Too busy to blog

I guess we've been too busy enjoying ourselves and not busy blogging about it. Thanks to a friendly reminder from Grumpa, here is a little update...

Our boys are doing very well. They both really enjoyed the holidays but Zach obviously got it more than Tyler. We decorated our house with lights and a one of a kind holiday snowman 'tree.' I think our snowman tree will be a new yearly tradition. I remember feeling left out when a lot of my friends had Christmas trees growing up. I like the tradition of picking out a tree and decorating it with your family. I wish it wasn't called a Christmas tree. Why couldn't it just be called a 'Holiday' tree? Maybe next year. Anyway, we had a nice 8 nights of Hanukkah. Zach was in charge of lighting the candles every night. Then, he got to pick one present to open each night. He got a lot of big kid toys. I felt like he really needed some new things. Tyler, on the other hand, didn't really need anything b/c he has all of Zach's old stuff. So, Tyler got books. You can never have enough books, right? Next year will be different, I'm sure, because Tyler will understand more. But he really does like books. We spent one night of Hanukkah with Mimi and Grumpa, one night after Hanukkah with Grandma Ros and one night with Adam and Sarah. The boys were spoiled! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Hodess family. Our boys got to wake up at their house on Christmas morning to a bunch of presents under the tree. It was fun for everyone! Both Zach and Tyler got presents in their shoes on Christmas morning, which is a tradition in Vietnam. I explained to Zach what some people believe about Santa. The Hodess family expanded on what I said and by bed time on Christmas Eve, Zach was officially freaked out that there was going to be a random man in the house delivering presents while we all slept. Ha! But when it came time to open presents in the morning, he was very surprised that Santa knew he liked M&Ms, space, dinosaurs, motorcycles and numbers, etc...

During this holiday season, we have been trying to teach Zach how fortunate we are and that it's nice to give to those less fortunate during the holidays. I think it's really important for him to grow up knowing this. He has been putting money in the red Salvation Army baskets at the super market and every time, it sparks up a conversation about how lucky we are to have what we have. And how it's nice to give to others. I hope it sticks in that brain of his.

We plan to spend New Year's Eve with friends this year. It should be fun being with four or more other families with kids for the night. Sleeping should be interesting.

We had our first big snow storm of the season. Zach LOVES being outside in the snow. For a kid who gets cold so fast in the pool, he is a champ in the snow. He can be out there for hours and not complain once about being cold. He went sledding a little today in our neighborhood. We plan on bringing him sledding down a real (small) hill this week while Chad has the time off. He is going to love it. Tyler likes being outside in the snow but isn't a big fan of actually being down in it. He took a little ride on the sled today, too, and seemed to like it.

Here's to more blogging in 2011 :)

Happy Halloween!

Well...day after Halloween. We've had a great couple of weeks celebrating Halloween. We went to a fun event at the Ecotarium, Boo at the Zoo, a couple of parties and trick or treating of course. Zach got to show off his homemade costume a lot. I was proud that most people knew he was a space ship. Tyler didn't get much out of it this year but I think he'll be into it next year. He did enjoy seeing all of the pumpkins and decorations and he also had fun carving the pumpkin. We spent Halloween night with the Barans in their neighborhood. It was fun. The boys were so excited to go out trick or treating. Zach had a hard time at first. He didn't really understand that he was not supposed to be eating the candy as he got it. He soon got the hang of it, after eating a candy bar and a tootsie pop. Tyler was just along for the ride. No treats for him.

Loving the Fall

I love the Fall. I'm trying to get Zach to appreciate all of the great things about Fall. We talk a lot about the changing leaves and how colorful they look, what the trees will look like in the winter, Halloween, the cooler weather, what we are thankful for, etc. All the stuff that goes along with the Fall, I guess. We recently visited a cool farm with Zach's class. It was the best trip to a farm I have ever experienced. While on a hayride, we were able to see many different types of veggies growing. Our farmer was very informative and we learned a lot. It was very interactive. We even got to pick carrots and beats. We ate them for dinner that night :)We play outside a lot. Tyler is doing so well outside. He crawls around the patio, exploring all of the fun things. He has stopped eating everything he sees, so that helps. He still eats stuff, just not as much. He likes our little playhouse. He opens the door, crawls in, closes the door and goes about his business in the house. He thinks he's pretty cool. I think so too :) Tyler can also climb up the whole slide. It's awesome! Zach likes playing in the sand outside. He can play in the sand for hours. Really. He also likes swinging. He can pump but likes big "blast off" pushes.
This past weekend, we went for a little hike at the Garden in the Woods. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed walking around outside, taking it all in. Both boys really love being outside.
We are getting excited for Halloween. Zach is into it. A few weeks ago, I talked to Zach about Halloween. I explained that it is so cool because you can dress up as anything you want. He immediately said that he wanted to be a spaceship. He is really into space these days. A few days later, I asked again just to be certain. Sure enough, he said it again. So, he is going to be a spaceship this year. I am in the process of making his costume. We are still deciding what Tyler is going to be. An alien...an astronaut...the moon...a tiger (we have the costume)..or perhaps just a pirate... In other news...Zach is writing his name. It's so cute! And Tyler is taking steps. That's pretty darn cute too!

A very special day!

Today was a special day for both of our boys. We celebrated ONE year with Tyler Cole and Zach started another year of school. Both boys were in great moods all day. We woke up early, ate breakfast, then got ready for school. Zach had a great time in his new classroom. They get phased in, so he was only there for one hour today. It was like a tease for the kids and parents :) He can't wait to go back! After school, Tyler napped while Zach and I played outside. We also baked Tyler a carrot cake. Mimi and Grumpa came over for a little bbq, cake and presents. It was a great first birthday for our big boy! I love his face in this shot...Tyler didn't dig into his cake like his big brother did when he turned one. He took little bites but did seem to enjoy it.I can't believe he is one. We had a rocky start but we all made it. Tyler started off as an unhappy baby but has become a sweet, loving, funny, busy one year old. We wouldn't change a thing about him. We love you so much Tyler Cole! Happy Birthday big boy.

