Belly Laughs

Here are two short videos of Jack laughing. He hast a great laugh to share and these movies capture just a bit of it.

Jack's vocabulary continues to grow. Quinn's swimming lessons are ending tomorrow.

Upcoming events -- trips to the county fair (heeee hawww!) and a night cheering on our local minor league baseball team.

Little men doing Big things

Wow! What a day! Quinn lost his 2nd tooth (right next to the first one he lost). Jack continues to dazzle us with his wizz-dom (Ha!), continuing to tell us when it's time to go to the bathroom. He also has been reading letters and counting a bit for us too. The boys certainly keep us on our toes. It's hard to keep up with them both lately.

Urine alert!!!!

Jack took a leak into the toilet today (after 6 years, I've grown a little tired of saying "peed in the potty"). The crazy thing is he did it all himself. He simply pulled his stool right up in front, looked to Cindy for help and presto! I've done absolutely nothing to encourage him and Cindy has only propped him up there once or twice before.

No photos were taken and even if they were, I'd doubt you'd want to see it. Hooray for reclaimed money spent on diapers!

Back into the normal swing of things ...

Daddy had an exceptionally busy week (of course) after returning from the big beach trip. The heat is on here again ... in the office and outside. The boys hit the kiddie pools. Check out Jack's towel technique.

We hope to get some shots of Quinn at the ol' swimming hole (where he takes his lessons) soon.

It's all over (turn off the lights ... turn off the lights)

We had a good time on our trip. On Thursday, Quinn said he had enough of the beach and proclaimed he wasn't going on Friday. Come Friday morning, he was down there with Jack and I enjoying his best beach day of the trip. We finally caught a handful of hermit crabs and actually had Jack's kiddie pool set up which quickly doubled as an aquarium. Some kids from Virginia helped out too. While we were eating lunch back at the condo, they found about 9 more so there were about a dozen in the pool when we got back. Jack enjoyed stepping on them and loading the pool up with sand so the crabs could continue to burrow.

Quinn and Travis both got swept right off their feet by some impressive waves Friday. I literally got turned over twice underwater as I bodysurfed a couple into shore. Travis didn't think he would have fun on his trip without bringing one of his goober friends along but I knew better. He had alot more fun than even he expected. Hey Kim - ask him about Ocean City's public transportation system. That's right -- I made him take the bus -- at night! (photos of bus excursions not posted to protect the innocent --- and guilty). We are proud of Travis and impressed with his meticulous plan to become a fire fighter (and then some). Seeing the fireman's memorial seemed somewhat prophetic. He can come back anytime. Brittaney -- we will be visiting Lancaster County, Pennsylvania when it's your turn to come to New York. I'll bet you never thought the Amish could be so much fun.

This blog only focuses on the positive things so I'm not going to write about Quinn's new found susceptability to car sickness or his awful behavior on the way home. I'm also not going to write about Jack's constant recitation of the words "Pee! Poop!" or "Hat!"(his name for Travis) at maximum volume at all times of day and in all possible places. I'm also not going to talk about the 15-20 miles of traffic that cost us 90 minutes in New Jersey today. Nope, I'm just going to conclude by saying we had a great time.

Ye olde kiddie park

My boys love these things. We unleashed Jack for the first time in a kiddie amusement park and he could barely control himself. All 1 year old boys should have the right to operate minature bumper boats!

The woman depicted in the photo with Quinn & Jack in the train car is Cindy Schneider. She is the boys' mother. Some of our regular viewers recently requested photographic proof that she still lives with us.

Travis update -- Rumor has it he met a lovely girl here in Ocean City. I cannot confirm or deny the rumor however. My information comes from a questionable source (Travis).

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From Bryan's Treo

Easy livin'

We are very comfortable in our home away from home. Our family enjoyed a nice ferris wheel ride Sunday night (Jack's first - he was mesmerized). The boys have spent their fair share of time in the sand. Jack has a love/hate relationship with it --- one day he loves it, the other he hates it.

Quinn rode his first ''big kid'' rides yesterday. His ''girlfriend'' Madeleine (time of relationship - 20 minutes) aggressively courted him onto a circular ride that squishes you into a corner as it whips you around.

Travis & I rented jet skis today. Wow. Traveling at 59 mph (maximum speed) on choppy water is invigorating. We had to hold on REALLY tight. We both got airborne. Moms - no need to worry. It's a one time thing.

Jack woke up particularly early on Monday so he and I enjoyed a sunrise bike ride on the boardwalk. They open it up to bikers in the early mornings. Nothing says ''vacation with infants'' like a 6:30 a.m. 9 mile ride.

A pod of dolphins fed just offshore today. Quinn & Travis liked that.

Travis loves crabs. They steam & spice'em good here (disclaimer - beer depicted in photo was Bryan & Cindy's. Honest.)

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From Bryan's Treo

Today's Beach visit

Today was supposed to be a washout but the weather has been good. We were able to get to the beach. Jack was very tentative at the shore and in his pool car floatie thing. As you can see in the photo, he's grabbing onto his safety handle for reassurance.

Quinn, however, has been splashing up a storm. He and I spent a good part of the morning digging up hermit crabs (one is depicted in his hand in the photo). Then, to honor those crabs, Cindy, Travis & I ate some regular crabs.

Off to the boardwalk tonight!

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From Bryan's Treo

We're at the ocean!

All of the boys (Travis too) were thrilled to see the ocean today. The skies were threatening when we arrived but it was plenty warm & humid so we let Cindy unpack everything after unloading the jammed packed Toyota.

The two pics from the beach today show Jack & Travis experiencing their first encounter with the ocean sand & sea. The third is a photo of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan from my trip with Travis to New York.

Thanks to Kevin for setting up the mobile blog.

Happy Birthday America!

Our nephew Travis has enjoyed his visit to New York. He'll be joining us on our family trip to Ocean City, MD tomorrow. Our car is packed to the gills even with the on the roof car storage.

Here are some photos of the boys with their cousin. I hope to get some pics up from the beach. We'll see how it goes.

Below is a short video of Jack saying "Daa-dee". His speech is improving every day. He is complaining like the best of us.

Potpurri

No photos of the big news of the day but Quinn is thriving in his new swimming lesson class. He goes for lessons at the ol' swimming hole just up the block from us. Quite frankly, I wouldn't go swimming there but he and his friends love it and it's alot cheaper than where we took him last year.

In court Monday, I was recognized as "the lawyer from TV" and picked up a case from my pure "stardom". It's kinda cool.

Vacation

My last day of work before 11 days of vacation was today. It kinda began last night when I made a late night trip to New York to pick up our 18 y.o. nephew Travis for his first visit to us. I'm taking him back to New York tomorrow for a jampacked tour which will include a variety of destinations. Because he is 18 and a guy, he was very interested in a certain museum I brought to his attention for a laugh. This is a family friendly site so I'll tell you what it is but in a censored fashion --- Museum of S-x. It's true. So we'll see what that's all about among visiting some more traditional locations.