This 4th of July holiday weekend we took off for a mini vacation.  We headed south to my very favorite hotel, the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood.  It was everything we hoped it would be and more!  The weather was perfect, the pools were fun, the beds were super comfy, the kids were even well behaved!  We were lucky enough to have a lot of friends with the same plans and because of that we enjoyed many laughs and large meals.

Here are a few photos from our relaxing weekend, there are many more to come -

First, let me show you why I love this place so much…

Yes, really.  And yes, really, these are photos from this weekend.  The pool and beach didn’t look like this for long but they were still very beautiful and very relaxing when other people showed up.  This is one of four pools at the hotel so you never noticed that the resort was bustling; there’s so much room to spread out!

And this is how excited we all felt when the plans were made and we were on our way.  A family vacation was so overdue!

The one photo we got of the kids together this weekend…

She may owe that pole dinner.

At the pool…

Our friends Bettina and Dan and their daughter Helena happened to be staying the weekend at the resort as well.  The kids loved swimming together!

Rachel, Robby, and Ayla were also at the resort as were thier friends Nicole and Chris and their children Nicholas and Carsen.  You haven’t lived until you’ve looked for a dinner reservation for 11 people 30 minutes before you’re hoping to eat!

Nicholas is such a cool kid!  A lover boy with a little Dennis the Menace mixed in for good measure.  We had a blast, he has such personality!  At one point I was holding Helena (above) and Nicholas (below) was playing with us.  Someone joked about how easily I could pass them off as my own kids.  I’ll just have to borrow all the redheaded children and wish their parents luck with the stubborness and sass that comes with the color! 

Chris and Carsen                                                                     Little Miss

For the fourth we were unknowingly misinformed and decided to take our chances watching fireworks from Rachel and Robby’s room.  Little did we know we would have been much better off on the beach, where we originally planned to go, but then we would have missed this amazing view of the city and the light show.

The city after a few cocktails…

The monkeys…

And a certain little someone learned a new trick while on vacation… she now STANDS!  Where does the time go!?  Buh-bye baby Kate, hello toddler land!

And just for fun we relived a few moments.  I told you this place was my favorite!

(Noah at 4 months)

(Kate at 9 months, who doesn’t know how not to smile)

(Noah at 7 months)

(Kate at 9 months who apparently heard she was going to be late for lunch)

Still think they look exactly alike?!

Unfortunately when we got home reality smacked us in the face!  Monday was right around the corner, grocery shopping needed to get done and the laundry fairy never showed up this weekend.  Oh, and there was a leak in our roof that was flooding our laundry room because of all the rain.  Fun times!  At least we’re tan!

I love my family.  I love how crazy and quirky they are.  I love how different we are.  I love how we stick together through tough times and sticky situations.  I love that they would do absolutely anything for me.  I love that when my cell phone rings at 8am and 5pm every day I know exactly who it is (it’s always Lindy).  I love that my sister spent way too much money to chat with me during her trip to Japan.  I love how much they all love my kids.  I love how they love to remind me of every embarrassing thing I ever did in public. 

My mom recently had surgery (nothing serious, nothing related to her long gone breast cancer) and strangely it’s been very uniting.  I laid in bed with her, Kate, and my niece Julia today and we all chatted, laughed, and entertained Kate.  It’s one of those moments that just sticks to your memory.  Thursday my sister, Nikki, and I plan to invade her bed for some quality time and I’m sure that will be just as fun.  I hold those moments close like the times when my mom stayed with us after having Kate.  They are just so awesome!

So along the lines of them doing anything for me I suckered Nikki and Julia into a photo shoot.  My new online site (details soon) offers hair accessories but I didn’t have any good photos of the products.  They loaded up all their pretty dresses and dragged over for a shoot during the horrible rain storms and a surprise ant problem.  They were such troopers!  They even stayed afterwards to babysit so Walter and I could go out!  Anyway, I got some photos for my site but I got two others that I am in love with.  Two that I want to hang up all over my house.  The last time Nikki and Julia took photos together Julia was tiny.  Like preschool tiny.  I love having an updated photo but why, oh why, does she have to look more like Nikki’s sister than her daughter?!?  12 going on 25!  What’s with these kids growing up so fast!?  I’ve had the first photo hanging in my house since the day I took it.  I’m not sure I can take it down, maybe I just need a bigger frame.

