Taking A Hike..

Anyone who knew us in Boston knew how much we loved the arboretum we lived near.  We are happy to say that we have been blessed with yet another amazing nature getaway just miles from our house: Radnor Lake.  Christie first found this place while we were in CT and she was so excited to show it to us.  On Saturday we all went to check it out.  Tons of trails in the woods, a bike and running path, and of course a lake with otters and other wildlife surrounding it.  It really is a beautiful place.  On Monday, Christie and Caeley decided to go for a hike. Check it out!

The girls: ready for an adventure!

Caeley, as usual, leading the way.  Check out the cool walking stick she has.  This was given to Christie on one of the days she visited the lake while we were in CT.  There was a man at the lake who was carving the stick, and when Christie told him she had 2 kids, he gave her the stick to give to Cales.  She loves it!!

Just like mom, loving the woods

Is she trying out for the EMS catalog here?

One thing I love about all these pictures is how genuinely happy Caeley is in them.  She really loved the experience, and the one on one with her mom!

No otters, but we got turtles!!

I'm not even a real outdoorsy guy and I think this place rocks!

Time for a snack, want some??

NO???  REALLY???  THEN IT'S ALL MINE!!

Caeley ended hiking all the way up and down the mountain, A TWO MILE HIKE!!  Our little girl is growing up to be a hard core hiker!!

Props to Grandpa

Before I start with this blog, I want to make it clear that my dad never made any comments to me that he felt dissed by not getting enough face time on this blog.  But see, that's the cool thing about my dad, he doesn't get too caught up in things like that.  He doesn't want to make things complicated and will often be willing to sacrifice his time to make our schedule easier when we come up north.  I often almost have to argue with him and tell him, "No Dad!  We are coming to see you!"  "We will make it work!".  He doesn't need the big occasion, in fact he would rather just spend a little time just being around us.  He appreciates the short time we have together and makes things super easy and we always have a great visit.  Now on the last trip, my dad came up to see us at Margaret's house for a visit.  It was a wonderful afternoon, and unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  Most of the video and pics you see on here are times when Christie and I are both around.  This frees someone up to be the paparazzi!  But I did not get a chance to take any pictures. So I wanted to post up this pic of my dad AKA Grandpa.  Thank you for being so supportive of me and my family.  We love you and thank you for all you have done for us.   

NORTHEAST TOUR PART 6: ELIJAH'S BIRTHDAY!!!

The day before we left for home, it was time to celebrate Elijah's 2nd birthday!  It was a really fun day.  We opened presents in the morning, and then went to the beach where Elijah tried his hand at surfing.  After a much needed nap, Boo Boo was ready to party again!  Oma, Uncle Brian, Uncle Robby and Brookie all came.  It was also Brookie's birthday weekend, so Elijah shared his cake with her.  I can't believe our little man is 2.  Elijah, you are turning into such a wonderful, caring person.  We thank God for you everyday!!  Here are all the highlights!!

NORTHEAST TOUR PART 5: VISIT WITH THE OWENS CLAN!!

One of our best days of the whole trip came when our good friends and former Boston neighbors, The Owens, came down to visit us.  Mike, Davina and their cute son Noah arrived late Thursday night.  After the kids were down, the adults (at least age-wise), had time to catch up.  The next morning was what we were all waiting for.  Noah and Elijah are best friends.  Now that term is thrown around quite loosely with parents.  That usually means "We are good friends, and our children play in their own little worlds while we hang out".  But not these guys.  I have never seen two kids this young bond like they do.  Their welcome after not seeing each other in 2 months says it all!  We also had a wonderful trip out on Christie's parents boat (thank you Elaine and Peter!)  The kids were jumping off the side of the boat (even Elijah!) Here are the highlights!  

Boy Time

With Caeley going to preschool 3 days a week for a full day, Elijah and I have enough time to really have days planned just for me and him.  This is something I have looked very much forward to.  Caeley used to get a massive amount of one on one time with me and Christie because she was the only one back then.  Though we do special things with Elijah on his own, he still kind of got dragged around through Caeley's schedule.  So now, when we drop Caeley off, we give a high five and say "BOY TIME!!"

