Fun in the Florida Sun

So sorry for the lack of posts but good news -- we are under contract for our house in Ohio, under contract for a new house in Colorado, and I have a job lined up with the Missile Defense Agency.  So things are falling into place for our big move this summer and it's creeping up on us...fast!  I still have a ton of vacation pictures to post...and we're going on another vacation with friends next weekend!  So I am going to try to catch up.  Let's start with how much fun we had in the Florida sun!  Nannie played hooky from school on Friday and we took the boys to the beach.  They played in the sand a little but neither were all that happy to be there...

 Riley was afraid of all the ants crawling around...this is his "I am not happy with you taking pictures of me while I'm uncomfortable" face.

It was a beautiful day and Riley got in the water a little...

Easter

I know, I know...I've been a total slacker over the past month with the blog.  But here are my excuses...we put our house on the market about a month ago, we went on a long vacation for ten days, and things have been absolutely crazy with getting ready to move in June!  We did manage to spend Easter Sunday with our favorite family -- the Souders!  And the boys posed (kind of) for some pictures...

The Easter bunny came and left some baskets full of candy and a few toys then it was time for the Easter egg hunt!  Sully was all about it this year...

Riley too!  Although it was funny because Riley would pick up an egg and say "I already have that color!" then put it back.  I told him it was okay to have a lot of eggs the same color and he finally relented and filled his bucket.

I think Sawyer won the award for the most eggs collected -- his bucket was overflowing by the end!

Sully didn't do too shabby himself!

Check out Riley's summer hair do...in preparation for our trip to warm and sunny Florida.  After I buzzed it, he felt his head and said "I like it!"  Don't worry it's already grown back after only two weeks!

Declan seemed to enjoy finding eggs with a little help from his daddy!

The best part?  Checking out the loot!

I have over 450 pictures to sift through from our Florida trip...and I'm going to Colorado this weekend to look for a house (and interview for a job).  Soooo, more excuses for being a slacker...however, I will get to it eventually -- I got some great pictures of the kids swimming, at the beach, at Legoland, and at Disney.  More to come...I promise!

Zoo

Last weekend was beautiful so we took the kids to the zoo (and Ms. Rose joined us too)!  Sully wanted to see the tigers...they were sleeping and Sully's remark was "Night night, tigers!" 

A brief thunderstorm rolled in so we hit the aquarium next...the sting rays swam right past us!

Sully liked the manatee!

Riley humored me with a pose by the manatee.

Next it was Riley's favorite -- the penguins!

There was a playful penguin swimming around.

Sully got right up to him to say "Hi penguin!"

When Sully saw the pink birds he actually knew what they were and said "Hi flamingos!"

Our last stop were the bears -- polar bears...

And brown bears!  The brown bears were very playful and wrestling with each other...it reminded me of my dogs.

The kids enjoyed the polar playground.

It was a fun day at the zoo!

Fire Station Tour

As part of a birthday party, Riley and Sully got to take a tour of the Fairborn fire station.  We got to see where the fire fighters eat, sleep and workout in the station.  Then we got to go into the truck bay and see the vehicles!  First vehicle...the ambulance.

 The kids even got to walk from back to front and look at all the equipment.

Then it was on to everyone's favorite...the fire truck!

The fire fighter explained the truck and all the equipment located throughout the bays on the sides...

And we even got to see the "Jaws of Life"!

The fire fighter put on all his gear and gave all the kids a high five...this tour was also a chance for the fire fighters to get the kids comfortable with them and their gear in case the kids ever need to be saved then they aren't scared.

We attempted a picture of all the kids on the fire truck...this is the best we managed.

At the end of the tour, each kid got a hat, some stickers and a coloring book!

It was a great idea for a birthday party and the boys had a blast!

Sawyer's 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Sawyer's 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago...it was an angry birds party -- and he wanted the mustache pig on his cake!

A family photo before opening presents!

Then it was time for Sawyer's favorite part...presents!!! 

 Who wouldn't love Angry Birds gummies! 

Declan loves cake!

Jace put Pez on top of his...

Sully and Riley opted for the straight up sugar rush!

 Sawyer's favorite gifts...angry birds and bricks!

Happy Birthday, Sawyer!!!

Learning to Read

We've been working with Riley the past couple of months with some beginning reader books.  He has known all the letters and the sounds they make for a couple of years now (thanks Leap Frog!) and was starting to show interest in sounding words out. 

For anyone with beginner readers in the house, I highly recommend this series...

Twelve books in a set and they get progressively harder with each set of colors.

The red set starts like this...he made it through those four very quickly.

Pink then green look more like this...that took a little more concentration and focus.

Riley made it through the whole box with just a little prodding...

  It's amazing how motivated this kid is when a favorite Star Wars Lego set is the prize!