Camping

I know this is over a month late...but better late than never right?

Noah and Levi had two new boats of their own to take camping this year. First was this "mouse boat" my brother made as a gift for the two of them. It was a big hit and Noah loved giving rides to all the littler kids.
Their second boat was this inflatable two man kayak that they save up for almost a year to buy and did all kinds of extra work to earn the money for. It's kinda small for two adults - tho Michael and I have taken it out. For two kids it's great - altho Noah and Levi never agree on how to paddle etc. So we had lots of arguments.

Noah thought he was pretty cool having his own "leatherman" so he spent lots of time around the campfire carving on a stick.

We had enough food to feed an army. Here are three of the 5 coolers we brought with us (for 6 adults and 6 kids).

Here's the family - maybe next year we can bring Silas with us too.

My little native

I guess I should be happy he has clothes on - my boys seem to be alergic to clothing. This is a set that was left from when Matt and Michael were little. Obviously the play value endures.

Happy Birthdays

Every birthday, the boys want a fancy cake. Every year I swear is the last year I'll put so much time and energy into it. This year was supposed to be simple - somehow it still took 4 or so hours to decorate. Since it's so much work, I said that this cake had to be for both Silas' and Levi's birthdays. Guess now they'll have the short end of the deal having birthdays only a week apart.

Birthday boy had trouble blowing out all those candles - 7 for him and 2 for Silas. Cousin Jesse was more than willing to help out as was Blake who couldn't stop blowing once he saw the candles.



Silas enjoying his cake and ice cream and wanted "MORE!" On your birthday I guess you can have two helpings. He polished both off in record time.

Easter 2011

Easter mornings shouldn't be so chaotic! But they are fun. The boys were too excited to eat much breakfast...so we had to get on with hiding and finding easter baskets.



Noah was delighted to get the one thing he was hoping for - squirt guns.



Then they had to put up with their mother taking lots of pictures... Here are the best of many:

Don't they look adorable?! Noah is growing up too quickly and wouldn't like to be called adorable. Not sure how many more years he'll go for the matching outfits either - but I'm enjoying dressing my little men while they let me.

Levi still sporting his (in)famous crew cut and showing off the contents of his easter basket. In spite of his innattention issues and anxiety, life can be relatively uncomplicated for him. I love that he still brings me any flower he finds like it's such a treasure (including picking daffodils at the inn last week - oops).

My sweet "baby" who is learning to talk back (he mastered "NO!" last week and his cousins have taught him "MINE!) and has a million opinions...he looks angelic tho! Usually he's on the go and squirms if you hold him for more than 10 seconds - but at times he still wants to cuddle and I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

And Noah, my almost ten year old who is already starting to roll his eyes at me and answer often with "whatever!" I practically had to bribe him to smile, but at times he still shows me that thoughtful caring sweet side and I know he's still my dear little boy.

And we even managed to sneek mom and dad into the mix:

After all that, they had a few minutes to crash on the couch before church.

Block Island Vacation

For once the kids' school vacation fell after April 15, so we planned out "an adventure" as Levi termed it. Michael and I had visited Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island way back before children, and determined we'd go back someday.

This is such a beautiful unique spot. More than 1/2 of the island is conservation land and there are over 360 fresh water ponds. You have to take a ferry out of Galilee, RI since it's 11+ miles off the coast.







We had to be at the ferry an hour before our reservation for sailing time. Michael had to back the Freestyle up into a really tight spot on the ship...so tight we all had to climb out the rear window b/c the doors couldn't open.

Once we made our escape from the car, we headed up on deck (2 floors up) to enjoy the sunshine. It was such a beautiful day. As soon as the ferry pulled away from the dock Levi's eyes lit up and he said "I think we are on an adventure!" That right there was worth the whole trip!

We stayed at the beautiful 1661 Inn this room with a wrap around deck, jaccuzzi, and gorgeous view of the ocean. At night, you could see the lights from the mainland just on the horizon and hear the waves and peepers in the salt marsh.

A major part of the adventure was the boys getting to go "horseback" riding (on ponies) for the first time. They were so excited, but a bit unsure of what to expect. When they found out their pony's names were Flash and Ariel, Levi pronounced that Ariel was a girl's name, so he wanted to ride Flash. He changed his mind pretty quickly when he saw that Ariel was much smaller and less intimidating than Flash.

The man who was their trail guide was quite the character...we couldn't decide if he was a pirate or a hippy...but I'm sure he's had his share of pot over the years. It only added to the adventure when he told them pirate stories as they rode to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Both boys decided they wanted to bring their ponies home with them. I wonder how much a pony costs on the ferry?

Our second day on the island we hiked the "Clay Head" trail. It starts out at sea-level and they boys had a ball throwing rocks in the ocean and collecting the prettiest ones.


As we hiked along, we got higher and higher up the cliffs. Here the boys are 30+ feet above the ocean tho you can't tell it from the picture

In this spot I believe you are more than 40 feet up - again, the picture kind of flattens your perspective.

Beautiful Block Island: Everywhere you look is another fresh water pond. Stone walls stretching in every direction. Lots of wildlife...tho the island has no squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons or skunks (interesting!).

Daffodils right along side the trail. There were many of these on the island. It's also loaded with blackberry bushes.

The best shot I got of the edge of the bluffs. We were maybe 70 to 80 feet up here. Needless to say we were a bit nervous about how daring the boys were getting closer and closer to the edge.

Back at our inn: Beautiful grounds. The Innkeeper keeps quite a menagerie. They have many different kinds of animals including a zebu, zedonk (1/2 zebra, 1/2 donkey), a camel, some kind of highland steer (huge slightly scarey snorting animal), fainting goats (would have loved to see why they are called that), llammas, a miniature horse, and several other types of exotic animals.

A few more exotic creatures to add to the mix:

Such a sweet spot. Wouldn't want to pay the price to stay there in "high season", but it was such a peaceful get away - just what I needed. The phenominal breakfast buffet each morning did nothing to help me do away with 5 or so extra pounds I have left over from tax season.

Our room was facing the ocean, ground floor on the end. The boys want to go back every year, but it will be awhile before their vacation and my schedule line up again.

Spring!

Silas breaking the law...no phones while driving in New York State! He carries on quite a "conversation" with whoever in on the other end of the line, but not in English For those who don't really believe that I still have 4 foot snow banks around my house. Actually, it has shrunk a bit since then with the rain and warm weather - but it's still at least half this size.

Three little monkeys out enjoying the rain...not a dry pair of footwear in the house because the puddles are so irresistable.

I got to my mother-in-law's house to pick them up after work yesterday and found them doing this...

I guess it's a good thing they stripped off their clothes first but that water must be frigid. Notice lots of snow in the background and on the lawn all around the puddles. They were having a seriously good time, so I even stripped the little guy and let him join in the fun.

Whiteface!

Fun time today with Michael and the boys. Beautiful conditions and not at all busy because it's midweek. Noah and Daddy did a couple of black diamond trails including Skyward and McKenzie - his first time. Levi was able to ski from the Gondola for the first time and LOVED all the jumps in the terrain park. We came home happy but very tired.

The trees at the top of the Wilmington trail were all outlined in ice and snow - a winter wonderland.