Andy, Jen, Lexie and Josh

Thanksgiving Road Trip

2011-12-04T18:28:00.317-05:00

Day 1 Friday 18th November

Andy managed to get the Friday before our Thanksgiving road trip off work, so we decided to make the most of it and leave early. After getting packed and the car seats into the car it was about midday when we finally got on the road and we headed west out along the Pike, then down 84 to Hartford. We got all the way to Waterbury CT before we stopped for a late lunch. We just chose a McDonalds so we didn't have to worry about the kids, then hopped straight back on the road and headed for New York State. We crossed the Hudson River at Newburgh NY and headed down the Interstate. Looking at the route ahead I decided that Chester NY would be a good place to stay overnight so we drove there arriving around 4pm....only to find that the hotel was all booked out. So I called the next Holiday Inn only to find the same thing, a final call to the Hampden Inn confirmed that everything in the area ws all booked out and we were in trouble so we got back on the interstate and headed south again into Pennsylvania. We went all the way down to Haskell PA and finally found a place for the night. The first thing we did was check out the pool, it was a bit cool but we decided we had to do it anyway, the spa at least was nice and warm. Dinner that night we decided on a Thai place called Dee's. Good food but terrible service. Luckily we had gotten in early so we weren't too bad off but there was another family who came in half way through our meal and ended up walking out 15 mins later when no one had taken their order yet...But as I said the food was good. Tom Yum Gung, mussels, spring rolls, Larb and Stir fried Scallops. (Kids were a little on the restless side, with Josh trying his best to tip water and food allover the table. He and I had to take a little walk outside to calm down.- A)

Day 2 Saturday 19th Nov
Breakfast in the Hotel and on the road by about 9:30am. Another day of driving. Across Pennsylvania down through Maryland, West Virginia and into Virginia. At lunch time we were just near Harrisburg so we decided to stop at Hershey. We went straight to the Chocolate Factory and Lexie wanted to go straight to the ride, fun for all. (The ride we are talking about is the one that explains how chocolate is made. And when you get to the end of it you get a little sample of Reese's, or Kisses or whatever else they are making that day - A).
Lunch was a salad which was really good and hot dogs for the kids, another ride and a stop at the on-site Hershey store to stock up on chocolates and we were back on the road towards Front Royal VA.
Over night at Front Royal at the Holiday Inn outside town. Drove into town to the Royal Oak Tavern for dinner. Good Pub Grub - Shrimp Po'Boy and crab cake sandwich to share, plus mozerella sticks and chicken wings for appetisers. (Food was REALLY good - A).

Day3 Sun 20th Nov
Breakfast at Houlihans, a restaurant attached to the hotel (no breakfast included) Lexie learnt the joys of crispy bacon dipped in maple syrup. Stopped at tourist info center for some maps then headed to Skyline Drive. Unfortunately it was overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. Views could have been amazing if it were clear.

Most of the rest areas were closed but were still able to stop at all overlooks. Stopped at Skyland and got out to stretch our legs, ate a cookie on the patio even though it was quite cool outside.

Just after Skyland we saw the first wildlife of the trip a White Tail deer. There were quite a few of them for a stretch in the middle of the park around. (The kids got very excited seeing them - A)

Finished the trail at around 2pm and stopped at the visitor center, found out that there were a lot of vineyards nearby so decided that would be fun. First vineyard was Vertias. A bit pretensious, (not even the Hunter Valley could compete with their pretensiousness, and it was further exacerbated by a guy who arrived after us, made a big thing about the fact that he'd ridden up here on his Triumph motorcycle, and then proceeded to talk to the winemaker about the joys of Californian wine. I mean, c'mon....other places make wine too and they do it better than Cali. Think Oregon for Pinot Noir. I also swore I would never do this as Mum and Dad did it to my brother and I, but I had no choice...I told the kids that if they didn't calm down at the vineyard, we would be coming back again to do more winetasting tomorrow. I then took them outside and we ran around "hiding from Mummy". - A) We only bought one bottle of wine there. Then headed for the Blue Mountain Brewery. Had a nice seating area so sat and had an early dinner and a sampler of their beers. One more vinevard called "Flying Fox" after dinner......

...then to Waynesboro to find accomodation. Another Holiday Inn express, another pool then bed.

Day4 Mon 21st Nov
Breakfast in hotel and on the road by 9am.
Headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway. First stop was Wig-Wam falls at Yankee Horse Ridge. There was a reconstruction of an old logging railroad and both kids got a thrill from walking on the train tracks then spent an inordinate amount of time throwing anything that they could find into the river/falls. But hey at least they had fun.

The next stop was at James River where we got to walk along a cool bridge attached at the underside of the main bridge (again throwing things into the river was just so much fun).

The reflections in the James river were absoletuely stunning. We crossed the river and walked over to some old locks, had fun plaing Pooh sticks. (Kids LOVED Pooh-Sticks, and then Lexie invented a game called Pooh Rocks which just involved dropping rocks into the water. At least I think that's what the rules involved.- A)

We jumped off the Blue Ridge Parkway to find lunch and headed towards Natural Bridge, but unfortunatley there was nothing there except the bridge which you have to pay to see, so we continued on, but couldn't find anything, (You used to be able to see it from the road nearby, but recently a large fence has been installed forcing you to pay the admission charge to go and see it. Can anyone say "profiteering"? - A).
We finally ended up buying lunch at a Burger King attached to a sevice station at Buchanan (I felt a bit wierd in there as everyone else was in hunting gear) then going to the park by the river to eat.

(The picture is deceiving here. I may look like I am little tired in the photo, but it's a "food coma". The food and the location were great. - A). We continued down the highway past Roanoke to Christiansburg where we stopped for afernoon tea at Dairy Queen before headed to Dublin overnight. Hotel was another Holiday Inn Exprests with a pool. Dinner was at a mexican restaurant, had a few issues trying to find it and almost had to go with seond choice but finally found it at the end of a strip mall. (Can I just say "Stoopid GPS!" She (as in the GPS lady) got all her street numbers wrong. She directed us off into the boonies before we turned her off and came back to find the restaurant. The restaurant was actually in the back of a large mall.- A)Stopped into Walmart after dinner for some fruit and cheese for in the car.

Day5 - Tue 22nd Nov - Lexie's Birthday
Left Dublin and headed down 81, across 77 into North Carolina, then back onto the Blue Ridge at Deep Gap. Jumped off to see the Blowing Rock at Blowing Rock, but unfortunately the weather was not cooperating. All overcast again and generally unpleasant. (Hey! I liked it. - A)

I let Lexie have a turn with my camera and actually ended up with some pictures of me, shes not a bad photographer.

And of course Josh had to have a go too...

Josh is having issues staying on his feet, he keeps falling over and is in the wars with a cut on his foot and gravel rash all down his face. (The cut on his foot was because he refused to wear shoes and cut his foot on a gravel rock. I thought it was glass originally but we were lucky there. The gravel rash happened at Blowing Rock. He was running on gravel, and tripped and fell -A). We bought lunch at a little Deli in the town of Blowing Rock and took it to the park in the middle of town. Started raining just as we were finishing up so headed across the road to the fudgery/ice cream place for some yummies. Back onto the Parkway in the afternoon. Across Linn Cove Viaduct, a bit anticlimatctic. Then onto Grandfather Mountain. Was clear when were were down the bottom so decided to go ahead but by the time we got half way up the mountain we were fogged in. Was a fantastic drive of hairpin turns one after the other. Walked across the swinging bridge at the top but couldn't see past the end of your nose,

Did some rock climbing out into the wilderness but couldn't go far.

Back on the parkway we were going to go see Linville falls but it was over a mile walk each way which we didn't think the kids would do )plus they were both asleep) so continued down to Little Switzerland. BIG dissapointment. about 4 houses and looked nothing like switzerland! Down off the mountain to Marion. overnight at a country Comfort. A lot older than our other hotels but cheaper. Still had a pool so got a swim. Lexies Birthday dinner was at Fatz. she got a free piece of Pie after dinner, yum.

Day 6 Wed 23rd Nov
Back onto the Blue ridge parkway at Buck creek gap, the road up to the parkway was very small and windy. Drove down the parkway to Asheville. Had heard much about this place but was again dissapointed, was much bigger than expected (and colder) spent ages trying to find somewhere to eat and ended up at the Brew Pub. Decided to Forgo the rest of the parkway and headed towards Spartanburg. Overnight at Spartanburg in another Holiday Inn, dinner at Red Lobster and a trip to Walmart after for Thanksgiving supplies.

Day 7 Thurs 24th Nov - Thanksgiving

Drove sriagh down the highway towards Savannah GA. Stopped into Newberry which was a really cute litle town. Had an old Opera House which was very impressive but looked much newer than it was. Down to Columbia to see yet another state house. Was a very nice city. Next stop was Orangeburg, There was supposed to be a good park there and we programmed the GPS accordingly, only to find our self in some dodgy back street with no park in sight. Tried driving around for a while but then gave up and and went into a Walgreens to ask directions. Found the park and set ourselves up for Thanksgiving lunch, left over cheesy bread from last night, deli turkey, cherry tomatoes and babybel cheese. Finished off with the fudge and chocolate it wasn't too bad, we've certainly had worse!

back on the road, through the back country of South Carolina, not overly inspiring country side, still too many trees to have a good view and no other features to the landscape.
Onto 95 then one more detour down the 462 before heading into Savannah. We'd booked this hotel, the, holiday Inn Downtown, in advance and went straight there - unfortunately the pool here is outdoor so too cold for swimming so we went for a walk through town. Very nice little town, lots of little squares and beautiful columned houses.

