Alexander's 4th Birthday

Alexander turned four today! He has been asking if it was his birthday every day for two weeks. So, it's been a long two weeks for him. Before we get to the festivities, here's a picture of Glenn in his tye-dye shirt he made on our vacation in VA.

 

We opened presents Saturday night (for various reasons). It turned out not to be such a good idea because the boys didn't fall asleep until after 9:30, because they were so excited. Alexander's reaction to each gift was awesome! He either danced or cheered or something when he opened each gift. Here are some of his presents as he opened them. He asked for a boat he could sit on in the pool, so his grandparents got him a jett ski (don't worry, it doesn't run, although he did ask if it did).

 

He got a floor puzzle of Curious George. He loves putting it together and he wanted to leave it put together tonight instead of putting it away.

 

He got a shark that gobbles up little fish and some water squirters for the pool. Bob especially liked the water squirters today as he was squirting everyone in the pool.

 

 

He loves his inflatable giraffe (does not go in the water). He slept with it.

 

His brother picked out a plush Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb. He feel in love with it. Today we had a pool party for him. My parents were in town and we had a couple other families over. He asked for Spider Man cupcakes (even though he doesn't know anything about Spider Man except that he's cool) and strawberry cake. So, I made strawberry cupcakes with blue cotton candy frosting. There's a small Spider Man face on top. He had a bit of trouble blowing out his candles. His daddy had to help him redirect his wind.

 

 

Alexander also got a fish to ride on in the pool. Everyone loved playing on it.

 

Swimming to Mommy

 

Putting on "goddles" so he can swim under water.

 

Wearing the basketball hoop

 

Here's one of his friends riding the jett ski.

 

The boys have been asking to make s'mores. So, we decided tonight would be a special night to do it (it's just so hot to do s'mores in the summer!). Bob made just a big enough fire to make s'mores.

 

 

 

 

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Independence Day! Before I get to what we did today, I wanted to show you this picture. Glenn had his annual opthomologist appointment, yesterday. He checked out great (they check his optic nerves once a year due to his NF1)! Late yesterday night, his eyes were still dilated, so I took this picture. I think his eyes look like teddy bear eyes. And also notice that he has one of his top front teeth finally coming in (they came out three years ago).

 

We went to Ormond Beach (just north of Daytona Beach) today.

 

Glenn spent most of his time digging in the sand.

 

Alexander spent a lot of time boogie boarding. He needed a little help to get started, but then he'd ride the wave all the way in.

 

Tonight, we were thinking of going to Ocala's fireworks, but Alexander was scared of it being too loud and after a day at the beach, we were too tired to deal with the crowd. So, we bought some fireworks to do at home. It's almost time! The kids are so excited.

VA Vacation Part II

Here are the rest of our pictures from our vacation to VA. We last left off during our hike on Thursday. The last picture was of Alexander looking at a deer hoof print. Here, Daddy is talking to the boys about the deer.

 

Glenn is taking a closer look at the hoof print with his magnifying glass.

 

The boys loved the moss everywhere. Here, during our lunch break, Alexander found a stick and was peeling up the moss with it. He kept calling it mold.

 

Here are the boys taking a break looking at the view from the mountain, and what they could do with their walking sticks.

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday, we took two chairlifts to the top of the mountain. The boys loved it at first. We could see animals down below (butterflies, a beaver and others). But then they decided it stopped too much. It stopped so that people wanting to ride it back down could get on the chair without being knocked off the platform.

 

After a short hike from the second chair lift, we saw a beautiful view of the other side of the mountain.

 

 

We didn't stay long at the top because the bugs were horrendous! We all rode the first lift down.

 

 

Glenn and I decided to walk the rest of the way down the mountain. We raced Alexander and Bob on the chairlift. Glenn and I won because the chair lift had to stop so much.

 

At the bottom of the lifts, in front of the ski lodge, they set up a rock climbing wall. Glenn wanted to do it. So, they harnessed him up and helped to point out where he could put his feet. He made it up half way. He was too tired to get up much further than that. It takes a lot of arm strength. He had fun, though.

 

 

After we were done, we packed up and left for home, deciding to drive home in two days rather than one. Traffic was a little better than on the way up, so we made better time. This week, we are busy doing crafts, going to a $2 movie and visiting with friends. Next week, we'll get to see Nana and Papa (my parents), celebrate July 4th at the town square, and then celebrate Alexander's forth birthday on the 8th. He keeps asking me every day if he's four yet. He says, "I really want to be four!" He wants a train cake again. If you remember last year, I spent a lot of time decorating his train cake and he ate the wheels 15 minutes prior to the start of his party. So, we'll have to guard the cake a little better this year. :)

Our Vacation in VA

Okay, so here's the story. I tried posting this yesterday, and it deleted all my text. So, I'm going to do half the intended post tonight and then finish it another day. We spent a week in VA, but before I get to that, here are some pictures from the first full week of the boys out of school. Alexander spent a day trying on all of his costumes. This, of course, was his pirate costume.

