Children's museum in Lancaster, PA

On another day of the trip we went to a children's museum in Lancaster, PA. The kids had a blast playing here. They had a little pretend grocery store, they had a dress-up section with tons of costumes and hats, and a mechanical section where they could learn about science and much more! Jillian's favorite thing to do was play dress up. Ethan's was the mechanical section. They are just like mommy and daddy!


Jillian having fun dressing up!

Ethan played dress-up a little bit too. He mostly just liked the hats. He didn't want to put on any costumes though.

Silly glasses!

She has on a dress and two different skirts. The more the better in her eyes :)

Playing grocery store!

Ethan at the check-out counter

Ethan and Mick trying to construct something on the wall. Mick got into this too. Children's museums are not just for kids!

Playing at the grocery store some more.

Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania

On one of the days of our vacation, we went to the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pa. you can ride on a real train car and they serve you snacks and tell you all about the history of the train and the area. The kids loved when the train blew it's whistle!


Enjoying the ride!

After the ride, they had a few fun things for the kids to do. This was called "cranky cars" where you make them go by cranking the handles with your hands. They loved this one.

They weren't too happy that we didn't have any quarters to make the ride turn on!

Jillian having fun on the "cranky cars"

Rare family picture. I'm always the one behind the camera.

We went to Kristin Staples again for Easter pictures this year and I love how they turned out! The kids had so much fun playing with the little chicks. There was also a bunny, but it kept hopping away, so we didn't get any pictures with him. The chicks helped get some big smiles! Happy Easter everyone!

Soccer!

The kids have been playing soccer for the last few weeks and they are on a team with all of their good friends. Jillian doesn't really play much, but Ethan is just starting to enjoy himself! He got off to a rough start. I think all of the noise and kids running around everywhere scared him a little, but he's got the hang of it now. They will be playing for 3 more weeks and then we may be moving on to T-ball. Here are some pics of their game today...

Go Ethan!!!

Ethan during the warm-up

Jillian doing what she does best during the games...standing around. She is usually also seen against the wall eating a snack. Maybe she just needs to be a cheerleader for the team! She may follow in her mommy's footsteps and not be very athletic.

Jillian decided to pout because she wanted Mick to hold her and he was trying to help Ethan play the game. She decided to be a little bit of a drama queen for a few minutes.

She loves her Daddy!

We celebrated Ethan's 4th Birthday last week! I can not believe he is already 4 years old. Time has gone by so fast and it's hard realizing that your baby is not a baby anymore. We celebrated his Birthday with all of his closest friends at Coco's funhouse! It's nothing but huge inflatables for kids to jump, slide and climb until they poop out! He definately slept well that night. His party theme was Thomas the Train, his favorite character right now. We surprised him with the train table he really wanted and it felt like Christmas morning when he woke up to his very own train table with all sorts of new trains! Our families chipped in to help us get it for him and he loves it!! Jillian loves it too, so they have been having so much fun playing together with their new trains. What a fun Birthday!!

Can you tell he's soooo happy it's his Birthday! He kept singing "Happy Birthday" to himself. Too cute




Reagan

Opening presents. He got some great gifts. Thanks to all of our friends!

Lucas and Jillian enjoying their juice

Lucas

Weeeeee!!!!

My sweet Birthday Boy!

Ethan and Ava

The cupcake train I made for Ethan's "Thomas the Train" Birthday! Here's what you need to make it: Graham crackers, icing (used as "glue), and oreo cookies (blonde oreos and chocolate oreos). First, take two blonde oreos and place them side-by-side. Dot with white icing (any kind of icing will work). Then put a graham cracker on top of the iced oreos long-ways. Next, make the wheels with chocolate oreos and use icing as the "glue" on the sides of the graham cracker (pictured above). Then simply put two cupcakes on top. You can make the train as long as you want. I happened to have a Thomas the train that I used in front of the train. It's that simple!

Ava

Ethan got a "Happy Birthday" Thomas train

We couldn't resist getting Jillian a little pink train too. She has her very own train now!

The train table! We still need to work out the tracks a little better, but it is fine for now. Mick had a lof of fun putting it all together.