Sizzling September....

It certainly looks like a few slices of pizza, but really, this plate contains one of our family's time honored traditions--"Food Challenge."  Since Tony and Wendy first met, they enjoyed comparing/contrasting the goodness/benefits of like items (food, drink, restaurants, etc.) to determine which was more superior based upon various criteria.  There have been beer and donut challenges, but nothing quite competes with a good 'ol fashioned PIZZA challenge.  To make it even more interesting, we kicked off September's challenges with a dual challenge--pizza and ice cream--just to keep it interesting. And so, the challenge began--placing cheese pizza from the well known pizza chain Bertucci's against local joint (and favorite of the family), Pizza Factory!

The boys give consideration to both pieces...and really take their time...

Daddy and Abs too have a taste of the sauce, amount of cheese, flavor of the crust....

In the end, and after results were tallied, local joint Pizza Factory emerged as the victor, while two family-owned ice cream joints battled for place. Interestingly, when all was said and done, Mad Maggie's chocolate far surpassed Benson's, yet Benson's vanilla earned top honors for flavor profile and depth of flavor over Mad Maggies. Just a little fun to get the kids more comfortable with their palettes. We feel this is a necessary if we ever wish to dine out at a restaurant that doesn't have chicken fingers on the menu. :)

Each year, we somehow manage to gain visits from our Colombian and South American relatives right around the Fall timeframe. We know they come for the changing color of the leaves, pumpkin ale and apple picking of course..but we enjoy the company nonetheless. One of our favorite New England destinations for our out of town visitors is Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine. It is a quick car ride to the coast, and there are plenty of fabulous restaurants, taverns and hot spots to visit after the mile+ walk is complete. This year was no exception as we traveled northbound with South American cousin Graciela and her son in tow....

Just look at that gorgeous coastline!

Graciela poses for her perfect Maine shot....

 After our guests departed, we were back on track to enjoy all that New England has to offer--including the King Richard's Renaissance Faire in Carver, MA.  Tony and Wendy first went together when pregnant with Abby, and have wanted to return ever since. This was the first year in many that the A-Team put on their royal gear and headed south to enjoy 'becoming a knight' and of course, the festival ending joust!

The royal court sits in preparation for the joust...

One of the jousters has a quick swig of 'ale before fighting. :)

Alec gets his flag signed by one of the jousters....

Abby stands beside her favorite, the Blue Knight!

Aramis of course selects the Red Knight, who walked off in victory! :) 

The battle was brutal and mean....but in the end, all had an agreeable time!

The kids learned about sword making/Blacksmithing

And also took away the knowledge that cannons are just too complicated to operate. :)

Our September ended with an increase in knowledge and appreciation for all that we have. 

Twins Birthday....Superhero Style

Happy Birthday Twins!!

Yes, the Big 6 for the royal twins arrived this September, and to no one's surprise, they are extremely fond of superheroes. In fact, they are fond of superheros some have heard very little about--like Hawkman. Hawkman?? Who knew??

To properly celebrate this monumental year during which our boys became significantly more independent and started the 'big school,' we felt they needed to really 'work' for their birthday surprises. So, leveraging some historic practices from years gone by, we set up a string maze for the kids. And, it wasn't your average, everyday string maze, it was a super large, multi-floor, multi-room and multi-dimensional maze that they had to navigate from start to finish to uncover their prizes at the very end. Let's just say this effort took a few hours....and Mom got a few loads of laundry done when she wasn't helping out or snapping photos... :) 

Opening their hard earned goodies....

Birthday Brothers for life...so cute!

Fall begins...Summer Bucket List - Part V

Even though school started earlier for us this year, we had not yet completed our Summer Bucket List and had full intentions of getting through at least 90% of it. We therefore strapped on our gear and started ticking off activities, one of which was a trip to Tennessee, to visit the new home of our cousins. On the way, of course, we just HAD to stop by Hershey's Chocolate World--and so, the adventure began....

It was a quick nighttime layover on our travels south, which culminated at this gorgeous southern home...

and with these beautiful people....

We spent several lovely days alongside our favorite cousins, Grandma and Aunt/Uncle in their new digs.  To figure out what there is to do around town, we traveled the perimeter and found Brights Zoo and a fun afternoon with the animals was enjoyed by the kidlets. (Bucket List item CHECK!)

Aramis' favorite are Capuchin monkeys...

...although Abby enjoys watching the pink flamingos sleep on one leg. :) 

Trying to figure out in which direction to go was the biggest concern of the day...

Until...we happened upon a hungry giraffe, whose long neck literally reached out and 'touched' us! :) 

Our trip south brought us to some interesting dining spots as well...such as Cracker Barrel...

...and Waffle House. 

It was our visit to Waffle House that really caught us off guard. Dining out with Grandma Mary, and 5 young children, we ordered tons of waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, coffee and juice, and when the bill was requested...we were kindly told that our meal had been 'taken care of.'  Now, those that read our blog and know our family understand how serious we are about Random Acts of Kindness and how often we complete them. For the first time EVER, a RAK had been returned to us--and a BIG one at that! As the kind wait staff hid the good Samaritan's identity from us, we felt compelled to at least leave a note expressing our gratitude for the meal and kindness, and it gave us an extra boost to do even more this year as it was the first time we'd ever had the RAK'd theory returned to us. Although we'll never know WHY someone decided to pick up our meal (they saw a child with special needs; thought we needed a hand out; saw we were from out of town or just general kindness), we were inspired and rejuvenated by the good deed shown us in the state of Tennessee. 

We combined home school lessons with field trips this summer, our travels took us to the Ecotarium once again, where the kidlets learned about science concepts in a 'real world' environment. One of the most adrenaline-stirring live exhibits was the live bee hive inside the museum, which was created indoors and had clear piping leading outside the museum so that bees could come and go, and build their honeycomb, but no harm or bother visitors. The kids loved seeing how honeycomb was made and how bees swarmed together as they developed it.

Alec enjoyed all the reptiles..especially the turtles

We visited our friend,  Sigfried..the friendly stegasaurus. 

And, even though our kids despise chores/laundry/dishes, they had NO trouble enjoying the bubble adventure stations--big and small. Surprise, surprise! :) 

During the final weeks of summer/early Fall and after our science lessons, the timing was perfect for additional Scavenger Hunt/Adventure Hikes. Our little adventurers/scientists grabbed their magnifying lenses, lists, and tweezers, and set out to locate new (and old) items and learn more about nature. 

On one of our hikes, the kids located some human-placed rock formations, which served as perfect 'stages' for our charismatic little guys (and gal).  Can you say 'strike a pose?'

After all that hard work, the kids just wanted to kick back in the early evening hours. We took full advantage of our fire pit, and enjoyed s'mores, ghost stories and just spent time looking at the stars.  This quiet time served as great moments to just LISTEN to our kids. Hear their dreams, worries, happy moments, and simply connect with them. We gained a lot from listening and felt as if this summer brought our family even closer together as these little beings grow their individual and independent personalities. These are the moments when parents stop and realize just how cool it is to BE a parent. 

S'more anyone??