rainy but fun!

We have had a fun week filled with birthday parties, rainy day activities (yes it's STILL raining here!!), farmers markets and the boys first race.

Our friend Jonah celebrated his 3rd birthday!

The rains are still with us...I think it has rained almost everyday in May! So we have had to pull out some of the winter rainy day activities.

The boys have been enjoying painting!

They sure do like to concentrate while painting!

We went to the mid-week farmers market and the boys got to hold a boy bee (no stinging parts!). I've never seen them stand so still!
After the farmers market we went for a stroll with our gal pals, Shan Li and Mei Zhen. The sun came out for our walk and our raspberry eating session!
This weekend was the 4th annual Run for the Hills...a benefit race for the Greenbelt Land Trust's (where mom works) trails program. The boys ran in the 1/4 mile kids race. Dylan shot out of the racing block, ahead of the rest of us. He sure was flying! He's not even touching the ground in this shot! Our friends Nicole and Jonah are next to us too!
Here is Dylan crossing the finish line.
Cole ran the whole way too...just attached to mom's arm. Mom was going to take pictures but the kids ran so fast that Dad ended up running ahead of them to the finish line to get the good shots.
They both got winner's ribbons to show off! Then it was time to hit the snack table!!

birthday...dancing...derby??

It has been a bit since our last post...but much is abound.
Mom celebrated her birthday and was surprised several times by her wonderful husband and fabulous friends! Here Dylan is taking on the opening present job for mom...

...and just LOVES the new necklace! So does mom...who has been eying this piece for a while now!

The weather is turning nicer...not so many rainy days. We headed out to some lunchtime music with friends and Cole got a hold of the camera and took a bunch of pictures...
Here is one of our bag...my newest sewing project (not a great shot of what the bag looks like but you notice it carries the important items like chips and sunscreen!)

The light post.

Cole's self portrait.
Dylan in the mean time was boogieing down to the music!
Random shot during the week of mom in stripes with son in stripes.
The best part of the birthday celebrations was going out with a bunch of friends to a roller derby bout. A few of us dressed up for the occasion!
Oh yeah! We're tough all right!
After the 'bout' we headed out to a martini bar for food and drinks...and as you can tell we changed into our martini bar attire. Not a bad way to bring in mom's 36th year!! I can't wait for our next adventure!
To top off this week Aunt Lesley came for a visit while Daddy was away on a work trip. Let me just say LIFE SAVER!! or shall I really say MOM SAVER!! It was so great to have the extra help and the boys had so much fun!! Thanks so much for visiting us Auntie Lesley!!! We can't wait until next time.

Old Fence Out

This past weekend we were busy putting in a new fence down by the creek in our backyard and removing the old fence closer to our house.
The boys were very excited for such a big project and wanted to help with every facet of the plan...whether we wanted them to or not!

Dylan is very excited any time he gets to have a go with Mommy and Daddy's tools...hmmmmm maybe a little too excited??

Before...

...and after.
A few years back it was solid blackberry behind the fence. After years of digging out the blackberry and ivy and planting many native trees, shrubs and forbs (flowering plants) we were ready to take out that old ugly fence. The boys love having so many new places to play!

Today I was surprised by Rob coming home a little early from work with flowers and an amazing plan. He and one of my best friends, Lynn, hatched a plan to have her come over with her girls to watch the boys so that Rob and I could go out for my birthday dinner. She even showed up with dinner for the boys! What an amazing friend! She is a rock star...watching 4 kids by herself AND feeding them all dinner. After changing out of my jeans and t-shirt Rob and I had a lovely dinner at a fancy restaurant! Thanks Lynn and Rob!!

Happy May Day!

To celebrate May Day we headed out to Central Park for a bit of May pole dancing...

...and boat making.

There were quite a few other activities offered at this May Day Festival...but dancing and boats were the highlight for the boys.

Cole wound up his boat so much that it was too fast for my trigger finger and I missed getting it in the photo.

We were so excited to have some warmer weather this weekend. We invited our friends Jonah, Nicole and Matthew over for some playtime and lunch out on the deck. Fun times!!

Santa Fe

We got back this week from a fabulous visit to Santa Fe to see Nana Suzanne! We were hopping for sunny warm weather...it being the desert and all. But it was partly cloudy, cold, and it even rained! Despite not being able to wear the shorts and short sleeved shirts we brought we had a fabulous time!!

Our two big boy travelers!

Our first day there we walked to our favorite place in Santa Fe...the Children's Museum.

Our favorite things to do there were being a construction builder...

...playing with big bubbles

...and our most favorite was the BIG sand box with 'real' shovels that were, in the boys words, 'just their size'. They could have stayed there all day.
Walking back to Nana's house after we finally convinced them to leave the sand pit.

Nana also took us to a really cool climbing gym. The boys got to wear special climbing shoes and harness. They loved saying that they were wearing 'gear'. Dylan is ready to climb to the top of the ceiling.

Cole's not so sure he wants to go to the top.
Nana made the boys so happy by providing just the right toys!!
We all liked going for hikes to search for new things to look at. Big ant hills were usually a highlight. Here Cole found a soft mullen leaf.Taking a snack break from one of our hikes.

Nana also took us to a dairy goat farm where we got to feed baby goats with bottles. We were all helping and having so much fun that we really didn't get any photos of feeding the babies, but we also had fun playing with the little ones after the feeding.
Thanks for such a fun and adventurous visit Nana! We can't wait to head back to Camino Cacto!!

Wacky Wacky

Dylan was invited to a birthday party at Wacky Bounce...so we all decided to go and play. I think Daddy probably had the most fun. Because Rob would go in the bouncy things and play with the boys all the other kids were intrigued and would follow him from one bouncy apparatus to the next. Then they would all tackle him once he was inside. I'm surprised no one ended up with an elbow in the eye!

Cole catching air.

Dylan liked to just fling himself on animals within the different scenes. Here he is about to pounce on the alligator.

Once the bouncing ended Daddy took Cole out for a treat and Mom and Dylan stuck around for cake. How did Dylan manage to get this seat out of about 25 other kids??

Later that day we headed out for some contra dancing that some friends band were playing for. The boys participated in the group dance until we had to switch partners...then they wanted nothing to do with it. So we danced on the sidelines while listening to the music.
Cole made a little friend while we were there...she was a cutie! Here she is putting something in Cole's pocket.
Dancing boys!

Happy Happy Weekend

We had a fun weekend of bunny tails and rain storms.

We started off the weekend with good oral hygiene...

It's the best sitting on your brothers lap while brushing!

Daddy helped us start the weekend off with a blast by making pancakes with blueberry sauce (we are almost out of our frozen blueberry stash from last summer!!).

Dylan and mommy made sure to do our sit ups...with Cole as the task master.
Of course we had to do some work in the yard...I guess Dylan was expecting more than just rain.
And the Easter bunny came and hid some eggs for us to find!
How did the Easter bunny know we LOVE animal crackers and dried cherries???
And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad got to go out on a date!! Yeah for date night!!!!