Then                                                                                             Now

And here’s one of Julia that I love (that’s one of the hair accessories by the way).  She says she looks “fat” and “ugly” in this picture.  Mark my words young lady, you’re going to wish you were this “fat” and “ugly” in 25 years.  What I wouldn’t give…

*And it did occur to me that when I said “my family” you may have been expecting a story about Walter, Noah, and Kate.  They’re pretty amazing too!

So I’m trying super hard to come up with a different post each day this week.  I may not keep up my steam but my mom loves reading the blog at her shitty job and if putting up a few photos is all it takes to brighten her day than I’m happy to oblige.  I would like to point out that my mom told me I wasn’t a good writer in high school, that my sister Lindy was so much better, but who are you begging for words from now – huh!?  Just kidding!

Here are a few photos from a few different things floating around in my-point-and-shoot from March -

A get together at Lauren’s house, or as we lovingly refer to it, the Savino Family Daycare.

Kate and Adrianna chillin’ out on the playmat.  Something tells me they are going to be sharing clothes for a very long time.  Hairbows too maybe.

Think Alex and Noah are starting to hang out a little too much?  I kid, we love having Lauren as a part of the stay-at-home-mom-posse!  I just hope Noah starts mocking Alex’s awesome potty training habits!

Vanessa’s gorgeous daughter and Spencer just did their own thing.  They’re the babies of the bunch!

And then we decided that it would be a good day for Kate to try something truly solid.  I had a box of Arrowroot cookies with me and she seriously dug it!

Taste it, smell it…

But then she dropped it.  This photo is Lauren trying to cram it back into her hand, not take it away.  Maybe she’s just mad that a) it’s not one of those Krispy Kreme donuts, b) mom let her leave the house with her hair looking like that or c) that I swear the dress she has on is 18-24 months!

Here’s the daycare gang!

And here is Lauren with her cousin and sister and their children.  They were all pregnant together, can you say HORMONES?

Then a few days later we went to Noah’s newest favorite toy store, Genius Jones.  It just opened up in Mizner Park in Boca and they have the coolest toys.  If anyone’s interested, he would love an Automoblox for his birthday.  We went there to get a birthday present for Helena.  I’m ashamed to tell you that we didn’t get a single photo from the party!  None of that is all that interesting.  The reason I bring it up is because I actually caught Noah smiling at the camera!  I’m sure it was a total accident!  Kate on the other hand never stops!

Kate also had her first bagel in March.  Our favorite waitress at Westside Bagel II, Lynn, was anxious to give her one and who are we to deny Kate free food?

They aren’t very attractive photos but it’s what I have.  She LOVED it!

The “after” bagel is to the left of the knife.  May it rest in peace.

And later that week we went to the mall with Beth and Aaron.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen them because of one illness or another.  Ear infections, colds, fevers… it’s been awhile!  I hope this summer brings us healthier playdates!

Anyone that knows either boy knows that a stop at the fountain is an absolute must!  Thank God Beth had pennies to spare!

Remember what I said about accidentally smiling at the camera?  That’s my boy!

So while spring has sprung around most of the US, it’s summer hot here!  It’s so hard to believe it can be in the 90′s here and we have friends snowed in in Denver.  Not to rub it in but we took the opportunity to take the kids to the beach.  While it’s technically not Kate’s first time, it is the first chance she’s had to take it all in.  Being the air conditioned girl she is, she only wanted to take in the first five minutes of the visit but Noah was having way too much fun!  The water was freezing but he didn’t mind one bit.  Here are some photos from our first beach trip in ’09.

This is how often we go to the beach – “I’m going to build a castle!” – Not there, buddy!

Noah wanted to bring home every shell!  He somehow managed to sneak a pail of sand into the car!

And Kate just soaked up the sun.  Complete outfit courtesy of Ayla.  Oh, how I love hand me downs!

At first Noah wouldn’t let go of my hand.  The water was frrreeezzzzing!  He was a little apprehensive about the waves, but not for long.  Please excuse the fact that I ended up in these photos!  I’m still hiding behind “I just had a baby”, and I’m still carrying around baby photos to back it up!

Before I knew it he wanted nothing to do with hand holding – he was off!

Actually diving into the waves!  The salt water in his face didn’t bother him one bit!