One of the few places that was open was the Candy store so went in for a browse, Josh was enchaned by the train running around on the ceiling. Ended up at a brew pub (Moon river brewing co.)again (anyone see a pattern forming here) and had an early dinner of appetiser and tried some of the good beers, what a great Thanksgiving dinner.

Day 8 - Friday 25th Nov
Decided to start the day with a carriage ride around Savannah to get our bearings. Walked down along the river front and into the really touristy part and found ourselves a carriage.

It was a really great little tour, explaing a lot of the old houses, some of the ghost stories, showed us the Forrest Gump sites etc.

Cool Store

Josh of course fell asleep half way through and slept through it but hey at least he was quiet, and he still says he enjoyed himself.

Walked slowly back to our hotel

to pick up our car then headed out towards Tybee Island. We stopped at a little place called the Crab Shack, very tacky but so cool.

the table had a hole in the middle with a bin underneath so all shells went straight in etc.

So after lots of Shrimp was consumed, we went out to check out their aligator swamp, there were tonned of them but they were tiny, and they were all pretty lazy too, could only find one that was actually moving.

Tybee Island was a quite nice little place, Drove down to the main street and found a parking spot then headed for the beach, we walked out to the end of the pier but the kids were too excited to get to the beach so we headed straight down, Too bad it was so windy otherwise it would have been beautuful on the beach It didn't seem to bother the kids though, they both ended up soggy wet.

Walking back to the car we found a beach side swing and spent a relaxing half hour swinging and collecting shells.

Dinner back in Savannah was at the Huey's New Orlean Cafe where I tried my first Crawfish Etouffe which was sooo good. The riverside area was packed after dinner and was a very nice stroll back to the hotel.

Day 9 - Sat 26th Nov
Packed up and left Savannah headed towards Beaufort, our first stop for the day was a laundromat, very badly organised the only hotels that we stayed in without laundy facilities were on the days when we needed to do washing so instead we got to spend a couple of hours sitting in a laundromat.. Thankfully there was another little girl there so Lexie made friends with her and Josh went to Dunkin with Daddy so it wasn't too bad.
We then headed towards Beaufort, found a Subway to pick up lunch and then down to the waterfront park for lunch and a play in the playground. It was another beautiful old town and we had a nice walk after lunch before heading towards Charleston. Another prebooked hotel in the center of town, the Mills House, it was very nice, though only double beds and quite a small room, but the location more than made up for that, and the balcony! For dinner we had planned to go to a place called Jestine's Kitchen, but when we got there, jut after 6pm it was already full and had a line so we went back down the road to a place called Sticky Fingers and had some good BBQ. I had Ribs, Bill had the full, ribs, brisket and smoked Turkey, we even made the kids try ribs though they wern't too thrilled about that.

Day 10 - Sun 27th Nov
We had a full day in Charleston today so we decided to start with a walk around some of the older areas, so following a walking tour from the AAA book we started out. What a great walk and what a great city, unfortunately Josh decided to throw my camera on the ground before we got going so all my photos from that day are fuzzy.

My favourite was trying to peak around the privacy doors to see the porchs down the side of the single houses (only one room wide) they had a porch running along the side looking out over the gardens, there was then a real door from the porch onto the main street to provide some privacy. It reminded me a lot of Spain with the hidden courtyards etc. We ended up down at the Battery and then headed back up into the main district. The kids had been pretty good about walking but were really starting to rebel (we hadn't bought the stoller or carrier so it was either walk or be on our shoulders) and get stroppy so we decided to do a carriage ride to give them a rest. After checking all the carriage companies we found one that was just about to leave and hopped on. Where you go on your tour is decided by lottery system to make it fair to all tour operators but unfortunately that meant that we ended up on the tour going around the area we had walked that morning. Thankfully he was a great tour guide and added some things that we hadn't heard yet and did a bit more than where we got to this morning. For Lunch we headed to A.W Shucks for some more fantastic seafood then we decided to go for a harbour cruise to see a differnt side of the city. Unfortunately the docks were quite a way away and the kids wern't very enthusiastic about walking all the way so we ended up carrying them a lot of the way. The boat trip was great though, we got out to Fort Sumpter and Fort Multurie as well as getting a great view of the city.

and the lower deck was deserted so we let the kids run wild whilst we had a rest. After the cruise we had to walk back to the city, thankfully there was a park along the way so we made a deal with the kids, play for a while then you have to walk happily all the way home, it worked nicely and we got home tired but happy. For dinner we headed back up to Jestine's and this time got in, I finally tried Shrimp and Grits which was good, but the corn fritters were better! Yum! Spent the evening sitting on our balcony enjoying the warm evening whilst the kids were in bed, watching the horse drawn carriages go past - this was my favourite.

Day 11 - Monday 28th Nov
Since Breakfast wasn't included at this hotel we decided to try a local restaurant Toast, I got peach french toast which was good but not what I expected, it was almost a cake! Today we decided to head out to the plantations around Charleston, first stop Drayton Hall.

For an unfurnished house we wern't too sure about the $16/person price tag but we got talked into it, but after seeing it up close we decided it wasn't really worth it and got our money back and just looked around the grounds

We then headed to Middleton Place. Again no big hosue like I was hoping for but the gardens at this place were fantastic. so imacculately kept.

The reflecting Pool

The Octagonal Garden

The secret gardens

Butterfly Lakes

Mill Pond

We took the complimentary tour which was a bit long winded, especially at 1pm without lunch but it was still worth it, then toured the stables etc for the kids before the rain came in and drove us out. Lunch at Subway then headed out to Sullivan's Island and Fort Moltuie.

Walked around the fort then back along the beach where Lexie and Josh saw their first blue bottle. I could not believe the reaction from Lexie, she seriously flipped! was screaming to be taken off the beach absolutely hysterical! I hope we can get her out of that.
We headed back into Charleston. Dinner was at the Charleston Crab House, Mmmm more seafood. It started pouring with rain during dinner but thankfully eased off for us to walk home. The roads however were entirely flooded so we had to take a few detours so as not to cross the road.

Day 12 - Tue 29 Nov
We went back to Tost for breakfast again and today I had the Eggs Meeting street, seriously the best meal of the trip. A fried green tomato topped with a delicious crab cake, a poached egg on top and a remmoulade sauce which was to die for. Yum yum yum! We heded out of the city heading north. First stop was Georgetown, the outskirts were pretty terrible full of factories but there were some seriously beautiful residences and a nice downtown area. We headed towards the ocean and up to Myrtle beach. I'm still not sure what I feel about this place. Andy referred to it as what Surfers Paradise will grow up to be which is pretty good. We both agreed that there was a small part of us that was going wouldn't it be cool to stay here and try it out, and the rest just screaming "no get me out of here"! One thing we did notiec though was a distince lack of places to eat to we continued on past north Myrtle beach adn found a fudruckers for a hamburger. A bit further north we found another winery to vist, the silver coast winery. They had a lot of really nice wines and we ended up bying a whole case. Got cought talking to some locals and didn't end up getting to Wilmington till almost 5pm so we headed for the pool then bought a pizza to eat in the room for some down time.

Day 13 - Wed 30th Nov
After a quick tour around Wilmington we headed to Jacksonville, then onto New Bern. I really liked this little town. There was the goveners Palace, the birth place of Pepsi Cola and lots of cool buildings. Also a great park right along the waterfront which I miss so much in some of these towns. Lunch was at Washington, the first town to be named for George. We found a little Cafe, a beautiful old building and had soup and salad. We would have walked along the waterfront but it was howling a gale. We then headed back to the coast at the outerbanks, Again I was dissapointed by the drive along the outerbanks as they make the roads so you can't see anything of the beach or water, just sand dunes. You really have to get out and walk to see anything. We stayed overnight at Nags Head at a hotel right on the beach.

Dinner was at a Pirate themed restaurant where Lexie and Josh got Jolly Roger tatoos.

Day 14 - Thurs 1 Dec
Up the outerbanks towards Norfolk VA. We skirted the city and headed for Williamsburg. A recreation of an 18th century colonial town. I was really impressed with this place.

My favourite was all the trades people. At certain houses there were tradesmen actually working as if it were the 18th century so we got to go and see a lady spin her cotton then weave it into cloth, the shoemaker was actually making a pair of shoes, the wigmake his wigs. A lady was at work at the silversmith, it was so well done and didn't feel staged at all. I really wish we had had more time to explore. we stopped for lunch in the new section of town then went back to exploring, the old Gaol was fun, Josh loved sitting on the "Thrones" but lexie freaked out again and ran outside.

Maybe this had something to do with it.

Finally we caught the bus back to our car and got back on the road.

We tool the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which was very cool. They really like their bridge/tunnel combinations in this part of the world, they start building a brige then half way across they put in a tunnel so that the ships can get through, then you come back up and continue along the bridge. The Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel is the biggest one, two tunnels and 20 miles. It was really quite amazing (as was the restaurant at the begining of the first tunnel, I mean really a restaurant and gift shop in the middle of a bridge).

Again it was about 5:30 before we reached our hotel in Exmore so we had KFC in the hotel room.

Day 15 Fri 2nd Dec
On the road early, we drove up through Virginia, through Delaware with a short stop in the capitol Dover and into New Jersey. Lunch at Applebees outside Dover. Overnight at Avenel New Jersey. Pizza in the room again

Day16 Sat 3rd Dec
Another driving Day, through New Jersey into New york and then Connecticut, Lunch at Denny's at Southington home by 3pm.

Visitors and Vacations

2011-12-04T14:47:00.000-05:00

OK well it's been a while since I updated this blog so I'm going to have to go back and catch up.

