Superheroes vs Princesses

Today, the superheroes and I went back to our big outlet mall to meet a very good friend of mine, Danielle, who moved to the west coast about 6 months ago (tears).  Danielle brought her 2 daughters, Paige (3) and Ella (2 in a week), and her 7 year old nephew, Nick.

Danielle has been a regular sahm (stay at home mom) pal of mine, since we met at our friend Jen's daughter's birthday party 3 years ago.  She is the only friend I have who has 2 girls close to the age of my boys.  The difference in their sexes, even at this young age, is so funny to me.  I literally can only name about 5 princesses, have no idea how to style girls hair, and am not use to kids that don't try to jump off everything or wrestle their friends to the ground.

We decided to eat lunch at a restaurant where it was Kid's Day (kids eat for 99 cents---  cha-ching!!).  Luckily, it was another beautiful day, so we decided to eat outside with the messy kids.

They were hot and hungry, but how cute are their Buffalo Wild Wings hats?!?

Apparently Blake is a Wing Nut...  who knew?

Danielle and I

After eating and shopping, it was time to say our good-byes.

Nick and Colton wrestled it out...

And Paige and Colton hugged it out...

It starts early, but there is such a difference early on between girls and boys.  I can't even imagine not getting tackled and instead getting hugged all day.  Ahhhhh.....  the sweet life I will just have to live through with my nieces and my friend's girlies.

DINO-mite!

Today was Colton and my second Tuesday Date Day.  Last Tuesday he spent the day with his cousin, so today we had to make up for lost date time.  I decided to take him today to a Nature Conservatory about 20 minutes away from our house, which I had never been to before.  There was also a dinosaur show at 1:00 which I bought us both tickets to, so I decided to get there early and explore the grounds.

balancing on the logs...  I think we were supposed to be learning how old the tree was  ;)

close to the entrance

part of the Gardens with a mini waterfall

high-five!

Colton taking my pic and having me make a 'silly' face

I have to say, I was blown away.  It was so beautiful (and a perfect 80 degrees today!) inside and outside.  We were the first people there, only joined by a nature camp on the property.  We started off inside the conservatory to learn about some animals.

Colton LOVES terrapins since he's been to 2 U of MD football games

One of the employees had the patience of a saint.  Colton must've asked her over 50 questions in about 5 minutes.  And...  all starting with "Why" of course!

snakeskins next to the snake tank.  Eric would've been grossed out!

He loved looking through a microscope to see rocks and shells.

Next was a walk outside onto the property.  We decided to check out the Butterfly Garden.  It should've also been called a Bee Garden if you ask us, but the flowers were beautiful!

11:30.  Time for a picnic lunch.  PB&J of course...

Next onto the gardens and to find the animals...

The billygoat in front of Colton kept trying to headbutt him.  The white goat on the top was chillin' in the sun and not too interested in our company

Chicks

Now was time for the dinosaur show.  I ended up running into and sitting with a friend from my Basic Training days at the gym, her wonderful mom, and three adorable kiddos!  *Warning- if you see me this summer, you will most likely end up on my blog ;)

The dinosaur show was really cute.  It was a sort of puppet/muppet event, run by a company from Australia.  The host was very entertaining for the kids, and I have to say that I learned a lot as well that I never knew about these historic creatures.

Hope you had a DINO-mite day as well!

Brousins

My husband, Eric, has an identical twin brother Nick, whose family luckily lives about 5 minutes from our home (or 3 miles if you decide to take the paths between our houses by bike or foot).  My s.i.l. Erika has 2 awesome kids, Jordan (16) and Julien (18) from another relationship, and two little guys with Nick.

When I was pregnant with Colton, I worked at a baby boutique.  As you would guess, the talk between the customers and employees was basically about pregnancy and babies (obvi)!  My co-worker Laura one day mentioned to me, that when Eric's twin brother has kids, me and Eric's children would not only be cousins, but 1/2 brothers, since they would share 1/2 of the same DNA from the daddies (take that Maury Povich!)

Fast forward 4 years, and we have 'brousins' (1/2 brothers/ 1/2 cousins).  Colton (almost 4), Tyson (3), Keilan (1 1/2) and Blake (almost 1).  Growing up, I never had first cousins, and LOVE the idea that my boys have their special buddies to grow up with.

Today, the brousins got together twice.  In the morning they played at the gym together, while Erika and I got our work-outs on (and chatted for about 30 minutes on the treadmill), and after nap time at the pool.

I took some pics, but since my camera is crappy not that great, they might not be too clear.  But, check out these two, and see if you can see any resemblance.

Keilan (left) sharing his goldfish with Blake

from left:  Tyson, Colton, Keilan and Blake (oh...  and aunt Erika!)

Below are some pics from Puerto Rico, when our families  vay-cayed together during spring break.

on Dorado Beach-  from left:  Keilan, Colton and Tyson

from left:  Blake, Tyson and Jordan

from left:  Keilan and Blake

Colton (standing) and Tyson (sitting) collecting shells

one of my favorite pics!  from left:  Keilan, Tyson, Colton and Blake

there's Tyson and Nick in the back, and Colton and Eric in front


How lucky are these guys to have instant best friends?!? We are so excited for all of the adventures these little guys will do in the future! 

Weekend

This weekend was pretty chill.  Eric feels a lot better, and even drove to our gym today, which is about 5 miles away from our home.  Friday night, Eric, Blake and I hung out with some great friends, while Colton spent the night over his cousin's (Tyson and Keilan) for the first time.

We met some friends at the pool on Saturday... here are some pics of my fam

Eric walked 4 1/2 miles to our pool, while me and the boys got some sun

Here is one Colton took of his lil bro

Saturday night we went downtown, where the city I live in celebrated it's 45th birthday.  Check out our brick we bought, which got installed this month.

And back at home to Colton's room for story time by Daddy.

And despite little bugs, a picnic on Sunday.

We have some fun plans this week already, and I am looking forward to posting some exciting pictures!

GROWIIIIINNNNNGGGG......

Very soon, the superheroes and I will be going to Florida, and we are bringing our awesome 'Tuesday Babysitter' Blair, to help with the kids.  Eric will only be joining us for only 3 days, to be sure he doesn't put too much pressure on his recovering collar bones.

Colton has been lucky enough to have been to Florida a little over 20 times in his almost 4 years of life.  When Colton was 2, Eric and I bought season passes to Disney World, since we vacationed in Orlando often.  Now that we are "Mickey'ed out", we purchased Universal Studio/Island of Adventure season passes, so my boys can get their Spiderman-on!

Since my older superhero is a veteran when it comes to rides, he is always ready to go on the bigger rides, even if he does not reach the height requirement.  Last year we were turned away at the Star Wars ride in Hollywood Studios, because the Disney Cast Member could stick a business card between Colton's head and the height requirement stick (I am seriously talking about 1/4"!!).  I was stuck spending $20 on a  stupid R2D2 toy to ease his pain when we were trapped in the over-priced gift shop leaving the front of the line.

Universal/I.O.A has the same policy.  It's so annoying!  If my little guy is brave enough to conquer these rides, he should be allowed!  No...  I get it.  Totally a safety issue.

Well, as of now, Colton is 1" shy of riding the following rides which we will be at very soon:

http://www.universalorlando.com/Rides/Universal-Studios-Florida/Men-In-Black-Alien-Attack.aspx

This ride is super-fun.  I ended up going with my hubby in January, and know Colton will love shooting the aliens!

http://www.universalorlando.com/Rides/Islands-of-Adventure/Jurassic-Park-River-Adventure.aspx

I am not one for the rides with big drops, but Blair assured me she is braver than me, and is willing to take him on whatever rides he wants to go on.

http://www.universalorlando.com/Rides/Islands-of-Adventure/Popeye-Bluto-Bilge-Rat-Barges.aspx

This ride is sooooooooo  fun!  Check out Eric on it in December:

whoops!  Wrong photo.  This is Eric (front) and his older brother, Mike on the Rip Saw Falls.  Hmmmm, someone looks scared... lol!

Here's the water ride.  So much fun!!

I decided to give Colton an extra inch for the trip.  I really didn't want him to miss out on these rides, and if he was brave enough, and we were spending money to go, he was going to go.  I decided to take a pair of his sandals, and glue a 1" piece of foam to the bottom.  Ghetto?  Yes!  I have been looking for taller shoes for him and was s.o.l., so it was either this, or dressing him like Suri Cruise and putting him in some heals.

My supplies (the foam is some of his building toys from my M.I.L.- sorry Grandma!)

During...  just needs to be painted

And after...  they are not perfect, but who's looking at the bottom of his feet.

Let's see if this works!

Before the Super-Shoes.  A very sad and disappointed 41" boy

And after!  42" and a happy as can be.

Look out M.I.B. aliens, we are coming to take you down!!!

Going Green

In the next few weeks, we are going to be remodeling our kitchen.  We decided to sell our formal dining room set (thank you Craigslist!), since it was used about 8 times since we have been together.  The wall between our kitchen and dining room is going to get demo'd, and an island with matching granite and cabinets will fill in this space.

Since I have paint left over from the mural, I decided to give Colton a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to paint the walls, without getting sent to time out.  He has learned about recycling, and I thought this could be a good "lesson" to teach him, on how we can use things we don't need anymore to have some fun.

This wall should get torn down soon.

Before the painting begins, he consults with our dog, Rusty

Blake wanted to "help" too

If you look close enough, you can see Eric recovering on the sofa

Colton wanted Mommy to help make handprints

Finished product...  I actually kinda like it!