Our Week in Pennsylvania

After being home for Easter, Caden and I stayed a few extra days to spend time with family and friends.  Here is a day by day account of all the fun that we had in Pennsylvania.  Warning... This may be the longetst Blog Ever!


SATURDAY
On Saturday we spent the day with my family and celebrated Easter a day early.  We dressed Caden and his cousin Dylan (my sister's son) the same for the day.  We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed watching Dylan hunt for eggs.  Hopefully Caden will be able to run around and help him look for eggs next year.

The boys in their matching outfits.

Thrilled to have their pictures taken.

Sisters and their boys.

Dylan hunting for his eggs.

The Slatt Family's first Easter

Dylan's eyeing up another egg he missed.  Too funny!

Uncle JT stopped over to see the boy.  He looks pretty comfortable with that baby in his arms.

SUNDAY

I'm embarrassed to admit that we didn't make it to church on Easter Sunday.  I know, I know.. what a terrible example to set for our baby's first Easter.  I promise we'll do better in the future.  We went over to Ed's parents in the morning where Ed learned how to make his Dad's famous French Toast.  The secret recipe has finally been passed down now that Ed is a father.

Then we quickly ran over to see my good friend from High School, Jess and her baby Bentley. He is the most precious thing, and is doing so much cool stuff: clapping, waving, talking, and even trying to walk  It was so great to see both of them, and of course Jess' family.  It was like old times, only the two of us now have our own little boys.  Weird I know! 

After that it was off to Ed's family's Easter dinner.  It was great to see his Dad's side of the family and introduce them to Caden for the first time.

Graci lovin' on her Baby Caden

Aunt Dee-Dee stealing kisses

Hunter and his best buddy

Ed's Uncle Dan loves babies and Caden loved him too

Ed's cousin Sam is an absolute natural with babies.  Here she showed Caden grass for the first time.  He wasn't quite sure if he liked it at first, but then he loved it.

 

 The men in the family. 

 Three generations

 The Mommas in the family

 Uncle Eddie and Hunter making silly faces.

Sunday night Ed left to head back to Jersey for a long few days without us.   He put Caden to bed before leaving and then we had our tearful goodbye.  I have to admit I had a slight feeling of panic when he left and contemplated chasing his car down and telling him to take us with, but I held it together and we all survived the week.

MONDAY

Monday morning my sister came over for breakfast with her son Dylan and her best friend's daughter Sienna.  Caden and Sienna share a birthday, and Julie watches her during the week while her mom Kyra is at work.  It was so much fun to spend time with them this week, but I do think we overwhelmed my poor Dad by invading the house on a daily basis.  Oh well, he has plenty of time to recover before out next visit.

Caden also had a special visit from his Aunt Lou.  Aunt Lou is my good friend Erin from college.  This is the first chance we had to get together since Caden was born.  It was so great to see her, and Caden absolutely loved her.  Monday was definitely a fun day!!

Yes, he wore the same shirt again.  It went against everything I believe in, but I thought he looked so darn cute in the shirt I had to repeat it.

 

Caden and his first girlfriend Sienna.

 Awww.. it breaks my heart... look how big Dylan is.  I swear he was Caden's size yesterday.

The boys.

I seriously cannot get enough of these two.

Aunt Lou.. total natural.

Monday night my Dad and I took Caden for a long walk after dinner.  When we got back we laid him in his pack-n-play only to find him with his book on his head.  I think he's buying into the idea of osmosis at an early age.  Whatever works for you my little man.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I officially blew it with the camera. First I dropped Caden off at Julie's and took Dylan to Story Time at the library.  Well we planned to go to story time, but Aunt Nenny shut Dylan's poor little fingers in the automatic windows of the car.  (Horrible I know!) So after a bunch of crocodile tears we ditched story time, and went to the toy store to buy a dump truck and make everything better.

Then we went to see Ed's mom, Ma-Ma at work and had a great visit with her and all of her co-workers.  Ma-Ma was sweet enough to give Caden a bottle and hold him while he slept in her arms at her desk.  We apologize if you no longer have a job, but we had a great time visiting.

Then we went over to play with three of our favorites, Hunter, Graci and Aunt Nicki.  It was a beautiful day and Caden loved sitting on his Aunt Nicki's lap and watching the kids play outside.  Then to top the day off Uncle Toby came home from work early and hung out with us too.  It was pretty much a perfect day!

After that we went back to my parents house and had dinner with my Julie, Dylan, Julie's best friend Kyra, her daughter Sienna (previously mentioned... Caden's girl), and Kyra's son Mason.  We had a pizza party at my parents and a fun time with all of the kids playing.  

  This is pretty much what Julie and I looked like all week long.