I think the first think I missed was Hurricane Irene. This was my very first hurricane and I must say I was pretty underwhelmed, after all the hype leading up to it, what we got was a few hard gusts of winds and not much else. Having said that however, she did do quite a bit of damage. Most exciting for us was the tree across the road that fell right onto the power line, lost of sparks and smoke generated and of course that meant no electricity of us - for 4 days..........OK not fun. Thanksfully we were pretty lucky in that we still had water and the weather was still warm so really all we lost was a little bit of food in the fridge.

A couple of days after Irene passed Margo and David arrived. Thankfully they wern't anywhere near as destructive.....(sorry bad joke but I couldn't help myself). I do believe that they enjoyed themselves, I know we did. Margot treated up to a lobster dinner twice which Lexie and Josh had a lot of fun with, they really didin't like the lobsters live but once they were cooked they were great toys.

We also enjoyed some apple picking.

and playing the fart game on David's IPad. (kept them entertained for hours)

To keep the kids busy once Margo and David left we headed out to "The Big E" Massachusetts' version of the royal easter show.

Lexie loves the midway side of the show, the rides and the games best of all. This year she won herself a little puppy (since named Jingle) by picking up ducks, whilst Josh got a stuffed Monkey. We also got to see a sheep shearing exhibit which they both loved. Josh proved to be a scaredy cat when he freaked out on the ferris wheel.

But he loved the train and helicopter ride and the car ride was a big hit.
Here's Lexie and Daddy on the big slide - Josh was asleep for this one!

On Saturday their friend Jack had a birthday party, Lex and Josh had a great time decorating pumpkins etc.

Then it was Grandma and Grandpas turn to visit.

Josh's 2nd Birthday

2011-08-25T13:41:00.002-04:00

Wow I can't believe its been two years already. My how the time has flown. Well I believe that Josh had a good day. He got to get up early so that Daddy could say Happy Birthday to him before leaving for work. Then we all worked on decorating birthday cakes. Lexie and Josh did one, whilst I worked on the other. They both turned out pretty good, though I think Lex and Josh's wins!

I'll leave it up to you to figure out whos cake is whos......

We then headed out to the Zoo for the day. We went down to the big zoo in Providence and we all had a great day. Trying to get Josh away from the elephants was the hardest part of the whole day.

One of my favourite parts of the day came on the way out of the zoo. Lexie and Josh discovered a couple of big boulders on the side of the path and decided to have a climb, then realised that these rocks had a nice smooth surface on the front just like a slide so spent ages sliding down....better than any playground. I was going to take them to a playground on the way home but I decided they may as well make use of a natural playground instead.

Everyone had a nice little nap on the way home then vegged in front of the TV for a while whilst I prepared dinner - what else would Josh want - a BBQ. Then finally daddy got home - yeah present time. Josh got a great haul, though trying to keep big sis from taking over was always a problem.

OK heres a nice long video. Josh obviously knows what to do...

Videos not working at the moment will try and upload it again later.

Update Summer 2011

2011-08-14T23:00:00.005-04:00

OK, so whats been going on in the Ryerson houshold lately.

Let's start back in at the end of June, My cousin Alison and her husband Robert stopped into Boston briefly whilst touring the States. Lexie, Josh and I headed into Boston to catch up with them. After lunch at Faneuil Hall we wandered down to the wharves, caught a ferry across the harbour and walked up to Bunker Hill.

We had a great day and the kids did really well, Lexie did lots of walking and it was great catching up with Alison and Robert.(As usual I was at work - Andy)

That was a really busy week for us, a trip into Boston on the Wednesday then Friday was a trip to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence with some of my Mummy friends (and lots of Lexie's and Josh's friends).

Here's Lexie, Jack and Sadie riding an elephant - none of them seem really thrilled, good thing it wasn't a real one!

Later that evening we headed into our town park where a small carnival was set up. Lex was in her element, what she wanted most was to play (and of course win) on the midway, (Midway is like "Sideshow Alley" at the Royal Easter Show for those of you who have never experienced a Midway), thankfully the place was not too crowded and we were able to play the "wack a mole" game by ourselves so one of us was would have to win, we played two games, the first Josh and I won the the second was "won" by Lexie so both of them got a prize - Lexie a stuffed pig and Josh a stuffed cow as seen peeking below.

The rides weren't quite such a hit, Lexie loved them but Josh wasn't so enamoured, it wasn't till the very last ride on the trucks that he seemed to understand what it was all about.

The next day we had planned an outing down to the aquarium at Mystic Connecticut. Its about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive to get down there which isn't too bad and its really a great place. The kids loved the animal - especially the beluga whales.

Wow what a week that was, but we all had a ball.

Later that week I finally got around to pulling out the sewing machine again and whipped up a few little outfits for the kids. Have to say I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.

First was a little pair of overalls for Lexie, then a similar pair for Josh (but I didn't get a photo of them)

And finally a little dress for Lex.

This photo also shows the hat that I crocheted for her.

4th of July was then upon us, to celebrate of course we had a BBQ. Hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, s'mores and fireworks - what more can you want. (I had lots of help at the grill - Josh is a VERY good helper! - Andy)

One of the mums in our group is an art teacher and has generously offer to host an "art in the park" series where she sets up craft activities for the kids down in one of the local parks. Lex and Josh have been having a ball doing her activities. Here they're painting using nature as paint brushes playing with different textures.

Last week the kids friends, Sadie and Gianna, invited us over to play in their backyard, they have a cool new swing set and had some little pools set up so the kids had an absolute blast.

Andy and I finally went out and bought a new dressing table the other day, this meant that my old dressing table could be repurposed for Lexie, she was so excited - I told her that she could paint it any colour she chose - she chose bright purple. I have to say that she was a big helper when it came to the actual painting, unlike her little brother who had to be thrown into the shower half way though...I reckon it turned out pretty cool!

Last Friday we took a trip up to Sterling to a place called Davis Farmland, it's a place that I've been meaning to go to for ages, I first wanted to go last Summer and never made it and it has been on the calendar twice so far this year and had to be called off but finally we managed to get there, and man am I glad that we did. What a fantastic place, it really does have something for everyone (well everyone under 12 anyway, you're not allowed in unless you have an under 12 with you.) First and foremost it's a farm with lots of weird and wonderful animals, my favourite was the rastifarian looking donkey. But generally it was cows, sheep, goats etc. the best part though was that with a lot of the animals you can get right in with them, feed them and brush them, it was really great. We got to pat a little 2 day old goat which was great, Lex and Josh had a go milking a fake cow.

The second section of this place was like a mini museum, there were a number of little houses set up in a semi circle all set up as different places, the vet clinic, the grocery store, the dolls house, the workshop. According to my kids the best bit was the vet clinic, they had a bunch of cages with stuffed animals in them and a doctor's set to care for them, plus a chicken coop with an egg run and for each kid an aminal costume...

My little chicken and horse!

And finally there was the splash pad, the biggest one we've found and definitely the best. The kids had a blast, although Josh really didn't understand the one-way nature of the tunnel....(you are supposed to go through it in one direction). They also had a foam bouncy house which was a big hit. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Last but not least we've been having fun cooking lately. Saturday night we made our own pizzas. Lexie was grating the cheese and Josh was cutting up hot dogs - yes that's right the kids decided that they wanted a hot dog pizza - Hmm sounds pretty terrible to me but hey they ate it all up so it can't have been too bad.

And finally our rainly Sunday project - sugar cookies. The kids had a fantastic time making and decorating these...

Hi everyone, Andy here. If you can see the cookies in detail you'll see a "slice of pizza" at the bottom right (just a sugar cookie decorated to look like a slice of pepperoni pizza). Jen did the flower in the middle right and the kids ate just as much of the icing as they painted on the cookies. Lexie and Josh painted a lot of the cookies and were very creative. Lots of fun for everyone!

As for me, work is once again interesting. For those of you that don't know I left training over 2 months ago, and I am now working more on the business side of the company, dealing with some real high hazard chemical plants. I love it!! It's a really good mix of business/financial skills and engineering skills. Can't argue for anything more. Travel is non-existent at the moment, but that will change as I transition from training in my role to actually doing it. I'm also enrolling in some extra financial courses, and am looking at an MBA or some thing in economics.

We are also about to start renovating our kitchen. It's a slow process, as we've discovered. We wanted to have everything finished before our next round of visitors arrived but it looks like that won't happen. So we may have to put it off until the end of the year. We shall see how things work out.

There isn't much else to tell..life continues on as normal. It looks as if Fall has arrived early this year, temperatures are starting to cool down and it's getting rainy.
Anyway that's enough from me...another week of work awaits........

Planes and Bikes

2011-06-20T21:53:00.000-04:00

OK finally downloaded some more photos so I thought I should update the blog again!

About 2 weeks ago one of the ladies in our mothers group organised with one of the local flight schools at Norwood airport a chance for the kids to tour some aeroplanes. Well I can definitely claim these kids as mine - They abolutely loved it - even if it was 300deg out there on the tarmac that day. I had so much trouble trying to get them out of the planes to give the other kids a chance, but hey I'm glad they liked it!

Lately Lexies being having fun riding her bike down the driveway, unfortunaly she can't quite get up the driveway yet so this afternoon I took the kids down to Bird Park in Walpole and we took the bikes with us. Lexie was able to ride around without any problems on the basketball court there.

And finally just a shot of Josh at Benny's birthday Party.

Extreme Coaster

2011-06-05T09:54:00.000-04:00

Well we finally put all that money that Gran Gran has been giving to Lexie and Josh for birthday's and Christmas' to good use. We bought Lexie and Josh an "Extreme Coaster" Its really just a slide with a car but the kids love it. They had found one at the local indoor play center and loved it so we thought it'd be a good investment.

Both Lex and Josh have had a ball with it and there hasn't been a day so far that I haven't been pestered to go out and play with it (lucky the weathers been OK).

