Soccer!

And so we begin organized sports. I think every kid in our town plays soccer so it's quite a sight to behold. But so far, Gianna seems to like it. And all the little 5-year-olds sure are cute. Maybe they're not the best athletes yet, but if they all follow the ball around in a herd long enough, I'm sure they'll all get better. It's going to be a fun season!
 

Gianna and her best friend in action.

God bless the youth soccer coaches of the world!

 

First day of Kindergarten

I can't believe it, but Gianna started kindergarten 2 weeks ago. She was so excited and looked so cute...I almost included every single picture I took that day. Those are unicorns on her dress, she loved it! And she loves school. I figured she would, but it's still a relief and she's already learning so much. We're so proud of her!



With all her gear.

Walking to the bus stop.

With her new best friend. Seriously, this is the day they met and they were best friends probably by the time they got to school!

Luckily the best friend has a little brother for Mark to hang out with at the bus stop.

Getting on the bus.

I didn't take any pictures of her return, but she's pretty much jumping up and down every day when I pick her up because she can't wait to tell me about her day. Love it and love her!

End of summer

As summer came to an end, we had a ball for the prince and princess. Apparently the prince didn't know it was formal dress.



I think there were some Sleeping Beauty re-enactments too.

Gianna holding one of our prized tomatoes.

Gianna and this year's caterpillar friend, Olivia.

Our harvest on display. Doug did good work in the garden this summer. And now we're eating the rewards in the form of pasta sauce. Delish!

 

August weekends

Is it a nice weekend? Is it summer near the shore? Let's go to family day at the race track. That's right we took our kids to the races and they (Gianna) learned all about placing bets. Too bad she didn't learn about winning money. We had so much fun, but money would have been a nice bonus!



They had pony rides for the kids. Have I mentioned that Mark loves horses? He does. This day might have been heaven for him. The blue horse in every race was "his" and he always wanted to know if "his horse" won. Turns out, we should have bet on blue every time because I think the blue horse won at least 2 races.

Add blue slushies and they're really in heaven.

On the upper decks keeping cool in the shade.

Gianna took this one. Not bad, kid.


Another weekend we went to see an outdoor children's production of Cinderella. By children's production I mean it was put on by children, so not my favorite, but Gianna loved it and Mark was intrigued.

The play was followed by a nice picnic in the park.

 

Finally, we met Doug's high school buddy, Brandon in Jersey City for an afternoon. We were afraid the kids would be bored, but it was a gorgeous day and they loved running around this area. It was great to see Brandon and have a yummy Taco Truck lunch.

 

 

More days of summer

On hot days we made forts inside.


On nice days we went to the beach. Mark finally got okay with the sand and surf. The water was still a little intimidating, but he loved playing in the shallow waves; and Grandma and Grandpa made it extra fun.

We went to kids music events with friends. Gianna's first dance with a boy she's not related to. They were so cute!

Mark, on the other hand, did this. Apparently he has some sort of public music phobia. At home he dances like crazy, by dance I mean convulse until he falls on the floor. But once there are other kids and a musician involved he wants no part of it.

We spent a weekend in Virginia and got to relax in Aunt Jenny's pool.

And eat corn.

And go to a little water park.

 

 

And even visit the Hirschorn art museum in DC.

 

Summer Vacation!

Well, it's almost October, so now seems as good a time as any to FINALLY blog about the rest of our summer. So I'll start with our summer vacation at the end of July. We headed to Page Lake in northern PA. This allowed us to see Doug's brother and family (and our new nephew, Luke) a lot and to go to the DeAngelo family reunion and to avail ourselves of lots of family around to keep us entertained. Doug's Uncle Randy's family spends the same week at Page Lake every year, so we were thrilled to share our vacation with them and the kids loved every minute of hanging out with the big kids all week.

So we started the week with a visit to see new baby Luke. Mark was pleased as punch to hold even a crying baby. He loves babies, especially "blue ones" (i.e. boys).


One of several fire pit gatherings at the lake. This one was at our "house." Smores were Gianna's favorite part of the whole vacation, I think. 

Cousin Joey brought this awesome water taxi to the lake. All the little ones loved it. I think it actually got played with more on land than on water! Only Gianna and Bella were brave enough to test it's sea-worthiness!

Mark and Jack preferred the land.

On one of the rainier days we headed to Binghamton to see the zoo and the discovery center. Nonna even joined us. It was a nice break from the lake and the rain held off enough to enjoy it even more. 

 

Back at the lake, Mark and Jack share a snack with Rocco.

Gianna gets a turn with Luke. She loves holding babies too. 

I think Rocco spent this entire day running with the kids. I'm sure he was as tired as they were. I think this might be Mark's version of heaven: a constant, 11-year-old playmate who creates games for him to play, and teenage wrestlers for him to climb on all day. Thank you Rocco, Tony, and Jake you made parenting very easy for our vacation!

 

Gianna, not surprisingly, preferred more low key activities and had a blast hanging out with the older girls, Julia (who apparently I only took one picture of, with Mark) and Elizabeth

By the end of the week, Mark was really fond of Uncle Randy, too. 

Saying goodbye to our little house. We left a day early since we lost power the day before and had no idea when it might come back. It was a nice little house and we will remember this vacation fondly, for sure!