Day out with Thomas & Friends

If you have a 2.5 year old boy, chances are he loves Thomas the train. Chase is no exception; we have about 4 different sets of train track and so many trains I can't keep track. We took Chase to meet Thomas the Train last fall for his birthday and he enjoyed it so much he has been asking to go back since. Trying to explain to a 2 year old that he had to wait 7 months to do so was not easy, but finally the big day arrived and Chase woke up ready to go. Not only was he itching to get out the door, he also kept telling Asher, "we are going to go and meet Thomas today, and Percy, and you will love it." Cuteness overload I tell you!

The first thing we did was take out train ride on Thomas, of course! Not only did Mom-Mom and Pop Berry join us for the day but Chase's friend Declan (and parents) came too. The boys got to experience the train ride together which made it even better. They were beyond excited but in such awe they were speechless. It was a beautiful day out so the windows on the train were open, guess which kid stuck his head out the window immediately and left it there for the entire ride? If you guess Chase you are wrong. If you guess Asher, you are correct, our little dare devil is he! He thought feeling the wind in his face was hysterical. After the actual train ride you get to go sit up front of Thomas and have your photo taken.

There is a whole day worth of stuff to at a Day out with Thomas. Percy now also comes to the Strasburg Railroad so we got to take a ride on him also. We got to meet Sir Topham Hat; Asher was mesmerized and Chase was not so sure. We played with train tables and motorized ride on Thomas toys. Of course there was a gift shop that we HAD to go in and each of the boys scored a souvenir. There were a couple of other trains that you could take a ride on which we wanted to do but by that time Chase could barely keep his eyes open as he was walking so we decided to end the day with everyone happy and zero tantrums being thrown.

Forward to the next morning. I go into Chase's room to say good morning once I've heard him stir:
ME: "Morning Chase!"
CHASE: "Let's go baaacccckkk!!!!" (as he jumps out of bed)
ME: "where?"
CHASE: "to Thomas!!!!!"

Giving your child a memorable day that they have been waiting for, for the past 7 months?? Mission completed!!!!!

Father's Day: Third Edition

A day to spoil James? We are all over that!

Our Father's day weekend got off to a bit of a rocky start but we salvaged it and had a blast. We had decided to head down to Lewes, De (James favorite local beach) for the weekend. We were supposed to leave Saturday, stay over and come home on Sunday. Well James got stuck at work longer than anticipated and we had to ditch the plan to go down on Saturday, and instead got up early on Sunday and headed right there.

We have found a new favorite beach; one that is quiet (no boardwalk), parking right on the beach, (no lugging all the beach gear for a half a mile), family friendly and barely any waves, aka perfect for our family with two little ones. We arrived at lunch time and stayed until just before 4pm. We dug holes, jumped waves, built hills for Chase's trucks, snacked on fruit, went swimming, it was a really great day enjoying each others company. Even though there was a nice breeze, it was a hot day and so we decided to grab some ice cream/ snow cones to cool us down and they were yummy.

Once we were all changed we decided to drive down to Fenwick and let the boys take a much needed nap after they played hard on the beach. James and I scouted out some future beach homes and took advantage of a quiet car and actually got to have conversation without being interrupted with crying, or 'mummy, mummy, daddy' every two seconds.

We had wanted to eat at Harpoon Hanna's but with it being Father's Day the placed was mobbed and we knew nobody would handle the way. We stumbled upon BJs on the Water in OC, MD and we really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. We got to sit overlooking the bay, watch ducks swimming by and see the sun set. It was the perfect ending to a great day.

Even though we had some kinks in our plans the main goal was accomplished and that was to spoil James and have him relax for the day. He works so hard day in, day out for us, to make sure we have everything we could ever need, and then some, that he was deserving to have a day based around him.

Dedication

Today we dedicated our Asher James to the Lord. In front of our family, godparents and church we promised to raise Asher to know God and to believe in God's ways. We pray that Asher grows to have a kind heart that loves all, and treats everyone with respect. We pray he realizes how blessed he is and wants to serve and help others. Most of all we pray he loves and follows God, when things are good and especially when they are bad.

Back on the Island

This past weekend we headed up to Long Island, NY for a good friends baby shower. Though our time on the island was brief it was a great little get away the four of us.

We decided to leave on the Friday evening around the boys bedtime figuring they would sleep the entire time and we would just transfer them to the hotel room. Nope that didn't happen, both boys were wide awake and hyper as anything. Asher 'yelled' at us the first half of the ride so I hopped in the back with the boys and that seemed to help Asher out a little and eventually he fell asleep. Chase however was too excited going over so many bridges (that were lit up) and seeing the NYC sky line. I have to admit it was fun showing him all the sights along the way. We made it to the hotel around 10pm, both boys went down to sleep perfectly in the room, that was until 2:30am when Chase decided the pack n play was not the place he wanted to sleep. By 6am I had both boys snuggled up with me, sleep I did not get, but seeing the boys cuddled up next to each other was just the cutest thing ever.

Saturday was baby shower day for my friend Kim who is expecting her second child but first girl. I couldn't be more excite for her and can't wait to see her tiny bundle - and yes I will be living vicariously through her and buying all the girl clothes that Target stocks. I took Asher to the shower with me, I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure how he would do with sitting around but he was amazing; completely pigged out on all the yummy NY food, didn't fuss and flirted with all of the women at the party. Chase stayed with James and the two of them went on adventure to watch the boats in the harbor - with Swedish fish in tow. They had a great time walking around, eating donuts and watching the ferry come into port and the cars unload. Chase called the ferry a transformer, I love how his mind works.

We had decided to only stay on the island for a night as we have so much else going on this summer but before we drove home we decided to grab some dinner and take the boys to the beach seeing we were right there. We ate at E.R. Singletons Seafood Shack on the beach and it was awesome, well you know as much as a non seafood eating girl can say that about a seafood restaurant lol. The best part was the restaurant was located on the beach so as soon we were done eating we headed down onto the sand. Chase takes after his mummy in that he loves the beach and seems so at home there. Immediately he was digging holes in the sand and had his boats in the water and declared he was going to sit in the water; fully clothed. Luckily neither I or James freak out about the boys getting messy, its part of being a child and having fun. Also, we carry spare clothes everywhere we go so it wasn't a big deal.

My brain was not operating at full capacity due to the lack of sleep so I completely forgot to take photos of the shower but I did manage to snap some photos of the boys at the beach and figured I would share a few.