Speaking of weather we had some fun the other afternoon/evening when a tornado went through central Massachusetts. From what we can tell it came to within a couple of towns of us, but luckily we saw nothing worse than a great thunder and lightning storm with lots of rain.

Lexie is still going great guns at swimming - shs had her last lesson of the term last we and I was told to skip Level 1 (she was in PreSchool level) and go straight to level 2 for her next set of lessons so they start in two weeks time. I'm amazed at how far she's come in the last 10 weeks. Here's a video of her swmming across the pool by herself with just the bar bell for support.

Swimming and stuff

2011-05-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Well just a little update on whats been happening lately.

First off Lexie's been doing great at swimming - shes now happy to put her head all the way under when she jumps in.

Excuse Josh - he always wants to stand in front of me when I'm taking photos!

And heres another one from just last week of Lexie dunking herself in time and again.

David and Margot visted for a week and a half and both Lexie and Josh had a great time with their "friends" (Lexie's word, she could never remember Margot so she just kept calling her "My Friend".

Whilst they were here I found a pair of Dora roller skates at the shop and I couldn't resist buying them for Lex so she's been having a ball with those.

We've also been volunteering down at the local seniors centre doing Meals on Wheels. According to Lexie the best thing about doing this is all the goodies she gets given. The local supermarkets all donate their left over preishables (breadsm cookies etc) to the senior center and everytime we go in we come out laden with goodie. The week after Easter we got given a Bunny house kit - sort of like a gingerbread house that you make at christmas but made with sugar cookies. Lexie and Josh had a great time putting this together one rainy day.

And finally heres a couple of videos of Lexie and Josh having fun with margot and David.

Last but not least. Shoes! I've been making lots of pairs of shoes lately I finally have a web site up and running for anyone who is interested its:

http://www.solecrafts.blogspot.com/

if you know anyone who is in the market for soft soled shoes pass on the details!!!!!

Easter

2011-04-24T20:35:00.000-04:00

Well I should probably get around to updating this blog again. First I wanted to add a couple of random videos. This one was taken when we were out at dinner the other night after Ice Skating lessons. I call the Hmmmmmmm video!

Obviously there was a lot of heavy thinking going on!

For my Birthday I decided to take the kids to the Capron Park Zoo - It wasn't a great day weather wise but at least we were out of the house, and since it was quite cool all the animals were out and about for a change - We spent ages watching the otter have his lunch but as per usual its the simple things that are the best and hence we have Lexie and Josh as Meerkats.

And just for the fun of it a quick video of the kids playing in the park.

And Finally we get to Easter. The town put on a free Easter Egg hunt on Easter Saturday, it was raining cats and dogs but Lexie and Josh didn't seem to mind Lexie was sooo excited to meet the Easter Bunny, And despite a slow start they managed to come home with a pretty good haul of eggs - Mmmmmmm.

And finally a quick video of Easter Morning. According to the note that Lexie and Josh found beside their easter baskets the Easter Bunny managed to lose all their eggs on the way into the house so they had to go on a bit of a treasure hunt to find them, Thankfully he left a trail of photos for Lex and Josh to follow back to his entry point at the laundry window.

The kids had so much fun finding all their eggs and I do believe a great day was had by all. Happy Easter.

Ice Skating

2011-04-07T18:36:00.002-04:00

Just a quick video of Lexie Ice Skating. This is only lesson 5 so I reckon shes doing pretty well!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

Well Christmas is over once again. I finally gotten around to downloading all my pictures and videos.

First off our Christmas decorations.

Inside:

And outside

It was a bit late but we finally got some snow about 4 days before christmas (whew for a while there I thought we were going to have a green Christmas - not something that you want in this part of the world)

The kids had an absolute ball.

And finally Christmas day. Not really much to say - its pretty self explanatory - the kids, both big and little, had a great day!

Family Photos

2010-12-10T17:57:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share some of these semi professional photos we had taken. One of the Mums in our mothers group is trying to start a phototgraph business and in order to get a good portfolio going she offered a photo session with all rights to photos for only $5 - how can you turn that down.

Pre Christmas Fun

2010-12-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

Well I decided that with Lexie getting to the right age we could start really doing christmas this year.

We started with an Advent Calendar - every day another christassy type activity - obviously day one was make advent calendar.

Lexie was a big help - I cut out the cardboard shapes and she stuck them onto the fabric - after a bit of pre cutting by me she then turned all the edges over snad stuck them down to finish the envelope then folded then along pre creased lines - She actually did a really good job of it - I was impressed - but after the day before I had expected as much - it looks like shes going to be a seamstree this one - check out her sewing attempts!

Other activities have been "Write a letter to Santa" - consisted of her circling thing that she wanted in brochures, me cutting them out and her sticking them on the pice of paper and writing her name

And "Deliver said letter to Santa" Lexie was so excited about getting to see Santa - she got a great big hug and showed him her letter. It was so much fun - Josh on the other hand wasn't quite so enthused about it.....

Josh did however enjoy todays activity - gingerbread houses.... Lexie and I built the kit then all three of us sat down to decorate it - a blast was had by all. Lexie and Josh did the roof all by themselves!

Thanksgiving Road Trip

2010-11-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Well once again we continue the tradition - the Thanksgiving road trip. This year we decided to use it to get Josh his Australian Passport so we headed down to Washington DC.

Day one was a driving day. Our only object was to get past New York so we weren't stuck trying to get past it on Monday morning. To this end we got up and on the road early. We jumped on the freeways and headed down towards Hartford Connecticut. We got as far as Norwalk before the kids started getting a bit crabby so we stopped for lunch at a nearby Friendly's then headed out again. We had no problems getting past New York thankfully then headed down through New Jersey and Delaware and into Philadelphia for the night. 6 states in one day - a pretty good effort. We found a hotel with a pool so that the kids could get out after all day in the car and have some fun then headed out to for the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

Day 2 started with a walk around Philadelphia. We walked down past china town into the historic distric to check out Elfreth Alley - supposably the oldest residential street in the country. It was very cute tucked away just beside the freeway.

We then headed back past Betty Ross's house - she supposably made the first US flag.

We then walked up to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

We then got on the road and headed down to Baltimore. We drove through town and up to Federal hill for a great view over the city.

There was a little playground up there so the kids could have a run around.

We then headed down to Annapolis Maryland. This turned out to be a very cute little town so we decided to stay the night so we could explore it the next morning.

We tried to get a hotel with a pool again but it turned out the pool was closed for the season - bummer. For dinner we found a mexican/spanish restaurant and had tapas - really good!

Day three started with a walk around Annapolis.

We then headed towards Washington but decided that since we had a free afternoon we may as well check out the Air and Space Musem out at Dulles airport which we had heard was really good.

Spent a good couple of hours checking out all the planes.

Enola Gay - dropped the bomb

The Concord

The Space Shuttle

Blackbird

The next morning we were up and at the Australian consulate at quater to 9. We were allowed in early and had no problems and were out of there by 10 past nine. One passport application done - should have the passport in 2 weeks.

As we had organised a late check out, that gave us all morning to explore Washington. We walked down to the White House which was just a couple of blocks from the hotel.

Then walked down to the world war II memorial, past the washingto monument.

We walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial

Then walked back up the washington mall to the capitol

Headed back to the hotel via Fudruckers for lunch then got on the road and headed out through Georgetown which was beautiful. Although I thought this servo was a bit much!

Ended up at Frederick for the night - found a great hotel which not only had a pool but an indoor minature golf course too so the kids had a blast.

The next morning (thanksgiving day) we headed up to Gettysburg. The town itself was beautiful - especially with all the holiday decorations.

The fields all around the town have been filled with memorials - I think the number was over 1500 - it was pretty impressive.

We climbed one of the observation towers and the kids had a blast running around.

We left Gettysburg at about 11am and at about 11:30 passed a Mcdonalds that was open (nothing else was) so we stopped in - luckily as it was closing at midday. Unfortunaly they were only serving breakfast though so we got a second breakfast for the day.

We then headed up to the area around Lancaster which is the Pensylvania Dutch country. I was a bit dissapointed with this region - I'm not sure what I expected but it was no different from anywhere else we had seen on the trip with the exception of a few horse and buggies running along the road.

We ended up for the day in Hershey - home to the Hershey Chocolate factory. We headed out to Hershey chocolate world where they had a fantastic ride set up describing the chocolate making process including a number of singing cows. Lexie had a blast - so much so that we had to go back and ride it a second time- although her enthusiam may have had something to do with the free samples that they handed out at the end.

Thanksgiving dinner was at the local diner - the only place we could find that was open on Thanksgiving night.

The next morning we headed out to Hershey Park the amusement park next door. Unfortunaly we had misread the brochure and were there 3 hours early so to fill in some time Lexie and Daddy went back to Hershey chocolate world to ride the chocolate ride again.

One we finally got into the park Lexie had a great time. Most of the rides that were open were aimed at her age group so it worked well. Unfortunately all the coaster were closed though so not so much fun for mum and dad. It seems like we have an adrenaline jumkie on our hands though. lexies favourite rides with the biggest ones that she was only just allowed on with one of us. The tilt a whirl and the flying rockets.

We spent at least 3.5 hours riding all the rides then called it quits as both kids were getting fractious by this time and everyone was cold so we headed back to pizza in the hotel room.

We drove out to Harrisburg the next morning to check out anoher state house

Then headed up state to the Pocono's region. We found a great little winery on the way and bought another case on wine. Over night at Mt Pocono. Dinner was at a Hibaci where the kids had a great time watching the chef cook out dinner in front of us.

Day 8 we started by driving to "The Niagara Falls of Pensylvania" I don't know that I'd go that far - but they were pretty falls. And Lexie did a fantastic job walking the 45 minute path around the region.

