9 Months Old!

He is already 9 months old and T-R-O-U-B-L-E! He is a climber and tries to get up on everything. Of course, it doesn't help that his brothers are cheering him on to greater and greater heights... He now has four teeth, after cutting one of the top two at Disney and the other on the first day of school. He loves to eat, mostly food he can feed himself and is very independent. Believe it or not, he can almost take his own shirt off when he hears the bath running!

Visitors!

Grandma and Grandpa (my Mom and Peter) came to visit a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time exploring the area. We went into the city to the National Zoo one day and then we took them up to our favorite spot in the Shenandoah River Valley another day. We did some more hiking and Jackson even got a pony ride. Unfortunately, Francis was too young, but he had fun anyway.

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Skyline Drive

We finally got bored of Tivo and decided to venture out a little. We drove to the Blue Ridge Mountains and went for a short hike along the Appalachian Trail. It is surprisingly close and so beautiful. The kids did better than we thought out on the hiking trail and we all had a nice afternoon. Now that we know how close it is and how much the kids enjoyed it we are hoping to get in a few more hikes before Casey starts work.

In case you are wondering, they couldn't resist posing with the giant cone at a stand on the way out of town.

First Day of School!

We got home Sunday night and the boys had their first class on Wednesday morning. Of course, Nicholas woke up with a fever that morning, but otherwise everything went well. We decided to do a program this year called Classical Conversations. It is a homeschool co-op, so everyone is using the same curriculum. The kids go to class and the teacher presents the material for the week and the kids have a fine arts/ music lesson, do a couple of science experiments, show and tell, snack, lunch, outside time, etc. Then during the week we review the work at home. The next week, they go back and the teacher "drills" them on last week's material and presents new lesson. It is based on the classical model so there is lots of memorization.
Jackson is in the Kindergarten and Francis is in the three-year-old class. They seem to be enjoying it and I am amazed at how much they are learning. It is a lot of work for me at home, but we are starting to get into a routine and I like knowing they are getting a solid start.

Charleston

We got up bright and early Saturday morning and headed to St. Augustine, where we met Gigi for breakfast. From there we drove the 6 hours to Charleston, SC and met up with Casey's friend Jamie Khan. He gave us a tour of the city and The Citadel (his Alma mater) and then we met his wife and their daughter Katie for dinner. We stayed the night in the old city and attended mass at the Cathedral the next morning before heading out. What a beautiful city! We look forward to coming back when we have a little more time.

Winter Park

Here we are in Winter Park relaxing for a day before getting back in the car to drive home. Casey and the kids enjoyed the pool and I caught up on some laundry. As you can see, Nicholas did a little exploring there as well.

Disney- Day 4

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We began our last day with an early start. We said goodbye to ReRe and Paka and headed to the Magic Kingdom for another ride on small world and breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. The kids loved meeting the characters and the breakfast was surprisingly good, so fun was had by all. After that we tried to do everything we missed and get one last ride on all of our favorites. Of course, Casey and Jackson were back on the big coasters and we went back to buzz lightyear. We also did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, mickey's philharmagic, Cinderella's Golden Carousel, and the adventures of Winnie the pooh. We also visited Tom Sawyer Island and watched the Parade again. We had so much fun we stayed until 7 that night. Luckily we were planning to stay nearby and unwind on Friday before starting the drive Saturday morning. What a trip! We are already planning our next visit!

Disney Day3- Animal Kingdom

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What can I say, this place is incredible! Animal Kingdom had not been built 22 years ago, when I went to Disney, so this was the first trip for all of us. The safari was so much fun we did it twice! All the boys, big and small loved the Kali River Rapids and Jackson and Casey had a chance to go on Expedition Everest. It was a great day.

Disney Day 2

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom for another fun day. Our first stop was to revisit some of the favorites from the day before and then Peter Pan's Flight, Small World, Indy Cars, and some Rocket ride. We grabbed some lunch and Mama ReRe and Paka brought the little ones and I back to the hotel for the afternoon, while Casey and Jackson went back to Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.

The afternoon was naps and laundry and then back to the park for Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and more rides. We were hoping to stay for the fireworks, but the rain got in the way, so we headed back to the hotel.

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Disney

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We weren't home long before we headed off to Disney. We planned this trip months ago, before we had the move finalized and we hadn't expected to be leaving 10 days after we got here, but driving to FL was a nice break from unpacking boxes. Unfortunately, all three kids got sick the week before we left, so we had to travel with a cooler of antibiotics....
We left early Sunday morning and made it as far as St. Augustine, where we stayed for the night. We arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort around noon on Monday, ate lunch and headed for the Magic Kingdom. It was awesome! The kids rode Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, saw the Swiss Family Treehouse, rode the Jungle Cruise and watched the Parade. Then we saw the Country Bear Jamboree (Nicholas loved it!), went to the shooting arcade and then Casey and Jackson rode Big Thunder Mountain, while the little guys and I rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Range Spin. (A real favorite)

Around 5, we headed back to the hotel to meet Casey's parents, who had just arrived and then did some swimming.

Home Sweet Home....

Here are some photos of our new house. We are enjoying having a little more space and looking forward to getting to share it with many of you. We actually have a guest room and a full bathroom to offer. The older boys room is nice and big and Nicholas finally has his own space. We have a finished basement to house all of the toys and a fenced yard with a swing set. We were fortunate that the people we are renting from left us a lot of their stuff, so the house was partially setup before we arrived.

Here are some photos of the kids room and the play/family room. The rest of the house you will have to see for yourselves. Also, for some reason it looks messier in pictures...

8 Months Old!

Here he is doing more and more....

Goodbye Philidelphia!

We thought we had better do a little sightseeing in Philadelphia before we moved, so we spent a Sunday afternoon visiting the Art Museum (free on Sundays) and posing with Rocky Balboa. After that we walked down along the boathouses and did some people watching. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, I regret we waited so long to discover it....

Dear Diary.....

So, this is basically what the rest of our July and early August was like:

Wednesday, July 22- My Mom came to town and I packed up most of our belongings and put them in the basment.

Saturday, July 25th- Dropped Casey at the airport to go take the bar and then drove the kids up to CT with my Mom, to visit Cousin Carlin.

Friday, July 31st- Casey returned from taking the bar in Texas and met us in CT

Monday, August 3- Casey's brother Dan and his wife Laura came with Juliette and Rocco to visit us at the beach.

Thursday, August 6- Nicholas fell and tore his frendulum (skin between upper lip and top gum) Not the end of the world but it did result in a trip to the ER and a very unplesant day. To top it off we drove home that night and found that our basement flooded while we were away.

Friday, August 7- Spent the day unpacking all the ruined boxes and washing or throwing away everything in them.This process basically continued until Tuesday when we picked up the moving truck.

Tuesday, August 12- Frantically repacking all of our belongings and throwing them in the truck.

Wednesday, August 13- My Dad and Mr. J came down and we moved to the new house!

As you can see busy as always! Here are some misc phots.

Kevin's Baptism

Our Nephew, Kevin was baptized in mid-July. Casey was his Godfather and it was held in the same church on Staten Island that Casey was baptized in. Monsignor Dorney did a beautiful job and afterward we all went back to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Diane's house for a BBQ.

7 Months Old!

Another month has passed. Now Nicholas is crawling all over the place and starting to pull himself up. He is still sweet and smiley, but a little mischievous as well. He LOVES his brothers and is fascinated by everything they do. He still only has two teeth but he is eating more and more and has just discovered how to feed himself.