I never saw blue like that before

After several long months of Ithaca winter we were finally able to experience some actual sunlight. Our family joined two other families (the Currans and the Kuhres) for Spring break in Cape May, NJ. It was still cooler but the sunlight was MUCH MUCH needed. Honestly, the sky looked bluer and clearer than I had seen forever for months! It was much needed for my sun energized soul. 

We didn't spend much time in the water; but boy, oh boy, did we play in the sand. Our sweet family has decided to take a summer intern in Palo Alto California so I was so excited to see how entertained my boys were simply by digging around in the sand for hours.  

All the time spent in the sand led to several group showers in the outdoor shower...best fun for these crazy boys. These 6 boys are all so close in age. Seriously 6 boys ranging from 4 to 3ish-4 months. They are the perfect pals...except when they aren't. Then they are the perfect enemies.  

We spent most of our time just playing on the beach, but we did venture out a couple of times. One day we took the group to the Cape May Zoo. I'm not really of big fan of zoos, but this one was really nice. The animals didn't seem miserable and their enclosures almost felt like their natural environments. It was nice, once again, to just be out in the sun letting the kids run around and enjoy the outdoors.

Since we were gone up until the Saturday of Easter, Mel had the great idea of having our own Easter Egg Hunt right on the beach. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip! Melody even had 4 golden eggs that she put some money in. It was a pretty legit hunt.

Another activity we did that did not include our sand shovels and buckets, was a group bike ride to the Cape May light house. It was SOOOO cold! We started in the afternoon and the wind was blowing hard and it felt like we were riding into the wind both there and back. But, I LOVED it! It was just fun to get a little exercise and be able to do it as a family and with our friends. Ace and Gar rode a tandem bike and Reid rode in a seat on the back of my bike. I'd love to do more of this type of biking in the future.

Ace and I are lucky to have found such incredible friends, but we are also feeling so blessed that our boys have good friends too. We loved our time in Cape May with these two incredible little families.  

DC, Save Us!

 
Ithaca got UNREASONABLY cold in February and pretty much stayed that way until March/April. I kid you not! Ace and I were going a little crazy so the weekend of Valentines day we decided it was best to run from our problems. We headed to DC for safety. We headed south thinking surely we would be getting into warmer weather. However, our problems followed us; 6 hours away from Ithaca and there it was, the fierce cold and snow.

Because of the cold we didn't get out and do as much as we wanted. But really, there is just SO much to see and do in DC! We never would have been able to see and do all we wanted in just a few short days. Even with the cold, getting away with my three fellas was just what I needed. We had fun! We always seem to when we are together.

The Museum of Natural History

I love the above picture of Garret pointing, even if it is blurry (which is most of our pictures these days). Gar was just SO excited and kept pointing in every direction at all the many incredibly interesting things he was seeing.

That's a huge blue whale behind us...in case you were wondering.

Oh goodness...Garret's hair! Love me a shabby haired boy.

The ants in the above picture totally fascinated and saddened me a little bit. They are called Honeypot Ants and some of the workers (the ones hanging from the ceiling with large abdomens) are gorged with food and are basically used as living storage. So interesting and kind of sad to have your whole existence be simply for storing food. Check them out on Wikipedia...big world and lots of crazy things in it.

This is the boys (the little ones especially) doing one of their absolutely favorite things of the trip, riding the super long escalator down to the subway. It really was SUPER long!

The view from our room. We could see the historical Keys Bridge from there. Pretty cool.

Valentines Day Breakfast. Great view and even better dates. Love the above picture of Reid's hands. He turns them out a lot like that when he is telling us stories.

We came to DC with our friends Ryan, Chloe and Tucker Coles. They were here too, but of course we did not get a single picture together. That's life.

Miles and miles away from DC, this sweet little thing was born on Valentines Day! So glad to have sweet Ava Marie Burcham in our family.

Next stop: The Washington DC Temple! This is one of my favorite Temples (Timpanogos is another) The grounds were locked up so the above picture was the closest we could get. 

The National Cathedral

Out of all the beautiful things to see in our Nations Cathedral; the magnificent porcelain drinking fountain was the most interesting spot to young Garret and Reid Stryker. 

(It does have a nice shine to it. Plus it shoots water and you can hang from it, clearly)

DC, I was made at you for being just as cold as Ithaca, but Im over it! Thanks for some great memories. 

The little things I want to remember about Garret

Garret is getting so big so fast!! I really just can't believe it. He is his own little person, learning new things so quickly and coming up with such unique and clever things. I'm pretty crazy about this fella and love learning new things right along side him.

• Here are a few of the funny things Garret has said lately:
• "Mom, I prayed for the sun to come out and it did! (this is nothing short of a miracle here in Ithaca) I'll pray for it every day...but not every day that Jesus is busy.
• "I've got Spring Fever...that means I'm excited for spring."
• "Mom, I drank the TIRE thing! (Mom's reply-"That sounds uncomfortable.") "NO! It just means I drank a lot." Translation--He drank the ENTIRE thing.
• "When is it ok to clap for yourself?"...clearly not wanting to come off arrogant:-)
• In response to our neighbor asking how Garret's day was after we babysat all day-- "Not very good. The babies were everywhere. And my mom kept making me share and I just needed some space."
• "Mom I like it when you call dad Ace. I think it is pretty sweet."
• "Sweet dreams Reidy. Hope though the buggies bite." --Sorry about that Reid.
• Garret is really into making deals lately and goes around all day proposing ideas to me and then saying, "So, is that a deal?"
• Garret is so good at understanding EVERYTHING Reid says. Sometimes I have to ask Garret what Reid is asking for. They have cute little conversations but they also can be quite feisty with each other. For example Ace and I were in our room one morning and heard this conversation happening in the other room.---"Reidy can I pick the next show? ("No") Reid you never let me pick. ("No") Reid, want me to punch you in the eye ball?"---at least he asked first.
• Garret is GREAT at writing his first name! He still needs prompts for his last name and can usually write the numbers 1-11 with very few prompts. 
• Garret is still a HUGE Daddy's boy! He reminds me daily that his Dad is his best pal...and usually throws me on the end there too, but really I can tell where his heart is. 
• Garret loves swimming, playing in the snow, playing video games...ESPECIALLY with his Dad. Garret loves running and most activities outside.  

Ace and I feel so blessed to be Garret's parents. He is such a great kid and we adore watching him grow and develop. Love you Gar-Bear!