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Seaside continued....

Seaside 2011

Liam and Mommy

Grandpa Morse and AJ

Sweet Brothers

Love those plaid outfits! AJ was screaming in the picture before this because I tried to take away his blanket and paci. Needless to say, the picture WITH his blanket and paci turned out a little better.

Relaxing on the beach

The Gang at the beach

O.k., I have had a few complications with posting on my blog recently so rather than rewrite this entire post, I am just going to add a few more pictures from our trip and move on to something else. Again, we had a great time!

Seaside 2011

We had a wonderful vacation again this year in Seaside, Florida. This is the same area where we went on vacation last year. I have been going to Seaside since I was a child and each trip is memorable and this one was no different. The boys were much easier this year and enjoyed the trip so much. They were a lot more interested in playing on the beach, building sand castles, catching crabs, and swimming in the pool. We were only indoors to sleep and spent many hours playing outdoors. The weather was beautiful and honestly I loved the heat! Yes, I really did and so did the boys. We were concerned that it might be too hot, but it was pleasant with temperatures in the 80's and lows in the 70's with a nice breeze on most days. It was summer weather, which is something we have very few weeks of in Minnesota! Grandma Mimi and Grandpa Morse joined us and were both very helpful with the boys. We have nearly 200 pictures from the trip so I will try my best to share some of our highlights! Enjoy! We can't wait to return to Seaside, I really had a hard time leaving this year.

Little bit of Summer

Luke is working on airing up the bike tires like Daddy. The boys love riding behind our bikes in the Burley right now.

Not sure why this picture turned out so dark and the quality is not great since it was taken with my phone, but here is how the water table fun started....

And here is how it ended....

Aiden touching Daddy's tulips from Holland

We had about three days of true summer this week with hot and humid weather and it sure was nice. We broke out the water table and that quickly led to three very wet boys. I was outside on my own without John and really did not want to drag three grassy and wet kids into the house so what started as something simple quickly turned into a water party with three naked boys running around the yard! We got several comments from neighbors and hopefully no one was offended, but when the temperature finally reaches 80 degrees it is hard not to celebrate. We are hoping for some more warm weather as we have been rather cool again and rainy the past couple of days.

Aiden is 16 months old now and really changing. He is talking in conversations about who knows what, but he just babbles nonstop. He does clearly say the words: thank-you, water, puppy, ball, and mama. Enjoy a couple random pictures from our week.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bike ride with Daddy on Mother's Day

Stopping for a picture after riding around the circle

Aiden at the playground

I had a wonderful weekend and very special Mother's Day even if I do not have a lot of pictures to post from it. John completely surprised me with an overnight trip downtown at a very nice hotel in St. Paul. We had an amazing dinner with conversation and time to eat and left without having to clean up anything off the floor. The next morning was probably the most beautiful day we have had in Minnesota all year. The temperature was warm and the sun was shining and we went for a nice long run on one of my favorite streets with all the trees and flowers blooming in front of some gorgeous old homes. We had breakfast and coffee followed by a matinee and then headed home to the boys. It was quite relaxing and a very nice break from our craziness at home. Thank you to John for planning such a wonderful weekend. As most people know, I really do not like surprises; however, this one turned out to be very special and one that I will not forget. Thank you also to our wonderful babysitter for entertaining (and wearing out) our three boys at home. The chalk covered driveway might never be the same.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother in law, sister, grandmother, aunt, sisters in laws, and of course all of our special twin friends. "That's A LOT of Mommies", as Luke pointed out today when we talked about who would be celebrating Mother's Day. The boys woke up singing "Happy Birthday" in their beds so we knew that they remembered today was a special day, but not exactly sure they understood the difference between my birthday and mother's day.

April Showers bring Snow Flurries?

Checking out some fish with Daddy

Meeting Sponge Bob Squarepants at Nickelodean Universe

Aiden was a little unsure about Mr. Spongebob initially, but he warmed up to him pretty quickly

Riding the Blues Clues Dog

Petting the StarfishHello!

