Dutch Wonderland Adventures

On Monday everyone took some time off of work and we traveled with the whole family to Dutch Wonderland Theme Park,and Kitchen Kettle Village in Lancaster, PA which is about an hour and a half away from us. We arrived right as they opened the gates at 10 AM, and went to the water park first. Alex loved this part of the park, as did all of the kids, because it was so hot outside and they had so many little water sprinklers and slides for older kids. Alex started out in the toddler area, and played in their big sand castle water sprinkler for awhile,before exploring some other areas then eventually just running around enjoying his freedom! LOL. Dylan and Daniel coaxed their Uncle David and Uncle Abe to go down some huge tunnel slides with them,and I think Uncle David was fine, but I'm sure their Uncle Abe didn't want a part of those again! I wanted to go down them so bad, couldn't because of being pregnant---definitely next summer though! :) After eating lunch,which was delivered to our cabana Mary rented (Great idea if you're heading to DW anytime soon!) We went with Mary and Dave and took Alex, Julia, and Matthew to the rides. Matthew went right for the rides,but since the two toddlers were missing a naptime, both fell asleep in their strollers before they could really get on much. Once Alex woke up though,we were able to take him on some rides. His favorite was the boats that he could pretend to drive. He loved those,and we went on 3 times! That night we ate dinner at an awesome buffet,where they served home cooked food--it actually reminded me of my Mom and Grandma's cooking. The next day we went to a viallage called Kitchen Kettle Village,where they had shops, buggy rides,and a petting zoo. Alex enjoyed the petting zoo,and just strolling around the shops. When we came home Tuesday, we realized we have less than 4 months before our daughter arrives,so we have started kicking it into high gear to get her room ready and get the house ready--it's one thing after another! Enjoy some of our shots from DW!

Alex playing on a water sprinkler

Abe and Daniel with his wounded elbow

With his Auntie Maria

Julia and Alex napping in their strollers

Dylan,Daniel, Matthew,Medy holding Julia and Abe holding Alex

Alex looking at the chickens

Dylan was such a good helper with Alex--he held his hand for us everytime Alex wanted to walk

Happy 1st Birthday Julia Grace!

We've had quite a lot of birthday fun in July, but our last birthday party of the month was our most special. Our niece Julia turned 1 on July 16th and we celebrated her special day on Saturday with a party at her house. She looked too adorble in her little pink dress and was cruising and crawling all over the place. We started the party by eating of course! Abe and I fed Alex and Julia and then got plates of our own. There was an assortment of finger foods, hamburgers, hot dogs, pansit, etc. There also was crabs, but the baby wasn't feeling crabs on Saturday, so I didn't have any myself. LOL. There was also birthday cake of course. She had a cute pink and purple cake with a Precious Moments topper. She also got a lot of nice presents! We got her some fall clothes and pajamas, a soft doll, and a hair accesory organizer. I actually liked the organizer so much, I think I may go back to Target and get one for our soon to be daughter! I know she'll end up with tons of hair accesories as well, so I might just have to get a head start! Speaking of our new baby, we are making plans to change our office into her room sometime in August. We've yet to really do anything to make the switch, but we have a plan at least and thinking of doing it in August before I go back to work. We're moving the desk into our bedroom, the bookcase downstairs and putting the crib and rocker into the room. We're planning on painting it either a light pink or a light purple, depending on the bedding we find. It's so weird getting ready for a girl, when we're so used to everything boy! Anyway, I can't believe Julia is 1 already! She's getting so big, so fast! And I can't believe we'll have another baby here in about 4 months! Below ae some pictures from the party. Enjoy!

The birthday girl in her beautiful dress!

Her cake!

Alex and Julia playing together at the party

Renee, Lola, Dylan, Daniel, and Alex with their pink party hats on!

Abe, Alex and I with our winnings--that's right our family swept the candy guessing contest!

Abe and Matthew

 

 

Gymboree and More Birthday Fun!

Alex had his first class at Gymboree Play and Learn on Saturday, and he LOVED it! We've been looking around for awhile now for a program for him to participate in, and finally after taking him to a Gymnastics class that was way too structured and looking into another toddler gym that was way too early in the morning (8:15--Yikes! Alex is a late sleeper, like his parents:) and kind of far, we settled on Gymboree in Nottingham which is about 15 minutes from us. He is a Level 4, which is the age range of 16 mos-23 mos. The teacher allowed a lot of time for free play and tried to do some little songs and bubbles and parachute time, but with kids that age, they would run away and do what they wanted to most of the time! Alex actually did sit on my lap for the songs and the parachute game. His favorite part was their ball collection and basketball hoop. He loved playing with all of the different balls. He also really liked climbing up and down some of the structures too, and we were amazed at how well he could actually do that. He surprised us! We also attended a birthday party for a friend of mine's daughter Natalia. She turned 1 on July 10. She and Alex played well together, though she was so much more social than him! He was so shy at first, as usual, but warmed up after a little bit and played with her. She looked so cute in her little dress and hair bow, and it reminded Abe and I of how fun a girl is going to be for us, although I think  Abe is a little concerned about the hair bows and putting them in right..LOL. Enjoy the pics from this week!

Climbing at Gymboree

Climbing to the top with Daddy's help...he could do it by himself by the end!

Big smile with Daddy

He was being a "big  helper" and helping me wrap Natalia's gift--by sitting on it of course!

Alex and Natalia playing together with one of her toys

The cute little birthday girl

We have a little drummer on our hands

Using a fork to eat his scrambled eggs..he's starting to use utensils now!

 

We're having a baby GIRL!

Okay, so I know we said we'd try not to find out the sex, but the key word there is try. We tried and it didn't happen! LOL. We just had to know, and we are so excited to announce that Alex is going to have a baby sister! We have absolutely no names picked out, since we were really convinced it would be another boy, so we'll probably be deciding that much later. I am almost halfway through my pregnancy though! I'll be 20 weeks on Sunday. This pregnancy has gone by so much faster than my pregnancy with Alex, probably because I have him to chase after! Speaking of Alex, he's doing great! Turned 16 months old on Sunday and is into everything. He's getting much better at communicating with us, though he still isn't saying many decipherable words. He's definitely using gestures and grunting a lot more often to get his point across. I call him my little caveman, because when he grunts and points that what he reminds me of. We had a wonderful 4th of July! We were hoping to go home to visit my family, but since Alex and I were both congested and he was kind of cranky because of it, we decided it would be best not to take him. We also didn't want to risk making my Dad sick, since he is recovering from lung surgery still. On Sunday, we took Alex to Tristan's 5th b-day Party at Pump It Up in Elkridge. It's a place where they have tons of inflatables for kids to jump around and slide down. Alex is still a bit young for most of the inflatables they have there, but he still had a ton of fun just walking around in the bouncy houses and falling down. He giggled everytime he fell. It was funny to watch. Abe also was able to climb with Alex in one hand up some of the slides and take him down. God bless Abe! I know he slept well that night. It was hard for me to watch him play and not be able to go in and roll around with him.I usually go right in with him, but for the safety of the baby, I had to sit this one out. We can't wait until our daughter gets here, so we can meet her and see who she looks like. Enjoy the pics of the baby's ultrasound and Alex!

Playing on his WonderPets Ride-on

Dressed in red, white and blue for July 4th

We spent all day Friday removing the slate from in front of our house and replacing it with a retaining wall, but doesn't it look so much better?!

Alex and Julia playing together in the baby pool

Jumping around in the bouncy house at Tristan's b-day party

Playing with his uncle Aaron

Julia will be 1 on July 16!