A trip to North Conway.....

Our trip to North Conway was a bit of a bust... but we still managed to have some fun at the indoor pool and jacuzzi...... Jason enjoyed getting to hang out with his favorite Auntie Lisa.... Nicholas and Dan enjoying the jacuzzi.... Bathing suit-check....PJ top-check..... binkie-check.....winter hat-check.........let's head back to the pool!

New pics.....

I don't know why my brother doesn't like his winter hat.... fits me pretty good ! Mom - why didn't you tell me before how yummy my toes can be??? Dad, what is this silly stuffed animal on my head? Wow - this jumperoo is fun! Nicholas enjoys playing with it too! Funny how he still likes all his old toys. I love my exersaucer too!

Come on Dad, let's go for a ride... spring will be here soon! I hope!!

Nicholas trying to dress himself.... this matches right Mom?

Happy St Patty's Day!

And the celebration continues.....

Trying to get Dan to go out in Worcester is like pulling teeth! He just refuses to do anything there. Dan told me he didn't want a 40th birthday party but I just couldn't let the big event go by without celebrating somehow. Rather than the big blowout we threw for his 30th, I thought I would do something a little lower key. Just invite family and close friends and hang out. I decided to rent a couple of pool tables at Jillian's in Worcester and surprise him. To pull this off required quite a fake plan. It took many days to spin the excuse of why we were going to Worcester and then how we were going to end up at Jillian's. Our friends Leighann and Scott were my backup.... Leighann actually put the lineup together. They were getting emails daily of how the story was coming along so they knew what to say if Dan called or emailed. Once the story was finally all put together, the first words out of Dan's mouth were 'sounds fishy'.... ACK!!! So I kept elaborating on the story and he seemed to be convinced.

I can remember saying on Friday night after celebrating Dan's birthday how happy I was that the kids were healthy this year since our plans got ruined last year when Nicholas came home early from daycare with a fever. Man did I jinx us! Around 12:30AM I heard Nicholas stirring and coughing. I noticed on the monitor that he was wiping something off his pillow. I decided to go investigate. Before I even turned on the lights I could smell the vomit :( Poor guy ended up throwing up for the next 4 hours. Dan had him in and out of the shower atleast 4 times and stayed with him most of that time. After the last episode, Dan said we better cancel our plans with Leighann and Scott. At which point I had to let the cat out of the bag and tell him about the party.... he was PISSED!! He spent the whole day mad at me and held a grudge even into the first few minutes of the party! Luckily Nicholas had stopped vomitting the next morning and my mother and stepfather were willing to take one for the team and come babysit still (my mother ended up catching Nicholas' stomach bug - OOPS! - sorry mom!!)

Anyways, once the party started up and people started playing pool, I know Dan started to really enjoy himself. It really was a nice night out getting to see all the people close to us in one place. I think it was a huge success and Dan even thanked me for the party the next morning :) Thanks to everyone for taking the time to come out and celebrate with us!

Here are some pics from the night - most of them are from Dan's sister Aimee who already posted them on facebook so they might be duplicates to some of you!

Happy 40th Dan!

Dan celebrated his 40th birthday on March 11th. Unfortunately he had to work but Nicholas, Jason and I worked hard making him his favorite cake that he requests every year ....... strawberry cake from the box and fresh buttercream frosting. I must admit the cake looks a bit sad. I blame it on not having time to really pay attention while taking care of two kids :) When Dan got home, we took off for a family dinner at Friendly's! This is the first time we've ordered off the childrens menu for Nicholas. Such a waste seeing as he barely ate it but he sure had fun! He had french fries and then chicken fingers on skewers with three dipping sauces. He had a few bites of the chicken and then decided to just try to keep dipping everything in the sauces.... mess #1. Then came dessert. We ordered him a vol-cone-o. Basically a few scoops of ice cream with an upside down cone on top to look like a volcano. It's supposed to be like a make your own sundae with different toppings that you add yourself. I showed Nicholas how to drizzle the caramel sauce and then he went to town with the hot fudge! He wasn't interested in the ice cream but loved eating the hot fudge right out of the little dish. He would shake in a bunch of sprinkles... and then when he got a mouth full of them, spit them out! Needless to say the table, Nicholas and I were all wearing lots of hot fudge and sprinkles by the end of the meal! It was definitely a meal the required a large tip to be left.... not because of the service but because of the big mess we left behind!

When we got home, the boys helped Dan blow out the candles on his cake!

