Colorado trip - the Zoo

While we were in Colorado, we got to go to the Denver Zoo with Nana, Grandpa, Linde and the girls. We had a great time, and saw lots of animals. We had a great up-close view of the tiger and some snow leapords. Elijah was especially excited to see the lions, tiger, and polar bear since the Roger Williams Park Zoo doesn't have those animals. He was thrilled to see some of his favorites from his home zoo, too. ("Look, Mama! An African Crowned Crane!") Even the little girls enjoyed it, despite the hot day. All the kids spent a lot of the walking around time eating and drinking.

Elijah checking out the polar bear

He was big and very playful

The little girls did great in the stroller

The big kids walked and walked and walked - but we were thankful for their strollers by the time we headed out

Buffalo

Sea lions

Giraffes

Tallie

Molly

Piper

Elijah

Colorado trip - fun with cousins

The kids and I went to back to Colorado to visit for 3 weeks in August. We had a great time with Nana & Grandpa and lots of family and friends. My brother John and his family came out from Grand Junction to visit us twice, and Linde and the girls stayed for the whole first week. We really enjoyed spending time with them, and it was great that the cousins had a chance to play together! We also got to spend time with some of my cousins and their kids - Jackie and Jen were visiting Melissa during our trip. You can check out their sites for more pictures and stories of all their visits.

Elijah making a rock collection

Molly and Luke playing soccer


The girls busy with their rock coloring

Lily - rock chalk

Sophie helping Elijah with his rocks

Logan enjoyed his ice cream a little too much!

Nana reading with Elijah and Piper

Elijah and Piper spent a lot of time with the Play-Doh

All the kids loved playing the piano.

Watching train videos with Grandpa

Miss Molly - silly

Playing bubbles with Nana

Little girls playing

Elijah and Piper did such a great job together! Their mammas and grandparents were all surprised and pleased at how well they shared and worked together (most of the time). The little girls mostly played near each other, but they were cute, too. Tallie is just four weeks older than Molly, and it was fun to see how much alike they are, and all the things that they are doing at the same time. Tallie is walking better, and Molly is talking a little more. And of course, Tallie has more hair than Piper and Molly combined! It has been over a year since we had been together with John's family, and this was the first time that the little girls got to meet. We were so glad for lots of time to just be together!

We're back!

Hey! We finally have internet access again! I will try to get caught up on July, moving, August, and the trip the kids' and I took to Colorado as soon as I can. Here are a couple of pictures from the end of July to tide you all over for now!

Elijah's giant train tracks

Boxes are the best part of moving! They were using this one as a drum.

More posts coming soon!

Still here

We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please bear with us. We hope to have this madness resolved very soon! Life without internet access is no fun :(

One year and three year portraits

We had Elijah's and Molly's pictures taken a few weeks ago for their birthdays. Here are a few of the good ones.

Moving

So, we moved yesterday. Well, our furniture and stuff did, anyway. Not a big move this time - it's just about 20 minutes from the old place to the new place. The new place is a lot closer to Patrick's office, which means more a little more time with him in the evenings - hooray! The old and new places are about the same size, but we will have interior stairs at the new place (Molly will be thrilled) and our own, ground floor front door. I am excited not to have to carry the groceries and a kid (and hold another hand) half a block from the parking lot and up a flight of stairs to our front door anymore. Yeah! There are some things I am not as excited about - the kitchen is the size of a closet, and there's no room for the sewing machine, and anyone taller than Elijah has to duck going down the stairs, and there is very little storage space - but I am going to focus on the good things. Patrick and I got to spend the day unpacking and getting things set up at the new place, thanks to Jackie who watched the kids for us, and Luke who helped us unpack, and Becky & Charlie who kept their kids while they were here. We really got a lot done, and I was encouraged to see that things are fitting pretty well, and we're finding solutions for most things. We aren't really moved in yet - we're all still sleeping at the old place at this point (the kids in their own beds and us on the air mattress), but we'll get there soon. Patrick's parents are coming up tomorrow to help us get completely moved in and baby-proof and all that jazz. We're so thankful for all the help we've had this week and all month as we've been packing and getting ready. Maybe soon I can put up some pictures of the new place.

Beach babes

We got to spend the afternoon at the beach on Friday. It was a really fun day! It was cool and rainy for most of June, so I wasn't expecting the water to be warm enough to go in, but it was! (Obviously, I have never taken a baby to the beach before. Lesson learned: baby needs a swimsuit even if you don't think she's going to get wet.)

Summer haricut

I gave Elijah a haircut today, and we went pretty short so that he would be less hot for the summer (sorry, Bobbi). His bed-head this morning would have told me that it was time for a cut, even if I hadn't been planning on it.

Before - the crazy bed head!

(sorry about the grainy pics - I don't know what's up with the camera lately.)

all ready

all done

Cuddles

Molly is a cuddly girl. She loves to snuggle and give hugs, and she has been really snuggling her blankets when she sleeps lately. When I go in to check on her there is usually more blanket under her than covering her. So when she wakes up, she often has "blanket face."

Really, she will hug anything. Even the couch.

Oh, poor sad baby snuggling with her baby and her blanket.

4th of July

We had a fun morning, going to the Bristol Fourth of July parade. The boys went last year, but this was the first time for Molly and I. She did really well despite the LOUD bands and sirens and muskets and cannons (!) going off all the time. She saw live horses for the first time, and loved them. Elijah loved the whole thing, too. I was glad that we had a nice shady spot to watch from, and all the other folks from Patrick's office were there and gladly helped hold the kids when our arms got tired. I was amazed - Patrick told me all about it last year, but it was still crazy to see the whole thing live. So many people, and all of them all dressed up and loving it. Bristol loves the 4th more than Christmas. It's nuts! The town gives each home a report card on how well-kept and patriotic-looking they are! Everyone is greeting everyone, "Happy Fourth!" in their Rhode Island accents. I don't think I've ever seen many adults who dressed up for the 4th more than wearing a red or blue shirt, but everyone was dressed up, and some of them were really serious about it. I think Molly was the only little girl there without some serious ribbons or a crazy headband. But she was still stinkin' cute. =) We forgot to take pictures of the parade, but we did try to get a couple of the kiddos in their star-spangled cuteness (not that they wanted to cooperate).

Yep, that's the best one we got.