Seacrest-Departure Day & a visit to Gramma's

What a great trip! We had perfect weather and really enjoyed our first visit to Seacrest (near Seaside, FL). We had heard it was a perfect place for families and now we know why. The whole area is picture perfect – I told Kevin it was like Utopia! The home we stayed in was super nice and Seacrest has a 12,000 sq foot pool…yes – that is HUGE! It was a very short walk from the house and we made a trip there every day. The stairs in the pool were very deep and wide, so we spent a lot of time playing on them. Riley was even going under on her own and coming up with a smile. They really both did great in the water. We joined the Jordan family (Scott, Angie, Jack, Josh and Jacob) for their week at the beach, so Angie and the boys had already scoped out the best playgrounds and the best spot at the pool. We went to the park both mornings, went to the beach one afternoon, went to the pool every day, took a few walks on their new tricycles and went to the play in the water fountain. We were busy, but yet still had some time to relax and rest. It was central time, but we weren’t really there long enough to worry about adjusting, so it was early mornings and early evenings. The Jordan boys are working on manners (yes ma’am, no sir, thank you, etc.) so it was refreshing to hear these young boys with such good manners. They were all well behaved and played well together. You would think 4 adults and 5 children under 5 would be a bit chaotic, but it was actually a very relaxing vacation. To someone without children it was probably their worst nightmare, but for us, it was fantastic. We have officially turned the corner to having some relaxation on vacation! We didn’t think that was possible until they were much older, so it was a very nice surprise. Yay!!! We ate some great pizza the first night and then we had date night on Thursday while Scott & Angie stayed home and then we switched on Friday night. We had a nice evening and even ran into one of my friends from college – Jennifer Foster and her husband Matthew – at the Red Bar. I had always heard of The Red Bar, but had never been there, so we decided to check it out for dinner. It was packed and we had a short wait, but the food was good and it was so nice to have an adults-only night out. Saturday we had a safe trip home and it was really uneventful except for a few exchanges between Kevin and me on our way out of town. It might have had something to do with the gas light being on and not a gas station in sight, but outside of that it was a delightful ride home. We were so proud of how well the kids did. They watched more movies than any children should be allowed to watch in one day, but they were happy so we were happy…and would you believe that when we walked in the door they went straight to their chairs and said “movie”! I guess they could watch them forever!

After church and naps we went to see Gramma (or Maw-Mee as Ryan says it). Her back has been giving her bad trouble, so we took her a few meals and helped do some things around the house. We picked some tomatoes and green peppers and Ryan bit right into it and ate the entire tomato. He doesn’t get that love from me! They watched some of a movie with Gramma so she could stay off her feet. They enjoyed playing with her and playing with the new purse Gramma sewed for Riley. It has a drawstring and came full of goodies! Ryan got a small bag with goodies as well so he was not left out. We are home now and the kiddos went straight to bed without a fuss at all. Looking forward to a busy week…back to reality…and counting down the days until we return to the Seaside/Seacrest area!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090725SeacrestDepartureDay#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090726SundayGrammaS#

Riley's "real" twin...

We've decided that Jacob & Riley look more like twins than Riley & Ryan. They have the same shaped head and their nose and hair is almost exactly the same. So funny to see. The more I see them together the more alike they look to me and we all agree... funny stuff!

Seacrest Day 3

And this about sums it up

If Ryan could say it I think he would say that today was the best day of his life!!!

He LOVES playing in the fountain...

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090724SeacrestDay3#

Seacrest Days 1 & 2

Will blog about the details of the trip later, but wanted to share some (well, I mean hundreds) of pictures! Having a perfect time!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090722SeacrestDay1#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090723SeacrestDay2#

Barbecue

We went to the 35th annual Tanner Family Barbecue this weekend. We have lived next door to the Fenzls since 2003 and I think we've attended every year, so that would have made this year our 7th year to attend. It's held at Lori's parent house every July. It's such an enjoyable day, but we realized that it was a lot more relaxing prior to having children. We spent most of the day chasing Riley & Ryan around and making sure they didn't get into trouble. They had such a fun time exploring, but it was totally exhausting to us. We were there from about 1:00 - 5:30, and we were totally zonked. I can remember years we were there from noon until the late hours of the evening, but this year is was just a few hours and it wiped us out. The weather could not have been nicer - it has been absolutely beautiful these last few nights. I even needed a fleece last night sitting out on the deck...can you believe it is July and I actually needed a fleece? Crazy, but I love it! We have sat outside for the last few nights and it has been a perfect way to wind down!

