Silvestro Family Reunion

Over Columbus Day Weekend, we gathered ourselves and the kids and headed down to Florida for a fun filled 5 days at Disney's Vero Beach Resort, along with 50 other Silvestro family members!

It was a blast being able to hang out with everyone, and have the kids get to know their cousins/aunts/uncles... and everyone in between; while running from the beach to the pool all day!  I for one LOVED the warm weather and sun, couldn't get enough of it.

To highlight the most memorable moments:
-being able to see so many family members all at once, and play all day together!
-Some of Mike's siblings organized a photographer so we could get lots of family photos together and with everyone
-Can't forget what a pain the A$* Zoë was while trying to take all the photos!  We're lucky we got any good ones
-the pool, beach, and water slide
-the mini golf course right near the pool (awesome!)
-the TONS of kid friendly activities that we could sign the kids up for, such as "pirate sword crafts", and what became all our favorite, the "unbirthday party".  Following the theme of Alice In Wonderland, there was an unbirthday party that the kids could go to where they spend an hour at a pretend birthday... doing things like musical chairs, hitting a piñata, and decorating a cupcake.  It quickly became our favorite activity when we realized that it was a kid activity where you could DROP THEM OFF FOR THE HOUR!  Once we found that out, we dropped them off, and ran out of there straight to the poolside bar, got some drinks, and chilled for an hour while our little people were entertained ;)
-Getting Vince to finally go down the water slide, and seeing his big happy grin on the way down
-The Goofy and Donald Duck Pirate Dinner!  18 of us marched into the hotel restaurant with reservations for the pirate themed dinner, of which everyone was fitted with our own pirate bandana and eye patch (yes, even Luca), and all the cousins were able to bring their above mentioned "pirate sword craft".   Vince took it a little too far and insisted on using his sword to attack Donald and Goofy whenever they got anywhere near our table.
-Watching Nonna get escorted in to the afore mentioned pirate dinner by none other than Pirate Goofy himself, and gracefully wrapping her pirate bandana as a classy scarf around her neck.  that was cool.
- celebrating cousins Joey and Chris's 5th birthday with everyone!
-making our own cotton candy with my new wish list item the Nostalgia Electrics cotton candy maker. thanks Lori!

PIRATE DINNER PICS:

 All the cousins reciting the pirate oath

 Vince starts attacking Donald, and doesn't stop

 All the cousins giving Goofy hugs, except Vince whose ready to attack

 A pirate says what Zoë?!  Arrgghh!

Some fun at the beach!  yes, poor Zoë inherits lots of boys hats/clothes from brother Vince, but this hat looks cute on her so it's ok

                                     

Vince, with cousins Bella (left) and Noelle (right), contemplating the next build on their sand castle

 Vince would have tried to dig up the whole beach 

Luca, relaxing in the shade

Zoë took over sand castle building at some point

taking a rest 

Vince and Zoë admiring our view

This resort being Disney property, it was geared for kids...... of all ages.  I think everyone took a turn down the water slide at one point or another.  Even Mike's Dad, who everyone gasped at when he came shooting down the slide like a bullet!

Luca had fun splashing around with Pop-Pop

 My boys!

Mike's turn down the slide!

 My turn!

  Cute cousin Melina always taking care of Luca

Vince and Zoë always missing Noelle and Andrew

Mike's nephew Brian, his wife Lori, and Nicholas, Bella, Chris and Joey.  We never get to see them enough!  

 Mike and all his siblings

 family photo with Nonna and Pop-Pop

Storyland!

Over Labor Day weekend we took a two night trip up to Storyland in NH.  For those of you not from the Northeast, Storyland is an amusement park geared to kids 12 and under.  There are lots of rides for the little ones, and also a bunch of areas for the kids to just play.  As a point of reference, there were only 5 rides that Zoë was too small to go on.

The drive through the White Mountains to Storyland was really beautiful.  We stopped at one of the scenic overlooks and took this picture of Vince and Zoë:

Not all of the pictures we took came out as nice.  In fact, I'm still convinced our family is cursed when it comes to trying to get descent pictures of us together.  Here's a video Lisa made of a few pictures we took:

That's Vince fooling around and taking Zoë out, then Zoë stomping away.

We stayed at a little motel called the North Colony Inn that had an awesome playground for the kids.  It was the only place that we could find with decent reviews that didn't require a 3 night stay for the long weekend.  From what we read about it, it's great for little kids since they have an awesome playground.  Here's a picture of the treehouse they had there (with Mike and Vince looking out the windows!):

Um, where can I get one of these for our backyard!  This is the coolest little treehouse

Luca and Zoë swinging in the sunshine!

Storyland has a deal that if you enter the park after 2pm, you can come back another day.  Since the park closes at 5pm, that's the perfect amount of time for the little ones.  We went for 3 hours the first day we got there, and then back for more the next day.  Here are some of the highlights in photos.

The kids got to meet Curious George, but Zoë wouldn't get closer than 10 feet.  Instead, she insisted on a constant stare, like a deer in headlights, frozen, until we finally had to pick her up and carry her away.  Only Vince went for the photo op, and he was a bit freaked by the giant George also.

Lisa, Vince, and Zoë taking a ride on the little train.  Any surprise that this was the first ride they went on?

Lisa and Zoë on a ride.  We couldn't convince Vince to get on, but this was towards the end of the first day and he was getting pooped.

