weekend fun or weekend work?

Today, during the 85 degree weather, we took Owen to the Rainbow Play Systems showroom. We thought it would be a good idea to let him play on the equipment before taking the 2k plunge. The whole process of looking for playgrounds has been really stressful... and I'm glad we have found the one we're getting. I probably won't be 100% sure of that though, until it's here and assembled. It was so cute though because Owen kept saying "I'm a pirate!" when he was up at the top, looking out the telescope and turning the wheel.

After, we went to lunch, picked up our pool and came home to assemble it. We had to clear out the area to put it, which took almost the rest of the day. Now we have the hose in pool, and it will be in all night. Who knows if it will be full by morning. Brian said it contains something like 5k gallons! Ahh. I sure hope that the pool is full by morning because it's supposed to be 92 tomorrow and I have a little boy who was saying to me all afternoon "is the pool all done yet?"

the Spring projects have BEGUN!

It can't be spring without the Spring projects and, well.... lets just say our projects are a definite sign of Spring. We have already laid out a bunch that we will be starting soon.

I wanted a pond when we lived in Virginia but everytime we anticipated buying the supplies, there would be something to tell us it wasn't a good idea. The main reason we never were able to put in my pond was that our yard flooded several times a year. We would end up with blue crabs walking across our yard sideways haha... but anyway, it would have been impossible to keep everything IN that we wanted in, and everything OUT that we wanted out. Our poor fish would have washed away and into the salty bay, which they wouldn't have enjoyed I'm sure. Plus, I don't think the crabs would enjoy being in a pond. So, with that said, it was on top of my list of things I wanted to do with the next house we bought. I have a place picked out in the yard and have started digging so that we can do the project in time for Mother's Day.

The only problem with the pond situation now is that the dog/the kid are going to be fascinated with it. The only solution for that would be to have water that they COULD go in. We've wanted a pool since our last house (and the flooding situation made that dream impossible too) so again, we decided we would do that with our next house. I just can't see myself having time to maintain a huge pool right now, plus, we're going to be at the lake a lot this summer so that makes it even more impossible to maintain it when we're 45 minutes away. Since it's so important to us that Owen keeps up with his swimming, while enjoying the summer, we've decided to get one of these until we have the time to build and maintain an in-ground pool (when our kids are older and less crazy as the toddler stages most likely!)
We had a pool just like this in Virginia because with Brian going out to sea so much, and me going to NY ocassionally while he was gone, it made sense to have something carefree. I used it throughout my pregnancy and even our dog enjoyed it! It was pretty durable too, we never had any problems with it. We actually ended up putting it out by the curb before we moved because we couldn't take it with us. Someone picked it up like 10 minutes after we put it out there haha.
So now I just have to dig out the ground and level it up a little bit so that the pool will be on completely flat ground without any sharp roots or stumps sticking up.

Last but not least, the playground for Owen. Many of you moms have probably noticed that you don't get much for the money when it comes to playgrounds/swing sets. A lot that I've seen are just so flimsy looking that I can't imagine having it hold up to a boy. Plus, do I want my son on something that doesn't seem safe? Luckily, my husband is really handy. He built such an elaborate deck at our old house. The building inspector said that the house would be gone, but the deck would still be there. After looking at some playgrounds, Brian decided he was just going to build one himself. He is SO excited to get started on this project. My dad is probably going to come help him with it, so it will be nice for them. This is what it's going to look like:


Brian just picked up Owen to go put him to bed and Owen said "Mommy, I can't wait for my playground! Playgrounds are so fun!". I'm sure the rest of the neighborhood kids would agree....

Spring is officially here

And It's official because....

We went to Jumping Jacks today!

For all of you who aren't from this area, Jumping Jacks is a seasonal outdoor 50's style drive-in type restaurant that was built in the 5o's... my parents have memories of going there when they were younger, and I have so many memories going there as a kid. They have water ski shows in the Mohawk River that runs along side of Jumping Jacks. There is a huge park on the property with a playground, basketball courts, baseball fields and a beach that I remember swimming at when I was little. A stage that has free concerts... it's great.

It was opening day about a week ago at Jumping Jacks, but we were just able to get up there today for the first time this year!!

