The most wonderful time of the year..

The boys had a wonderful Christmas (no shock there!). This year was a lot of fun. One sweet thing is that they both know carols now! so cute to hear them singing. 

The "big" hits as presents go were: tons of legos (Maersk Train, large Mine set, helicopter/rescue station, oil tanker, fire plane etc), a guitar and real kid-size tools for Jack and a chainsaw for Nate (toy, obviously).

We had a lovely day with Grandpa Pete, Uncle Teddy, Grandma Linda and Papa Rick. Jack even wrote us all place cards this year:)

Pops!

The Boston Pops offer Holiday Kids matinees (even little ones are invited) and I thought it would be fun to give it a shot this year! Apparently I wasn't the only one as we ran into 2 families we know with identical age kids at our performance.

Jack was great through the 90 minute show, but Nate never sat still. He wasn't "bad" but definitely squirmy after the first 10 minutes until the last 10 minutes (the final minutes were a sing-a-long of classics he knows).  It was a great show, clearly designed with kids in mind. There were visuals for some of the songs and they read/showed the book "the Snowman" complete with sound effects. Santa made an appearance as did a blow-up snowman in the middle of the performers!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Tree time!

Impromptu santa visit

Jack and I stopped after his swim lessons for decorations at a local nursery/shop and got to meet Santa!

More park

Almost 60 so taking advantage at the park!

Proud Nate

While I ate lunch he made a propeller car!

Jack's block creation

The train focus is shared across generations

Hmm.. Weather called for 1/2 inch of rain?

Super proud

Jack made a barricade at school

Working hard

Happy Halloween!

From our civil ("construction") engineer and fire fighter!

Projects

Big day

Jack has given up the fireman costume/clothes as they are finally too small..the pants were mid- shin:)

Nate is very pleased!

His interest in fire- related things is unchanged though... I see a bigger outfit in his future...

NH

A little beyond peak foliage, but still lovely-- at Steve's grandmothers's house- built by his grandfather and great-grandfather...

Hayride!

So far away...

Last night Steve and I were discussing ordering Chinese food. Nate asked, "what is Chinese food?" I said "it's food from China." He got a funny look on his face and he said "Wow, that is really far away." He thought it made a lot more sense when I told him it was made in our town in the same way it is made in China. (Which, of course isn't exactly true, but close enough for a 3 year old!)

On a (short) circle line cruise

Nate

At one if the biggest toy stores ever (he eventually woke up to see it) - at Times square toys r us.. complete with ferris wheel (really)

Roar

Central park zoo

Woodshop creations

Jack has wood shop 1x a week for about 40 minutes. So far they have used hand drills, hammers, nails, wood glue and sandpaper.

"I am good at

Helping people who are hurt."

Favorite

The tire swings!

"too busy"

To look at the camera says Nate

Back from the game!

He had fun

Gearing up

For practice in the backyard! Jack starts soccer on Saturday. He is on the light blue team in the local kindergarten league. It is not at all competitive- rather really just practice/ lessons with inter-team 3x3 "games" at the end.

Nate's First Day

Nate went off this morning for his first day of school. He is in the same school he was last year and has the same teachers Jack had 2 years ago. Everyone is quite familiar with the arrangement, including Nate! Here he is on the way out our door and the way in his classroom door!

Also, big news, Nate is finally potty trained. I say "finally" because it took us so long to start. I tend to err on the side of the kid being really really ready.  He was. It only took about 4 days and he seems good to go (in the potty:)

As a reward he got to pick out something at the lego store late last week.  He picked out a police helicopter. About 2 days later though, he had regrets and is now pouting for an off-road dump truck. ugh.

Backyard play

Back in the swing of things

Ok - bad joke, but jack is back to playgrounds!

Harvest time

We planted some peppers and tomatoes and have a grape tomato "weed" next to our compost. The kids are enjoying picking them...fresh salsa at dinner tonight!

First Day of Kindergarten!

It isn't a new school, though he has new teachers, room and many new classmates. We had a good drop off. No tears but some hesitation. Hopefully pick up is even better!

Storyland / North Conway Recap (late)

So in late August we took a trip to North Conway to go to Storyland, an amusement park for small(ish) kids. Many many people around here go annually, but I still wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was blown away. It was about a million times cleaner/nicer than I expected - the flowers/plantings were lovely, the buildings were super cute (themed usually) and the scale was perfect. Big enough that you felt like you were "far" from other parts of the park, but not so far that you couldn't wander as the kids see fit. Lines were short to medium, so they could go on the same thing over and over.

We drove up from MA to Lincoln, NH and went to Loon Mtn. At Loon we took a trip (or 3:) on their gondola. (See prior pic). The boys LOVED this.  We also walked around some cool walkways through the woods to find glacial caves (with Jack's arm it was hard to go in most, they were REALLY tiny).

From there we drove through a stretch of the scenic Kancamagus Highway to North Conway where we stayed. We had a low-key afternoon at the hotel pool and diner in our room.

The next morning the boys took the North Conway Scenic Rail tour, which they liked.  In the afternoon we headed to Storyland. We rode the Polar Coaster about 4 times in a row after a quick trip to it on the little train ride.  The pictures above were some of their other favorites..

Cardboard fun

On jacks last day before school starts

Those neighborhood big kids tire

Nate out!

Bamboo chutes - Storyland