Sesame Place

We took the kids to Sesame Place - LAST MONTH! A little behind on the blogging but better late than never! I took over 300 pictures, so I've done my best to scale the quantity down for viewing pleasure. (No wonder my computer is so slow...I've got a million pictures saved on this thing!)

So before I forget what happened on our trip...here we go. Our trip involved our family, the Buntings, the Hudsons & the Kirbys. We packed the kids up and caravanned up to Philly in the rain. That's right, in the rain. We were so disappointed, but the date was planned, vacation days were in place, and the kids were too excited for words...so we had to push through. Praise the Lord, he gave us a dry day upon arrival! And are we glad that we stuck with the plan. Because of the overcast day, the park was not too crowded and by the end of the day it was warm and sunny!

Our first ride was the roller coaster as we entered the park. It was just the right size for the kids and they LOVED it! (Except Tyler and Blake were too small.) Waiting in line for the carousel....Big T...having so much fun!!!A few fun rides in Elmo's World....After a while, Hailey decided she didn't want to ride any more rides! So I took Tyler on the next ride while Hailey & Daddy met Mr. Noodle. Fun Elmo Ride with Ty!Mr. Aaron & GarretMiss Lauren & IzMiss Lauren, Iz, Hailey & Jo on the tea-cups...Hailey was laughing hysterically the whole time.Meeting Big-BirdAnd Elmo - Tyler's favorite but of course getting close to him made him scared.Abby Cadabby!!Moon Bounce...so fun!!! Iz, Hailey & Kenna in this picture....If you look closely, Tyler is pulling Iz's hair as she's running away from him. Uh-oh Ty...You are messin' with the WRONG chic!!The boys minus Blake...Blakey boy....Elmo's World Live!Jo got picked to swim like a fish with Elmo...WATERS SLIDE! Those two little girls peaking out the rails are Kenna & Hailey.Hailey & Mommy coming down the slide.Ernie's Pool...this is where we spent the later half of the day on Thursday and most of the day on Friday. A little 1 foot deep wading pool that the kids had a blast playing in!!
Behind Mr. Mark is the Rubber Ducky Water Slide that was a BLAST...but I couldn't get Hailey to ride on more than once. All she wanted to do was hang out in the wading pool.
After the second trip on the roller coaster (see in the back) we found Super Grover hanging out by the gates!That was the end of the first day.....WHEW! What a fun day...kids were POOPED! This is Hailey and Tyler the next morning.....Up & at 'em! A BEAUTIFUL day! And crowded as you would not believe. Thank the Lord we got a nice day when it wasn't so crowded the day before. This was the second water park....but it was a little too much for our little ones...they were scared.Too much for Kenna too.See the water fall that came down every few minutes?? It's getting ready to poor...Too much Daddy!!!!Character Lunch...WHAT A BLAST! We got to meet Zoey, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Ernie, Bert, and Big Bird. They all hung out with us while we ate lunch.Awe...Hugs from ZoeyCOOKIE!Tyler was scared.Ernie!Tellin' Daddy a secret...about how much she LOVES him and LOVES him for bringing her to Sesame Place!!!Daddy's girl!Here comes Bert...he TOTALLY snuck up on Hailey. Next time you talk to her, she'll have to tell you the story. It's so cute coming from her.Mom, Hailey & ZoeyThis is sooooo much fun!!!Big Bird!Bert & Ernie doing a dance.Tyler having a blast eating (are you surprised?)...he was fine with the mosters as long as they kept their distance!!!!YUMMY CUPCAKE!Kenna & Hailey doing the Conga Line with the Monsters.The gang waiting for the parade.I'll save you all the boredome of the 50 picture of the parade! :-) After the Parade Jo decided to bust a move!The following pictures are on Sesame Street....Mr. Hoopers StoreBig Bird's showFamily Photo Op as we are leaving the park....Someone remind me the next time we do a trip like this to do the Family Photo in the begining of the day so we don't look so busted at the end of the trip! SHEWEY!The kiddos! What a fun trip! (Note, Tyler is throwing mulch is EVERY picture I attempted to take of this group. That's my son!!) The trip was PERFECT for the older kids. Blake and Tyler will definitely enjoy it more in another year or 2. The 3-7 age group is definitely the best time for this place. Hailey has been asking to go again!! So we'll have to start planning another trip for next year. This was her favorite thing about the summer.

