Cole's Birthday Weekend Part 2: Geocaching

On Cole's Birthday we woke up to presents while a Pear French Toast casserole baked in the oven!

Caden enjoyed Cole's presents as much as Cole did

After some birthday playtime we then headed off for our first geocaching adventure!  But first we had to fuel up with some lunch!  We used one of our loco local coupons at a Manchester Pub.

Seriously?  Do you see what is wrong with these pictures?  They give the kids milk in beer cups, and Rob and I get water in Pepsi cups!  I thought that was funny.

After we ate our lunch we drove up to Lake Massabesic, where we had already chosen our Geocache trail.  We chose a trail on the short side so that if we had time we could then find another one closer to home.  (We never did get to do another one, the rest of the day flew by and the kids were wiped!)  The kids picked out their walking sticks, which doubled as swords for the boys.  But first Cora had to collect some rocks?

  

Daddy and his birthday boy!

The clue to find the box was up a hill in a stump.  They weren't kidding, the angle of the ground was so steep even I had trouble standing.  The GPS was telling us we were off in location by 40 feet.  Cora fell down so I bent down to pick her up and when I stood up.. I was looking straight at the box! We found it! (phew! how disappointing would it have been had we not?!)  And I'll be honest here, it wasn't in a stump, more of a notch in a tree, just saying!  Since Cole was the birthday boy he got to get the box out and open it.

We chose the Geocache "Tiny Turtles"  so we brought a small orange turtle, and traded it for a small brown one.

Here they are!  Celebrating the find with a big thumbs up... and Cole shows off our new tiny turtle.

Cole.. on location.  See?  Totally not a stump since a tree is growing straight up out of it!!

Mom and her birthday boy!  How did he grow to be 4 so quickly?!  Happy birthday Cole-bear!  I hope you felt special on your day!  I think we all had fun on our treasure hunt.  I can see more geocaching in our future!  It is something you can do anywhere you are!  So fun.

Cole's Birthday Weekend Part 1

I first apologize to you Cole-bear for taking so long to acknowledge your birthday on the blog.  With so much to do around the house for your party the next weekend blogging took the backseat.. and I've been drowning to catch up since... so here it is, two weeks later.. but it was a super fun weekend not to be forgotten!  After gymnastics Rob took Cole to pick up his Edible Arrangement sent from Dundore and Poobah!  Delicious! As a picky eater this is the perfect present.. and one the whole family can enjoy (sorry Cole! and Thank you!)

This is Cole's post, but she looked so cute asking me to take her picture!  Cole and Cora are so willing right now to have me take photos of them.  Caden not so much, he usually runs the other way.

And of course we MUST have a silly face included with whatever we do :)

Caden had a baseball game on Saturday, so to combine two events in one, Grammy and Grampy came to watch his game (big baseball finale compilation post to come.. someday :)) and to have birthday dinner and cake for Cole.  We had a yummy strawberry shortcake treat.

Notice Cora's mouth being covered in the 1st picture?  and the evil contemplating smile in the 2nd?

...It is because she blew out Cole's candles and I am sure if you know Cole, you can only imagine what happened after that!  So below is the do-over of Cole blowing out his OWN candles :)

Ah yes.. of course with the silly face!  Just because you are FOUR! doesn't mean you grow out of these!

Such concentration to count those four fingers!  And the next day was the big day for Cole's 4th Birthday Adventure!!  Stay tuned.



Kindergarten Carnival

As the end of the school year inches closer the kids get all sorts of fun activities at school!  Starting off with Kindergarten Carnival sponsored by the PTA.  There were so many fun activities for them to do, I was lucky enough to volunteer that day, me and two other Mom's got to build towers of large yogurt containers for the kids to knock down with balls... over and over... and over again.  Talk about a workout!  Chasing balls, stacking cups, herding children! phew!

Getting ready for the knockdown game.

Before the kids were let loose to explore the carnival high school students came to the kindergarten to present them with 'Lancers 2023" t-shirts!  I'm not going to lie, I had tears welling up at just the sight of them!  And I wasn't even in Caden's classroom! 

Can you even believe it'll be 2023 someday?!

Kelly had a fabulous idea!  To get a photo of the boys together with their t-shirts every year.  I guess by the time they are seniors they won't fit into them anymore, well maybe a VERY tight shirt!

These two are great pals, we are so lucky to have such fun friends right across the street!

When asked for silly this is what we got

And then they all played...

The girls worked together to carry the rocket back to the Dad's to launch again and again.  It is so nice to see the 1 year age gap filling in.  Poor Cole-bear, he is closer in age to Charlotte, but I think he'll forever be shadowing the older boys, I just hope they aren't too mean to him and they let him play with them!

Cora's current favorite flower, she picks them for me all the time, notice the broken stems?

First Swim!

As usual Rob was first into the pool.  After the heat over Memorial Day Weekend when we couldn't swim due to the chlorine levels, the clouds rolled in and the water dropped a few degrees but Caden REALLY wanted to swim.  Although he took his sweet time getting in!  maybe even worse than my slow tortuous process.

Testing the waters

Goggles are going down.. it must be go time!

Meanwhile I look next to me to find Cora with her dress over her head and her undies mossing.  "Me no need dress, me go swimming" she tells me!

Will he do it?!

He is in!!

And off she goes to see what Cole is doing.. Apparently we live in some type of colony!

This was hilarious, the pic is blurry because I was laughing so hard.. Cora always wants to do whatever Cole is doing.  And usually it is a race to the bathroom whether she has to go or not.  She figured out her method!  Hopefully these pictures aren't considered illegal.  And don't worry.. it is perfectly safe to walk on our grass.  This isn't an everyday occurrence!

And summer officially begins.. the pool is OPEN!