Maryland Weekend

Last weekend, we threw Alex in the car and headed down to Maryland to visit Carrie, Dan, Abby and Vivian. We had an absolute BLAST together. We're definitely going to be doing this weekend thing more often!




Vivian - The Littlest Rugrat

The weekend started with a 3+ hour drive through Reading, Lancaster and York (hello, Amish country!) down into Maryland. Traffic wasn't too bad until we got on the 895 loop around Baltimore. Not surprising, considering it was rush hour on Friday evening. :/

We got there around 6:30 or so and had a nice dinner. We let Alex and Abby stay up a little later than normal so they could play. We settled in and just enjoyed talking and watching the kids.

The night went pretty much as we expected; actually, it went a little better, since Alex didn't need to throw himself around the bed and onto Mommy before falling asleep. That was his trademark maneuver during our September vacation.

Saturday was a busy day. After having pancakes, we got everyone ready and drove to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We had lunch at Phillips (go crab cakes!) and headed to the National Aquarium just a short walk away. That was definitely the highlight of the trip.



We walked through all the exhibits together. Alex and Abby held hands practically the entire time. Alex wouldn't go anywhere without making sure he had Abby in one hand and Daddy in the other.



Perhaps an arranged marriage?




We toughed it out (no naps for either kid!) and hung around for the Dolphin show, which was well worth the wait. Both Alex and Abby loved every minute. I was frankly surprised how attentive Alex was. He was really interested in it all.





On the way back to Dan and Carrie's, Alex caught a 15 minute nap while everyone else just relaxed. Dinner was Chinese take-out and we had brownies for dessert. Alex didn't want much to do with any of it, so he ran around the house and took little bites as he came around the dining room table. Again, we stayed up pretty late and let the kids play down in their finished basement, which, I must tell you, is giving us some serious basement fever!

Sunday morning, we all went out to a local diner for breakfast. Afterwards, we hung out for a little bit, letting Alex and Abby play some more, and then we headed out. Three hours or so later, we were all home. We were tired, but really glad we took the trip down there to see our friends.

Little did we know, we had a little surprise waiting for us when we got home...

Trick or Treat!

Yesterday we celebrated Alex's third Halloween. It was his second in which he actually went out trick or treating. Like last year, we brought him up to Parsippany to trick or treat downtown in Lake Hiawatha. Only difference this time is that Daddy came along (last year he was a bum and skipped out because he had a grad school class). We all had a blast. Alex dressed up as a bat and loved it!



We started by visiting his great-grandma along with his little cousin Logan. We had a nice visit and the kids were great.



Then, we went back to his Nonna's house and got ready to trick-or-treat. We drove downtown, parked, and started the odyssey. He quickly got the idea and was soon opening every door he could find in hopes the store owners would have candy.



Everyone we saw had at least something. The comic book store had a little Archie comic for him, the ice cream shop had coupons for a free cone and a little collectibles shop gave him a rubber dinosaur. Best of all, though, was one of the banks in town: they gave him a huge handful of candy and a bag of tortilla chips, which came in VERY handy towards the end of the day, as he needed to sit down and have a snack break.


Whew, this is tough work!

When we were done downtown, we went back to Nonna's house and visited some of the houses nearby. He got a balloon at one of those houses and took about 5 minutes to pop it. :(





Not long after that, Nonno came home from work and Alex was ecstatic to see him!



They played for a little while while we got all packed up and ready to go home.

After we got home, we had dinner and gave candy to the local trick-or-treaters. Alex HAD to come to the door with us, even if he was only in a diaper, and help give out the candy.

In all, it was a great Halloween for everyone. Next up - Thanksgiving! Of course, I'm sure Daddy will find a way to start decorating for Christmas before that even gets here...

Oh, and here's what the front porch looked like, complete with Mickey:



More soon!

It's Almost Halloween!

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we gave Alex his little pumpkin to paint and, as usual, he channeled his inner Picasso and went to work.



We also carved the family pumpkin for 2008. Since we went to Disney for the first time this year, we decided to carve Mickey Mouse. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be!

Alex helped clean out the seeds. Ick! He seemed to enjoy it, though...



I bought this "Spider Bread" from the store earlier in the day, so we let Alex "play" with it at dinner:





We finished up the pumpkin after Alex went to bed. I carved it all out, and Teresa put all the finishing touches on it (read: made it look presentable!). I'd say it's a keeper! Well, at least until the squirrels start attacking it, anyway...





Alex gets to go trick-or-treating tomorrow, and we'll be sure to post pictures. See you then!

-K+T

Even MORE Fall Fun!

This weekend, we took a trip up to NJ and went to the Conklin Farm in Montville to pick pumpkins. This is the same place we both went as kids, so it's fun to bring Alex back there. Prices have gone up, of course (55 cents a pound?!), but it's still a great place to walk around, have fun and take pictures.



This year, we took Teresa's cousin Lucia along with her son Logan, since it's his first Halloween. Here's a shot of Alex taking his little cousin under his wing and showing him the ropes.



Until next time!