Night time bike rides and firefly catching!
Watching their iPads! There were a few fights over them, but they got along for the most part. They loved watching movies on them every night.
Mr. Softy ice cream on the grass! Doesn't get better than this! He plays the music when he rides down the street and all the kids have finely tuned ears ready for him to pass by and sucker Poppy into ice cream!
Ezra with his buddy, and twin, Pop Pop
Ezra got lots of cuddle time with everyone!
But mostly with Rachel. She took a real liking to Ez and spent lots of time with him. She was always trying to help Erin feed him, get him dressed, hold him, play with him, etc. She was just a little Mom. And Ezra loved her too! They were pretty cute together!
Grammy trying to get some actual food in these two before bed time. They were on a healthy diet of M&M's and ice pops!
Grammy bought some fun yard games for us to play.
We had a birthday dinner for Doug and Julie at Bellagio's one night, with cannoli's for their birthday desserts!
Grammy hired a couple of babysitters to help out with all the kids. It was very nice. Sometimes they would take all the kids to McDonalds for lunch and then let them run around and play in the play place. The kids loved it!
Enjoying their ketchup!
And of course iPads in the car, having a dance party
Grammy and Poppy's backyard is grandkid central! It's the perfect backyard for kids! So many fun things to play on!
Ezra and Cora had some fun playing together. Just 6 months apart.
Lots of gathering in Danny's room to put him to bed. Always turns into a 30 minute talk sesh and sing-a-long. Everyone loves hanging out with Uncle Dan in his room
And Dan is such a good sport about letting the kids climb all over him and playing horsey for them.
Lots of water balloon blowing up and popping!!
Snapping some pics to send to his Dad, right after Ezra said his first word, "Dada"
Plenty of Italian Ice to eat! Zeke loved them, as you can see
Snapping a few pics at church when everyone is looking good.
Zeke got to go on a special date with Aunt Jessi to Gino's Pizza while Mom, Dad and Ezra took naps! She even spoiled him with some Italian Ice!
A quick bath in the kitchen sink
Zeke wanted in on it too. Love those buns!
Lots of family meals eaten outside, while keeping an eye on the kids playing
Got a visit from Karen, always a treat.
Love this pic of Richie and Dad. They look like twins
Katherine was one of our babysitters. The kids all loved her! She was so good with them and just a competent girl, which is very nice in a babysitter.
She would always send me cute pictures like these of Ezra when I was out and she was home with him. I loved it!
The glasses club! Rachel has glasses now, but doesn't love wearing them. That is until she hung out with Hannah, Emily and Sam, who all wear glasses. So then she thought they were alright and started wearing them more. Then of course Livy and Colt wanted to wear glasses too!
Silly Colt
We were up late one night and Richie decided he wanted to go to the diner. Erin was the party pooper and said no way, she was exhausted! Good thing he has fun sisters that went with him.
We went to Splish Splash water park one day. Livy was the only little kid who wanted to come and she and I got to spend some fun time together on the lazy river because the other rides ended up being a little to scary for her. We had a good time!
It was such a great trip. Seriously, smartest thing to hire babysitters when on vacation!! We Mom's even got to enjoy some relaxing time by the pool, just laying in the sun, jumping in the pool and talking! It was really great!
Sending pictures to Richie once he left to make him jealous!! Mmmm, I miss that pizza!
Family trampoline jump sesh!
Grammy reading bedtime stories
The siblings
Aunt Marlene was in town too so we got to see her a few times, which was nice to catch up and visit! Ez loved her!
And Uncle George was in town too, so we had to get a pic of Grandma with her 3 living kids!
Kathleen was one of our sitters, and it was her birthday the next day, so we took this pic of her with all the kids and put it in a frame that the girls painted for her. She was awesome too! Great with the kids!
The two Psillos Dads and their babes
And hanging out with Grandma Ede
Grandma Ede with the kids!
And with Grammy and Poppy too!
It was such a fun trip home! But this is just the start of the pictures! Lots more posts coming from our time in New York!
Down By The Bay....
We only had a handful of days where everyone was in New York at the same time. So our first few days there we went down to West Gilgo a lot to hang out with everyone. We all headed down to the Bay one day to play around in the water and see what we could find
Found some little sand crabs and other creatures for the kids to look at and play with
Tucker is very familiar with sea life, so he had no problem making friends with this little guy
Zeke found his own Daddy sea monster and decided to attack him and shove his face in the water
Chasing down his Daddy again, pushing him in the water, while Charlie and Uncle Dave worked the net to catch some fish
Just walking and wading around in the bay, seeing what we could find
I'm not a huge fan of swimming in the bay but it is awesome for kids who want to run around and explore and there are no big waves or strong pull to worry about, the kids love it, its a perfect play place for them to run around and explore!
West Gilgo Beach
Lots of fun days down at the beach!
We'd start with a little cousin playtime in the house
Then pack up and head down to the ocean.
Then Dad came in from the water so Zeke ran out to greet him
and recruit him to dig some more holes for them
They sat in the waves and dug for sand crabs
Zeke loved finding those little guys
He'd play with Dad, while Poppy was still searching for more crabs for him
Another fun beach day
Contemplating it
Getting a ride off the beach from Poppy
And another ride back to the beach house. What a life these kids have!
Always fun times at the beach! We love it there!
Family Pics
Our first Sunday in New York, we got to church a little early so we could snap some family pics. It's hard to get a great shot of everyone, all the in the same picture, with a group this size. But we tried and this one turned out the best!
But it took about 50 shots to get one decent one. Here are some of the ones that didn't turn out so well, for one person or another
Then we all took some individual family shots. Much easier to get a decent picture with less people.
Ellie, Jessi, Rachel, Eric, Colt and Livy
Katie, Cora and Josh
Charlie and Michelle
Erin, Ezra, Richie and Zeke
Love me some updated family pictures!!
Backyard Campfire
One of our favorite things to do on a summer night at Grammy and Poppy's house is have a campfire in the backyard and roast marshmallows! The kids love it!
Zeke really got into the mallow roasting spirit
But just to be safe, Poppy thought he'd help him out
Together with family outside, around a fire. Nothing better
Colt was the one most excited about roasting marshmallows, but unfortunately he fell asleep early the first night we did it. So we made sure he was awake for it the next time we lit up a fire!
Love summer nights in New York!
Some pretty excited kids here!
Who needs an actual campsite when you can just head out back! Great time had by all!
Pool Days
If we do nothing else in the day, we will always go in the pool at least once at Grammy and Poppy's house. But it's usually multiple times a day!! Between the pool and the hot tub, there's something to suit everyone! And the pool felt like a hot tub some days! It was awesome!
The perfect way to spend a summer day!
Uncle Dan loves the water too!
Richie loves his Danny boy!
It was always a party in the pool, at least 10 people in at almost all times!
Zeke has always been a water lover, but he was really quite the fish during this trip!
Brothers
Grammy wrangling all the kids!
Uncle Dan always had his two buddies keeping him company!
Zeke really loves his Uncle Dan! It was cute to see his care and concern for him all the time
Ezra's pruney little feet after a long day of swimming
Lots and lots of water balloons blown up!!