Caden loves his Aunt Julie.

Thank the good Lord I didn't have twins!

WEDNESDAY

I have to admit this was probably the day that I was looking forward to the most when we planned our trip home.  It was our first time taking Caden to the Zoo.  Dylan goes with my sister and my parents all the time, and absolutely loves all the animals.  I couldn't wait to take Caden and to see Dylan run around and show his Aunt Nenny all the "cool animals."

 

First stop at the zoo... snakes of course!

Caden's not quite sure about all of this zoo stuff yet.

Dylan showing Aunt Nenny the alligators.

Ok... as a new Mommy I was definitely not prepared for all of the strollers at the zoo.  It was the first nice day in a long time, so I guess all of the Moms that were suffering from Cabin fever headed to the zoo.

Dylan being an excellent tour guide and showing Baby Caden the turtles.

In the barn with the screech owls and the tired little boy.

Ok here's the story of the day.  As Dylan is running to this exhibit he's telling me there are only two in here that you can see.  I of course think he's talking about fish the entire time.

Pa-Pa and Dylan posing with what I think are just fish.

Dylan now yelling and pointing to his Aunt Nenny... it's not fish I'm talking about Nenny.. it's BEARS!!!

Yep... he was right.  Directly behind me were two huge bears and I never even saw them.  Can you tell Aunt Nenny was sleep deprived and not used to having a baby to take care of all by herself.  Definitely missing Daddy at this point!

 

Next were the praire dogs.  I swear Dylan almost fell in there with those little rodents.

Our little trooper survived the zoo.  It was his first day in 90 degree weather, and he handled it like a champ.

Aunt Julie and Baby Caden

Hot, tired and sweaty little boys.

Pa-Pa and Baby Caden

Dylan sprinting away from the zoo.  Why you ask?  Because the bees were after him of course!!

For lunch this day we finally got Dylan the Happy Meal from McDonald's that Nenny promised him all week long.  We all headed over to my Aunt Liz and Uncle Dave's for a fun afternoon with two tired little boys and a tired little lady too.

Wednesday night we headed over to Ed's parents for dinner, and one last visit before we left the next day.  We had a great time with everyone and enjoyed the beautiful weather and being able to sit outside.  Sorry Hank the Crank showed up for a quick visit, but I think my poor boy was exhausted by this point.

Caden hanging out with his Ma-Ma... or should I say shamelessly drooling all over her.

 Hanging out with Uncle Toby, Aunt Nick, Ma-Ma and don't forget Max.

 Caden loved watching Hunter and Pop-Pop weed whack.  He can't wait till he can join in on the fun.

 Hunter is very serious about his weed-whackin'

Caden loved feeling the textures of Ma-Ma's plants.

 Still at it... work, work, work.

 Graci girl posin' for some pictures.

 Ma-Ma and all of her grandbabies.

 Hunter was proudly showing off his next tooth that was about to fall out at any second.  As Hunter said it's only hanging by a thread.

Can you tell how much Caden's cousins love him?  What a lucky little guy he is!

He loved touching their faces, and they loved it too.  Sooo cute!!

Ok.. at this point in the week Caden and I were both exhausted, but obviously having a blast.  We did not have this much activity in the last four months combined let alone in four days.  We did however miss Daddy terribly and couldn't wait to get home to see him.  Especially because he is the bed time guy, and Mommy definitely does not have the touch.

THURSDAY

Our last day in Pennsylvania was bittersweet.  We were excited to get home and see Daddy and the doggies, but we definitely would miss everyone and all the fun we had during our visit.  Thursday morning before we left Aunt Julie, Dylan and Sienna came over for one last quick visit before we got on the road.

 

Pa-Pa and Caden having their last breakfast together for awhile.

Everyone shows up for their last few hours of fun.

Last few hugs.

Last few kisses.

Last few times holding hands.

And of course a tubby before we head home so the boy will be nice and clean when he sees his Daddy.  Ok, let's be honest, Aunt Julie wanted to give him a tubby the whole time we were home and this was the only chance we had.

 

Aunt Julie and the twins for one final shot.

FRIDAY

My parents drove us home and spent the night before heading back to PA today.  Being the die hard Phillies fan that he is, my Dad made sure to include a Phillies shirt in Caden's Easter basket.  And not only just any old Phillies shirt, but a Chase Utley shirt.

Happy to be home.

Utley jersey and a bald spot.. what more could you ask for?

Mi-Mi hanging out with her boy before she headed back home.

Love this picture!

Hugs from Pa-Pa.

Pa-Pa making sure you know his boy is representing for the Phillies!!

And Daddy came home, scooped up the boy, put him in his jacket and told us we are never, ever allowed to leave him again!!

My Boys!!