Milestones

The kids and I spent the weekend out-of-town visiting my sister. We had a great time and even managed a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which was a joy to the older two! We spent some quality time in front of the TV (the kids got their fill of Sponge Bob since we do not have cable/satellite), took some nice walks with her dog, visited some other friends in the same town, played outside with the neighborhood kids and even dared shopping with my children (gasp!). I should have taken some pictures but my camera died and I did not take the time to charge the batteries :(

Abe even hit a milestone while we were gone, he rolled over from belly to back 2 times! I kept wondering why he would not go to sleep one afternoon and I walked in to find him laying on his back although I had placed him on his belly to sleep. He in one step closer to mobility!

Cute Smiles!

I got a lot of pictures of Abe smiling on vacation, I cannot get enough of his little smile! It just lights up his face!

Boat Tour

We also took a boat tour while at the beach which we all enjoyed. There is so much history on the coast especially when it comes to pirates! This will be an excellent educational trip as the kids get old enough to appreciate the history. Here is a family pic, minus Piper:


The boat was pretty crowded and we were last to board so Piper had to sit on the other side:


One of the attractions is the wild horses that live on a local island. It is said that they survived a Spanish shipwreck many years ago and have lived on the island since then. Our tour guide said this was his first time seeing a mother and baby horse on the shore together and he goes out several times a day!

Horseback Riding

We found a place to go horseback riding while on vacation which was awesome! When we go to Massanutten we pay $10 for each kid to be led on a horse around a circle 3 times, well for just $40 this lady gave each child and Chad and horse, taught them how to go, stop and turn and then took them on an hour-long trail ride! They had a blast and Chad's horse even took and unexpected jump over a log on the trail, Cohen kept saying "Daddy's horse popped a wheelie!"

Cohen's horse (or pony, I should say) was named Christie:


Piper rode Fallon:


And Chad rode Razz:


Here they are taking off towards the trails:

Salvation Army

They have the best Salvation Army ever at the beach! I love thrift stores and this one far exceeded my expectations. I did not bring a stroller for Abe and he is so heavy my arms and back were aching after the Aquarium. So I found a Graco stroller at the Salvation Army for $3.99 and get this, it was 25% off! So just $3.00 saved my arms and back on the beach trip! I also found quite a few pair of pants that fit me perfectly (all either $1.99 or 3.99), brand new Nike's for Piper ($1), tees for Cohen ($1.99) and the stroller of course! Also I found an Etch-a-sketch for $.99 which became a crowd favorite immediately.

The Waves

We went to "the waves" as Piper called it 2 different afternoons while vacationing. Chad loves to swim so he goes out in the ocean with the kids and plays. Abe and I hung out on the shore and to be totally honest, I do not even think he got sand on him anywhere! The lull of the waves put him to sleep both times we were there. Piper mastered riding the boogie board pretty quickly and loved it. Cohen loved playing at the shore but he was a little more hesitant to get in the deeper water. The waves were kinda rough with the storms churning off coast. Here are some pics of the ocean play.


And here is Abe in his favorite beachside position:

And a cute pic where he was actually awake:

Riding without training wheels

Cohen has been on the verge of riding his bicycle without training wheels for about 2 months, but he seemed to lack confidence. Well, he got it together while we were at the beach! Piper started riding last summer so Cohen requested that his training wheels be removed also even though he could no longer ride. I guess he thought pushing a bike with no training wheels was cooler than riding one with?? Well, he started the week riding like this (on a bath mat, mind you!):



And by the end of the week he was all over the island by himself riding with Chad and Piper!