Beach Vacation: Night 1

What do you have to do at night when you go to the beach on vacation? Go to the boardwalk of course! And that's just what Colin and Gillian got to do on their first non-travel night at the beach. After having had a relatively relaxing day, C & G hopped into their car seats and headed off for downtown Rehoboth. Upon arriving there, they piled into their racing jitney and we were off.

We paused so that Lea, Colin, and Gillian could get their picture taken by the Rehoboth Beach sign at the point where we entered the boardwalk:

We entered at pretty much the southern-most point of the "commercial" section of the board walk, and we strolled most of the way to the other end. The vibration of the stroller wheels on the boards seemed to have a calming effect on the Bean, and by the time we were headed back down the boardwalk she was getting pretty sleepy:

We still still managed to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Volpe and get an ice cream from "The Royal Treat", a perennial favorite. Then it was time to head back to the beach house for baby bed time. All-in-all, a good first day.

Beach Vacation: Day 1

Greetings from the Beach!

So Sunday was our first non-travel day of vacation and our first trip to the beach with the babies. There was some apprehension as to whether or not they were going to like it or not, but that soon evaporated... as the Bean took off across the beach:


Neither she nor her brother seemed to be bothered in the least by the sand. They both really got a kick out of it.


Grandma Lynn was nice enough to buy some sand toys for their use and use them they did... to chew on.



Grandma Rosanne brought along a small inflatable pool that we set up on the beach. It was almost as much fun as the sand:



The Bean decided to crawl out of the pool on her own and face planted:

But that didn't slow her down...


Li'l Bean has decided that the Beach is her FAVORITE!

Beach Vacation: Travel

On the morning of Saturday, July 11, we loaded the kids into the car and headed out for our summer vacation destination: Dewey Beach, DE (just a little south of Rehoboth). This was to be C&G's longest car trip to date and we were understandably a little nervous about how this was going to go down. Fortunately both C&G were relatively sleepy in the morning and slept through a good portion of the first half of the trip. There was a little bit of ire from the kids as the clock ticked down toward lunch time. Fortunately, we arrived in Lancaster around their scheduled lunch time and we stopped at Lapp's Family Restaurant (which happens to be directly across the road from the Dutch Wonderland amusement park).

By lunch time, everybody was ready for a diaper change...


Alas, once in the restaurant, neither Colin or Gillian was particularly interested in eating their bottle. They did eat their solids pretty well, but there was no convincing them that they should drink a bottle. The adults, however, needed no convincing to eat their lunch.

Lea had driven for the first half of the trip (as this was mostly driving across PA on the turnpike), and after lunch it was my turn. C&G both did well initially; however, as we sat in traffic on Rt. 1 in DE, both children grew increasingly impatient. When we finally pulled into the real estate office in Rehoboth, C&G were pretty cranky... and then the fire siren went off. Colin did not like that.

Upon arriving at the house it was after baby dinner time, so we rushed to get them dinner. We had to at least partially unload the car in order get everything needed for baby dinner. Grandpa Greg was fortunate enough to get a parking ticket while he was helping to watch the babies. So, it was a fun end to the day for everyone.

All in all, though, everyone made it to the beach safe and sound so we really can't complain. I will say that I'm hoping for a faster (and less grumpy) trip back.

Knee High By the Fourth of July, Or More!!!

My amazing Grandfather is a farmer, and one of his farmer sayings goes "Knee high by the Fourth of July...," meaning is the corn as high as the farmer's knee by July 4th. Some years it is, some years you need to be creative in knee measurements. I remember when my cousin Samantha was a baby (she just turned 14), they had to use her knee to measure the corn! I might have to find the picture of her measuring the corn as a new 1 year old and scan it. This year the corn looks pretty good, and it probably is as high as the farmer's knee, but we took some baby pictures in the corn anyway. This also documents the twins first time in dirt. They like grass, and they seemed to tolerate the dirt as well. Colin even tried to eat a rock.

Hmmm, this looks interesting.


Eating his first rock. I'm sure it won't be the last.


Gillian thinks this is awesome corn.


Been farming long???

