Soccer season

This spring Davey played soccer.  It was an especially fun year for him because Dave was his coach.  I don't know if it was particularly fun for Dave.  Trying to get a bunch of 5 and 6 year-olds to follow directions is definitely a challenge.  Half the time one kid would be laying on the ground, while another was hanging from the goalposts, while another was stealing the ball from his own teammate.  All in all though, Davey really enjoyed himself, and had really improved by the end of the season.

Coach Dave in action.  I think this is one of those rare instances in which they were actually listening to him!

I think he really enjoyed the social aspect of the game!

Poor Charlie, he had a really hard time sitting on the sidelines, especially with Davey playing and Daddy coaching. Most games we ended up making him sit in the car with a grandparent to make sure he stayed off the field!

Here he is starting to be a little more aggressive in going for the ball.

All the boys together at the end.

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

In May, Dave and I decided it was time to leave the boys and go on a trip by ourselves. This is the first time we had left them since Charlie was born. Back when we got married, we had planned a trip to Playa Del Carmen for our honeymoon, but it didn't end up working out so we decided to finally go.

Playa del Carmen is about an hour south of Cancun. It is less of a party place than Cancun, and is more resorty and relaxed. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called the Riu Playacar. It was pretty nice, and we got all the food and drinks (including Tequila...JK) that we could eat.

Each day when we would come back to our room there were these awesome towel sculptures. There was something different every day. I had to take a picture of each of them because I knew our boys would love them!

Here are a few pics of our hotel. The pool area was super nice, although we hung out at the beach more than the pool.

Ha ha! This one is pretty funny. Playa del Carmen has actually been pretty popular with the Europeans for years, so they were all over the place. Most of the men wore speedos and honestly, there wasn't a single one that was worth looking at!

Pathway to the beach.

View looking down the beach. It was beautiful and the sand was really nice and soft!

We went to this giant sinkhole or "cenote" on our way to see the ruins. We were able to jump off the cliffs on the side into the water.

Here we are at Chichen Itza, one of the Ancient Wonders of the World. It was huge and amazing, but it was SUPER hot. It was also a pretty long trip to get there, about 3 hours on a bus each way, but it was worth it to say that we actually went and saw it.

The giant Mayan ball court. This was one of Dave's favorite parts of the tour.

The back side of the main huge pyramid. The actually took a lot of stones from one side of the pyramid to put on the other side so it would look perfect, that is why it looks like it is crumbling.

It was so crowded with vendors trying to get you to buy their souvenirs.

Another day we took the ferry over to Cozumel and went snorkeling. Then we rented a moped and drove around the island.

We also went swimming with dophins and shopping in downtown Playa Del Carmen. Plus we got couples massages a couple of times, which was heavenly of course. It was super nice to get away and enjoy a vacation by ourselves. Of course we missed the boys and were excited to get back to them, but every couple needs a few days to themselves every now and then. Thanks, hon, for such a fun trip.

Charlie's 2nd Birthday

Okay, so I know I have slacked big time on this whole blogging thing, but I am going to attempt to get back into it now. I am just going to backtrack a few months and start with Charlie's birthday.

This little guy is so fun! A few things about him:

• He is a ham and knows how to make people laugh by being silly and showing off.
• He is noisy and loud and loves to talk.
• Right his favorite thing to ask is "What you doing? He does this about 20 times a day, whether I am getting dressed, cleaning, making dinner, doing laundry, even going to the bathroom.
• He loves cars and trains, much more than Davey did. Davey loved blocks, puzzles, and drawing.
• He also loves rocks. Without fail, if we are walking somewhere, he has to stop and pick up any rocks he sees. He even loves small pebbles in parking lots. The he loves to clutch the pebbles in his little hands wherever he goes.
• He is extremely stubborn.
• He loves Diego. I try to get him to watch other kid shows, but he always wants Diego.
• He loves to sing. He actually does a pretty good job of it too. He sings kid songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle," and "Bingo" but will also sing grown up songs like James Taylor's "Handyman." I think his favorite is "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.
• He loves to wash his hands, and then instead of drying them on a towel, he pretends to sneeze on you and yells "AAAACHOOO!" while spraying you with water. He learned this from his father.
• We call him "Echo" because he repeats everything anybody says, especially his older brother.
• Speaking of Davey, he loves his older brother more than anything. If he is hurt or sad, he goes to him for hugs.
• I am sure I could go on and on, but one thing is for sure, we love our little Charlie and can't imagine life without him!

Here are some pictures I took of him helping to make his birthday cupcakes.

Mmmm......Yummy!! I love his long eyelashes!

And his big black eyes!!

His cousins came over for cupcakes!

He had fun playing with the doctor's kit he got for his birthday.

