Strawberry Festival 2010!

Saturday, June 26th
Bright and early, after a long week in Pennsylvania, we piled in the van and headed up north to Maine to a Strawberry Festival! As we were driving through the town, looking for a parking place, the kids were excited to see Uncle Jeff directing traffic. We parked and then met Shaun's sister Nicole and her little ones at the yummy and fun Strawberry Festival! Memere, Jim and and our nephew Alex showed up after and we had a great time! It was quite warm, but we sat in the shade and enjoyed yummy food like Strawberry Shortcake, water, cotton candy, snow cones, french fries, Strawberry Cheesecake and fried dough! It was a great little festival!

After sweating all day, we then went over to Aunt Amanda & Uncle Miles house. There the kids swam, we enjoyed some pizza, visited with family, played with cousins and swam some more!

The kids were in the pool until almost 9pm! They were exhausted--but had a great time!!! :)
Check out this future swim instructor....
He did a great job helping Bryce gain some confidence in the pool! Way to go Christopher & Bryce too!! :)

What a fun weekend! :)

April / May Birthday Celebration in New Hampshire!

Saturday, May 1st was, as usual, a busy Saturday. It started out with Swimming Lessons at 9am, Anneli's soccer pictures at 10:30am, Anneli's soccer game at 11am, Christopher's soccer pictures at 11:15am and his soccer game across town at 1pm. THEN we piled in the van and headed off to Aunt Amanda & Uncle Mile's home in New Hampshire for a party!! We were celebrating a bunch of April/May Birthdays! My neice Elizabeth and nephew Bryce were turning '3' (they aren't twins, just cousins with birthdays 2 days apart!!) and Anneli was turning '5'! My brother-in-law Jeff and I were also celebrating our 30-something Birthdays on Monday too! What a bunch of birthdays!! It was a fun, but long day!

We ended up spending the night--thanks Aunt Amanda & Uncle Miles!!--and spending Sunday with the cousins! There was a Kids Festival in Portsmouth so we checked out the booths and enjoyed the city. The kids enjoyed the 'touch tanks', where they could check out some sea creatures. Always a fun thing to do while visiting the seacoast area! :)

Do ya know what this is?

It's a whale ear bone!

How about this?

It's baleen!

We took a little boat tour of Portsmouth, NH & Kittery, ME---always a fun time, but this was super fun with Shaun's two sisters, their husbands, and their kids! It's amazing how everyone is growing up SOOOOOOOOOO FAST!! :) It was a bit chilly---but a great time was had by all the kids and parents too!

These characters were waiting on the dock when we were getting off the boat. They are a little freaky, don't ya think?? They made the kids a little nervous!

We finished up our trip by Geocaching at a cool place called Fort Foster. We were looking for two caches there, but only had time for one. We'll definately be back to find that other cache--it's bugging Christopher that he couldn't find it! :)

What a weekend...

February Update...

It's definately been awhile since I've posted last! As usual, things have been rather busy here! So sit back and take a look at what we've been up to!!! Sorry it's so long, but enjoy the pictures!

The first weekend in February Christopher was on cloud 9 when he and Shaun spent the night at Mystic Aquarium. It was a Scout Sleepover night and he had a blast! Parents and kids in his Scout Pack couldn't believe how knowledgeable he was on marine life. That's our boy---his first grade teacher last year thinks he's going to write Marine Biology Textbooks! :) We'll see! The next morning, even though it was FREEZING, Anneli and I met them there to walk around the Aquarium. We weren't there long, since it was so chilly, but it didn't matter since we have a family membership there. It's always nice to walk around and listen to Christopher tell us all about each animal! You'll have to go with him sometime, he's a great tour guide!

Disecting a squid! I heard he LOVED It! That's my boy! I always loved stuff like that too!!The Saturday before Valentine's Day we headed up to Canajoharie, New York for 'Soup' Mem's Birthday! We had a great time enjoying each other's company, playing with puppies, enjoying super yummy lasagna and cake, and playing Wii. It was great to see everyone!!!

Then Sunday night (Valentine's Day) the kids and I, along with my mom, piled into our van and drove to Greenville, South Carolina to visit with my sister Jess and her family. The kids were so excited to surprise their cousins Cole & Carter! They sure surprised them! It was a fun week--not a warm week though!!! BRRRrrrrrrr it was rather chilly!! We saw Ringling Brothers Circus elephants marching down the streets of Greenville one night heading to the Bi-Lo Center from the Circus train. It was fun, a little chilly and disappointing that there were only about 5 or six elephants!

We went to The Greenville Zoo, the circus, Gatty Town (sort of like a Chuck-E-Cheese with a movie while you eat), and Frankies Fun House too!

Then we drove all the way home to Connecticut so Christopher could attend his Swimming Championship Meet! I was worried that he would be super tired, but he seemed okay! Better than okay actually! He shaved time off his freestyle and finished under 30 seconds for the first time! YIPPEE!!! He finished 4th in his age group for backstroke and he finished 7th for Freestyle! Way to go Christopher!!!! That means that the swim season wasn't over for him yet! He made ALL STARS!!!! opps! We sort of promised him that after Championships the swim season was over!! OPPS!! That meant he had two weeks of hard practice since All Starts meant he had to swim all four strokes: backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke and an IM! UGH! Poor kid!

He was super excited about the trophy and metal he won!!

So for two long weeks, he was at the pool every night swimming as Anneli and I sat there watching and waiting. She was a trooper! She has totally mastered the DSi! :) Good thing Santa bought that stupid thing! :)

After two weeks of intensive practices, the All Star Swimming Pentathlon was upon us! We woke up early that Saturday morning and headed off to West Haven where we sat, he swam, we sat, he swam, we sat, he swam, we sat, he swam, we sat, he swam again, and we sat some more! He did an awesome job!!!! He came in fifth overall for his age group! He swam the butterfly for the first time and came in 6th place. He then came in sixth for Backstroke, fourth in freestyle, and fourth for the 100 Individual Medley! Way to go Christopher! We are so proud of him!!!

Go, Chris, Go!

Christopher took a little break from swimming to play some Nintendo DS with his good friend and fellow Scout Zak.

Last week, the Swim Team had their annual Swim Banquet. It was very nice! Here is a picture of Christopher getting some awards and gifts from his coaches Marc and Bridget! Way to go Christopher on your first year of swimming!!! :) We can't wait until summer swim team!!

Just because the swim season is over doesn't mean things slow down here... Stay tuned for more posts for what we are up to now! Hopefully, I'll get to it sooner than this post...