Happy 1st Birthday to Dylan!

We can't believe it but our little Baby Dylan is One Year Old today!  It's been an amazing year filled with lots of joy.  Dylan couldn't be a happier little guy and he brings huge smiles to our faces everyday.  Take a look at how much he's grown:

It has been an incredible year of learning for Dylan!  At one year old, he is becoming such a big boy and has the following tricks:

• Eats yogurt from a bowl with a spoon all by himself!  It is incredibly messy but he loves it.
• Says a few new words:  "Hi", "ook" (book), "wawa" (water), "baba" (bottle), "agua" (I'd love to say he knows water in Spanish but it's probably something else.  He says it all the time!)  His other words are Momma and Dadda and Bye Bye.  
• Whenever he hears "Old MacDonald", he recites the "E-I-E-I-O" part (minus the O).  
• Talks on the phone.  He holds the phone to his ear and says, "Hi!"  And, he holds lots of non-phone items up to his ear to see if anyone is talking through it.
• Climbs up on Liam's toddler bed.
• Picks up a brush or a comb and begins brushing his hair all by himself.
• Feeds himself his entire meal.
• Climbs up and down an entire flight of stairs in a flash.
• Drinks from a straw cup.
• Throws everything he can get his hands on, especially any type of ball.  The football he got for his birthday looks quite appropriate in his arms since he's quite the bruiser.
• Throws tantrums every time he is told "no" or is removed from an activity.
• Puts his hand in the toilet if it's left open.
• Puts everything in his mouth.
• Walks the walls.
• Stands in one place for a few seconds by himself.
• Takes about two steps unassisted.
• Plays a mini-drum set like a pro, including the foot pedal.
• Enjoys playing with Playdoh.  (With lots of supervision since he also likes to put it in his mouth.)
• Loves to dance to music.
• Screams periodically at the top of his lungs in the car just to let me know he's still there and is still unhappy that he's strapped in.
• Stands up at the glass front door and waves.

I guess I could go on and on about our amazing little Dylan.  What a year it's been and we look forward to seeing what the next year will bring.  Walking seems to be the next milestone on his list!  Or, maybe this little guy will go straight to running!

Sacandaga and Lake George Vacation

It probably goes without saying that we are having a very busy summer since I'm now an entire month behind on the blogging.  Hopefully we'll get up to date soon since there are so many things to share.

In early July, we took a much needed vacation!  We celebrated the Fourth of July at the cabin on Lake Sacandaga in Northville, NY.  The kids had a great time exploring the woods, playing at the beach, swimming in the lake, riding on the boat, hanging out with Uncle Colin and just being outside for a whole week enjoying nature.  We didn't make it to the fireworks or parade this year because of nap and sleep schedules but we figured that we have plenty of years ahead of us for these fun Fourth of July activities.

We did spend a lot of time on the water!  The kids couldn't get enough of the beach.  Who doesn't love throwing sand?

Liam was so brave this year and went right into the Lake.  He even put his head under the water.

Dylan loved riding the waves!

We took the kids for a ride on the boat.  Or, rather, Liam took us for a ride on the boat.

The lake was a little bit chilly!

Dylan was much happier warming up in the sunshine on the boat.  Well, maybe just a little bit happier.  He was not too fond of the infant life jacket.

Liam was a good sport and loved swimming with Daddy and Uncle Colin.  His lips will turn blue and his teeth will chatter and he still doesn't want to get out of the water!

What's a summer vacation without mini-golf?  We had so much fun taking the little guys golfing.  They were already familiar with golf because we have a child's golf club set that they play with in the backyard but I think Liam enjoyed the added challenge of actually trying to get the ball into the hole.  At least for the first two holes.  After that, the kids preferred to just play at their leisure with sticks, rocks and water traps.

Here Dylan is getting his first official mini-golf lesson from Neil.

Liam was very patiently trying to let me "teach" him but I know he was probably thinking, "I can do this myself, Mom!"

And, he did prove that he could do it himself!

Despite the distractions of two little people on the green, Neil and I were able to keep a little competition going.  I have to admit that Neil won.

It's so much fun introducing the little guys to our favorite upstate adventures.  We love going to the Drive-In!    Since Liam is obsessed with the characters from the movie "Cars", we decided to take him to the drive in to see "Cars 2" (even though we haven't seen Cars 1 yet!).

