First Dentist Visit

Vince has had most of his teeth for quite some time now. He got his choppers pretty early, and we've worked hard to try and keep them clean and help him develop good habits with cleaning his teeth. So I decided to organize his first dental visit, which turned out to be quite an outing and tons of fun for him. This Dentist office was like a circus! Toys everywhere, fish tanks.. tons of attractions for toddlers. The dental hygienist won Vince over with loads of stickers and puppets to show how to brush teeth properly. We got pics of Vince brushing a doggy puppet's nice straight teeth with this gigantic tooth brush!

Although Vince didn't let them do much more than just look in his mouth (they found plaque build up already!), they gave me some good tips on cleaning his teeth, making sure to floss, and gave us a whole goodie bag of flossing tools/tooth brushes/tooth paste.. and so on. We also found out our town doesn't have fluoride in it's water... so we are giving him fluoride pills now. Check your town to make sure there's fluoride in the water!!

A Thomas Train Father's Day

Only one day after Vince's big birthday party (where he scored loads of Thomas Train loot).... we headed to Carver, MA where the train park had a special "Day Out With Thomas Train". Luckily Mike didn't mind sharing part of his Father's Day to go have fun on Thomas Train. This train park is super cute, and they had Thomas Train at the front of the train car, which pulled us around on a 20 min ride through the park, and continued on past cranberry bogs that are plentiful in Carver. There were loads of amusement park rides as well, which Vince didn't want to have any part of. He did enjoy watching other kids on them however. They were the type of amusement park rides you find at the end of a beach pier or at a small town fair, run and controlled by the local teens that want summer jobs.

So we skipped the amusement rides, and headed to the trains and cabooses that children could explore.

There was also an area where kids could take a picture with Sir Topham Hat, but we had the unfortunate luck of being there when Sir Topham Hat keeled over from heat exhaustion and passed out! It was a very hot day, can't imagine having been in the outfit and having to sit out there!! Of course they asked if there were any health care providers around, so I waddled over as fast as I could with my pregnant belly and tried to help get the outfit off the girl, but the ambulance came soon after; and I realized I was more of a hindrance than anything else... and Vince seemed to be startled by all the craziness and seeing his favorite character pass out... so we got the heck out of there (and then I took a picture of the whole event...). The girl in the costume was fine, she just needed to get OUT of the costume.

An old Edaville Railroad Train

Getting a picture with the life size Thomas. Vince couldn't believe his eyes!

I arranged for Mike to hang out with some of his buddies for the rest of the day so he could take a break for Father's Day. He's been working so hard on all the house chores and getting no breaks at all. He had a good time while we went home and took some naps (and then went swimming of course).

Vince's 2nd Birthday

Vince turned 2 years old on June 17th! I still can't believe how the time has flown by, and our little baby boy has turned full fledged into a toddler. His birthday was on a Thursday, so he spent it at daycare. We made it a fun day for him and his friends at school as Mike took some time off and went with all of them to get ice cream at Baskin Robins!

Here's everyone loaded up in the awesome little toddler cart that Vince's school has, equipped to carry 6 toddlers safely in belted seats. It's so ridiculously cute to watch these strollers carting around toddlers while the kids just hang out in their cart!

A chocolate faced Vince demanding more ice cream from Daddy, while buddy Jon looks on in mild shock.

Then at home that night we had our own little birthday celebration with a chocolate doughnut (of which he just played with more than ate). Happy birthday little man!!

The real celebration happened on Saturday in our backyard where we hosted about 40 adults and 20 kids to a day of eating and swimming and playing around in a jumpy castle. It couldn't have been a better day to have a pool birthday party! The sun was out, the sky was clear and the pool was nice and cool. I was praying for good weather on that day since I sent out the evite, and that's exactly what we got. It was a long fun day of running around and swimming, Vince made it through the whole day like a champ... no nap at all! Of course he fell asleep by about 6pm and that was it for him, but he pulled through like a little party animal!

We were so busy having fun and running around that I didn't even take one single picture of the whole day! I can't even post anything from that day! I do have a video of all of us singing happy birthday but the document is so large that I can't even down load it onto my computer... so oh well!! Does anyone happen to have any pictures from Saturday? If so, send them along!

And last but not least, here's the latest picture in our tradition of putting him in Mike's Italia t-shirt every year on his birthday! He's growing into it for sure!

June 2008

June 2009

June 2010

Weekend at the Cape

We had the chance to spend some time with Mike's family last weekend, and it was great to have them over so Vince could 'play' with his cousins Noelle and Andrew. I put play in quotes because it was mainly listening to Vince whine about them taking his trains/toys the whole time. The kid has pretty much completed his transition into 2 year old monster, pushing his limits on control. I keep saying all he needs is little fangs and the transition will be complete!

We all went to the Cape for the wedding of a family friend that Mike grew up with, so it was a chance to have a nice getaway as well. We stayed at the Red Jacket Beach Resort, which was a perfect little spot that had great pools and great views.

We also got to almost max out our minivan with the number of people we were able to stack in there! We do have one more seat that goes in the middle for an 8th person, but luckily we didn't need it. It was fun hanging out in the 'Licorice Van' as Vince calls it. In the back row we have Noelle, Lisa, and Andrew; while in the middle we have Vince and Uncle Neal chillin out.

Andrew and Vince getting in some valuable digging time

hugs at the pool

We also were able to celebrate Vince's 2nd birthday a little early as Nonna and Pop Pop brought an amazingly delicious cake from New York. We all sang happy birthday and practically the whole restaurant joined in. There were a few rowdy tables near us full of people that weren't afraid to belt it out for the nearly 2 year old.

Then there was the actual reason we were there, for the wedding. The reception was a great time, especially since our babysitter came all the way out from our town to babysit the three kids all night! She had her hands full with them, but I think they had fun.

It started with a pizza party in our hotel room

Meanwhile we got to have our own fun!
back row: Neal and Mike's sister Lisa, me and Mike
front row: Mike's Mom and Dad

Yeah I'm looking pretty pregnant these days, but I was able to hold my own on the dance floor!

Later in the evening.... when Neal stole our camera! great shot Pop Pop!

Life Revolves Around the Pool

We've seemed to have recovered from our Memorial Day mishaps, and despite all the craziness it still was a nice 3 days of great weather, and enjoying the pool. Yes, the pool is my major goal of each day that I'm not at work, and I've become radically obsessed with checking the weather several times a day to plan our pool time. I mean I literally check the weather like 5 times a day, and it's interesting how different the prediction is each time. A far different experience than it was growing up in LA, where the weather basically never changes. It just feels so good to float my giant pregnant body around in the cool water and feel weightless, I can't wait until the next time I'm able to get in the pool. However, it's a giant tease that I can't use the diving board!.... but just picture any 8 months pregnant woman jumping off the diving board, not exactly a great idea nor a pretty picture. Instead I force anyone else I'm with to use the diving board so I can live vicariously through their jumps/dives. Fair warning for anyone that comes over! On Wednesday our friends Kathryn and Adam paid a visit so the boys enjoyed some splish splash fun together.

some hugs were exchanged, along with screams of mine (mainly from Vince)

Making some waves!

Don't think we'll get in much pool time this weekend as our lives are totally packed with activities. We are up to our necks with chores to do in order to finish getting the baby's room ready. Thanks to my awesomely wonderful husband, the baby's room is painted and looking great! He's worked SOOO hard every night and every weekend on that room... while also keeping everything else together that a house needs in order to maintain. Houses are exhausting!