RI Air Show

This weekend we went to the air show at the Rhode Island National Guard base. I thought since it was Rhode Island maybe it wouldn't be as crowded as other air shows I've been to, but I was wrong. Still crowded. The Blue Angels were there and the Canadian Snowbirds. Luckily it was a clear sunny (but not too hot) day, so the air show was a success.

Here's Matthew sitting in the huge bay of a C-5.

C-5 bay from the inside.
This picture didn't turn out great, but we could see the water out the front of the aircraft.

Matthew was too excited to pose for pictures.

His favorite thing of the day seemed to be sitting inside this helicopter.

He liked checking out the different humvees too. Matthew loves anything of the vehicle variety.

Driving a RI NG hummer.

Anna looks wistfully at all the activity.

I tried to take a picture of us with the one of the Blue Angel planes in the background.
Didn't work out so well. You can sort of see it between our heads. :)

The tail of one of the RI ANG C-130s, with a bonus plane flying through.

We had to get a couple of Del's frozen lemonades - a RI specialty. They were good. Here's Anna, wearing her air show earplugs and stealing some of my lemonade. We all had fun!

I'm outside!!

We enjoyed playing in the yard a few days ago. It's been a rainy June here in Rhode Island, so anytime the sun comes out we have to head outside immediately for mandatory outside fun time. Matthew ran around like he'd been released from jail and Anna excitedly crawled all over the grass (probably looking for things to put in her mouth). Here Anna found Matthew's chair (which he had abandoned).

The narrow passage in my parent's backyard - over the wall to the farm. We go through there a lot for walks on the farm roads.

Anna finds a "wagon."

And uses her charm to get a wagon ride.

The wagon tipped over, but Anna had already gotten out of it, so no little people were injured. We had fun playing outside on that sunny afternoon. I hope we get another sunny day soon!

A Hiking Adventure

Matthew and I went on a hiking adventure a few days ago. It's been rainy a lot and I've been feeling bad that I haven't taken Matthew outside to play more, so a few days ago we went for a little walk on the farm roads behind my parent's house.

I knew it was muddy, and I also know Matthew likes to splash in mud puddles, so I put on his rain boots, we packed up some little things in his back pack (rain coat, sippy cup, goldfish crackers) and went on our way.

What I didn't think of was that the rain boots are a little bit harder for him to walk in. Ten minutes or so into our "adventure" while trying to walk around a big mud puddle, Matthew stumbled and fell right into the mud. It was a MUD puddle too, not those watery wet ones that are mostly brown water. He got thick mud all over his hands, arms and knees and started to cry. I felt so bad. I wiped him off as best as I could with my sweatshirt and we sat down and had some goldfish crackers and a drink from the sippy cup. He felt a little better after that.

He loved carrying his backpack.

At one point he insisted that we play "following the leader." I tried to take a picture of him following me.

He points out one of his favorite landmarks on the farm: a giant mound of dirt known as "the big hill."

Here's Matthew after falling in the mud puddle and then being cleaned up.
You can see his muddy knees.

He still wanted to stop and collect rocks along the way, so we kept them in this special rock sized compartment on the backpack. Such a boy.

It started to mist a little bit as we were getting home. He got to take a bath when we got home and he liked that, so I hope he wasn't too traumatized by the mud puddle incident. We'll try it again another day.

Strawberry Picking

We went strawberry picking this week at a little farm nearby. I've never done anything like that and I thought it was a lot of fun. Matthew didn't quite understand about only picking the red berries, and he usually took a bite of the strawberry before putting it in his basket. But we still had fun.

Matthew starts to fill his basket. I see a little green berry in there.

Now he's getting the hang of it.

Anna had to sit at the end of the row in the stroller. I think she knew she was getting the short end of the stick.

The basket is almost full.

Tasting some berries.

This picture reminds me of Blueberries for Sal

By the time we got home, his shirt was very berry stained (much worse than this picture) but we had fun and lots of berries to show for it.