Zach Day!

It has been three years since we met Zachary in Vietnam. Wow! It's hard to believe it was so long ago. He has made us the happiest parents on earth. When I aksed Zach what he wanted to do today, he said: "CELEBRATE!" He decided to go to the zoo for his day. We had a nice time walking around and checking out the animals. After the zoo, we went to the pool, then out for dinner and ice cream! Now, Zach is out riding his bike. A perfect day for a perfect boy!

Zach--we love you more than you will ever know! We don't know how we became so lucky but are so happy we did!

VACATION

We took our first vacation as a family of four and it was a blast! Here is what we did...

We loaded into the car early Saturday morning and drove to Vermont. The kids were great road trippers! Zach kept himself busy playing with toys, eating and chewing gum. Tyler kept himself busy sleeping, playing with toys and watching his entertaining big brother. We visited Camp Downer which is the sleep away camp Chad went to as a kid. There was a reunion for all of the ex-counselors. It was fun to see where Chad spent the summers as a kid. He claims that nothing has changed since the last time he was there 20 years ago :) The kids loved being there. We went swimming, hiked in the woods, ate yummy food, hung out with fun people, had a camp fire and slept in a cabin. We had a rough night sleeping but other than that, it was a great time!

After packing up the car on Sunday morning, we headed to Georgia, Vermont where we spent the day and night with some friends at their lake house. Zach got to paddle a kayak for the first time with Daddy while Mommy and Tyler slept in the hammock. Zach also took a nice long ride in a motor boat!
On Monday morning, we headed into Burlington. We had lunch and explored Church Street. We even drove by the house where Chad grew up :)

In the afternoon, we headed to Waterville Valley NH. This three hour road trip did not go as well as the first. We had a couple of meltdowns and one unsuccessful emergency poop, where we had to pull over on the highway. We ended up going to a small pizza shop in order to get ourselves together. Zach had a successful poop, Tyler stopped crying, Daddy ordered some subs and Mommy threw up (for whatever reason). After this little stop, things were much better. We drove through the mountains while the boys slept and finally made it to Waterville.
We stayed at Brian and Mary's condo. It was awesome. The kids each had their own room. Mommy slept with Tyler most nights and Daddy with Zach. Gotta love a family vacation :) Although, I secretly enjoy sleeping in the same room as my kids.

We woke up Tuesday morning and hung out. It was a little rainy, so we mostly spent the day hanging around the condo. It was nice to just be together and not have to be anywhere. We eventually walked into town just to get out in between rain drops.

On Wednesday Chad took Zach for a bike ride while Tyler and I napped. We all met in the center of town in the afternoon. Zach loved his bike ride and even rode his own "trick bike" otherwise known as a two wheeler with training wheels (and a bell). He did great on it and loved every second of it. Later, after some more napping, we walked into town. Zach enjoyed walking in the woods, so we did that whenever possible. We also hung out at a little beach in town.

On Thursday morning, we loaded back into the car and headed to North Conway NH. We checked into our gorgeous hotel room and went into town. After a yummy lunch, the kids napped in the car as we drove around the White Mountains. The kids woke up to find themselves in the parking lot of Storyland! If you go to Storyland after 3pm on one day, you get free tickets to visit the park on another day. So, that's what we did. Zach was in all his glory! He loved every ride he went on. He wanted to go on all fast rides but eventually figured out that all of the rides were fun. It was not very crowded so, we were able to go on a lot of rides with no waiting. This was perfect for Zach. His two favorite rides were the Dutch Shoes and the Bamboo Shoots. He just met the 36 inch height requirement. After a few hours at Storyalnd, we went back to the hotel where we swam, had a family hot tub in our room, ate dinner and went to sleep. Sleeping was much easier than we had anticipated. Tyler went to sleep in the corner of our room in his pack n play while Zach watched a show. Then, Zach slept with us in the bed. It all worked out nicely.
The next morning, we went out for breakfast at a yummy restaurant. We all ate well and headed back to Storyland for the day. It was another great day. We did rides, saw some of a circus, walked around and ate. Both boys had a fun time. After many hours of fun, Zach fell asleep in my arms on a train ride. We got back into the car and drove to a cool lookout where you can see over a huge cliff. We hiked into the woods. Zach had fun climbing rocks and exploring the woods. Afterwards, we drove back to Waterville.

Lisa, Shaun and Quan came for a visit on Saturday. We had a great weekend with them. We all went to Loon Mountain on Saturday where we took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain. It was so fun! There was a yummy cafe, a playground and some great hiking. Everyone (except me and Tyler) explored these amazing caves where they had to find ways to get through small spaces and eventually climb up out of the caves. They were in there for a while. And Zach wanted to go in again! We spent a few hours at the top of the mountain. All of the kids fell asleep in the car on the way back to the condo and all woke up very unhappy. We spent the rest of the day at the condo hanging out while the kids watched some much needed tv.
On our last day, we cleaned up the condo and spent a few more hours in town. We did paddle boats, ate lunch and the kids rode bikes. Zach got a new bike out of all of his bike riding. Lucky little guy! We drove home on Sunday evening. It took us a long time to get home and Tyler had enough of being in the car. He cried for an hour, we pulled over for a while then drove the rest of the way home.It really was a great vacation. The weather was perfect. The kids were great. We all had a blast! Now back to reality...