2009
They were obsessed with eating ice...it kept them entertained for quite a while!

2008

2009

2008

We had a nice day today - went to church and then came home and Riley, Ryan and I all took an almost 3 hour nap. We all needed it...it was a crazy week last week. We played this afternoon with Gran-daddy and Riley & Ryan rode on their new tricycles. We love them because we can push and steer them without breaking our backs and they love the independence. They've even figured out how to ring the little bells on the handle bars. They are loving Sable and Sam these days. They love to hug and kiss them and the dogs are so very patient. It's amazing how gentle they all are with one another. The kiddos have started feeding the dogs and sometimes I think it's the highlight of their day. They go over to the food container and fill up the cup and carefully take it over to each bowl and pour it in. Some days are better than others when it comes to spills, but they do a fantastic job! They are so proud when they are done and do a great job of taking turns. I'm amazed that they are not even 2 and they put their dirty clothes away every morning and night, put their towels away after bath, take their plate to the sink and feed the dogs. All under supervision and with several reminders, of course, but I'm still so proud that they are little helpers! I've learned to involve them when I'm cooking and it seems to be better for all of us. Instead of them just fussing at me the whole time, I can ask them to help me get things out of the pantry or fridge and take them back and they just love it. I think they like feeling like they are a part of things and it actually has saved me a trip or 2 to the pantry!

Bad Hair Day
it's been one all day, but isn't he just so cute! His shirt says "Miso Cute" with a bowl of soup under it - like Miso Soup! :)

We leave for Seaside, FL on Wednesday and I could not be more ready for a vacation! Get ready for LOTS of beach pictures on my next post...stay tuned!

Web Albums Added:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090719TannerFamilyBBQ#

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090719Sunday#

Speed Dial

On Sunday morning I heard my cell phone ringing just after 9am. By the time I got to the phone, it had stopped ringing, but I was confused because the call was from Heather…in California where it is 3 hours earlier. Why would she be calling me at 6:05am her time? Remember – we were at the beach and the kids were at our house with Gramma, Dot & Pam. Brad was also awakened by the call and picked up on another phone. This is the vm I heard…

H: (in a very groggy voice) Your daughter just called me and the conversation went like this… (insert long pauses and heavy breathing)
H: Hello? Hello?
B: I think Riley is calling us…
R: Hey! How are you?
H: Riley? Who are you playing with?
R: Ryan.
R: Bye Bye
H: Bye Bye

Now keep in mind that Riley is barely speaking in 2 word phrases much less sentences like this. I’m sure she wasn’t speaking completely clearly, but Heather said it sure did sound like this. Pretty impressive! Ryan has called them this early twice before and now Riley has added it to her list of tricks. It makes me wonder who else they might have called that we don’t know about!

Weekend away for us! Weekend with friends for them!

I will start out this post with the details of Riley & Ryan's weekend... I'm not sure who had more fun this weekend?

We went away to a wedding in Ponte Vedra and had a great getaway. We had arranged for Gramma, Aunt Dot and Pam to come and stay with Riley and Ryan. Aunt Dot and Pam have been lifelong friends of our family and I was delighted when they accepted my invitation to come and help mom. I believe they all had a fantastic time! They arrived on Thursday night and we headed out to La Parilla to kick off the weekend. They could not have behaved any better! I was really very proud of them. I was hoping that good behaviour would last through the weekend and I think it did (from what I'm told). By the time we got back Riley and Ryan were both saying "Dot" and "Pam" and I know they woke up this morning missing them and Gramma. I think they all 5 had a great time playing together. I'm sure the kiddos had them jumping all weekend, but it sounds like a lot of fun was had by all. I heard about candy sticks, play time with the water, good naps, a trip to church, spaghetti, movie time and many many books. I guess I should ask them to write a guest post to give us the real scoop...you guys up for it?

Just starting out the weekend... doesn't everyone look rested?

