Santa's Village, New Hampshire

On Wednesday Braden, Carter and I went with Gramma and Pappa Seigfried to Santa's Village theme park in New Hampshire...it was so much fun! Tons of rides, games, shows, etc. Perfect for young kids---Braden could go on pretty much all the rides, even some alone!
Santa in training:
Elf flying school with Gramma:
REAL raindeer (no kidding!):
Braden's gingerbread man:
Bumper cars (and so many other!) rides were so much fun!
Carter's first time meeting the Man:

Time to lower the crib...

Went to get Carter from his room after naptime on Tuesday, found him standing up for the first time! Good thing Gramma and Pappa Seigfried arrived that morning to help me lower the crib!

Bayside Park

What a fun day! I didn't take any pictures of the three hours we spent at the beach this morning, but since the kids were being so good (despite the lack of naps) we decided to stop at this great deli and then hit the park across the street. I'm just amazed (and a little afraid) of how much of a little daredevil Braden is! We didn't leave until 3pm!
Notice the more appropriate toddler sized play area in the background...not for Braden!

Bayside Park Beach

I know, enough beach pics, but today we went to Bayside Park beach for the first time...better sand, lifeguard, but a difficult trip down and up with so much stuff and two babies! But so worth it! Carter LOVES the sand!

"Look Mom, ducks!"
Who needs toys when you have rocks?!
Carter playing with Mommy:
YES...finally got the baby to sleep! So cute:

Another Beach Day

With the warm VT weather, the only place to be is the beach! So, again, we went! Probably won't post pictures every time we go (which, hopefully, will be a lot this summer) but I couldn't resist sharing these!

Carter's toes first touch the water :)
Carter obviously loves the sand! That kid moves in record time from blanket to sand, let me tell you!
***Hey Daddy--he's got a beard...beats your combat mustache anyday!!!!

Carter's first trip to the beach

Really nice Vermont day, so we decided to go to the Sand Bar beach for the first time this season...which actually turns out to be Carter's first trip to a beach (surprising since he's been to California and Florida already, but it was cold in CA and too hot in FL when he was there!). Propped him up on the blanket:
Turned himself over and began crawling...
Right to the sand! Oh well, he definitely enjoyed himself!
Braden did too:

Carter James is 9 Months Old!

Just got back from Carter's doctor's appointment today, here are his stats:
Weight: 18lbs, 9 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (50th percentile)

Milestones: Two weeks ago (Monday, Memorial Day and then the following Friday) Carter got TWO bottom teeth!! Braden's bottom two came right before his 9-month birthday, it's amazing how similar these two boys are! Compared to some teething stories I've heard, we're so very lucky it didn't seem to bother him too much. Here's a funny picture, but I posted it because it shows off his new teeth! Also, he still has pretty baby blues, so we'll see what happens over the next few months (Braden's changed to hazel right around his first birthday)

Putting Braden to work

Our new lawn is ridiculously huge, and with Scott gone I needed help and found a great neighbor kid to mow it for me each week...he loves hanging out with Braden and said he was a huge help last weekend!

Bug Exhibit at ECHO

It's been quite a while since we've been to Echo, the local aquarium, so we decided to go on Friday instead of our original outdoor plans. Right now they have a really cool bug exhibit that Braden just loved!

Stella and Kindall showing Braden how to trace bug imprints:
Apparently there are some very big fish in Lake Champlain!

Marco Island Beach

It honestly was too hot to spend a lot of time at the beach in Florida last week like I anticipated, but we had to go at least once...it's less than five minutes from Gramma and Pappa's house! Pappa stayed home with Carter (who had a little heat rash so definitely couldn't go to the beach) and Braden, Gramma Seigfried and I went for the morning! So fun!

Marco Island Week!

Beautiful week with the Seigfrieds in Florida...record heat (mid 90's!) meant all our time outdoors was in or on the water!
"Pappa, I want to drive the boat!"
Lots of swimming in Gramma's pool...
Cute water park nearby with fountains to play in!
Playing inside with Gramma: