the latest wells family antics

Our new cousin Mara Christine Haight! Chris's cousin John and his wife Elisa has their first child and we were finally able to meet her. We unfortunately found our self in NJ (for our dear friend Lisa Nawrotzki's funeral) so we stopped by. It was certainly a day of love!

Our days of leaving the kids unattended for just 5 minutes are over. Since we had to head out of town quickly after work, Chris and I were each busy around the house packing and getting ready. One of us was constantly checking on the kids, but for 5 minutes they were left alone. In those 5 minutes, Richie was able to get the water colors (luckily only water colors!), get some water in the bathroom sink and paint. The best part was after seeing Richie's face (and trying to laugh about it) was having Angela come around the corner....and her face was painted as well! The kids thought this was all very normal. Funny how Richie has never agreed to get his face painted at any carnival or fair we have ever been to. Oh and he said he painted himself a pirate!

It was a sad day that finally came....Richie's last day of day care at TCC. We had made this plan (to have Richie and Angela spend the summer outside with Dawn), but it was emotional when it did happen. We brought in ice pops for the kids and flowers for all of the great teachers we had through the years. We will miss Diana (from toddlers), Abbie, Kaitlyn, Alkie, and especially Rachel and Marnie. We will also miss all of the good friends we made. Especially Jaskson, Tomer, Kai and all of Richie's pretty girlfriends!! We made a play date with Jackson to make sure we would see our special bud again.

This morning was our June race - The New Charles River Run. It was a 5K along the Charles and the kids came to cheer me on. You can't beat a beautiful day, getting some exercise with friends AND getting to spend time with the family. Today I ran with my normal running buddies Lisa and Zido plus Melissa came into town for this one. The whole ride home Richie talked about how he wanted to run a race. I think he is mostly interested in getting a bagel and a medal afterward! Regardless, I will look into something for us to do together. After the race we rushed home to have book club with the girls (and kids) on the roof. It was a hot afternoon, but always nice to get to catch up with old friends. Thanks everyone for trekking into the city! There were 9 adults and 4 of them are pregnant right now....crazy!

Our friends the Blanco's were visiting so we had a very full day of fun. We started with a trip to the Children's Museum and lunch at the Barking Crab. After that we all went home for naps. In the evening we met back up for some dinner and more play time. It is always nice to have a visit from Vanessa and Roman. And of course, Richie never passes on a day out with his girlfriend Maddie! Check out their tea party!

Finally old enough (and heavy enough) to face forward in the car and get a big girl seat!!! Although you can't tell in this picture, she loves it!! Chris had met us at the pool so this particular ride was very short and the kids were exhausted. They had so much fun in the "big" pool. I can't wait for Richie to start his swimming lessons.

"Play with my toys again Angela...." "Keep fighting and you will both go in the cage!"

Our father's day adventure (what we call our days out at the moment) was to go hiking. After I made pancakes and Chris opened his presents, we were off! Hiking was something we used to do all the time with Regina. When Richie came along, we still got out often enough. Now that we have Angela....well, it has been a while. So this adventure was an exciting one for all of us. PLUS, it was practice for the Trout Club. Well as you can see from these pictures, the kids loved it! We brought 2 backpacks in case Richie melted down half way out, but he didn't. He walked the whole way and continued to tell us how much fun he was having. At one point he tripped and skinned his elbow pretty good. But without much fuss, he got right back up and kept going. We finished our night with dinner at home with Aunt Erin and Uncle Matt. I made dinner including grilling the hamburgers!! Happy Father's Day to all of our friends and family. Especially those not with us today!

Richie is a BIG Toy Story fan so we have been awaiting the release of the movie Toy Story 3 for months. We have books about it and have been watching the trailer and commercials. It was also going to mark another big milestone...Richie's first movie in the theater. I think the movie and the theater experience did not disappoint! He was so excited the whole time. We were lucky enough to get to go with our buddy Colton. The boys were all smiles. We tortured them by making them sit through dinner beforehand. But Nana Mary made it all worth it because she gave "all boys who are good at dinner" Toy Story figurine collector sets! On top of that, they wore the same Buzz Lightyear T-shirt that she had given them last summer. And I have to admit, it was a very clever, funny "adult" movie as well. I had a great time!

To start off Father's Day weekend we spent the day on the harbor islands. We took the ferry out to Spectacle Island where we did some walking and looking for treasure. It was the perfect place to be because it was SO hot at home. Spectacle Island has a beach ( as you can see below), but it was low tide and a little slimy for us. After a few hours, we took the small shuttle to Georges Island. This one was our favorite island because there is so much more to do. We explored the fort/castle, listened to a concert played by some Berklee School of Music kids, then had a picnic lunch ( you can see Angela eating her first sandwich all by herself!). It was the perfect hot summer Saturday!

Our pool opens this weekend, but the splash pool (or baby pool we sometimes call it) opened today! The kids wanted to visit it of course because it has been many months since we have able to splash in it. AND it was pretty hot out, so the perfect day to be wet. Richie told me he loved summer because of how often he is allowed to be wet. You can't blame him! As you can see, Richie was a daredevil and I found him climbing many times. And Angela's favorite part was going up and down the 6 inch step around the side. They kept me on my toes. We finished off our morning having lunch with Aunt Erin.