KEYS

Yesterday I was getting ready to take Tyler to his ENT follow up appointment. He was freaking out, wanting to leave, as Sissy had already gone to school and he does NOT like when he doesn't go with her. (They are attached at the hip) So as I was packing the diaper bag and getting his juice ready, I gave him my keys to play with. Literally TWO minutes later, I go to walk out the door and can't find my keys. I keep asking him, "Tyler, where's Mommy's keys?" He responds, "Keys? Keys?" and shrugs his shoulders and lifts his hands with his palms up. After 5 minutes of going crazy running around the house, I give up and take Shawn's spare set of keys.

I arrived home several hours later, and as I'm sitting at the desk and Shawn is out in the kitchen making his lunch, he yells, "Hon, I found your keys." and brings them into the office. "Oh my goodness, where were they?" I ask. "Feel them" he says. They were cold! Tyler had put them in the refrigerator! What a stinker!

Tyler's Home Made Hair Cut

Well, in an effort to save a few bux, I attempted to cut Tyler's hair myself. Shawn wasn't home, but I figured, I can do this! Becky and Johnny encouraged me saying that it was really easy and with Shawn's clippers I could do a nice job! I didn't expect it to come out this short...but once I started, I couldn't stop!!! Word to the wise, when cutting your child's hair for the first time, start in the back first, incase you don't like the length. Because if you start in the front, you have already made the commitment....there is no turning back!!!

His beautiful hair is GONE!!! Thank goodness hair grows back!!!!

SLACKER!

I know what ya'll are thinking...."what happened to that promise she made to 'feed the blog regularly'" Well.....I really don't have an excuse other than....OOPPS. Been busy!

VBS Pictures are coming soon....

Playing Ball With Dad

I know that Shawn has been longing for this day.....
When he asked Hailey if she wanted to play ball, she says, "Umm, No Thanks!"

Grandpa's Birthday Party

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA WALES!!Lots of pics, lots of peeps...too much to commentate on everything, so if you were here, enjoy the pics!Dad-Dad is teaching Hailey how to play jacks!Daddy made Ty wear the O's hat cuz we were in Yankee's territory and he had to stand his ground! Ty didn't care as long as he was being fed!BUBBLES!!!One of my kids is in this bunch of balloons, can you find which one is ours? Peek-a-boo Amber & Eve...getting so big! Nathan enjoyed Tyler being the "Little One" because that made Nathan "BIG!"
Where's your belly, Ty?My attempt at a giraffe for Hailey!?!?!? Kristan's attempt at the Hulk!?!?!? Not sure which is worse! Light Saber Fight with Kristan!!Good times!!

Visit to "The Farm"

My grandparents live on a farm and when we were younger and went to visit them, it was always, "We are going to 'THE FARM'" So we took Hailey & Tyler for the first time this weekend. I have to give a great shout out to my husband because he drove all but an hour of the14+ hours we spent on the road on Saturday. It was my grandfather's 83rd birthday, they were having a party for him, the kids have never been up there and I haven't seen that side of the family in YEARS, so we figured, why not??

It was nice to see my grandparents and to have memories flood back of the times we spent there as children....I have to say, the house it self seems ALOT smaller than it did when we were little, but not a whole much as changed! :)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!Sorry, Johnny & Becky got cut out of this picture...just so you know, Johnny had on a "beater" and tube socks! HOTT!Tyler made himself right at home and started playing with the trucks and tractors that Grandma had to play with.Hailey clung to her Becky, which was fine. She eventually warmed up once we got to the party.
Then we were off to the party to see some aunts, uncles & cousins!!!

Pool Fun with Cousins

We were up in Greencastle this weekend and Hailey was able to see her Paige!!! Paige's grandma invited us to come swim at her pool and the girls were very happy to see each other.Hailey is saying "My fingers are all wrinkly"Tyler is enjoying just "hangin' out"And Jimmy is getting entirely too big! When did that happen?? Thanks for letting us play in your pool, Aunt Patsy! It was fun to hang out and have lunch with you guys! Can't wait to see everyone again.

