More swimming

The boys are enjoying their swimming lessons so much.  I am so happy that I enrolled them in this session.  They are improving tremendously, especially Zachary.  He is now jumping with no problem and can now swim with his head under the water!

Nicolas is also improving.  The difference is less obvious but it's still there.  I am very proud of how much they are improving.  Here are some pictures and video of the boys in action...

Nicolas swimming:

Zachary jumping in and swimming:

Baking

Zachary and Nicolas decided they want to bake some chocolate chip cookies for Take-Out Friday.  So, while Charlie was still napping, we got started.  Charlie woke up seconds later and so he joined in on the fun.  It turned out to be a good thing since they all had a blast and it was a successful adventure in baking.  I could not believe that the boys remembered every single ingredient in the cookies even though we haven't made a batch since before Christmas!

Here are a few pictures of the messy and tasty fun!

  This was Charlie's first taste of cookie dough.  I think he liked it!!

Great Escape Lodge 2013

We decided to go back to the Great Escape Lodge again this year since we had so much fun last year.  We actually decided we were going back even before we left the place last year...  It was so much more fun this year than it was last year.  With the boys having been in swimming lessons since the summer, they are so much more comfortable in the water and were willing to try far more things than last year.  Charlie had a blast in the kiddie pool and the lazy river.  He could not understand why he could not go down the big boy slides like his brothers, but was very good at listening and not making a fuss.

The boys were so well behaved and it was the best time to go since the lodge was not busy, especially at the beginning of our stay.  There were times when we were the only ones there (or almost the only ones).  It was fun since we never really had to wait to go down any of the slides.  Both Nicolas and Zachary went down the "purple tube" - a slide that we go down in a raft - more than once.  Zachary actually loved it so much I took him down multiple times with it just being the two of us.  Nicolas didn't like it as much but had a blast going down the big green slide.

We managed to get some good shopping in as well which is always fun.  I look forward to planning our next stay there.  It will be a little harder next year since Zachary and Nicolas will be in kindergarten.  But, I am sure we will figure something out...

Here are a few pictures of our fun trip...

Steve and myself racing each other down the slide... I had a poor start at the top and lost:

The boys going down the green slide:

 Charlie having fun in the water:

Time with the cousins

The boys got to spend some time with their cousins over the holidays. It was lots of fun and they enjoyed every minute of it. 

The kids all traced their hands on an apron that read "We love Grandma's cookies" to give to her for Christmas.   Here they are with her enjoying her cookies..

The boys watching a little "Prep & Landing" with Lolo, Katie and Sabrina: