10/31/10 Halloween

A busy Halloween we had planned. Down here in FL if you carve your pumpkins too early they will....well melt rather quickly as it is still hot and humid down here. So we carved pumpkins stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house and went trick-r-treating in our old Neighborhood.

Justin is happy to be sitting on top of the table.

Nathan reaching in to de-gut the pumpkin. Last year he would not touch this with a 10 foot pole.

Ewwww, pumpkin guts!

Even Justin got in on the de-gutting. He actually really liked it!

Justin would have tried to eat it, if we let him.

Here is part of the front of our house with our Halloween decorations out. Nathan continues to really enjoy the decorations. Next year hopefully we will all be healthy and we can go to town on the decorating.

Knocking at Grandma and Grandpa's house

It was so hot, Grandma and Granpa only got to see Justin in his Halloween onsie.

There is our little dragon. The costume is a little small because it was Nathan's but it works! It was pretty hot so by the end of the night the hood was off and half unzipped for him.

We went trick-r-treating with our good friends Emma and Abby. Nathan somehow confiscated one of Abby's pom poms meanwhile ditching his own hat. Gotta love 3 year olds.

Rich did a great job with our pumpkins with the help of Nathan!

10/28/10 The Real Pumpkin Picking

Well it is 3 days before Halloween and we still did not have pumpkins...so off to the pumpkin lot we went. For those not down in FL, it is common for a corner empty lot to have pumpkins and xmas trees. This particular lot is a fund raiser for our local schools PTA's. Of course it was a raining day so we were trying to do it quickly and did not get the best pictures. Here Justin is not liking being put down on the wood crates.

Ohhh, a little better I found a piece of hay!

Nathan really would not look at the camera. Yes, this is my payback for the 10+ years I would not willing take a picture for my family.I guess Nathan thought the pumpkins were a ride or just testing out his pumpkin as Justin reaches for more hay.

10/24/10 Pumpkin NON-picking

In this picture you can kind of see Nathan's fat lip. A couple of days ago he tripped and fell into a plastic truck while at school. It did swell up pretty bad but at least he did not loose any teeth. He got his first face painting done today.

While waiting for friends to meet up with us Nathan went and found a horse to pet.

So they threw saddles on a post but did not secure them. Needless to say it was very hard to hold up Nathan and Justin with a slipping saddle.

We found Sara! She was Nathan's daycare teacher and now our friend!

Justin and Elijah are 6 weeks apart. Hanging out and having a snack!

So this "pumpkin festival" was off of racetrack road in Tampa. I wish it was better than the description but the animal stalls were dirty and they were mean to their animals. They said a pumpkin patch but the only way to get to it was via wagon that horses were not behaving to pull. So we left without a pumpkin. You win some and lose some. At least we tried something new!

10/20/2010 The Gator

This is the pond next to our Pediatrician's office. Now we always heard that there was a gator that lived there. We were there again and you would think as much time as we spend there this would be our 40th siting. Sure enough he was there this time and I actually had the camera in the car. So this is the infamous pediatric alligator!

10/19/10 Good bye FishHawk

We did not widely broadcast this but we decided it was time to move out of FishHawk. It was a bitter sweet decision. We have some great friends and ties in FishHawk but we found a great deal down the road a bit in Bloomingdale. So the good news is we are only 10 minutes away.

10/2/10 Epcot's Food and Wine Festival

We love the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. It is a fun way to get a taste of foods from around the world. Nana was down and able to join us.

No, I do not want my picture taken. You will not get me. Nathan was quite the little bugger :)

Justin was all smiles in Grandma's arms

Nana, Grandma and Justin hanging in England while Daddy and Nathan were doing Kim Possible on the secret mission.

Nathan waited in line to see Mexican Donald. He loves characters!

Justin on the other hand wants to know what the big thing trying to touch me is doing.

Ahhhh, get him away. Justin really does not like the characters.

It was a little hot and I was getting over a stomach bug. So in my eyes we have better trips but I always enjoy the festival!

9/25/10 Yankee Stadium

Well there is a story behind our trip to Yankee stadium. It was Grampy, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sue all of us meeting up with Karen and her boyfriend. So we decided to take the train in. First we stopped at Rosa's Deli for a Sandwich to eat on the train. So we started off to the train from an offsite parking lot and just outside of the train station, I realize I left the tickets in the car. So Rich sprints back to get the tickets. We barely make the train with I think 2 seconds to spare. On the train my Dr. Pepper explodes and floods the floor. Nathan almost succeeds in pulling the emergency brake, does not take a nap and we have to walk a mile from the subway stop to the stadium with no stroller for chuncky monkey....thus the faces on the picture below

Please note the game as not started yet, I have Justin sleeping on me and Nathan barely able to keep his eyes open while eating his hot dog.

Oh yeah, show that attitude Nathan!

Here is a picture from our seats.

 Ok, so this picture is two fold. It is great picture with Grampy, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sue and sleepy Nathan. But the security gaurd in the light blue shirt was better than the game. She only made it through the third inning before they removed her. We were in the "family", aka no alcohol section. She made everyone show their ticket everytime they came into the section, she screamed and swore and chased people down. At one point Jeff even yelled at her that there were little kids around. I have never seen a more unprofessional security person. Here's to you NY!

 This is a great picture with Grampy and Justin! He woke up from his nap all smiles

Karen and her boyfriend joined us in time for Nathan's nap.

So it was great to see the new staduim but I was exhausted hauling 2 kids to and fro and being a personal sleeping device. We took the train ride back to New Haven and joing Aunt Teresa and Uncle Steve at Louis' Lunch. We made it there twice and it was really good. I think all of those pictures are on my phone and I have yet to download those. Maybe someday I will figure it all out. We had a fun and exhausting week in CT! Now I need a vacation :) 

9/24/10 The Essex Steam Train and Durham Fair

Nana and Karen joined  us for a fun ride on the Essex steam train. It was a bit nippy on a misty morning so the train ride was a little cool. The whistle blew and we heard "All aboard" so Nathan went running to the train.  He was very excited.

Please keep all heads, hands and feet in the window.

The excitement is really showing through on this picture as he holds onto daddy.

"Ticket Please" Nathan was even excited to get his ticket punched.

This is part of Justin's smile. Too cute and I could not resist posting.

Here is a pictue of Gillete Castle. I need the boys to be a little older before we can do the hike up there.

Nana and Nathan going to watch the engine attaching to the back of the train, so it can pull us back to the train station.

We went back to our good friend Karen's house for a nap and then we were off to the Durham Fair. Nathan was super excited to be riding the pony.

Aunt Sue took him to feed the goats.

A great picture of Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sue with Justin. We were so glad we got to go to the Durham Fair with them.

Barely hanging onto Nathan. He stared to get into the overdrive mode, where he was running all over the place up and down hills.

 The gang Joe found us at the Durham Fair. Joe and Karen are good friends of ours that grew up with Rich in North Haven, CT.

Yes, it is the end of the night!

Look dad, I caught 2 sharks. He was having fun with all of the games. He got a light up sword from the fair and it is funny that I am blogging late because the sword eventually caught on fire. It was a good thing Rich had it and was trying to fix it and was able to catch it before any flames started.

Nana playing Star Wars

Justin thinking Nana is very funny.

What a great day we had. It was exhausting but we all had a lot of fun and Rich got to have this fried dough. I tried a fried smores. It was actually surprisingly good.