Christmas Tree Hunting

This year we got our Christmas tree a little bit differently than usual.  We drove way out into Nevada with our friends & chopped down our very own tree.  We had a great time!!

 

Halloween Kids 2012

The kids had a great Halloween this year!  There was lots of candy, trick or treating & fun class parties at school! 



Jillian was a Vampire.  Does she know how to pose or what!!!  This is all her, I actually finally cut off the photo shoot before she ran out of moves.   

Carter was a ninja.  His costume choice was based solely on the type of accessories he could get with it.  With this one he got 2 long swords & 2 daggers.  Of course he didn't even use them for the costume at all but instead has played with them every day.   

Benny wore Carter's old dragon costume.  He looked very cute!!  He loved wearing it & even wore it to story time at the library & to the kids Halloween parties at their school.  Well the bottoms anyway since it was in the 80's when we were outside for the costume parade. 

 

Pumpkin Patch

Another of our favorite Halloween traditions is visiting the pumpkin patch!!



Look what Jillian finally did!!  She tried this about 3 years ago and only made it through 2 bounces before she was ready to get off.  This year she loved it & even let the guy launch her as high as he could.  We were impressed.

Carter tried something new this year and actually went on a ride at the pumpkin patch.  We couldn't get him on them in previous years.  He loved it!

They love all the cut outs & had some fun winning prizes. 

Our cute kids at the patch!

 

Halloween Traditions!!

Toward the beginning of October we had a few Friday's of no school so we took advantage of one of our days off to go out to Shaleen's and make our traditional Halloween monster houses! 

We had plenty of candy!!  For some reason this year the kids were only mildly interested in decorating the houses but like every year, they were 100% interested in shoving as much candy into their mouths as they could!! 



After we decorated the houses we went outside to play with the neighbors & cousins.  The kids had a great time running around, riding bikes, flying down the hill on that flat riding disk thing (don't know what it is called) and just being silly!!  I think they may have even worked off the candy they ate in the 3 hours we spent out there.  Well, they would have if they hadn't gone back inside to retrieve their houses and eat all they candy off of them.  My favorite part was when I asked Natie how his was & he replied with a huge grin & a giant mouth full of candy, "Good!  I love candy!"

 

Back to School!!

Now that I finally made it through our trip I can start catching up on all the things that have happened in the last 2 months. 

The kids started school!!  Jillian is in 3rd grade.  She loves her teacher (and we do too) & is so happy to have 3 of her close friends from church in her class again this year. 

Carter finally started kindergarten!!  He also loves school & has a great teacher.  We were lucky to get 2 wonderful teachers this year!!  Carter was definitely ready for kindergarten after the extra year of preschool we gave him.  His academic level has always been advanced but he is now so much more mature, which was our reason for holding him a year.  He loves going full day & it is so good for him.  This is what I have to remember as we pay the $375 a month for full day.  Yes, unbelievably they charge for full day kinder here. 



What does Benny do while the kids are gone all day?  The answer is make lines.  Her lines up his cars everyday & sometimes he lines up other things like the blocks, the food or anything else he can get his hands on.  We have also been going to story time, gymboree classes & just spending time running errands together.  He is a pretty good thing who will entertain himself for long periods of time!!  Thank Goodness!!

More school pictures.  Carter was unable to smile at first (bottom right) due to a minor infraction on his part that led to a privilege being taken away.  He tries hard to do what is right though & decided he was going to be happy regardless of the situation, and therefore was able to smile again in the bottom middle picture.  He is a good kid when he is not driving us crazy:)!!

 

End of our trip

Well, it took a lot of time & effort but I have finally reached the end of our trip.  On our last day we rented 2 surreys & rode them around the island.  It was a lot of work!!  Then, just before we headed out, we stopped at Poppy's for some ice cream & saw one last light house. 



We said our goodbye's with many, many tears from Jillian.  She hates to say goodbye, especially to family!  We drove from Long Island, New Jersey to Philadelphia where we stayed overnight to catch our 6 am flight home.  Thank goodness the kids were good on the plane again.  We arrived home by 9:30 our time & even made it to Jillian & Carter's teacher meet & greet that afternoon.  They started school 3 days later on Monday.  Luckily we were recovered from our trip by then & ready to start school. 

Other fun

When were weren't at the beach we were BBQing & hanging out in the backyard.



