A few weeks ago Jackson and I enjoyed a Jackson + Mama date day. It started off with his first ever meal at the Rainforest Cafe, which he loved. Not only did he get to pick out souvenirs for he and Cole with money from Gramma Linda, he got to hug and high five the giant frog that walks around during the thunderstorms that occur throughout your meal. He had a blast and we're looking forward to bringing Daddy and Coley with us next time.
After that we headed to Frozen on Ice. Jackson was engaged throughout the entire show, and I loved it as well. The sets and costumes were amazing and they did a great job of turning the movie into a show on ice. I'd definitely go to another Disney on Ice show in the future.
Of course, I'm a total sucker and ended up buying him a crazy expensive Frozen light toy and cotton candy (which he determined he didn't like after one bite), even though he decided to spend all of his souvenir money at the Rainforest Cafe. But, he was thrilled and that's all that matters.
I always love getting alone time with the each boy and it was the perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday.
It's been over four years since we visited Seabrook last, with the Shawvers, so it seemed appropriate to plan a trip back again with them. Addy and Jackson were 3ish months old last time around so it was fun to be back there and think about how much they've grown/changed since their first trip.
We arrived last Tuesday and took advantage of the break in the rain by heading to the beach with the boys, while we waited for the Shawvers to get into town. After dinner, the kiddos enjoyed the attic, which had a race track painted on the floor and several trikes for them to ride. They absolutely loved it.
Mornings were spent at the indoor pool just down the street, which the kiddos enjoyed. Jackson is so independent now, happily swimming and jumping in alone (still uses his floatie). Cole did well with his floatie, which he put to use for the first time, and enjoyed jumping in and blowing bubbles. Both boys loved dipping their feet in the hot tub to warm up. Pool time was typically followed by showers, lunch and then a nap for Cole and quiet time for the big kids. One evening we went to Mill 109 (one of the only restaurants there) and the other evenings, we had dinner at the house.
Each night after the kids went to be, we played Hand & Foot and, like our Maui vacay last year, girls were the grand champions in the winner-takes-all round the final night.
On the final afternoon/evening, Jen and I each were spoiled with a 90-minute massage at the spa. It was honestly one of the best massages I've ever had - so relaxing, and made even more fun by the windy and rainy evening that could be heard just slightly over the music playing in the spa.
We had such a great time, and hope to plan more frequent trips in the future.
Cole loves the ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle, and has even started singing (his version of) them lately.
The only group shot on the trip happened just minutes before we departed.
Hugs goodbye
Our house - the Bramble Berry
It may have been cold, and even pretty windy at times, but the beach was so pretty
Seabrook is such a cute little town
The bikes in the attic may have been the kids' favorite part about the whole trip
Cole is always on the hunt for diggers of any kind.
During quiet time one day, I came downstairs to find Jackson snuggled up with Kevin.
Cole had a rough night of sleep (or lack thereof) the first night, so nap time was pretty epic.
These muddy buddy suits were a recommendation from a friend and they are the best! They keep the kiddos dry and warm and will come in handy this winter.
Both boys love coloring these days
The kiddos loved watching Mighty Machines
Proof that the girls totally whooped the boys at Hand & Foot - 11,845 to 7,350
Hard to believe, but another Halloween is in the books. This holiday continues to be more and more fun with the boys.
Jackson has been into Curious George over the last 6-9 months, so we thought it'd be fun for him to be The Man in the Yellow Hat, and then dress Cole would be Curious George (using Jackson's hand-me-down monkey costume). I found Jackson's hat on Etsy and dyed a white button down and khaki jeans yellow to complete his look. Cole seemed to really liked his costume and had no problem wearing it numerous times throughout the weekend festivities.
The holiday kicked off with dressing up and celebrating at school on Friday. Cole loved his classroom's Halloween decorations, and really loved the pumpking carving his class experienced earlier in the week, so the costume rounded out a fun-filled week for him. I joined Jackson's class for trick-or-treating at each classroom, followed by the same at a neighboring retirement home. Halloween crafts, sugar cookie decorating and candy corn bingo followed.
This is Evie, one of Jackson's best friends in class. I found out that he often helps her out in class. So cute!
This is the exact reason his teacher ensured there were separate knives for each kiddo to frost their cookie.
On Halloween morning, we attendeed the Gossetts' party and had a blast. The kids were all dressed up in adorable costumes and the boys had a blast playing and eating.
Cole could not get enough of Ellie's whiteboard. I could hardly convince him to stop long enough to enjoy snacks upstairs with everyone.
Best group shot I could get. This is less than half the kiddos - the other kept walking right out of the shot before we could get it.
It was a rainy day, but we found a slight break in it that evening to head out trick-or-treating with my parents and Joan. Jackson loved it and so did Cole. Not only did they each score huge amounts of candy, they also each received a special Halloween goodie bag from several of sets of our neighbor friends.
I wasn't sure what to expect for Cole's first real trick-or-treating experience, but other than needing a little help getting up the steps to each front door, he pretty much walked throughout our entire naighborhood on his own (Jackson wanted to hit up each of the 41 hours in our neighborhood, though only about 20 had people home), wasn't shy or scared, took the appropriate number of pieces of candy (with a bit of reminding at times), and often remembered his manners on his own (a very quiet 'tank youuuuu').
The rest of the evening was spent checking out all the candy, each boy enjoying way too much candy (proof of that here), and staying up late to try to outsmart Daily Light Savings (didn't work).