Classic

Owen has the whole sleeve rub across the nose thing down

back to reality

We got home from vacation on Sunday and I'm just now writing about it.... but not really, because it was such a great trip that I don't have time to write about ALL of it. We had a great time though, and it's always sad to come home from warm vacations to the snow. On the flight home we noticed that there wasn't much snow on the ground, as we got closer to Albany. When we left we had a nightmare-ish amount of snow in HUGE piles and because of the huge piles, the snow just wouldn't melt! Well we were pleasantly surprised that most of the snow had melted when we were in Florida!! Nothing better than coming back to that! So now we're just going through the whole transition from crib/toddler bed to big boy bed. It's been tough because Owen thinks his crib is broken with the outside railing off. (the crib was designed to transition from crib, to toddler day bed, to headboard for a twin size bed) .

Owen has been able to climb out of his crib since he was about a year old, but he didn't do it very often because he loves that crib. A couple months ago he started getting out regularly and then wouldn't get back in because it was more fun climbing out apparently.... so we decided to take off the railing. Well now he says "Owen's bed is broken!" and gets really upset, which disrupts his bedtime routine. So we've decided to buy him a kids bed. We'll have to get a twin size mattress too because it isn't a toddler bed. That's fine though because I think he prefers to stretch out in a larger bed anyway. I'd assume use Owen's old crib for the next baby and then maybe transition it into a day bed for that child. Hopefully he/she won't be such an engineer like Owen and think it's broken!!! haha!

After a lot of consideration, we decided to go with this bed:
This week has been pretty tough with Owen. I think mainly with getting back into his routine here and everything. I'm just glad we were able to go to Disney this year (and we're going again, same time next year as one last trip with Owen before baby#2 gets here) Just because I think it will be impossible to go to Disney with an infant. It's hard to be on vacation and nurse and have a bedtime routine and stick to schedule, which is so important when establishing a sleep schedule.

Anyway, hopefully the bed will arrive soon so we can pick it up. We couldn't find any beds in the stores, and we looked at about 10 stores, so we ordered it online. Owen is really excited and calls this his ladder bed =)

One of the best things....

.....about being a parent is getting to enjoy your childhood all over again.

I really can't decide who likes the table more, Owen or daddy!

I'm sure this theme will extend into my next blog too, because we're leaving for Orlando in less than 48 hours!! I'm almost done packing, it's just hard to remember exactly what 82 degrees feels like when you have snow outside your house. I thought I had over-packed cold weather clothes, so I took them out and realized that I didn't have enough summery clothes. So I started from scratch. Owen's suitcase was a piece of cake. I did his packing first. Brian had an easy time packing too. Such a guy mentality, he said "4 t-shirts, 2 undershirts, 5 polo shirts, 3 button up short sleeve shirts, sport coat, 4 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of dress pants, 2 pairs of flip flops, sneakers, dress shoes, 7 pairs of boxers (which I made him up to 8. the mom in me always comes prepared. you never know.... you could fall into the water or something haha!) 8 pairs of sox (that one was adjusted by me too), 2 pairs of pajama pants, DONE!" like he literally rattled his list off to me like that.

Guys...... =)

I never thought....

That we would even think about getting a van, but now we're considering it. We sold our Lancer a couple months ago. We only had it for just under a year and we weren't that happy with it. The Lancer just didn't seem as nice as our other two cars, nor did it have all of the high end features that they have. Sooo long to the Lancer! We're still deciding if we want to get a 2010 Ford Fusion, 2010 Ford Taurus, or a 2010 Town & Country. Basically we want to take our Mustang off the road next winter because it's been tough this year with Brian driving it in the snow (after we sold the Lancer, which actually wasn't any better in the snow, we got a lot of snow storms) So we'll be back to 3 cars again but it will be well worth it next winter when we can have two family and winter friendly cars, and put the mustang back on the road in the spring.

We're just kind of stuck with our decision because we're not sure if we want/need another big gas guzzler. Baby number 2 is probably going to come in late 2010, but we won't have the "two kids and their friends" situation going on until a few years later. So do we need two big 7 passenger vehicles or should we stick to our SUV and get a Fusion or Taurus (both 5 passenger)?

We want to buy them brand new and sell them 3 years later after the warranty wears off, and then buy another car. So we could get a van at that point when our kids are 5 and 10 and both of friends to be carted around too.

Whatever car we get, it will be black like our suv... and both sedans would be 4 door.

Chrysler Town & Country

Ford Fusion

Ford Taurus
(We're leaning towards this car)