Never enough time...

This vacation reminded me yet again that I just don't get enough time with the boys. We had a such a good time, with no obligations, no schedules, no restrictions. Nothing like sitting in the sun in a beautiful park nursiing your baby while he takes a break from playing with his older cousins. And holding both boys while we chugged along on a hayride, pulled by a real farmer on a real tractor around a corn field. We are so fortunate to have these experiences together, but I always want more!

Eating on Vacation is Fun :)

Sydnie, Harrison and Emmett enjoying cupcakes at a Fall Festival on Beck Mountain in Tennessee. I thought it was quite funny that Emmett ate all the frosting on his and then nicely offered to "trade" with Sydnie for hers (which still had frosting on it!)

Campfire weinie roasts are yummy and smokey! Kudos to Kirsten for somehow allowing all the kids to roast their own hot dogs without anyone falling into the fire or getting poked by a skewer.

Trip to Tennessee

We just got back from an awesome trip to the hills of Tennessee, to visit Granny, Uncle Mark, and cousins Sydnie and Dominic. Granny generously treated us all to a few nights in an amazing cabin at Safe Haven Farm on Roan Mountain. Melanie, the owner of Safe Haven Farm, has a beautiful property and the cabin was so much fun and surrounded by so much natural beauty. Check out their website http://www.safehavenfarm.com/phototour.htm Without TV reception or cell phone reception, we had lots of fun exploring the mountain, finding cool autumn leaves, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, playing silly games and just RELAXING!

The cousins all got along very well, although Emmett and Dominic seemed to butt heads a few times. At 3 and 5, they have very different ideas of what is fair... and it doesn't help that Emmett is exactly the same size as Dominic, right down to the shoes. Makes it hard for Dom to remember that Em is really quite a bit younger.

Sydnie and Dominic seem to be settling into life in Tennessee quite well. Both are doing a great job in school and are loving having their Granny close by to help out when Uncle Mark (their Dad) has to work late. The parks in the area were amazingly lovely, with large expanses of hilly areas and tall, beautiful trees. We timed our trip perfectly with the turning of the leaves. The area's first frost happened the morning before we left, brrrr!

We will definitely be back to visit (maybe after the snow melts) and we all hope to be staying at Safe Haven Farm again soon.

Harrison is getting so big!

This is Harrison "smiling" for the camera :)

What a big boy... and a worm. Not sure if you can tell, but he is in a booster seat instead of his highchair and he is playing with the "big boy" leappad instead of the baby leappad shown in the background. He just has to be the big boy...

Harrison's New Shoes!

Harrison was fascinated with Hannah's cute little white sandals over the weekend. He wore them for a few hours and kept insisting that we put them back on him...

So, Kirsten took him to get his own pair of sandals the other day. Cute little brown StrideRites. He is so proud to wear them, even fell asleep for his nap wearing them. He has an ear infection in this picture, that's why he looks so sleepy. Poor guy, the antibiotics should be kicking in today.

Columbus Day Parade

Eventhough all may not agree with our Country's choice to honor Columbus for his mistaken, not quite real discovery of America... considering others already lived here ;)

The kids still enjoyed a great, local parade in Cape Coral, FL with their cousins. Beaded necklaces and loads of candy... when can we go again, Mom?!

We love summer!

Cousins, popsicles, a pool and summer... what more does a kid need?

This is from this weekend at our house. Grandma Debby was in visiting from Arizona, Granny Susan came over with Aunt Julie and her two granddaughters. So we had 3 grandmas, 2 moms, and 4 kids over for lots of fun!

From left to right in this picture: Kaylie (4.5), Emmett (3), Hanna (20 months), Harrison (15 months)

Granny and Emmett

This is a great photo of Emmett with his Granny Susan, taken at Joe's Crab Shack where Emmett always eats everyone else's shrimp and crab :) He requests "crab dinner" at least once a week...

This is another pic from the same evening, Harrison (1), Emmett (3) and their cousin Kaylee (4.5). Such cute kids and dinner was very fun too!

New trees, Monk Parakeets!

We planted 3 new oak trees in our back yard shortly after moving back this summer. We lost all trees during Hurricane Charlie in 2004, then we added the pool in early 2005, so there was nothing but small shrubs and grass in the back yard.

After we added the trees and a few strategically placed bird feeders (thanks to Kirsten, of course) ta-da, we have Monk Parakeets! I count 10 in this picture alone... they are so cool and they now visit us everyday. Good job Kirsten!

