Bungalow Staycation 2013

At the end of the summer, Adam and I timed our vacation to be off from work in between the nanny leaving and our new au pair starting (which was better in theory, since the nanny bailed a week early).  Since we weren't ready to take on a big trip with three kids 3 and under and had already used our vacation budget to redo the kitchen, we planned a stay-catation at the bungalow.  We intended to be there the whole week with Omi (like I had done last year while Pauline was on vacation), but uncooperative weather, getting-sick babies, and Oliver suddenly refusing to sleep in his own bed put a damper on things.  Adam, not used to lazy, quiet days at the SSC midweek was also getting a bit stir-crazy.  We ended up sticking around until Wednesday and then heading home.   Devon's daycare was closed, so he was with us on Monday & Tuesday.  Oliver was happy having his friend around and the two of them play very nicely together.  We had borrowed the Lightening McQueen car, which easily the highlight of the staycation for Oliver!

A Day with Nathan

Since the weather on Saturday wasn't great, Oliver & I went up to the club solo the last time.  The babies are awful in the car, and it wasn't worth the hassle of having them in the car 4 hours for a trip that wasn't a full two days.  Omi slept over the bungalow with us on Saturday, which was a special treat.  On Sunday, my cousin Billy & Julie brought Nathan over for the day.  The boys had so much fun playing together, especially at the playground by the pool.  Hopefully, we'll be able to have Nathan over again before the summer is over.

4th of July in NJ

After much back & forth, we ended up going to my Uncle Bill's 4th of July party and are SO glad that we did!  The party had been scaled back (due to the heavy rains), so the party was more low-key than past years.  The whole family had an absolute blast in the tree swing, the babies loved the pool, and Adam & I considered the day a success once we each had gotten to play a game of volleyball.  While Oliver was bummed that none of his fellow BOND cousins were there to play with, he was not sad that he didn't have to share the Lightening McQueen car!

Red, white, & blue kiddos!

A Perfect SSC Sunday

After the birthday party, we headed up to the bungalow.  On Sunday morning, my mom came up and joined us.  For Oliver & Devon, it felt like an eternity waiting for Omi to show up with the munchkins at 10am!  We'd already had an entire day's worth of adventures trying to keeping them entertained while we waited!  

Mother's Day weekend in Jersey

A bit late on this post....  We were in Jersey for Mother's Day weekend.  We celebrated my dad's 65th birthday on Friday night (no photos, surprisingly), Nicole's birthday on Saturday, and hung out at the club on Sunday.  For various reasons, we decided to stay in a hotel for this visit and we really loved it - Nicole's employee rate for a suite and a comp'd adjoining room certainly sweetened the deal!  The highlights of the hotel experience for Oliver were getting to ride on the luggage cart and playing (not swimming, mind you) at the pool.  I have to say, the luggage cart was a favorite of mine as well --   so much easier than lugging bags, pack & plays, etc up and down the stairs!  I was also a very big fan of Mother's Day brunch!  

On Sunday, we hung at the bungalow.  The kitchen hadn't been completely renovated, so I couldn't open the bungalow for the season this weekend, as we had hoped.  My mom's cousins were there - family we don't see very often, so I saw lots of second (third, second-twice-removed?) cousins, some of which I see less than once a year.  The best part... lots of people that wanted to hold the babies!

Easter Sunday

It's been quite awhile since we celebrated a holiday with my dad and Margit's family.  Jana was actually with us the last time.   We're a large, noisy crew when everyone gets together!

Easter Morning with Omi

We weren't at my mom's for long on Easter morning, though it did feel like it took FOREVER to get everyone dressed, fed, and packed up.  Thankfully, we got some family photos in early in the day.  There would have never been a good opportunity, let alone cooperative kids, at my dad's.  

Easter Weekend in New Jersey

This year, we headed up to Jersey to spend the long weekend with family.  On Good Friday, we hung out at Kristy & Ray's.  My mom was watching Devon, because his daycare was closed and Nicole had to work.  Since Bentley had missed out on cousin fun last time we were up, Robin coordinated to have him sleep over at Grandma's Thursday night so he could join in.  

