Our new puppy

Introducing....Raleigh, our new golden retriever! We named her Raleigh after the capital of North Carolina, since she was born here in NC! The boys love her to death! Aidan has been taking good care of her. They have been inseperable since we brought her home yesterday. She is very well-behaved and is really good around the boys. She lets Connor pull her whiskers and Aidan carry her around. We chose a Golden for their reputation of being very good with children. So far, so good!

Soccer practice

Aidan has been playing soccer at the Wilmington YMCA every Saturday morning. His team is called the Wolverines, and they just play for fun...no competing yet. They practice kicking the ball back and forth to each other, jumping over cones and then kicking the ball into the goal, and having little scrimage games. Aidan loves it, and the kids all have alot of fun. So far we've only had one meltdown from Aidan, because they used his "green" soccer ball for a scrimage and he got very possessive over HIS ball. He kept trying to pick it up and run off with it while they were scrimaging. Other than that, everything has been pretty smooth. It's so funny watching the kids get distracted and run off to pick grass or chase bugs flying around. Such a cute age.....

Soccer and Monkey Joe's

It was a GOOD day :) We had Aidan's first soccer practice at the YMCA at 8:45 am. It was the cutest thing ever! The kids actually got the hang of things pretty fast. Their coach had them run around and then "freeze" when he blew his whistle, jump over little orange cones, and kick their soccer balls into the goal. They don't actually compete yet, they just learn the basics. It's nice because it's all about having fun right now without the competition. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics yet, but they should be getting their jerseys in this week, so I will make sure to remember the camera next Saturday.

After lunch, we took Aidan to play at a place called Monkey Joe's. SO much fun! They had about 8 or 9 of those huge inflated bouncing things with the slides. In fact, I don't know who had more fun, Aidan, or Larry and I, lol! At first, Aidan was really hesitant to get into any of the bounce gyms, but after (much) coaxing from Larry and I, he loosened up. (Including me acting like an idiot bouncing up and down and laughing hysterically because I was actually having a BLAST!) By the end we couldn't get him off the things! I didn't bring my camera to Monkey Joe's either, but here is their web address if anyone is interested in seeing what it was all about.

www.monkeyjoes.com

You can't turn your back for a second!

It's so hard to baby proof when you have a 3 year old constantly leaving stuff around. Connor got a hold of Aidan's goldfish crackers and was going to town! When he saw me coming for him he started cramming as many Goldfish into his mouth as possible, lol. No worries though, one finger sweep got them all out (I think I got them all anyways!)

Wrightsville Beach--two days after TS Hanna

Tropical Storm Hanna hit Wilmington last week (late Friday, early A.M. Saturday), and we had some really strong winds, but nothing too crazy. Being from Florida, we are pretty used to these storms. Larry of course hit the beach Saturday to surf what he said were "some of the best waves he's ever surfed." The boys and I stayed home Saturday, but Sunday we all went out to Wrightsville Beach to see how it weathered Hanna. There were lots of shells washed up, and a drop off in the sand just where the shore break is. The water was too rough for swimming, but Aidan and Connor had a blast splashing around in the tide. Larry went back out again that evening for another surf session with our neighbor, who happens to surf too.

Random from Wilmington

On the Riverwalk, in front of the Battleship North Carolina


Cape Fear Bridge


Connor and Larry


Aidan's first day of preschool


Aidan and Connor in their wagon


Larry and the boys watching the Gator game. Go Gators!

For Grandma Pulido

My mom is the biggest Beatles fan EVER. So naturally both the boys have to sport their Beatles tees every once in a while :)

In other news, we are still trying to get settled into the new house and enjoy a little family time together exploring our new city before Larry starts rotations again on Tuesday. I will eventually get around to actively posting again! Larry is done with board exams and begins applying for residencies on Tuesday. Aidan starts preschool and soccer this week. He will go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-12pm, and soccer is Saturday mornings at 8:45am (eek!). We love Wilmington so much, and can't help but feel that this is where we are supposed to be. It is such a friendly, family-oriented town. We would LOVE to stay here through residency. We shall see I guess! Happy Labor Day weekend!

I heart Wilmington

I am so behind on my posts...I still have to put up pictures from Aidan's 3rd birthday party, poor kid! Anywho, I just wanted to give a quick update and say we signed a lease on a house in Wilmington today! We love, love, love Wilmington! We drive back to Jax tomorrow to pack up, because we move in Tuesday! The boys have been such troopers and and have basically sat in their car seats all day long for the past 3 days while we house hunted. I'll be back eventually to post on Aidan's party and other recent happenings, but for now here is a picture of our new house....




