Nana and Graham (Aug 2010)

The kids (Graham and his cousin, Kyleigh) had off of school for the last week of August until Labor Day. Graham and Ky spent a large part of that time together at our house, and Grandma Lois took them on a lot of adventures. Here is a photo of the kids in their Elmo shirts and hats before they went to a petting area at one of our local farms.

Heading off with Grandma Lois to feed the goats!

Kyleigh (Graham’s cousin) turns two tomorrow, and her family had a small party for her this weekend.  Below is the photo with Kyleigh in the background (in pink on the left).

Thanks to all of our family for a great weekend!

Having a great summer, and hope you are too!
Eoin, Jessica, and Graham

PS According to Graham, what was the coolest thing he saw at the Aquarium? The turtles, sharks and jellyfish??? Nope, the hand dryer in the men’s bathroom!

We were sad to leave, but wanted to get on the road so that we could catch the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry. The boat ride was great – it was nice enough to sit out on the top deck, and while we were there, we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Coming in to Long Island, we were able to see some of the firework shows in the far distance, but Graham was more interested in seeing the waves of water coming off of the back of the ferry. We were the last car off, and made it to the Port Jefferson-Poquott fireworks show at the very last minute! The show was spectacular, and Graham loved all of the big bangs and bright colors. We were exhausted when we got home, but boy, what a great trip!

On Monday, July 5th, Graham and I (Jessica) went to the Port Jefferson Parade. It was an extra special event because Graham’s Uncle Jimmy (Jessica’s brother-in-law) is the Chief of the Port Jefferson Fire Department. It was his job to kick off the parade and to salute all of the other fire departments who participated in the parade. We stayed for about one and a half hours and saw many of our friends marching, but it got so hot that we had to leave. Many of the fire departments had bands, and Graham and I enjoyed the music of the bag pipes and drum. We finished the long weekend by enjoying dinner over at our neighbors with 14 folks from our block. A perfect end to a great weekend!

Graham reading the comics

We recently returned from a trip to Orlando, Florida, with my folks (Bill and Lois), my sister and her family (Erika, Jimmy, Kyleigh) and us (Eoin, Jessica, and Graham.) We had a blast! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Disney Vacation Club area. The hotel is based on an African lodge, and is complete with a wildlife preserve with over 30 species of wildlife. We were in a two bedroom suite with a living room, full kitchen, and a long balcony overlooking a savannah full with animals. Traveling with two almost-two-year olds is tough, so the kitchen was great for meals and snacks and the balcony was great for entertainment. (It also makes me appreciate what Eileen and Gary and Kathy had to go through raising Eoin and his three brothers!) It was neat to walk out onto the balcony at any time of day or night and see what animals were outside. I think the kids liked seeing the giraffes and zebras the best! I always wondered how giraffes sleep. Not much at all, in fact. (I read an article that said, “Adult giraffes do not sleep much. Some scientists estimate they sleep only a half hour to an hour each day in 5-minute naps during the night.” Whoa!)

They also had a great pool area for the kids. They had a big slide for big kids, and a smaller slide for the little ones. And hot tubs for the adults. Kyleigh liked the baby slide the best, whereas Graham enjoyed the small whirlpool the best. And my folks liked the hot tub. We went to the pool area every day of our trip, and it was a great pre-nap and post-nap activity.

While we were there, we toured some of the sights and went to two of the parks. Eoin, Graham and I went to Sea World together. We enjoyed the penguin tank the best. I thought the design team was especially creative – they had ice makers in the ceiling which would drop snow in the penguins area. As a bonus, it was cool in the building, which was especially nice since it was so hot the day we were there. The manatees were also neat to look at, but it was sad to know that many were there because they had suffered injuries from boaters. The polar bear was pretty cool, too, but he was too busy taking a nap to enjoy our company.

We also went as a family to Magic Kingdom. Graham did really well on the kids’ rides. I was glad that Graham doesn’t seem to suffer from motion sickness as I do. We spent all morning there, and then went back to the hotel in the heat of the day to cool down at the pool and take naps. We returned in the evening to enjoy a few more rides, and found a good place to enjoy the electric light parade and the fireworks. I think Graham enjoyed them the most. It’s hard to keep Graham in one place for more than 30 seconds, and he was enjoying himself so much, he didn’t move during either. I don’t think he even blinked! Hah-hah – I know that he blinked, but we were amazed at his attention span at the parade and fireworks. I think my dad spent more time watching Graham than watching the parade and fireworks. It was great to see my dad enjoying being a grandpa so much!

It was a good trip all around. Before I went, I was worried that Graham might not be old enough to enjoy everything, but he did just fine! We kept to our eating, napping and sleeping schedule pretty well, and he was very well behaved the whole trip. He was a little fussy on the flights, mostly because he didn’t want to be contained.

