Category: Family

  • Kauai: Baby’s First Helicopter

    Kauai: Baby’s First Helicopter

    We couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see Kauai from the air! Mountains, waterfalls, Waimea Canyon- the 2nd largest canyon after the Grand Canyon, 3,000 foot walls, the wettest place on the planet, the classic opening scene from Jurassic Park and the infamous Napali Coast all in 60 minutes. ALL- including Tedders- hopped on the blue helicopter for a flight!

    How’d we do!?! Nobody got sick, Kelly and Andy took 5,000 photos and Andrew liked most of it. There were some tears at the end but overall he was a rockstar! 

    The view.   

  • Kauai Perfect

    Kauai Perfect

    We spent the first week of our trip on Kauai high up on the north shore in Princeville near the end of the road in Hanalei. This location is a bit off the beaten path from other tourists which made for a super relaxed atmosphere. A welcome break from the hustle and bustle of our regular lives. Oh and the views! This greeted us each morning on our balcony. Seriously, does it get any more spectacular?!?

    We filled our days digging in the sand, walking along the beach and playing in the pool with paradise as the backdrop. And how special is it that we got to enjoy our Hawaiian adventures with Papa, CoCo and Aunt Kiki!   

  • Getting to ‘Aloha!’

    Getting to ‘Aloha!’

    Part brave, part totally insane, but we packed our bags and flew 12 hours to Hawaii with a 20 month and 4 year old… and lived to tell the tale! Honestly, the kids did AMAZING! I was SOOOO impressed and proud of their ability to go with the flow and amend through a nearly 20 hour travel day.

    Truth be told, Andrew was living his best life on the plane! I told him that his job was to eat snacks and watch movies. Challenge accepted! He LOVED watching back to back movies and TV shows with no objection from Mom and Dad. At one point he had my and his TV going with his shows and he’d just plug his headphones in wherever he wanted. 12 hours and no naps. I’m not even sure he even blinked! 

    Teddy, not shockingly, was a bit harder to entertain. But he slept, he ate, we played cars, he colored, walked around and flirted with the stewardesses.

    We had a direct flight from Newark to Honolulu. And when we arrived relatively unscathed, I thought I had won gold in the parenting Olympics. I was texting all my mommy friends bragging of my travel victory. All that laid in front of us was a 25 minute puddle jumper flight from Oahu to Kauai. After 12 hours, how hard could this be!?! FAMOUS. LAST. WORDS.

    To summarize, Teddy vomited 3 times, each time on Andy and once on the people behind us. Andrew finally fell deep asleep and then had an utter meltdown when we had to wake him up. He refused to walk off the plane and I had to drag him (because Andy was covered in vomit) off the plane screaming. Moments before the ‘massacre.’

    We changed clothes, cleaned ourselves off with an excessive amount of wet wipes, picked up our rental car and drove our tired butts to the hotel. But we’re in Hawaii…so life can’t be that bad! ALOHA! 

  • First Field Trip

    First Field Trip

    I’m so happy I was able to join Andrew for his very first school field trip! His class went to Melicks Farm for an apple cider demo and some apple picking. And of course a tractor ride!

    I love that my job gives me the flexibility to take 2 hours out of the day to share these special moments! And I REALLY LOVE that Andrew said his favorite part of the trip was ‘mommy coming.’ ❤️ I won out over riding the bus! ?

    Making cider and picking apples with friends:

  • Pumpkin Pickin’!

    Pumpkin Pickin’!

    On Saturday we made our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch with the Hogans! We visited Snyders farm which is really a fall festival so the boys ran from the diggers to the hay bail slide to the bounce house, the corn pit and the pumpkin gun. Oh yeah, and we picked some pumpkins.

    Clearly they had NO fun! 

    Buddies!

    And again…

    And the punkin’ chunkin’ gun. This thing was SERIOUS!

    And the actual picking of the pumpkins. While maybe not the favorite, always a highlight!

    The boys searching for the perfect pumpkin…

    Little brother getting in on the pumpkins. Lift with your legs Teds!

    Phew! He moved the pumpkin 6 inches. Time for a rest! 

    Happy fall y’all!  

     

  • Lemonade!

    Lemonade!