The pumpkin carriage ride to Cinderella's castle, and 2 random kids.

Vince loved the pumpkin ride!

Zoë was overwhelmingly excited to meet Cinderella.  Vince was too shy to go up to her.

Zoë had to ride the carousel three times before we could get her off!

On the Storyland equivalent of a ferris wheel.

Towards the end of day 2.  We needed to give the kids something to keep them going, but maybe this was a little too much...at least she didn't yak that cotton candy/popcorn mixture back up! (although she sort of looked like she might when I took this picture)

Both days we were there we went to the Glen Junction restaurant for breakfast.  The place has a train theme, and you can see the train track hanging from the ceiling in the picture below.  It was probably Vince's favorite restaurant EVER, and it made for a relaxing meal for whoever sat next to him.

And it's Vince at it again, making sure to taint our family photos with a funny face!

After our second day in Storyland, we took a ride on the North Conway scenic railroad.  The ride was about an hour total, and it was a nice relaxing way to end a long day for the kids. 

our engine

Views of the White Mountains.  We sat in an open air coach.

I can't believe that Zoë sat still long enough for this photo.

                      Everyone watching as the engine is moved from one end of the train to the other.

This was Vince's favorite thing to watch!

We'll definitely be making another trip up to Storyland at some point.  It was fun to be able to go on some of the 'big kid' rides with Vince..... and makes me look forward to so many more things we can do as the kids get older!  (including get more sleep... haha!)

Misquamicut Beach, RI

Let me just finish up with what we did over the summer so I can move on to things that actually happened this month!

In mid July our friend Kathryn and I packed the kids up in the car, and drove down to Rhode Island to spend the day at Misquamicut Beach.  Mike's sister and mother were vacationing there so we met up with them.  After driving down there that day, there's a few things I will now never forget to do in order to prep for a long drive (anything over 10 minutes according to the kids).  #1-always keep water near each kid so they can have it if they want it. #2-keep a few snacks within arms reach of each kid so they don't have to whine about being hungry while in the car. #3-invent some sort of catching net for when they drop stuff that they want, that they would then be able to retrieve the dropped object.

I never realized how much I actually play airline stewardess in the car when we are going on longer trips.  Usually it's Mike driving, so I end up crawling into the back seat a few million times to get this or that, pick up this cup, get that toy that fell on the ground.  It's insane!  Well, on this trip to Rhode Island, I was driving... and Kathryn was co-pilot, neither of us would be able to get back there.  I didn't prep any water or food ahead of time, and as a result we heard lots of whining on the way down.  Well, Zoë actually whines whenever we get into the car, so that didn't change much of anything.  The rewards of the drive were great however, as the kids had a total blast at the beach that day.  It was great fun running and jumping around in the waves, and letting the kids dig in the sand to their hearts content.

Within minutes of us getting there, everyone was dipping their toes

 Vince loved the waves!  This is a huge improvement over last summer, when he screamed as soon as we saw the beach and waves

 Noelle and Zoë had fun running in the waves

  Luca had fun hanging out in the shade chatting with Nonna

 building some sort of sand sculpture

 relaxing by the pool after a long day of sun and play

Nonna even managed to get a picture with all her grandchildren! You gotta love sweet Andrew, so excited on the left (Andrew,Vince, Luca, Zoë, and Noelle)

And then there was the sad goodbye, which actually makes me giggle with fond memories.  It began with a short dose of bickering between Lisa and her mom on who would get to carry Luca to the car (Lisa won on grounds that Nonna gets to see Luca more often), and eventually ended with Aunt Lisa having to pull a kicking and crying Andrew out of our van so we could drive home.  He was so very sad that we were leaving, and had planted himself in the van next to Vince, ready to come spend the rest of the week with us (which we would have loved!).  It was sad goodbyes all around, but heartwarming to know that  the kids relationships with their cousins are getting to the point where they can look forward to seeing them again.

Too Busy to Write About It

Yeah yeah, I know my last post was like 2 months ago... I even had to look it up to see what the heck it was that I posted on!  Oh yes, Zoë's birthday!  Wow, that was like forever ago now.  Well, it turns out we've had a great summer here in Boston.  It was super warm and sunny for a lot of the summer, and we spent lots of time out by the pool, and exploring around.  That is, of course, when we weren't working on weekends!  Mike and I have both been signing up for extra hours over weekends this summer, so it's been very busy.
Some highlights of our summer include multiple opportunities for the kids to hang out with their New York cousins Amelia and Melina!  They came to visit for a few days so we could all play in the pool, and then we were able to see them a few weekends ago when we drove to New York for Michelle's graduation party, congrats Michelle!  Here's some of the highlights from what I can remember of the last two months.....

everyone getting some story time, cuddling in Vince's bed (with Amelia, Melina, Zoë, and Vince)

 Everyone scream for Ice Cream!

 Zoë plays elephant with the pool noodle (with Aunt Hilde and Amelia)

 We were able to celebrate Melina's birthday when we visited New York!

 This is a typical site when Melina gets around her baby cousin Luca (or any babies for that matter).  She takes good care of him, she'll make a good mommy!

Zoë got all dolled up for Michelle's graduation party

Early this summer Zoë also had her first dental visit, you can tell how thrilled she is....

 Luca gave his first 'thumbs up' pose

And sometime in the last few days Luca figured out how to sit up on his own!