Tony can be the sweetest little boy. He's the best hugger and is still the most helpful. On the other hand, he can be the most mischievous at times and he gets away with alot because he's so darn cute and knows how to stick out his lower lip and pout. (He doesn't always!)
So the other night while I was bathing the girls and calling for him to get in too, I discovered that he had found my camera and started snapping pictures everywhere. I finally caught up with him hiding under his bed. His other usual hiding spot when he's been naughty is under the kitchen table. The only reason I knew he had the camera is because I kept seeing flashes of light!
Let's take a look at what he was able to capture!
"I present to you my clean hands!"
and now... the vacuum full or dirt and dog/cat hair!
and now... the bottom of the vacuum cleaner
and now... some items on the floor and their reflections - including my feet and legs!
and now presenting...the cat's dining area (I guess I should clean it up)
and more of the dirty cat dining area!
...a close up of daddy's dresser!
ummm I have no idea what this is!
and now a close up of the top of Roomba!
... a close up of daddy's dresser pull
a very lovely close up of my bedroom floor (cork)
and for the piècederésistance (a) Entitled: My Right Foot
and finally piècederésistance (b) My Left Foot
Tony would like to thank his sisters for keeping mommy occupied so that he could put together his masterful presentation.
He had actually just changed the mode on the camera to shoot video when I went to get the camera back from him - I won't share that though because it involved a few choice words on my part!
Who knows maybe he'll grow up to be a famous photographer!
It was bound to happen at some point. I'd seen pictures posted of other people's kids getting into things like sugar and flour and 'decorate' the room with it. We're usually very careful about locking things up and closing up containers but obviously not careful enough. I put them upstairs in their room for their nap. I even had a little talk with the usual non-nappers (Miss O and Mr. T) about not being able to go in the pool if I had to come up to their room if they got out of bed.
After about 10 minutes, I heard some movement from their room, but didn't go up right away. After another 5-10 minutes I decided to go up and see who was out of bed and remind them of our talk about going in the pool. Well I was NOT prepared for what I was about to see...
I opened the door and just said Oh My God! and then I was speechless...
Is it bad that the first thing I wanted to do was get my camera to capture this moment?
Olivia feeling bad about mess
Tony - the one who created the mess (or at least that's what Olivia told me). Please note how clean his bed is.
Powder was everywhere!
Amelia - who slept through it all!
There is still powder in the room - I haven't been able to clean it all up. Every day since the great powder explosion, I clean up a little more. I think it's still in the air and still settling down but I'm sure I'll eventually get it all! We no longer keep the powder out in the open and I had a talk to Olivia about telling mommy when Tony is being naughty. Let's hope next time - as I'm sure there will be a next time - she will!
Tony started working less on the weekends and last Sunday he had the day off so we decided to have a family day. What to do, what to do??? We eventually decided to drive to Point Pleasant and go to the aquarium and the amusement park there. We got a late start as usual and ended up driving around for at least 30 after we arrived just trying to find a parking spot. It was crazy. We eventually found a parking lot that was letting people in but it was $40 to park. I normally would have backed the car right up but there really was nothing else unless it was like 2 miles away. We realized shortly after we got to the boardwalk, that in our haste to get out of the car, we forgot the diaper bag with all our normal necessities. So at one point Tony went back to retrieve it and I was left with three nearly three year olds running around! They actually surprised the crap out of me. I was thinking that they would be all over the place, but they stayed with me and listened. I think it was because there were so many people around and so many new things to look at, they were a bit overwhelmed. Either way I was appreciative. I saw more than one person with their child strapped to one of those backpack leashes and I felt awesome that I was able to keep all mine wrangled while someone else leashed their one.
The first ride we went on was the carousel. I had a plan to have them sit on the row of horses right in front of the bench seats just in case one (or more) got scared and wanted to get off. I was so happy that I didn't need that back up plan because they each loved it! Afterward, we decided to see if they'd like to ride on their own. I was a little nervous as I recalled watching my nieces and nephew go to ride similar rides and being scared and crying. They again happily surprised me and did great and loved it.
We went on a few more rides, played a few games inside the arcade and then decided to walk over to the aquarium.
The aquarium is small, but had enough to see including sharks, snakes, frogs, seahorses along with penguins and seals. They even had a 'touch' area where they have starfish and other sea creatures for the kids to touch and feel. They were a bit small for this and I got yelled at for taking the starfish all the way out of the water. I swear there were no signs and I was given no instructions. Whatever!
Olivia wouldn't stay in the hole long enough...
The kids were getting very cranky (way past nap time) and hungry and little Tony found it very funny to run away from us so we got out of there and were on a quest for something to eat. Luckily we found seating that allowed the strollers so we camped out and ate over priced pizza and hot dogs.
Before heading back to the car, we used up a few more ride tickets and rode the carousel a few more times. We were only there for a few hours, but it felt like a very long day and I was positive that they would fall asleep within a few minutes of riding home. Of course, I was wrong! Two out of three fell asleep - Amelia held out and I don't recall why, she got bent out of shape about something and was crying and woke up the other two. After some time, everything calmed back down and for the rest of the ride... it was quiet enough for even daddy to fall asleep!
Our father's day actually started on Saturday - Daddy got a new T-shirt and breakfast that he didn't have to make himself. He jokes that his favorite meal is one he doesn't have to cook himself. So we headed off to our usual diner for breakfast. Sunday - we went over to Tony's parents house for brunch. After eating, we just hung out. Tony actually had to run down to the restaurant to drop something off (before his shift) so he left us for a bit. The kids played in the sandbox and on Grandma and Grandpa's swing set. We attempted to get a nice trio picture, but well... you can see how that worked out. We also made an attempt at having a nice picture taken with Grandma and Grandpa and the result of that is below. Overall we had a nice time!
I came across some pictures of when my parents were in town back in April - I had put the camera in car in one of the seat pockets! It was a cool day and we didn't have any plans to hang out at the beach, but we let them experience the beach and ocean at least a little bit.
The phrase "Down the shore" is a Jersey thing. It was difficult to get used to it since it seems to me like it's missing a preposition, but I've just grown to accept it. There are a bunch of other phrases that are odd to me like if you're standing at the bank... you're standing on line. I'd think I was standing in line, but here in New Jersey, you're on line (even if there are no computers around). I digress...
We busted out our new strollers - the Triple Decker is getting difficult to maneuver so a short time ago we traded in a few of our other older baby items and got these. They worked out pretty well and not too many fights about who's sitting where.
We then took our shoes off and headed onto the sand and the water...
and of course a cute video of them running around (and me laughing) at them running around!
After running around on the beach, we got something to eat on the boardwalk. Their first boardwalk fries and pizza. Afterwards, we walked along the boardwalk, had some ice cream and played on the clowns!