Checking out some fish with Daddy

Aiden's newest love...trying to "drive" the car

Do I really need to explain? The boys were soaking wet after playing in the wet (and quite cold) grass, but they also needed to use the bathroom. We had them strip down outside since they were so dirty and you can guess what happened next.

So, its May 1st and it still feels like winter to me. John and I have decided that it is not the long winters that are so hard in Minnesota; its the lack of summer. Seriously, we can handle the snow and cold temps from November until March, but after that it is really time for a change. On the bright side, we have had a few warm days here and there and we are very fortunate not to be dealing with the flooding and tornadoes in so many areas south of us; however, this spring has been unusually cold and wet. We are kind of running out of things to do with the boys when we can't get outside. Neither John nor I are big shoppers and going to a mall is a little outside of our comfort zone, but we decided to do something different over the weekend. We took the boys to the Mall of America to visit the new Sea Aquarium. We have only been to the Mall of America a handful of times since we moved here, but the boys loved the aquarium. Our trip included watching the sharks eat, seeing several dozen or so different types of jellyfish and seahorses, and petting starfish. After the aquarium, we had lunch and rode a few rides before heading home for naps.

Boston and Bunnies

Easter 2011

AJ after just a few small pieces of candy. Unreal mess. Maybe the white shirt wasn't such a good idea afterall

Looking for Eggs! He caught on to the idea quickly.

We basically found one egg, ate all the candy in it, and then gradually moved to the next

Looking for Eggs!

Chasing Bubbles early on Easter Morning

Liam petting the bunnies at the Eggstravaganza

Luke petting the bunnies, we have come a long way in being "gentle"

Putting corn in the eggs

Checking out the big bunny and trying on bunny ears

Visiting with the Easter Bunny

Yeah!!!

Looking for Easter Eggs

Decorating Easter Eggs, this is right before Aiden dumped over a bowl of dye all over himself and his brother!

We have lots to be thankful for and to update on this week (lots of pictures too). First off, the marathon! John and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Boston, the time away from our "chaos", and the race itself. We ran the entire race together which was our plan from the beginning. Many people have asked if we train together and the answer is No. We generally never run together because one of us is watching the boys and when we run on Saturdays, we run in separate groups of guys and girls then we get coffee together. This race, however, was our first one to complete together. The course was tough and hilly, but the temperatures were ideal. They felt a little warm to me (50-60 degrees), but that was definitely because we have been training in -20 degrees and that was actually one of my first runs in shorts. The crowd support was awesome and like no other race. I ran Boston in 2006, but it was exciting for John to see the course and run the small New England towns of Hopkinton, Framingham, and Natick. We enjoyed the screaming girls from Wellesley College and the chaos of Boston College, but the the turn onto Boylston Street for the finish was definitely the icing on the cake. We ran a strong and consistently timed race and finished in 3 hours 34 minutes. This was my fastest marathon to date so that was an extra bonus.

Next up for us, Easter. The boys were so excited about the Easter Bunny this year. On Good Friday, we participated in an Easter Eggstravaganza at a local park. Unfortunately, it is still a bit chilly here and the weather was not the greatest so most of the activities had to be held indoors. We met with the Easter bunny himself, dyed eggs, hunted for eggs, petted live bunnies, had our faces painted, and did a few crafts. I was by myself for all of this since John was at work so this ended up being A LOT of work! This was a jam packed place with a lot of stuff to do and it was a bit crazy trying to keep up with everyone. We survived, however, and the boys asked to do it again as we were leaving so apparently they enjoyed it as well.

On Saturday night before bed, we read a book about the real meaning of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Needless to say, this is not an easy concept to explain to three year olds and we had some pretty unhappy kids when we did not read their favorite books. As we were walking into church on Easter Sunday, Luke and Liam were talking about what John and I would do while we were at church. When we told them that we would talk about the resurrection like we read in our book last night, Liam said that "the resurrection was for Jesus, not for the Easter Bunny" so I guess we made at least a little progress.