Thursday, January 29, 2015
Rough Patch
We just got through a really tough week with the kids. First, Cecilia was home sick Thursday and Friday. Then everybody was sick and pretty much stuck at home all weekend (except for one foray out sledding with Cecilia, captured below). On Monday Phillip was home sick and then we were all snowed in together Tuesday and Wednesday, with everybody but me sick on top of it all. Today was the first day back to normal - it was such a joy just to be home working by myself all day. We expect more snow tomorrow, but hopefully everybody's health will hold up so we can at least get out and and play over the weekend.
Walking to School in the Snow
Here we were walking to school this morning. When there's this much snow parking and traffic is so bad sometimes it's not even worth it to drive.
Skiing
We took Cecilia skiing two weeks ago with Maia and the Demmings. She loved it and did an amazing job for her firs time.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Lerner family reunion, 8/2014
We went to this little town in western (yes that western) Maryland for Pete's family reunion last summer. The full pictures can be found here.
We got a great house with 4 bedrooms, large dining room/living room and kitchen, and downstairs with a pool table and a hot tub.
Here's a cute video of Aaron and Phillip:
And this is Grandma playing with Phillip on the stairs:
We had a great time - it's a great place for water sports and beach. This is the beach at the local state park:
Here are some antics with Phillip and Daddy.
And Mommy loved swimming with Phillip and Cecilia.
Mommy also got to go kayaking with Cecilia! We went all the way to the other end of the lake.
One of the days, we did a small hike along this river with some small rapids. At one point, we stopped to eat lunch, and we could surf along the rapids and go underneath a waterfall! Here is Daddy surfing a rapid (the end is hilarious):
And here is Mommy sitting in front of the waterfall (you could also go behind it).
Mommy also took Cecilia surfing down the rapids, which was a lot of fun, but probably a little risky. At the end of the rapids, Cecilia panicked a little and didn't realize she could stand up on her own to reduce the drag from the current. Mommy was holding on to her and also to a rock at the bottom of the river at the same time, and it was too hard to stand us both up at the same time. In the end, a nice big girl who just finished surfing the rapids helped Cecilia stand up, reducing the drag, and we got back to shore just fine.
Grandma went along for the hike too, but no surfing in the rapids for Grandma!
We got some great pics of the family on that hike.
Another day, Bob was nice enough to take most of the family boating while Mommy and Grandma cooked dinner (for 40 people!). Cecilia got to drive the boat!
And Cecilia got to go tubing too!
And of course we caught up with family! Cecilia especially bonded with Isabel and Rachel.
The last night we were there, we made a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. Phillip's first time! I'm not sure he really got the concept of roasting the marshmallows, but he really liked the fire, and he really liked eating the marshmallows. It's a lot darker than the pictures seem because of the camera...
When it got late, Cecilia and Phillip helped Daddy put out the fire.
What a nice way to end the trip!
We got a great house with 4 bedrooms, large dining room/living room and kitchen, and downstairs with a pool table and a hot tub.
Here's a cute video of Aaron and Phillip:
And this is Grandma playing with Phillip on the stairs:
We had a great time - it's a great place for water sports and beach. This is the beach at the local state park:
Here are some antics with Phillip and Daddy.
And Mommy loved swimming with Phillip and Cecilia.
Mommy also got to go kayaking with Cecilia! We went all the way to the other end of the lake.
One of the days, we did a small hike along this river with some small rapids. At one point, we stopped to eat lunch, and we could surf along the rapids and go underneath a waterfall! Here is Daddy surfing a rapid (the end is hilarious):
And here is Mommy sitting in front of the waterfall (you could also go behind it).
Mommy also took Cecilia surfing down the rapids, which was a lot of fun, but probably a little risky. At the end of the rapids, Cecilia panicked a little and didn't realize she could stand up on her own to reduce the drag from the current. Mommy was holding on to her and also to a rock at the bottom of the river at the same time, and it was too hard to stand us both up at the same time. In the end, a nice big girl who just finished surfing the rapids helped Cecilia stand up, reducing the drag, and we got back to shore just fine.
Grandma went along for the hike too, but no surfing in the rapids for Grandma!
We got some great pics of the family on that hike.
Another day, Bob was nice enough to take most of the family boating while Mommy and Grandma cooked dinner (for 40 people!). Cecilia got to drive the boat!
And Cecilia got to go tubing too!
And of course we caught up with family! Cecilia especially bonded with Isabel and Rachel.
The last night we were there, we made a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. Phillip's first time! I'm not sure he really got the concept of roasting the marshmallows, but he really liked the fire, and he really liked eating the marshmallows. It's a lot darker than the pictures seem because of the camera...
When it got late, Cecilia and Phillip helped Daddy put out the fire.
What a nice way to end the trip!
Monday, January 26, 2015
Phillip's 2 year birthday party, August 2014
We had a small family-only birthday party for Phillip when he turned 2 last August. He was just starting to realize what birthday parties were, and he knew that with every birthday party, came cake!
Needless to say he was super excited when he realized he got to blow out the candles:
It was also one of the first times he really got into opening presents.
His favorite present with a Phil & Ted velcro birthday cake. He still plays with this a lot to this day.
After the party, they went out to play at the playground for a bit.
Good times with family!