We jumped on the 84 and headed towards home. Got as far as Southington just south of Hartford then headed hom Monday morning.

Happy Third Birthday Lexie

2010-11-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

Its that time of year again. I can't believe my little girl is 3 years old. Where did my baby go!

Since Lexie's birthday fell on a Monday this year and we were planning on being on the road that day we decided to celebrate a couple of days early - have her birthday on the Saturday and then we could get on the road on Sunday.

Well I really don't think Lexie minded she had a great day anyway.

I spent most of the day before her birthday making her cake - since she was very adamant that the wanted a Dora cake and sdhe wanted it made by Mummy. Thanksfully the local library has cake pans on loan and one of them was a Dora shape. That made everything so much easier. It still eneded up taking 4 hours to ice the cake anyway - it had 9 different colours and required three different icing tips.

But overall I was very proud of the result.

Here are a few random shots from throughout the day. As you can see there was very much a Dora the Explorer theme going. Dora Cake - new Dora Jammies, a Dora doll for her present.

Josh had fun getting in on the action too!

And finally a little video of Lexie on her big day. Overall I think she had fun!

Happy birthday Little girl!

One last BBQ before winter sets in.

2010-11-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

Well its official - we had our first snow of the season last night. Unfortunataly its turned back into rain now so now we just have slush but of well. Lexie got out onto the back deck this morning in her new snow boots to have a play - Unfortunately Josh refused to leave his shoes on so he had to stay inside.

We decided to have a BBQ last night for dinner - yeah it was only 5 deg outside but since when does that stop us! It was just a good chance to try out the new poncho I had made for Josh.

The kids had a great time playing around outside after dark - though Lexie now things that anytime the sun goes down it Halloween and she can go and collect lollies - and nothing I say can make her see reason. Ahhh well its still pretty cute when she walks around going Happy Halloween all the time.

Halloween

2010-10-31T13:41:00.001-04:00

Well I hadn't planned on going trick or treating this year, but then one of my friends from mothers group invited us to go out with them and it sounded like a good opportunity to learn the ropes. I'm glad we did cause Lexie had a blast.

We went out this morning to try and find some costumes - a bit last minute but we were lucky and found a couple of really really really cute costumes in the right sizes. Lexie's was a lobster and Josh had to chose between a ducky and a monster - I figured monster was more appropriate for Josh so went with that one. Here are a few piccies of them trying on their costumes this afternoon.

Unfortunately I didn't remember to take my camera with me to Maria's so don't have any shots of them actually trick or treating .

Lexie had a blast - first she took charge of the bowl of lollies at Maria's house and every time someone came to the door she was there handing out treats, then when we went out she was first one up to the door - ringing the doorbell then standing there with her little bag ready. It was pretty adorable.

Josh had a good time too - in his own way - he wasn't interested in putting any lollies in his bag but where he was allowed to pick out his own he happily grabbed them - then wouldn't let go. He ended up with one Peanut butter cup which he just chewed on (through the packaging) all night. Which was cute till I went to get him out of the car when we got home and found that he'd chewed through the packaging and had chocolate EVERYWHERE......trust my boy!

Tours with Kate Part 2

2010-10-19T12:44:00.000-04:00

After our trip through Vermont and New Hampshire we had a day at home to catch up on the washing etc then we headed out to Cape Cod.

First stop Plymouth Rock

Lexie has discovered cameras and absolutely loves taking pictures now - most of them are useless but shes actually gotten a few good shots.

After a quick stop in Plymouth we headed straight out to the tip of cape cod to the beach at Race Point. Whilst it was a beautiful sunny day there was a freezing cold wind blowing. That however did not stop us checking out the surf. The kids (both big and small) had a great time.

Well until a mean little wave came and swept Lexie feet out from underneath her.

Still it didn't seem to phase her too much. The only real problem was that the jumper she had on was the only one we had taken with her......so she spent the rest of the day wearing one of mine!

We then headed into Provincetown to find our hotel. What a view. Right on the beach looking back towards the center of town in one direction and along the cape in the other.

The last photo was actually taken by Lexie.

After a late lunch we headed to the beach out front of the hotel

The had a relaxing evening playing on the balcont watching the sunset

The next day we checked out the center of provincetown - much more crowded than I expected.

then slowly headed back along the cape - stopping at a couple of lighthouses.

Courtesy of Lexie

Our next stop was Hyannis where we checked out the JFK Memorial

and played on the beach again.

Heres a few more of Lexies photos from the next couple of days

And a few randoms of the kids

Next adventure was up to Salem where we checked out some witchy stuff

And then into Cambridge were we did a tour of Harvard. The guides (in straw hats in photo below) were harvard students and very fun but informative - definitely recomment this tour to anyone.

On Saturday the Millis Historical Society held a revolutionary wa reenactment just up the road from us at Oak Grove Farm. We walked up to check it out. It was fantastic. Everything and everyone was authentic. They staged a battle - the english won! but I believe that the American were supposed to win the battle on Sunday.

Our final trip was back into Boston to checkk out the waterfront are and Beacon Hill.

And we're finally up to date.

Kate left yesterday and today I've spent going through photos. And just today Josh has come out with his first real word (other than mum, dad, rahhr and wow) He has said "Down" very distinctly at leat three times so far. Go Josh....

Touring with Kate

2010-10-18T20:19:00.007-04:00

It's been ages since I was able to update this but I'll try and catch up now.

First up we had some good rain a while back and Lexie had so much fun jumping in puddles.

Josh wasn't quite so sure yet!

Lexie also had a ball helping daddy paint the deck.

My best friend Kate joined us in Boston for four week in September and October and so we've been out and about quite a bit lately. First up was our Boston duck tour.

And trip through the Boston Public Gardens.

The following day we headed out to The Big E. Massachusetts' version of the royal easter show. A great day was had by all. Not quite as many animals as I had hoped for but both Lexie and Josh loved watching the dressage comptetion.

The midway was a huge hit. Lexie got to go on lots of rides - but got very put out when Mummy and Kate went on a couple of rides without her.

Josh wasn't tall enough for most rides yet - but he didn't seem to mind.

We all got to go on the ferris wheel though.

And the big slides

Time for an ice cream break

And Lexie was a very lucky girl and won a nemo picking out ducks whilst dady won a big dog throwing darts.

Unfortunately the weather turned a bit yucky for a few days - but we didn't let that stop us.

Our next day trip was up to Cape Ann just north of Boston. There was a fantastic drive around the coast at Gloucester - even in the fog and the rain.

Lunch was at a little lobster shack overlooking the bay.

After lunch we visited this cool little place called the Paper House. Some guy decided to build himself almost an entire house - including furnitre out of paper. Theres a basic wooden frame but everything else is paper, including walls.

And finised our day with a walk around the little town of Rockport - very cute.

The next fine day we headed into Rhode Island to go to the zoo. This was so much fun.

Finally we found a zoo with Elephants. Both Lexie and Josh were entranced.

Also a baby giraffe which was soo cute.

One of the higlights of the day was getting to watch the elephants being given a bath.

Theres lots more photos of animals but I wont bore you all.

A couple of days later we headed down to Rhode Island again to Newport. First stop was the beach - finally Josh had a chance to get down and dirty on the sand and to practice his walking.

we then did the cliff walk around past some of the big mansions.

Unfortunately there was a big festival going on in town though so we didn't stop to check out Newport itself.

A couple of days later Kate, Lexie Josh and I headed out on a road trip (Andy had to stay at home and work again).

First day we headed out to Western Massachusetts along the Mohawk trail.

Our first stop was the French Kings bridge over the Connecticut river

also a chance for a quick walk in the woods.

We stopped at Turners Falls for lunch (thank you very much to the man in Mcdonalds for the fantastic directions to a great playground where we could have lunch) .

After lunch we checked out Shelburne and the bridge of flowers

and came across a rather unusual display of pumpkins

Stayed overnight and Williamstown.

Next morning we headed into Vermont to Bennington. First stop was the memorial tower where we were able to take an elevator to the top for some great views.

Out the front of this place - and in fact all through Vermont someone has been putting up these painted animals. Lexie was very intruiged by them.

We also stopped to check out the Old first church which was the wierdest chursh I've seen inside all divided into little cubicles.

We then headed up Route 100 - past some old covered bridges and through some gorgeous scenery.

Lunch was at the Long Trail brewing company

The afternoon took us to some beautiful waterfalls - moss glen falls.

And ended at Ben and Jerrys with some yummy icecream.

The next morning we went to one of the local farms around Burlington. We visted the petting zoo and got to taste some yummy cheeses (and pretend to make some).

Then did some shopping around waterbury were Josh spent some time practicing his walking.

The final day of the trip we headed down to Queechee gorge.

We stopped in at the local diner for some morning tea and got the best milkshakes.

Lexie and Josh got to visit with the neigh neighs.

Before heading home to see Daddy.

Josh's First Birthday

2010-08-24T20:50:00.000-04:00

OK before we get onto this birthday thing there were a few other photos on my camera that I thought I'd put up as well. These were from the baseball the other night. No not the night that I've already put photos up of, about a week after that we went to the baseball again. This time Andy was able to come with us and we met up with a whole crowd from his work. Again Lexie and Josh had a great time. They actaully made it right to the end of the game, though the last half hour they started fading a bit.

Josh had a great time practicing his stair climbing up the bleachers and his walking along the rows of chairs whilst Lexie was just a regular social butterfly catching up with all her old friends...

Now onto the birthday boy. The poor little thing was sick yesterday but thankfully he seemed a little better this morning. Since Andy had to get up and go to work early we postponed the cake and gift giving till he got home so the morning was just spent relaxing and recuperating - and playing with baloons.