Beach with Friends

The kids didn't have daycare this week so we took advantage of the opportunity to go to the beach with friends! What fun. We met up with Garret & his mom and met Mckenna & Blake at the beach. These kids are soooo funny to watch interacting. The love each other and fight like siblings, all at the same time! They all pray for each other at home and beat each other up when they are together.

The day at the beach, they all played VERY well together.Ty & Blake found fascination with our plastic trash bag hanging on the umbrella pole. Who would have thought a bag could bring so much joy! :-)Of course all the other kids had to join in on the fun.Another man sitting by us started to make a pool to play in when the waves came up high enough. This was SOOO much fun!!!!And when saying good bye, Tyler decided to tackle Mckenna. Then they rolled around and laughed at each other. TOOO cute...Tyler actually yells for Kenna now....NEN-NA! He calls Blake "BAY" and Garret is "G" because we all ways just say, "Hey G!"
We piled into Le & Garret's truck...all three kids in car seats in the back seat of their truck. Garret was in the middle and was never a binky kid. Well, now as a 3 year old, he loves to steal Tyler's binkies! Tyler wasn't too keen on this, but I thought it was a riot! Every time I turned around, Tyler's binky was in Garret's mouth. There were a few times when Tyler shared his dissatisfaction, but overall it was a hoot to hear the kids talking and laughing with each other in the back. Good times. :-)

Another Weekend at the Beach

Well, if ya'll are sick of seeing beach pictures of the kids, then you don't have to read this post. But the kids dragged Nana & Pappy to the beach last weekend and we had a blast!

Tyler had a lot of fun eating and drinking -as always...Be careful Pappy, you may not want him to backwash in your expensive water.....MMMM FUJI water is AWESOME!Eatin' oranges with Mom.Kicked back, relaxin'!Showing Pappy her beach (even though Pappy was born & raised here on the shore...ha ha ha)Burying Ty's piggiesDigging a coffin with Nana.Hailey was being Sleeping Beauty, asleep in the coffin (what's up with the morbid Disney Princesses?!?!) and her Prince came to wake her up!And then proceeded to bury HER toes!Pop Pop Rudy gave us passes to Trimpers, so we all got to get on the rides all night long (except for Nana) WHAT FUN!Tyler is intently watching Hailey & Mommy on the roller coaster.This ride was a hoot...Pappy & Mommy could barely fit in the seats!Tyler had so much fun though!I know....we have tons of pictures of our kids riding rides....but each one is just so cute (I know, I'm bias!)This was when we knew Hailey was DONE!...she started taking a nap on the ride...she must have been pretty bored with the rides by now. Special Thank You to Pop Pop Rudy for the passes. What a great night!

SPICY

I'm exhausted! Kid's don't have daycare this week so I've been trying to do fun things with them and WHEW! They wipe me out....I always say that I wish I could be a stay at home mom, but it must take endurance because these little sprints I make with them from time to time simply beats me up!

Took the kids to the beach today with Garret, Kenna & Blake. I will post pictures and stories tomorrow when I have time. But I'm sticking to my commitment to stay on top of my blog, so I'm making a late night post!

We went to one of Shawn's softball games tonight and the kids were so cute. Tyler actually enjoyed standing at the fence and seemed as though he was truly watching the game. He got so excited when the crowd started getting into the game and cheering...he was just clappin' away saying "YEAH!" and Hailey was trying to imitate the lady behind us going "EY YEY YEY YEY YEY"...is that how you spell that??

After being at the beach all day Hailey really didn't want to go to the game, but it was one of the last ones of the season and we aren't going to be in town for the play offs. So I told her if she would come see Daddy play, then I'd get her a special treat. Of course she would NOT let me forget about the treat she was promised. So toward the end of the game I let her pick out a bag of Skittles.

