Holiday Roadtrip Part 3

Monday's plans were a bit thwarted when Cousin Owen woke up with a fever, so we regrouped and the boys (Dan, Granddad and Finley) decided to take a train adventure to the airport.

First, they drove to the train station and hopped on the subway.  Finley was excited to follow their trek on the map.

 

Off they went!

Arriving at Reagan National Airport, they had a snack (since no snacks are allowed on the metro!) and watched lots of planes come and go.

 Planes, Trains and Automobiles--what more could Finley ask for?

Later that day, Chris brought over Cousin Natalie and Finley had fun with his lil' cuz.

All in all, a wonderful visit with lots of family and fun.  Plus, I even got to go see a movie with my mom and my sister (woo-hoo!).  We drove the whole way home on Wednesday, with a brief stop in NY to have lunch with Grandpa and let everyone stretch their legs.

After a disappointing layover in some mass pike traffic, we made it home and it was nice to be back though I was already missing everybody in VA and NY.  Lucky for us, we'll see my parents in three weeks when they come up here and we'll see my sister and the Forseters in NY the following week.  2013 will be filled with even more family adventures, I'm sure of it!

Holiday Roadtrip Part 2

On Sunday, we went to visit some Forseters who lived nearby.  Eric and Amy hosted us and Finley was thrilled to play with his (second or third?) cousins Mia and Jake.  Dan's Aunt Annette and Uncle Bernie also came over and it was a nice little get together. Dagny was a bit cranky (and flushed), but enjoyed all the attention just the same!

Photo credits mostly go to Eric :) Maybe one day these guys can come up north and play at our house!

Holiday Roadtrip Part 1

Last week, we hit the road! After work/school on Friday, we piled into the car and with the kids in their PJs we drove to NY for the night.  GG, Grandpa, and Aunt Ellie welcomed us in around 10pm and we successfully transferred the kids to bed (though Finley did ask for a book before going back to sleep, but that was a fair request).  After hanging out for a bit in the morning, we got back in the car and continued in our way to VA to see my family.  Aside from one ridiculously long stop at a rest stop for bathrooms, lunch, and gas--the trip was smooth with snoozing or happily awake kiddos in the back and minimal traffic.  It was wonderful to arrive in VA with time to play, eat, unpack, and relax before going to bed.  Cousins Owen and Natalie came over with their dad, Uncle Chris, for dinner and the cousins went to town! Finley and Owen, if you will recall, had the same due date back in 2009.

Anyways...we were about to sit down to dinner when the smoke alarm went off due to Aunt Caitlin's garlic bread getting burnt in the oven.  We couldn't seem to silence it and since it was connected to my parents' security system, the phone rang to check on us.  My mom assured them we were fine, but soon a knock on the door was heard and I spotted a fire truck in front of the house! We answered the door and three, fully suited up firefighters came in check things out.  Owen and Finley flipped!! The firemen were good sports and posed for a photo with all of us and then we got to go out and check out the truck.

They gave all the kids fire hats and we waved goodbye with our sincerest thanks for being so quick to respond to the alarm and for making our kids' night.

 

It was going to be hard to top that, but the rest of our time in VA was pretty fun. Dagny showed off her sitting up skills and her ability to grab toys and anything else nearby with great precision.

Finley liked Grammy's Noah's Ark Advent Calendar.

And Dagny LOVED meeting Lenny and Rory.  If either cat walked by her, she was totally mesmerized and reached out for them.  

 

Here she is playing with one of her new toys, the Dino-Ball!

 Finley got a lovely haul of gifts, but the most timely seemed his firefighter pack and hose to compliment the hat he got from the real firefighters!

Dan and Finley explored a complete set of dominoes one night and while Finley was more interested in making his a "train," he was more than happy to tip Dan's creation over when the time came.

The weather was fairly mild most of the time we were there and it was nice to be outside and play some sports.  Below Finley is wearing his awesome new winter hat from Norway, thanks Great Uncle Perry and Aunt Jan!

T is for the T in Tufts

A couple weekends back, we had lots of Tufts friends over for brunch:  Neva and Fredo, Emily and Dave and their kids Maddy and Nathan.  They brought all the delicious food and we had a grand old time.  Nathan, Maddy, and Finley sat with us just long enough to scarf down some food and then they took off for the basement.  Dagny had been napping, but when she woke up she was the hit of the party.  All photo credits to Fredo :) 

 Emily took a turn holding the little wiggle worm.

 Neva's turn next!

 What a good sport, she even let Dagny use her hand as a chew toy.

 Dan took a turn, too, though by that time Dagny had sort of had it with sitting around so we took off for the basement to see what the older set was up to.

 Finley loved having bigger kids around to play with.

 Dagny can't quite keep up with the big kids, but she can play in her own way.

Thanks to Emily, Dave and Neva for cooking.  Thanks to Maddy and Nathan for entertaining Finley so nicely.  And Thanks to Fredo for the gorgeous photos!