"Reunited and it feels so good..."

Bill was working so we spent an action-packed

Father's Day weekend in Lancaster, PA with

my grandparents. Our good friends from GA, 

the Jordans, were coincidentally at Hershey 

Park the same weekend so we managed to meet

up with them one day. It was a blast seeing Sara, Scott,

Emma and baby Claire. Jackson and Emma were

so cute together and had fun on all of the

rides and at the zoo. Miss you guys!

Happy Father's Day!

Bill was working on Father's Day so we celebrated

yesterday with a yummy fish taco dinner and

a movie (The Bourne Supremacy. Yes, we are

THAT behind on our movies!). Bill got an iPod

shuffle, which I plan to borrow. Last week, we

enjoyed a beach day at Spring Lake and had a blast. 

Happy Father's Day to Bill! We love you SO much!

Some Recent Playground Pics

Some recent pics of Jackson in action.

The weather here is so nice right now so we are 

spending a lot of time outside exploring. 

Da Bronx Zoo

Last week we hit the Bronx Zoo with Papa. It was so fun!

I haven't been there in years so it was a blast to go back. 

The place is huge. Ridiculously huge. We didn't get to nearly

everything but we made it to the Children's Zoo which

Jackson loved. We also saw the Polar Bears, Sea Lions and 

the Monkey House. After a few souvenirs from the gift shop

and a "gelato" we headed home - great memories!

Thanks, Papa!

A Vermont Wedding

Our good friend John got married on 5/17 in Vermont, near Okemo. 

He married this amazing girl, Hollie, who we absolutely love. 

We left Jackson at home and had 3 (3!!!) child-free nights to 

ourselves. It was so much fun staying out late, sleeping in, 

reconnecting with Okemo friends, etc. etc. Of course we missed 

the little bugger but it was great to escape with my hubby for a 

little while. Congrats to John and Hollie!

The Bates Mansion, where the wedding took place.

Our room in the Mansion

A sign outside of Singleton's store - you

gotta love Vermont!

The Wedding Party

(Bill is the first one on the left)

Jackson's New Favorite Thing to Do at the Playground

He does this at the top of slide.

It freaks me out everytime.

Happy Mother's Day!

I got to spend Mother's Day with my Mom, sister and Jackson which was so fun. (Bill was on a trip so we celebrated when he got home). The day with my mom and sister was really laid-back. We brunched, went for a walk and even took a nap! After a nice drive, we ended up at a Buddhist Temple of all places. Unfortunately, I didn't get many great pictures of all of us but here are some of the Buddhas and of Jackson giving my mom and sis a "family hug". 

Happy (belated) Mother's day to all of you fabulous mommies out there! You know who you are...

Beach Day

Last week we took a day trip to the Jersey Shore (Point Pleasant). 

It was so fun and its only an hour away from us. We went mid-week 

so the beach was pretty empty of idiots. Yay! 

Jackson loved playing in the sand and we did the normal 

things you do on the beach like walk the boardwalk, 

dip our toes in the freezing cold water, eat ice cream and find shells. 

He still has that sweet double chin.

See how empty? We only had to move our things once!

(further away from three girls - one with an infant - who

felt the need to discuss feminine hygiene and drop F-bombs. )

Sand is so fun.

Checking out the surf with Daddy.

Collecting shells

(and a few cigarette butts)

My new favorite website

So I am really into this website that you have probably heard of, 

www.freecycle.org.

I highly recommend joining the freecycle network in your area. 

The goal is to reuse and keep things out of the landfills by 

offering items you don't need/want anymore to others. You can 

"offer" items you want to get rid of and also post "wanted" items 

that you are hoping to get (for free!). It is awesome and has really 

been working out for me lately. I got rid of a dozen old picture 

frames and all of our moving boxes within 24 hours of posting 

them. We recently picked up a used (but in great condition) 

jogging stroller from a nice woman who happens to work at 

the Rahway, NJ Harley Davidson dealership, hence the picture 

below. This is Jackson in complete awe of all of the "moto-bikes" 

lined up outside. This place is also right next to the train tracks 

so he was in his glory as you can imagine...

Boys Love Dirt

...and this is proof! 

Grandpa George let Jackson play in this dirt pile

and he obviously loved every minute of it. 

Grandma Carol & Grandpa Rick Visit

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Rick came from Steamboat to see us and were with us on Jackson's actual birthday which was really fun. We had great weather and showed them all around Westfield. We hit the best parks, bummed around town and had lunch at Vicki's Diner. Rick made a yummy trout dinner on the grill which was inspiringly easy. Jackson loved having them here and had so much fun with his grandparents from "Col-rado". Thanks for a great visit!

More Birthday Pics

Instead of having one big party for Jackson, we had 3 small 

ones (to make sure we had enough cake of course!). 

Thank you to all of the grandparents for the parties and gifts.

Jackson is lucky to have all 6 of you!

Another train cake at the party at Papa & Bernie's!

This one looks a little more "professional" than mine...

Jackson and Bernie

A shiny new red bike from Grandpa George and Nana!

Jackson, PaPa and Jackson's Great-Grandparents

(Cara's Noni & Papa)

A common request from Jackson these days:

"Play trains!"

That's Grandma Carol playing too. 

Jackson is 2!

Our baby boy is 2 today!

 We are so lucky to be the parents of this sweet little guy!

More birthday pics with the grandparents to come...

Here is the train cake that I made him. It was so much fun to make.

We celebrated last night with Bill's parents who were in town

visiting and had this cake. The first thing Jackson said to me this 

morning when he woke up was "I wanna eat the train".

The aftermath

The after bath

One year ago today...

Here is Jackson on his 1st birthday.