Jason's new trick....

We had a little accident this morning with Jason falling off the ottoman. Luckily he was alright but everyone was a bit upset... especially his brother! Well Jason came home from 'school' with a new trick.... now I know how he fell off!!

Nicholas just loves to dance.....

A couple vidoes of Nicholas enjoying himself on vacation ..........

Our trip to Turks & Caicos

The Turks & Caicos has always been a favorite caribbean destination for us. Hell, we even named our cats after the islands! We spent a lot of time searching for the perfect vacation to celebrate Dan's 40th birthday. I was so excited when Dan came home proclaiming he found a killer deal to Beaches Turks & Caicos. And that he did! We were able to stay in a one bedroom suite for less than the base room. We of course brought along our 'nanny' Lisa (Dan's sister) again which was essential. Thanks to her we were able to enjoy plenty of alone time on this trip and I always appreciate a 'seasoned' mother around to offer advice and talk me down off the cliff multiple times in 6 days :) Thanks Lisa - it wouldn't have been as great of a vacation without you!!!



So our trip of course started out with multiple bumps in the road. Both kids were diagnosed with ear infections the day before we left so Monday night ended up being crazy busy between taking both kids to the doctor and having to wait around to have prescriptions filled. In addition, Dan had caught the kids' colds the day before and ended up staying home sick in hopes of catching up on some sleep and hopefully kicking the symptoms quicker.



We had decided to fly out of Providence this time due to frequent flier miles. The tickets we had to buy were more expensive than Boston but with the cheaper parking we thought it would be a wash. When we arrived at the airport we were informed that the plane came in late the night before and the crew had expired their flying time so the flight would be delayed..... meaning we would miss our connection. The only option they offered us was a stop in Charlotte, then into Miami and then into Turks. We were originally supposed to land at 2:30.... we didn't get there til 8:00. Both kids were superstars for such a long travel day. They definitely took it better than us. Luckily we had bought Nicholas a seat and loaded the ipad full of shows so he was happy. The highlight of his travel day had to be catching a ride on one of the golf carts in the airport. He was mesmerized by them! I must say that landing in the dark is a complete bummer when arriving at a tropical island. No excitement of seeing that beautiful blue water when landing..... no excitement of seeing the lush resort and enjoying pina coladas while exploring the resort.... but atleast we arrived safely. Jason freaked out that first night. Not sure if his ears were bothering him from the flights or he was just plain exhausted. Nicholas of course refused to go in the crib and slept in between us.



Our first day started early. Dan and Lisa took the kids for a walk while I organized. We then headed off to breakfast. For those of you who know Nicholas, you know he is not much of a food eater and hates to sit at the dinner table. We were afraid what would happen at each meal. When we arrived at our first breakfast, we tried to put him in a highchair.... no dice. He demanded to sit in a regular chair. Luckily they had booster seats that Nicholas happily sat in for all his meals. Of course we needed to use the itouch, coloring books and matchbox cars at dinner to make him sit thru it. But he sat much longer that he ever has at home!

Nicholas loved breakfast time! He spent most of the time spreading pads of butter on his toast - which he wouldn't eat. He did eat plenty of bacon, some yogurt, and tried apple juice. Lunches always seemed to be freshly made pizzas, mainly because there was no room service and we were always back in the room for lunch. Everyone including Nicholas loved the pizzas so it wasn't really a problem. Dinners for Nicholas were the worst in terms of eating. He would have a french fry here or there but really just played around. There were still plenty of cheerios, goldfish and pretzels consumed along with his beloved bottles. Luckily I had planned for him to eat crappy and bought more than enough formula for both kids to have plenty of bottles everyday.

Unfortunately Nicholas was not a fan of the ocean. A complete bummer since Turks has one of the nicest beaches in the caribbean. I only got to stick my toes in the ocean once :( We had really hoped to go snorkeling one afternoon while the kids napped but we ended up either going out for lunch or napping ourselves!

Nicholas did however LOVE the pools! Hopefully that sticks for this summer as he really never wanted to go in last year. He enjoyed playing on the stairs, playing ball in the pool and meeting new friends to play with (and ultimately try stealing their toys). The resort had a great waterpark area for toddlers!! Unfortunately Nicholas was not interested at all. He did however enjoy sitting on Daddy and going around the lazy river quite a bit.

The sun and pool really wore Nicholas out! He was taking crazy naps on vacation.... the first day was for 5 hours!! Unfortunately that meant that we missed the Sesame Street show on multiple nights which was a bummer because he did enjoy dancing to the music during them.

