Aruba Trip - Part 3

Naturally after a night on the Kukoo Konuku, we needed a "do nothing day."  This is what we did.

Need I say more about the above picture?  And heck, for that matter, the picture below?

This is Todd lounging around. This is his happy place. 

After a day of lounging around, we went out to the famous El Gaucho restaurant for the official celebratory dinner for Kern, Cooch, Dorothy and Todd's 40th birthday.  

The official group photo must include everyone smiling, and then Kern, making some sort of goofball face!  It wouldn't be right otherwise!

Then we decided to go to Senor Frog's for some fun.  Somehow, Todd got roped into a contest, where he had to race against 2 other guys by doing the following:  take a shot of tequila, do 10 "real" push ups, spin around with your head on a bat 10 times, and then chug a beer.  The guy with the best time had :44 seconds, I believe.  Then Todd did it in about :35 seconds!  He was the big winner!  His push ups were legit too, while the other guy's weren't even close to "chest to deck."  Then the other guy complained that Todd had taken his shoes off, ha ha, as if that had anything to do with his awesomeness.  Below, Todd is scanning the crowd for his harem of lady fans from Philadelphia (who we had previously met on the Kukoo Konuku bus, but randomly ran into at Senor Frogs!  Hey, it's a small island!)

Why, yes it is Cooch.  Why, yes it is.

Aruba Trip - Part 2

The third day in Aruba found us up in the Palm Beach/Eagle Beach area.  Just a relaxing day, reading, sunning, playing in the water, and of course... eating and drinking.  Oh and maybe an occasional hand stand...

For dinner, we went to Cuba's Cookin' and they had some excellent Sangria, as well as Ceviche and Mojitos (the Mojito's were so good, we actually went back another night just for drinks!)  Below, the ladies tried in vain to imitate Carmen Miranda (she's behind us on the wall). 

On Wednesday of the week, we went on a kayaking trip on the western part of the island, southeast of the airport (Oranjestad is just northwest of the airport).  Todd and I did a 2-man kayak, but we didn't get any pictures of the entire day, for obvious reason (camera + kayak = disaster waiting to happen).  SO no photos, but it was really fun on the kayak, and Todd and I "won" the race out to DePalm Island (we came in second on the way back... I blame the Aruba Arriba!)  DePalm Island has a water park, snorkeling, and food.  We had a good time there, especially on the water slides.  Thankfully, Cooch snapped this shot below.

After we kayaked back, we went out to dinner in anticipation of a night out on the Kukoo Konuku.  We randomly picked a place to eat, which was probably our first mistake.  The second mistake was when we stayed, even when the waiter said their credit card machine wasn't working and they were out of chicken.  (But thankfully, they had plenty of basil!)  The Kukoo Konuku is pretty much just a drunk party bus, and you go around to different bars and drink and do shots.  What could possibly go wrong???  Before dinner, below.

Next up... the Kukoo Konuku!  THE BUS! It's bright.  It's loud.  It's got flashing lights and bass pumping music blaring from it.  It's even got maracas.

 The second stop found us with headdress on. 

But then the guys felt the need to try them on... Kern looks possessed!

On the bus, there was more maraca and booty shaking.  I think the "out of control" sign painted on the inside of the bus behind Kern is pretty appropriate.

This picture below was right after Kern got busted for trying to make out with the glass windows behind him.

Kern is notorious for making the best faces ever in photographs.  People ask Kern and Todd if they were twin brothers ALL the time, and I can totally see in this pic why they would think that!

Stay tuned for the third installment of the Aruba trip, coming soon to a blog near you!

Aruba Trip - Part 1

OK, I get that I'm 4 months late on this one.  But seriously, who has time?  I promise to do better.  :-)  Famous last words!

Back in April - Todd and I went to Aruba, for a WHOLE WEEK without the kids (thanks mom and dad!).  We went with our friends, Alesandro (Cooch) and Karen, and Kern and Dorothy.  We stayed at the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino in Oranjestad and had an absolute blast.  Given that I am writing this in August, rather than April, I have to say that so far, this year has sucked, and this was really the highlight of our year thus far. 

The first day, we decided to hit the private island that the Marriott has - you have to take a boat to get to it. It's a barrier island that is probably a mix of being a natural and man made island.  They have rocky breakwaters that surround the lagoon areas on the island, and I'm fairly certain those are man made.  But the islands are fairly private and somewhat quiet (at least until Kern got there...)

Above is the boat ride over to the island (you can see Cooch and Dorothy).  That is our hotel in the background. 

Above, is the scenery on the way to the island.  The water is so green... and part of me is amazed by it, but the Floridian in me thinks this kind of photo is old hat. 

Dorothy and Kern heading out for a swim.  The water was really clear, and so pretty.  There were also two sides to the island- one is an "adults only" side which is where we went this day.  There were no kids around, and I think on the first day, this was a wise choice for Todd and I.  There were also a ton of flamingos, bright blue fish, iguanas and hermit crabs running around this island.  There's a bar and they serve food there too- which we definitely enjoyed. 

Day 2 found us on a very large catamaran, doing a ton of snorkeling in 3 different locations, along with drinking a ton of Aruba Arriba. Oh boy. The picture above is Kern jumping off the side of the catamaran. This might be my favorite picture of all time. Totally care free. And drunk. 

I don't know what was going on here, but I have one picture of us all looking to the right, and then one of us all looking to the left.  What?  Hello Aruba Arriba!  Out of a very large Gatorade cooler!

