An Evening on the Boardwalk

Due to a late nap, we decided that going out on the town would be a great idea tonight! Jim and I ate dinner early at home and packed a meal for Trenton. But once we got to the boardwalk, all he wanted to do was run, run, run!

Ahh! Corn on the cob!

We didn't go on any rides or the beach but it was still nice to be down the shore. Pt. Pleasant has a neat little boardwalk, great free smells and sights, and nice people. We'll be back soon!

Relief From a Hot Day in The City

Today we drove into New York to visit Jennifer and Brayden. They live just on the other side of the Holland Tunnel, where SoHo meets Tribeca. Very cool place! After eating lunch at Out of the Kitchen, we headed over to Hudson Park. This park was awesome because it had a splash area. So in the 90 degree heat, Trenton found some respite!

Here's a picture of Jennifer, Brayden, and Jen's sister, Paige. Paige had been spending the week in the city and we drove her home in the afternoon. Brayden is getting so big! We can't wait for next summer when he can run around and have fun with Trenton.

Those poor pigeons... Trenton chased down at least three of them. And he found a topless Barbie in the fountain!

Pigeons, Beware!

Sliding Inside

Since Daddy has been busy building our new patio, a lot of outdoor toys have made their way indoors. Here you see Trenton's slide ($2 from a yard sale!), which is temporarily in the upstairs hallway. It's amazing to see how he's gone from needing so much assistance to being able to climb up and go down himself!

Camping at Turkey Swamp

The Konopacks came down to Howell this week for a long visit. Jim and his dad worked on building our patio in the backyard. On Thursday, we all went to Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold. I pitched the tent and mom made us a great fish dinner. But then it rained like you wouldn't believe! It was so bad (thunder, lightning, noise) that we decided to return home for the night. Trenton finally got to sleep around 11PM! However, we did have a much nicer night on Friday and were able to camp in peace.

The campground has a fantastic play area for toddlers. Trenton was able to check it out twice.

Watermelon!

Check Out My New Diapers!

How cute is this kid?!?! So I've been using my cloth diapers for at least a month now, and I'm really happy with them. I've got six bumGenius one size pocket diapers, two prefolds, and one Kissaluv. The last two kinds you use with a cover (he usually wears those around the house, when I know we aren't going out). The bumGenius are the best, though! I like them because you can adjust them to fit babies from 8 lbs. to 35 lbs. I'm hoping to get lots of use out of them.
Caring for the diapers is easy, too. With the bumGenius, I just remove the cotton insert from the outer main diaper and put it in my diaper pail. I launder them about every other day. I'm really happy to know that I'm doing my part to keep diapers out of landfills... although we still use disposables, too. But every little bit helps!
There are some great sites online to check out, including Cotton Babies
and Jillian's Drawers. Both have a very easy site to navigate and extensive information about cloth diapering. Thanks to my friends, Heather, Shairna, and Laura for encouraging me to try these out!

I Love My Daddy

Trenton loves to give out kisses :}

This Father's Day was really beautiful. We walked to church together and headed out to the shore for lunch. Due to traffic on the Parkway, we diverted our trip to Asbury Park. The redevelopment project that is underway is certainly invigorating the beach scene there. With a nice, broad boardwalk and cute shops to browse, we were able to enjoy the sunshine. After lunch we headed home, and later that night we went out to the Manasquan Reservoir for a walk.
You can't get any better than that! Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Great Adventure Trip

Today we went to Great Adventure! My friend Shirley has season tickets and invited us along. Her daughter, Nicole, met Trenton and I while taking swim classes at the YMCA last fall. We started our trip by going through the Wild Safari. None of the animals got too close to our car, but there were two giraffes that were licking the roof of the minivan in front of us! Every animal you could think of was there, from N. America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Trenton enjoyed watching them from the window and said the names of the ones he knew. Then we went into the park. They have a new section this year called Wiggles World. As we don't have cable, T has never seen The Wiggles, but he still loved dancing to the music that was playing from speakers all over the park. He went on two rides-- the carousel and a car one. Both of them he was less than thrilled to be on-- he gripped my neck pretty hard and cried most of the time. But I think he was secretly fascinated ;) After lunch, it was time to head home for naps. Thanks to Shirley for inviting us along for a great day! P.S. In the last picture, Nicole and Trenton are cranking a machine that can squish your penny and print a Looney Toons character on it. Nicole left with two neat pennies!

Dancing at Great Adventure

VA Trip for Justin's Baptisim

Look at all those boys!

We took a trip down to Virginia to see Shairna, Chris, Justin, Jared, Marcus, and Ethan. From Thursday to Sunday we did a lot-- and Trenton LOVED seeing his cousins. Above, you'll find a quite dapper Ethan posing next to Trenton... could this be the beginning of a lifelong friendship?

Justin's birthday was on Friday, and we celebrated with a cook-out at the Bluesteens. We also went swimming in the pool (sort of... spent most of the time squirting water guns) and bowling (I think Shairna and I surprised ourselves with some high scores). Burke Lake Park
is an absolutely gorgeous place. Trenton cried for half the train ride through the woods and the older boys enjoyed a ride on the antique carousel. Justin was baptized on Saturday and we were all there to witness the event. Congratulations, Justin!