The Three Amigos

It wasn't long ago that I was a lonely housewife, in a new state and town, with a new baby. Needless to say, that was a difficult time in my life, but thankfully those days are no more! I have been truly blessed with some wonderful girlfriends, who keep me sane and entertained on a daily basis! One of the ways, that I met these wonderful women (and kiddos) was through Gymboree classes. Austin and I started our first class when he was eight months old. At that time, I had no close woman friends with little boys, it seemed all my girlfriends had little girls - not necessarily a bad thing for Austin, but I felt like he needed some buddies to even out the score! Our first Gymboree class was ALL boys - it was awesome. I met two wonderful ladies in that first class - Christine and her little boy Noah, and Nicole and her little guy Luca. When our class ended, we exchanged info and we have been getting together for playdates ever since! Other Gymboree classes followed and we added another wonderful lady to the mix - Sarah and her little man Joshua. The boys love playing together and I so enjoy the friendship I have with these women! The boys are all within a couple months of each other, so we are able to share stories and be supportive for the things that are going on with the boys and ourselves. These women are seriously lifesavers for me and I enjoy them so much!

Okay, enough background and gushing - on with the post!

Yesterday, Austin and I were able to get together with Sarah and Joshua, and Christine and Noah and head to a local park (Nicole works, so we don't see her and Luca as often as we would like, but we always miss them!). The park was wonderful with lots of fun playthings for the boys to climb on, swing on, and teeter on and of course there was a large dirt pit, which Austin truly enjoyed! After a great time at the park, we headed to Red Robin for some lunch, and nice conversation (which didn't really happen, as all lunches seem to be incredibly chaotic with three almost two-year-olds!). It was such a fun day and I can't wait to do it again! Thanks girls!

Austin playing in the dirt

Joshua on the balance thingy (okay I no clue what this thing is called!)

Austin looking at the camera (this doesn't happen very often)

Noah sort of standing still for a second!

This picture definitely captures the spirit of our crazy boys!

Life's a Beach...

At least it was a couple of weeks ago. I intended to write up this post sometime last week, but we all know how that goes!

The entire Wemyss Family met up in Gulf Shores, Alabama for a week of fun in the sun. The weather was gorgeous, the condo was super nice, and the view couldn't be beat. We had a wonderful time with everyone and a little tan doesn't hurt either.

Austin was able to play with his cousins, Matthew, Addie, and Braden, which was fun to watch. The kids had a great time building sand castles, catching hermit crabs, and playing in the ocean and pool. The adults had a fun time as well getting to catch up, drinking some adult beverages, and enjoying meals by our own gourmet chef (Thanks Cookie!).

Before we headed back to Connecticut, we stayed the day and night in New Orleans and checked out the aquarium. Austin enjoyed himself, but was on a mission to see "Nemo". Thank goodness they had clownfish or I don't know what we would have done! We ended the trip with some awesome cajun food (I had been craving crawfish etouffee) and a small stroll through the French Quarter. We also had an awesome view from our hotel room of the Mississippi (Austin and Charlie spent lots of time watching the tankers and barges float down the river).

Austin was a trooper on both plane rides, but I have to say that I am glad that we won't be traveling again for awhile. Our adventure continued as Charlie's car wouldn't start when we returned to our pay lot. Thank goodness for my friend, Lisa (Thank you again, Lisa), who came and picked me up so that I could go and get my car and come back for Charlie, Austin, and our luggage. We were emotionally and physically spent by the time we finally got home, but all in all, we had a wonderful vacation!

Some of our pics:

Charlie, Kristen & Austin enjoying the pool

The Wemyss Boys & Men

Austin & Charlie

Austin loved the ocean and absolutely loved the waves. Everytime he saw a wave approaching he would say "Oh no, oh no, oh no" and would then say "Wheeeee" as he floated over the wave.

Mom Wemyss taking Austin for their morning stroll on the boardwalk

Braden, Matthew, and Austin being silly

Cute cousins!

Addie sitting pretty on the beach

Our captured hermit crabs

Austin watching the fish at the aquarium

Family Pic!

Austin and his froggie

Kristen and Austin having fun at the aquarium

Colorado Vacation

I meant to get this post out a little sooner, but we are still trying to get back in the swing of things after our wonderful vacation last week in Winter Park, Colorado. My family (The Maxey's) gets together every summer for a week and this summer we decided to return to our old stomping ground in Colorado. When I was young, we would go to Winter Park every other summer, but our last visit was in 2000, so it had been awhile since we vacationed there.