That gave me the day to work on the cake as well. Of course Miss Lexie had to help.....help to eat all the icing and M&M's that is....

Here's the final result!

Once Andy got home and Grandma and Grandpa got onto Skype we lit the candles and Josh attempted to blow them out - The chances of being able to do that with Lexie around.......maybe not quite nil but close to it. Lexies very good at blowing out candles - maybe a bit too good when its not her birthday Josh barely got a chance to attempt it himself. But he did get a go after about take 4...

No one really seemed interested in eating the cake mind you - the lollies on top sure - cake nahhh thats boring.

Then it was onto present opening. Again Lexie was very enthusiastic about helping to open the presents- much more that Josh was - he just wanted to play with his presents - Lexie wanted to move on and open all the unopened ones!

But at least we can definitely say that Josh had a good day. He really seemed to enjoying himself and all his presents so I call it a success.

Finally a bit of a video of Josh on his big day.

Baseball and the Zoo

2010-07-31T09:37:00.018-04:00

Well we've been having a few fun outings lately so I thought I'd share some pictures.

Last night we went down to Pawtucket to watch the Pawsox play (for those of you not in the know they're the feeder team for the Boston Redsox - baseball that is). I got to try the double carry for the first time as it was a LOT busier than I expected so we had to park down the street and around the corner and there was no way I was taking the stroller - and letting Lexie walk would have taken too long since we were running late so I put Lexie on my back in the new carrier I made and had Josh on the front in the old carrier - I felt like a bit of a pack mule but it did work.

Everyone one had a good time at the baseball - even though we didn't get seats so were standing for half of it. Luckily someone left in about the 4th Inning so we stole their piece of grass to sit on.. Lexie was great making lots of new friends with the kids around her - shes definitely her daddy's girl - will talk to anyone anytime!

Lexie with her bobble head

Today I decided it was a good day for the zoo - not too hot today. We decided to check out Southwicks Zoo. Unfortunately the elephant - which was one of the animals I (and Lexie) really wanted to see - died just last month - bummer, and unfortunately a lot of the other animals were not coming out to play so it was somewhat disappointing. They did however have some fantastic tortoises.

They were huge!

And this guy was just doing laps of his enclosure...

The giraffes were pretty cool and the rhino was huge too.

On our second trip around we finally got to see the tigers

But sadly enough both Lexie and Josh had the most fun playing in the sandbox (you know we really didn't need to go all the way to the zoo to play in a sandbox guys - the local park would have been closer and cheaper).

And then there were the rides - I caved and let Lexie have a couple of goes on the carnival rides. She had a ball.

So a busy but fun time was had by all this weekend.

Now whilst I'm at it a few new photos of the house - I've been in a bit of a decorating mood lately - and it seems to have manifested itself as a lot of rug buying - so we now have new rugs in just about every room of the house.

My main focus has been Lexie's room. We've put up a wall treatment plus the new rug - its finally starting to look like a little girls room - rather that just a room with a bed in it.

Its still a bit sparse but we're getting there.

Josh's room has got a new rug too - though not much else yet.

And our room has a new rug too

Hopefully it'll be a bit warmer on the feet during those cold winter months. (who was the idiot that decided that wooden floors were a good idea in a place where it get to 20 below zero regularly in the winter???)

Summer!

2010-06-26T20:56:00.000-04:00

Wow, another update already. Oops this is going to be a long one - sorry about that but theres been lots going on at the lately.

Grandma and Grandpa came back after their trip to Spain and Ireland and we've had visits from Aunty Sally and Cousin Penny so we've been getting out and about a bit.

Grandma and Grandpa arrived back on Tuesday 8th June with some fantastic presents. Heres Lexie in her Flamenco dress. Didn't she think she was beautiful.

On thursday my Aunt Sally flew in from Tucson. We took a drive down through Warwick on the way to the airport to pick her up and actually found a public park at one of the headlands which was nice. Generally all the sea views around here are obstucted by houses so its nice to find a bit of public space along the shore line.

On Friday we all (minus Andy who had to work) piled into the minivan we hired and headed down to Connecticut. Our main destination was Essex where they have a steamboat and river cruise excursion which we wanted to go on. We got down to Essex on Friday afternoon and had a walk around the town. It was a beautiful little town.

We had hoped to stay in Essex but there was no accommodation in town so we headed down to the coast at Old Saybrook. Another beautiful little town - and booked into the Super 8. It did have an outdoor pool but it wasn't quite warm enough to use it so we took a drive around Saybrook instead. Just down the road a bit we found a public beach so decided to jump out and let the kids have a play around - which of course ended up with both Lexie and Josh soaked to the skin - so Grandpa had to race back to the motel for a change of clothes whilst the kids stripped down an splashed around in the water - It wasn't too bad int here actually, nice and shallow so it had warmed up a bit. Great fun was had by all.

By the time we had finished at the beach it was nearing 5 o'clock so we headed around the penninsular to a little waterfront restaurant for an early dinner. Got a fantastic corner table with views in all directions and had a great seafood dinner. The kids were great - even though Josh was so tired he could barely lift his head off the table!

The next day was the train and steamboat excursion. The weather wasn't too great - but the rain held off most of the morning. We got on the steam train at Essex station.

Lexie was having a ball again, that girl loves her trains. Josh wasn't quite so impressed - he fell asleep as soon as the train started up.

The train took us up the track to Gillette Castle, then back down to Deep River station - The scenery along the way wasn't actually that great - we thought it'd be along the river but it wasn't so all you could see was the trees on either side of the track. At Deep River station we got off and caught the boat (the Becky Thatcher) Up the river to the swing bridge at Haddam.

This was quite a nice journey, but unfortunately the rain that had been threatening all morning came down. We managed to get in the very front cariage for the train trip back to Essex which was great - we could see the engine through the front door to the cabin and really get the smell and sounds of a steam engine. Lexie spent the entire trip right up near the door.

Once back at Essex the rain really set in and since you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of your face we decided to skip any further expeditions and headed up the freeway towards home.

Sunday and Monday were spent quietly at home, then Tuesday we decided to catch the ferry into Boston. We drove over to Quincy (which actually took longer than the ferry trip) and only just made it onto the ferry as it was pulling out. It was a great trip. very windy and a bit cold up on deck but definitely fun.

We then caught another ferry around to the Naval yard and checked out the USS Constitution.

Check out who's steering the boat!

After a quick lunch we headed back into town, tooka quick walk around Faneuil hall, killed some time at the merry go round

then jumped on the Ferry home.

Wednesday we took a drive up through Cambridge, tried to check out MIT and Harvard but Josh chose just those moments to have a screaming fit then headed out to Concord, MA. Had a quick lunch at Concord (For a change Lexie and Josh were NOT good little kids at the restaurant), and walked through town and out to the old north bridge.

A nice little day trip - well it would have been if Josh had behaved himself.

Thursday we had to take the minivan back to the hire car company, but we did one last outing in the morning, We started the day with breakfast at Bobs, then drove out to the cranbery bog at Patriot Place. Of course knowing our luck the cranberry bog was under reconstruction so we didn't get to see any actual cranberry bushes, but we had a nice little walk around the pond then checked out Bas Pro shops and all its exhibits.

Sally had to head home on Friday so mum, Lexie Josh and I drove her down to Providence in the morning. Then in the afternoon we decided to have a barbque and fire (after my haircut that is).

Saturday was another beautiful warn day so we spent it in the pool in the backyard.

After a weekend at home Monday we headed down to Capron Park and Zoo. We had a picnic in the park - which was actually harder than we expected due to the lack of picnic tables and the wet grass.

We then headed into the zoo - checked out all the animals, then ended up back at the splash pad.

The rest of the week was spent veging around the hose - playing the backyard and shopping etc.

Thursday night Penny (Andys cousin) arrived for a visit - unfortunatley due to delayed and missed flights she didn't get in to 10 pm and Andy had to work the next day, but hopefully she had a good time relaxing with us on Friday.

Friday night we went out for dinner to celebrate Grandmas birthday (a couple of days early, but it was our only chance before they left). We went up to Legal Seafoods at Framingham and had a fantastic seafood dinner, Mum had lobster and the rest of us an the assorted wood grill with 5 differnt types of seafood - yum!

The kids were back on their best behavious and we had a great night.

- then home to a gluten free cake so Lexie could help blow out the candles.

Saturday - Grandma and Granpa head home and we go back to our normal day to day......

Spring Update

2010-06-01T21:46:00.005-04:00

Well its been a while so I thought I'd better update the blog.

Its been busy around here lately.

First a couple of photos of Lexie and Josh's first fondue. We spontaneously decided one night to have a chese fondue which was a hit with all. Yep thats fondue leaking out of Joshs mouth.

A couple of days later was my birthday which we celebrated - how else - by going to the mexican restaurant - mmmmm. Lexie has her candle blowing technique down now and was very helpful.

Then we had our first visitors arrive - Margot and David. Lexie and Josh loved getting to know their granparents better, Josh really took a liking to David - especially his singing!

They were only here for a week so just spend time getting to know the kids and relaxing after their big trip through Protugal and Italy.

We then had 4 days afer David and Margot left before Grandma and Grandpa arrived. And what was the first thing they did when they got here - why went to Bob's for breakfast of course.

After a couple of days getting over jet lag we got out and about a bit.

We took a drive out to Connecticut - there's supposably a scenic drive just near the Massachusetts border which we wanted to do - well the drive was a bit dissapointing but we did find a nice park on the lake for morning tea and lunch.

And it had a fantastic slipery dip going down the side of the hill - Both Lexie and Josh got a kick out of going down that (so did mummy and grandma).