Since I’m only averaging one post each week I might as well share the rest of our “Family Fun Days” with you.  Below are some highlights of the rest of Walter’s time off. His first week back to work went pretty well.  Noah was sad after one nap in particular when Walter wasn’t here but we kept busy and managed to keep his mind off of it.  We also had a house guest (more in a later post) which gave him something new to enjoy.

Here we are on a play date with our friends Beth and Aaron.  We see them at least once a week and really enjoy their company. 

Noah, Kate and me on the carousel -

Noah has been a bench rider for the past several months but once again ventured onto the horses.  Two year olds are so weird.  And this one is so in love with his Daddy!

And another day we went to “Apoe and Agoon’s” Farm (Walter’s parents).  Noah loved it!  He checked everything out and did an amazing job supervising the work.  Kate on the other hand decided she’s not one for the great outdoors.  She complained the entire time, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t figure out why anyone would go there voluntarily.

We, of course, post only the happy photos though so everyone thinks our kids are angels.  Just kidding.  We did work really hard for these smiles though so I have to share them!

Noah hunting oranges -

This is a tangelo orange.  You can’t do this with all oranges but if you peel the skin and cut the top off you have instant orange juice, there is none fresher.  You just squeeze the orange together and drink, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat.  I felt very outdoorsy doing this!

Here is Noah washing his hands -

It was a gorgeous day!

And here is a panoramic photo of the farm.  With such limited space here you can’t enjoy the full size photo but you get the idea.  Claire and Herbie work very hard growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables and have for years.  While it’s not my cup of tea I give them a lot of credit!  It really is a labor of love!

And then to torture Kate even more we went down the road to Lion Country Safari.  She didn’t like this place much better, the bugs were just a little smaller.  We did the drive through, which we haven’t done in over a year because Noah has never enjoyed it.  Well I think he’s finally old enough to appreciate the giant animals and interesting sights.  He really loved it.  We also did the water park (the only one open in January) but didn’t get any photos of it. 

Noah kept saying – “I want the rions to go ROARRRR!”  I love that kid!

And he was fascinated by the zebras!

If you look closely you can see the baby white rhino under the mom.  He was soooo cute!  There were also two giraffe babies but their photo didn’t come out so well.

On a more somber note, one of the reasons I’ve been so slack in blogging is my Dad.  He gave us quite a scare this week.  We’re not sure why but he experienced a seizure and brain bleed.  He’s still in ICU being poked and prodded and at the moment all of the doctors can only scratch their heads and wonder what happened and what should happen next.  I’d like to give a little public love to my sister, Nikki, who happened to stop by the house when my dad was home alone and all of this started.  Had she not we’re not sure this story would have ended as good as it has.

Here’s my Dad -

He is the most amazing cook!  This is him cooking Thanksgiving dinner in 2007. 

And here is the moment we realized we don’t take nearly enough photos of him.  Because – well, that’s Noah.

And so is this.

And here’s a real oldie, unfortunately I’m not omitting much in between -

Before yesterday it had been awhile since you heard from us.  Sorry about that!  I’m trying to catch up.

I’ll start with the rest of Bruce and Peter’s visit.  On Thanksgiving Walter, Ian, Bruce and Peter took all the kids to Sugar Sand Park.  They had a great time!  Kate and I stayed home and watched the Macy’s Parade.  Walter managed to get a few shots -

Jaimie                                                                     Olivia

Noah                                                                      Ian and Amy

Here’s Noah the day before at another park.  I picked this one out because I wanted to show you a photo of him in this same tunnel awhile back.  What a difference two years makes!

Then in December…

Remember our girlfriend Lauren who let us do her (amazing) pregnancy photos?  Well she had her little guy Max a few days after the shoot.  He was born on December 3rd and is just too cute for words.  We were originally supposed to do photos on the 6th, it’s a good thing we didn’t wait! 

Here they are in the hospital -

Isn’t he too cute?  Beth and I actually dragged our whole gaggle (of three kids) to go see her.  It’s amazing she even let us in the door!  And then we dragged the new mom of two to a playdate the following week -

Noah                                                                              Kate and I – my sister made me this great sling!

Aaron loving the swing - as always!

