St. Augustine

Last weekend we decided we had enough unpacking (although we are now officially all unpacked!!) and wanted a little road trip.  So we headed a short distance down 95 to St. Augustine.  And boy was it worth it!!  Wow.  Lots of charming shops and cafes mixed with a whole heaping helping of history - complete with an old fort.  Here's a glimpse of our adventure:

Making a wish.

This is downtown...SO charming!!

Another view of downtown.  I'm smitten. :)

Just to prove they were along too.  :)

Castillo de San Marcos (really old fort).

They actually fired the cannons.

Firing the cannons.

The coolness factor multiplied significantly upon the realization that there was a real drawbridge.

Progress

We made it to Florida!!!  Despite somehow contracting two cases of pink eye while staying at the hotel in VA, us and all our stuff made it to the Sunshine State.  We've made some significant progress on unpacking the boxes and our new house is starting to feel like "home."  Jack seems to be liking his new school although going all day (vs half day in VA) has made him one tired kiddo!  Here's a glimpse into some of our progress:

This is what VA looked like two days before we were to be packed up!

We had visitors on our 1st day in the new house!  Aunt Annie & Uncle Sam!!

Jack's new room.

Plenty of space to play.

And plenty of space for all his stuff.

My beloved green slipcovers are no more since Ikea no longer makes that color.  However, Jay picked out this blue color when he and Jack were in DC and I think I really like it!

Now we really feel like grown-ups because we have a formal dining room complete with new furniture. :)

Hi Blog, it's me, Claire.

Okay, so after a long hiatus I'm finally going to add to my blog.  No real reason for not posting because we've been doing all sorts of fun things.  I guess I just got out of the habit and then I didn't think about doing it!  Well, I thought that our upcoming move and Christmas were pretty good reasons for starting back up again.  I won't try to catch you up on six months of our goings-on but I will recap our December for you because we were busy!  The next time you hear from me we'll be Floridians once again (3rd time, actually)!  Once we're settled (and have TV/internet) I'll be sure and post pics of the new place.  Until then, I wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!

In early December we took a house-hunting trip to Jacksonville, FL.  Here's the fruit of our labor - our new home on Jan. 1st!!  We love it and can't wait to get settled in.  Plus, the neighborhood amenities are fabulous - zero entry pool, water slide, etc.  So we'd love to have visitors!!

Jack's Kindergarten class had their Christmas party on the last day of school before the break, which was also Jack's last day at this school.  Here are all his classmates surrounding him in a huge hug before saying goodbye.  (I had been holding back tears all morning but this was just too much for me! It's his last day and I'm the one in tears!!)

Last weekend, we were all supposed to make a trip to DC to stay with Aunt Lynn & Uncle Ed (and visit with Aunt Jennie!), however, I ended up staying home with the twins because they were sick.  But Jay and Jack had a ton of fun without us (and probably in all honesty had more fun without us!).  Here is Jack on one of his favorite things - the subway!

Jay & Jack in front of the first minivan. 

Jack & Aunt Lynn making jewelry.

And last, but not least, Christmas!!  Santa found us and we were blessed to have a very lovely Christmas thanks in large part to our wonderful family.  We certainly wish we could have spent the holidays with our family but the timing just didn't work this year seeing as our packers are coming in two days!!  But here are some highlights...

Santa brought Jack one of his most highly sought after gifts - Night Vision Goggles. 

Light up slippers were a big hit! (I made the mistake of trying them on before putting their clothes on, so they then refused clothes because that meant having to briefly remove the slippers) 

Jack received a new Wii game (Super Mario Brothers Galaxy 2) from us (not Santa) and has been glued to the screen in concentration since Christmas.

The little boys are having fun with Lego's. 

Since the little boys LOVE cars, Santa's big gift to them was this new car ramp/race toy. 

 

Ever the builder, this crazy-gear-googly-eyed-remote-control building set kept Jack busy too!

Maine!

**Note:  I apologize for the delay in getting these pictures up!  I was having trouble posting the pics and then our computer came down with the blue screen of death (i.e., the fatal error screen).  So I've had some technical difficulties lately!  But, we now have a new computer so I'm back up and running.  Now to get all my pictures from the old computer to the one one.....

We spent the last week of July and the first week of August in Maine at my parents' house.  Jay was able to join us for the second week which was wonderful since he missed out on all the Maine fun last summer!  Jack LOVES to be outside so Maine is pretty much his heaven-on-earth for doing all things outside.  This year, Nathan and Matthew were old enough to partake in many of the outside fun as well which I know they enjoyed.  We had many fun adventures in our two weeks and LOTS of campfires, which are another of Jack's favorites.  I must admit, I do also like sitting around a campfire. :) I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Thanks to Gram & Gramps, Jack now has a red power wheels four wheeler just like Grandpa's real red four wheeler!  And as the below video shows, he is fearless on it.  One of his favorite activities was zooming down the hills in the yard!

Nathan enjoying the porch.

Matthew playing on the porch as well.

Nathan & Matthew exploring the kitchen....which is why they aren't allowed in my kitchen!!

Waking up and enjoying some AM television.  I do believe Matthew may share my dislike of mornings...

One cool thing we did was ride the chair lift up the mountain at Sugarloaf Ski area.

Up we go!!

The views from the top were fantastic!!

Jack took this one...not too bad!

On the way back down...more spectacular views.  I don't think I've ever ridden a chairlift down before!

We went down to the coast in Bath, ME, and visited with one of my dearest and oldest friends, Lindsay and her family.  Here is Jack with her daughter Cate.

Lindsay's parents recently built a beautiful new house in Bath, so we popped in for a visit!

(another shot by Jack)

One of my other dearest and oldest friends, Tara, lives in Bar Harbor so we made the trek out there for a visit as well.  Here is Jack with her son, Liam, in Acadia National Park.  This is the one and only picture we captured of this visit because following this shot our camera battery died.  Thankfully Tara had hers so the rest of the pictures from that day are from her!

Ahh, the view from Acadia - SO beautiful!

Tara took us on a great hike which the boys loved.

Of course along the way we had to take a potty stop (Liam is off to the side doing the same thing!). Once we got home I actually had to have a serious discussion w/ Jack about why we just can't stop and pee wherever he wants because we live in a city. :)

Tara's husband works at a Marine Lab.  Here is the touch tank at the lab.

Lobster!

And slimy snails!!

On our hike. :)

Awww.  :)