We checked out the local wildlife sanctuary as well as a number of local parks.

and also took the train up into Boston one day and walked around the north end. Lexie had the best time on the train - spent the entire trip looking out the window and going whoo whoo (her name for train) and we haven't been able to drive past the railway station since without asking for another trip.

A trip out to Worchester to the Ecotarium was another fun day for Lexie, though we were all a bit disapointed that the polar bear wouldn't come out to play!

Mum and Dad then left to explore Spain and Ireland and it was up to us to entertain ourselves again for a while. Our first trip was to one of the local fire stations where Lexie and Josh both got to sit in the fire engine

and Lexie got a chance to play with the fire hose.

A fun time was had by all - and since it was a 30deg day that day we ended up at the local zoo where they have a splash pad for the kids and both Lexie and Josh had a great time playing in the water.

In amongst all this Josh has gotten his first tooth - and hos second is just about through and then just two days ago he finally got the crawling thing down pat. He's starting to get really mobile now - can even manage to get up the little step between the play room and the dining room. And then tonight he managed to pull himself up to standing by himself for the first time. I don't know if the fact that he did it in the bath makes it easier or harder but I was definitely impressed.

Easter, Providence Childrens Museum etc.

2010-04-15T16:56:00.002-04:00

ll it was lexie first Easter where she was visited by the Easter Bunny. To say the least I do believe that she enjoyed it. Certainly the chocolate that he left only lasted two days (and only 2 days because I took half of it off her - she would have happily eaten it all in one day).

Apart from that, we've been having some good weather lately and that means getting out and about a little bit more. We've been to Capron Park zoo twice and the little zoo at Plainville too. Lexie definitely loves feeding the animals. Hes a quick video of her.

Feeding the Goats

We also took a trip down to Providence to check out the Providence Children Museum. Lexie had a blast here - its aimed directly at kids her age. heres a quick video.

Providence Childrens Museum

Other than taking the kids out on day trips I've been getting back into the crocheting. I made myself a hat for summer, but despite following all instructions it turned out way too small. In fact it fits Josh perfectly so it's been bequeathed to him and I'm starting another for myself But heres a piccie of the little cutie in his new hat.

Spring has sprung...and then got drowned

2010-04-01T21:19:00.007-04:00

dy here. Jen is watching American Idol and so I thought I'd sneak away to type a little something.

Well it's nearly April and Spring officially started a week or two ago. I always wondered why some weather person used to tell me every year that Spring starts on the first of March. Don't they know Spring is a season and that has to do with the planet we live on tilting on it's axis as it revolves around the sun! Not a date on a piece of paper! Sheesh!

Ok -I promise to leave the poor defenseless weather people alone! You have a lot to answer for Alan Wilkie! And don't you snigger Mike Bailey!

So what has been happening. Well I think the operative word is rain. Pure, simple and oh so wet. We've had the "pleasure" of 12.84 inchesso far, for the month of March. Our wettest March on record!
But not the wettest month - that honor fell to August 1995 with 17.05 inches.
In the last two days we've had 4-6 inches in our town. The ground is so wet that it physically can't absorb any more water. We've been lucky though - no flooding of the house.
There has been widespread flooding of areas like Framingham, Quincy, Fall River and Cranston in RI. I even ran into some flooding this morning on the way to work. I watched a truck hydroplane across a lane and nearly saw a little Toyota stall - the water was halfway up the car's radiator grill! Scary!

(Jen's additions in red) OK heres a piccie of the swamp in the backyard we actually had a couple of ducks come and visit us yesterday which was pretty fun for the kids. Doesn't look too impressive here but I couldn't get a better shot unfortunately.

Around the house we recently had 3 trees removed. 2 were dangerous and could have caused some real structural damage to the house if they had fallen, and the third was a nuisance tree. It was being killed by the other trees around it, so was sickly and could have become an issue later. We scored some major firewood out of it though - now all I have to do is get the wood cut up and ready for drying across Summer. Anyone want to volunteer while they are over here?

Just a quick video of the big tree in the front yard coming down.

Timber

And some more piccies and videos of the kids - Why because they're cute - what other reason do I need. Also Lexies modelling the new top that I made for her.

Giggles

And we can't forget the birthday boy.

Random Videos of Kids

2010-03-12T21:08:00.029-05:00

Well there's not a lot new to report here but I thought I'd share some more videos of the kids for those who haven't seen them recently.

Video

From 2010-03-08

Lexie's growing up so fast she's a real little girl now. She'll come up with a new word every now and then - the latest is happy, but she's still not speaking too much. We've started swimming lessons again and she still loves the water, though I tried letting go of her the other day (she did have a floatie thing on) and she really wasn't impressed with that.

As for Josh, he's no longer a real baby. He can sit up by himself for short periods of time, though he's not totally steady yet. He's rolling both back to front and front to back, I've found him across the room a couple of times now. We started with some solid food last week and he's loving that, got a really good chewing action going - even when he's just chewing mush.

Lexie's First Haircut

2010-02-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

Well my little girl had her first haircut yesterday. She was a very good little girl and sat very patiently whilst the lady cut it - was in fact very proud of herself. So anyway heres a piccie I'm sure it'll never look like this again!

I also had to share this piccie of Lexie taking a nap yesterday afternoon - shes been refusing to sleep lately but when we went out for a short walk she nodded off - really comfortable hey!

and just to round things off one of Josh all rugged up for his walk as well - I never seem to get any good photos of him.

Franklin Park Zoo

2010-02-13T19:59:00.004-05:00

Well since it was a lovely day and there was no Daddy to play with we decided to have an outing and headed into Franklin Park Zoo. A lot of exihibits were closed (what do you mean kangaroos don't like sub zero temperatures) but Lexie had a fantastic time anyway and there was still more than enough to keep us occupied. Lexie's favourites were the lion and tigers - we had to go back to their enclosures three times. She also had a close encounter with a gorilla which fascinated her (unfortunatlely I couldn't get any photos to turn out).

Link here - Hope this works cause I can't add Videos directly anymore

Random Pictures

2010-02-06T16:45:00.002-05:00

Just a couple of random pictures of the kids.

Hula Hoops!

2010-02-01T17:24:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to share a quick video of Lexie at Rob the Bubble Man last week. Was hoping for some good dancing but she was too sleepy to do much more than stare at the bubbles but she did have a good go at the hula hoops!

New Year Blues

2010-01-18T08:49:00.008-05:00

It's 2010! Wow! When did that happen? Where did the "noughties" go? I blinked and it was the Sydney Olympics and now it's 10 years later.... Talk about "tempus fugit". Let's just get it out there. This Winter has been a complete bust!!!Actually I need to clarify that.....it has been a complete bust in New England. If you live in Florida , Alabama, Georgia and other southern states, you recently got a taste of what a typical New England Winter is all about. Oranges and strawberries were sprayed by the farmers, to encase them in ice (As shown in this picture - courtesy of Associated Press). This protects them from the cold, but does mean the farmers can still harvest them for juice. As long as they get them off the tree less than 24 hours after icing. Unfortunately, as the cold went south, New England ended up with the warmth. As Jen was complaining about the lack of a Summer this past year, I am doing likewise with my Winter...where-o-where has it gone?? And when is it coming back? The new year started off quietly for us. We stayed in an watched Dick Clark on First Night, and had a quiet glass of champers (sorry....Californian sparkling white wine that is fermented in the bottle using the traditional Methode Champenoise....there.... that gets me out of any legal difficulties with calling a wine not made in the Champagne district, Champagne. PHEW!) Since then we've pretty much been home-bodies. New Englanders tend to hibernate when the mercury drops below zero (Celsius) and you don't tend to see them again until April when the sun comes out again. Although I did have my first BBQ in a snow storm. I shovelled the back deck to create a path to the BBQ, fired it up, put the beers in the snow bank nearby and went hell for leather. Snow flakes falling down all around me as I cooked. So much fun!

Work has been hectic. Since moving into a new office building last October, I've spent a grand total of 4 days in my "cube". And with all the training classes I am involved in I don't actually set foot in the office again until the end of March. I wouldn't have it any other way! The new office building is a lovely building. Well engineered and completely "green", but it's way to corporate for me. I've got a trip to Australia coming up in late February. It's a short hop and I am flying out of Atlanta in order to get there. The really bad thing is that Jenny and the kids aren't coming with me. We looked at the logistics of things and there was a huge amount of time when Jen would have to manhandle both the kids through airports and such like, before meeting up with me. And the fact that I am headed for Melbourne, not Sydney, is a double whammy! Ok back into it I go. Hope everyone has had a great new year so far.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T13:37:00.005-05:00

Well its all over for another year - had a fantastic Christmas day. Both kids slept till 7:30am (after being up and down all night that is - I think someone (ie Lexie) was a bit excited). Of course present opening had to be first thing - no way was Lexie going to eat anything with all those presents lying around. She had a ball opening not just hers but all of Josh's presents as well (not to mention trying to open mum and dad presents when they weren't looking.

Them it was time for breakfast - mmm Cinnamon rolls

Time to tackle the turkey - first problem - it wasn't thawed yet (no 2 days in the fridge is not long enough to thaw an 11 lb bird), thankfully he fitted in the microwave though so that was easily remedied - but it meant that it didn't get into the oven till 10:30 am so it was a late lunch for us. But there was plenty to keep us bust in the meantime......playing with all our new toys.

Heres Josh in his superhero outfit - Thanks Aunty Kate.

And Lexie in her fairy wings.

