visit with "cousins"

a few weeks back, while dad was on his "guys weekend" in idaho, zack and penny had a nice visit in ct with second cousins niko, charlie, and, of course, new baby lena. they had so much fun playing with charlie when we went to meet the new bundle of love. then, we headed over to the "corn fest" in wethersfield. truth be told, i didn't see any actual corn but they did have a bunch of fun bouncy houses, games and a hay ride. we were extra lucky to have meme and papa with us as well. zack showed of some of his new preschool skills (ie: waiting patiently in line) while waiting to get in the bouncy house. dad had the camera in idaho, so i wasn't able to capture many shots, but auntie sandy caught a few cute moments. coincidentally, today is charlie's 5th birthday - happy birthday second cousin charlie!

finally, the following day we took zack and penny over to the carousel in bushnell park in hartford. penny sat on mom's lap nervously but zack was thrilled to have his own horse! all in all, a perfect fall weekend!

"It's tape"

Zack has been in preschool for three weeks now and I cannot overstate how awesome his school is. Not only is it totally safe for allergy kids, but he gets to explore and play with his favorite things each and every day -- the way preschool should be! It's no wonder, then, that he's been spending some quality time at the playdough station and art tables. Here are a few of his creations thus far. My favorites are his first ever attempts at using scissors (he is SO excited to be able to use them!) and also the piece he made today -- it's the tube and tape project that he titled "It's tape". Too funny...

whoopsies!

Tim and I brought Zack & Penny to the local fire station on Saturday, where they climbed on the firetrucks and ran around like maniacs....only to realize later that the open house there wasn't until the next day. Oops.

potluck

last night we were lucky enough to come together as a community and celebrate the success of the Farm's start up season. the food turned out delicious and the band (a group of students from the local high school) was great! an added bonus: I finally had an excuse to use all my second hand tablecloths / cloth napkins at one time!

first day!

zack had a wonderful first day at preschool. after walking him in and hanging up his backpack, zack went into the room where all the blocks are and said "bye mommy, bye penny". no looking back! at pick-up the kids were all so cute sitting on the bench waiting for their mommies with their backpacks on. he told me "i love preschool!" sweet zack - he makes my heart sing!

zack gives a "thumbs up" on his first day.

happy third birthday, zack!

summer / fall

the little keenans bid a final farewell to summer this weekend with a visit to the beach with nonnie and grampy on saturday and said hello to fall with an apple-picking trip to tougas farm on monday. here's the trip mom remembered the camera for:

excavator

our good friends down the street are putting a pool in their yard. lucky for the little keenans, we've been able to get some sneak peeks into the excavation and construction. zack seems to be "digging" hanging out in the excavator bucket with his pal tyler (sorry, couldn't resist).

burlington

we survived our long weekend trip to burlington! we applied lessons learned from the ogunquit trip and had a grand old time. the dvd player in the car sure didn't hurt either. that and the fact that zack wasn't afraid to use a "big boy" potty. made being out and about much easier. thanks to uncle john and liz for being great hosts and babysitting on that 2nd night! we slacked a bit (ok, a lot) with the picture taking, though...

penny gets her hands wet at the aquarium:
uncle john and the kids enjoy their bunny grahams.

honk!
moo!
penny is zonked out after a yummy breakfast at penny cluse's.
so sweet snoozing in the same room...
best buds!
the kids ride in the "tunnel".

summer fun with meme and papa

meme and papa visited this past weekend and slept over 2 nights. we all had so much fun - we went to the "feast of st. rocco", the beach, and spend a load of quality time playing together!