New playground

A couple of weekends ago, we visited our friends Erin and Demetri to watch some Euro soccer together and to play with their dog Elly. After the game, we checked out the newly-opened Ponderosa Park a few towns away in Scotch Plains. This park is awesome and I'm so annoyed it's so far away! Oh well, that makes it extra-special for us, I guess :-)

The ground around the playground is covered in a rubbery surface which threw our new walker off balance:

Once Baby Clare got her bearings, she found her brother over by one of the play stations:

Sean had a ball crawling through tunnels, looking at pictures, and sliding down slides!

Look at his long hair!!

Meanwhile, Clare was checking out the spray fountain:

We think she liked it... or at least she didn't NOT like it :-) Either way, she definitely got all wet!

She found Brother again and they explored and played some more:

Once the kids had their fill, we changed clothes and got in the car to get some ice cream! Somebody was too tired to have ice cream - oh well, more for Mommy!

Sean stayed wide awake, enjoying each bite of his chocolate ice cream. On the way home, he showed us what he looks like when he's sleeping - but he wasn't actually sleeping :-)

Wedding!

A tad over two months ago, we went to Charleston to go to Uncle Peter's wedding!  Thom John was the Best Man and Sean was the Ringbearer. On the day of the wedding, we spent most of the morning walking around downtown Charleston.  After a hearty lunch, we went back to the hotel for naps and getting dressed up. Daddy was off to do his Best Man duties and Mommy tried to get the kids down for a nap. Clare was compliant, but Sean resisted. And resisted. And resisted. Finally, with about 1/2 hour left in the allotted naptime, he fell asleep. Typical! So Mommy got herself ready and then got Baby Clare all gussied up and then it was time to wake up Sean. Thanks to the promise of cartoons on TV, Sean grudgingly woke up and got in his fancy little suit.
Mommy walked the kids over to the Charleston Place hotel with Grummy and Auntie Rachel and we all paid a visit to the groomsmen's suite to drop Sean off with Daddy.  Clare and I left to go take our seats and we left Sean with the groomsmen to get prepped for the big moment.

Sean's picture of Daddy:

Here's Sean walking down the aisle with Pop Pop.  When the doors opened, Sean spotted me and said "Mommy!" then walked down the aisle with Pop Pop, holding his little pillow nice and high.

Sean kept himself busy (and quiet) during the ceremony by munching on pretzels and "fishing" with his pillow.  Eventually Baby Clare got tired of sitting down and the three of us moved to the back of the seats so Clare could cruise around.

After the ceremony, but before pictures:

With the Bride and Groom:

The kids were starting to get a little rowdy during picture time, so I moved them inside to watch the rest of the pictures from the windows.  They helped provide entertainment to other family members waiting their turns for pictures:

At cocktail hour, Sean got into the party spirit:

And he found his cousin Patrick - these guys probably had the best time of anyone at the wedding!

Clare tried her best to keep up, but as she wasn't quite walking yet, it was tough.  Good thing Daddy was around to help:

"Smile!"

 

Sean hugging - or smooshing - Baby Clare:

Source: Heirloom Creative Photography http://thennowlateron.com/

The photographer had a "photo booth" area with props and we got a photo of all four of us!

Source: Heirloom Creative Photography http://thenowlateron.com/

Guess who?

Source: Heirloom Creative Photography http://thenowlateron.com/

The kids loved dinner - Clare decided she liked my crabcakes and fancy truffled risotto better than her kids' meal, so she helped herself. When it came time to dessert, we were happy to share with each other. I had some of her giant cookie and she had some of my cake. I think we all remember how much Clare likes cake :-)

Sean managed to take a break from running around with Patrick for his dessert:

After a lot of eating, dancing, walking, and running around, it was time to get the Sooy Babies back to the hotel to crash.  However, Clare just couldn't wait that long - sleeping in Daddy's arms:

She barely flinched when we moved her to the stroller. Sean, however, was NOT happy about leaving the party! We all had a such a good time!

Walking walking walking

After Clare took her first steps on Memorial Day weekend, she only walked sporadically for a few steps at a time.  Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, walking became her preferred method of getting around!  Here's a video capturing her motoring along - while carrying a toy!

Fourth of July

We took the Sooy Babies to see fireworks last night:

Waiting for the show to start:

Sean liked when the fireworks would come up "one at a time" otherwise "it's too many - it looks messy!"

He also really liked the red and green fireworks.

Clare watched for a few minutes but then gave into sleep (it was two hours past bedtime at this point)!

This morning, we went out to cheer Daddy on at a local 5K race:

We picked a good spot that was right near the start AND finish - the race was a loop :-)

Yay! It's Daddy! Sean reached out and gave him a big high-five:

Despite the humidity, Daddy had a good race. Afterwards, we took a walk to get some refreshments and recharge before the parade!

We snagged a prime spot under the shade. Clare got in her little seat:

and Sean got his seat ready (he likes to count the clownfish on his chair before he sits on it):

Clare is at the age when she cannot sit still - she needs to be up and about and into whatever is around her. It made for an interesting time before the parade began.

Finally the parade began!

Clare liked waving at every person or float that passed by and Sean was on the lookout for motorcycles, fire trucks, and bands:

Clare fell asleep for a bit - she slept right through the fire trucks' blaring horns and sirens!

But then she was up again and enjoyed the rest of the parade:

At home, we admired the kids' crafts - Sean's flag...

and Clare's hat!

Happy Fourth of July!

Splash Day and Popsicles

It was a hot day today - both temperature-wise and temper-wise.  Luckily an at-home splash day plus homemade popsicles (Sean poured the juice!) helped to lighten our moods: