Beach Vacation 2012: Part 2

So Monday of vacation....more of this!


And I know there was more beach fun, but apparently it wasn't captured...or I used the pictures already! So many pictures that they are confusing me!

But, I DO know that Monday night we hit the boardwalk for some fun. I had been talking to Gillian about getting a colorful wrap in her hair, with maybe some beads. She was up for that. So that's where we were headed.

And Colin got it in his head that he was going to PLAY GAMES. And there was no deterring him. I think it started the night before when Colin saw THE SKELETON on the boardwalk. We had no idea what he was talking about until we searched the boardwalk on Monday for this:

So that's where the boys headed.

Meanwhile at the hair shop, G quickly made friends with the nice wrap lady. G climbed up in her spot on the bench and didn't move or make a peep until her hair was DONE. While I was paying, GraGra said G told the lady exactly what she wanted, with no help needed at all. There is no stopping that girl when she knows what she wants.


At the end, G picked a pink, a purple, and an orange bead to go on her wrap. And, honestly, it matches her wardrobe perfectly. I'm not exactly sure WHEN and HOW I'm going to get that thing out of her hair!

In the meantime, Daddy, Colin, and Papa Greg were hitting up three or four arcades and the Funland to WIN COLIN A PRIZE. I hear the boy wasn't going to stop until he won SOMETHING. Finally, they settled on some sort of "Plinko" game. Colin could shoot the ball up and Daddy could try to catch it. Apparently Colin told Daddy, "This is an easy one. I know you can do it."

Eventually they caught 3 of the 5 balls and TA DA Colin won a stuffed penguin. Daddy said it was like he won a Nobel Prize, Colin eyes just LIT up and he gave a big THANK YOU to the worker who had handed him to him. Daddy said it just might have been his favorite part of the whole vacation. After winning the penguin, the boys caught up with us girls at the hair shop and Colin was STILL effervescent about this penguin. Just glowing with happiness.

Fun evening for kids:




Close up of the penguin, who was quickly christened Dewey.


Then we had a nice stroll on the boardwalk and tried to squeeze in our family picture early in the week. Semi-success as usual.


And a nice one of the kids with GraGra and Papa Greg.


Walking to the car was even fun.



We kicked Tuesday morning off with some AWESOME donuts thanks to Papa Greg. They were seriously good.



And then some beaching.




(HA! See Daddy and I sneaking in some reading on the beach! All thanks to Papa and GraGra!)







Notice the shell decorations!


Daddy reading some more.


After beach and nap and dinner, we headed for some Mini-Golf! C&G had never been and they really had NO CLUE what we were talking about, but they were excited. So Shell We Golf was on the agenda! Thankfully 3 years and under are FREE, so that was an extra treat!

A lilac ball for Gillian. There wasn't a pink choice....


Colin was more interested in getting IN the water hazard. Both of them tried to climb in at one point. Eventually we got across the point that you are to stay OUT of the water on a golf course!


And we're off!



Extra hazards added for more fun!



Our golf sunset.


The kids were funny golfing. They kind of figured out a pushing/sweeping kind of motion that worked pretty well for them. Colin would take ten or twelve strokes and then plop the ball in the hole with his hands. Gillian would hit and hit and hit and hit it. Never give up. That's her. Near the end of the course, Colin looked at me, grinned, and said, "I like this. Let's do more hockey-ing." Oh boy.

After our 18 holes, we popped into the Seashell Shop next door to pick up a souvenir for Colin.


HA! The story on the blow fish? The condo next to us had a taxidermied puffer fish stuck head first in a sand bucket hanging out on their porch all week. Colin was FASCINATED by it. He talked about it each and every time we walked past it. And called it "his puffer fish." He HAD to have one of his own. Although Daddy STILL doesn't understand why.

Birds, Birthdays, and Trains

A weekend or two ago (so behind on the blog) the kids were invited to their first "friend" birthday party by their classmate Alana. The party was at the Pittsburgh Aviary. We hadn't had a chance to get the kids to the Aviary before this, and for very good reason: Mommy doesn't like birds. At all. Unless they are well caged or on the other side of glass. At the Aviary they have free flying bird exhibits and that just sounded creepy to me.

The invitation was fortuitous though, as Colin has been BEGGING to ride the "new part of the trolley" for weeks. And lucky him, the new part of the trolley line takes you over to the North Shore and a nice, short walk from the Aviary. So, we combined two fun things into one day!

So, we parked at the local station and waited for a train. And it was chilly. Later in the day it was quite nice and warm, but the morning started a bit cooler than I had been expected. Colin took it well though:


We had a great time on the train and took in all the sights. We greatly enjoyed our trip under the Allegheny River, even though Colin was SURE that the tunnel was going to be like the polar bear tunnel at the zoo and we'd be able to SEE the water as we passed under.

Alana's party was a PENGUIN PARTY! We actually had a real, live penguin come visit our party room!



And we had some snacks. It was technically lunch, but Colin refused to acknowledge that and insisted it was a SNACK.


Gillian and I hung around the party and watch Alana open her gifts. Gillian and Alana have very similar tastes, so G was impressed with her haul! Colin was ready to move on though, so he and Daddy explored the Aviary for a while.

When they came back it was time for cake! Yum. Gillian really enjoyed that too. By then the party was winding down, so we headed out and all four of us went to see the rest of the Aviary. Which was quite stinky. Yet another reason to dislike birds. We did see some cool birds though. And none of them flew at me or pooped on me, so that was a success.

And look how cool these flamingos are!


So, now we've been to the Aviary. And need not return. We did have a good time on the trolley though! I KNOW we'll be back on that!

Little Getaway

Last weekend the Parental Units around here escaped for a little time alone! Grammy and Papa Frank were kind enough to come for the weekend to entertain the little people.

