High Five

Chris on his first carousel ride Saturday.
Aiden's first carousel. He requested a black horse.
Aiden getting ready to watch the Fireman's Parade.
Chris on his sugar high after fried dough, awaiting the start of the parade.
The boys LOVED driving the cars!
Our new entertainment.
Aiden, Daddy's little helper.
Chris has better ideas but couldn't get his truck to cooperate.


Cali isn't the only Houdini around here. On Thursday night we had quite the surprise! We put Aiden and Chris down for bed around 7:30. After "visiting" them about 10 times for various reasons, I was thrilled to hear them quiet down around 8:30. Mike was relaxing in the living room and I was in the guest bedroom, working at the desk. 'When what to my wondering eyes did appear but two little two years olds, running through the air!'.... I kid you not! I looked once, looked twice and checked yet again and sure enough, Aiden and Chris were on the loose. Mike and I went running outside to scoop up two little boys who thought they were hysterical playing on the swing set by themselves at 8:45 pm, dusk. After getting them back inside, we asked "how did you get outside." Aiden replies, "I opened the front door." Unfortunately for his argument, it didn't bod well that the front and back door were both dead bolted for that very reason! We entered their bedroom to find their bedroom window totally open (although it was a new challenge for them because their window is a crank window, unlike the vacation house). They also decided to throw all of their toys, clothes, etc out the window, including their potty (poop filled and all!) The screen lay in the wood chips and we believe that they may have used it as a "slide" to somehow lower themselves 4-5 feet onto the ground. Thank goodness they didn't get hurt. They now know how to unlock AND open windows and they thought they were the best thing going. We are hopeful that our safety talk may have at least some small impact as Chris reminded us that he should never go outside alone "because there might be polar bears."

So... that is our latest and greatest. It's been a fun week! Friday we stayed busy and met our friends Heather, Harper, Jen, Jack, Logan, Ryan & Leeanne at Look Park in Florence. We enjoyed the splash park for a bit and per the usual, Aiden was a bit more daring while Chris didn't want to let go of my hands. Auntie Leeanne was a great sport and a great second set of hands. We enjoyed some great company and a picnic lunch, then headed to their playground, zoo and a train ride! After a fun day at the park, the boys and I headed to Grammie and Dziadzu's and ran around for a while. A & C loved picking wild and grown blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherry tomatoes. They loved playing in the woods and were sad to have to go home. Mike enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Boston with the family to celebrate his dad, Dave's birthday. Happy, happy birthday Grandpa Dave! Because of bedtimes and A & C's escapades lately, we decided it was best to not make the trip with the boys but our best wishes were with Grandpa!

Yesterday we ran some errands, caught up on some chores and had a blast going to the Suffield Fireman's Carnival. There is something magical about small town fairs, especially through the eyes of little ones. The boys had their first fair rides and LOVED the car ride and the merry go round as is evident in my pictures above. They also LOVED fried dough, but then again, who doesn't!?! After the food and rides we settled in to watch the parade and the boys were in their glory. Whats better than loud, noisy fire engines, especially when there are more than 50 and some even threw candy! Talk about a sugar high.... fried dough and tootsie rolls! I think it was the ultimate for two year old boys. We headed home for bedtime as we attempted to replace nap yesterday with a "quiet" (not so quiet) time.

Today we are back on napping schedules and skipped church because I had a freak bug bite that made my eye swell and looked a little scary and the boys had really bad heat rash that we feared might scare off other parishioners. So, we kept our cooties to ourselves and I was more than thrilled to get some weeding done before the sun and killer mosquitos were out and Mike worked on re-doing our sidewalk for a while (our 4th attempt!) We then headed to the town beach and enjoyed the warm sun and the warm water! Is tomorrow really Monday? Where do the weekends go?