Memorial Day

I guess I am a few months behind in posting photos because instead of 4th of July pictures I'm just getting around to posting the Memorial Day pictures. We had a fun weekend with Granddad and the Yale Crew at Pine Lodge and were fortunate enough to have great weather the whole weekend! Here are the kids digging in the driveway sand - one of their favorite past times at Pine Lodge.


Rachel takes a turn with the ice cream maker. We had no trouble finding little people to lick the dasher this year!


Rachel composing a portrait of Uncle Don, glasses included.




Several unlucky lobsters undergoing major surgery. What a delicious feast!


On our way to the pond.


Rachel catches a whale!


A short visit to the beach, just long enough to build a sand castle.






Carson training to be the next in line to mow the lawn at Pine Lodge. Granddad will need to buy him a sweatband before he takes over the job.


The annual visit to Moby Dicks was as delicious as ever.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma flew across the country to visit us and on her first day we dragged her into Boston with us for an overnight sightseeing trip. Good thing she has plenty of energy! Our first order of business in Boston was the Children's Museum. Between the construction site, the real Bobcats, and the tool workshop, Carson was in seventh heaven. Rachel liked the Arthur and Curious George exhibits, and they both loved the sand and water tables.











It was fun for the kids to stay overnight in a hotel. Here they are coloring with Grandma in the hotel room.



The next day we discovered a merry-go-round in Boston Common which we couldn't pass up. We were lucky to have beautiful weather.





Here is Rachel showing Grandma a sculpture she made in preschool.







Carson was so worn out by the excitement of Grandma's visit that he actually fell asleep standing up for the first time. He was watching for Daddy out the window, leaned over on the bed and fell asleep.

Happy Spring!

This wonderful spring weather has inspired us to get out and do things. We started the month with a day trip into Cambridge to see the Harvard Natural History Museum. What a wonderful place to see animal specimens of every kind. John was anxious to show the kids some dinosaur bones. Carson loved even the largest dinosaurs (monsters!) but Rachel screamed and wanted nothing to do with them.



Here is Rachel holding up a fossilized dinosaur poop. Fascinating for the kids to see that!



Part of the fun for our day into Cambridge was riding the subway. The kids loved the change from the boring car and the motion rocked Carson to sleep on the ride home.



We had some visitors for Easter weekend which was lots of fun. The kids were excited to have someone new to play with and Ricky soon became like a big brother to them.





We had an Easter Egg hunt outside this year. Rachel and Ricky ran around collecting eggs so fast I didn't even have time to take their picture! Carson meandered slowly around the yard, finding an egg and eating the candy from inside the egg right away. He didn't seem to care that he had fewer eggs, he was just happy to have some candy in his mouth.






Ever since Daddy showed Carson what a storm drain is, he is fascinated by them and cannot walk by a storm drain without looking down to see what lurks below.



We recently spent a day at the Providence Zoo where I snapped this photo of the kids playing with a little waterfall. It was an unseasonably warm day and the kids found the cool water refreshing.



Here is Carson relaxing in front of the TV with Bob Builder, one of his favorite characters.

Carson's Bulldozer Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Carson's third birthday with a rockin' bulldozer party. Not only were the candles on his cake bulldozers, they were accompanied by three other trucks digging in crushed Kit-Kat bars. Carson had so much fun digging in his cake with the trucks that he forgot to eat his piece of cake! Instead of traditional party hats we opted for hard hats, much to Carson's delight. Grandad was our guest for the day which made it even more special for Carson.














With the warm weather we have been playing outside more. Rachel loves to ride her tricycle and is getting very good at it (time for a big-girl bike maybe?). She also loves to draw with chalk in the driveway.








Carson's favorite outdoor activity is to dig in the dirt. He likes to surround himself with bulldozing equipment and make his own little construction site.



Rachel recently discovered Boston cream donuts and now they are her favorite. She usually digs the cream out of the middle, licks the chocolate off the top, and discards the remains (i.e. leaves it for Daddy to finish).

Carson Toddler Bed

Carson is almost three years old and has recently graduated from a crib to a toddler bed. He is proud of his new bed and loves the idea of getting into his own bed at night. So far he has been very good about staying in his bed at night. We are just waiting for the day when he realizes how much freedom he really has. But so far so good. Carson also was a big help assembling the new toddler bed. In fact, he used the allen wrench to remove old screws and put the rail on with new screws all by himself! He could hardly wait to work on a project with Daddy which involved tools.





Here is our big boy getting his own snack, something he loves to do.



Rachel's imagination continues to expand and she always amazes me with the things she can pretend. One day she decided she was going hiking so she packed her back pack full of toy food, grabbed Mommy's hiking hat, put on her vest, and even brought along her toy camera.



Here are the kids making a mini-snowman in one of our many snowstorms. Carson loves to use a toy shovel to shovel the driveway with Daddy.




We recently attended a 'Princess and Pirates Brunch' at the Navy Base nearby and it was lots of fun for the kids. Rachel was amazed to meet some live Disney princesses and even got to have her picture taken with Cinderella! Carson was a little leery of the pirate he was posed with but still had fun eating at the brunch.





Here is Rachel wearing her princess crown from the brunch and holding her Valentine's Day stuffed dog whom she named Snifflebuns. Snifflebuns gets along very well with her other favorite dog, Princess. They are now part of the team that accompanies her to bed every night.



We have discovered the Newport Library and have enjoyed going to their toddler story time. Below the kids are in the child-sized couch in the children's section of the library, and below that they are in the playground right outside the library.