A day at the beach

Okay, so I am at work but mama and the kids are enjoying a killer August beach day! I am so jealous.

Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe that Henry Boy, aka the Bomber, the McNugget, Hankles and the Hman is turning 2 today. He is such a big boy who goes pee-pee and pooh (yup, I said it) on the potty at least once a day and we couldn't be happier about that :-) He definitely has a mind of his own and knows what he wants and his winning smile and sense of humor captivate all. His latest "joke" is a knock knock joke. After "which' there" he says "sir" and the punch line is "surrprriise" and he says it sometimes but no matter what, he spreads his arms wide and smiles and waits for you to say it. Just about a week an a half ago he started stringing multiple words together like "school bus", "juice please", "dump truck" and "watch this". His favorite word is definitely "pooh" and he finds a way to work it in to a many situations as possible, including using it as an answer to "who's there?" in his knock knock joke routine. He is all boy and lives to kick and hit the ball and play with his trucks although he goes along with wearing a pink bow or a ponytail if his sister is convincing enough.

More photos and updates to follow after his party on Saturday! Henry, if you ever read this, know that we all love you and we are so proud of you!

Henry Loves the Red Sox

A future blog post is coming on how well Henry's vocabulary and speech has developed in his first two years on the planet. Just the other day something clicked in his brain where he is now regularly using two word phrases instead of just one word at a time. For example, check out him cheering on his favorite baseball team: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQPymJARnE

Swimming like a champ

Both kids are just loving the water - whether the beach the pool at the athletic club or the neighbors pool - they just can't get enough. The Nugget is such an accomplished swimmer and within the past couple of weeks has really made a lot of progress. She is deep diving (okay, in the shallow end) for rings and dive sticks and has so much fun doing it. She is "bubble-free" and has no problem jumping into the deep end, surfacing and swimming her way to an edge of the pool. She has been doing a good job swimming on her back as well and seeing her swimming like that made me a proud daddy. It's so fun to watch her enjoy the water so much. For the Bomber, he wears his PuddleJumpers bubble and he cruises around the pool, kicking and scooping and smiling away. Whenever you ask him about the pool or the water he replies "jump", which is one of his favorite things to do. He doesn't like going under as much as his sister did at that age but lately when I ask him if he wants me to dunk him under he says "yeah" and then when he comes up out of the water he says "more". We'll get him to be a fish like the Nugget in no time!

Summer Camp

Liana got to go to summer camp in late July - two half days per week for two weeks at Camp Mapelewood. There was swimming, gymnastics, dance, soccer, basketball, and so much more. She saw pre-school buddy Brady at camp - she is basically in love with him, as much as a 4 year old can love a boy. Unfortunately, when he was with his friends Liana went to say hello to him and he informed her that he doesn't like girls. It made her so sad, to the point where when I picked her up I saw Brady and his mom and I was talking to them but Liana waited off in the distance. I asked her why she didn't come talk to us and that is when she told me what he said. It broke my heart but at the same time the longer the boys stay away the better. He'll be singing a different tune in about 10 years ;-) The first night after camp I put Lian to bed and she said "Dad?" I said, "yes, baby girl?" She looked at me with crazy eyes and excitedly told me "I looovee camp!"

Whale Watch - July 13th

We went on a whale watch while I was off during the All Star Break. It was Friday the 13th but we had great luck seeing lots of whales. Although the boat ride out to the viewing spot was about 90 minutes long it was worth it. We saw a lot of whales and they were very close to the boat. Liana got very good at spotting the spray and she was so excited when we saw some whal

e's feeding on teh surface - 'we saw a whale's head' she told everyone! Henry was excited as well and kept saying "see" and "more". They have no idea the exceptional number of whales that we got to see.

Storyland 2012

Good times as usual. What a difference a year makes - the Nugget couldn't get enough of the Polar Coaster last year and after one run on it this year she was crying and saying she wanted to get off the ride. Thankfully it was already over! Henry was about 1 inch too short to ride on the Bamboo Shoot and the Polar Coaster but he rocked the Flying Shoes and he loved the train!