Needless to say he was super excited when he realized he got to blow out the candles:
It was also one of the first times he really got into opening presents.
His favorite present with a Phil & Ted velcro birthday cake. He still plays with this a lot to this day.
After the party, they went out to play at the playground for a bit.
Good times with family!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
LA vacation, August 2014
Back at the end of summer, we all trekked to Southern California for Jon and Crystal's wedding, and made a huge vacation of the trip! Full pictures can be found here, but the highlights are below:
The San Diego Zoo. It took us 3 hours round trip to get here, but it was worth it!
Disneyland, of course! We went to both California Adventure and the original Theme Park. It was Phillip's first memorable time at Disneyland, and he soaked it up! Here is giving Minnie Mouse a hug:
And here are Cecilia and Phillip enjoying the parade:
They made it to the very end of the night and enjoyed the water-light show both times! Needless to say they were exhausted by the end of the night...
One of our more relaxed days was at the LA Natural History Museum. That is, we were relaxed until this crazy real-looking dinosaur started roaming the halls! The video doesn't do it justice - you can hear the breathing "unhhh unhhh" coming down the hall before you see the dinosaur come into view, and it looks pretty real. Phillip and I heard the nose, and we were like, what is that??? And as soon as it came around the corner, Phillip ran to me from a few feet away and grabbed on to me for dear life. Almost all the little kids were scared and there was definitely some crying going on.
We also found this local water park in La Brea, which was absolutely fantastic. They had slides for the bigger kids (and adults) and plenty of fountains and little slides/pools and a lazy river for the little kids. Here we are dancing at the park - you can see the water slides, etc in the background.
A few days before the wedding, we threw Grandma a surprise 60th birthday dinner! It was super fun, and she was definitely shocked. :)
The wedding was fantastic as well - held inside Disneyland at the Disneyland hotel. Jon and Crystal had a beautiful wedding and reception, and it was great to catch up with everyone.
We can always be found where the dancing is!
Santa Monica beach and boardwalk are almost a must-go destination for us. The beach is fantastic, here we are jumping the waves:
And the boardwalk has a great little amusement park with rides and games. Cecilia is growing up - she likes the big roller coasters now, and wanted to play a bunch of the midway games. But she'll still go on the "little kiddie" rides to keep her brother company...
When we just wanted to relax, our house had a fantastic pool! Here are the kids jumping in. Cecilia was also swimming by herself without floaties for the first time ever!
Finally, no trip to LA would be complete without 1 visit (or 2 or 3 or 4) to our favorite restaurant, Sam Woo's. They are famous for their fried tofu. The last time we went, we ordered three plates of the fried tofu, and not a single one was left. You can see the carnage from this video, and in it, you can even see Phillip enjoying the fried tofu.
The San Diego Zoo. It took us 3 hours round trip to get here, but it was worth it!
Disneyland, of course! We went to both California Adventure and the original Theme Park. It was Phillip's first memorable time at Disneyland, and he soaked it up! Here is giving Minnie Mouse a hug:
And here are Cecilia and Phillip enjoying the parade:
They made it to the very end of the night and enjoyed the water-light show both times! Needless to say they were exhausted by the end of the night...
One of our more relaxed days was at the LA Natural History Museum. That is, we were relaxed until this crazy real-looking dinosaur started roaming the halls! The video doesn't do it justice - you can hear the breathing "unhhh unhhh" coming down the hall before you see the dinosaur come into view, and it looks pretty real. Phillip and I heard the nose, and we were like, what is that??? And as soon as it came around the corner, Phillip ran to me from a few feet away and grabbed on to me for dear life. Almost all the little kids were scared and there was definitely some crying going on.
We also found this local water park in La Brea, which was absolutely fantastic. They had slides for the bigger kids (and adults) and plenty of fountains and little slides/pools and a lazy river for the little kids. Here we are dancing at the park - you can see the water slides, etc in the background.
A few days before the wedding, we threw Grandma a surprise 60th birthday dinner! It was super fun, and she was definitely shocked. :)
The wedding was fantastic as well - held inside Disneyland at the Disneyland hotel. Jon and Crystal had a beautiful wedding and reception, and it was great to catch up with everyone.
We can always be found where the dancing is!
Santa Monica beach and boardwalk are almost a must-go destination for us. The beach is fantastic, here we are jumping the waves:
And the boardwalk has a great little amusement park with rides and games. Cecilia is growing up - she likes the big roller coasters now, and wanted to play a bunch of the midway games. But she'll still go on the "little kiddie" rides to keep her brother company...
When we just wanted to relax, our house had a fantastic pool! Here are the kids jumping in. Cecilia was also swimming by herself without floaties for the first time ever!
Finally, no trip to LA would be complete without 1 visit (or 2 or 3 or 4) to our favorite restaurant, Sam Woo's. They are famous for their fried tofu. The last time we went, we ordered three plates of the fried tofu, and not a single one was left. You can see the carnage from this video, and in it, you can even see Phillip enjoying the fried tofu.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Children's Museum Milestone
It's not a great video, but I was so proud of my kids the other week when Cecilia led Phillip all the way to top of the famous climbing structure at the Boston Children's Museum. It's three stories tall and it was a huge deal for Cecilia when she got to the top by herself a few years ago, and I was so happy that she was able to share that with her little brother.
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