Uncle Banger turns...

Wally (Wallbanger or Banger or whatever you like to call him) had a little family birthday party on his big day, complete with chicken marsala and brownie sundaes at his request.  Since they moved into their new house this past weekend we also got let the kids loose on their beautiful new abode.  Happy, what is it, 40th now?  Haha - who knows...I don't keep count if you don't keep count. ;)

Sunday Funday...

Sunday morning Colton and I hopped in the car and headed to the AAA travel show at Gillette Stadium to book our 2013 Alaska Cruistour!  We were really excited when my Nicole called us as were were approaching her exit to ask us what were doing, we took a quick detour, picked her and Sarah up and headed out together.  Unfortunately, the dates for our cruise (we are thinking August 2013 with Princess) aren't out yet but we talked to a cruise consultant and got all the info we needed.  Since we were already at Legacy Place we had to stop in the pro-shop to get a new matching ball caps and then do a little shopping.  We had lots of fun walking around and getting lunch with the girls.  Great end to a lazy/busy weekend! :)

 Colton got to hold her without anyone helping him!

Check out who's parking spot he is standing in! 

Old school roller skating...

Colton and I were itching to find something fun to fill our Saturday afternoon, it was raining so outdoors wasn't an option.  Then I googled roller rinks and found one not too far from home that I know I hit once or twice with my cousins growing up.  Nick laughed and told me to have fun, he didn't skate when he was younger and didn't want to learn now.  I LOVED skating, we grew up roller skating, I still believe (no, I know) I was the best roller skater on my street (eat it Banger).  I wasn't sure if you could bring roller blades so we left them at home and we rented the old school four-wheelers (these suckers were older than me).  It was beyond fun.  They had a DJ that played awesome tunes, disco balls, and laser lights...holla.  Colton had no problem learning the ropes and no joke, did some mean skate dance moves (we may or may not have talked about making up a mom and son roller routine, I am telling you the tunes bring out the moves you forgot you had).  We skated for over 2 hours and grabbed a flyer/schedule on our way out the door.  Wednesday nights you get two free pizza slices with every admittance....who's in?

 

Blue Hills...

Literally a day after we return from Loon, my sister decides she is going to take the kids night skiing at Blue Hills since they were having some event/deal.  Thankfully, Kelly went with her to help handle all the kids.  Well the first run down Colton showed them what Consuello meant when she said "he is fast", he got to the top of the mountain and turned to Kelly and said "I am going to go fast" and that was that.  He went full throttle all the way down, ok scary yes very, at a normal mountain there is usually a long, gradual landing zone, Blue Hills however is in the city and the end of the mountain is basically a parking lot and a cliff.  So you don't really have time to slow down.  Kelly tried to speed up and catch him but he was going to fast, she just screamed, luckily a man caught him right before he landed in the parking lot and killed himself.  Then Heidi had a nice long talk with him saying if he didn't slow it down and go side to side like everyone else she wouldn't take him again.  I think her and Kelly may have had a heart-attack.   She said he listened after that and other than this last run, that he knew she was taping, he went much slower.  I think he may get the full speed thing down the hill from me though, I never wanted to go kamikaze but skiing always went that way for me...the difference is I didn't choose it, Colton does.  While those fools were skiing I took Brayden on a date.  He picked the Cheesecake Factory (we took dessert to go) and a trip to the Disney store!

 

Snow is just a short drive away...

