1st day Preschool!!

Jake started the 3 year old preschool last Tuesday. He did great when I dropped him off and he likes it a lot! He told me "It was fun, but not too much fun". Here he is with his bag Aunt Gina made him. She made him a small one, but when we went to open house, the bags they had were huge, so we thought they may need bigger ones. He has taken the small one too and it was fine. Ben tries to run into the room every time I drop off or pick up Jake. It may be a little young for him to start going to school, but I think it will be a good environment for him. I need to get a picture of his teachers soon to post. Their names are Mrs. Tara and Mrs. Teri. Sounds easy, but Jake still can't remember their names to tell me. I think I asked Jake 50 questions the first day to see what they did, who he met and so on. He told me a little, but said he didn't know any of his classmates names. I asked him why and he said they didn't tell him.

Cape Cod Vacation!

We just got back from our vacation to Cape Cod with Lee's mom last week. We had a great time filled with wonderful seafood, the beach, a pool, children's museum, and gorgeous weather! We stayed in a golf course community called New Seabury in Mashpee. It was very nice and had a pool at the house. Here are several pictures from our trip.

Playing on the beach, or as Ben and Jake say "the big sandbox"

Ben playing. One of the few times he was happy playing on the beach. He wasn't too fond of the beach. Hopefully that will change

Catching some sun

Nana and Jake in the pool at our house

Ben at the pool

Silly brothers

Ben and I in Hyannis in front of the JFK Museum

Enjoying some lobster

Ben kept looking at my lobster like it was a monster

Nana eating lobster

Lee

Posing in front of the water in Hyannis

Ben and Jake posing as Ben and Jerry

Ben and Jake playing with the trains

at the Children's Museum of Cape Cod

One night Lee and I got away and went out to eat.

It was a restaurant right on the water and this was the view.
It was a long wait, but we sat outside and watched the sunset while we had a couple of drinks.

The gorgeous sunset

The pool at our house

The Deths are friends of Lee's family and they have a house nearby. We ate dinner there one night and the kids sat with Mr. Deth on the hammock.

Boston!

We returned from Cape Cod on Saturday and stayed that night at Nana's house. So that day we went for a walk in Boston Common and Gardens. It was a beautiful day and the weather ws great! We also rode the Swan boats.

The flowers in the garden were beautiful!

Swan boats

Statue of George Washington

Ben and Jake watching a movie on the plane ride home

Swimming 101

Jake took swim lessons a couple of weeks ago. The sessions lasted 30 minutes for about two weeks. They learned to put their face in the water, blow bubbles, and even jumped off the small diving board. I felt so sorry for that poor girl teaching the class. One boy cried every single day, one girl wanted to jump in all the time, and Jake fought it for the first couple of days. He wasn't too excited, but then began to do really well. He is no Michael Phelps, yet, but he is definitely more confident in the water.

Jake and his class. I think the teacher thought the class was a little challenging too because after a few days, we had two teachers.

Swimming with the fun noodle

Kicking

Jumping off the small diving board

Danger is my middle name!

Well, this past Monday Jake had a little accident. He was doing his usual holding onto the sofa arms and swinging like a monkey routine when all of a sudden, he fell on his face. At first I was relieved to see he just had a busted bottom lip, but then I looked closer and noticed one of his top middle teeth was pushed up into his gum. I am so glad my parents happened to be here or I would have been really freaked out! I called the pediatrician and they suggested and referred me to a dentist. Jake and I headed to the dentist a few hours later. He said that there was nothing to do, but it should come back down. He also suggested we see an oral surgeon to make sure Jake's jaw was okay from the fall. We did and everything was okay there too! Jake did so good at the dentist and this was his first time ever going. The dentist said that the tooth could become loose or discolored and may need to be pulled, but so far neither has happened. Thank goodness!

You can see his tooth on the left is up higher than the one on the right.



Here is Jake holding all his goodies the dentist gave him.

July 4th at The Great Smoky Mountains!

This weekend we went on a mini vacation with my parents to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was great to finally go on a vacation with my parents. My dad never gets a take a day off, but he and Lee had Friday off so we headed out that morning. We had such a terrible time getting a place to stay since it was the 4th and we waited until the last minute to plan. My cousin's wife Wendy stayed at Hidden Mountain Resort recently so we checked it out and they had a cabin available. It was so cute and we had a great time! My dad and Jake rode go-carts, Lee, my dad and Jake rode the water Bumper Boats, and we had fun sightseeing. We went up to the pool area on the 4th to see the fireworks in town and shoot some of our own. Jake did not like them! He wanted to get in the car and ended up falling asleep. Ben liked them for a bit, but then got tired as well.

Family picture on top of the Smoky Mountains

Mom and Lee having lunch.
We stopped in the mountains on the way up for a picnic.

Now that Ben is walking, he does not stop!

The kitchen in the cabin

Outside our cabin

Lee and the boys on the screened in porch!

Papa and Ben

I love this picture of Jake on the swing!

Swinging

We also went into town and the kids rode some rides. Here are Lee and Ben on the tea cups! Ben walked around and touch every single thing at this place!

Ben and Jake riding more rides

Getting ready to go!

If you click on this pic., you can see Jake a little better, but he started to slip down in the seat, so they came in early. Jake said he needed to ride them when he got bigger and that they were too fast!

Papa, Lee and Jake riding the water boats

Going to the pool

Fireworks!

Entrance to the resort

This was a little house by the office of the resort. There was also a little stream with ceramic bears in it. Very cute! We took this as we were leaving this morning.

Snoozing on the way home

Papa and Jake on top of the Smokies