It wasn't the picture of Kern drinking MORE Aruba Arriba that I wanted to show you here... despite the fact that we love Kern... it was the super green/blue water that was behind him!  Really!? 

This is what happens after you drink Aruba Arriba all day.  We went out for the most amazing dinner at Barefoot Aruba, just east-south-east of the airport. But of course, we had been drinking all day.  And the drinking just continued...

Dude.  What? 

Here we are for the 5 seconds we spent being serious for the ENTIRE DAY.  This is right before Kern challenged the waiter to a footrace.  A footrace.  On the beach.  In the complete dark.  Kern made up the rules, then forgot them, then proceeded to lose the footrace to the waiter, and then told everyone he met that there would be a rematch (which there wasn't).  Funniest night EVER!

Boston Marathon and Daddy's 40th Birthday!

April 16th was the day of the Boston Marathon this year, on an unusually warm day (good for spectators, not so good for the runners!).  It just so happens that it was also Todd's 40th birthday!  So we went to Mel's house for the marathon to cheer on some of the fastest marathoners in the world. 

We also got to cheer on several CFNE members as they ran the marathon too!

Of course, after the first 10 minutes, the kids were out of snacks and decided that getting dirty in Mel's freshly mulched lawn would be more fun.

Later that evening, we went out to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Todd's 40th birthday!  (The following week, we would go to Aruba, so please don't mind the lameness of just taking my husband to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate such a momentous occasion!)

 Natalie made this nice birthday card for daddy for his birthday!  Happy birthday Daddy!  We love you!

Easter 2012

Todd and Natalie dyed Easter eggs this year, for the first time.  Grant wasn't really interested, and I was on the phone most of that morning with my brother- my parents were in Europe and my grandmother was going downhill, so I missed a lot of this.  I managed to snap a few cute pictures though.  Please note Todd's awesome bib.

Look at the beautiful eggs they dyed!  Todd pointed out to me that next year, I should buy white eggs, and not brown eggs!  Yeah, I'm THAT idiot!

For Easter, we went over to Helen's house in Wilmington.  Uncle Gordie has a super awesome backhoe loader that Grant is OBSESSED with. 

Natalie looked so cute on Easter this year.  Look at her- doesn't she look so big?   And so beautiful!

 I keep telling everyone that I wouldn't even know G was in the picture below if Seth wasn't there pointing to the camera.  He's sitting in the wheel well of a backhoe loader!

Next up was the Easter egg hunt at Nauni's house.  Grant, Seth and Natalie went around the backyard at Nauni and Uncle Gordie's picking up eggs.  Below, Grant spots one in one of his favorite places- in a TIRE!!!!

Natalie and Seth were on the hunt- below they are running around the yard trying to find as many eggs as they can!

After the Easter egg hunt, Grant wanted to go back to the backhoe loader and "drive" around a bit.  The kids just had a blast in here!  Then we had a big Easter dinner and some yummy dessert- Seth's birthday is in April so we had some birthday cake to celebrate.  Talk about stuffed!

Natalie's March 2012 artwork

It was so hard to just choose a few!

Please notice the backward "j's" above.

I sometimes think her bubble letters are better than her regular letters!  She said she did this, but I'm not really sure she did.

The elf, eyes, and rainbow colored elk crack me up!

"I have long pretty hair with a crown on my head."  (And a pink wand and rainbow dress!)

All of her y's are backward!  She normally does them normal, I can't figure out what went on here.  Love the yams too.

A visit to Plymouth

GoGo just got back from his semester at sea (he goes to Mass Maritime) where they went down to the Panama Canal, and all over the Caribbean and Central America (as well as a bit of South America).  It was also Grammi's birthday!  So of course, that is reason to celebrate.

Grantie loves his GoGo. 

Ice cream, cake, and the birthday girl with her family.  Is there anything better?

Natalie giving Grammi her birthday card.  Only about a week after this, Grammi and Bean went to Florida for their annual 2 month visit.  We miss them already! 

Gymnastics Fun

The kids are still going strong in gymnastics.  Natalie does so well in her independent class, and Grant is in the Tiny Tumblers (mommy and me) class.  He has really come a long way.  Very recently he finally learned how to jump with two feet on the trampoline, and I'm fairly certain he's dead last in his class to do so, even though there are kids much younger than him in his class!  He still doesn't like Mr. Gary, although he will go up to him at the end of class for his hand and foot stamps.  He hasn't done that in the past, so that is progress.  Below you can see him with mommy and Mr. Gary.  He was protesting this, even though you can't really tell from the picture.

Below is Natalie in circle time at the beginning of class.  She looks like a ballarina!

Below, she is doing an assisted back flip over the bar!  Pretty cool, I think she might be ready for crossfit, ha ha!

January artwork fun

In January, we had a little artwork fun.  This picture is so cute of Grant, and the chaos on the table is just perfect.  Trucks, jacks, crayons, clay... so fun!  I literally only took about 5 pictures the entire month of January, so this is all you get!

Supergirl Natalie

It was a tough battle, but Supergirl saved the day against the evil Puff Daddy!

She actually made this costume all by herself.  We helped her with the ideas (or, um... Todd did), but she did all of the coloring and work.  Oh and I cut the red "S" out of construction paper and the eyes out of her mask.  But the rest was all her!  She has a really creative mind for a 4 year old!