(Really, she just wanted his hat)

A Rockwellian Fourth of July, Just Like Daddy Ordered

Michael's all time most favorite holiday is July 4th. I think it was inevitable growing up in Brockway, the capital of all thing Old Fashioned and Fourth related. Really, he feels very nostalgic about the 4th in Brockway, and it makes his heart swell with Rockwellian patriotism. Personally, it makes me think of drunk rednecks, but, apparently I was not given my rose-colored glasses at an early age! Anyway, as much as possible, we try to trek "home" for July 4th every year. Most years we picnic, hit the local art show, see the firetruck parade, and see the fireworks. This year we managed to do all those things except the fireworks. Colin and Gillian can only be pushed SO far before the meltdowns begin!

We had a nice picnic at Grammy Lynn and Grandpa Frank's house on Saturday. It was a rather large gathering, due to Jessie Bean's international contingency joining us, as well as some other friends. Jess invited a fellow art conservancy intern, Hye-Sung, to travel to Brockway with her; she also invited her college roommate Liang and her husband Michael to drive up from Pittsburgh to experience the festivities. We were happy to meet them after hearing such nice things about them.

Colin was especially pleased to meet Hye-Sung. It was LOVE at first sight! Colin LOVED her! He was all smiles and giggles for her! Gillian wasn't having the best day ever, she was a bit grumpy. It turns out she was coming down with her first cold, as did Colin the next day. Anyway, Michael took lots of pictures!

Lightening McQueen showing off his speedy crawling skills in his patriotic duds:


Gillian wearing her first hair accessory. Amazingly, she left it alone all day long. Daddy thought it was pretty silly though. He just doesn't like girly-girl stuff on his little Bean!


Mama and Bean:


Colin catching a ride on Uncle D's shoulders. It's pretty high up there!


Relaxing with Grandpa on the porch swing:


Gillian's turn on the swing, this time with Linda:


Mr. Colin and Mr. Joe.


Mrs. Kathy getting her baby time in!



Bean the Elder and Bean the Younger:


Playing with Daddy during the picnic:


Colin with his International Girl Friend (Hye-Sung is from South Korea). It really was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!
Hye-Sung reading Colin his favorite book: "Peek-a-Who?"


Smiles!

More Smiles!


After nap and dinner, Daddy and I took the babies downtown to catch some of the Firetruck Parade. I call it the Firetruck Parade because the parade is almost entirely composed of Firetrucks, if you don't count the Poop Trucks and Politicians. It was rather chilly, so I'm glad I thought to pack sweaters. I did forget to pack socks though! We didn't last too long downtown before it was time to head home for bed.

Colin wasn't super thrilled with the sirens. He liked the trucks and tractors, but not the loud sirens. He needed some cuddles.


Colin and Grandpa Greg watching the parade (I don't have any pictures of Gillie, but she was cuddling with Grandma RoRo.). Please forgive the Notre Dame windbreaker; Colin did.


That was the end of our Good Old Fashioned Fourth of July celebration. All four of us were in bed before the fireworks were over!

The next day Jess and Hye-Sung stopped by to gift the babies some awesome books from Canada and get one last cuddle in!




Sadly, Colin neglected to get Hye-Sung's phone number. He is crushed.

Big Box Day!

Last week Colin and Gillian got new car seats. We were rear ended on the way home from Uncle D's wedding (nothing serious), and you are supposed to replace car seats even if you are in a fender-bender. So, after much deliberation and measuring of children, we decided to buy big-kid convertible car seats instead of new infant seats. I consulted with lots of my experienced mommy friends; we took a trip to Babies R Us to try out seats, and then I finally ordered the seats on-line for a good price. When they arrived at our house, they were in HUGE boxes. The kids and I played in them all day. All three of us could fit in one at the same time. They seemed to think it was pretty fun.

Checking out the BIG box!


This is pretty fun, Mama!


It's like a cave!


Lots of fun!


And look who tried it out during the babies' afternoon nap: WEASEL!!

Out to Dinner!

On Saturday June 27th, Michael and I took the babies out to dinner with us. They have been out to a restaurant before, but it was when they were less than two months old and slept all the time!! But, we decided that we needed to start taking them out so they could learn how to act like good kids! We chose a little, local place that has a nice deck with an awning. We went early, and planned to eat and run. Colin and Gillian did SO well. They sat nicely in their seats, ate their dinner that we had brought with us, and loved watching the ceiling fans. The other diners were very impressed!! We will definitely try it again sometime! Not cooking and no dishes were quite a treat!

These aren't the greatest pictures, but they document the occasion!