Getaway to Grammy's

In order to give Ryan some time to work on the bathroom remodel without the rest of us bothering him I decided to take the kids to Grammy's house for a few days earlier in the week.  It was such a treat for the kids and I to have a change of scenery and do some different activities :)  Besides lots of fun playing with Grammy and Pop, Reagan got to go swimming in the pool where she was fascinated with jumping off of the side into the water and even went under a bunch of times for fun!!!  And of course we had to take a trip to the Cape May County Zoo... we will definitely be going back there again soon!

Happy Happy Man

Taking a walk pointing out the cars

 You can't catch me!

Only at Grammy's!

Grammy sung Rory to sleep :)

Up, Up and Away

We took a mini-vacation this past weekend to visit our friends, The Urban's, in Apex, NC.  Also, joining in on the chaos were the Naticchione's.... it's not a party unless we're all together :)  [FYI, I love this time all together.]  You may remember that when we made this trip last February that we made the insane decision to drive, which was approximately 8 hours, with a 3 month old.  Thankfully when they're that little, being in the car seat that long does phase them and we were able to leave late at night so she could sleep the whole way there.  Being that she now despises being in the car for more than an hour, we capitalized on a huge savings with Southwest Airlines and flew down this time... Reagan's first plane ride!!!

Besides the fact it was a really short flight, she did phenomenal!  She loved being in the airport watching all of the people waiting in the terminal and definitely loved sitting by the window checking out everything on the tarmac.  As expected, she put on quite a show for everyone in the terminal... classic Reagan. 

Watching the airplanes at PHL 

Who else would occupy her time on a plane besides Mickey? 

Because it was such a BEAUTIFUL weekend in NC (and up here in NJ I hear) we were able to do outdoor activities with the kids and let them release some wild energy.  Saturday's high was near 70 with sunshine so we went to Pullen Park near NC State's campus where they recently re-opened a newly renovated park that is just FABULOUS!  There was an indoor carousel, a train that rode around the entire park, "boat" rides, and lots of jungle gym equipment to keep them occupied.  After seeing how great this space was, I'm now going to go on a hunt to find something similar up here.

Reagan & Daddy waiting in line for the carousel

Brett, Reagan and Daddy on the carousel

Jeanine & Peter having a snack at the park

Reagan & Nella running around the park

Aunt Jeanine & Reagan

That's a full house there

Reagan liked the view from Daddy's shoulders 

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing at the house, outside in their great backyard space, meeting Jen's NC friends, and running around like maniacs just enjoying the chaos.  Of course the guys had to get a round of golf in, I don't know why I would expect any less.  I need to find a hobby that steals me away for alone time for 6 hours.

Cole showing us the lay of the land in his yard

Peter found the sandbox 

Nella & Peter cooking up a meal 

Jump, Jump, Jump

Breakfast time 

Cole & Brett

We have to send a huge THANK YOU to Brett, Jennifer and Cole for letting us come down and stay with them for four days!!!!!  There were six adults and four kids under 5 years old in one house, so it's quite an undertaking to house us all.  

Lots of Traveling in the Month of February

We took Reagan on a couple of roadtrips during the month of February and it's safe to say she loves to travel.  Our first trip was over Valentine's Day weekend to Washington DC where we got to tour the Museum of American History and go out to dinner as a family.  We stayed at a Marriott Courtyard just a few blocks from the Smithsonian museums, which made it convenient walking there and back and gave us lots of food options.  The hotel was a former bank, complete with 3 large vaults, and still under construction so our room was brand new and very comfortable!  I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes to stay at Marriotts as we do. 

This trip was Reagan's first weekend away from the house, and thankfully she slept like a champ in the pack n' play!  We were nervous since she doesn't even sleep or nap in her pack n' play at home, but she fell asleep at her regular time (around 7pm) and slept all night long without waking up until morning (around 7am).



Resting up before a day at the museum.



Looking at the maritime exhibit.

 

The US Capitol building, just a couple blocks from our hotel.



Our most recent trip was to Apex, North Carolina to visit Brett, Jen and Cole in their brand new house.  We drove all through the night to get there early in the morning on Friday, and thankfully Reagan slept the majority of the way.  That definitely made the 7 hour trip much more tolerable for Ryan and I... not sure that a crying baby would have made for a very fun road trip. 

We woke up a few hours later and the fun began.  All six of us, plus four kids under four, and the house couldn't have been more alive!  We went to the Marbles Museum, which was similar to the Please Touch Museum, and got to play outside since it was a warm & sunny 75 down there.  I could definitely get used to weather like that in February! 

Nella loves Reagan, and Reagan definitely loves chilling with Nella!

Smiles all around!  Thanks for my tutu, Aunt Jen!

All the kiddies :)



That's a bunch of busy dads.....



We had such a great time with everyone and we can't wait to do it again... only next time, I'd consider flying!