We fell into FALL...

Well here it is fall already... where does the time go? 

September finished up with a business trip which led right into a pre-planned vacation with just me & my hubby in the fabulous VEGAS!  Unfortunately that meant I was away from my pumpkins for 8 long nights!  It was very nice to get away and be by myself for a few days though.... I didn't turn the TV on once during this time!  Then Jimmy arrived and we got to have some much needed couple time.  We also had the added bonus of spending time with my Las Vegas family.  It was great to visit with my Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Kevin and my cousins, Kevin & Cheryl.  I even got to meet my cousin Cheryl's 7 month old GORGEOUS baby girl, Kylie!  This was defintiely the highlight of my vacation since we are so far away and do not get to see each other very often. 

Jim & I at dinner on our last night in Vegas

The weekend after we returned from Vegas we were all scheduled to go pumpkin picking withkin my twins club.  Unfortunately Cole was too sick to attend, so he stayed home with Jim and Summie & I headed out to the pumpkin patch for a one on one date.  She and I had so much fun.  Of course, we wished our boys could have been there, but the kids really seem to revel in the one on one time when they do get it. 

Summie picked a pumpkin for her and a pumpkin for Cole.  

Tuesday I took my sick kiddos to the doctors and half thought I was panicing and taking them too soon, but Cole was just not acting himself.  One sinus infection (Summer) and a walking pneumonia (Cole) later, we left the doctor's office and heading to the pharmacy with 4 prescriptions in hand!  Oh how I'm hoping that this winter is better then last, but it's not off to such a good start so far!  Luckily we are on the mend for now (fingers crossed!). 

This weekend, we decided to spend some quiet time together at the beach.  We headed down Saturday morning to Sea Isle City where Jim's Aunt Sis has a house.  We decided to check out the Seafood Fest that was happening in the next town over.  It was AWESOME!  They had an entire tent of food (mostly seafood of course).  We settled on a vendor that was selling grilled lobster tail... delicious and I got some of my favorite... Lobster Bisque! It was a fabulously de-stressing weekend.  The kids loved playing with their special toys at the beach house, playing at the playground, feeding the birds on the beach.  And did I mention that the weather was gorgeous!  Some of my family was coincidentally staying 1 street over so we met up on the beach and spent some time relaxing together.  Sometime life is just too busy and the beach is so calming to me more recently.

Fun with Daddy on the playground

another family had a Cole and we posed with their shells :)

The princess of the beach!

A beautiful Saturday at the beach...

This past Saturday we headed back down to Sea Isle City for the day.  The kids LOVE the beach and ask constantly when we are going to Aunt Sissy's house.  They love the whole process of getting their bathing suits and sunscreen on.  After you spray her whole body, Summer puts out her hands and says now faces time. She wants you to spray it on her hands so that she can do her face by herself.  My girl is so grown up! Or thinks she is anyway.  They love getting their toys out and their beach chairs all ready to go.  Summie had fun this time packing a bag of snacks with Aunt Sis to bring to the beach.  She was so proud of herself and they immediately wanted to eat the snacks when we arrived at the beach!  Jim and I are definitely enjoying the beach ourselves more now that the kids are around. 

Multi-tasking

Double fisting the buckets of water for the sand castle

Eating ice cream on the steps

Wearing Uncle Len's helmut

Ringing in my 30th... a bit early

We've been trying to spend more time down the shore this year because the kids have been loving it.  Jim's Aunt Sis has a house nicely situated about 2 blocks from the beach and 2 blocks from a very nice playground.  I grew up in a town where you could literally walk to everything and coming to visit a place that is like that is so refreshing.  We were supposed to come last weekend, but Cole got a virus and was pretty sick all week so we bagged the trip.  This week we decided to get an early start and leave as soon as Jim got home from work Friday night at around 8pm so that we would hopefully hit as little traffic as possible and we'd be able to put the kids right in bed when we got here. 

