Minneapolis Trip 2011

We just got home from an awesome trip to see the Sandholms. We spent Fourth of July at the Afton parade with BJ & Joe and family. Then took in fireworks in Edina. The next day we packed up and headed to the North Shore for 4 days of fun in the Lutsen Mountains. Alistair got to be a guest player in Sully's t-ball game on Saturday and we hit the park and wading pool later in the day. Sunday we took in a St. Paul Saints game - the hottest day of our entire visit for sure! Monday we spent with BJ, Joe, Alexis and Nikki swimming at Lake Elmo and having lunch. We are home now and getting back to regularly scheduled programming! Can't wait for our next adventure with the Sandholms! Here is a link to our photos from our trip. Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/kellyhennessey/Minneapolis2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKeUxbT097GQygE&feat=directlink

Grayland Camping Adventures

At the beginning of May we headed to Grayland Beach with the family. It was wine weekend at the winery of course! (: We had a great time and the weather was great, for the Washington coast! Gillian and Alistair were "forced" to play with each other since no other cousins came along on this trip. Alistair was convinced he was going to be SO BORED because there wasn't anyone to play with! (:

Saturday we went to the winery. Alistair and Gillian stuffed themselves silly with popcorn and oyster crackers while the responsible adults tasted wine.

 Alistair looks slightly less enthused than his sister to be there!

 Posing in front of the outdoor art sculptures

When we got back from the winery, we headed out to the beach for some kite flying. The sun was shining and the wind was perfect!! Gillian got to fly the turtle kite, Alistair the fish kite and my Dad had a cool F-15 kite that Alistair also got to fly.

We had a great time and dry weather. Aunt Donna, Uncle Dan and Auntie Ann all joined us for Saturday night and David & Judy's friends Jack & Sharon stayed the entire weekend with us. So we had a nice, fun weekend with lots of extra people in addition to the usual players! 

Alistair ready for the Major Leagues!

Alistair completed Preschool on May 23rd and graduated on May 24th. They had a nice hour-long ceremony. They spent the first 40 minutes singing songs that covered all the things they learned about and holidays they celebrated over the school year. The first half of that, Alistair was in the back row and barely visible!

Then they switched positions and Alistair was in the front row!

They finally sat down to have the graduation part of the ceremony. Alistair spied Seth! (:

And had construction paper motar boards placed on their heads!

Alistair being presented with his completion certificate and memory booklet.

 Alistair and Mrs. Bowers

Carrie and Alistair - next stop Kindergarten!

After the ceremony, both classes and their families headed to Blythe Park for a picnic. We were there for 2 hours and had a great time, the sun even made an appearance. Alistair asked the next morning if he was going to Kindergarten this morning. I told him he had a few months until it started, not sure if he was happy or disappointed about that! He is excited about starting Kindergarten...at some point!

Alistair David Hennessey - 5 years old!

Can you believe Alistair is now 5 years old! Holy Moly! He is such a big kid now! Baby cannot be used to describe anything about Alistair except maybe his sister - and even that is a stretch! For his birthday, Alistair wanted a pumpkin pie! We decided to "kid it up" a bit and add some helicopters. Alistair could not wait for his pie...but not for the pie, so he could take the helicopters off to play with! (:

We have this really cool ball that he got last year for his birthday. All the kids, and some adults, had a blast playing in it all day. Made for some tired kids later on!

Alistair received this silver reed and barton water plane bank from Grandma and Grandpa. Very cool!

Nana made him this very cool vest. Airplanes - GREAT! Orange - GREAT!

Getting ready to blow out the candles and looks extremely excited about it! Really he was EXHAUSTED! If someone had laid him horizontal, he would have passed out!

Alistair had his 5 year check up on Tuesday after his birthday. He is growing like a weed, which we kind of already knew! He is 42 1/4 inches tall (45%) and is 45 1/2 pounds (75%). His sight was 20/20 and she was overall pleased with his progress. She did recommend some gross motor PT for him as his lower legs are very tight and seem to restrict his movement, which is apparent when he runs and swims! Alistair continues to be OBSESSED with planes and helicopters and soaks up any information about them he learns! He is still swimming and is now also playing soccer. He seems to enjoy it and takes the class with a large handful of his friends!

Miss G's Stats

Gillian had her 2 year check-up last week and the doctor was very happy with how well Gillian is doing. Her official stats were: 34 inches tall (49%), 25 lbs 10oz (35%) and her had was 19 inches (65%).  Gillian demonstrated her jumping abilities, which showed Dr. Anderson her large motor skills were intact. When she walked in, Gillian was jumping around in her diaper! She was very social and interactive with Dr. Anderson. She told us that normally they like to see the kids at 30 months, mostly for a weight check, but since Gillian is obviously doing so well she felt comfortable skipping this appointment. That was nice to hear! (: So Gillian is doing very well, something we pretty much already knew!

Tacoma Adventures

Last week was Spring Break for Alistair. We didn't have anything planned, but managed to keep ourselves pretty busy. On Wednesday we headed down to Tacoma to babysit our niece/their cousin Heather. Katelin was at daycare and Jen & Ethan needed some help since her mom was unavailable. So we volunteered! It was a pretty fun day. Heather was a piece of cake, but it solidified my decision to only have 2 kids! Gillian loved helping out. She was on binky patrol. She would be in the other room and would hear the binky hit the floor and all of a sudden I would hear, "Uh-oh! Binky fall down!" She would come racing out from where she was, scoop up the binky and give it back to Heather. She was also on top of bringing her toys and stuffed animals as well as blankets!

