Finally some pictures

A fun crew!

We have a lot of special times to catch up on! We hope you enjoy all of the pictures we've gathered over the past several weeks:

The Bobsled ride at Santa Claus Land!

A few weekends ago we visited North Pole, NY  with Grammie and Pa to see Santa.  This attraction is absolutely perfect for little people and our girls had so much fun!

The icy cold North Pole

Stella making her own wooden toy car in Santa's Toy Shop

The girls dancing with some of the park characters

Stella with Grammie on the Train

The Perrin's visited from Hawaii and the Schuchhardt's visited from Ohio last weekend. The Parker's joined in all of the fun and the kids all had a super fun time.  We also had visits from Maddy and Kalub.  Our girls love to play with other children so the more the merrier!

Grammie planned an 'old-school' halloween party just like from our childhood.  The grown-ups helped the kiddos get excited by dressing up too.  The kids experienced a doughnut on a string eating contest and also tried to bob for apples.  It was great fun!

The girls were our little Princesses for the day!  Claire remembers dressing up for this party so now when ever we ask her what she's going to be for halloween she says (or rather shouts) "pretty dress"!
 

Double-fisting apples!

Skye taking a bite with Stella and Haley

Sleepy kitty!  Jordan loved dressing up so much
he didn't want to take off his costume!

While everyone was here we  visited Fobare's Fruits.  We've mentioned in a previous post how simply awesome this place is.  Everyone loved it!

Skye and Claire

The Perrin's

Claire on the tire playground

Barefoot and loving life!

 

 

Our happy girl really hurt her finger last weekend when
she pinched it between a folding chair.  She's a trooper though!
The Dora band-aids help us keep it covered (sometimes...)

 

 

We also celebrated Claire's 2nd birthday with a Monster themed party.  It was so fun being able to enjoy our special girls day with cousins!

Aunt MJ made this fun cake.  Claire was so excited
about Monster Mike!

Birthday favors and decorations!

Claire was super excited about here green monster cake!

This weekend Caroline, Caleb, and Esme came for a visit.  The girls had so much fun playing together.  On Sunday we climbed Pinnacle Mountain in Santa Clara.  This smaller mountain is a perfect hike for children and it was an absolutely gorgeous day to enjoy the Adirondacks!

Beautiful view from the summit.  (And holding on to our busy body Claire-Bear ReAlLy close!)

Family Fun Fall '13

The last two weeks we've been having great fun with a trip to the North Pole to visit Santa Clause Land, and a visit from family.  We celebrated Claire's 2nd birthday a week early while so many family members were visiting.  Since they are still here this is a quick entry but we promise to post pics from both special times very soon!

Dinner Party

We had a fun time yesterday at a dinner party with friends from high school.  With everyone's busy schedules it's hard to find time to get together but we are always so glad when we do!  The girls really enjoy play time with other children so this was a really fun night out for them - we stayed until bed time and put them in there PJ's just before we loaded up the car!

Up next week: We are planning a trip to North Pole, NY to visit Santa Clause Land with grammie and pa.  Hopefully we'll have some beautiful fall weather for this outing.  We will post pics soon after!

Fobare's Fruits

We are gradually getting back into our routine and so far have managed for three out of the four of us to stay healthy.  Daddy had a 24-hour flu of sorts that made it difficult for him to get out of bed but thankfully it lasted a short time and the rest of us dodged it!

This weekend Mommy and the girls visited Fobare's Fruits with Grammie, Joan, Dave, and Maddy.  This place is absolutely awesome!  Not only can you pick apples and buy fresh vegetables and baked goods, there's hours of entertainment for the kiddos.  The girls had so much fun.  The kangaroo jumping pillow was probably their favorite but they had so much fun on all of the playground areas too.  Claire really loved the "train ride" through the orchard, grape vines, and pumpkin patch and excitedly told her Dad about it when we made it home. And of course, picking apples and eating cider donuts was fun too!  We will most definitely be visiting Fobare's again soon!

 Claire really held her own on the pillow jump.  She needed a little boost from time to time but she simply loved it!  She mixed right in with the big kids without a care in the world that she's still so little!  Lucky for her she's child number 2, Mommy would have been a nervous wreck with Stella at this age!

Little Claire-Bear, all the way on the top with all the big kids!

Stella and Maddy having so much fun!

 

We started gymnastics classes again this weekend. Stella was super excited and had fun like always.  She's such a big girl now it's great to see her patiently waiting her turn and listening to her coach.  Claire participated in her very first parent-tot class with Daddy and really had a good time.  She's a little tempted to run all over the gym, but hopefully with each passing week she'll begin to understand where she's supposed to be! The pics are blurry but we think you'll be able to tell she's enjoying herself!

