Snacks and Sand Castles

I picked up Luciano early and we grabbed snacks and headed to the beach. 

Spring is almost here

I couldn't get Bella to stop talking long enough to take her picture.  Here she is starting to make an arrangement.

Luciano LOVES to smoother love on his little sis.

The roses have started to bloom here.

And the renovation begins...

We are finally moving forward on the house renovation. Almost all of the fixtures have been selected. Here is a peek at what will be going on here.

 

Here's the living room.  Only difference here is the opened wall into the back of the house which will now have the kitchen. 

We are excited to get rid of the grubby couch.  We are still not sure what the furnishings will be yet in here but we will be going to IKEA for the couch.  With three kids we decided to go cheap on the one thing that they will destroy first.

Good bye dark tiny hallway!

This is the new kitchen which has been moved to the back of the house (the kids current room) so that it will open out onto the garden.  Oh and yes, that is Chris dressed as a butler serving me wine.  And look Ghita is now bald and walking.

This will be the view out the back door and the kids room will go where the old kitchen was.

Chris is going to be excited to not have to cook in here.  He has no counter space, not sure how he did it for 7 years.

Good bye small dining room, hello Bella's bedroom.  She is very excited to have her own space.  Although she doesn't realize in a few years this will be Luciano's room and Bella will share with Ghita.

Oh look, Elsa must have been here because someone made our bed.  And we now have a second bathroom.  No need to see the before picture on this one.

Ghita's first trip to Connecticut

The kids in the snow

Ghita did great on the plane rides.  I was complimented each trip by fellow passengers on how well they travel.  I was called "a well oiled machine" instructing kids off the plane.  I took that as a compliment.

The Madison Beach Hotel

We took the kids down to see the newly renovated Madison Beach Hotel.  This is where my mom and I worked for over 9 years.  

Bella thought this picture was appropriate for the cousins, the sand represents California and the snow represents Connecticut.

Ghita meets Mimi and Papa

Sledding!

The kids have been asking to see snow for months.  Luckily for them the snow from Nemo lasted until they arrived at Mimi and Papa's house.  Aunt Jen and Taylor came over and loaned us appropriate snow gear and sleds.  The kids had a ball sledding everyday.

The snow bank was big enough to make a kid sized hill to sled down at Mimi's house.

This is the infamous trip down the hill by Taylor's house.  Bella and Luciano ended up hitting a snowbank and flew on  a gravel driveway.  I feared broken arms but not on this trip.  Although the next day Luciano and Bella will hit a tree and open up Luciano's head AGAIN where his stitches were and Bella would wear an ice pack on her head for the afternoon. 

After school snack

This was my idea of an after school snack--Mickey cupcakes and cookies.  Yup, we picked the kids up from school and surprised them with a trip to Disney for snacks, rides and dinner on a Tuesday.

The snacks were bigger than their heads

Dad, is that a smile?

The girls on Dumbo

This is the first time Ghita held her head up by herself.  She heard the parade music and saw the floats go by and out popped her head from the carrier.  

Sand Dollar Cove

The last day I decided to stick to the beaches on the way down the coast. We stopped at Sand Dollar Cove for our last beach walk.

From the viewing platform I noticed something jumping in the water.

It was a bunch of dolphins.  Here is where I decided I need to get myself a zoom lens.

Heading down the stairs.  Ghita fell asleep.

I thought I would step back and shoot the whole beach, even that brown log over there on the right.

Oh, that isn't a log that is a male elephant seal.  I got a little freaked out because I saw how aggressive they got a few days earlier.  I kept my distance after he spotted me.

The last picture from the trip.  Until next time, Ghita.