Summer Adventure Days

We had big plans for the last few days of summer.  Thursday and Friday we hung out with some friends, the weekend was for family, and Monday was a special Mommy and me day with Ben while Tommy was at his first day of preschool (more on that later!)

Thursday we went to the Stamford Nature Center to check out the farm and the playground.  The boys' friend came with us, so I had three boys ages 3, 4 and 5.  It was fun and they really kept each other company the whole time.  We saw goats, sheep, chickens, pigs and piglets, cows, llamas, and rabbits.  We had a little picnic for snack and then back to the playground.  Afterwards, we joined up with my friend (mom of the boys' friend) and headed to Five Guys for some burgers and fries.  Then off to another friend's pool for swimming with even more friends and kids.  The boys were WIPED out and slept all the way home and then went straight to bed at 7:45.

Watching the ducks

Checking the map

Slide

In the pirate ship

Loungin'

Nap - check!

Friday morning we hung out at the house and then Meggie came over to come to The Bronx Zoo with us!  It was a great time. We met up with my friend and her two boys, and then later my cousin, Drew, met us there too. We saw a ton of animals including birds, monkeys, giraffes, goats, bears, sheep, snakes,  turtles, fish, and our favorite - the gorillas! We walked a lot and saw a lot. After we got tired, we sat down for lunch and then walked back to the car to head home. Both of the boys napped in the car. Score!  

This is just a statue

I repeat - just a statue!

Prairie dogs

Pumping water for the animals at the petting zoo

Fennec Fox Tommy with cousin Drew

Big gorilla!

Quiet ride home

Monday Tommy started at his new pre-school and Ben and I got one last hurrah in before school starts tomorrow. We went to Lego Land and had a blast. We made Lego cars to race, built in the Lego city, played in the indoor play area, went on a ride and even saw a 3-D movie!  We topped it off with some new sneakers for school. A good day out!

First day of pre-school

Lego Land!

Lego Empire State Building

Lego Statue of Liberty

Lego Giants Stadium

Ready to race our cars

On the Lego Wizard ride

Checking to see if she is real or not...

Everything is made of Legos here!

3D movie was awesome!

Back to School Already?! Say it Ain't So!

This summer has flown by so quickly.  It seems like the Fourth of July was yesterday!  We have been very busy.  I traveled to Panama for work and for a week I was away at camp.  We had guests for three weeks in a row at our new house, which we loved.  And two of them included dogs - yay!  Moving took up a big chunk of our focus and then the rest of the days were filled with pool, snacks, movies and playgrounds.  And more than a few trips to the ice cream shop. : )

Next week Tommy will start pre-school at his new school down the street.  It is a big step for him since it's the first time he will do anything on his own without big brother Ben by his side.  Go Tommy, go!
Ben will still have a few days off with me and then while I am in meetings at school he will be in the child care there at work.  He officially starts kindergarten on September 10th.  Write that down, people - it's a big day!

For now we are soaking up as much sun and fun as we can get.  Both boys are loving the pool here at the new house.  Ben has taken off the swimmies and is jumping in off the side and swimming back to the wall on his own.  Yeah!  Tommy is doing the same but with swimmies.  He is fearless!  Here are a few pics to see what we have been up to in August:

Donuts!

Naps

Playground

Beach

Sand Castles

Soccer

Field Trips

Play time with Daddy

Blanket rides with Meggie

Being Cool

Being Captain America while watching a movie in the park

Playing with Transformers

And SWIMMING!!!!!

Ben jumping in the pool

The Dinosaur Place

Today the boys and I took a road trip upstate to a dinosaur playground park.  It's called The Dinosaur Place.  We had a blast!  A friend had seen it on Facebook and she suggested that we take all of our boys (mine; 5 and 3, hers: 4 and almost 2).  We called up another friend who has a little boy, and we ended up with 3 moms and 5 boys all between 1 and 5 years old.  It was the perfect place to spend a morning on a gorgeous sunny day in Connecticut.  First we went on a trail walk around a small lake where there were numerous statues of dinosaurs that were true to size and realistic.  One of them actually moved and sprayed water at you (like the one in Jurassic Park!).  After our hike we ended up at a huge playground and then moved on to the splash pad before having a picnic lunch and heading home.  It was well worth the $20 admission charge for such a fun day.

Ben picked out a T-Rex motorcycle from the gift shop and Tommy chose a toy allosaurus.  They both fell asleep with their toys tonight.  The sign of a good day and happy boys!

Allosaurus!

Checking the lake for dinos

Mommy and Ben selfie

Tommy and the dino

Cool spikes!

Four out of the five boys "feeding" the dinosaur

Tommy sitting on the dino's eggs to keep them warm

Ben standing on the sleeping dino's back

Too fast to pose for pictures

Playground

Happy boy

"We're the SAME!"

Just a dinosaur fan riding his scooter.  Nothing to see here.

Boys of Summer

Sometimes summer means having dessert BEFORE dinner!  ❤️