Sunday, September 28, 2008

My trip to my Mom's

I have had the best week ever! I got to go to CT by my self to visit my Mom (and Mike :) ). It was so much fun we had the best time. Mike and My Mom are awesome they wouldn't let me pay for anything (thanks again guys) I even got yelled at when I would try to pay for my own food. It was really nice being spoiled for a week. OK so here are TONS of pics from my trip. This is a huge post so be ready........

Day 1 (Monday) SO I took Bart from Castro Valley to the SFO airport. It was nice and really easy. The only thing that sucked was I had to catch Bart at 4am, but you would be shocked at how many people are on Bart that early. I got to my Mom's at 5:30pm est and we headed right out to go eat at the Olive Garden. My flights were really good, long but good. It was nice to just finally get there.
I don't look to bad for being up at 3:30am
Day 2 (Tuesday) The Big E!
Every year New England has this huge fair, its like a state fair but for all of New England. Its called the Big E and let me tell you this was the coolest Fair I have ever been too!
There are LOTS of animal things going on. One of my faves was seeing the Clydesdale Horses. The are just so huge! We also got to watch Ox pulling (that was really neat).

There are so many exhibits and booths to see. Here is a huge pumpkin someone had grown then painted on.
Also one of the big things is the State houses. There are 6 and each one is a replica of what that states State house looks like. Then inside is a huge market of vender's from that state and stands of food of things that state is know for. This one is Road Island
Here is Massachusetts. I really liked the Lion and Unicorn on the top corners.
Maine, They had the best chocolate in this one and of course fresh Wild Maine blueberry's.
Vermont
Connecticut (wwwooohhoooo CT rocks hehehe)
Connecticut I didn't know is known for Lego's and Peeze. I had no idea those 2 thing came from there. Here is Mom with a Lego Indiana Jones. Pretty cool :)

New Hampshire.......This one was my fave I just love how it looks.

Ok so as most Fairs go there is TONS of food, But the big E is known for a few things. One is there bake potatos, another that I tried and will have to make at home was fried dough. Yep you take Pizza dough and fry it, we had sauce put on ours, other I saw got strawberry's on them. Anyways it was really good. One of the best things I had that the Big E is famous for was the Cream Puff..........
Do I really need to say how yummy these were :)
Day 3 (Wednesday) BOSTON!!!!!!
I got to go to Boston and I love it there. The east coast never seems to amaze me. There is so much to see and do out there.
OK so to get to Boston we drove in to Mass then took the T train in to the city. We had to go through the Mass Turnpike witch was crazy. Its a supper LONG freeway, each exit is about 10 miles from each other.
Once in Boston we had the best time. Here is Faneuil Hall and a statue of Samuel Adams.

This is Quincy Market its part of Faneuil Hall witch is one of the first and oldest shopping centers. It was built when the settlers first came over and was also used for meetings and stuff (lots of history). In side both building is a world-win of shopping. Lots of stands and shops and food up the yinyang. Of course the settlers were very smart with all the snow Boston gets all shopping is indoors.

We also walked the Freedom Trail. Its a really neat thing to do, there is a brick pathway in the sidewalk that you follow and it takes you to all of these really historical sites. This one we went to was Paul Revere's house. Here is the bell he rang as he he shouted "The British are coming".
This was the front of his home, O and if you look really close at the street you will see its made out of cabool stones. It was really cool to walk around Boston and see some of the streets made out of the original cabool stone the settlers put there and all the old buildings. So much history about our county in one small area, it was amazing.
Here is a super cute Boston street. I just love how this city looks.
After walking the Freedom trail we decided to go grab a bite to eat, and where else are you going to eat in Boston then CHEERS.

