Paul

Paul is half way done with his 6 week family medicine rotation on Friday. So far, it seems to be going pretty quickly. He spends 2 weeks at 3 different locations. The first place was very relaxed and very much Paul's style. He got to participate in many different procedures and examinations. He came home each night with new exciting things (although most people wouldn't call a rectal exam exciting, he thought it was interesting) he got to do there. This second location is a little more strict and he hasn't been able to participate as much as he would like, but is still loving the family practice gig. The new location opens at 9 and all the doctors leave at 2... He said he wants to sit down with them and figure out how they do that and still make money. :) The boys were excited this one day he let us pick him up from work. It was a big deal for them, they love any extra time they get with him, and so do I. :)

Good job Paul, we are so proud of you. PS, how good does Paul look all dressed up, white coat and all?!?! I love it.

forgotten adventures 1-4

While cleaning out my photos to put them onto my external hard drive, I discovered 4 adventures that were not documented. They all happened in May just before we left on our huge trip, so it makes sense that I forgot. Anyway, here they are...

Trip to the zoo with playgroup.

There were 5 moms and a ton of kiddos. Here are the pics from that day. They spent a lot of time looking at the animals and asking questions. It was a very mentally exhausting day for me. :) I didn't realize they were at the questioning stage yet... "Where's the tiger's mommy?" "Is the monkey hungry?" "What does he eat when the bananas are gone?"

The boys especially had a blast in the splash park there. They ran around like crazy for almost 2 hours.

Then before we left they saw this sign (they had been doing "the scoop on poop" as an exhibit) and were completely intrigued... gross huh, but funny.

Continental Park.

We went to this playground for the first time, it was pretty fun. It's partly covered which is nice in case of rain or hot sun, but a lot of the climbing structures were too big for my boys. They had fun anyway, but I think we will only go back if someone else is going and they invite us.

Dinner picnic with Jack Dubois.

Paul's friend and fellow Ross student Jack Dubois (he has such a fun last name, we always say it too, he's never just plain Jack) came with us to the dinosaur park for a picnic dinner. Cucumber sandwiches were on the menu, and it was delicious. The boys had fun running around and eating bites here and there, and of course soaking up the extra daddy attention. Jack has since left Miami and is in California with his parents awaiting his step score. We miss him. The boys thought he was their friend. :)

Day at Seaquarium with Paul.

I don't remember why Paul took off this day, maybe he was finished with his test already...? It is always much better when he is with us. Here are the pictures from that day:

They had a special pirate day event happening that day. The boys were happy to be the first to try out all the stuff. They played games and got prizes and jumped on the bounce house slide thing and made pirate hats and said "Arrr!" the whole way to the car.

beach boys

We are loving being back here in Miami. The weather is nice, even on days it rains, it always clears up. Hurricane Irene completely skipped over us, which was lovely. I am SO looking forward to more days like this at the beach with my boys. These pics are from a couple weeks ago now, we did our usual, hang out at the beach until Seaquarium opens, then over there until lunch, then home for naps.

It is so much easier with Paul there for help, which rarely ever happens because of his busy schedule, but since this is how he feels after one morning with the boys, you can imagine how tiring it is for me when I am alone and BIG pregnant... :)

Hopefully this baby will like the beach as much as my boys and I do, because we have lots of plans...

Matix's 3rd birthday party!!

Today we had Matix's 3rd birthday party! His real birthday isn't for another 2 weeks, but with the changing due dates and everything, I didn't want him to feel left out since we have been talking about it forever. Here is the invite.

So, Paul and I stayed up late for our date night last night (not as romantic as other date nights have been :) blowing up balloons, cutting out dinosaur footprints, baking cupcakes, sorting party favors from the prizes, and so on and so on. We got everything ready and then early this morning we headed out to the dinosaur park. It already has climbing structures that are dinosaurs, and everything is green (which is one of Matix's favorite colors, so I was informed about a few weeks ago), and it is shaded, and it is completely fenced in. Perfect for a dinosaur party, right? :) Paul, my very patient hubby, hung up the nearly 30+ balloons all around the little pavilion. Then I set up the cake, gift bags, and cupcake decorating materials while Paul sweat it up with the boys running around and playing on the playground.

Then was the hard part. Waiting for his friends to show up. :) Luckily we had TONS of candies and things to keep the boys busy.

Friends started coming and Matix told them all "Thank you SO much for coming to my dinosaur party!" or "You're my best friend at my dinosaur party!" or "It's my dinosaur party today!" He was SO excited. In these pictures are Kenny (his new best friend), then Ana (his older wannabe girlfriend), and Sister Garcia (his nursery teacher, whom he loves!). I wish I got a picture of everyone, it was a pretty good turnout...

After a little while, we played a few games. The first was dinosaur egg cracking. Paul and I had stuffed little squishy dinosaurs into balloons and then blew them up. The game was super simple. "Crack" your dinosaur egg and you get a baby dinosaur. All the kids enjoyed the game, even the little ones I thought might be scared of the loud noise, but the promise of a toy to KEEP was worth it, I guess. :)

We also played a dinosaur tracks games. Paul hid cut out paper tracks over by a huge tree, the kids had to find a track and bring it back to me to get their prize. These prizes were either little stuffed dinos or little action figure type dinos (like the ones on the cake). I didn't get any pictures of this one, but they liked it too. Very simple and not stressful for the parents, just the way I like it.

The kids also got to decorate their own cupcakes. This has been something we have done at each birthday party, and I think we will continue. It is so much fun. The kids love to make their own one and show it off to the other kids. Even the adults get in on the decorating! So fun.

Then we sang Happy Birthday to Matix. I really can't believe he is (going to be) 3!!! What a big boy. He loved all the attention, and hugs, and fun.

Thank you to everyone who came and showed Matix how much he is loved. It was a great day.