Grandma and Grandpack Return!

Grandma and Grandpa Konopack have been gone for about five weeks on vacation. They came by to visit this Saturday and Trenton was in his glory! Grandma brought some great fish they had caught and we all prepared a fresh dinner. Trenton enjoyed a fish lollipop!

Dad took this one... not very flattering of me, but people were begging for a pregnancy pic-- here it is! 15 weeks!

Salamanders with Pop Pop

For the past several weeks, my parents have been caring for Trenton while I'm teaching a class at school. His new thing is to turn over logs and such and find salamanders with Pop Pop! Too funny. They kept them in buckets this week and then let them go. One had broken a tail but was OK. There were some nice earthworms, too.

Trenton at 2, Me at 2

Last time I was at my folk's house, I looked through my old pictures and found two that I thought kinda looked like T. So we did a little photo shoot this morning.

What do you think?

Giddy Up

Howdy partner!

Here's the cowboy in his hat from his first Halloween, a cute mint diaper, and a t-shirt.

What kind of pose is this?

Chow time! Round 'em up for supper!

A Gorgeous Saturday Out

We started out our family day together at Monmouth Battlefield State Park. This park is huge, well preserved, and ripe for exploring. Recently, there has been talk about closing this park along with eight others in the state to save $4 million on the state budget. I actually wrote a letter to our state's DEP commissioner over my concerns about this. Let's hope this park stays open-- it is close to home and has lots of trails for both bikes and running.

Can you imagine the historic Revolutionary War battles that took place right behind us? This is Molly Pitcher territory!

We went off the main trail and discovered all these dirt trails in the woods nearby.

Chasin' after our 'runner'...

After lunch and before naptime, we went to Jenkinson's Amusement Park on the boardwalk in Pt. Pleasant. I had bought tickets online during their two for one sale and needed to pick them up. The weather was beautiful there. Trenton refused to go on any rides that I could not do with him... so we did the giant trucks and the train. I think it may take a few times to re-warm up to them. We did have a coupon for a free lemonade with purchase of a pretzel. The pretzel was HUGE! Here he is, enjoying some. On the ride home, he fell asleep with his finger through a piece and in his mouth. Wish I got a picture of THAT!

Night Out in Belmar

We promised Trenton that if he took a nap we'd go to the beach. The day was beautiful-- 70+ degrees. He had already been for a run that morning with Jim. After dinner, we headed over to Belmar.

We had to get his beach toys down from the attic. They still had sand in them from last year! It was really windy on the beach and got a lot cooler than it was a few hours earlier.

Someone had brought their pet ferret with them to play on the sand! Trenton loved watching it dig holes and even pet it a bit. Mostly he ran after it shouting, "Rat!"

This is probably the first time he went on the big swing and liked it.

To end the night, we headed over to Red's Custard. It's no Jarling's, but they did give us a coupon for a buy one get one free next time ;)

Springtime In My Tree!

Ahh! Spring!
This tree has been a bloomin' for days now! Sorry no posts recently-- Jim had the camera in IL and I was wicked busy. But I did ask him to take a dozen pictures of T in the tree before the beautiful pink buds fall off. So here you go!

Both wearing their "Ithaca is Gorges" shirts... Trenton knows that the "I" is a waterfall.

These few were so great, I decided to make 'em LARGE for you!

Such a monkey in a tree... and no, it is not meant in any derogatory way-- I'd use that to describe any kid like this!

Gonna Need a New Name Soon....

... for this blog!

Yep, for those of you who haven't heard, baby #2 is on the way! Due Oct. 28th. Just had an appointment with my midwife yesterday and I got to see the little one on a quick ultrasound. Nice heartbeat and lots of movement!

So, if you are creative, go ahead and post some ideas for what the new blog can be called. And no, I'm not going with konopack4 ;)

"My Cousins Are Here!"

So Shairna and I determined last minute that we should get together this weekend! Seriously, we spoke at like 10 and she left at 4! She wasn't able to make it for Trenton's party and things have been hectic since then (everyone was sick) but the kids had off of school on Monday, so this worked out. They arrived after Trenton was asleep Friday night, so imagine his surprise when he awoke on Saturday to find all his cousins here!
(Notice how it is still dark outside... the first day he woke at 5:30, the next at 4... he was so excited!)

Justin and Jared are becoming great readers and are able to entertain the others with some of Trenton's library books.

The older boys had a blast playing with Play Dough while the little ones took a nap on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and we were able to allow them to play outside a bunch. They loved running around in our backyard! Ethan got lots of rides in the wagon and our T-ball set was put to good use.

The weather on Sunday was NOT nice. We took the kids to the local farm. Justin bravely fed the cow some straw while the others stayed away from the greedy goats and roosters. On the way home, we stopped to see the camping facilities at Allaire State Park. The plan is to take the kids there for a night this summer. I don't think the Bluesteens have ever been camping before, so it should be interesting (especially without Chris!) But they'll have a blast and are already talking about roasting marshmallows.

Marcus calls Trenton his "best friend". How cute! We hope to see you all again in June!