Another family trip up to Alicia's parents condo in Lincoln, NH.  We were ecstatic that it actually snowed while were were there and had tons of fresh powder.  Colton and Brayden did two full days of ski school at Loon and the last day Colton was cruising down the green trails like a pro!  His instructor just kept going on and on about how good he was an how "fast" he was...like how he was so fast she had to speed up every run to keep up with him but he is super strong and can stop and control himself so well.  She said he was a "natural" and I think she thought he got them from his ski hungry parents.  Great little did they know...I sort of am over my downhill days and he wants nothing more than to hit the blue trails with his mommy since his instructor said he is ready for them.  I mean Alicia and I went cross country skiing (AMAZING) and could barely handle the little hills (hehe - I am such a wimp now what happened to me?)...we also spent just as much time throwing back some beers in the lodge while the kids finished up their lessons (my kind of skiing people).  Anyways - he got a report card and almost mastered it all but ONE thing held him back from being a pro...check it out in the pictures below (is he my kid of what?).  Sammy came with us as well and he, Heidi, Riley, Wally and Phil hit the "real" slopes.  Wally also talked Riley into boarding down some black diamonds (he is 8)...of course Riley loved it though. Wally even rented some skis for Leighton and took her down the bunny slope but  she was all set with the one run and being in the cold for any longer.  She did make the cutest snow bunny on the mountain though!  We fit so much into such a short time, lots of swimming and hot-tubing at the condo and even a mean 2 hour racquetball match between me, Nick, Alicia and Wally.  Most fun though was just being all together and seeing the cousins hanging out!

 Isla bug...kept Nana company while we were all out playing in the snow!

 She did NOT fall 2-3 times...no matter what anyone says.  

 The trails went around a river and lake and it was just beautiful...this is our attempt to get the river and us in the picture...we suck.

 Come on now people.

 Reporting to class.

 

 Ha - Brayden in his shades.

 Dinner at the Common Man...yum!

 Colton introduced Sam to his first Shirley Temple.

 Riley with no idea that Banger is about to bring him down uncharted territory.

 

 OK - so he did great...mastered it all EXCEPT learning the instructors name...

 

In all fairness though, her name was Consuello and she was from Argentina.

Colton told me "I didn't know what her name was or understand anything this was saying, why mom?"

Out and about...

My friend Colleen came up with her two kids, Ava and Sam, to see Colton's hockey game and then we went on a short hike over at Bare Cove (showed them some geocaching), lunch at Hingham Beer Works followed by a serious street hockey game back at our house.  The kids had such a good time together they didn't want the day to end.  Colleen and I promised we would make plans again soon since we just go way too long without seeing each other and the kids have so much fun it is silly not to get together more often!  The kids are already planning our next hike.  Here are some pictures from our goofballs (not camera shy at all can you tell).

Monster Trucks

Heidi and Phil tool Colton and their boys to the Monster Jam truck show.  Here is the best picture she could get of them surrounded by all the madness.  There were trucks tipping, fast food, lots of action...a boys dream come true.  They had a great time and Colton even got to sleep over there house...it left Nick and I in a tizzy of what to do without our little guy keeping us busy 24/7...one night without him and we were lost. We enjoyed a kid free dinner and finished up watching Dexter season 5! 

Happy Birthday Heidi!

Heidi is getting OLD...unfortunately that means I am too.  To make her feel special on her big day I made a special homemade eggplant veggie burger (my first attempt and it was delish) along with a homemade strawberry shortcake ice cream cake.  Yum!  Happy Birthday ya old lady....holy blazer...look at all those candles!

Superbowl...

You can't win them all...it was a complete upset for the Pats from the first play.  We did have a great Superbowl party though with the kids!  Complete with wings, peanut butter cookie dough dip, pizza...the list is so long and bad for you that I could gain 5 pounds just thinking about it.  We even did our own family football square betting, with $.25 squares that the kids were obsessed with winning.  Nana won in the end though and the Pats lost...not sure what devastated the kids more.  Colton had been "trash talking" Nicks family for two weeks since they are Giants fans, he even made a friendly wager with his Uncle Stash...2 matchbox cars for their bar in Jersey City...Colton wanted to win that bar sooooo bad.  I honestly don't think he understood that we weren't moving to New Jersey so he could own and Irish bar that served Shirley Temples and play video games all day.  :)

My sister thinks she is funny...

I thought my sister was sweet when she asked me to pose for a picture the other day on our hike.  

Hysterical and way too funny to not share.

On a side note...why in the world do people deface property, let alone nature like that?  So sad.