It's awesome....2200 sq. feet, 3 bedrooms plus a bonus room, huge fenced in backyard with a deck. I can already smell the barbeque's! Yay! Such a nice change after apartment living :)

Tar Heel State....here we come!

I didn't want to share the news until we were certain, but it's nearly a done deal now...we are moving to Wilmington, North Carolina! Larry is working on an affiliation between New Hanover Regional Medical Center and St. Matthews, and it looks like he will be finishing up his 4th year electives there! We are really excited about living in Wilmington. It's only about 6 1/2 hours north of Jacksonville, 10 minutes from the beach, and a few hours from the Smoky Mountains! Yay!!

YMCA

Titusville has a really nice YMCA, with a great pool area for kids. We decided to apply for a scholarship to the Y, since we are BROKE until our next loan installment comes in. We got approved and we've been spending lots of time at the pool there! It's a nice break for Larry from his studies too. Aidan has met lots of other kids to play with, girls in particular, he he ;) Yesterday there was a girls' summer camp there and Aidan had about 5 cute little girls taking turns holding, hugging, and kissing him! Aidan, of course, was in heaven! These are from our first visit though...

Grandma and Grandpa Mason's

We're down in Titusville at Larry's parents' house for the next month. Here's a little of what we've been up to down here:

Aidan makes cupcakes with Grandma Mason...


Connor is ready to start crawling any day now...



Aidan got into the cupcakes....


Aidan, Larry, and Grandpa Mason fishing at the lake in their neighborhood...


Also, Larry is hitting the books pretty hard in preparation for his Step 2 exams. He'll be taking those within the next few weeks. I'll be so happy when those are behind him and he can enjoy the rest of the year....and squeeze in some quality time with us before residency starts :)

The pool that fell from the sky

A few days before we left for Titusville, I was talking to my mom about buying Aidan a little kiddie pool for his Grandma and Grandpa Mason's house. I was even looking online at Target, Wal-Mart, etc. After our conversation about buying Aidan the kiddie pool ended, I left to go run some errands. Aidan stayed home with my mom so I could pick up some of my belongings from my parents' beach condo. In typical Florida style, an afternoon storm was moving in, with some pretty strong gusts of wind coming through just before the storm started. My mom and Aidan were sitting in front of the window watching the wind blow when an actual kiddie pool FELL OUT OF THE SKY and landed in our driveway! NO JOKE!! Isn't that crazy??!! My mom made a few calls to some of their neighbors with kids, however the pool didn't belong to anyone in their neighborhood. So we kept it!

I brought the pool with us to Titusville, and after a thorough cleaning we filled it up with water and it was ready to go! Aidan loves the pool, and he loves telling the story about how the pool fell out of the sky, just for him! I guess that book, The Secret, really does have some truth to it!

Charleston trip

In my last post I mentioned that the boys and I have been super busy. Well one of the reasons for that was a trip to Charleston, South Carolina for a week. We actually stayed in Folly Beach, in a beautiful oceanfront beach house. Larry drove down from New York and stayed with us which was great! We drove into downtown Charleston almost everyday for some yummy seafood and sightseeing.

The Twilight Saga

I've been MIA from my blog, but I've been busy! I've had quite a few distractions over the past few weeks, and this saga by Stephenie Meyer is one of them! I've been obsessed with these books...Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. The fourth in the saga, Breaking Dawn, comes out August 2nd, and I am literally counting down the days! If you haven't read these books yet, go immediately to your nearest Barnes and Noble and pick up all 3 at the same time. Be careful though, you may find yourself daydreaming about a certain vampire character in the book ;)

Swim Lessons

Aidan started swim lessons last Tuesday. His lessons are given by a private instructor through ISR, or Infant Swim Resource. (www.infantswim.com) His instructor, Amy, is just wonderful, and I can't believe the progress he has made in just one week's worth of lessons. The first few lessons he screamed his head off, but by the 5th lesson he was doing awesome! The lessons are 10 minutes a day for 4-6 weeks. They are only 10 minutes because ISR believes that they become too exhausted after 10 minutes, and the lesson is no longer beneficial. I would highly recommend ISR to any parent looking to put their child in swim lessons!!

Happy Mother's Day....

to me!

I am so blessed to be the mommy to these two little boys :) I am one lucky gal!!

Go Connor Go!!

This babe is ready to start scootin' soon! He can roll over to his side from his back now also. The side is now his preferred sleeping position too. Aidan slept on his side and tummy from a week old....Connor was a back sleeper until about a week ago :)