Max

Alex, Lauren’s older son and Max’s brother

And then we sent Kate and Max on their first date.  They are only two months apart (although she looks about 6 months old next to this precious 9 day old baby) and already enjoy each other’s company.  Just kidding, they’re probably sharing stories about how their older brothers torture them when no one is looking.

Kate and Max holding hands -

Kate with the “yes!” or “score!” fist pump, Max thinks she’s boring -

Too cute.  Is she mocking him?

And then my little bipolar princess -

And our attempt to get all the kids in a picture.  Alex refused so here’s everyone else.

Beth and I fought over, I mean took turns, holding Max.

Whoever taught my son the concept of “why?” needs to be stoned!  My God, EVERYTHING is “why?…but why?…” and after awhile the answer is “BECAUSE I SAID SO!”.  For the most part we try to answer all of his questions, which we require to be actual questions, hoping he’ll retain a little bit of the information but after awhile you just want to hit your ahead against the wall.  He is just too curious – or nosey!

“Why are these lights on?”
“Why are these lights off?”
“Where is our house?”
“Why do we live there?”
“What’s that (total stranger) man’s name?” (that we’re standing within earshot of)
“Why are we going?”
“Why are we stopping?”
“What are you thinking?”
I am not exaggerating even a little and the questions don’t ever stop, not even for him to breathe!  Any idea when it stops?  Is it to late to ask Santa for a mute button for him?

Kate is doing well.  She just yells at us so far but luckily her needs are still simple.  She loves to smile and flirt now and it’s so much fun getting her to grin.  She has found her hands and thinks they are the coolest thing ever.  We often find her liking her fist or doing tai chi when no one is looking.  We’ve also discovered that she has a dimple!  The ying to Noah’s yang.  Each of them have just one, on opposite cheeks, like they share a pair.  Today is her 3 month birthday!

Walter and I are very well also.  He’s off until the end of the year – which I love!  We are trying to do fun things, catch up with friends, take trips to attractions we don’t get to often, and generally just spend time together.  We’ve been doing quite a few photoshoots for friends, family and clients.  It’s been a long time since this was something we did so often and to be honest we didn’t think it was something we would every do with regularity again but we enjoy it so much that we’re making it work.  We charge just enough to cover the babysitter and our time to do the shooting, editing, and airbrushing and we’ve really been having fun.  Maybe when the kids are older we’ll set the studio stuff back up and play with that again.  For now only our kids get studio shots.

We hope you all are well and are enjoying the holiday season.  I will try to blog about our adventures since Walter’s been off, we have been diligent about taking photos!

Here is part two of decorating the house for Christmas -

I told Noah he had to wear his Santa hat if he was going to help decorate the tree.  It was the rule.  He was thrilled.

He loved hanging ornaments though.  This year we invested in an entire collection of shatterproof ornaments.  It’s a good thing too, Noah has tried to spin the tree a few times.  Lovely.  He couldn’t stay focused on which set we were hanging at the time and went back and forth between all the choices.  He loved putting the hook on himself and hanging them.  I couldn’t help myself, after he went to bed I rearranged some of the ornaments.  Who needs six hanging off the same branch?!

The next evening the kids and I were going to hang lights outside in the bushes.  What a disaster.  I think they were both crying before the second strand was up.  I did them another time, by myself, and they look fabulous!  Of course Noah likes everyone else’s lights better but at least we have them up this year.

This was before we started hanging them.

And when I realized my car was in all of the photos I dragged them to the front door.

I just realized I don’t have any photos of the final products.  I’ll work on that, and my Christmas shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!  This is one of my favorite holidays!  When I was young we would get up early and watch the entire Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while my dad prepared dinner.  Mom always made the pies and dad took care of the rest.  Then in the late afternoon we would feast like kings and pass out early.  Those were the days!  Now I’m lucky to catch pieces of the parade on TV and most years we spend our entire day zig-zagging across Palm Beach County so we can hit all of our families’ homes and end up keeping Noah up way too late.  This year will be different though.  I’ve put the boys on warning that I am watching the parade (darnit!) and if they want to watch anything else they’ll need to find another TV.  We’re also only going to one family on Thanksgiving, Walter’s parents.  On Friday we’ll go to my parents’ for leftovers.  Hopefully we can keep reasonable routines, naps and a decent bedtime schedule for both kids.  Here’s to hoping!

