Choo-choo and Tapa

We have been very busy with weekend activities so be prepared for some power blogging!! I have already been slacking off and this is only my 3rd post. Here's what we have been up to the past couple of weeks.











Weekend #1-Choo-choo: Thomas came to Medina, NY!! For those of you without boys, Thomas and friends are a bunch of engines that live on the island of Sodor and steam around the island trying to be helpful. It's quite a quirky little show (on PBS and DVDs) but the boys seem to love it. We got a chance to ride on Thomas for a 20 min train ride. It was a full size train with some "Thomas" cut out placed on the front engine. The boys thought it was so cool to ride on the train.




Weekend #2-Tapa: Josh's step dad, Art, is currently working here near the Washington DC area. He decided to brave the "7 hour" drive to visit us for the weekend. I put 7 hours in quotes because I think it was closer to 10. It was Memorial Day weekend and google maps sent him through small towns, dark scary countrysides, and gave him incorrect turn offs. He arrived safely Friday night and we had quite the weekend. I had been telling the boys for a couple days prior to his arrival that "grandpa" was coming. Ralph some how came up with "Tapa" instead of grandpa and the nickname was born. We took Tapa to Letchworth State Park on Saturday. It is known as "The Grand Canyon of the East Coast" here. It was truly beautiful and lived up to it's name! Lush green landscape, breathtaking waterfalls, and we stumbled on a hot air balloon festival there as well. We spent the afternoon hiking along the falls and sight seeing. Around 6pm we headed to the field where the hot air balloon launch was taking place. I should thank Josh and Art for indulging me and sitting in a bug infested field waiting the hot air balloon launch to start. I thought it was really cool and the boys liked watching the "fire" as the balloons were inflated. On Sunday Art watched the boys while Josh and I went to a movie. Ah, so nice and relaxing!! We were sad to see Tapa leave but he will be returning soon.




Side note: It's currently 10:30 pm and Ralph just went to sleep. Here's a quick evening recap. Blake to bed at 9:30pm.
9:45 pm
I hear "mama" from the nursery. Open the door.
Ralph: "Hi mama, I stuck". Puts his arms up for me to pick him up out of his crib.
Me: "Ralph, your not stuck. It's called bedtime".
10 pm
Ralph: "Daddy". Josh opens the door.
Ralph: "Help, daddy. Fix."
He's pulled the cable jack behind his crib out of the wall.
10:15 pm
Ralph: "Daddy, daddy".
Josh opens the door again and talks to him for a while.
10:30pm
Finally asleep. Yippee!!! Josh and I both exhausted.

Apartment Life

We are no longer homeless!! We moved in on Saturday to our cozy 2 bedroom apartment. It is slightly bigger than our Atascadero house and has an extra bathroom. It's an older apartment but has new carpet and paint. The kitchen and bathrooms are a bit dated but clean and functional. We have been filling it with basic furniture we bought from Craigslist and Walmart for dirt cheap (a will write a whole other blog on that)! We didn't want to haul our stuff cross country and don't want to spend a fortune on new furniture. It's a first floor apartment in a pretty large complex. We can hear the person above us walking sometimes but it's pretty quiet other than that. The boys are back on schedule and Josh and I have been staying up late unpacking and organizing. I made it to Strong National Museum of Play with the boys. It's the most amazing children's museum I have ever seen. You can check it out at http://www.strongmuseum.org/. The boys loved the little "ride on" train the best. I managed to shove my large body in a little kid's car and rode with them. They refused to get off and Ralph bolted in through the exit several times in an attempt to ride again. Yes, I was "that" mother with the out of control kids that day!! We had a nice Mother's Day in our new place. Josh went and got breakfast with the boys while I "slept in". OK, I might have already been woken up by the boys jumping on my air mattress to say good morning. I took advantage of the quiet time by staying in bed and reading an US Weekly magazine. Just as relaxing in my opinion! We unpacked and then went furniture shopping. The day was too short but I enjoyed spending the time with my husband and cute little boys.

My blog is born!

I created this blog to keep everyone up to date with all our family's news and share stories with everyone far away. For those who may not know, we are currently living in Rochester, NY. We got here about a week ago and will be staying for about 6 months while Josh is working with a company out here. We drove cross country with the boys. It took about 5 full days but we made it (sanity intact)! The boys were sooooo good. We watched lots of DVD's (thanks M&J), took long meal breaks, and ran through lots of parking lots. We have been living in a hotel for the past week and I'm SOOOO glad we finally found a place. No more trying to entertain and keep 2 two year old boys quiet. I haven't been too sucessful at it I must admit. Strangely, the hotel rooms next to us have been vacant since we arrived. We start moving in our apartment tomorrow so I will keep you posted.