Heather is a very smiley baby and very easy going. We had a good time together!

Gillian found the bumbo and decided to sit in it. She thought it was funny! (:

It's hard to believe Alistair is old enough to be able to hold a baby while standing! I had to have him hold her once while I tested her bottle, which made her stop crying and stare at Alistair. So I did it again later and took a photo! Alistair was very sweet with her too. He would randomly walk by, stop and kiss her on her forehead.

 Cousins! Too bad Katelin wasn't in the photo, I don't think we have a photo of the 4 of them yet!

That night we stayed at my parent's house and on Thursday my mom took the day off and we took the kids to Northwest Trek. It was a slightly wet and cold day, so not a lot of people there. We are a hearty crew and it paid off in spades for us! No crowds and the animals were all lively and moving about except the lazy black bears! On the tram ride we saw everything but moose. It was a fun day!

Happy Birthday Gillian!

Our little Miss Gillian has turned 2! It's hard to believe she is only 2, she is so smart and advanced for her age. But she also has her brother to emulate and learn from! Gillian was very tuned into her birthday! She talked about her "Happy Cake" quite a bit and does not shy away from the attention! Unlike her brother, she enjoyed the singing and clapping! She also enjoys cake, well at least the frosting part! We had a family party for her the weekend before her birthday and she had a grand time. She would open each present and then walk out into the middle of the room and hold up what she got for everyone to see! She is quite the showman!

Gillian doesn't have her 2 year appointment until the beginning of May, but I can tell you that she is growing leaps and bounds! She is for the most part into 24 month clothes, but still wears some 18 month stuff. She is getting much taller and I can see this because among other things she can now reach her light switch to turn it on and off. She kind of shows interest in potty training. We haven't pulled out the panties and done the official thing, but she wants to sit on the chair and she tells us when she is wet or dirty. She has a voracious appetite and does a fairly good job of eating. She is definitely pickier than Alistair was at that age. She is our snacker and our carb fiend for sure! Her vocabulary is huge and she has been known to utter up to 5 word sentences! She is a very good communicator. She of course loves her brother and follows him around all time, sometimes much to the dismay of Alistair! (:

Gillian is also our bruiser, our wild child and our dare devil. She has had more injuries since she started walking! On her birthday she tripped and fell while trying to following Alistair over some uneven cement steps. Thankfully the injury was more abrasion with a slight bruise, not a black eye! She does things Alistair never did at her age and she does things that she shouldn't do until she is Alistair's age! (: But we love her just the same. She is a shiny, bright star in our hearts and her sweet, little voice and big, toothy grin can brighten up the worst days! We love you Gillian! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

International Night

This year we took break from our usual French Night as the Sandholms didn't come out here this winter so they weren't able to join us. Carolyn & Njord and Seth and I still wanted a reason to get away for a couple of days and decided to invite our friends Tim & Megan McDaniel to join us and get away without kids for a few nights. We headed up to Camano Island and used Njord's parent's house while they were away on a cruise. It was a beautiful weekend and was so nice to have a couple of nights without the kids. I was still getting over being sick, so being able to catch up on some sleep as well as just relax really helped my cold finally move along!

Saturday afternoon we went down to Camano Island State Park to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunshine. It was a brisk day, but beautiful nonetheless!

We went for a beach theme for the centerpiece - shells, glass and rocks The guys prior to the appetizer Us all fancied upOur first Course: Smoked Salmon Stuffed Crab Cakes with Avocado Wasabi Tartar Sauce
Second Course: French Onion Soup

Third Course: Apricot Glazed Game Hen over Apricot and Fennel Wild Rice Stuffing with Roasted Butternut Squash

Fourth Course: Green Apple and Fennel Salad with a Light Vinaigrette

Fifth Course: Cheese (:

Sixth Course: Cranberry Obsession Snow Cake Seventh Course: Nuts!

Lots of Wine!

First Camping Expedition of the Year

The first weekend in February we headed out to Grayland Beach with my parents and Ann & Bob who brought Carrie. We had a fun time, for the most part. I was getting over have a 24 hours bug, Seth got the 24 hour bug while we were camping and Alistair was discovered to have an ear infection the morning we left (we got him on antibiotics). But other than that, we had a blast! The kids had a lot of fun playing together. This is my favorite photo of them, I call it Oshkosh and Rainboots! Saturday the adults of the group, minus Seth and I, headed into town to go to the Westport Winery Wine Weekend and met David & Judy and Uncle Dan & Aunt Donna. When they had had their fill, they headed back to came and we all hung out for the day, had a few meals and played between rain drops. While they were gone, we took the kids out to the beach. Alistair & Carrie wanted to dig in the sand. Alistair found a chair leg from a plastic chair that did a decent job.

On the way to the beach, there is this bench with a nice view of the water. They are taking it all in!

We also played in the amphitheater where Alistair & Carrie took turns setting up movies we were going to watch and telling us the synopsis before we "watched" it!

Gillian assisted

Sunday before we left, we walked out for one for beach viewing. Nana & Papa with half of their grand kids.

We missed Daddy, he went home with Grandma & Grandpa Saturday night so he could get over being sick.