Colden the Magician

Colden has taken an interest in magic.  

With the help of his trusty assistant (aka: Saba), Colden disappeared inside of a tunnel:

…held a wand in his hand without using his fingers:

…and made the wand move without using his hands:

(Click here for "Magician Colden" video)

:-)  :-)  :-)

Bathtime Bubbles

Colden's 1st Shower

Colden and Reese always take baths together.  But tonight we got home late, Reese was sleeping and Colden was in desperate need of a good cleaning.  Colden insisted on taking a shower.  He has taken many showers with daddy...he's even rinsed off by himself in the shower at the YMCA after swimming.  But tonight, daddy had already showered and so we told Colden that if he wanted to shower, he would have to take one by himself.

Colden said he was scared because he didn't know what to do.  We promised to stay with him and help him.  Colden was game.

So...tonight Colden took his first full, soapy, sudsy shower all by himself!

As promised, daddy coached him through the wash and rinse process...

And daddy was right there when Colden needed to dry his eyes...

But Colden did all of his hair and body washing/rinsing himself!

He even squeegeed the shower door all by himself...

My big boy was so proud of himself!  

And after his big boy shower, Colden let me wrap him up in his froggy, hooded towel and carry him burrito-style into his room  :-)

Way to go, my clean little man!

Head-Banging Duo

I can't get enough of these kids!

Who knew head-banging could be so much fun?!?

(Click here for "Head Banging Kids" video)

Colden: Two-Wheeler (Update)

I am just so proud of Colden for how well he is doing on his two-wheeler.

Check him out!

(Click here for "Colden_Two Wheeler" Video)

Colden: Riding a 2-wheeler!

Up until now, Colden has been riding his Strider bike, which is a balance bike - no pedals.  

He learned how to steer and balance on his Strider bike.  

Now that he has those two skills down, we tried him on a two-wheeler. 

(Thanks to the Strider bike, he skipped right over having to use training wheels!)

Colden is now riding a two-wheeler!

 We went on the trail right next to our house.  Mike set Colden up on the bike...

And let go (literally and figuratively)...

Mike let go for a whole second before grabbing onto Colden to steady him

(not sure who needed that reassurance more, Colden or Mike)  :-)

Judging by the ear-to-ear smile on Colden's face, Colden was ready to go!

There were a few close calls:

And there were a few tumbles: 

But Colden was quick to brush it off

(after carefully examining all of the scrapes and cuts)...

...and get back on the bike

A little pep talk from the coach (aka: daddy)...

...And...

...He's...

...Off!

Colden was nothing but smiles the whole time!

Towards the end, Colden (and therefore daddy) actually picked up some speed!

And towards the end, daddy gave Colden more distance

After a successful first time riding a two-wheeler, this happy, red-faced boy cooled down with a celebratory bowl of ice cream.  Well-deserved, little man!

Cape May - Family Reunion

19 adults

9 kids 

7 days

1 house

1 awesome family reunion in Cape May, New Jersey!!

(Back: Mike, Colden, Nanny, James, Hana, Becca, Asher, Jason, Larry

Middle: Reese, Tovah, Merri, Chaya, Shana, Gil, Michael, Jonah, Howard, Sarah

Front: Lauren, Julian, Craig, Gabriel, Jordi, Talia

Not pictured here, but we know you were there: Dotty, Micky and David)

The house was 2 blocks from the beach, 2 blocks from town and was large enough that it surprisingly never felt too small for the 8 families staying there.

It was so much fun to see Colden and Reese spending time with their cousins:

(Chaya, Colden and Julian)

(Chaya and Reese)

With so many little kids (there were 7 kids under the age of 4), we had to get rather creative with how we kept track of them during walks:

 (if you look closely, you will see 3 pairs of feet riding behind the stroller)

(the favorite mode of transportation, by far!)

This was our first time taking the kids to the beach.  We didn't realize that we were going to have to schlep so much stuff!

(thank goodness for the wagon and a willing helper)

Once we got to the beach and set up camp, we had a blast!

It was also nice to slow down and just enjoy the nice sea breeze

I have to admit that before the beach trip, I had a ton of ideas of places I wanted to go and things I wanted to do with the kids.  None of them came to fruition.  I quickly learned that sometimes the most fun things were the unplanned things:

(Click here for "Beach Music - Cape May 2013" video)

We had jam sessions at least a couple of times a day.  

(Cousin Craig playing guitar)

Reese was especially mesmerized by the guitar - she would just sit and go into a trance listening to someone play:

(Cousin James playing the guitar)

With all the craziness that comes with having 8 families in one house, it's hard to imagine having any down-time.  But, somehow we all managed to escape when we needed to and find our own little bit of peace and quiet:

 (Nanny and Colden)

 (Cousins Craig and Gabriel)

 (Uncle Gil and Reese)

~~~~~

We were at the beach for the 4th of July...

...which meant the first time the kids saw and tried lobster:

(Thanks to chefs Craig, James and Michael for the lobster feast.  Now, stop playing with the food!)

(Colden tried but didn't like lobster...Reese liked playing with her fake lobster)

...the 4th also meant that the kids saw fireworks for the first time:

 (Reese bundled up on the beach to watch the fireworks)

Colden did a good job with his "OOHs" and "AAHs"

~~~~~

A fun activity worth mentioning was our trip to the Purple Martin bird sanctuary, right next to the lighthouse in Cape May.

The birds are born in nesting boxes...

 ...and a volunteer caretaker comes to the park every morning to check on the birds and to count how many eggs have hatched.

We were able to see 1-day-old birds:

...and we got to hold 7-day-old birds:

 (they were tagging the birds' legs on the day that we were there - hence the wire with the purple tags in the forefront)

Big difference from the picture of the 1-day-old birds.  The purple Martins can fly just 28-29 days after hatching

~~~~~

We had such a great time at Cape May that we are already talking about "relaxing" there again...