Another Truck/Car Event

Saturday, Matt got a bit of a surprise on what his evening would entail.  

I have a friend, Dawn, who knows Matthew's OBSESSION with Monster trucks.  Her husband is able to get tickets to some car/truck events and was able to get two extra tickets for the event that was being held in Englishtown, NJ Saturday night. 

Dave didn't tell Matt about what they were doing until they went to pick up the tickets from my friend Saturday morning.  The boys left around 3 p.m. and got home after 1 a.m. 

It was a long night but they had a great time. 

My Day with the Kids

Majestic

Being on vacation alone with the kids is out of the "norm" for me but I'm determined to make it work. 

Yesterday, our first day alone, we spent the day playing outdoor games, going to the pool and lake after dinner. Today I promised them a "real" activity (something we usually do as a family or to be honest, Dave does with them).  The kids are obsessed with animals so we decided on a local animal park name "Claws N Paws". This place had so many cats.  The first animal we saw walking into the park was this lion perched on his rock.  He was beautiful and majestic.  The kids loved seeing all the animals. Emily's favorites were the chinchillas, Arctic fox and lion. Matt's favorite animal was "everything". 

This boy loves throwing rocks

We came back after the park to eat lunch and relax with the intention of heading to the indoor pool before it closed at 5.  Instead, we headed to dinner at 5 and the kids decided they wanted to go back down to the lake to throw in rocks, not the outdoor pool. Tonight, we were a little smarter and brought bathing suits in case anyone got a little wet (yesterday Matt sat in the water by "mistake"). Matt was busy moving rocks looking for secret passages in the water. I don't know where these passages would lead and he wasn't giving any information.  

My favorite part was taking pics of the lake and the sunset. Being on the lake and seeing the amazing sunset just makes you feel hugged by God.  It was beautiful.

My beauty

Supporting His Team

Tonight Matt is experiencing his first professional football game. What makes it "the best" is that the team playing is the team Matt has decided is "his" team - The New York Giants!  

It was an unplanned turn of events that allowed us to be able to get tickets for tonight's game against the NY Jets at Met Life Stadium. Dave was just as excited as Matt to be able to go to the game (he is a huge Tebow fan!).

It made me smile watching the two of them heading off to this "first" game they would experience together. One of those father/son moments you know will happen at some point and tonight was that night.

It was nice for me and Emily too because we were and are still enjoying our mother/daughter "date" which included shopping at an accessory store, dinner at the diner and now a re-watching of "The Lorax".  I did ask her permission to blog while the movie was playing, after all we did just watch it together without distractions last night. 

Tonight is a good night in the Wessel house!!      

Little Helpers

Today one of the adult groups at our church was having a car wash to raise funds for an annual conference they attend.  

In support, the kids and I stopped to get my car washed on our way to a birthday party they were invited to. I wasn't really surprised that the kids decided to join in and help wash our car - they love to help! What did surprise me is that they stayed to help with the next car too. Matt was to cute offering his praise to the group on what a great job they were doing. He told them they were the best car washers.  I'm afraid he has it set in his head that they will be there next Saturday to wash cars. I did offer at one point to leave them behind to continue washing cars but they said they didn't want to miss the birthday party.

In the end, we had a really clean car and the kids had fun being of service.  

Afternoon at Turtle Back Zoo

Late this afternoon the kids and I met up with our family friends, Corin (Aunt Corin to the kid's - she's been there since their births), Jonathan and Emma Huff to go to the zoo. Turtle Back Zoo is in Essex County NJ and on Tuesday you can get into the zoo for $1/person after 1:00 pm.  

The funny thing is both my kids have been to this zoo on school field trips but this was my first visit.  What shocked me most of all was that we were able to see almost every animal exhibited.  If you've been to a zoo, you know that the majority of the time the animals are out of view either sleeping or cooling off in the shade and it is disappointing not to see them.  This was not the experience today.  I saw more big cats on this one visit than I have ever seen... including black bears, wolves, a red fox... you get the idea. We SAW the animals!! The only disappointing part was that the "Asian" area where the red panda is (the only animal Emily wanted to see) was under construction.  

It was a wonderful afternoon and we are ready to go back again.  

Boys are Going to the Birds

The two Em's hand in hand

Another Glorious Beach Day

Waiting for their wave

We spent yesterday at the beach in Ocean Grove, NJ. 

The day was hot and humid and the sun bright so the beach was packed. This was very different from the last time we were at this beach.  I do have to say even though it was filled with people it was still peaceful. This beach is very family friendly and that makes it just nice overall.

The kids (that includes Dave) enjoyed their boogie board time. I loved watching Matt as he was body surfing at one point. It was fun watching him lay back into the oncoming wave and see his body move with its motion.  When he came back to me at the blanket, he told me very excitedly that he saw a fish and he thought it was a catfish (I had happened to bring his goggles which allowed him to open his eyes in the water).  The kids always get in some time playing in the sand and today it was so cool when the tide went out and so much wet sand became their building ground.  