Cousin Fun - Video Edition

In theory... here are the videos (from both the flip & my DSLR camera) from the cousin fun on Sunday.

And here are some videos from Monster-Uncle Bill and happy Lukas.

Cousin Fun - Lightening McQueen Style

On Sunday, we headed to my Uncle Bill/Tante Kim's house where Nicole and Devon were having a playdate with my cousin Billy and his son Nathan.  My mom was also there and the cousins had a blast.  My uncle has lots of acreage behind his house and very cool boy-toys. Someone gave them a battery operated car and Oliver was in HEAVEN!  They also have a quad and a golf cart - a little something for everyone.  After driving around on the yard, we quarantined the fun to the hockey rink, where we could keep a better eye on them.  It was a chilly day, but even the babies joined us outside.  We can't wait to do it again once it's a bit warmer!  

March Visit to Opa/Mormor

Last weekend, we headed to Jersey to mooch off of Nicole/Devon's weekend plans.  On Saturday, we hung out at my dad's.  The boys had fun with matchbox cars, checking out Opa's old model trains in the basements, and decorating Easter cookies with Mormor, while the babies showed off their newest tricks.

Lukas tries to get in on the matchbox car action

Alex proved his ability to crawl and pull himself up, by getting into the dirt of Margit's potted plants when we weren't paying enough attention to him.

Alex is making a break for it!

Big kid fun!  Decorating eggs

Lukas's newest trick is that he can pull himself up on things.  He is super fast and managed to wiggle away from me mid-diaper change to practice!

In the morning, the boys and I took in yet another Montville sunrise.  Oliver happily watched a movie on the ipad while I fed the munchkins their morning bottle.  

... And the fun continued

After the museum, Tante Nicole & Devon came back to Philly with us and slept over!  Oliver & Devon were so cute together and played so nicely, well, until the very end, when Oliver had zero interest in letting Devon touch his firetruck.  We are all so very excited for another summer in the bungalow!

At bedtime, Devon put on his dinosaur PJs, so of course, Oliver had to as well.  The boys had a blast jumping on the bed together, and surprisingly, no injuries were sustained.  They aren't quite old enough to sleep in the same room yet, and we had to read books in separate rooms, but I'm sure all of that will happen soon. 

In the morning, the boys helped Daddy/Uncle Adam make pancakes, played in the basement, and did arts & crafts together.  Tante Nicole got a sense of what caring for our two delightful babies feels like!

Cousin Outing to Garden State Discovery

On Saturday, Oliver, Alex & I met up with Tante Nicole and Devon at the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, NJ.  The museum was fabulous - it was a smaller, low-budget version of the Please Touch Museum, but arguably more fun and a great price.  There were lots of different play stations and I liked how close they were to one another, so as the boys grew disinterested and wanted to do different things, it was easy to keep tabs on everyone.  We will definitely be back. 

Oliver & I got there about 5min after they opened and we got to enjoy playing in quiet a few of the areas with little to no kids, which was a perfect way for Oliver to ease into things.  He especially liked digging for bones (shovels!) in the Dino-room.  In many of the areas, they had "just for crawlers" areas.  Since Alex doesn't crawl much, he didn't really DO much of anything when I would take him out, but it was nice to give him some time out of the carrier. 

We camped out in the construction zone where Oliver happily played while I fed Alex a bottle.  I don't have photos from all of the play areas (carrying Alex, made photography challenging).  By the time we got to the diner, it was getting crowded - parents sat out front and kids would pretend to take orders, and cook in the kitchen. Oliver spent most of his time on the kitchen phone taking orders!  In addition to the ones below, there was also a TV station, basketball court, farmers market, enchanted castle, vet, and farm. 

When Tante Nicole and Devon arrived, Oliver was super excited to show his younger cousin around.  After checking out the turtles and playing on the boat (steering wheel!), we headed over the cars, where they would have spent the rest of the morning, if we had let them.    

Oliver really loved the hockey rink, though it seemed like a pretty dangerous playarea (small kids and lots of hockey sticks, ie weapon,s didn't seem like the best idea to me).  Nicole and I loved that they had an art station, but the boys had better things to do. 

Never a good idea to wait until the end of an outing to try for a group shot - this was my best attempt!