Outdoor Pool Party

A few weeks ago I tried to have a little pool party with the kids. It didn't go so well. Here's our second attempt. We eventually got the pool filled with warm enough water. We had to tote some water from the house.

Anna loves being in the water and splashing.

My brother, John, and Matthew play catch. Matthew really liked having John come visit us.

Anna decided she was done and had to get out (and get into dry clothes). It was a short lived pool party.

Matthew played a little longer, until it started getting windy and cold.

Then he gave it up for dry clothes too. Not a total success, but better than our indoor pool party for sure.

Gymnastics Class

Matthew and I have been going to a gymnastics class at the YMCA this spring. Today was our last day. Matthew really enjoyed the class, which was only for 1-2 year olds. Pretty much it involved just crawling over foamy things and jumping on the trampolines. All the little kids in the class loved it. Here's Matthew in "the tunnel."

After walking on the balance beam crayon, Matthew bounced on the tiny trampoline.

This long trampoline was a favorite with the kids. Matthew loved running down it and called it the "mattress."

These big circle things were fun to crawl in. Matthew liked to hang on inside while I rolled it over and over.

Matthew walks the toddler balance beam.

My personal favorite: the big pit of foamy cubes. Matthew and I would run and jump into it together. It was hard to get out of, and I almost lost a sock or two climbing out a few times, but so worth it. Matthew liked to "jump" in by sitting on the edge and sliding gently down into the pit.

And the tower that Matthew built, and then destroyed, made out of foamy cubes.
It was a fun class. Next week we start swimming lessons!!

Wheels and Teeth

I have to give Anna a little shout out today 'cause she got her first tooth (well on June 5th she did). She has been having a hard time with the teething for the past week or so but now that the first tooth has broken through she seems to feel a little better. Since getting a picture of a new tooth is really tricky, here's a picture of her eating her big girl solid foods. Oh the wonderful world of teeth!

And speaking of growing up, here's Anna riding her little bike.
She can only go backwards, but she doesn't mind too much.

She's just trying to keep up with Matthew.
You can see Anna has backed herself into the piano and needs assistance. So fun.

Wild Animal Park

Our wild animal park in all it's glory!!

File this under "More lame things I do as a mom"
Today we made a wild animal park out of Matthew's train track and an animal puzzle. It was originally going to be a zoo, but evolved into a cageless park where the animals can roam around, like San Diego's Wild Animal Park or Disney's Animal Kingdom.

A closer shot of the park. Matthew decided the giraffe and lion would live together on the mountain. And the elephant would live amongst the trees. I put the hippo and alligator in the very fancy paper lake I made. Anna was very concerned about the airport building. I think she's about to relocate it.

Matthew took this picture all by himself. Good job buddy. The train part was more exciting than the animal part to the kids. Oh well. It was fun.

Indoor Pool Party

A week or so ago I did a really dumb thing.
I announced to the kids that we would go outside and swim in the kiddie pool before double checking what the weather was like outside. Earlier in the day I had gone out and it was nice and warm. Just right for a little swim.
So I got the kids ready and I went to set the pool up outside but it had gotten mega windy outside and I quickly decided it was not good pool weather anymore.
Matthew was disappointed and even Anna seemed to sense that she was getting a raw deal. So I tried to salvage the situation by taking the pool into the basement and having a little pool party down there. We went down there, still in our swim suits, sat the pool on a little mattress so it would be soft and threw some soft blocks and toy fish in there. We played and tried on some clothes that were in the basement, but all in all it was sort of lame. Oh well. Now I know to do a real time physical check of the environmental conditions before I announce a pool party to the kids. Live and learn. Here are some pics of our adventures in the great indoors.

Anna looking smiley

Trying on some bandanas

Matthew models some of Scott's old PT gear. I think both legs are in the same hole.

So handsome!

We miss you!

I got Scott's picture down for the kids to look at a few days ago. Sometimes we can see him via video chat on the computer, but lately the picture has been really bad. The kids get a kick out of seeing pictures of Daddy. To see another pic go HERE.