Ryan with his Gramma and new friend Pam

We finally got the photos framed for Gramma

Aunt Dot feeding the baby "birds"

Ryan loving on Sam

Riley sporting her Yankees hat

We headed out for Florida early Friday morning and arrived just before 2pm. Kevin forgot his shirt for the wedding so we had to make a stop at the outlets. It's his token item he forgot for the trip. Luckily we found something quickly and inexpensive! We stayed at the Ponte Vedra Inn the first night and he surprised me when we arrived...he had booked an ocean front room. Literally we looked out our balcony and there was sand! It was such a nice resort and what a great treat! (We even slept with the door open for a while to listen to the ocean!) We spent a few hours by the pool and then headed to Ferd's house for an out-of-town-guest gathering. Ferd has been a friend of Kevin's since they were growing up and a big group of them all flew in to celebrate the weekend. Kevin was in heaven being around all of his buddies. It was such fun hanging out with them. On Saturday we went into St. Augustine and walked around for a while, grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel. It was so hot, that the pool/beach were a fantastic way to end the afternoon. We all cleaned up and headed out to the wedding that night. It was such a beautiful setting. The weather cooled off and the ceremony was overlooking the beach. The night could not have been more fun. All the boys together pretending they were 16 again. It was a good time for all and Ferd & Elisa are perfect for one another! It was a very quick weekend, but long enough to catch up with everyone and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. We definitely wish we all lived closer to one another, but I'll take a quick weekend any time we can get it.




Andy, Greg, Tom, Sean, Ferd, Joe, Alan, Kevin

I see a few bald spots, but won't name names...

Lifelong Friends

The Happy Couple!
Dr. & Mrs. Ferdinand & Elisa Formoso

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090710GrammaDotPam#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090712FerdElisaSWedding#

4th of July Recap

I know I have said this many times before, but this blog is a place for me to record the happenings in our lives, so I'm going to back up the July 4th weekend to give the recap (for my records!) I already posted the pictures last week, so this will just be "words"!

The Fourth of July weekend started with a parade at Open Arms. We really enjoyed this last year and I was looking forward to seeing the kiddos walking this year rather than riding in the big cart. Kevin’s car was having some work done on it, so I went to pick him up on the way to the parade. We were a bit late arriving (I think we pulled in the parking lot on 2 wheels) and joined the parade just as they were rounding the corner. Riley & Ryan were holding the “flag” that their class had painted. They were so cute! Ryan wasn’t so sure about all of the festivities, but he became very content once they got their popsicles. They absolutely loved eating them and it was so hot, so they helped to cool them off. They even went back for another one and the directors graciously gave them seconds. We later found that 2 popsicles is more than enough for Ryan…we had a nice orange pile on the carpet after we got home!

Friday was a great family day. School was closed as was both of our offices. We had a nice spaghetti dinner with the Fenzls for Kevin’s pre-race dinner. Saturday morning started bright and early as we headed to Buckhead to stake out our spot to watch Kevin run the Peachtree Road Race. This is the largest 10K in the US (60,000+ people run each year). We were able to park at my office and walk right out to watch for him. It was a party – completely with live music and many interesting “costumes” for the runners - all at 7am on a holiday! The kids loved it and were so excited to see Daddy. We didn’t anticipate the total meltdown by Ryan watching Daddy run off. Makes total sense, but it surprised me! We stayed a bit longer and then drove downtown near the finish line to pick up Kevin and head to parade #2 at the neighborhood. This parade had about 90 people – it has definitely grown over the last few years (remember our neighborhood is a baby factory). Riley did not want to sit in the wagon, so she walked almost the entire parade! I was amazed by her energy level, well not really I guess. After the parade was over we headed back to the house where Paul was out riding his motorized 4 wheeler. He let Riley and Ryan each have a turn and they were in hog heaven. They thoroughly enjoyed the wind in their face! Later that afternoon the Cannatas came down from our old neighborhood in Woodstock to join us and the Fenzls for a cookout and fireworks. The kiddos did great and stayed up to watch all of the fireworks! We go to the cemetery behind our neighborhood where we can see about 6 different fireworks shows all in the distance. For Riley & Ryan it was perfect – no smoke, no loud noise – and for us it was great because we didn’t have to fight the crowds and sit in traffic. They zonked out as soon as we got home. On Sunday we headed up to the Rabun’s house and had another great cookout. The kids loved playing with their “new” toys as well as their play set in the backyard. Overall a busy, festive and fun weekend!

4th of July

HAPPY



OF

!!!!!!

We had such a great weekend with 2 parades, watching daddy run the Peachtree Road Race, 2 cookouts with great friends, a quick trip to the festival at Atlantic Station and Fireworks that we stayed up late to watch! We are still tired from the weekend, so no recap just yet, but below are the links to the photos (I know that's all anyone really cares about anyway)! Happy 4th of July!

Here's a sneak peek at last year versus this year...

2008

2009

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090702paradeatopenarms#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090704peachtreeroadrace#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090704paradeatdupontcommons#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090704cookoutwithfenzlcannata#