Dan arranged a special treat for us to attend a character breakfast while we were at the resort. Basically you pay to eat breakfast in a separate area and all the sesame characters come in and greet all the kids and take pictures and then they have a little dance party. Since we got in so late the first night and Nicholas slept thru the show our second night, he didn't really get to interact with the characters ahead of time so he was a bit scared of them. By the end of the trip he was willing to wave to them and high-five them. That's about as daring as he got!

So our days pretty much always started early with Nicholas demanding to go on an early morning walk. Which always ended with him coming back to the room all wet from going in one of the pools or ocean too :) We would then hit breakfast and head back to the room to get ready for the pool. We would spend a couple of hours there and then head back towards the room and order pizzas. Everyone would have lunch and then the kids would nap. Two of us would usually go for lunch/drinks and leave one person behind to watch the kids and nap. Once Nicholas would finally decide to get up, we would try to catch a show or head out for dinner. It's amazing how quickly the 6 days went by when trying to entertain and work around the kids' schedules. Luckily Jason is still so small he pretty much just went with the flow most of the time and we didn't have to alter plans too often for him.

This resort was awesome! We were afraid of how it would be after all the bad reviews we read about our room type. So not true! The rooms were in great shape with HUGE balconies... one off the bedroom and one of the living room. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and pool most of the week so it made us use the balconies even more. We were on a second floor which was painful for moving the kids and my gigantic stroller. I had asked to change rooms to a first floor, but once I saw the view, I decided it was worth the pain to deal with the stairs. The one bummer about the room was that the tub, shower and vanity were out in the open of the bedroom. Normally not a problem for couples but definitely tough when you have 3 adults using the facilities AND having Nicholas in his crib right there. He slept really soundly during the day but come night, if he was tossing and turning in his crib and someone got up to use the bathroom..... he would say hi and then end up in our bed. The room did have a fully stocked mini bar ... we didn't indulge in the liquor too much but everyone certainly drank their fair share of water and soda! I also liked that the room had a separate sink area where I could wash bottles. Something about leaving them on the vanity next to our toiletries is never appealing to me.

The pools were so nice and warm and all the food and drink was really good I thought. I loved that they had a coffee shop that I could get lattes at any time. We were bummed that there was no room service originally, but the wood grilled pizzas were always great and probably fresher/warmer than any food we could have ordered. Dan and I went out for one lunch and one dinner alone. Our lunch was on the beach with our toes in the sand. We did our dinner night out at the adults only french restaurant which was fantastic!!

I would not hesitate to return to this resort again. Unfortunately with its price that probably won't be until my 40th :) When the kids are a bit older, they will be able to enjoy even more of the activities that were available and we'll be able to use more of the day when they aren't napping anymore.

All in all I think it was a great vacation. Both kids were rockstars during our travel days and they both really enjoyed just being outside without jackets on! They both loved the pool and for the most part were in great moods. Although I must say Nicholas was quite happy to be home in his own bed by the end of the 6 days.... but then again so was I :) I think the resort, amenities and food/drink were all top notch. But this was a tiring vacation for Dan & I even with an extra set of hands. I don't know how we would have made it thru if it was just the 2 of us taking care of the kids. I think we learned that we need direct flights and extra hands for any of our trips with the kids in the near future! Now we just need a vacation from our vacation :)

Here are some pics from our trip. Lisa was much better at taking pictures than us so hopefully we'll have more to share once I get hers.

Nicholas enjoyed being able to dance on stage before the evening shows.....





A visit with Abby ......





And also with Elmo ..........

Nicholas and Daddy ready to hit the pool .......

Nicholas enjoying a 'cocktail' at the pool .......

Snacktime with Daddy after a busy morning in the pool ......

Jason and Mommy hanging by the pool .....

Auntie, who is this furry character next to me??

The boys hanging with Auntie and Mommy at the character breakfast ...

Mommy and Jason enjoying the action.....

Dad, I really don't like all these felt weirdos.....

Nicholas is a bit reserved with the arrival of Elmo....

I'm just going to play with my balloon and ignore all the other action....

As close to a family portrait as possible.....

Yes, all these plates are Nicholas' for breakfast.........

Daddy and Nicholas getting ready for the character breakfast....

Eating freshly made pizza while lounging on the balcony in my diaper......... does vacation get any better???

Nicholas and Daddy enjoying an early morning walk around the pool outside out room .......