Dave and I at the end of each summer say "we should have gone to the beach more".  This year we've gone twice.  I know twice doesn't seem like much but for us when the beach is an hour and a half away that is pretty amazing.  We remarked when we left that morning how easy it was to get ready and get out of the house.  I remember when they were younger how it seemed to take so long to get packed. The kids love the beach now. They both really enjoy being in the water... it was only last summer that Matt was still a little apprehensive about going in the water.  This year he was going in past Dave and would have to be told to come in closer.  The kids are more responsible too! Yes, we still watch them but they know to be careful and to go to the lifeguard if we can't be found (hasn't happened yet). If the beach was closer, I think we would be there more often. The kids have said they want to move by the beach......they haven't experienced the beach in winter.  

Once again, we had an awesome family day!!

Building their moats

Six Flags Fun

The Spoils of the Day

Today Dave surprised me by taking the kids to Six Flags by himself. 

The original plan was that we would all go but Dave knows I'm not a big fan of amusement parks. Also, having had the kids home all summer he thought "a day off" for me was appropriate.

They headed out around 9:30 and returned around 5:30.  There were two times during the day when it rained and the rides were shut down temporarily but they made due with those moments.  As always, they played games..... Emily won the blue giraffe and Matt the Angry Bird (he is so obsessed with them).  

I personally love the little containers that their lunch was served in. This organizing mom can make use of those!!  :)  

Oh and I forgot to mention that the kids each received a free ticket for the amusement park  by participating in a reading program this past school year.  What was even better is that their ticket allowed for the purchase of an adult ticket at half price.  You have to love and expensive outing being majorly discounted!!  

Today was definitely a good day had by all! 

Biking Through Lodi

Today is a beautiful day here. The sun is shining and although there is a cool breeze the temperature is in the 50's. I decided the kids and I would take advantage of the day and head down to the Dunkin Donuts across from their school. I gave them the choice of riding their bikes or taking their scooters. They both decided on their bikes, I walked. It went well....I just had to remind them to watch for cars going in and out of driveways/parking lots. Emily was always a little bit ahead but never crossed streets without me and Matt, he stayed close to mom. When we got to DD, the kids got drinks and shared a cookie. Me, I got the most important thing - "a medium cinnamon coffee with just milk". The trip back went as smooth as the trip there. Both seemed to really like the outing "into town". This may be a "thing to do" on our summer "to do" calendar.

Monster Jam

This past Saturday it was Matt's turn to have his day with Dave so the boys headed to Monster Jam at the arena. Dave has been wanting to take Matt to this for years but either he hears about it after the fact or he is in crazy work mode.

Dave was able to get the pre"event" ticket where you can go down on the arena floor and see the trucks and meet some of the drivers. Dave said that about 10 minutes in Matt just wanted to go sit down which is not unusual for Matt but Dave had him plug along.

They said the show was good but the arena space really limited the amount of "tricks" they could do. Matt didn't say much about it when he first got home but when I was up in my room trying to sleep off a migraine the flood gates of information from the event spewed out as he looked at each page of the program book he got. So, I guess it is safe to say he really enjoy it. Oh, another way I can tell he had a good time is that this morning he told me he wanted to have his birthday party at Monster Jam and the first person on his invite list is his teacher, Mrs. Tronza.

Emily and I spent the day at the mall. She had 2 gift cards that she was able to use.

All in all the kids both had really good "dates".

Go Giants!!

The Friday before the Superbowl the kids were able to leave their school uniforms at home and dress in the attire or colors of their favorite team.

We didn't have to tell the kids twice that they didn't have to wear their uniforms. :)

Matt has been being outfitted slowly by Dave in Giants attire. Matt had shown some interest in the Giants when he came home from something (I can't remember what) with a Giants flag. Dave is gracious enough to let the kids choose their own teams even when he is not so thrilled with their choices. Emily loves any team that has an animal involved with their name - Cardinals, Dolphins, Orioles, etc. Matt has no logic to his choices, he just chooses.

After the one playoff game, Dave got him the Giants shirt and then after the 49'er game he got Matt the hat. So, he was decked out for not only this school day but for the Superbowl party we went to.

Emily didn't have any attire so she dressed in blue and white and considered herself a cheerleader. For the Superbowl while we were out on Saturday shopping, she found a really nice Yankee shirt and got that because she knew her dad would like it.

And Yes, we were very pleased that the Giants won the Superbowl, especially Matt!

We made it to the Tree!!!

It was a short walk to the tree at Rockefeller Center from the subway but we took a small detour to the Sony Experience Center. The program Dave wanted the kids to go to there didn't have any availability until after 4 and we knew we would be heading to Time Square after our visit to the tree so we will need to head back there again on another visit. We did however got some coffee and drinks then headed to the tree. These few pictures don't show it but the crowds of people were crazy - worse than I have ever been in this time of year.

What was nice was this year I wasn't the only one taking pictures. Emily has become quite a photographer when it comes to getting pics of Dave & I.