    The boys had their first official paying job! A few neighborhood kids set up a lemonade stand on Friday afternoon. They decided all the money should go to the Raptor Trust- a local animal shelter.

    There were a few paying customers and lots of toddlers drinking way too much lemonade. They definitely consumed more than they sold! But in the end it was a fun, impromptu evening with friends enjoying that last warm evening outside! While the kids were ‘hard at work,’ this one was laying down on the job and only focused on the snacks ?‍♀️

    I’m happy to share that $5.50 will be donated to the Raptor Trust courtesy of the ‘Pill Hill Posse!’ ❤️ ?

  • ‘Tis the season for apples!

    ‘Tis the season for apples!

    After a LONG week of work travel for mommy, we spent Saturday morning picking apples and enjoying some nice family time together. No shock that the highlight was the tractor and cider donuts!

  • 5 Years!

    5 Years!

    It’s official!  As of last Friday we’ve been married for 5 years or 1,825 days or 43,800 hours! Whether you’re counting in years or hours, it FLEW by! I know I say this every time I write a post about the boys’ age but I truly can’t fathom that it’s already been 5 years. It feels like just last week we were saying ‘I do’ on a perfect fall evening surrounded by family and friends who are like family.

    5 years gave us a reason to open our next ‘special anniversary’ bottle selected especially for and labeled ‘Drink on 9-28-18’. After putting our boys to bed, Andy built us a nice fire and we sat around the fire pit enjoying our anniversary wine. We reflected, reminisced and talked about ‘what surprised us’ about the last 5 years. We both agreed that sheer amount of what we’ve done together shocked us the most. Since our ‘I dos’ we left Manhattan, bought a house in the suburbs (and by default signed up for a large mortgage), learned how to care for said house, bought two cars, we each changed jobs (insert lots of travel) and had two amazing little boys. A+ for effort.

    Through all that change- the good, the challenging, the amazing, the frustrating, the ‘I’m so tired my body physically hurts’-  I feel like I nailed it. It may sound funny or conceded but I do. I found someone who will, has and does hold my hand through life and all that it has brought and will bring. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He makes we feel pretty when I’m waddling around the house 9 months pregnant. He turns my seat warmer on when we get in the car because I hate being cold. He syncs shows he’ll think I like to my iPad when I travel. He brings me flowers for no reason other than they’ll make me happy. He encourages me to be the best version of myself every single day and loves me unconditionally when I fall short. And most important, I still really like hanging out with him! So for all those things, I feel like I nailed it! I couldn’t ask for a better partner to love and share life with!

    Cheers to 5 years! I look forward to the next 5 and enjoying our 10 year bottle on 9-28-23!

     

    In case you wanted to reminisce the wedding…enjoy the highlight reel!

     

  • New Era….

    New Era….

    Sports! And now I see my weekends for the next 18 years….

    Andrew started soccer on Saturday! He and 10 other 3-5 year olds make up the Basking Ridge ‘Squirts’ team. While apprehensive on the way to the field, he jumped right in and did AWESOME! I even heard a ‘I love soccer!’ from him.

    Little brother liked the time on the playground. At one point he tried to get in on the soccer action and was swiftly told by Andrew, ‘Uh, Teddy. Can you please go with Daddy. I’m doing soccer right now!’ ?

    Excited for this new chapter for Andrew and our little family!

  • Labor Day

    Labor Day

    We said adios to another summer (tear!) in style over Labor Day weekend! There was birthday cake, boat rides, piñatas, playing in the sand and whole lot of great time with wonderful family!

    We started with some birthday cake for Papa!  

    A 3-hour tour! The next day we rented a pontoon boat and cruised the bay. The highlights were swimming, fishing and catching 1 crab. It’s a good thing we had dinner cooking at home because we certainly weren’t going to feast on what we caught. But we all had fun, the kids left their life jackets on and we had minimal tantrums. Success!    

    For dinner I cooked Mexican. So why not go all in?! It was a full fledged fiesta complete with shark piñata! 

    The kids were super sweet and shared their candy with the entire street. Reverse trick or treating! 

    We capped off the weekend with some bay time with the Hogan clan. I’m proud of myself for getting all 7 children in 1 photo! 

    Adios summer 2018! Thanks for the memories!