I hope I can do a better job of blogging for a little while at least. Dave keeps reminding me that this is the best way for us to remember all the little things we love about our boys.

Disneyland and back to blogging!!!

Sooo, it has been six months since I last blogged. I don't really know why I haven't blogged. I think it is because I got behind and the idea of trying to catch up was too overwhelming. So, instead of trying to catch up, I am just going to start with what has been happening most recently and go from there. We just got back a couple of days ago from Disneyland, so that seems like a great place to start. I should warn you in advance, there are a ton of pictures, but isn't that what this blog is for? We were able to go with my parents and brother. My family LOVES Disneyland and I was excited to see Davey's reaction to it. We had been talking about it a lot, so he knew what it was, but when we first got there I think he was a little overwhelmed. This picture was taken about 5 minutes after we arrived. If you look closely at his smile, you can see that he isn't sure of what to do first!

The first ride we went on was the teacups...
Then we did "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride"

Later that day we went to watch the parade. Since it was the 2nd of January, the holiday festivities were still going on, hence it was a Christmas parade. Davey is sharing a Dole Whip with my mom. It is a yummy pineapple flavored ice cream. Of course, Davey is up for anything that involves ice cream!

Me, Davey, and Charlie hanging out before the parade.

The float with Donald and Daisy Duck. This was Davey's first chance to see most of the Characters. He is at the perfect age where he loves all the characters and meeting them was definitely a highlight of our trip !

Goofy's float...

In Mickey's Toon Town you can go on a tour of Mickey's house, and then the last room you go into you get to meet Mickey Mouse. You are all by yourselves in the room with him, so there aren't any other people waiting for you to leave so they can meet him too. Mickey was so nice. He even spent time trying to get Charlie to smile. Mickey would wiggle his nose at Charlie and Charlie would just stare. He didn't know what to think.

In California Adventure with Mater and Lightening McQueen.

He was super tired every night. He almost fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the hotel.

One morning we had a character breakfast at Goofy's kitchen. Davey thought this was super fun!

Davey and Chip.

Chip and Charlie.

Here Davey is with Belle. He didn't really know what to think of her. He isn't really into princesses, and I don't think he has even seen Beauty and the Beast. I think he thought she was pretty though!

Dale and Davey .

Doing the Twist with Goofy.

Doing the Twist with Dave. Honestly, every time these two would hear a band they would break out dancing! Like father like son.

Waiting in line at Toy Story Midway Mania. This was a really fun ride. Charlie was so good the whole entire trip. He was pretty agreeable to being hauled here and there, and didn't mind most of the rides we took him on.

Waiting in line with Uncle Trevor to watch Bug's Life 3-D

Riding on a ride in Bug's Land with my Dad.

So here is the story with Davey's forehead. The third night we were there, Dave and I went back to the hotel with Charlie to let him rest before dinner. My mom, dad, and brother stayed behind to go on the Finding Nemo Submarine voyage. I guess they decided to ride the train to Tomorrowland where the ride was and as they were rushing up the stairs to catch the train my dad caught his foot and tripped. It just so happening that Davey was standing right in front of him and got knocked down and skinned his forehead. Of course he started bawling. My mom said several Disney cast members rushed to their aid. They decided to take him to the First Aid station where they cleaned his forehead and put on a band-aid. The nurse asked were they were going when Davey got hurt and they told her they were on their way to Finding Nemo. The nurse gave them a front of the line pass and they were able to get right on without waiting, which was great, since the wait was almost and hour! So the moral of the story is, if you don't want to wait in line at Disneyland, have your kid fall down so you can get a special pass! Of course I am kidding.

After we got back to the hotel room later after having dinner there were balloons and autographed pictures from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear. They were addressed to "Our Pal, Davey" and they told him to "Get better soon." Talk about the royal treatment. He felt pretty special!

This is him asleep later that night in bed. Poor kid was exhausted. He calls Woody and Bullseye his "friends." Dave and my brother won them for him at the Midway at California Adventure.

One night at dinner we ordered him this special pirate dessert. I am telling you, the kid is spoiled! That is okay by me though. He is a pretty good kid.

The next day inside the Nemo submarine with Dave.

Driving on the Autopia. He was a pretty good driver. We just pushed the gas and he steered the whole way himself.

Of course the boys had to get the traditional Mickey Mouse ears. Charlie looks thrilled.

Our family in front of the castle.

All of us with Minnie and Mickey on Main Street.

All in all, we had a terrific time. We were worn out and glad to come home (Charlie especially). However, we won't be gone long. We decided to upgrade to a season pass!! I know, crazy, but we will be going out to California again in May for a wedding, and my mom and dad want to take Davey on a grandparents trip later this year. Who knows, we may even do more than that. Thanks mom and dad for such a fun time. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did! Stay tuned, I have more pics to post of our trip to the beach!