 

Alexander fell asleep wearing his Buzz Lightyear hat.

 

They had a sleepover one night. They usually take forever to fall asleep when they sleep together. But I must have worn them out that day.

 

Alexander loves watching his brother play Super Mario Brothers on his DS.

 

Glenn was reading Alexander "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight" right before bedtime. I love when Glenn reads to his brother!

 

We left on June 16th for the Blue Ridge Mountains in VA. We stayed at a resort called Massanutten. It's a ski resort in the winter. We thought it was going to take 12 hours to get there. But we got stuck in a lot of traffic and it ended up taking 15 hours! Bob did all the driving because I got bronchitis. I had a cold the week up to vacation, but the morning we left, I felt miserable (achy, cough...). At least I didn't have a fever. I was actually sick our whole vacation (still coughing), but I just took medicine to help me power through. We didn't do everything we planned, but still did a lot. We had originally planned on a day trip to Washington D.C. But found it out it was two hours just to get to the western most metro stop. With me not feeling well, and the long drive up, we decided to do Washington on our way up to CT some time instead. So, we traveled on Saturday. On Sunday, we explored the mountain a bit. As we were taking this little hike, Alexander kept saying, "Guys, I'm not sure about this guys. I'm really not sure about this guys." It was cute. Then he got used to walking around the rocks and he was fine.

 

 

 

On Monday, we went to the ski lodge to do a craft. They had daily crafts for the kids and since we had activity passes, it was free for Bob and I, too. So we all participated. We did a craft sack (a canvas bag that we decorated with fabric markers) and wood crafts that we decorated. In the afternoon, we went to see the Luray Caverns. They are underground caverns with stalagtites and stalagmites. We went on a mile and a quarter guided tour of the caverns. This first picture is of the underground lake that is so still that the lake reflects the ceiling. Bob didn't even realize we were looking at the lake until he saw a ripple near the edge of the water. The boys really enjoyed it (Bob and I did, too).

 

 

 

 

 

There were deer everywhere on the mountain. We saw several deer every day. We even saw some walk in front of us on Sunday as we were walking on a path.

 

On Tuesday, we got stuck doing a time share talk in the morning. They billed it as a survey for those who are RCI members (we traded our week through RCI so we could go to this resort) to compare how their resort compares to others we've been to. We did do a survey, but it had nothing to do with the proposed topic. We made it clear from the start that we were not buying. But we did get free water park tickets out of the deal. Next, we went to the ski lodge for another craft. The boys and I used fabric markers to decorate kites and Bob decorated a hat. After lunch, we did a nature scavenger hunt. We had to find things around the ski lodge in answer to a list. We collected some of the items in a bag and took pictures of other things. Here are the guys searching.

 

Alexander's posing by a rock we chose for "something that has layers."

 

When we read that we needed to find "something that is loud," both boys pointed to the ski lift. In hindsight, this isn't exactly what they were looking for, I'm sure, since it's a nature scavenger hunt, but they gave it to us anyway.

 

After the scavenger hunt, we went back to the craft room to make tie-dye shirts. They are still balled up in bags, and we can open them on Tuesday of this week to see how they came out. I think I better wear gloves for that. Then we promised Alexander he could run with his kite. It wasn't windy enough to make it fly high, but he loved to just run back and forth with the kite trailing him. He HAD to do it every day thereafter. He had colored a fish on his kite (with the help of a stencil and Mommy).

 

Wednesday, we went to the water park. They have an indoor and outdoor water park on the mountain. We really liked the indoor water park. It had an enormous play scape with several water slides coming off of it and water shooting out everywhere. At first, I tried to wear my glasses, but quickly realized they were useless covered in water. We switched of following one of the boys. But Bob and Glenn spent at least half the day going down some slides that you ride on tubes (Alexander wasn't tall enough). It really was fun, but I don't think I have ever felt so wet in my life. I told Bob that if I were a kid, I'd want to come back again later in the week. But I am not a kid! I cannot do it twice in one week. We got there just after it opened at 10 and left at 4:30. It was probably the best day of the vacation because everyone was happy. On Thursday, we went on a hike. We packed up lunch and plenty of water and everyone carried their own on their backs... well, until about 20 minutes into the hike and Bob had to carry Alexander's bag. It was supposed to be 3 miles round trip, but at lunch, just past a mile, we decided we better head back so the boys didn't get too tired of hiking. We weren't carrying anyone. You can see in this picture Bob and Glenn's craft sacks they decorated.

 

We looked for clues of animals in the area. Alexander found a deer hoof print.

 

And we will continue with the story of our vacation another day...