A Visit from Grandma

In June, Grandma Maree came for a visit! We filled our days with lots of adventures. We went to chocolate world, cocoa castle (a local park), bowling, Hershey Park rides, Hershey Park water park, Summer Solstice Party and swimming lessons. It was so fun to have her here! 

Bowling with the Lucky Dudes!

Hershey Park!

As we were walking by the entrance to the zoo they were doing a little program about Alligators!  The boys loved it!

Grandma & Tracen with Mrs. Kiss

Hershey Park Water Park!

The second day we wore ourselves out at the water park.  (And Chris got to come!)  I always bring the stroller for this reason....Logan always falls asleep by the end of the day!

(at least he kept his head up for this picture....ha!)

This summer, my friend, Ms. Rachel has been giving the boys swimming lessons.  They were learning how to dive here:

 Overall it was a really fun week!  Thanks for visiting Grandma Maree!

Tracen turns 7!

There is nothing more exciting than getting another year older!  May 5 our sweet Tracen Jay turned 7!  Wahoo!  He is getting so big!  He still loves basketball and his jerseys.  Him and Logan are the best of friends (most of the time).  Tracen loves to race, play dogs, play Skylander guys, swim & go to Hershey Park!  

To Celebrate Tracen's birthday, Saturday the 4th, we headed out to none-else than Chuck-E-Cheese!  The boys were in hog-heaven.  They have a roller coaster simulator ride with 6 different roller coasters.  For just 1 token, both boys could "ride" for this price so needless to say they rode all 6.  It was a favorite for the day.  After we went to Paramount Sports, a indoor playground, gymnastics arena and played with our PIM friends.  So much fun!

So here is the dude!  Big 7 year old!  Spoiled rotten by family and friends.  This kid raked in the moola and bought a DSi and a game and a few other random toys!  We are now proud DS owners.  I am proud of the boys because they waited and bought them with their own money.  Hopefully  they will learn to take care ofthem better because of it.  So far so good!

Sunday night, Tracen's actual birthday, we had some friends over for a Mexican Feast and ice cream & cake.  Tracen wanted a chocolate-chocolate Crusher cake...so here is what I came up with.

More presents from friends & Mom & Dad!

Nothing but pure joy with this guy!  Thank you everyone for your gifts!  Tracen loves them!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Buddy!

Our Nation's Capital

For part of Chris' vacation in April, we packed up the car and headed to our Nation's capital for a couple of days. (April 23 - 25) We got there Tuesday afternoon and went home Thursday evening. It was a short trip but so fun! We will definitely be going back in the future!

In Tracen's Kindergarten class they had been learning about a few of our more famous presidents, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln & Thomas Jefferson.  He had also learned all about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington so it was pretty cool to be in these places and to see some of these historical sites.

We became experts of the Metro system, which was also fun for the boys.  We explored the Mall, Took a day to play at the Zoo, ate some Cafe Rio (yum!) and went to the Museum  of Natural History and the National Air & Space Museum.  There was so much to see that we didn't get to see it all, but we will be doing another trip before we leave Pennsylvania.  It is such a cool city!

The Washington Monument.  It is still under construction.  Two years ago, there was an Earthquake in Virginia which caused some damage so for safety reasons they have been making some improvements.

 

World War II Memorial.  We found the states the boys have lived in!

Lincoln Memorial and Reflection pool.  

While we were there, we read the book Who Broke Lincoln's Thumb (one of the capital city mysteries by Ron Roy).  It was a fun book to read.  We got to stand by the monument and the boys got to see how HUGE it is.  It was fun to talk about the story while we looked at the statue.

View of the Washington Monument & Reflection Pool from the step of the Lincoln Memorial.  Such a cool place.

On Wednesday, April 24th we spent the day at the National Zoo!  We ate lunch at Noodles & Company and had ice cream at Baskin Robins.  It was a long day but so fun!

Tracen's favorite animal is the cheetah...why do you ask?  Because it is FAST!

We arrived at the Gorillas just in time for the workers to be putting out their food and then they released them to eat.  How cool was that?  There were 5 gorillas all together, the momma, dad and 3 babies.

No trip is complete without a ride on the carousel.  Too fun!