Memorial Day Weekend

The past week has been all about visiting with old friends, and its been amazing. 

Last week, Marino and I went to dinner with my friend Joelle and her fiance, Maggie. Joelle lives in San Francisco and I haven't had a chance to see her in many years (10 maybe?). It was so great to catch up and meet Maggie. Marino fell in love with them right away. He wanted to sit on Maggie's lap, eat dinner with her, whisper in her ear, etc. He immediately decided he loved them and it was so sweet. 

By the way, we went to the Silver Diner and between all of us and our various food limitations: 1 vegan, 1 vegetarian, 1 egg-free, 1 gluten/dairy free, we all had plenty of menu options. They've really expanded their vegetarian options! 

Saturday morning we headed to New Jersey to spend some time with my bestie Sonia and her girls. As always, the kids immediately picked up where they left off and had a great time playing and performing musical numbers for us :) 

Baby Alana will be chasing after them very soon! 

Love this picture and these kids! 

Sunday afternoon, we all  headed to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. My friend Robyn and her family met us there. We've been once before, but they've added new attractions since then and it really is the best aquarium we've been to. Its very interactive and Marino loves it! 

Here's Matthew, Ryan and Marino with Mike the Alligator. 

Marino hamming it up outside...he decided there were so many seagulls around, there must be a "seagull party" and started dancing. 

Poor Alana was cutting all her molars and not a happy girl all weekend, but she's still adorable! 

Look at that sweet face! 

Marino and Ryan waiting to touch "Splashy" the stingray with two fingers. 

Here he is! 

Cat, Nena and Marino saying hi to the penguins. 

Sonia and I

After the aquarium, we went back to Robyn's house to play. The boys had a great time together. They are like puppies, constantly pouncing on each other and wrestling. They disappeared for a bit at one point and came back like this...

Gotta love the marching band! 

We had such a great time visiting with all our old friends! 

Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey

Last weekend, Evan, Marino and I headed up to New Jersey to visit Sonia, Wil, Catalina and Siena. As always, we had a great time visiting them and the kids got along wonderfully. I am excited to meet the 3rd sister in December!

Saturday, we headed down to Camden to visit the Adventure Aquarium. I've never been to an aquarium I didn't like, but this one was amazing. I would make the trip here over going to the aquarium in Baltimore - it is that awesome. It's very interactive - lots of hands-on stuff for the kids, which, at this age, is really the key to keeping them engaged.

By the way, if you think you want to go anytime in the next year, buy tickets online now! They're on sale for $15 (normally $22.95) and good for 12 months from the purchase date.

Here's a picture of Sonia and I with the kids. Doesn't Sonia look amazing? She's the tiniest pregnant woman, ever! Cat insisted on wearing this bandaid on her face after a run-in with the wall.

They even had hippos at this aquarium. They are sort of cute, but very smelly!

The girls call Wil "Papi" and Marino started calling him that, as well, apparently not realizing that Papi is equivalent to "Daddy." When Marino saw this picture he said "There are two Papis in this picture." Watching the sea lions. Marino sat down and said "I want to watch this movie". I said "This is real life, buddy!"

Is that a big crab or what?!

How cute is Nena?

Best part of the day - touching the stingrays. Marino is still talking about this "I touch the stingray with 2 fingers. Not 5. The stingray is squishy."

Dancing with Daddy.

You could also touch a shark. Marino's arm wasn't long enough, but Evan got to touch one.

Cat and this shark match!

Is this eel creepy or what?! AHHH!

He looked liked this a lot while we were there!

Love this!

Can't wait to see everyone next month when Siena turns 2!