One of the benefits of moving to a new city is you get gift certificates in the mail for free things.  By far the coolest thing we got so far was a gift certificate for a ten dollar free meal at a cool place called "Noshville".  Though I would have been excited to eat for free anywhere,  this place has special significance. This is where we went to eat the morning after Christie's interview with our new friends Karen and Jonathan Rogers.  For all you up north, these two are very cool people!  Karen is also in Emergency Medicine and has been a great support to Christie.

SO ANYWAY!!  I went today to with Elijah, who was sporting a rockin' new shirt from his friend Noah, to Noshville to have a great breakfast on the house!  Check it out!

Let's Eat!

Elijah ready to draw his heart out as he waits for his manly breakfast!

This picture is crazy.  This is the first time I have looked at a picture of Elijah and think I have a good idea how he will look when he grows up.  NOT SO FAST BOO BOO!!!

"Oh Father!  You're such a card!"

Just the boys.

WOW!! Elijah is not kidding around with that breakfast!! (He ate most of it!)

I will get back to coverage of the Northeast tour in the next few posts.  Just too much cuteness to wait on here!  Until next time....

Caeley's first day of preschool!

So we will be taking a momentary detour on our coverage of the Northeast Sullivan tour to bring you a big moment in the Sullivan house.  Caeley started preschool today!  Now we got back on Sunday night after 19 hours in the car.  On Monday morning around 11, we were visited by Caeley's new teacher.  Mrs. Wolfe visited every single one of her kids before they came to school this year, just so they would feel a little more comfortable on their first day.  This was great for Cales because she was a little nervous, but judging by the smile on her face when her teacher visited her, it was clear she was raring to go!

What makes this real school to Caeley is that she eats lunch there.  So when you eat lunch at school, you have to make your lunch.  Here is Caeley preparing the night before for her big day and then the drop off!

Christie picked Caeley up and I was eager to ask her how her first day went.  This is what she said!

So we're off to a great start to hopefully a great school year!  

NORTHEAST TOUR PART 4: Pop's Birthday

One cool thing about this week is that both Elijah and my father in law's birthday fall on it.  So we are usually here with Pete when it is his birthday.  This year was no exception.  We had a great little get together last night with "Pop", as well as a visit with Aunt Joanne, cousin Dana and Uncle Robbie.  Check it out!

Earlier during the day, the kids and Christie baked a blueberry crisp for Pop's birthday!

Look Dad!  Those are the blueberries.  ( I was in charge of keeping Pop away from seeing them.)

The Christie clinic was open that night with Uncle Robbie as her first patient.  "Sis!  What did I do to my toe?"

Aunt Joanne and cousin Dana came over that night too.  They were very good at staying clear of the camera so unfortunately, we don't have any pics of them.  But we do have pics of our very grateful kids opening the presents they received from them.  Thanks guys!

Pop waiting for the festivities to begin, hanging with Elijah.

Caeley delivering the goods...

Everyone together!  ONE....  TWO.....

It was a great night to celebrate a great man.  Pete has been a blessing to me and to my children and I cherish my relationship with him.  Happy Birthday Pete!  You are truly appreciated!  

NORTHEAST TOUR PART 3: SUPERMAN!!!

So I did a lot of other fun stuff in between this and the last post, but nothing you want to hear about!  haha.  But one thing I have decided to do everytime we come back in the summer is to go on my favorite ride "Superman"  at Six Flags New England.  They changed the name to Bizarro, it is supposed to be a kind of Superman gone wrong character.  They could call it anything, but it will always be the Superman to me.  Here is a little taste of why I love it so!  The first drop is worth the wait!  Of course, another great perk that day was to catch up with my good friend Mike.  You know you are good friends when you can stand on lines for over 7 hours and be able to talk the whole time....

NORTHEAST TOUR PART 2: Sullivan clan visits Norwalk and then head to the Island...

After a much needed day to just chill and recoup from the 18 hour monster day, we headed to the Gomez house in Norwalk to visit with my sister's family for the second time in 5 days!  After a good night's sleep, we headed to Island Beach in Greenwich.  This was a staple of my childhood growing up, so it was fun for me and the kids, Margaret and her family and my mom and my other two sisters to head to the beach like we all used to back in the day.......

Here comes the ferry!!!

Elijah is raring to go!!

Cales on the high seas!!

Caeley making Lucas smile!

Aunt Maggie and Caeley enjoying the breeze...

Ahoy!!  Land ho!!!