Loving the chance to spend time with cousins even if we only got to feed 3 ducks.  Some of the cousins could have been a little happier to spend time with us.  One in particular, can you guess which one?  I guess we can't blame Eden for being happy to see the back of us considering all the abuse she took from Bennett for 2 weeks!  I hope she has recovered & there will be no permanent physical or emotional damage!  Jillian loved her little girl cousins & the boy's too but she is happy to have Parke girl cousins finally!! 

We had an awesome pirate party to celebrate September birthdays.  Grandma & Grandpa Parke I wanted you to see how disappointed Asher was with the cars toy you got for him.  I mean just look at his face (2nd from left on the bottom row) it says it all!!!  He could not have been more excited. 

We took the kids mini golfing one day.  Here is a question for you.  If you take your 3 children mini golfing, how many are likely to pout & make it a miserable time?  Our answer was 2.  Bennett had the greatest time scooting the ball in the holes.  Jillian & Carter complained, pouted & then sulked after Daddy's "Stop pouting at the golf course" speech (see bottom left picture). 

Luckily they were able to pull themselves out of the sulks for the last hole, just in time to choose ice cream flavors they did not like as well as Daddy's & then proceed to eat all of Daddy's ice cream.  After that we had to give Daddy the "stop being irritated at the mini golf course" speech:).

Isn't it a pain when you take kids to do something you think they will really enjoy, that you didn't even want to do in the first place & they are miserable the whole time!!  I think they were getting tired by this time of the trip, we left the next day & it was probably just the right time, especially considering this was also the day Tennyson said he was ready for us to go home & things to get back to normal (that was the gist of it right Sierra?:).  

Beach Time

We had such a great time at the beach!!!  Here is Jillian & Eden, the cherry swimsuit girls! 



Enjoying the sun, water & waves.  The kids loved to wade with the adults & by the end they were swimming around in the ocean & wading by themselves in pretty deep water.  Aunt Sierra took Jillian, Carter & Tennyson out to play in the waves.  The water was only to Sierra's knees but when the waves come in they were up to her neck.  One giant wave came & knocked Sierra and all the kids down.  Jillian was a little disgusted with Aunt Sierra for being knocked down & landing on Jillian's foot.  I think she realized Aunt Sierra didn't do it on purpose & forgave her but not before much pouting & grumbling from Jill. 

Some of the favorite beach activities were body boarding, digging & then playing in large holes in the sand & catching sand crabs. 

 

To the beach house

After 9 days of fun in Boston, we drove through Mass, Connecticut & New York to get to New Jersey where we were staying in a beach house for another 5 days. 

In New York, I took some pictures of the city from a distance since it was my first time seeing it.  One day I will go back for a closer view. 

As we drove along I thought about my nephew Jake on his mission in Long Island.  I also thought of Buddy the Elf when I saw the Lincoln Tunnel sign.  After an 8 hour drive we made it to the beach house. 

 

Christian's  brother Gavin, & his family were there to meet us.  On Sunday morning Gavin blessed their little Adeline.  Cheryl made Adi's blessing dress & it was beautiful!

 

Swan Boats

This was our last trip to downtown Boston!!  We once again took the train & exited at Park street, which lets you off at Boston Common.  We walked across the street to the botanical gardens to ride the swan boats.  The ride was very short but we all enjoyed it.  (see top row of pictures) 

Next we went to see the "Make way for ducklings" statue.

Then we walked to one of the many churches in the area.  On our duck tour, our guide told us the stain glass windows were made by Tiffany & his son before they became jewelers.  They were beautiful.  (Center pictures) 

We passed by the iparty store where Amelia Earhart used to work (we assume it was not an iparty at that time:). 

Lastly, we stopped at the frog pond on the common to eat ice cream & let the kids play in the water.  It was another very hot day!! 

As a side note, Jillian absolutely loves the Power Rangers.  She watches all the many variations of the show on Netflix, and there are many variations!!  (Mystic force is her favorite)  I happened to find a Power Rangers shirt in the boys section as I was shopping for Carter.  I decided Jill might like it so I brought it home for her.  I was wrong, she didn't like it, she loved it!!!!!  She wore it night & day for about 3 days, then we finally said it had to be washed.  Eventually she and I realized it didn't even have any of the girl rangers on it but she wasn't disappointed, she doesn't like the color pink anyway. 


 

Temple & Park

One evening we went to visit the Boston Temple.  It is right off the freeway & we passed it many times on our trips to down town but we wanted to be able to see it up close.  We walked around the grounds & enjoyed the variety of flowers.  It is always fun to visit a new temple. 



