Summer's Over? Bucket List for Fall

Summer's over and I've barely posted about all the amazing things we did. I'll catch up one day. But instead of being bummed that summer's over, I wanted to make a list of fun things I want to do this Fall with my boys.

• Apple Picking
• Pumpkin Picking
• Hiking Here, Here, Here
• Haunted House/Haunted Trains
• B&O Railroad Museum

Meeting Cousins

..slowly catching up...One of the things we got to do last month was meet our newest cousins! My cousin Carter has two children (and a wife) I hadn't met because they live across the country. Noah is 3 1/2 and Zoey is 3 months old. Stephanie and I email each other but this was our first time meeting. She was as sweet and funny as I expected and the kids got along great. Marino and Noah have similar energy levels (crazy) and they had a blast together. Marino really likes being the "big" cousin. I was surprised, but Marino was very interested in Baby Zoey. When she was sad, he sang her lullabies and even made up a song about her where she was a "super girl" and one day she will be as cool as Marino. He's something else. We met at Port Discovery in Baltimore and had a blast!

Noah was less enthusiastic about picture taking than Marino. 

Two peas in a pod

Making giant bubbles

Me, Steph and Zoey

How cute is this?

Gassing up the car, checking the tire pressure. What a team!

Snuggling Zoey

Too much! I think Marino was wearing Noah out by this point!

Fawning over Zoey

Marino's lullaby for Zoey

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. We visited our friends in NJ last week and we went to see a movie. Marino said to the cashier at the theater, "You look like Tony Stark." (Tony Stark is Iron Man, if you're not familiar). The cashier said that is the look he was going for.

4. The other morning, at 4am, Marino woke me up to inform me that his new stuffed Green Lantern watches over him and keeps him safe at night (seriously, he woke me up just to tell me that and then went back to bed). The other night he told me he couldn't sleep because he is afraid of the dark. I asked him what happened to Green Lantern watching over him and he said, "Sometimes Green Lantern is afraid of the dark. And now is a sometime."

3. The other day, Marino came home from school with half of his lunch uneaten. I asked him why he didn't eat it all. He said "I didn't have time. I was practicing using my voice."

2. Marino has decided he loves babies and wants a baby sister. The other day he announced, "Mommy, I want you to have a baby sister in your belly. A sister that will live with me. Her name will be Gabriella."

1. On our road trip last week, Marino and I were listening to NPR. He heard the word "mention" and asked me what it means. I explained it to him and 30 minutes later he said, "Mommy, did I mention I want to stop at Old McDonald's?"

5 on Friday (lots of videos!)

5 recent videos of my silly boy.

5 on Friday...errr..Monday (with video)

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. We went to a concert the other day and Marino asked for a balloon dog. After he got it, he snuggled it like it was a puppy. Very cute!

Playing "dog friends" with his buddy Jace.

4.  Speaking of the concert, check out Marino dancing at the concert. This boy has way too much energy! 

 

3. The other day on our Metro adventure, Marino sat in front of an ad for makeup, featuring 2 women.  Marino looked at it and said, "Mommy, there's two girls in that picture. But if there were three, then it would be perfect!"

2. Marino is still the snuggliest boy ever. Whenever I'm putting him to bed, he asks me "Can I sleep with my face under your face?" Its not possible for us to sleep too close for him!

1. Reading a book with Marino is always interesting. He is always relaying his stream of consciousness. Some gems while reading Animal Boogie the other night..."Whoa, whoa. That kid is going to get himself killed standing next to a leopard's claws."   "Mommy, I can see that girl's buns." 

Visiting Pappy & Nannie

My grandfather and his wife are now living in DC for part of the year - YAY! We went to visit them for lunch last weekend and had a great time. Marino taught them how to play Go Fish;)

Go Nats!

I'll be honest and say I'm so woefully behind on blogging that I've thought about giving it up altogether. But I still feel the urge, and I love documenting my boy as he grows, so I'm sticking around for now. 

Last weekend we took him on his first Metro ride. He had been asking for months to ride the Metro, and he was so excited. He didn't stop talking the entire way there or back! He loved it and loved checking out the map with Evan to see where we were and how many more stops we had. 

Our destination was the Washington Nationals game. We had a great time, even more so because the Nats were playing wonderfully. Marino was very into it and would throw his arms up and cheer whenever they made a run. 

Nationals Park has a great little playground for kids and Marino had a lot of fun there. 

We had good seats, but whoa, was it hot! The sun was really rough. We had to take shade breaks!

The park is gorgeous. And they have gluten-free snacks, including GF pretzels!

It was a fun adventure!