One really nice thing about the holidays is that it brings family to town.  Our cousins, Bruce and Peter are here from Atlanta with their daughters Olivia and Teagan.  We went to the beach with them on Wednesday.  It was Kate’s first trip and she enjoyed it as much as any two month old might.  Noah was loving the water and the weather was amazing.  I leave you with a few shots from the day.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The weather was perfect!  I wouldn’t have wanted to sunbathe with the breeze we had, which is probably why it was empty, but the kids had a great time!

Peter with Teagan                                                    Olivia

Bruce and Teagan making sandcastles

It was early.  Don’t mind my “look”.

I may be biased (maybe just a little) but aren’t my kids so freaking cute?  Kate looks more like an angel every day.

I know – I’m a horrible blogger!  I’m sorry.  We’ve been so busy trying to keep up with these kids of ours that a few things have fallen by the wayside.  I will try to do better!

Kate and Noah are doing pretty well.  Noah has finally realized that he doesn’t have to be nice to his sister.  It doesn’t earn him any brownie points but he gets plenty of attention for acting out.  We’re working on this.  Kate has proven to us that her digestive system (or could it be her taste?) is more delicate than we would like.  We’ve tried so many formulas, gone from her sleeping all day to not at all and back again, called in the reinforcements (our wonderful families), and just generally been very frustrated.  We think we’re turning the corner with this (we hope we are), please send us happy, restful thoughts!  She has managed to pack on the pounds just fine.  At her last visit (last week) she was 12-ish pounds.   That’s half of Noah’s weight!  She is also taller than he was at this age.  Tomorrow she is two months old, it’s hard to believe.  And today, Noah officially turned two and a half.  It’s crazy.  I’m so glad we’re half way through the “terrible two’s”!  Please tell me this attitude issue magically disappears on his third birthday!

I finally got a new camera to replace the one that Noah threw in a pool.  Hopefully this means I will have a lot more photos in the future.  A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of having someone else volunteer to take our photos.  Virginia met us at the beach early in the morning and got some amazing shots.  Here are a few of our favorites -

And to show how fast a baby can change in four weeks, this is her now -

Yes, really, New Kids On The Block.  My sister, mother, best friend, and I went to their concert 17 years ago for my 13th birthday at Joe Robbie Stadium.  I was an avid fan!  I just knew I would someday marry Joey McIntyre, and I knew he was as excited about our future as I was.  Yes, really – what do you want? – I was 13.  I also knew that someday I would own a Chrysler Lebaron because that was his dream car.  Gag me.

Anyway, as a surprise my sister thought it would be fun to go to a concert on their comeback tour.  So she bought us tickets and gave them to me at my baby shower.  At first I wasn’t really sure what to expect and even joked about how lame it would be but you know what, we had a good time.  Lady Ga Ga opened (she is such a freak), followed by Natasha Bedingfield (who was amazing) and then the original fab five took the stage.  They played a lot of old songs as well as their new ones.  It seems only Jordan can sing their original songs since he’s the only one with any sort of range (read: the only one who can still sing like a pre-pubescent boy).  There is some sort of debate over whether or not they can actually sing.  If any of them can it’s Jordan (who by the way was looking VERY good).  We had great seats down on the floor of the arena and had quite a view.  I took a few shots with my phone and while they aren’t very good they are worth sharing with other NKOTB fans (hello, anyone out there?).  Speaking of fans, the people watching was INCREDIBLE!  It was a mix of women who were still 13 deep down inside, those who were still pining for the love of the singers and the curious ones just looking to see how much had changed in those 17 years.  I was shocked to see how many were pregnant but I guess a lot of us 30-somethings are having kids these days.  The outfits were crazy, the place was packed and our ears hurt from all the screaming.  We had a blast though and relived a fun time in our childhood.

Lady Ga Ga

Natasha Bedingfield

NKOTB

Halfway through the show they popped up behind our seats.  This was our view.  They had a million outfit changes and for this portion they wore clothes similar to how they dressed last time we saw them.  I got a good laugh.  I wore a shirt with a giant smiley face on it to the first concert of theirs (because that’s what Joey used to wear).  Can you see what’s on the back of his leather jacket? 

Notice how crowded it was!

This was our view of them on the main stage.  Pretty decent from every angle!

Nikki, thanks again for the trip down memory lane!