Lunch was finally ready at about 3 pm - I Was quite impressed with my firsst efforts at a christmas dinner all by myself - slightly overcooked stuffing and the gravy didn't work but apart from that everything was beautiful....especially the Pavlova and pumplin pie and custard for dessert. Mmmmmmm

Grandma and Grandpas presents didn't rock up till Boxing day morning but Lexie certainly didn't mind opening more presents - her only problem was that Josh was asleep when they arrived and we eouln't let her open his presents till he got up. She really wasn't heppy with him for that.

So Lexie and Josh Andy and I all want to send their thanks to everyone for all their fantastic presents - I think everyone really enjoyed their Christmas - I know I did.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T21:14:00.004-05:00

It's Christmas Eve and there's beautiful snowman making snow outside - I think we did a pretty good job if I do have to say so myself. And Andy's nose made out an an icicle was brilliant - until Lexie broke it off.

We bought Lexie a snow shovel today too so she wanted to try that out. She's been bugging us since the first snow fall for us to get her one. She LOVES helping Daddy shovel the snow - but with a rake it was a bit of a problem. Now she has the right tools.

And a movie of the Christmas Decorations going up. (Jen did this while I was still at work - Andy)

Outside Playing during the big snowfall on the 20th...

And finally a cute one of Josh trying to eat his Parrot.

SNOW!

2009-12-06T14:42:00.007-05:00

Yeahhh the first really measurable snow of the season. We got 4.3 inches last night - unfortunately its all melting again now and there are big patches of green on the front lawn again but that didn't stop us having some fun this morning. We all went out and had a snowball fight. Lexie had an absolute ball - Josh wasn't quite so sure about it all though!

But for a few pictures:

Jpsh in his snow suit - just a little bit too big on him..

Lexie and Josh dressed for the snow.

The winter wonderland outside. Looking across at the next door neighbours.

Snowball fights

Got to love the clothes lines in the background!

And a video of Lexie trudging through the snow.

Thanksgiving Travels

2009-11-28T21:47:00.012-05:00

Well after last year’s success with the road trip over Thanksgiving we decided that we would do the same again this year. We've done all the states north now so this year we decided to head west. We spent Sunday at home celebrating Lexie’s Birthday – see separate post, then headed out Monday morning. We managed to get all packed and ready to go by about 10:30 am which I thought was pretty good. We jumped on the interstate and headed south west to Hartford. It was about 1:30 pm when we reached the outskirts of the city so we decided to stop at an easily accessible plaza rather than trying to negotiate the city with kids who were starting to get a bit grumpy. Found a place called John Harvard’s Brew House and had a fantastic lunch then headed into the city. Unfortunately the weather was terrible so we couldn’t get out and walk around – instead we just had a drive around.

Checked out the New State House

and the Old State House

Since it was already past two be this time we decided to head somewhere to stop for the night and found a motel in Southington just south of Hartford at the edge of the Litchfield Hills. Found a great place for dinner – Sam the Clam’s Pub and Grub. We split a hot lobster roll and a Fishermans basket – Mmmmmmmmmm very good food. (Hi all it's Andy here. The hotel we stayed in was brand new and had an indoor heated swimming pool which both Lexie and Josh loved).

Tuesday we spent pottering around the Litchfield Hills. We headed up to Litchfield which was a beautiful little town

Found the Lourdes shrine – a replica of the grotto in Lourdes France – what will they think of next?

Went through West Cornwall - a cute little village with an old covered bridge...

...and Sharon - a stunning little town with some beautiful big old houses. And stopped for lunch in New Preston a very picturesque little place....

...before finishing the day with a drive around Lake Waramaug. (We also got to taste some of the local Connecticut wines. Some of the cool climate whites are amazing. And some of the reds were interesting to say the least. Each winery gives you your own glass as a memento of the tasting. The tastings do cost some money but the glass is worth the expense. Very un-Australian thing that is...paying for wine tastings! Oh well! Oh course some I know will pooh-pooh the fact that THE only wine to drink is an Aussie one, in particular a red wine, but to them I say that maintaining an open mind means that you will never miss out on life's unexpected pleasures. In other words - Don't knock it until you try it!)

Overnight Danbury. Wednesday we headed into New York. (Andy again - That's the State of New York, not New York City.) First stop Tarry Town, otherwise known as Sleepy Hollow. We stopped in at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary and checked out Washington Irving's Grave .

Also found the old Dutch Church

and The bridge from the legend.

There were also a number of other famous graves in this cemetery including Chrysler, Rockefeller, Elizabeth Arden and numerous others. We then headed up the Hudson to Ossining where I did some Trixie Belden Sightseeing. (Andy again - I never read any of the Trixie Beldon books, so this was just a fun excursion for me.) Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed – not what I had imagined. But for those in the know here are:

Wimpy’s diner

Crabapple Farm (actually called Wolf Hollow)

The Manor

and Ten Acres

Unfortunately the rain set in after this. After about three detours we finally made it to West Point where we stopped for lunch then headed further up the river – finally found a nice place at Wappingers falls, stopped briefly at the Roosevelts House

and the Vanderbilt Mansion

before stopping at Kingston. (Andy - I loved West Point. This whole area is rich in Revolutionary War history. Absolutely amazing. And seeing the West Point students in their uniforms was fun. We tried to see the actual West Point but it was behind a major security road block so we made do with the town itself.) Thursday – Thanksgiving. Unfortunately no breakfast in the motel today and nothing open due to Thanksgiving so we had to settle for Dunkin' Donuts for Breakfast. Then headed into Kingston and checked out the historic Uptown area – very cute little stone buildings etc

and the downtown area which will be nice when they finish fixing it up, but is now a bit dead. The headed out into the Catskills. We headed towards Woodstock which was pretty much as you expect – very hippy – unfortunately the actual fields where Woodstock took place is 2.5 hours away from the actual town of Woodstock (near the town of Bethel) so didn’t get to see them. (Aaah well there is always next time). Then headed into the Catskill mountains which were actually very picturesque. Stopped for lunch / afternoon tea at Delphi.

then headed up the intersate to a place just outside Albany. (The photo shows us lunching on the town square. Lunch was Tim Tams, juice, cheese and some snacky-type biscuits. During the lunch the fire siren went off for the fire department. Lexie was entranced by the noise. And Like a good FM Global engineer I timed the response time for the brigade to see how they were doing. Even with Thanksgiving, they were in the trucks and on the way in

Friday – Pottered up Route 9 to Saratoga Springs. First stop was Saratoga Spa State Park where we saw and sampled some of the natural spring waters. Lexie had a ball collecting water from the springs but she really didn’t like the taste – don’t blame her it was disgusting. (the water tasted like iron from one spring and a very heavy calcinated water from another. Later when we got further into the park the "State Spring" tasted really nice, and there were heaps of locals filling water bottles to take home)

Drove through downtown Saratoga Springs which was a beautiful old town – and after a quick stop at the supermarket (oh horror of horrors we were out of cheese) headed into Glens Falls – another beautiful old town and on to Lake George – here’s where it all fell apart. Tacky sea side is the only was to describe Lake George – and out of season it was really not impressive so we headed back to Saratoga Springs for the evening. Saturday we checked out downstown Saratoga Springs

before jumping on Interstate 90 and heading home.

Lexie's Second Birthday

2009-11-28T20:08:00.004-05:00

Wow I can't believe that its been two years since my little girl was born - its seems like just yesterday...... But no.... Lexies special day started with a breakfast of pancakes then it was finally time to open some presents. The rest of the morning was spent playing with the new presents whilst mummy made her a cake - Curious George - then after nap time was more present openings - this time from Aunty Kate. At about 4 pm we Skyped Grandma and Grandpa and opened the presents from them and finally we did the first cake cutting ceremony. A second cake cutting ceremony was required whilst skyping Margot and David and finally Aunty Mel and the boys got online to say happy birthday. All in all a very nice little day and Lexie enjoyed herself immensely.

2009-11-15T13:36:00.003-05:00

OK Just wanted to add a few photos to the blog. First is the quilt that Margo made - all installed on Lexies new bed. Such a big girl sleeping in her big bed! Another of margos jumpers - thank you Margo.. And the new chair - a favourite of all...(also another of Margot's Jumpers)

And finally the best video I can get of Josh giggling - excuse the fact that hes out of frame most of the time but he only giggle when you get really close so I'm holding the camera up so I can't see what I'm aiming at...

Photos for Mel

2009-10-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

OK These are just a few photos for Mel

Harvard University

On to of Mt Washington

Our Motel in Franconia

Our Motel at Wolfboro

Concord MA

Its been a While

2009-10-17T15:47:00.005-04:00

OK. I know I've got to get better at this blogging thing again, its been ages between posts. Well Josh is 8 weeks old on Monday and Lexie will be 2 in about a months time. Boy the time sure does fly. Lexie, Josh and I are slowly settling back into a normal routine after having all our visitors. Heres a few piccies of everyone from when they were here. Lexie Nick and Ernie in the bath. A picnic lunc in North Adams Tandem breastfeeding at Wellwood Orchards. Apple Picking at Wellwood Orchards All the cousins at Ernie's 4th Birthday party A cute one of Lexie

Grandma and Grandpa with al the grandkids

Lexie and Josh in bed together

Lexie Near Crawford Notch

On top of Mt Wasington

Lexie at Harvard University

Josh is definitely smiling now. I've tried to capture one on camera but this is as good as it gets unfortunately.

Lexie's doing OK without all her playmates, We've joined another playgroup so Lexie (and me) can meet some more friends. We've also started doing some more crafty things - playdoh and painting which Lexie really seems to enjoy.

And finally a few piccies taken this morning just for cuteness sake.

The New arrival

2009-08-28T11:35:00.005-04:00

Welcome to the world: Joshua William Egerton Ryerson Born: August 24th 2009 at 6:17 pm Weight: 8lb 9 oz Length: 54.6 cm Head Circumference: 35.6 cm