Where Everybody knows your Name :) (O and they really do have good food, there fries were so good).
After eating we decided to hit the New England Aquarium. On our way there i saw this.......
Yep that's a 7-Eleven, I have never seen a 7-11 look so nice. I even felt a little under dressed to go in LOL.
Once at the aquarium we had a fun time, they have penguins there and lots of babies. They were so cute.
They also have this huge tank that runs from floor to about 10 feet from the ceiling of the building and this tank is massive. They have all kinds of fish in here, Sharks, needle fish, eels and even 3 sea turtles. This one here was the biggest. You can even see the divers that where in the tank cleaning it and the turtle was like 3 times this women's body.
Then we hoped the T train and headed across town to the Prudential Center. We went all the way to the top (50th floor) to check out the view.
Here is the city of Boston and part of the Boston harbor

Cute little city blocks, with homes and shopping
and this I found out is the same harbor that that Boston Tea party took place.
On the ground floor was a few restaurants. So we had to stop in the cheesecake factory for some desert before we left.
Here is the T train we took all over Boston.
Day 4 (Thursday) Lazy day
From all the walking we did the pasted 2day we decided to hang out at home. My mom took me to Joanne fabrics and got me my birthday gift. I got the knitting looms a bag and some yarn to make a scarf. It was so much fun learning how to use the loom. That night we went out to dinner with 2 of my moms friends Mary and Harriet. It was Marys birthday and she wanted to go to this little restaurant called Maria's it had really good food.
Day 5 (Friday) Lazy Day /Busy night
This was my last day at my Mom's and the rain had came in. Because of hurricane Kaile it had brought rain and little bit of wind to us. So we decided to do indoor stuff. We headed to this Dinosaur place, that has a big gift shop, and area of natural stones and lots of dinosaur stuff.


This little guy totally reminded me of Juristic park.
Look out he looks hungry.
This is the front of the place with Monty the T-rex. Now how on earth are you supposed to drive by this with out your kids going crazy. O and during xmas they put a santa hat on him and put big presents at his feet. Then for Summer he has sunglasses and a coke in his hand. It was so cool I love it.
That night I got to meet up with some of my step dads family that I just love. His sister-inlaw Melissa and His mom Mrs. C. my Mom, Mike ( how sweet he even took the day off work so he could hang out with me before I left), Moms friend Dawn and one of Dawns friends and I all went out that night to go play Bingo at this really pretty casino called Foxwoods. Let me tell you Bingo is fun and nerve racking at the same time. I had a blast playing and even more fun checking out the die hard bingo players with all there little good luck charms in special spots on the tables. We played like 4 hours of bingo, none of us won but we had so much fun laughing and just hanging out. Needless to say I dreamt of numbers all night.
So it fall time on the East coast and you see some really amazing colors on the trees. I tried to get some pics of the colorful tress so look close and you will see some of it. I love the red some of the tress turn and boy do some of them get bright.



Im so happy to be home I missed my family, but this trip really made me love the east coast even more. It even sparked Mick to want to go back and see more. Thanks again mom and Mike for a wonderful time, I had a blast being with you guys.




Friday, September 19, 2008

School.........O boy!

Justin...Justin....Justin when will you learn you cant get anything passed me. Justin is in 1st grade this year and now a month in to school he is finally over the shock of it all. He loves his class and is really learning so much all ready.
Last year and over the summer we had the wonderful chance of getting to know alot of the other mom's and kids at his school. So this year is really nice cause we know so many people and alot of the Mom's I know all work as LP's at the school ( they help out, and are yard duties too). Its nice to know even though I cant be there with him I still have eyes on him. Its also a bad thing too cause he can get away with a few things other kids would get in big trouble for. Her are a few......
1) going in to the girls bathroom = being sent to the principle's office and parents being called (its a big deal at school and they don't take it lightly)
For Justin = getting caught and told by a friends mom to not do it again and that she is going to tell Me when I pick him up.
This has happened only once (thank goodness) and I have explained how serious this is and how much trouble he can get in too. So far he has not done it again and I don't think he will.

