Last Post of Summer

This was our first summer living in our new house, and we had so much fun taking advantage of everything our neighborhood had to offer in the warmer weather months!  On Saturday mornings, we would wander out of our backyard to the Farmers Market and check out what the vendors had to offer that week.  Our favorite new addition this year was Winged Wonders and their awesome monarch butterflies!

And coming in a close second: the baby goats.

On Sunday nights, we would grill out on the deck and listen to the summer concert series going on at the park.  There were a lot of great performances, but our favorite had to be Trout Fishing in America over a picnic with Nana, Grandpa, and GG.  So. Much. Fun!

We spent many evenings over at the library, too, where Liam participated in his first summer reading program. The program offered a ton of events throughout the summer, and our favorite was definitely the Juggling Hoffmans!

Summer is full of fun, no doubt-- but it's also full of great food.  And Uncle Sam's summer garden is full of the best veggies around!  Liam and Joergen love to help Uncle Sam and Aunt Doreen prep the garden and plant seeds in the spring and tend to the garden all summer long (while snacking on copious amounts of green beans and grape tomatoes in the process!  They don't work for free, ya know!).  I felt like I won the lottery every time I picked up the boys at the end of the day and found a big bag of goodies from their garden waiting for us inside the door.

We can't talk about great summer food without talking about our fruit share from LFFC.  Joining their CSA has been such a fun adventure, and we always get a little excited for our Tuesday pick-ups at the "fruit house"!

Liam pitting cherries from LFFC

The boys love summertime at Aunt Doreen's and spend most of their time getting dirty in her yard.  In fact, I think that the amount of filth and sand in their laundry basket at the end of the week was pretty much proportional to the amount of fun they had that week.  And the better they would sleep at night!

Declan and Joergen, post-sidewalk chalk

The exception to the dirt rule is pool days, in which case the filth is just replaced by caked-on sunscreen.  I absolutely love getting Doreen's texts in the summer while I'm at work, because they almost always include fun pictures like these:

Liam, Raleigh, Brayden, Kaelyn, Allie, Emmy, and Joer

Liam, Em, Raleigh, and Kaelyn

BFFs!

For as much fun as they have during the day, the boys also love random summer evenings hanging out with neighbors and running around in their bare feet outside. And they especially love spending time with next-door neighbor and babysitter extraordinaire, Gina.

Perhaps the biggest news of summer, though, was Target.  Yes, Target.  The largest Target store on the east coast finally opened this summer, and it's in walking distance from our house.  This is both awesome and dangerous :)

But, mostly awesome.

Liam's Week of Awesome

Remember that green light we got back in June to schedule Liam for a baked egg challenge?   Well, challenge accepted!

Armed with a batch of double-egged Jiffy corn muffins, we sent Liam into Dr. Wodell's office to begin his test.  Dr. Wodell told us that based on Liam's blood test results, he would be really surprised if Liam didn't pass with flying colors.  We all breathed a sigh of relief (especially Liam- he was nervous!) and got the challenge underway.

The challenge started with a nurse giving Liam a small sliver of one of the corn muffins and setting a timer for 15 minutes.  When the timer went off, the nurse would ask him a few questions, check his skin and mouth for any negative reactions, and administer another sliver of muffin.  Repeat process until either a) he has consumed an entire muffin, and therefore passes the test, or b) he has a negative reaction, at which point the test ends and that is that.

Now, we knew that the longer the test took, the closer he would be to passing.  Dad had taken the day off work to be with Liam, and let's just say it was a day indeed!  Not that he was complaining!  (Although he may have been tempted.  But thank heavens for an iPad, iPhone, books, magazines, and good old conversation to help pass the time.)

And after all that, who has two thumbs and passed that baked egg challenge?!

This guy!

 As Dr. Wodell said, "Birthday cake is back on the menu!"  As are cookies, brownies, meatloaf, muffins, and anything else with an egg baked in at least a 350 degree oven!  Still no regular pancakes or waffles, nor can he have quiche or a frittata, but it's something... and it's awesome.

The next night, while winding down and getting ready for bed one night, Liam started yelling from his top bunk.  I ran in, and there he was, holding a tooth in his hand.  It literally just fell out into his mouth!  Given that his adult tooth was already pushing through, it was really no wonder.  Bedtime, shmedtime-- that kid was excited!!

And a day or two later, out came that other bottom tooth in much the same way. It was a busy couple of days for the tooth fairy!  Not to mention Kindergarten Orientation this week, and his big first way coming up fast!

Poconos Vacation!

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's...

It's...?

What the...?!

There is no other explanation, other than that it must be time to jump into our 2014 Pocono vacation!
So relax, pull up some carpet...

... or sand, if you prefer...

... and get ready for our week in review!

Our Pocono vacation this year was 7 days and 4 generations of family, fun, and fantastic memories.  We vacationed with Nana, Grandpa, GG, and the Hantz gang, sprinkled with visits from the NJ G-willies and some extended family.  There are so many great moments to choose from, so here are some of my favorites from the week.

We spent most of our time at the lake, regardless of the weather, and believe me, we saw it all!  It was hot, it was cold, it was raining, it was FUN.

We watched turtle races

and weddings!

We entered dance competitions

and made fast bonds with cousins we'd just met.

We went on leisurely boat rides,

enjoyed the thrill of tubing,

and went fishing!

We spent quality time with nieces, nephews,

cousins,

Nana and Grandpa,

and GG.

And when we needed a break from the beach, we went mini-golfing,

swimming (it was cold!),

and even spent an otherwise rainy day at the waterpark!

Wait for it... wait for it...

GaGOOSH

Liam and Grandpa even went boogie-boarding!

We played games...

hammed it up...

and even broke some rules.

"Trespassing, BAH.  We Ring Around the Rosie on your trespassing rule!"

We monkey-piled... (poor Grandpa)

and lounged in the "hot tub"!

And most importantly, we spent time with those we love.

Thanks for a fantastic week!