Lancaster Sisters Trip!

We went to visit with my sisters in Lancaster, PA last week!  Gary was out of town on business, so the kids and I went Wed-Fri to visit Michelle!  Cassie headed over too, so we had all the sisters together :)  We had a GREAT trip! 

Tuesday we went to Chocolate World and went on the free tour of the factory!  It's a ride where they take you through the process of making Hershey's candy :)  The boys LOVED the ride!  We ended up riding twice ;)

Everyone picked out a special treat! YUM!

After Chocolate World and a picnic at the park for dinner, we headed to Michelle's friend's farm!  They raise baby chicks from about 3 days old until 18 weeks (when they start laying eggs).  They have over 64,000 baby chicks!  We were able to hear all about the process and hold them.  Not a huge surprise, but neither of my boys would hold the chicks... we did convince them to pet them though! 

We climbed up in a big tractor!  Alex was a bit timid of this as well, the tractor was HUGE! But once he got up there, he loved it :)

They also have 200 cows and we were able to learn all about dairy farming.  It was all very interesting! 

The kids barely touched the cows, but did pet one or two of them with some coaxing ;)

Alex's favorite was probably the garden.  He got to pick this green pepper and was SO excited! 

Thursday we went to Strassburg Railroad.  This was right up the kids' alley!  We went to the museum first and it was awesome! 

There were LOTS of hands on displays for the kids! 

And we got to see lots of real trains close up in the train yard, and ever get on a few! 

They enjoyed "shoveling coal" for a while ;)

Then we took a real train ride through the country!  The kids were THRILLED! 

So excited! 

We stopped about halfway for a picnic lunch and to play on the playground, then caught the next train back about an hour later.  Alex took this picture of me and my sisters, so fun hanging out with them! 

Alex begged me to ride these crazy cars!  He was so happy ;) 

We took a couple of trips to a nearby park on our visit as well.  Alex loved this huge slide!  And Nathan even climbed up and went down once by himself (much to my surprise)! 

When you ask "how big are you?"  Nathan puts his arms straight up to show you how big he is, so cute! 

He still goes down the slides on his belly :) 

We had a great few days with Aunt Cassie and Aunt Michelle!!

I don't have pictures, but after picking Gary up from the airport on our way home Friday, we spent the weekend celebrating Father's Day and helping at church with lots of VBS prep work!  We took Gary out to dinner and got him a few little presents ;)  VBS is this week and we've been busy with that each day 8:30-12:30.  The boys absolutely love it (especially Alex).  It's so fun to watch them sing, dance, get excited about their projects, tell me about their games/stories, etc.  I'm busy with the bigger kids, but they sure do keep the little ones busy too!  We are all exhausted!  Speaking of, I think it's nap time now!! YAY!  :)

Swimming Lessons!

Alex took swimming lessons after Memorial Day for 2 weeks!  He absolutely loved it!!  Unfortunately he got sick after Nathan and had to miss two lessons, but he was so out of it that he didn't even care :( 



He did such a good job listening to his teacher... I have to say, he was by far the most well-behaved kid in the class ;)  He really thought he was big stuff using the floating bar, life vest, jumping in (twice!), putting his face in the water, blowing bubbles, "swimming" with help, and floating on his back!   

 
Although he loved the lessons, the last 5 minutes was still his favorite part, play time!  They turned on the water fountains and got out the toys for the kids to play with.  Alex went straight for this boat just about every day. 

He was pretty proud of himself for putting his face underwater!  He's still not totally comfortable with it though, we have to work on it a lot more before the next class where they are expected to do it without all the coaxing ;)

My little fish!  He loves the water this year, it's so fun to watch him enjoy the pool!!!

Soccer comes to an end...

Alex had a great spring soccer season!!  It was his second season playing and he definitely has made many improvements :)  He's not nearly as afraid to "get in there" and actually try and kick the ball, but still is far from aggressive.  He continues to have a great time and loves to run around the field and will play the whole game if you let him!  He kicked the ball a lot more this season, but is still pretty timid about taking the ball from anyone. 

Last week was the last soccer practice!  We had an end of season party instead of practicing.  Alex was thrilled to get his trophy!! Here he is with his coach :)  

The whole team!  What a great group of kids :)  We've enjoyed playing with most of these kids two seasons now and have made some really good friends! 

Proud! 

Love my little "soccer boy" as he calls himself ;) 

Children's Museum in Baltimore!

My friend Emily and our boys all headed to the Children's Museum in Baltimore last Friday!  We had such a great time!!  We've joked because our kids are just as happy to go play with the toys at the local coffee shop while we sip coffee and chat, and yet we plan these big trips for them ;)  At the beginning there were a bunch of field trips there and it was pretty crowded.  Everyone left after lunch though and we had the whole place to ourselves in the afternoon!  

Nathan loved the grocery shopping area and cash registers! 

Driving! 

And stopping for gas ;)

My little artist :)

Treasure maps! 

The kids all LOVED the water play area! 

Once Nathan found this squirt bottle I think he would've been content for the rest of the day! ;) 

Here are the big boys with Mr. Potato Head!  The little boys wouldn't get anywhere close ;)



These two have become such buddies!  What a fun day!  (I won't mention the 3 hr car ride home in the pouring rain... or the 25 minute detour for Starbucks ;)  But hey, the kids were all engaged in movies and we had time to sit and talk while we sat in the horrible traffic!  :)

Memorial Day Weekend

So after cutting our camping trip short, we promised Alex a special weekend!  Sunday we got the kiddie pool out!  The boys could hardly wait...

We also bought them some new squirt guns.  They LOVE them!  (Especially Nathan...)

We had a special movie night where we each picked out a special treat and had popcorn!  Alex was thrilled to pick sweedish fish and easily ate the whole bag ;) 

Monday we decided to brave the crowds and head to Pirates Cove Waterpark!  The crowds really ended up not being  a huge deal after the line waiting to get into the park, which was great! 

Nathan wasn't a huge fan of the water again... he was content to sit and kick his feet on the side. 

Alex was in heaven!  I was impressed with his bravery going down the slides and being all over the pools! The green slides in this picture were probably his favorite ;)  He also loved climbing up on teh platforms and shooting the water cannons. 

They enjoyed the sand/water area as well!  In fact, they probably could have played there all day ;)

This was by far Nathan's favorite part of the day! 

Alex was having such a great time and kept saying he never watned to leave, that we ended up letting Nathan take his nap at the park ;)  Even after several hours of playing hard here, Alex was still going strong!  He told us it was "just tooo much fun!!!"  :) 

After such a fun day, he woke up Tuesday with a fever and sore throat though :(  We battled sickness all week!  I think (crossed fingers) we're all healthy again now!