a big inflatable playground for kids AND parents can join in the fun too. Which we think is pretty great!
While playing on the slide with Blake, another Dad turns to Mike and says "Can you believe they make us get in here with our kids" Mike turns to him with bit of a confused look and says "uh, ya" then runs off toward the slides like a little kid himself.
We thought it was the greatest thing that parents could join their kids on the playground. The slides are incredible! Even Mike and I get butterflies in our stomach when going down them.
The best part of this place is that it's $5 for the whole day (for kids under 3) and parents are free. We always spend at least 3 hours every time we go.

Mike and Blake going down what Blake calles the Waterfall


This slide was only for kids 3 and under


Taking a spill


Blake taking out his friend Lily with a pillar

COMING SOON...

A post by me.

I promise I will not slack so much on the blog - after our summer holidays are over. It's not that we are doing a ToN of stuff or are SuPeR busy, but we are enjoying Mikes short time off from school. I will update on all our summer adventures soon.
Peace out!

Carcassonne in the House!

Pretty much our fav board game - Carcassone. A game we played every weekend with the Newells in UT and every other day with the Johnsons in PA. We finally got it yesterday - yeah! Thanks to the Flinders!

Back to D.C

We had our friends Matt and Brittney and their 2 kids (Nautica and Luke) come and visit us from Florida. They helped us start our summer holidays off right with a little trip to D.C and some good times right here in PA. Here are some pics of our adventures together. :) We had a lot of fun!!!

At the Zoo

The 2 Nicaraguans

Nautica, Luke and Blake. Such cute kids!

Blake and Luke

Slumber Party!!!

The Thomas Family with Abe

Milk'n it for all it's worth or until daddy's done

While on a little vacation in D.C with some friends, Blake scrapes his knee. Now this was the FIRST time he has drawn blood. So this whole experience was something new to Blake. Well, you would have thought it was the end of the world! After it happened he gave me very stricked orders. He wanted me to carry him like a baby cradled in my arms into the hotel room, when we got there he needed me to lay him down on the bed, get him a towel to lay accross him and then feed him his dinner without him having to sit up or even move at all. He adventually fell asleep like this on the bed.



The next morning as we were getting ready to go out for the day Blake would not walk. He had his leg bent as if he had broken it - limping. He cried to ONLY sit in the stroller around town (which was fine with me) and would not walk. Well Mike was not having it - he would not cater to his "needs" I, on the other hand, thought it was pretty funny and just let him sit in the stroller while the other kids got to run around (I felt that was punishment enough) and eventually by the end of the day, Blake was up and out of the stroller running around with the others.

Now that was the first time Blake drew blood; but he has had many bumps, bruises and bLooD bLiSTers. Here is a picture with all three in one hit.
This was a really bad one actually. I am a bit embarrased in showning the world this picture of Blake (It exposes my great skills as a mother).



There's nothing a little ice cream can't fix.

Ocean City

We enjoyed the day at the beach yesterday. The weather has been so hot and humid which makes it so hard to do anything outside without water around. Blake had a blast swimming in the ocean and jumping the waves. He will make a great surfer one day!!!

My little sister and her family were here for a week visit. We had so much fun while they were here and we are sad they are now gone. Blake and his cousin Jared play so well together. They woke up every morning asking where the other one was. Then played all day long together. This morning Blake woke up asking where Jared was. When I told him that he went bye bye, he gave a sad face and walked away slowly down the hall. I wish they didn't live so far away!

Here are some of the adventures we had together:

Us at Zwhalen's - the best ice cream around!!!

In the city for cheesesteaks

Blake and Jared got matching backpacks

Blake loved holding Madelyn!!!

Us at the DC Zoo

Mike and Blake at the air and space museum

Me in front of the Red Baron

Planes, trains and automobiles

If it involves any of those 3 things, count Blake in!
Every spring Mike gets a new remote control air plane to fly. He just received his new one in the mail and took no time to put it together. This is so he could take it out that evening before the sun went down. He and Blake have a blast flying it together and I like coming along for the ride (I am not a very good pilot).






I am better at the swings. Personally, I think Blake likes my activity more. Mike would probably argue that.