First up was a Pen's game!

The tickets were our Christmas present to each other! We had never been to a Pens game before, and we wanted to give each other a gift that we would be able to DO with each other. Fun, parental time alone is RARE around here! And this was FUN! The Pens won 8-1, and Evgeni Malkin score a hat trick! Woo hoo!

Happy parents:

Umm, it was COLD in the arena. Yeah, yeah, I know it's HOCKEY. But it was still colder than I was expecting.

After the game, we checked into our hotel in the city and relaxed for a bit. We had plans to go a little Italian place in the city for dinner. We had a bit of a wait when we got there, and the restaurant is SO tiny, that we hit up a coffee shop BEFORE dinner. It's so easy to roll with the punches when all you have to worry about is adults and not hungry, three year old bellies.

More happy parents:


After a quiet night, we were up not much later than usual to hit the Strip for breakfast, Penzey's Spices, and pepperoni rolls! Then it was home again to our cherubs. We can't wait to do it again!

Sweet Freedom!

One of Michael's co-workers got married over Labor Day weekend, and it was a VERY cool event, so we were pretty excited to be invited. I had asked my mom and Greg to watch the babies for us so we could go to the wedding, and somehow my mom ended up talking me into sending C&G to her house for two days! So, on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we had the extended Uhl family at our house for lunch, and then we sent the kiddos up north with Grammy and Grandpa Uhl. I will admit, there were some tears on my part!

Well, Colin and Gillian spent a few hours with Grammy and Grandpa at their house. They had some supper and played with Jessica and Joe. Apparently, there was much fun to be had by all, as Jess and Joe used some little riding toys to have races with the babies! Grammy has some pictures but I don't have them handy to post.

Colin and Gillian were delivered to Grandma RoRo and Grandpa Greg's house for bath and bedtime. They had a great day on Sunday too! They went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, and they were very well behaved, I hear. Then they spent the afternoon and evening visiting with Uncle Stevie and Aunt Emily. I am sure there are pictures of these events as well, but I don't have them! Monday morning, Colin was up early and wanted to come home!!

In the meantime.....Michael and I were enjoying the heck out of ourselves. Well, I was anyway. Michael spent a large portion of Saturday and Sunday powerwashing and sealing the deck! I went to Target and TOOK MY TIME shopping! I also ran a few more errands without worrying about naps or bottles! We also took the opportunity to go see a movie. We saw "500 Days of Summer," and we highly recommend it! On Sunday morning we slept in a little and then went out to breakfast. I love going out for breakfast and it's just something that we don't get to do anymore, so it was a special treat.

The aforementioned wedding was Sunday evening! Why were we so excited, you may ask. Well, because the reception was held at the PPG Aquarium! After the zoo was closed for the day, the zoo staff set up tables, a dance floor, bars, and buffet line all on the main floor of the aquarium, and the wedding guests had the place all to themselves! If you have ever been to the aquarium, you will know exactly how crowded it gets in there! It was so cool to take your time and look at everything for as long as you wanted.

A picture of Al, Maria, and me waiting for the shuttle from the gate to the aquarium.


For me, the best part was the penguins! Did you know that the sound from their enclosure is piped into the viewing area? NO? That's because it's always so loud in there! It was fun to hear them squawking and splashing!

By the time we left around 11:00, they were all settled down and sleeping for the night! Good night penguins!

The big grouper fish pictured at the top of the post lives in the two story tall shark tank. He amused most of the wedding guests all evening by just hanging out at eye level and STARING at everyone. He had an especially keen eye for the young lady serving the fish in the buffet line!

We were very happy to see Colin and Gillian on Monday morning! They seemed to enjoy their little independent vacation, and Michael and I enjoyed a few, brief days of refound freedom!

Keister Books

The Keisters made a gift of two plush fabric books to Colin and Gillian. These books have recently entered the rotation. One of these books is shaped like a penguin. This coincidentally works out quite well as Gillie's favorite book, "Snowy Bear" (more on this later) features a penguin which she greatly enjoys. So we have taken to reading the plush penguin book. Today Gillie decided that she need to hug the penguin:

Since Gillie got to hug a book, we set Colin up with the plush cat book:

Colin wasn't quite as into the book hugging, but then again, he hadn't pooped in a while, so he wasn't really quite into much of anything. All told, they do like the books a lot, and the fact that you can hug them, just makes them all the better.

P.S. While Daddy enjoys reading (or reciting) the "Snowy Bear" book for Colin and Gillian, it is only six pages long and wears a little thin after a while. Also, Daddy is a bit troubled by the fact that while the book is titled "Snowy Bear", Snowy Bear does not appear anywhere within the text of the book. Instead we are introduced to a moose, a seal, a walrus, a penguin, a whale, and a puffin. It seems like a bait-and-switch scheme to me.

Penguin Babies

Uncle David and Aunt Mercedes gave C & G some very cute penguin outfits for Christmas. They are adorable, but I'm not convinced of their practicality. They are way too warm to wear indoors, but not warm enough for snowsuits. Plus, they are covered in HUGE buttons. However, I can see why they were purchased, as they are pretty darn cute!! So, after a month of busy life, we finally got the babies into the penguin suits and took some pictures. Colin didn't seem to be particularly pleased, but he took it in stride, as he usually does. Gillian seemed more in tune with her penguin self, as her favorite book tells her all about penguins (Penguin's wings don't help him fly, he plays in water not the sky).

Anyway, we are holding on to the penguin suits and will someday gift them BACK to D &M for them to use with their kids.

Colin, looking bemused:


Colin on the right, Gillie on the left:




Gillie:




More of these shots can be found on Flickr.