The movie didn't begin until 9pm but we thought (hoped) he would watch it until he got tired and then peacefully drift off to sleep in my arms.  Here's a photo taken during the 5 minutes he actually sat still and watched the movie.

Unfortunately, as he became increasingly overtired, the car became his own personal jungle gym.  We decided to head home 30 minutes after the movie started.  We reflected on the outing and decided it was still a success.  We had dinner at the Drive-In Snack Shack (burgers and fries) and Liam got to run around a huge open field screeching with delight.  We realized that he had never been in such a large, open space before.  Dylan slept the whole time in his carseat!

After a great week at the cabin, we headed to Lake George for a few days.  We took a boat ride around the Lake on the Minne-Ha-Ha, an authentic Paddlewheeler.

Liam enjoyed a snowcone!

And, the Lake George Moose!






On this hot, summer weekend, we decided to hit Waterslide World!  Liam went down his first waterslide, Pirate's Plunge.

Dylan hung out in Aruba-Scuba-Duba Bay!

Perhaps a glimpse into the future for our handsome boys!

 Neil and I didn't let the kids have all the fun.  We each took turns on the Waterslides too!

Neil and I learned from our last hotel stay that finding a room with a balcony is important when you have kids that go to sleep at 7:30 pm.  Here we are enjoying a glass of wine from the Adirondack Winery.  We were thrilled to find that it was an interior balcony overlooking the pool and nice weather.   And, this is the same pool that I walked in circles around from 1:30 am to 2:30 am trying to get Dylan back to sleep!

After seven days away from home, eight hours of driving in the car with two young kids, thousands of mosquitoes, eighteen holes of golf, as well as endless sunshine, water sports, ice cream and laughs, I would say that our first family of four vacation was a complete success!  Where are we going next?

Cheers to Daddy!

June is Daddy's month!  We had fun celebrating both Father's Day and Neil's birthday.

For the Saturday of Father's Day, we had tickets to Pete Seeger's Clearwater Festival.  It's an amazing event held at Croton Point Park, right next to our condo complex, that attracts thousands of people and has about four huge stages with bands, story tellers, dancers, crafts and food.  We listened to Arlo Guthrie, Billy Bragg, Pete Seeger and some other great entertainers.  It was a hot, sunny day but we had a great time and the kids really enjoyed the music and sunshine.  Liam especially loved the opportunity to dump water on his head.  

We set up a blanket and chairs in a shady spot and as you can see, we were closely surrounded by a lot of other people trying to get in the shade as well.   We enjoyed a picnic lunch including watermelon.  We're not exactly sure if Dylan liked the actual watermelon or the watermelon rind better.

Since we were at the park all day, the boys had to take outdoor naps.  Dylan fell asleep in the backpack carrier and continued to sleep for another 20 minutes when Neil took him off his back.  

On Father's Day morning, Liam helped me make pancakes!

The boys had fun playing in Neil's new duffel bag.

A proud father on Father's Day with his two little boys.

For Neil's birthday, the kids and I went to the Hudson River beach near our condo to make a birthday surprise.  Unfortunately, I underestimated Liam's ability to keep a secret.  When we told Neil we went to the beach that afternoon, Liam said, "We spelled Happy Birthday to Daddy."  Then he asked, "Want to see it, Daddy?"  Neil knew something was up but was still surprised when we emailed him the pictures on his way to work the morning of his birthday.

Liam sat on the beach singing "Happy Birthday" over and over.

It was quite a chore breaking the reeds and spelling the words on the beach with Dylan eating sand, sticks, whatever else he could find.  Most of it was done one-handed while I had Dylan on my hip.  

Here are the boys with the birthday cake!  Liam picked out this oversized cupcake with sprinkles.  It has three candles in honor of Neil's last year in his 30s.  The boys look so tired because we went for an evening swim and their crazy hair is courtesy of a pre-birthday celebration bath.    

Liam loves cake!  And, now we know that Dylan loves cake too!  We gave him a few bites of the vanilla cake and he was so excited that he stole a few bites from Liam's bowl.  Liam was not too happy about it and quickly held his cake out of reach.  Since they usually eat in their high chairs at the same time, we don't have this problem too often but it was really funny to watch!

With all these fun things to celebrate, the month flew by very quickly.  It's officially summer and we're having a  great time!