Sunday, August 17, 2008

A special camping trip

Chris decided to take Lance camping on Saturday night for a special bonding night. I think he's been itching to go anyway! He originally asked Nathan if he wanted to go first but being the apprehensive kid that he is, he suggested Lance go first! They went to a local place and had a blast! They picked the perfect night, a sky full of stars and a full moon. Lance got to go swimming, fishing, play on a play ground, search for fire wood, help build a fire, make smores, help set up the tent, and take a train ride through the camp ground. Chris said the majority of the time Lance just wanted to play in the tent with his toys!



Gymnastics Camp

Last week the big boys had gymnastics camp from each morning for 3 hours. They had an absolute blast! They got to tumble, play on a small and large trampoline and then they swam for the last hour of camp. All the while they were also working on a program that they performed for us at the end of their Friday session. We decided to bring Nathan's friend Hannah with us to watch the program and Nathan was on cloud 9. As you'll see in some of the pictures and videos he was being quite the show off! They also both got certificates for completing the course. Take a look :)



Nathan giving a thumbs up to Hannah during the set up of the pyramid.







The tooth fairy made a visit!

Nathan lost his very first tooth! I can't believe it! We first noticed it about a month ago while flossing and he was so excited! We were wiggling it ever since and finally noticed on Monday August 11th that the new adult tooth was coming in right behind it. He already had a dentist appointment scheduled for that Thursday and we were afraid he was going to pull it anyway! So after a few wiggles the bottom left baby tooth came out and man I didn't realize how much blood comes with it! YIKES! That night the tooth fairy came and dropped off $5! Come to find out at the dentist appointment that his other bottom tooth is a smidge loose too!

Adamstown, Pennsylvania

What a great vacation! We took a road trip to the Amish country and met up with all of the kids' aunts, uncles and cousins. On the way we decided to make a stop in Ohio to visit some of our friends. The kids LOVED seeing their old neighbors and friends and had a great sleep over. Here's a shot of the kids.



Saturday morning we had breakfast and left for PA late morning. We got to the vacation rental house just after 4pm on Saturday, unpacked and claimed rooms. 6 adults, 6 kids and 2 dogs in a 5 bedroom house for a week was a pretty interesting time!

Sunday we decided to take a family day, spend some time at the local playground and community pool. Here are a couple of pictures from the playground.







Monday we all decided to treck to Hershey Park. It was an interesting experience. The boys loved the rides but unfortunately the rides were spread out all over the HUGE park! We did manage to hit the water park at the end of the day.







Tuesday the guys let the girls hit the outlets to do some shopping while they took the kids to Cherry Crest Farms. This place sounded so cool! It had a hay maze, a bunch of inflatables, a petting zoo, a rope maze, and a tractor ride!





Wednesday the guys again took only the big kids (Cassandra, David and Nathan) fishing. All of the kids actually had a chance to catch a fish!!



and Aunt Laura and I took the little ones (Lance, Anneliese and Cole) to the Hands on House which is basically a childrens museum. Here the kids got to play with all kinds on hands on activities and Lance's favorite part was painting his face!





Thursday Aunt Vicki and Uncle Mike took the big kids to Chocolate World (a part of Hershey Park). They got a tour of the factory and made a label for a chocolate bar for us!







While the big kids were at the Chocolate Factory, Aunt Laura and I took the little ones to Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park JUST FOR KIDS! Anneliese and Lance were dare devils too! They went on just about everything!





Friday Chris and I got to have massages at the Hershey Hotel and then we had a nice big FAMILY dinner. Saturday we all went our separate ways and it was sad to say good bye to everyone. But we did manage to get one family picture (minus Michael who took it)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Gymnastics for the big boys

The boys each had a 5 week gymnastics class. Lance was in class with other 2 & 3 year olds and Nathan was in the 5+ class. I was trying to find an activity to help strengthen their little muscles! They really enjoyed themselves and actually will go to an all week camp next week....Lance in the morning and Nathan in the afternoon and on Friday they will each put on a show for the parents! Hopefully the camp will be good for everyone, including mommy and Cole!!

During their indoor gymnastics class they did things like somersaults, obstacle courses, front flips on the single bar, walking across the balance beam, and the favorite...jumping on the trampoline! They would also stretch before and after class....and after each obstacle that they had to do, they'd stand up and say "TA DA!" (as you will see in some of the pictures). And when the session was finished they got to add their hand print to the wall of kids. Here are some of my favorite pictures :)






















A fun 4th of July

Wow what a great time! The neighbor group decided to plan a Spice Bush block party and it was awesome! Thursday evening the kids all decorated their bikes for the Ada parade. They had a great time doing it! Then Friday morning we biked downtown and waited for the parade. Nathan wanted to ride in the parade and Lance and Cole decided that sitting on the side of the road and collecting candy was more fun!

After the parade we went home and started setting up for the all day affair. We rented a moonwalk bouncer, set up tables, chairs and coolers in the road, set up an inflatable waterslide and invited everyone on the block :) Here are some pictures from the day.