We went to the doctor last week and Graham is now 28.3 pounds and 33.5″ inches tall! Graham’s growing well, gaining weight, and all of his teeth are coming in. He’s developmentally on target too. There are a few things that we are continuing to follow up on. There is some concern about his iron and hemoglobin levels, so we have an appointment with a hematologist in a few weeks. And he snores too, so we are going to follow up with an ear, nose, and throat doctor. Nothing is alarming yet, but there are a few things that don’t add up, so we are getting him double checked by the specialist.

He is still in school five days a week, and loves it there. At the end of the month, he will be moved up to the toddler classroom. (He’s in the waddler room now.) Since he is the first one in his classroom, he sometimes spends 20 minutes there in the morning before his classmates arrive. I think he will be happy to move up there full-time. He still enjoys playing with bubbles and running around outside. He particularly enjoys playing with the watering can and the hose! We got him a small inflatable pool too, which we fill up each day in the morning so it’s warmed by the sunshine when he gets home from school. It’s not as great as the whirlpool at Disney, but it does the job in cooling him down!

Lots of hugs from all of us,

Graham, Jessica and Eoin

Happy April!  We apologize for taking so long to post on the blog, but we are all doing very well.  March was a busy month.  Our friend, Grant, came by for a visit.  If you we at our wedding, you may remember that Grant was in our wedding as a stand-in for Matt since Matt wasn’t able to get home from his Army duties in time for our big day.  Eoin is repaying the favor and will be standing up for Grant as a groomsman for his wedding in July.  We can’t wait for Grant’s big day!

Eoin’s birthday is in mid-March (along with his triplet brothers, Matt and Colin).  We had three celebrations for his birthday because he had a conference in Connecticut on the actual day of his birthday.  When Grant was here, we went out to dinner as a family to celebrate Eoin’s birthday.  There was a big crowd there: Eoin, me, Grant, Graham, Erika (my sister), Jimmy (Erika’s husband), Kyleigh (Erika’s and Jimmy’s daughter), Lois (my mom) and Bill (my dad.)  It felt like we were playing musical chairs all night to keep the kids entertained.  First, we had the kids sitting across from each other, but then they wanted to sit together.  Then, it was difficult trying to eat dinner while feeding the kids.  I fed Graham while Eoin ate, and then Eoin fed Graham while I ate.  At the end, the waiter delivered Eoin an ice cream sundae with a candle in it, and we all sung happy birthday to him.  On the actual day of Eoin’s birthday, we opened gifts in the morning before he left for the conference.)  And then when he got back from the conference, we had his birthday cake.  Lucky Eoin!

On Palm Sunday, we took a quick trip to my grandparent’s house in Pennsylvania.  It was a girls (me, my mom, Erika and Kyleigh) and Graham trip while Eoin and my dad stayed home to get some big projects done.  (Thanks, guys!!!!)  The kids had a great time running around my grandparent’s house and eating hot dogs at the Brass Rail (a famous steak sandwich joint near their house.)  Grammy also gave them some fun Easter gifts (and she made the adults some homemade peanut butter and coconut Easter eggs. Yum!)

On the Saturday before Easter, my sister and Jimmy to Graham and Kyleigh to an Easter egg hunt at the Fire Department.  There was a big crowd of kids, and luckily, Graham and Kyleigh were able to get two eggs each.  Neither of them enjoyed the visit from the Easter Bunny, but Graham did enjoy stealing the Capri Sun that Kyleigh was drinking and finished the whole thing!  (Juice is a rare treat, since he usually gets water from us.)

For Easter Sunday, we went to Uncle Chris’ and Aunt Peggy’s house in New Jersey.  We had a great visit with them.  Peggy is so wonderful about getting their house kid-proofed for Graham, and she put together a wonderful basket of toys for Graham.  Graham also enjoyed playing on the small deck Chris and Peggy have off of their kitchen.  There is a small playground just around the corner from their house, and Graham loved running around it and going down the slides.  There were woodchips on the ground and I think he liked playing with those more than the playground itself.  We welcomed the chance to catch up with Chris and Peg and hear all about their adventures and Uncle Chris’ travel stories – which we absolutely love.  They recently returned from Mexico, and we were able to see some of the photos from the resort where they stayed.  We were sad to drive home on Sunday, and can’t wait to see them again.

The Easter Bunny brought Graham a tricycle, but he was fussy all day and didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as we had hoped.  Perhaps when he is feeling better we’ll begin to have some fun times with it.  We think that his second year molars are coming in, so I am off to do some research about them.

Lots of love to you,

Eoin, Jessica and Graham