Thanksgiving and More

We had a great time visiting Rochester, NY for Thanksgiving.  Enjoy some of the pics!

Eastman House 

Eastman House. You can see a replica of the Elephant head that used to hang in the conservatory.

Viewing the view master.

Evan turns the big 2!  Look out Lauren and Sean.

Evan attempts to escape.

You can't be serious all the time.

The newest parents-to-be.

Experienced parents. 

Lauren and Carl talk turkey.

Marshall tries to act cool even though he loves being spoiled by Nan.

And now, a series of pictures of family members in awkward poses while they eat.

The cool kids table.

Sean snags a quick bite.

Husbands and Brothers-in-laws oh, and Dad wayyy back in the other room.

Lauren looking classy and like she just made all that food!

Dinner was great!

Would the cranberry sauce come out shaped like the can? Success!

At Geva Theater's production of "A Christmas Carol".  

Late summer and fall begins

Summer is over now and Lauren's favorite season is in full bloom, or whatever fall does. The summer was nice, I got to take lots of time off, it wasn't too hot, and we saw many of you.  We've been to two county fairs, a pick-it-yourself apple orchard, amusement park, lakes, and many other places.  Adam and Evan spent some time with both sets of grandparents.  We're looking forward to when all the leaves change, we'll figure out somewhere nice to go hiking. 

Adam began preschool this month, he goes 3 days a week from 9am to noon.  He loves it of course and brings home little crafts every day.  It is run by a Catholic parish and the other day he came home and said something about how they pray differently, which we thought was funny.  He's a full blown person, he shares well, he helps his brother, gets himself dressed (sometimes inside-out or backwards), brushes his teeth, and all kinds of other things.  He's desperate to play "adult games" like Puerto Rico and the card games we play and desperate to read, as that's a pre-requisite for "adult games."  He loves Wii Sports Resort and scored a 199 the other night in bowling, all by himself (he marked every frame).

He is also sneaky. The other day Lauren popped back in the house from doing laundry and couldn't find him.  After a few minutes, she saw little feet beneath the curtains.  She pulled back the curtains and found Adam stuffing his face with cookies he wasn't supposed to have.  She said he had this shocked look on his face, like a mouse eating a bit of cheese you've just caught by surprise.  Today we were playing hide and seek and I noticed he briefly stopped looking for me.  Turns out, he'd taken my hiding as an opportunity to sneak another cookie.

Evan is becoming more of a person too.  He loves some time alone with Mom when Adam is at preschool.  Actually, by himself, Evan is really fun to be with.  When he's competing for attention we call him the "Great Whiner."  He's saying words rather well now, and can identify most things by their words.  He still says "baba" for banana, "fageeta" for spaghetti, and some other wild aberrations, but we've drawn enough attention to it, he says those intentionally for fun now.  His appetite varies wildly, both in terms of quantity and what he likes: from one day eating an enchilada and a half (which he won't often eat), to another day not touching oatmeal with raisins (which he usually loves).  The only constant is his love for PB&J.  He's good at cleaning up, he smiles frequently, and he imitates Adam mercilessly.

Lauren is working Friday and Sunday nights now, 12 hour shifts.  That's been OK on Friday, because I can whisk the kids away on Saturday when she returns, but a bit rougher on Monday.  Although Adam goes to preschool, Lauren has to pick him up at noon, and she has Evan all day.  She's working in surgery again, and it seems fine.  Work can be a bit slow, as all they get are holdovers from the previous day and emergency cases, but she gets to scrub for cases and that's new and different. 

For me, work is picking up again now that it is fall.  Nothing crazy, but I feel like I'm employed full-time again.  I've already been dreading the Jan-Feb-Mar months, hopefully these will be my last at such a seasonal job.  The work is fine, but it makes everything harder for everyone else.

Enjoy the pictures!

This may be Hoffman's last year

So we went a fair bit

Adam loves cotton candy

Adam's space helmet, notice the ghost in the background

Turns out we have a bounce place near us, too bad it is the worst
This is not the picture I meant to get, but I'm not going to fix it.

Bouncing makes for tired boys

Adam showing off his rocket backpack for his first day of school

At the pick-it-yourself apple orchard, their favorite part was the cider & donuts at the end

Evan would reach, but never pick

Of course they ate plenty of apples in the orchard

Evan ate his weight in apples

We used any means necessary to get good apples.
Adam took this picture in case you're wondering.

For two weeks Dave and Catherine took care of Adam and Evan for us, one week in Fairport and one week up at Hedges Lake, which we really appreciated and the boys really loved. 

Everyone came up for a weekend, Emily came back with us to Albany to watch Adam and Evan for another week, which again we really appreciated

We told Adam to go near the fire for a picture, he seems to have gotten too close

Adam and Allison rowing

Evan loves sticks almost as much as marshmallows, and yes that's his smore I'm holding

They had a nice time up at the lake

Adam goes exploring

Heading down to the lake

Ocean City Beach Mini Vacation

Many of you know that part of the Cain family went on a short five-day beach retreat to Ocean City, at the end of July. We had a great time. The boys (Adam, Evan. and Alex) loved the sand and water. Alex was so brave in the waves, a significant change from previous years at the beach. PJ was like a little kid. He demanded to be buried in the sand and he and his friend Joey loved to play in the surf. We witnessed several dramatic wipeouts. Sean claimed he could have stayed in the water all day. He is a natural when it comes to boogie boarding and body surfing.

The weather was nice for the most part. The first full day we were there, the weather was perfect. The second day started off lovely but turned a bit cloudy in the afternoon. By Thursday, the winds picked up and the rains came down. We entertained ourselves early Thursday at a go-cart track. Thursday evening, the older boys stayed in the condo to babysit while all the adults went out to dinner together.

Despite the tight sleeping arrangements, we enjoyed our time together and the opportunity to "get away" for a few days. Now on to planning our big family reunion for next year! Enjoy the pictures.

A-L-E-X spells Alex!!!

We took this pictures during a lovely evening walk on the beach

Beach beauties getting some rays

Sisters!

Sean and I really loved this little break

Busy little bees working on a very important sand project

Follow the train tracks. Choo Choo!

Smile Sheryl and Mike!

Oh Yeah!

Help Aunt Nat!

Sean teaching Adam the ropes at the beach

PJ is shocked! By what, I'm not really sure

That little arm sticking up from the top of the wave belongs to PJ

Hugs :)

Mom and her Cutie Pie

Aunt Nat and Adam holding on to the lead!

If you look closely, you can see Evan's little head behind the second steering wheel

Who doesn't love a good sand bucket?