We are thankful for Grandpa Don and Grandma Cindy and their beautiful backyard – with a pool. Sam and Anna taught Max and Julie some swimming tricks.
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They also taught them how to sunbathe on the tennis court.
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And look for birds and plants.
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And accessorize au natural.
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Grandpa & Grandma have a horse, Fancy, stabled nearby. The kids liked feeding her carrots and saying hi to the other animals.
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We tried to take some cousin and family photos in the front yard right before we left, but Julie was a little pooped from all the partying.
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Which included yummy cheesecake for Mark’s birthday homemade by a friend of Cindy’s -I think we four ate about half of it.
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Max loved playing hide and seek among all the pretty plants. As you can see, he is a pretty awesome hider. His best hiding spots were when he copied Anna, though first he asked all of us if he could hide in the same place as Anna just did.
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Thanks for having us over! We love visiting Florida! Click here for more photos |
We are thankful for Bubbe and Poppy and how hard they work to make our stay in their lovely home a pleasure (and we are thankful to Alan, Karen, Sam and Anna for all sleeping in the same room so we could spread out a little and at least one person could sleep in later than early bird Julie). Bubbe’s house is a great place for cooking, eating and baking cookies with cousins.
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And for celebrating Hanukkah! So glad it fell on Thanksgiving week this year! Julie loved her Elmo from Bubbe, and all the kids loved her bubbles.
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We loved having a pool and a beautiful playground within walking distance (and pool/park weather!).
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And of course lots of books and some of our favorite readers. Max and Julie started just going up to people, handing them a book, then sitting in their lap.
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We are really grateful for how much love and attention our kids got from their extended family. And to Ryan and Spencer and their parents for making the drive from Miami to see us. Sam and Anna are the sweetest, most patient older cousins, crawling around with the kids, doing puzzles, feeding them gelato and more. Their dad is fun too, even if he taught Julie some Duke basketball cheers.
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They played ‘this little piggie’ with Julie about 20 times, and she kept asking for more. Max wanted some too. 
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| We are thinking of Bubbe as she recovers from shoulder surgery and hoping she feels better (and knits the kids more sweaters 😉 soon. |
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Perhaps the best things that happened this summer was Max and Julie really starting to play together. At our weekly music class at the gym – Julie would knock on the door, and Max would let her out with his keys.
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Max likes to makes houses out of cardboard boxes, and sometimes he lets Julie in.
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| One day Julie was giving us zerberts as we all lay on the couch… Max: “My sister is so silly'” Brittney: “Yes, she makes me laugh” Max: “She makes me laugh too” (Brittney almost cries) |
Of course there is still lots of taking toys and fighting, but Julie is getting strong and pretty good at holding on to things she wants. She now likes the wrestling and often initiates it. So we’ve changed our refrain from ‘don’t tackle your sister’ to ‘keep it clean – below the neck.’ (Also ‘you can only wrestle with your brother, not strange 4-year-old boys on the playground’).
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We loved having so much unscheduled time to go on adventures together this summer. One gorgeous August day we watched the toy sailboats in Central Park (and fed seaweed to the fish). Max was intrigued by watching the concept of remote control and was pretty intrigued. Julie just wanted to go in the water. |
On bad weather days they both like going to a nearby indoor playspace. They usually close down the place and love helping clean up and put away all the toys. One day we were the only ones there, so we had a serious taxi-driving/fruit-throwing party.
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Julie loves watching The Cat In The Hat, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Dora with Max in the evenings when he earns it. But after a few minutes she often gets restless and starts wandering around the living room – or trying to get into Max’s spot.
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Though they sometimes wake each other up now that they’re (finally) sharing a room, they will always have a playmate at the playground. 
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And someone to help push their tricycle. 
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| The first day of Max’s school Julie cried, and some mornings she tries to follow him in saying ‘ I want Max.’ We’re excited to have week of family time as we head to Florida for Thanksgiving and see some favorite brother-sister pairs of cousins, Sam & Anna and Ryan & Spencer. |
