Blogs I'm into.

You can go to my profile to see the blogs that I follow.  Some are friends blogs and some are just really popular blogs on the internet.....but, I wanted to mention two other blogs that I follow that you won't see on that list (not sure why they aren't on the list.)  These two blogs are great when you need a little pick me up, or some perspective.  They are written by two incredible ladies whom also happen to be my friends.

Sarah's blog - http://www.ussames.blogspot.com/  

It's a good mix of everything, God, country, giving, being selfless, forgiving of yourself and others.  She is a friend from way back in junior high and it's amazing to read about how she grew her family and the struggles she deals with.  I find that I have a little more patience after reading her blog.

Tracy's blog - http://www.thebalderachs.com/

Interesting about meeting Tracy.  I became friends with her while we were living in NYC through a mutual friend.  She moved to Darien, CT almost a year ago and since we have lived here, I've run into her twice.  She also has a growing family and I don't know where she finds the time to write on her award winning blog.  She has an different writing style that really makes you reflect on the little things.  

So if you have some time to kill these are two good reads.

Quote of the day~

Mikey (while whining): "But I don't know where my manners are!"

Touch a truck - 2013

We spent part of our Sunday at the Touch-A-Truck event at a local high school in Fairfield, CT. It is a fundraising event held every year.  To paint a little picture for you, it's basically every type of truck you can think of that all come together and park in a huge parking lot that you can climb all over, press all the buttons, honk the horns, and pretend to drive.  They even had a cherry picker truck there that was taking kids who were tall enough for a ride up into the air.  There were also tractors, a train ride, characters, a bounce house, live music from kids bands and a DJ, food and prizes.

Once we saw this event was happening while watching the local news we just knew we had to go.  It comes from having a little Mikey monkey who we knew would be in heaven!

Katie was actually really vocal and wanted to drive them all too, by herself.  She didn't want to share a turn with Mikey (even if there were 30 other kids in line to get on the fire truck).

Let the fun being.  A long row of trucks right when we enter.  This is going to be awesome!

The first choice of the day a huge bull dozer.

He could have sat there all day.

Katie taking a turn on the bull dozer.

We saw street cleaners almost daily while living in NYC and we saw them up close when they would stop to refill their water supply at the fire hydrant or when we'd have to move our vehicle for them to clean the street so it was really special that he got to sit in one and check it out.  He was really excited when he saw this one!

Driving the army jeep.

She gets dwarfed by this.

Daddy had a good time too!

These two are just ridiculous.  She loves giving her Daddy hugs.  Lately she tries to trick him by saying "you Daddy?" and Scott says "yes, I'm Daddy." and they repeat this about 3 times and then Katie says "no, you Dad."

A gift for riding on the Fire Truck.

This fire truck was huge and had lots and lots of buttons and gadgets.

Katie's turn for the fire truck.  You could fit about 20 of her in the cabin.

While in NYC we also saw the coast guard patrolling the East River from our apt. all the time.  It was really cool to see one up close and to go on and check it out.

Just a small tractor to check out next.

Mikey is on the seat in the back trying to move the digger part.

A moving truck with lots of balloons to play with.

She didn't want to get out.

Sitting in a flat bed truck.

Of course once the kids saw this it was all over.  Thankfully they were an appropriate size this time.

Honking the horn on the Porsche.

Scott had to get in on this action.  And it could be yours for only $84K.  Haha.

We let them press all the buttons.  They too could have played in this all day.

Big Muscles

Lately the kids have both been really into muscles, exercise, growing big and strong.

A phrase we hear often in our house is "I'm growing bigger and stronger!"  We talk a lot at dinner time about how the kids (Mikey is a bit of a picky eater) need to eat their food so they can grow big and strong.  Then we make muscle poses and laugh.  We also have an elliptical and Bowflex in the basement that the kids are interested in.  Obviously we don't let them go on it for safety reasons but they ask us how it works and we show them.

The following two pictures are of poses the kids make all the time and they are currently screen savers on Scott's work computers.  Just check out those big muscles!!

Coordination

For a just turned 2 year old we think Katie is pretty coordinated and fast.  She tries so hard to keep up with the older kids.  When she is chasing Mikey or kids a little older than her she looks like she is slow but actually she is pretty fast.

Transformer Mikey

Mikey loves all things transformers, rescue bots, etc.  He has created his own routine when he transforms.  Enjoy.

The Color Run - Brooklyn

I drove down for my first trip back to NYC since moving on Friday afternoon for a half weekend spent with all my NYC girl friends.  It was my very first time away from the kids by myself and I enjoyed every minute of it!  Friday evening, we went to Brooklyn to pick up our packets for the Color Run race on Saturday and we celebrated Heather's birthday at a Brooklyn restaurant.  The views of the city at night were pretty amazing.

Saturday, we all rolled out of bed and brushed the crusties out of our eyes from the night before to prepare for our 5K run.  The walk to the subway, subway ride all the way out to Flatbush in Brooklyn, waiting for over 45 minutes for the shuttle, sitting in traffic on the shuttle to get to the race took about 2 hours.  Kinda crazy when all we were doing was running for 30 minutes.  BUT, it was so FUN and so WORTH IT!!!!  The race wasn't timed so none of us felt the competitive edge to run as fast as we could.  Made it stress free.  This was by far the most fun I've had running in a race.

All the pictures don't do it justice.  The girls were all amazing and we made so many memories.  Definitely a must do and I'm so glad I did.  As you'll notice below we all had a blast.  So blessed to have such an amazing group of friends.

I had to rush home after the race and scrub scrub scrub because we had a dinner party to host that evening.  Glad all the corn starch food coloring came off.  I'd be embarrassed if I had to serve dinner with blue and green hands.

Posing with this bike in hopes of winning it.

Sign by the bike.

Mary and Kelly at dinner - Alma Restaurant.

View of the twin lights at the 9/11 memorial.  So beautiful and humbling.

L to R:  Ashley, (Jesus), Shay, Heather, me, Mary, Kathy, Kelly, Jen, Beth and Katie.

We finally made it to the run.

Not sure if we would get another opportunity for a group shot (since there were 9 of us) we took advantage of the opportunity and posed in front of the port a potties.

Our official Color Run before photo.

Photo with a little tweaking. L to R: Me, Kelly, Kathy, Heather, Jen, Candace, Ashley, Beth and Mary.

Yes we had a jam session with the DJ at the start line before we ran.  We danced and did squats and jumping exercises, they handed out prizes and we danced some more.

Kathy definitely had a good time as did Mary and Ashley.

Mary, Ashley and Candace at the start.  Here we go!  The 4 of us and Kathy pretty much stuck together.

Heather and Jen wanted a special limited edition bright purple color on them so naturally they rolled in it! 

A huge color party at the end.

Kelly had great specks of color on her face.  Most of us had huge amounts of blue and green smothered everywhere.  Sort of like the Wicked Witch.

Lots of color runners on the subway home.  You should have seen the looks we got.

Yes, it was as fun as it looked!

And there is Ashley photo bombing Jen and I.

Official Color Run photo post run.

Another photo of us partying before the race.

Immediately post run. Candace, Kathy, Ashley, Mary and I.  Just a little dirtier and sweater than 30 mins. prior.

Kathy and I acting ridiculous during the race.

On the shuttle to the race. 

Heading back home.  So much fun girls!