Land of Make Believe

Only minutes away, Land of Make Believe is perfect for a family day at an amusement park. It was our first time and we'll definitely be back next summer. The hay ride and train ride were especially a hit with the boys!

First stop - train ride

checking out the train engine

being silly in front of the tractor wheel

Enjoying the hay ride

playing with hay

boys very fascinated with the tractorLogan and Daddy on a "round and round"

time for splash around at the waterpark

down the froggie slide

caught the last train ride of the day.

Oh Daddy!

We often hear on the news how parents forget their kids in the car seat, stroller, at the store, etc. Our immediate reaction - "What kind of parents forget their kids?!"

Well, apparently Daddy is one of them. On August 28th at 5:30pm at Land of Make Believe things transpired as such:

- Mommy and Dylan walk over to get in line to ride the train
- Daddy parks the stroller on the side and walks over next to Mommy and Dylan
- Mommy: Where's Logan?
- Daddy: Oh, S@#*!

Yes, it can happen and it did happen. Daddy may just never be left alone with the kids ever again. ;-)

(Logan was just less that 10 feet away still buckled in his stroller talking to himself.)

A toddler's memory

When we got up this morning, Mommy had this conversation with Dylan -

M: We're going to Mommy's doctor this morning.
D: Are you gonna take a bath?
M: No, Mommy doesn't need to take a bath.
D: Are you gonna get in the bathtub with the water?
M: No, Mommy just has to see the doctor.
D: No, Mommy, remember when you went in the bathtub with the water and you were crying. Then we get Logan?


Nine months later, he still remembers the birth of his brother.

Last day of swim class

After 6 lessons at FF, Dylan was definitely feeling more comfortable in the water. He even jumped into the pool without holding his instructor's hand. Great job, D!

he enjoys chit-chatting with her while they swim

at the end he got his "surprise" - cherry icee and french fries.

Happy 25th Birthday, Ninong King!

So nice to have him back to Jersey for a little celebration. Hope all the rain on your birthday brings you lots of good luck.... Happy 25th!

Tomahawk Lake

One of the perks to living in our area is that we have so many lakes for the kids to enjoy. It's perfect for the summer, especially with our love for the water.


Our favorite so far is Tomahawk Lake where they have an inflatable raft, kiddie slides, mushroom fountain, and more. Just 20 minutes away, there are sandy areas with nice shade, picnic tables, and a snack bar. Dylan and Daddy even went for a nice boat ride - courtesy of Frank, Ryan's Daddy.



We went on a day when the weather wasn't too hot and humid. It was a good beach day with a little bit of sun and breeze. We packed our lunch, snacks, beach chair, towels and sun screen and met up with some friends - Maya and Carol's families.


The kids had fun playing with each other (in between fighting over toys, of course); the babies hanged out with the Daddies while the Moms sat back and relaxed.





















Dylan loves playing in the sand so this place is just perfect for him - without having to drive 2 hours down the shore. If we didn't talk him into going into the water, he would just dig for hours and hours.


Logan was too young to enjoy the fun things to do at the lake, but he was content playing in the sand with a few handfuls of it in his mouth.

Three monkeys in the tub

For the week, Ate Cece stayed with us which gave us some great time to spend with her before she goes back to Las Vegas.

Dylan and Logan loved having her around - she is such a great Ate! Hope you enjoy your school and we're sure you'll make lots of great friends in Kindergarten.

We'll miss you Ate Cece... come back soon!

Preschool Swim Class

One of the reasons Dylan loves Frog Falls is because of the walk-in pool. He loves to splash in the water and pretend to swim in the shallow area. In the last month, Dylan has been showing fear of going into the water, especially when his feet can't touch the bottom of the pool. The thought of putting on a floating device freaks him out. So we decided to put him in a swim class at Frog Falls for two weeks, 3x a week.


Week 1: Day 1 - lots of tears: he didn't want to go into the water and when he finally did, he cried the whole time. It was not a pleasant experience for Mommy or him.

(photos from phone)

Week 1: Day 2 - On our way to FF, Dylan kept saying he wasn't going to cry and he was gonna swim in the big pool.... THEN have a cookie. Mommy and Daddy were so proud of Dylan. He did MOST of the things his swim instructor asked of him and, most importantly, there was no crying.

sitting on a pool noddle

after swim class, he told us he liked his "swim teacher in blue"he still isn't comfortable jumping into the pool by himself, but he did it while holding the swim instructor's hand. A complete improvement from the day before when he wouldn't even stand up to jump into the pool.

He got his prize - a cookie that he gobbled up in seconds! (Yes, bribing works!)

Week 1: Day 3 - Feeling more comfortable in the water. Today, he even used the different devices in the water (which he refused the day before). On this day, his bribing prize was a lemon pop shot ;-)

geting ready to put his head in the water

holding onto the pink flat board
not minding the floating dumbbells.

In a pickle...

Logan has just been moving right along... under the table, inside the coffee table, across the room, in between furniture, etc. He loves exploring and the excitement is priceless!

On the move...

A couple of days after turning 9 months, Logan decided it's time to get moving and crawl after his brother.

he spotted a pile of cheerios across the room

"I'm going for it, Mommy!"
In crawling position...

Taking a few crawling steps Almost there....

Got it.

This kid will do anything for food.

Dorney Park

All the way from San Fran, Auntie Kristine came with her friend April to celebrate her 21st birthday in NJ/NY. Mommy packed up the boys, borrowed Lolo's van and drove to Dorney Park along with Grandma, Auntie Au, Victoria, Cece, Kristine and April. We spent the day at the wave pool and Camp Snoopy.

hanging out at the wave pool with Auntie Au

hours of fun with the sprinklers

riding the fire truck with Grandma and Ate Cece

Dylan's first ferris wheel ride

An extra order of fries

What a better place to get Logan's first taste of french fries than Shake Shack...

"ooooh, Daddy what is this?"

"Well, I guess I better taste it"

"Can I get another one after I finish this one?"

Day out at Central Park

A gorgeous day spent at Central Park where the kids enjoyed sliding and swinging at the playground, splashing at the waterpark, playing catch and eating an ice pop.

Dylan swinging like a monkey and adventurously sliding down. Logan waited at the bottom of the slide cracking up at his brother,

Logan soaking in as much sun as possible.

Dylan found the water fountains, took off his shirt and shoes and cooled off in the water. Mommy and Daddy didn't even know this area existed. Next, time we'll be prepared with swim suits and towels.

Logan was not in the mood to get in the water. Instead he sat on this pedestal looking super cute.

After hours of walking around, we parked ourselves on the grass where Daddy and Dylan played catch. So far, we've got no future pitcher for the Red Sox, but we're practicing.

Mommy doing what she does best =p

The best thing - Dylan sharing his ice pop with his brother. After 8 months, we think he's slowly getting the concept.

watching the performers. Dylan was mesmerized by their dancing skills.

a very random stop: Dylan got off his stroller as he screamed "Stop, I want to see the garbage truck" We stood and watched it until we could no longer tolerate the smell. Of course, he was kicking and screaming. How dare we walk away from the garbage truck!

After we soaked in all the fun Central Park has to offer, we took the subway to Chinatown for dinner... not because we wanted Chinese food, but because Dylan wanted to ride the train. And he was one happy boy!

Went to FAO Schwartz, but was two minutes late. They had closed the doors as we got there. Fortunately, Dylan didn't mind too much.

We're headed to Toys R Us in Times Square and he's even happier about that.

knocked out and holding onto his toy bought with his TRU money.

Even Logan was exhausted after a sunny, fun-filled family day in the city.