Charlie, Austin, and I flew into Denver where we met up with the rest of my family. Austin was an absolute angel on the first leg of our flight, which was wonderful and allowed Charlie and I to relax, read, and even snooze a little on the 2 hour flight. Thank goodness for Disney's Cars on Charlie's ipod! Austin didn't even wear the earphones, but he still enjoyed being able to hold the ipod and watch the movie. The second flight was a bit more painful, but we arrived ready for a fun vacation!

We did so many fun activities while we were in Winter Park. We went mountain biking, alpine sliding, drove through Rocky Mountain National Park, and of course we did a little shopping. We also did plenty of laughing and just hanging out, which always makes our family vacations so fun. Austin had such a great time playing with cousin Mallory (Madaree). The played so well together - I was shocked! Every morning, Austin would wake up and the first words out of his mouth were "Cousin Madaree, play?". He also loved spending time with his Uncle Scott (who we swear he was calling Uncle Gus), Aunt Kar Kar, Aunt JJ, MiMi, and of course his Pop Pop.

Before we knew it, the week in Winter Park was over, so we headed back to Denver for one last day of fun before we flew out. We went to the Denver Zoo, where the animals were pretty active. Austin loved seeing the animals and Charlie and I enjoyed it too. Later that evening, we had a bbq with some of Charlie's friends who live in Denver. It was a great visit and an awesome way to end our vacation.

The next morning we headed back home. The first leg of the flight was the absolute worst plane flight we have ever had with Austin (and we've had many!). He was a terror and threw countless numbers of tantrums for the people on the flight! We were definitely "those people" on the flight - thank goodness he was better on the second flight or poor mom would have melted down as well!

We have lots of pictures from the trip, so I hope you enjoy them! I can't believe it is only two weeks before we head out on another week long vacation!

Austin watching Cars on the flight

Austin and Dad playing in the creek during a rest from our bike ride

Charlie with his bike and the cart that carried Mallory and Austin

The three of us at the top of the mountain before we went down the Alpine Slide

Charlie and Austin going down the Alpine Slide

The girls (Julie, Me, Mallory & Karson)

The Boys (Charlie, Austin, & Scott)

MiMi, Austin & Pops

Uncle Scott (Gus) and his 'stache

Austin and Mallory in their cute shirts that Aunt Kar Kar made

The Moose in Rocky Mountain National Park

Mommy and Austin in RMNP

The Elk in RMNP

The infamous close-up shot of Charlie and I

Charlie on the rocks

Austin, Mommy, and the Tiger at the Denver Zoo

Austin watching the Polar Bear at the Zoo

Austin and his new friend Boo-Boo Baby

Chris, Mark, and Charlie (friends from high school)

Mrs. Essick, Baby Sadie, Austin, and Kristen

Ashley, Baby Sadie, Austin (with Lightning McQueen), and Kristen enjoying the burgers!

Love the faces in this shot!

4th of July at Mystic Seaport

What a fun-filled 4th of July this has been! We decided to head out to Mystic, Connecticut for their 4th of July celebration. Our goal was to leave the house around 10:00, so that we arrived in Mystic around 11:00, but if you know the Wemyss' Family, you know that didn't happen! We ended up making it to the Seaport around noon, so we headed straight to the Galley restaurant for some grub before we proceeded any further.

"Feed me, or I'm going to make a scene!"

After our stomachs were nice and full, we started our adventure! First off, a picture of the Man Overboard scene.

Austin overboard

Next, we headed to the Children's museum, so that Austin could get hands on!

Fixing the ship crew a delicious lunch

Playing with the boats in the water

More playing with the boats (or as Austin calls them "bees")

Next up, we headed to one of the large ships to check it out. Austin wasn't all that interested, but he did like being able to see the water though some of the holes in the side of the ship.

Austin inspecting the condition of the chains on the boat

Mommy and Austin on the ship

The children's playground was our next point of call. Austin had a great time playing in the boats!

Austin steering his own ship!

Daddy and Austin on the play boat

After the playground, we headed to the Toy Boat shop, so that Austin (Daddy) could make his own boat to take home. Austin could have cared less, once we got there, but Charlie ended up having a great time. I should have taken a picture of the boat right after Charlie completed it, because it now has a broken mast after Austin played with it for 5 minutes. Sorry honey!

Our last adventure of the day was a horse and carriage ride with Duke the horse. Austin loved Duke and the whole ride kept saying "mommy, mooo?". To which I had to explain that no, Duke isn't a cow, he's a horse and horses go "Neigh". This conversation occurred no less than 11 times during our 11 minute carriage ride.

Mommy and Austin riding the horse and carriage

We realized shortly after this, that it was 4:00 and time for all of us to take a nap (except Charlie, who had to drive!).

What a fun day!

Tomorrow's adventure is a fireworks display at a local community college. We'll see if Austin can handle it (something tells me that we won't be there very long!).

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!