As we were on the way home and the Skittles were gone, she took a sip of juice. I hear her in the back seat going, "Woo, Spicy" "What's spicy, honey?" I ask. "My tongue is spicy. After I eat Skittles, drinking apple juice makes my tongue SPICY"

Sibling Love

Hailey spent the night with Nana & Pappy last night and had a "Hailey Day" with Nana today. They got to do lots of fun stuff and I'm sure she had a blast. But what was exciting for us was we got to spend some quality time with just Tyler. We didn't to a whole lot - in fact I spent the afternoon yesterday rearranging our art supply/junk closet. Tisk tisk! But Tyler got to play with Daddy without being interrupted. It was the cutest thing. Shawn was laying on his stomach, rolling a Thomas Train to Tyler, and Tyler would push it back. Then Tyler wanted to be like Daddy so he stretched out on his belly, and they continue their game in this position. Of course I ran for the camera and returned as Tyler was standing up! He looked at the camera and said "Cheese" then ran away. No photo!

Tyler's FAVORITE word is NO! He says it so firmly and stomps his foot for effort. So as Daddy was telling him to go get something, he looked at Shawn and firmly said "NO!" stomping his foot defiantly. Is it possible for a 16 month old to be defiant?!?!?

After dinner (because we ate too late to make it to church - again, Tisk Tisk) we took Tyler to the pool...just the 3 of us. We missed Hailey terribly but it was great for Tyler to have our undivided attention. That boy is utterly fearless with the water! He will throw a ball in the water and start coming in right after it! One of these days he's not going to wait for someone to catch him!

I was really able to see Hailey & Tyler's connection through this little separation. Each time Tyler woke up from a nap or started a new activity, he would call for Sissy, expecting her to come running! But alas, no Hailey! Bath time was just not the same by himself. They do EVERYTHING together. However, I'm sure these times are really good for them, especially Tyler, to develop his own independence. Hailey called us twice while she was gone. Not because she missed her Mom & Dad, but because she needed to talk to Tyler! He'd put the phone up to his ear - backwards - and shout "ha-o?" "see-see". As I took the phone back from him, the little voice on the other side was shouting, "Hey buddy, talk! It's Sissy! I miss you! I love you!"

Reminds me of earlier this week when Hailey was home sick from "school" and Tyler went by himself. When she would go down for her naps at home she would say, "Mommy, I miss Tyler. Can we please go get him?"

Now, the question is......how long with their relationship stay this way? I hope a long time! :-)

Catching UP

As you can see I've been VERY behind with my posting! I keep telling myself that the whole purpose of a blog is to keep an on going journal of our lives...not a quick monthly update with pictures of events! Many times I'll witness a funny event/conversation/thought that I want to blog about and I say...no, I don't have time to catch up on all the past stuff so I can't blog about that right now. And I put it on the "back burner" to only forget about it within a matter of days...who am I kidding...a matter of minutes! Am I the only person who has lost a million brain cells after having children?? But I digress.

I really want to keep current on my blog. I feel that it's a great outlet for my thoughts and a great way for friends and family to keep up with what is going on in our lives. That being said, a blog is, as Pastor Randy Buchman from Tri-State quoted...."the animal you must feed or it will eat you" So I have finally fed my blog again and I will remain committed to keeping it current. (I say that now....)

There are a months worth of posts to follow, the dates on the headings are the dates that they OCCURRED...which feeds my obsessive personality with keeping things accurate!

If you are reading this on Facebook, please feel free to come to the actual blog, it's much more fun...it's got music and I have decorated it!! http://shawnandbethhunt.blogspot.com Also, I've made a feature on the top of the blog for "Followers" - those that read my blog. I'd love to see who's stopping by, so click that to follow me! :0)

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer as much as we are....enjoy the MASSIVE amount of pictures we have to share!

The Perfect Baby For Us

Conversation last week:

"Mommy"

"Yes Hailey?"

"I love Tyler"

"I love Tyler too, Hailey. And I love you too!"

"Mommy, Tyler is the perfect baby for us, don't you think?"

"Yes Hailey, Tyler IS the perfect baby for us!"

"Blake is NOT the perfect baby for us. Blake is the perfect baby for Kenna, Mark & Sara. And Tyler is NOT the perfect baby for Kenna, Mark & Sara. They would not love him like we love him, so he's the perfect baby for JUST us!"
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Conversation tonight before bed:

"Mommy, Tyler is the perfect baby for us, right?"