Grandma came to visit!

For Vanessa's birthday, Kirsten and Grandma tried to surprise me with a hush-hush trip to Florida. Well, I figured it out but was still totally happy to have my Mom come visit for 10 whole days. We had a great time, mostly just hanging out and playing, swimming. It was so nice to have a third pair of hands with the boys and even a few adult conversations without interruption (the joys of two young ones!)

This is Grandma on the front porch at our house with the boys, on the "kid bench" that we got from Granny... that's Ruby in the corner wishing she were a "real human child" ;)

This is Grandma being silly, playing arts and crafts with the boys. Harrison wasn't quite sure what to make of the hat!

Charlotte Harbor

Kirsten takes the boys to meet Granny at Charlotte Harbor sometimes. These are a couple of pictures from their recent visit. As you can see, the water is quite calm where the Peace River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. They are still dealing with water quality issues from poorly managed upstream runoff and debris, damage from Hurricane Charlie but it is still a nice place to visit for the day. I couldn't go, because I was at work... but the pictures give us a nice glimpse into the fun!

Mango-fest baby...

We took the kids to the Mango-fest on Pine Island this weekend. It was SOOOOO hot that we only stayed from 9:15 to 10:30 in the morning and then all had heat stroke the rest of the day. But, we had fun regardless. Emmett had his face painted for the first time, what a cute little doggie :)

Harrison in his recliner :)

We just need to get him his own remote control and a cool drink and he'd be all set. So cute!

Kid-friendly ATV

After our "incident" with an ATV (see October 2006 post, "Oh My Gawd!") we opted for a smaller ATV, that is electric versus gas powered. Emmett received a gently used, new to him, 4-wheeled ATV the weekend after his birthday. He loves it and drives it very well, even in reverse. Can you tell how proud he is?

Mount Lemmon, Tucson AZ

During our visit to Tucson for Father's Day in June, we took everybody up to Mount Lemmon to escape the heat and survey the damage from the fires a few years ago. Emmett and Harrison thought the fallen, burnt trees were great fun to play with but Kirsten and Vanessa were saddened to see the mountain so desolate. There were signs of recovery and rebound, but it was so drastically different from when we had seen it last.

Still, it was a cool escape from the City heat and we all had a great time. Both boys napped well after all that fresh mountain air!

Happy Father's Day, Papa!

For Father's Day, we flew out to Tucson to see Vanessa's dad. It was a quick trip, but we were all happy to see each other and the boys had a great time with their Grandma and Papa. Also, we had two birthday parties during our visit. First, we went to our cousin Demetrius and Xander's house for Xander's 2nd birthday (the picture shows Demetrius and Emmett playing while Grandma and Great Grandpa Bill look on). Then Grandma and Papa threw Emmett his 3rd birthday party at their house(that's Emmett, Harrison and Demetrius drooling over the cake!). Lots of presents and cake, totally fun, over stimulating day!

moved back to the Cape house

In January 2006, we moved into a fancy historic house in Fort Myers. Long story short, it didn't work out, so on June 1st 2007 we sold that house and are now back in our nice little house in Cape Coral. I am honestly not sure how we survived last summer without a pool at the Fort Myers house. We are in the pool hours every day, the boys love it and have these great little tans :)

Orlando for Mother's Day

We met Grandma and Papa (who flew in from Tucson) in Orlando over Mother's Day weekend. Stayed in a great condo with an awesome pool for kids, spent a day at Sea World, and had an overall marvelous time. This is Harrison with Papa in the pool, looking at the water shooters. And this is Emmett being the ultimate tourist at Sea World, with Grandma helping in the background.

Harrison is 1!

Our little baby is now a toddler, can you believe it?
He is walking quite well and wants to do everything his brother does. He has 8 teeth and likes most food, the only thing he has spit out so far has been meat. No words yet, but lots of yelling and laughing and pointing. He loves our shih tzu, Ruby and can usually be found walking around holding a pretzel rod in one hand. He is still nursing well mostly in the evenings, but is only waking once or twice a night for a quick nip.


He's a little too fearless with climbing and swimming, but is pretty coordinated for such a young guy. We are looking forward to him learning to talk and continuing to explore the world around him, with his brother ever-present to "help" :)

The boys are getting bigger!

In the courtyard at Starbucks, isn't Kirsten a great photographer?