Sunday, April 26, 2015

TORONTO

This year for Spring Break we decided to skip the beach and head to Toronto!  Well, we waited too long to plan our trip and missed the beach vacation but, whatever!  This ended up being my favorite trip so far!  I loved it more than Myrtle Beach!
We packed up Friday morning and headed out!
14 hours to Myrtle Beach and he was awake the whole time, 20 minutes into our trip to Toronto and he was out like a light.
The weather was gorgeous so we went right to the Toronto Zoo!
The Zoo was absolutely amazing!
The kids loved seeing all of the animals.
And Vacation Mark bought them all ice cream treats.
Love these guys.
Oliver was ridin' in style.  He was super obsessed with the map!
The Panda exhibit was my favorite!
And Nick finally got his special treat!
My loves.
Stop number one on our trip was a total success!
 After the zoo and settling into our rooms, we all headed to a fabulous dinner at Swiss Chalet!  We were so excited to eat there!
Then of course, the adjoining hotel rooms were a huge hit!
The next morning after a delicious breakfast we headed to the Science Museum!  It was amazing!
We watched an amazing movie on the I Max!  It was so cool!
My buddies.
Takin' a break.
My astronauts.
Oliver has been very curious about how babies are made, so he LOVED the human body exhibits.  They even got to pretend to do a sonogram (we thought of you Aunt Erin).
Later that night we headed to Medieval Times!
We were the blue team.
I am pretty sure that Oliver was more into the display case of dragons than anything else.
He got his buddy Nicholas into it too.
Studs.  I am not sure why Oliver looks grumpy, he was having a blast.
Time for the show to start!
The show was awesome!  But the best part was when Claire was chosen as the "Queen Of The Tournament"!  Our blue knight chose Claire and gave her a special blue ribbon and he fought his fight for her!!!!!  He died but that is besides the point!  Claire was beside herself!!!!!
She was so excited!
After the show she got to meet her Knight in Shining Armor and he was so sweet to her!  As soon as he saw her, he got down on one knee and shouted, "Oh my lady!!!"  It was really adorable.
And of course, we couldn't leave this guy out.
The next morning we headed back to our favorite breakfast place for a delicious meal.  Here is our favorite waitress Stella.  She was so sweet with the kids, they just loved her!
After breakfast we headed back for swimming in the hotel pool.
The pool was so fun and the kids had a blast.
There was even a huge water slide!  Jessica and I even braved the dark slide and went down a few times!
The Easter Bunny  made his way to Toronto and left the kids baskets!!  Claire was thrilled to get press on nails.  After our swim in the pool Daddy gave Claire a manicure.
Gorgeous.
They lasted about 30 minutes :)
After a nice rest, we had a delicious Easter Dinner and celebrated Jessica's birthday!  The dinner was amazing and the company was even better!  Then I had to give Oliver the Heimlich because he choked on a hard candy.  But all was good, due to my daycare training days!
The next morning the Cappellis had to leave to go to work.  We were super bummed but we decided to stay an extra day.
So we got up early and headed out!
We decided to try the subway!  Claire loved it!
And Oliver couldn't get over the fact that we were on a train under the ground.
After riding around on the subway, we headed to the Aquarium.
Me and my babies.
Oliver is super into sea life right now, so this was a huge deal for him.
They loved going in the tubes that went under the tanks.
Claire had to go in and literally drag Oliver out.
 Oliver loved going though the huge tunnel and seeing all of the sharks!
They loved getting to touch some of the sea creatures too.
One little guy was crawling right up the side of the tank towards us.
And again back into the tanks.
The jellyfish were just gorgeous.
We even got a family picture there!!  Again, not sure why Oliver isn't smiling here!

Vacation Mark even got the kids their own sharks to take home.
 Then we headed next door to the CN Tower!  Oliver loved taking Pictures on his DS!
It was an incredible view.
The kids loved being so high up!
Love these faces.
Another family picture!
We got to stand on the glass floor.  Even though Mark hated it, he hopped on for a picture!
 Toronto Family Selfie!
Then we took a very long walk to Chinatown for lunch!  It was so fun!
We ate at this restaurant.  We have no idea what we ordered or ate but it was delicious!
We ordered two juices for the kids and this is what came!  They were so good that I ordered one for myself!
Chinatown was different but super fun!
On the way back we decided to take a street car back to the hotel.  The kids loved it!
After our Chinatown adventure we decided to take a swim in the pool!
Followed by a late night dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe!  It was a great night and the kids held up surprisingly well for all that we did and it being so late.
Then the next morning, it was time for us to head home :(

We had such an amazing time!  I loved just being with my favorite people all day and seeing all the amazing stuff Toronto had!  I can't wait until our next adventure!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Chris & Lauren's Wedding

Last week my cousin Lauren got married! 
It was a beautiful wedding!
Lauren was a beautiful bride!!  
Claire and Oliver loved getting all dressed up for the special day.
Claire was very busy handing out the programs at church.
I love these two handsome guys.
We all had a great time at the reception.  
Claire loved dancing with Nana and Papa.
Oliver, on the other hand, didn't make it past dinner.
Some of my most favorite ladies.
Not the best picture but I loved seeing my Nonny all dressed up enjoying her great granddaughter's wedding.
Claire and I had fun taking some selfies.
Wedding Family Selfie!

Overall, the wedding was absolutely gorgeous!  I still can't believe that my little cousin Lauren is a married woman!  But Chris is a great guy and we are so happy to have him as an official part of our family.  Love you guys!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Valentine's Day

Another Valentine's Day came and went this year.  I will say that I loved the way that we celebrated this year.  
We took the kids to Panera for a romantic dinner and then we all headed to the movies to see the Spongebob movie.  I swear there is nowhere else in the world that I would rather have  been on the one day of the year that we celebrate love.

The kids had a "cold day" on the Friday before Valentine's day so their parties were pushed back.  Even though that was kind of a bummer the kids loved getting their valentines ready for all of their friends.
Claire wanted to write a special valentine to each one of her classmates.
And Oliver did a great job writing his name on each one of his friend's valentines.

This was the first year that I didn't really have to help them too much.  It was really sweet to watch them do this all by themselves but, I was also a little sad that they are getting so old.

Mark and I celebrated Valentine's day later in the week with a special grown up date night. 

So overall, Valentine's Day 2015 was perfect.

Waterpark

Last month we had yet another great time in Batavia!  Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us all by taking us to a great hotel/waterpark!
The kids love this tradition and so do us adults!
Claire and Oliver loved playing in the water.
But their favorite part was playing with their cousins and Aunt Erin!
And of course, spending time with Grandma.
Kayden loved the water this year.  And he loved kissin' his cousin.
Oliver and I spent about 45 minutes relaxing in the hot tub.  He told me all kinds of stories about dragons and dinosaurs.  I loved just getting some time to sit and chat with my buddy (with no interruptions).
I love these clowns.
The kids had such a great time that they passed out all snuggled up together.  It was so sweet.

I can't wait until next year!