Back to school!

We've had a busy couple of weeks after coming back from vacation and getting ready for all of the changes to our routine that come with the end of summer.  Last weekend we went to the SUNY Potsdam Welcome Weekend Carnival and the girls had so much fun!  They each made their own stuffed animal - Stella  chose a unicorn and Claire a duck. They also had the chance to play lots of games, eat sweet treats, and have their photo taken in a big huge chair!  This weekend we stayed close to home but celebrated mommy's birthday when grammie and pa visited for a sleep over.  We also picked apples with Aunt MJ and enjoyed playing outside in the not so hot (but really not cold yet either) weather.  Next week will be especially busy and tiresome but Gymnastics starts on Saturday and Stella is soooo excited!

Maine Vacation!

Lily, Stella, and Claire - our Alpha Delta Pi Legacy ladies!

We took a break last weekend because we were on vacation in Maine visiting Mommy's friend Stacy from College.  She, her husband Aaron, and her daughter Lily were such gracious hosts!  We all had a great time away!  We visited the Ocean, Mom got to indulge in a Lobster feast (the rest of us weren't all that interested in the delicacy from the sea) played and played and played, and had a fun stop in New Hampshire on our way back to New York.  Here are a few pics:

Claire snuggling with Lily

Stella making the best of riding in the car

Lily's doggy Harris keeping Stella company

First smore's experience - yummy!

Sisterly love @ Popham Beach, ME

Claire toddling along - she walked about a million
tiny steps that day!

We spent the night in North Conway, NH on our way back to NY to have some family time.  This little gem of a town had so many fun things to do.  We were there just a short time and spent most of it at the Children's Museum.  They hosted a live animal viewing the day we were there - we saw a fox, and were also able to pet a baby pig and an iguana too!

 Dad played an early round of golf while we there and we enjoyed the playground at the outlets for a bit!

Making music on stage!

Climbing around at the Children's Museum

Playing dress up at the Children's Museum!

Center Stage at the museum!

Playground fun in North Conway!

As always there's plenty to do at home as well.  Daddy and Stella enjoyed a little nap this week, probably the last one of the summer.  We also went to the SUNY Potsdam Welcome Weekend Carnival this week which was really fun.  Most of the activities were too advanced for Claire-Bear but she didn't care - she had a blast anyway!

Claire making her own stuffed animal Duck
at the carnival.  Stella made a unicorn!

Claire and her own game of twister!

Hot Days and a Road Trip

with 'Auntie' Caroline and Esme at the NICU Reunion

We took a road trip with grammie today for a visit with Caroline and Esme and to check out the annual NICU Reunion.  We had the chance to see the Mars Family, Carlene, Eddie, and Ty, and had a few moments with some special staff from the NICU.  A great time was had by all!

Children in the Corn! @ Shelburne Farms, VT

    Claire playing in the barn at Shelburne Farms.  She loved the horsey, and found a book and some play food to occupy herself after we pulled her away from the corn pool...

Stella in her new NICU Graduate tee

Stella got to cool off in our neighbors pool this week and she had lots of fun!   Thank you Lorri for inviting us over!  Claire-Bear loves to toddle around the yard with her new Mickey watering can (and Stella's Dora can when she can steal it away) and water the grass.  Here she's taking a little break from all the hard work!

Summerfest

This weekend the girls had fun at the Tri-Town Summer Festival.  They enjoyed having Aunt Mary Jane and cousin Logan and his step sister Alisa over to watch the parade.  This year we checked out the Carnival of Fun for the first time and other than some tears over waiting patiently for their turn the girls absolutely loved the games and bounce houses!  We didn't get any pics this time but it was a fun weekend!  We are looking forward to heading to Burlington next Sunday for a visit with Caroline, Caleb, and Esme and for the NICU Reunion.

July 2013 Photos

We are continuing to have a fun summer and are enjoying lots of family time.  It's sad to realize that summer is just about half over.  We plan to make the most of what's left during August.  We have a day trip to Burlington planned as well as a trip to Maine to see Stacy, Aaron, and Lily.  We can't wait!
(For those of you on Facebook sorry for the duplicate photo posts!)

Climbing at the playground!  Claire loved this too - she tried to climb onto the top so
taking a picture wasn't an option...

Helping sweep out Miss Katy's trailer

Stella's new shirt Pastor Gregg helped her make!

Passing some time on a rainy day