July 3rd

We celebrated Marino's birthday so many times, I forgot to mention what we did on his actual birthday! Evan and I brought cupcakes to Marino's preschool in the morning. They have this whole little ceremony on the kid's birthdays where the parents come and show pictures of the kids from each year of their life. It was cute (Marino looked embarrassed).

After school and work, we headed over to the Rockville Town Center for Kid's Night. This week was a lizard show and we ran into some friends from school, which made it even more fun!

First our buddy Alex came by to say hi and wish Marino a happy birthday (and give him an awesome gift). So sweet!

Marino had a balloon sword fight with some friends from school...

Watching the lizards with Daddy

Baby gator (cute!)

After the show, we met up with some friends and family and headed over to our favorite restaurant, Taste of Saigon.

We had some yummy food (pho/spaghetti soup for Marino), sang Happy Birthday, and Marino had an eggless cupcake.

We had a great time celebrating Marino's special day with our family and friends!

Marino's 4th Birthday Party

After a 6 day delay, we had Marino's rescheduled birthday party later the same week of the storm. We were fortunate that a lot of his friends were still able to attend. As expected, Marino had a great time. He requested this party specifically (at Pump It Up, a bounce house place). We did the "glow party" where they turn down the lights and give the kids glow in the dark necklaces (and a flashing LED wand for the birthday boy). About halfway through the party we ended up asking for the lights back on, since there were some falls in the more complicated bouncy houses).

All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Mine especially!

Here's some of the kids at the party: Sophia, Ariana, Pacifico, Aiden, Marino, Sydney, Carter and Ike. Aiden is the big brother of Marino's friend from school, Tommy, but the two of them get along famously.

Pacifico in the letter "P"

Marino in his birthday throne, cracking up with his "best friend" Ike

Marino, post-slide

Emilia, Pacifico and their Daddy

Hanging out in his birthday throne with his buddies: Gabrielle and Sydney, Carter and Ike

Claire and a cupcake

Tommy is excited about his eggless cupcake!

Frosting face...he thought this was hilarious!

Eggless cupcakes and toppers

Friends

Marino's "girlfriend" Sophia

Our buddy Aaron in action

Quick snuggle with Daddy in between bouncing

Jumping for joy with Gabrielle

Tony and his daddy

My friend Noah was soooo excited about the party. Before we went in the room, he said "Sara? This is going to be so great!"

Our buddy Sydney

Chalkboard mats and chalk were in the favor bags...here's Pacifico putting his to use.

 Marino's long time friend, Delaney, after sliding

  We're so glad so many of our friends could make it, in spite of the short notice. Thanks for bouncing with us!

Ocean City, MD

On unique thing about our little family is that we all have birthdays within a few days of each other. This year, instead of giving each other gifts, we decided to take a mini-vacation to Ocean City. We booked 2 nights at the Francis Scott Key Family Resort, which is about a mile from the shore. What a great place! It was affordable, the staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful and the amenities for kids were wonderful! They have a pirate ship splash playground, an awesome indoor pool, an outdoor pool, mini-golf, nightly movies and popcorn for the kids, an arcade, a fishing pond and a shuttle to the beach. We definitely didn't have time to do all we wanted in 2 days, but we had a great time.

Our first stop was Grotto's Pizza to get gluten-free pizza for my birthday. Yum!
How handsome are my boys?

After an afternoon at the beach, we headed to Layton's on 92nd for gluten-free chocolate chip pancakes for my birthday dinner. They were amazing!!

Birthday hugs from my favorite boy

Marino was loving this pirate in the lobby of Layton's

It was HOT all weekend (around 100 degrees) but we still enjoyed the beach. Marino got some great new beach toys for his birthday and we enjoyed trying them all!

Waiting for the beach shuttle

Fun times with Daddy in the water

Crabby boy

Fun at the splash playground

Hanging out in hotel room

On our second night there, we met up with my Aunt Kerry (who was in OC visiting a friend) and had dinner at Hooper's Crabhouse. I wasn't a big fan of the place, but I don't eat crabs (I'm allergic)...Evan and Kerry said the food was good. We spent some time trying to convince Marino to try the crab but he refused.

We were sad to leave but we're excited for our next trip to the beach!