Revenge of the Big E: The Big Eat Strikes Back

It's Sunday night, but we're finally coming out of our food-induced comas from our second visit Thursday night. After 5pm, it's only $5 to get in and what we didn't know was apparently the whole town of Westfield, MA was also there that night. It wasn't nearly as busy as last Sunday afternoon however. We met up with Ian & Tina Rodriguez and the kids. AJ and Brady got to stay with Nana Aviles. We did another quick tour of the states getting some of the usual fare - I swear my potato was much larger this time around! Our quest tonight was the deep-fried Oreos. After checking out the "Craft Commons" in search of a Christmas ornament, some of the other booths we missed last time and the petting zoo, we located our nirvana. And man were they good! Next year we have to try the deep-fried cheesecake and the meatballs on a stick (we hear those are deep fried too!). But for now, Oreos are definitely the way to go! Sadly the Big E ended earlier this evening, but we'll be back next year - with our appetites!

The Big E - aka the "Big Eat"

On Sunday we took our annual trip up to the "Big E" aka the Eastern States Exhibition in nearby West Springfield, MA. Our friend Lisa and Mom Aviles joined us on our trip. We knew it was going to be a busy day being a weekend, but we were still able to enjoy the festivities. Our tour began at "The Avenue of States" - which features replicas of each New England state capitol. Each building features unique items from each state - including FOOD which is how we started our day. The highlights: Lobster Rolls from Maine, Baked Potatoes with pulled pork from CT (yes, potatoes from CT and not Maine - trust us, they are worth it!), Cabot cheese, cider donuts and fresh cider from Vermont, Del's lemonade and clamcakes (fritters) from Rhode Island. We also sampled some maple kettle corn, cheesecake, gelatto and the famous Big E eclairs. It's a good thing we did a lot of walking around the fairgrounds as well as to and from the car!

We're debating a return trip later in the week to sample the things we missed - the giant turkey legs, deep fried veggies, deep fried Oreos, candied apples and various meats on sticks. And of course we need to see the completed version of this year's "butter cow" sculpture.

AJ's First School Field Trip

Today AJ and his classmates from the Pumpkin Patch went apple picking at Lyman Orchards in nearby Middlefield, CT. I was on vacation this week, so I was available to chaperone. AJ was very excited to pick apples and have his first ride on a big yellow bus.
It was a beautiful day - bright and sunny, mild and not too windy. Among the apple trees (McIntosh and Macoun) there was a sea of 3 and 4 year olds in their orange T-shirts all filling their bags with apples...not to mention small teeth marks on many other apples that were sampled by all the kids.
AJ filled his bag pretty quickly and he really wanted to carry it. But, it was so full every time he put it down it would fall over and the apples would start rolling away. It was a fun day for everyone. Next time we'll have to go back and experience the huge corn maze they have here!

Click HERE for more pictures.

Brady is 4.5 months old

Brady turned 4 months old on August 30th and just this past week had his 4 month check up at the pediatrician's office. He was very good making lots of noises and smiling at the nurses. They were impressed with his size.

He weighed in at 15 lbs, 10 ounces and measured a whopping 27 inches tall! He is the size of a 6 month old - at his 2 month appt. we were told he was the size of a 4 month old. He is growing proportionately so no concerns there and they're glad to see he's doing so well. He wasn't thrilled with the shots he got and was making pouty faces at them as we were leaving. We got the green light to try any baby foods with him. So far he's only had oatmeal and rice cereal and this past week we started him on prunes. He makes funny "yucky" faces but eats the prunes anyway. This coming Sunday we're going to start on squash.

A while since we've blogged....

It's been a few weeks since we blogged - we've been busy with work, school and trying to catch up on sleep. We've also been having some fun too. I started work on August 20th and my students started on the 25th. AJ also started preschool on August 25th and Brady started daycare full-time on the same day. Both boys are adjusting well.

We had Brian's ESPN work picnic on August 28th and we met up with lots of friends. AJ also met up with his friend Mickey from school and later that night we met up with Ivania and Isaiah and the boys went on tons of rides together. We all had fun playing games and AJ danced around a lot on the dance floor and did not want to leave at the end of the night.

So - here's a picture of the family. We were asked for pics for the boys classrooms so we pulled out the tripod and started posing for pics the other day :o)

Here are our boys posing for mommy. I took a bunch of pictures and once AJ got tired he goes to Brian, "dad, can you grab THIS" referring to Brady LOL my boys!