The boys broke out Nolan’s new birthday presents and had a blast playing in the backyard. He received a beach ball sprinkler from Auntie Kari, water guns from our friends, the A’s, and a huge water squirter & squid diving toys from the F’s. Jake filled a metal bin full of water, turned on the sprinkler, and let them play till they shivered! For the record, it wasn’t cold out, but the water was definitely chilly!
We took the kids to the local indoor playground to celebrate Nolan’s birthday. This was his request. He and Lincoln had a pretty good time. Afterward, we asked what the birthday boy wanted to eat for lunch and he decided on pancakes. We headed over to IHOP and stuffed our tummys. When we returned home, we let Nolan (with Lincoln’s help, of course) open his birthday presents. It was a laid back, family-filled, fun day!
Today, our bigger little man turns 4! I can hardly believe it! I’ve already spent some time reflecting back on the events of the day he came into the world 4 years ago. It was pretty crazy. My water broke as I drove to work, I ended up driving myself to the hospital (something Jake made me promise would never happen again,) I couldn’t find the admitting desk at the hospital and the volunteer at the front door was no help, and Jake couldn’t find me for at least 45 minutes once I was settled in the evaluation area. However, once we were situated in our hospital room and I had my epidural, everything else was smooth sailing. Nolan arrived in the early evening and I was instantly in love. But enough with the sappy reminiscing. 🙂
It’s been a fun 4 years, Nolan! Your daddy and I love you so much and are so proud of who you are becoming!
Our little monkey turned two today! It seems that time has gone much faster the 2nd go-around. I can hardly believe he is already starting his second year. He helped me make his birthday cake – he loves to help “cook.” Meanwhile, Nolan helped clean the house. In the evening, we had a small gathering of family and friends. The monkey cake was a huge hit 🙂
March 22, 2010. My brother has entered the same decade as me once again. It’s funny though, for some reason I have a hard time picturing him as 30. In my mind, he’s perpetually something closer to 25. Unfortunately, in my mind, I continue to age. I should change that. Ha!
The boys enjoyed helping place 30 candles on Uncle Tony’s birthday cake and then assisting with blowing them out. Nolan somehow also snuck almost the entire chocolate bar birthday sign on the cake into his mouth before anyone noticed.
Happy birthday, little brother!
My mom sent home St. Patrick’s Day goodies for the boys which included window gel clings and cupcake decorations. The boys love decorating the windows for the various holidays. They decorate and then redecorate and then redecorate again. It gets to the point where Jake and I have to put the window decor far enough out of reach so the windows get a break every once in a while.
Day 5. This was one of my favorite days. Perhaps it’s because I got to get up close and personal with my all time favorite animals. We attended an elephant show, and Maude did not disappoint. Despite having recently suffered the loss of her best friend, she wowed us with her talents. And afterward, those who were interested could feed and touch her. It was amazing to be that close to such a strong, yet gentle, animal.
After we toured the zoo, which was the perfect size for our kids, Jake and Larissa took Nolan & Lincoln on a train ride. On the way home, the boys crashed in the van. It was a big day!
Day 4. Our second Disney park visit was to the Animal Kingdom. This was my favorite of the two we visited. So many cool animals to check out. We didn’t take quite as many pictures because it was more fun to just enjoy the park. (I did have to include a picture of my favorite animal, though…the elephant.)
Day 3. Lincoln said he would drive us to Cocoa Beach, so we took him up on his offer. 🙂 Well, sort of. We did go to the beach and the boys LOVED playing in the sand. It was a bit cool again, but the sun was warm and Jake actually ended up getting a bit rosy from it. The boys and I sported our 100 SPF sunblock, so we were in the clear. Jake made sure to enjoy a McRib on the beach (and rub it in by sending a picture back home to an old co-worker to create a little jealousy.)
Special thanks to Bri, Jason’s girlfriend, for several of these pics, including the group family picture we took at the end of our journey to the coast.
Day 2. We had a semi-leisurely morning and headed out for our first trip to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. I’m glad we traveled with Disney “pros” because the whole Disney system is really quite complex: 4 Different parks, regular tickets, hopper passes, shuttles, mono-rails…it’s enough to confuse any first-time visitor if you ask me.
To begin our visit, we rode the ferry across a large lake and at that point, I realized I should have packed the boys’ winter jackets and hats for the day. Here I was thinking we’d at least be able to get away with just sweatshirts. I assumed incorrectly. Mother nature apparently hasn’t been that nice to Florida this winter and we found out later that it had been unseasonably cool for the last 2 months. Oh well, we made due and attempted to hit a few indoor rides/shows to warm up from time to time. By the afternoon, the sun warmed things up a bit. We stayed to experience a couple of rides (Nolan didn’t care much for the Monster’s Inc. show we checked out,) the boys had their pictures taken with several characters, we watched the afternoon parade and had our picture taken in front of the Disney castle. It was a full day and the boys crashed (thankfully) later that night.