2) Putting your hands on other kids during class (not hitting just playing round) = having your card turned over and losing a privilege.
For Justin (since his friend Sarah's mom Lisa volunteers in the class in the mornings)= Lisa stopping him before his teacher catches him, and he doesn't get in trouble by his teacher.
Lisa lets me know when he is acting up and he gets things taken away at home. BUT since he has not been getting in trouble by his teacher he has been doing things when his teacher turns around and Lisa cant always get to him to make him stop so he thinks he is getting away with stuff.
Lisa told me yesterday what he was doing and he got in big trouble when he got home. We also made it very clear to Justin that he is being watched at school and all the Mom's are going to tell me what he is doing. Hopefully this will calm him down a bit and he will turn back in to the good example his teacher was raving about the first few weeks of school. I have also asked the mom's that if he keeps doing something to let him get in trouble. Lisa and my friend Arleen have the hardest time doing this, I love my friends.

By the way I love that he is in school all day now, and because we have to take mick to work every morning and are up so early (6:30am) It really keeps him busy. By the time we get home after getting Mick from work and he does his homework he just wants to relax.

Joy School

I LOVE JOY SCHOOL! Skyla does to by the way. This was my first week teaching the kids (Gray, Sky, Lia, Caleb). I had so much fun they are such a good group of kids. This was their 3rd week of school so they had the hang of how things go. A few things I really love about this group is
1) they are all child #2 in their own families.
2) we have 2 Boys and 2 Girls.
3) They are all really mellow and all LOVE to read and sing.
These 4 get along so well.
I am really happy with how Joy school runs as well. The lessons are easy to follow and do with the kids, and you can see them learning new things. I'm a little sad I didn't do it with Justin, but I really still feel he was just not the type of kid for it. Skyla on the other hand is GREAT!! This is totally for her. Me and Mick have talked about just doing Joy school for this year then next year putting her in a co-op like we did with Justin. Well I'm changing my mind. I want to do joy school (2days a week) next year too and just put her in to kiddy collage (3days a week) like my friends Sarah and Stephanie did with there kido's. I want her to get used to going to a school but I really feel she might get more out of Joy school then a full time preschool. That and I'm not ready to let her go yet.

Sky is so happy with joy school she loves telling Mick and I all she has learned. She also loves it cause her best friend Lia is doing it with her.

These 2 are so funny together! I love watching there little friendship grow. They are also in dance class together and in Nursery at church together. Some times they can fight just like sisters witch I think is really cute. They are easy to discipline just threaten to separate them and OMG they do what they are told in a heart beat. Lia is a super sweet little girl and I hope the Savage family never moves (yes that is a BIG hint to you Mel) cause I would love to watch the girls grow up together.
WOOHOO for the Class of 2023!


Thursday, September 11, 2008

Gingerbread House

Im a sucker for gingerbread house's. I love to make them and really enjoy getting to have time to be creative.
My fave are the little kits you can get at Michael's craft store. They come with everything you need. All the cookie pieces are pre-cooked so all I have to do is put it together. Well we hit Michael's about a week ago and found some of the kits for Halloween. Now I know Halloween is still a month and half away but it was still fun to do. Im still learning how to work with Royal frosting, and finally learned I have to let each part dry before I move on.
Anyways here are a few pics of the house I just did. Im going to let the kids eat this one tonight. Then I will make another one closer to Halloween that we will keep as a decoration.

Cant wait for Christmas!!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Football Fans

Football season is finally here. Mick is in his glory right now and I am once again the 16 week widow. I'm glad he loves football so much cause he really doesn't have any other hobbies then playing Fantasy football and watching his games.

Mick really wants to get Justin to to Football and so far its going that way. Every year Mick and his friends Albert and Miguel all go over Albert's house and have a full day of watching Football (also because Mick and Albert play each other week one in fantasy every year). Well this year Mick decided he wants to start taking Justin the first week to "hang out with the Guys" Justin LOVED it!! Mick said he watched most of the Bills game and was even following it really well. I sent him with a backpack full of stuff to do and at half time they ran and got something to eat. Justin said he had so much fun even though it was super hot at uncle Albert's house.

My Favorite part was that Mick and Justin both wore there Bills jerseys. Justin has a Bills hat too but we couldn't find it so he wore his A's one. Don't they look cute?!Here is to another Football season. O and Mom tell Mike HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Brady is hurt and out for the season HAHAHAHAHA.......sorry for your loss....... HAHAHAHAHAHA!