After the temple, we drove to a near by park to let the kids tire themselves out for bed.  This park was awesome.  The giant slides were a big hit.  Bennett must have gone down them at least 2 dozen times.  It was really good exercise considering how many steps you have to climb to get to the top.  Carter found the fastest way to go down, leaning on your back with your legs up.  He also found out, the next day, that is the best way to get giant burns on your back. The lesson he learned is to tuck in your shirt!  I raced Christian & Sierra down a couple of times but I always lost!!  Carter clearly did not get his slide skills from me. 

There was a beautiful sunset that night & a great view of the city from the top of the slide hill.   Even covered in bug spray, I managed to come away with bites.  I hate mosquito's!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

The Cape

We drove to Cape Cod one day.  We visited the Heritage museum in the city of Sandwhich.  It is a huge place with many fun things to see & do.  We enjoyed the car museum, the Norman Rockwell exhibit, the carousel, the children's out door play area & all the beautiful garden areas. 



Then we drove farther onto the Cape (it looks like a big hook) & saw the Nauset lighthouse, which was closed, much to Asher's dismay!!!  That boy wanted to go into a lighthouse very badly & always seemed to miss them by a day, or even 10 min one time.  Then we let the kids spend an hour in the Atlantic ocean.  It was a first for all of us.  They had a great time. 

We loaded everyone back into the cars & headed back to Hyannis to see if we could find the Kennedy compound.  Sierra & I loved driving around in all the beautiful mansions right on the ocean.  It was such a pretty and incrediable area.  If it hadn't been so late we would have loved to just walk through the homes. 

As we were snooping about to see if we could locate the Kennedy's house, we noticed another car driving around.  Sierra suspected they too were trying to get a glimpse of the famed Kennedy area.  As I took off on foot to try to find the house down a do not enter road, the other car pulled up next to Sierra.  There was a man, his wife & their teenage daughter & son in the car.  He asked Sierra if we were doing the same thing they were doing.  Sierra said we were.  He then said, "We can't see any numbers on the houses but we counted & we think that is # 37 over there."  Sierra, confusedly replied, "we looked online & we thought it was # 50."  The man said, "wait, whose house are you looking for."  Sierra said, "the Kennedy compound."  "Oh, that is #50 & it is right down that road, no we are looking for Taylor Swift's house.  We read in the paper today that she bought a house here on the Cape & my daughter is a big fan." 

We had a pretty good laugh about that.  Apperently everyone knows where the Kennedy house is, but we had no idea Taylor Swift had just purchased a house right next to it.   

Walden Pond

So, the name is clearly misleading, it is not a pond at all but rather a good sized lake.  We were expecting something much smaller.  The kids had a great time swimming in the pond & digging in the dirt.  It was nice to have a relaxing day after all the busy sightseeing days. 


 

Duck tour

We went on a Duck tour in Boston.  They drive you around the city to see many historical sights, then you end the tour with a cruise in the river.  The children were very happy with their duck whistles & Jillian & Carter enjoyed having a turn driving the Duck in the river.  I could have done without the whistles:). 



After the Duck tour we walked over to the USS constitution.  We explored the ship & saw the bunker hill monument in the distance (2nd picture over on the top left).  Jillian & I walked around a navy ship docked near the constitution while the boys found a cannon & cannon balls to play on. 

 

More freedom trail

Paul Revere sights.  

 

 

Paul Revere's house!  You had to pay to go in so we opted to see the outside only.  The kids wouldn't have made it through a tour. 

Right after the ice cream break we spent about 45 min. finding places to take the kids to the bathroom.   There are no public restrooms around.

 

 

This is how Bennett occupied his time while we waited.  I was happy to let him have a turn pushing the stroller.  I was glad to have it but man it was a ton of work since the wheels don't turn.  If only it had been a straight walk, through empty streets we would have done fine.  Too bad it was all turns through crowded areas. 

Paul Revere statue with the Old North Church steeple in the background. 

The old North church where the lanterns were hung for Paul Revere to see, you know "1 if by land 2 if by sea".

 

There was so much pushing going on this was the best picture I could get of these monsters. 

 

 

We did a lot of walking that day.  5 hours worth.  The kids were troupers & took turns sitting in the stroller, since Bennett wanted to walk all over.  This is how Bennett looked on the train ride home, at least for about the first 30 seconds before he fell asleep.  The train put him right to sleep both times we rode it.