Pulling into the island.....

Cales wastes no time.  Time to hit the water!!!

Elijah decides to hang back and watch a rowdy bunch of campers play a fierce game of dodgeball...

 Aunt Wendy looking fabulous as always!!

Caeley and Aunt Connie enjoying a dip UNTIL.....

The wonderful lifeguard informed us that no flotation devices were allowed in the water, including Caeley's "swimmies".  The reason?  Parents rely too much on them and don't watch their children properly.  I was standing knee deep in the water with my daughter at arm's length, but letting her build up her confidence with her swimmies on.  But because others neglect their kids, I had to tell Caeley to take her swimmies off and she started crying.  Thanks Hasselhoff for bringing my kid to tears...

But wait!!!  What is this???  Caeley refuses to let the lifeguard ruin her day.  Instead she counters with a great round of aqua ring around the rosy with Nana, Aunt Connie and Wendy!!  "ashes!! ashes!!!"

"WE ALL FALL DOWN!!!"

Overall, a great day at the beach!  After the kids were beat, we packed up and said goodbye to the Sullivan/Gomez crew and headed back to chez Daubner!

NORTHEAST TOUR PART ONE: 18 hours....

We left for our 16 day visit to the northeast on Saturday the 1st.  We packed the car up the night before and planned to leave at 5am central time.  Our plan was to transport the kids into the car under the cover of darkness and have them fall back to sleep and get as far as I could with them sleeping.  Well, it didn't really work out that way!   As soon as the kids got in the car they were so excited!  Caeley kept saying "We're going to do it!"  "Go dad!"  and Elijah would second anything Caeley said.  At first I was a little worried that they were awake so early, but it was fun hearing how excited they were, and watching the sun come up as we headed out of Nashville. 

We had been on the road for about 3 hours when Elijah, out of nowhere, threw up all over himself!  Needless to say he was a little freaked out, and we had to stop on the side of the road to change clothes and clean up.  It was a freaky isolated thing, he wasn't sick or whiney or anything, so we pressed onward.....  

Until we got pulled over in Virginia.  Note to self:  TN is 70 all the way until you cross over into VA.  As I was pulling over with the lights following in my rear view, I was hoping that once the officer walked up and saw the kids in the back and heard how I was traveling to CT clearly on my own, that he might give me a break.  I was as nice as could be and as the officer went back to his car, Cales asked, "Are we going to jail?".  I told her no and very quickly the officer started approaching the car again.  I thought that he clearly was going to show me some mercy and give me a warning until he started with "Ok, it's 5 dollars for every mile you were over.."  

After that we really had a great trip.  The kids were troopers.  We stopped about 4 or 5 times for very short spurts of running around and playing tag, racing each other on the grass in between bathroom breaks, soda stops and refueling.  During this very long excursion we had some great talks.  About nothing really, but Caeley is really getting to an age where she just wants to talk about everything and anything and I love it.  

Things went really really well until the very end of the trip.  It did take us 18 hours, and at the end, Elijah was totally done.  He doesn't sleep well in the car and he was clearly wanting out of the car.  So the last hour was peppered with crying and whining, but after everything they had been through, if that was all they gave me, I was very happy to deal with it.  They were amazing!  

Finally we pulled into my in laws at 12:30am.  This was the first time we had been to their newly built home!  And it was amazing!  What a very welcoming and cozy place to stop after a very, very long day...... 

Gomez clan visit Nashville!

The last week of July, my sister Margaret and her beautiful family came to visit us in Nashville. This was very exciting because they were our first official guests in our new house and we were really amped up to show them our new city! Check out some pics!!

Caeley helping babysit her cousin Lucas....

Anyone who has children and visits us gets a free night of babysitting to paint the town.  Here Christie works her magic to keep Liliana smiling!

Again cousin Caeley loving on her cuz!

Aunt Maggie and Liliana chilling with the kiddies!  


As most of you know, my sister is a blogging maniac!!  She has a lot more great pics of their trip.  Check them out here:  http://gomeztwins.blogspot.com/2009/08/nashville-part-1.html

SORRY!!!! WE'RE ON VACATION!!!

To all of you, or the few of you, who come back to see what we're up to and our disappointed because we have not updated our blog, we're sorry. We're currently on vacation and will have much to share in about a week's time. Thanks!!