the latest wells family antics

Another fun baseball game and this one we invited Richie's best bud Colton.  We used to invite our friends and now we invite the kids friends.  Luckily Colton's parents are our friends as well so a good time was had by all.   Since the Red Sox were playing the Yankees, Rich wore the special shirt Babci made for him (half Red Sox half Yankees).  He always gets a lot of attention from it.  And this time Angela really got into the game more than usual.  She was so excited from the second we told her we were going to the game.  She insisted on wearing her Red Sox hat and shirt.  She cracked up everyone on the train because of her outfit and how she just kept yelling about the Red Sox.  Big Papi is her favorite player and she yelled his name the whole game.  Check out the video!

We had another Welcome to Kindergarten celebration and this one was at the Children's Museum.  First of all this is a great place and then they had all kinds of additional fun things to do.  The favorite I think was the school bus.  Chris and I are SO excited our kids won't have to take a long bus ride to school like we did.  Well our kids feel VERY differently.  They think taking a bus to school would be the COOLEST THING!  I guess you always want what you don't have.  Luckily they were able to play on this school bus for a while. And just when we were ready to leave the biggest surprise came.  Each of the kids got a free book bag that had the Stanley Cup on it.  Hello, perfect!  It was also filled with lots of school supplies. 

Came home to the kids painting pics  Out front, no shirts, full of paint.....and having a blast!

Although Richie isn't starting actual Kindergarten yet, his pre-school is at the school he will be attending next year.  We are so excited he will be attending the Elliot School and feel he truly won the lottery to get in.  Because of this we have been enjoying all of the free events that the BPS has to offer this summer.  This event was Welcome To Kindergarten at the library.  The kids met their teachers again, met more of their future classmates and did lots of crafts.  Angela said the best part was the snacks and juice boxes.  The kids were supposed to parade from the library to the school, but Angela (and her wonderful tantrums) put a damper on that part.  We already met Richie's teacher Ms. Simonini because she came to our house last week.  Yes, a teacher who does home visits in the summer.....we are already in LOVE!

While at Hershey we went to the Museum where you get to see a really cool interactive 3-D movie and go on ride describing how the chocolate is made.  BUT after all of that you get suited up and actually make your own chocolate bar.  You can design what is in the candy AND the wrapper.  After you pick what you want you watch the candy bar go through each of the machines.  Pretty fun!  Check out my little candy makers below.

For our last vacation of the summer, we took the kids to Hershey Park with Mom, Jim, Karen and the kids.  Always a good vacation when the kids have their cousins, and then to hit an amusement park makes it perfect! They had smiles on their faces for three days straight.  The big boys went on lots of scary rides and roller coasters.  And Angela even convinced Aunt Karen to take her on what we had deemed the scariest ride there was.  By the end we felt we hit just about every ride the kids could go on which is good because Rich STUDIES the park map and would know if he missed something.  Angela's favorite ride was of course the carousel.  All week before we left she said, "I go on carousel with my friend Joshie".  And she did!  When we weren't at the park we were at the hotel pool which was also perfect for kids.

The kids had two fun concerts today on the Prado.  In the afternoon they went and saw an African drumming concert that they were able to participate in.  In the evening Dawn stayed so the adults could have a night out.  We always appreciate those nights!  The kids went back to the Prado for an opera concert.  I guess they LOVED it.  They were also able to make Phantom of the Opera masks that Angela did not take off for the rest of the night.  Even when they got french fries at the Fisherman's Feast.  Before we went out to dinner we all went over to Fulton Street (where the Shumway's and a bunch of our neighborhood friends live).  Their street gets shut down for the Fisherman's Feast, but no actual vendors are out there.  This leaves a whole street without cars.  The kids had their bikes and scooters and just ran around like crazy.  It was such a fun block party.

The day had finally arrived  for Richie's tonsil and adenoid surgery.  We had been thinking and talking about his sleep apnea for so long so I was glad for it to finally come...... and go.  We woke up early and were situated in our room with smiles still on everyone's face.  The tiger scrubs and TV were an immediate hit.  You can see the before and after pictures below.  I was luckily able to bring Rich all the way to the operating room so he wouldn't think I ever left his side.  Once he got his watermelon flavored gas I left and cried my eyes out!  The surgery was quick, but recovery from the anesthesia was pretty awful.  A bit more morphine, he took another nap and was back to his old self.  PHEW!!  After that we slowly had him drinking and eating ice pops.  He did great because he was eating soup (with the noodles) that night.  It was a long day/night in the hospital trying to keep a 4 year old still because he still ha...

Another tradition is family picture night.  Here are a few of the ones I got. Bye bye Trout Club.  We will miss you until next year!

We had two big family hikes this year and both of the kids did pretty well.  Richie walked both of them the whole way and Angela walked a lot more than I thought she would. Mother's Trail loops around the lake and the Bear's Den is a family tradition because of the water slide at the end.  This year Aunt Erin was a TROOPER and took all of the kids in. The water is beyond freezing! I think we may have promised to one day take her kids in..... I was also able to take two "adult" hikes for some exercise.  We did Tryout which we do most years and a new one called Howell's trail.  Both had gorgeous views from the top but I didn't bring my camera.

Fishing was Richie's FAVORITE activity this year.  Every time he had a free second, he wanted to hit the boat.  Unfortunately when Chris took him out, they had a slow start and didn't catch any keepers.  Because of this Richie wanted to go fishing with his old fishing buddies: Grandpa and Aunt Donna Jo.  He remembered the fun(ny) times they had last year (when they trout pooped on them!!) so he asked for a reunion trip.  They wound up catching the fish that you see in front of Rich at the breakfast table.  Eating your fish at breakfast is a Trout Club tradition that Rich did NOT want to miss.  Unfortunately it was a little more than he could handle (he threw it up), but he promised to have a stronger stomach next time. This year was Angela's first time fishing.  As you can see below she LOVED it.  She also enjoyed just taking boat rides a lot more than last year.  Her life vest finally fit her which seems to have made a big difference....