After a lazy morning and breakfast, Jim and I took the kids to the playground.  The kids got hot quick so after they ate their picnic lunch we went to head home and Jim suggested we take the long way home.  I liked this idea, but if you know Jim you understand why I thought this a bit strange but just went along with it anyway.  Cole fell asleep in the stroller of course as he always does and Summie chattered the entire way.  When we got back I was shocked to see that my in-laws had all arrived and decorated the house to surprise me for my birthday.  My wonderful hubby had arranged for this nice little party at the beach with lots of good food after I had said that I didn't want anything big. And what party for me would be complete without my favorite cake from McMillans... yum!  (yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing if anyone is interested to know... it is to die for!)  After lunch, presents (the Wii, a few games to go with it, Margaritas, fancy glasses and some gift cards) and a failed attempt to get the kids to take a nap... the whole  family headed to the beach.  So far this year, Summer has not ventured into the ocean... not even a toe!  Today you would have never been able to tell that.  She was jumping in the waves and was absolutely fearless today!  And Cole had tons of fun throwing his new Cars football around on the beach with the boys!   It was really a great way to spend an early birthday (I won't really be 30 until July 4th).
Thanks to Jim, Summer, Cole, Mom & Dad Haz, Chris, Michele, Aunt Sis, Uncle Len, Aunt Judy & Uncle Bob for such an awesome day! 

A fabulous 3 day weekend...

We had a great Saturday night spent BBQing at our friends' house.   The kids played outside in the baby pool and on the swing set and had such a great time together.  It's so nice to be able to spend time with our friends and their kids. 

Sunday morning we got up and headed for our annual trip to Sea Isle City to celebrate Aunt Sis' birthday (Jim's aunt).  We got down first thing and the morning and the kids had fun coloring with markers with Aunt Sis and Aunt Judy.  After a bit, we walked down to the beach.  Cole was first into the water and it was rather chilly, but I happily accompanied him.  Summer decided that she would sit on the blanket with Daddy instead of running in the ocean with us.  We ran and splashed in the tiny waves and finally Summer was interested enough to join us. However she did not actually want to enter the water (she had already tested it out before sitting on the blanket).  She stood by the water's edge and handed me her water can to repeatedly fill up for her so that she could pour it into the hole she had found.  We were soon joined by Uncle Len, Aunt Kate, Jay, & Mom-mom.  Cole & Summer happily splashed and poured in the hole in the sand.  Do you remember when you could be entertained so easily for such a long period of time?!?  Cole would run to the water to fill up his bucket, Summer would hand hers to Mommy and then the water was poured in the hole and the whole process repeated, over and over again. 

We started getting hungry, so we headed back for the birthday lunch.  After lunch we had delicious strawberry shortcake and sang Happy Birthday to Sissy, as the kids call her.  They were so excited to blow out the candles, that you would have thought it was their birthday!

We headed back in the early evening so that I could visit with my Pop-pop who is not doing so well, so please keep him in your prayers.  

 Today when we woke up, I decided that I wanted to take the kids strawberry picking.  The season will be finished in a few weeks and I've been wanting to go.  Jim probably thought I was nuts, planning such an impromptu field trip for our morning but I guess he's learned never to be surprised with me.  We drove to Johnson's Farm which is about 30 minutes away and boy was it hot outside (about 90).  The kids were very excited when we told them because like me, they LOVE strawberries... Jimmy... not so much!  I was happy to see when we arrived that it was not crowded at all.  We took our hayride back to the strawberry fields and the kids each took their little basket in hand.  We gave them quick little demonstration of how to pick the berries and to only pick the RED ones.  Now mind you, I haven't been picking since I was a kid and Jim has never gone.  (I used to go with my Mom-mom, Mom, aunt, sisters, cousins.  It was a yearly tradition and we would get loads of them and make a huge batch of jam... maybe that will be my goal for next year).  The kids did great.  Summer would tell me as she dropped hers in the basket... "that's beautiful mommy!".  We didn't stay long, but they each filled their basket and I filled 2.  They were so proud and wanted to carry their basket out!  

It was a great morning... I've had a rough week watching my grandfather teeter at the end of his life and I just needed to do something to bring back those happy memories from my childhood.  Strawberry picking definitely fit the bill.  And the bonus is that the kids really enjoyed themselves and behaved so well.  The trotted up and down the rows and didn't squash any or try to eat them in the field.  And I actually think that my husband enjoyed himself as well doing something that he had never done.  It was so nice to bring an old tradition from my family, into our family. 

We ended the weekend with a BBQ at Jim's parents' and the kids had a great time playing in their baby pool.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  I love you all!