"Yes, Hailey"

"But Tyler is getting really old. He's not really a baby anymore"

"I know, Hailey, he's getting to be a big boy."

"We need a NEW baby."

"You think so? What would we do with another baby? That would mean 3 of you and Mommy only has 2 arms? Where would I hold the 3rd baby?"

"I don't know? Where would we put him in the car? We only have 2 car seats?"

"That's right Hailey, where would we put him?"

"He can have Tyler's seat. We'll send Tyler to live with another family. Even though he's perfect for us, he's gettin' to be too old! We'll send him someplace else so we can get a new baby"

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! For the second year in a row, we headed up to Laurel to enjoy their town parade, carnival & fireworks for the July 4th celbration! What a great time! As we were waiting for the parade, Daddy got some bottle poppers.....both kids thought they were GREAT...but Tyler especially had a great time throwing them down on the ground. Between that and his Lolly Pop, he was in heaven!Can't go to the Laurel Carnival without multiple rides on the Carosel. Last year Hailey rode this ride at LEAST 6 times!This time her favorite ride was the Dragon. Again, I believe you could find this same photo in my archived posts of July 2008.Tyler enjoyed waiting (YEAH RIGHT! This kid is BEAT! Put him in the AC and let him take a nap!!!)This was my attempt of getting a nice photo of the two kids on a beautiful summer day, on the pond, in their cute festive outfits! Yeah Right again, Mom.Play time at Bop & Grams for a little BBQ before the fireworks.Another attempt at a photo shoot...I have the good camera, the cute kids...all I need now are still subjects!!! Can they give me 10 seconds to sit/stand still together??Happy Birthday America!Hailey & Mommy waiting in line for a pony ride!Tyler did not want to get ANY closer to the pony, even just to pet him!!WHAT A PITIFUL FACE!Hailey INSISTED on getting an icecream from the character stand. She wanted a Dora Popsicle and she wanted Tyler to get a Batman. Well, Tyler took 2 licks of his and was DONE! Hailey lasted a few yards, until it started melting and she decided she was DONE. Ah, the joys of being a kid. Begging for something, getting it, deciding you don't want it, and no need for feeling remorse of being wasteful. Apparently that is a quality that you obtain in adulthood....or do we ever really completely receive that trait??Tyler LOVED the cars....Watching the two of them on this ride was quite humorous. Hailey is quite the novice on riding rides, so she has NO problem getting on and being comfortable knowing what to expect. Tyler, on the other hand, sees Sissy on a ride and wants to do it too. When we put him in it's fine, when it starts he gets a little nervous, but a few seconds into it he finds his comfort zone. Well this ride every time he came around it was a new reaction. First happy, then sad, then squeeling for joy, then paniced with fear. Poor boy didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was very amusing!!But at this point he was HAPPY!!!This ride made Mom VERY nervous...looking back, either Tyler should have been on the OTHER side of the ride, or not on it at ALL!!!....It was HIGH, and FAST, and several times I feared that Tyler was going to try to climb out of it....need to reassess our judgement here....I'm having a slight panic attack just looking at the photos.Sissy decided he'd enjoy the ride better WITHOUT his "Bee"Hailey and Gram back on the Dragon....they are in the second row. Yes, Hailey has BOTH hands raised (another heart palpitation for mom!)TIME FOR THE FIREWORKS! And some cotton candy too! Again, another adorable outfit that I wanted cute pics of the kids....this is as good as you get!!When the fireworks started, Tyler was wondering around our little site. He heard the first crash and lunged to me! He gripped on so tight!! He was behind me and he had his hands clinched so tight on my arms that as I tried to reach behind me and pull him onto my lap, I couldn't release his grip to do so!! So there he stayed, peaking around my back until there was enough of a lull in the fireworks that I could pick him up and give him to Daddy to hold. After a few minute he was totally comforable with the sound and went back to playing with Bop.Thomas enjoyed the fireworks, but enjoyed listening to Bop, Hailey & Tyler sing, laugh and play even more!!Double Fisted Cotton Candy!There's that trailmix again!!!! What a wonderful day! Another family tradition and several holiday memories made!! :-)