Great Northeast Sweep of 2009

We're back from the tour of the Northeast. In summary:

July 2 - we packed up the family minivan and drove up to Atl to spend the night

July 3 - Drove to Washington DC and spent the night in a hotel

July 4 - went to Carol's cousin, Margaret's house in NY

July 5 - Doug rented a car and drove up to NH to attend a biochemistry conference, while Carol and the twins stayed in NY for the week.

July 9 - Carol and twins drove up to Freedom NH where Doug's aunt and uncle have a house on Ossipee Lake. Doug joined us the next morning.

July 15 - We drove down to Philly to visit with Margaret's sister, Sandra.

July 18 - Drove straight to Atl

July 19 - returned home to Auburn. whew!

Traveling with two 14 month olds is challenging. They get antsy and you can't explain why they have to sit for so long. We learned the secret was to let them run around in the sun at rest stops to release some energy. We played a LOT of baby DVDs; they were on pretty much the whole trip. Baby DVDs were better than listening to them cry.

CnC did well in the carride and throughout the trip. They adjusted to flexible schedules and everyone commented that they were happy babies. Of course you do whatever is necessary to keep them from crying when on vacation. So they got to eat lots of Gerber Puffs and Cheerios (new favorite food).

When leaving DC, we noticed the trip mileage and temperature were all 7's across. Random, but we thought it was neat.

First day of school

Chelsea and Colman had their first day of school today. The word School is used loosely. They go to a Pre-school 2 days a week for 3.5 hours a day. They are in a class with 6 other one year olds. The day is spent playing, doing an art project, snack, playing outside on the play ground, music class and story/song time.

When I dropped them off, Chelsea cried and was clingy. But the teacher held her and she stopped crying after I left. Colman went to a red truck and started pushing it. He did not even notice me leave. Sometimes he surprises us how well he adapts to new circumstances.

When I picked the kids up, I forgot the camera so I had to use my cell phone, thus the poor resolution and the kids were in motion. Chelsea was sitting on the carpet reading a book and cooling off with her water. She loves to read and flip through books. Colman was standing next to a big toy with balls on a wire track. He came running with arms up to mom when he saw me at the door. They both had a good time and did well for the new one nap per day schedule. They must have had such a good time that they only needed a 1 hour nap all day. Maybe too excited about all they did?

The teacher asked if Chelsea had a problem with Clifford the big red dog. When she tried to read the book to Chelsea, she pushed it away. When the teacher read it to another child, Chelsea moved away from them. She likes dogs so that seems like odd behaviour. She has seen a Clifford cartoon once. Maybe it disturbed her to see a red talking dog.

We are looking forward to seeing their first art project next week when the teacher posts it on the wall.

School already? Where did the summer go? True, we have been behind in updating our blog. Summer posts are coming up.

Water babies

Chelsea's Arnold Schwarnegger impression

We took the kids to the pool in the Grandparents' neighborhood. The kids really enjoyed it. Despite not having a nap for about 8 hours, the kids did well. Colman likes walking around the waterfall mushroom. He does not even care the water splashes down on him. Chelsea did not enjoy it as much - does not want her hair messed up. They both enjoy being pushed in the floats.

We are looking forward to taking them to Lake Ossippee in New Hampshire to visit Doug's Aunt Judy and Uncle Dallas. Hopefully they will enjoy the lake as much as the pool.

Bye-bye bottle...

... Hello sippy cup!
The kids are exclusively drinking out of sippy cups. Hooray! There are things about baby-hood that we will miss, eg. gummy smiles, crawling, frequent naps. But we will not miss the bottles and formula. We used Avent bottles, which were great in growing with the kids - the nipples increased in the number of holes from 1,2,3 or 4. So we just increased holes as the kids got older. And Colman was always slower than Chelsea so we could keep Colman at one higher hole count than Chelsea so that they would finish around the same time. (Very helpful during those late night feedings that are happily a distant memory now.) So out of a 5 star rating, we would give Avent bottles a 4 rating. The one and very annoying draw back to them were that they would leak from under the rim, for no apparent reason, no matter how tightly we screwed on the cap. No matter - bye-bye bottles! They have served us well.

Sippy cup seems a little messier than bottles but we gotta get a milk moustache somehow, though it is more like a gotee right now.

Montgomery Zoo

Apple sauce break

Which way to the elephants? I found the elephants!

Come here, little elephant....

It was finally a nice Saturday without rain and before the crazy heat is upon us. So we slathered on the sunblock and took the kids to the Montgomery Zoo. We had a blast and were very impressed with the zoo. Chelsea loved looking and pointing at the animals. Colman was pretty chilled about the whole thing. He did enjoy getting out and walking around.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had hopes of taking the kids to the pool for the first time Memorial day weekend, but due to lots of rain and cooler temps, we did not make it. Maybe later in the summer.
We did a one year tradition that we missed on the twins' actual 1 year birth day. A pencil, string and money are placed in front of the child. They symbolize intellectualism (will be smart), will have long life and will be rich, respectively.
First we had Chelsea pick. She chose the pencil - not suprisingly. She seems to figure stuff out on her own, as well, as picks up stuff she sees others do. She is trying to figure out the cabinet locks, after realizing that they are keeping her from opening the cabinet. She has started stacking blocks and likes to put things into containers. She loves to push furniture so she helped push Halmunee's wheel chair and also did some redecorating by moving the kithen chair.
Colman chose money! We did this test twice with each kid, the first to video tape, the second to take pictures of. On both occassions, the kids chose the same things. Colman picked up the money, looked at the string of yarn, then turned and walked off with the money. We are hoping his idea of getting rich does not consist of "take the money and run." He also loves when daddy chases him; he giggles and runs away. Grab money, be chased...hmmm?
We don't know what the kids will become. As parents, we have dreams that our kids will reach their fullest potential through hard work and perseverence. More importantly, it is our prayer and hope that CnC will grow up to know the love and grace of Jesus and the joy of sharing that love with others.

Big Birthday Bash

Double the cake, Double the fun. Chelsea and Colman have just turned one !!