Our last Summer Extravaganza

Twins! I can't wait to watch them grow up together! 

On Labor Day weekend we went to the beach with 2 families from our small group.  They are like family to us and it was so nice to spend the last weekend of "summer" hanging out and watching the kids play.  We stayed in a condo with the Ernest Family and it was quite a hoping place.  With 4 adults and 4 kids in a 3 bedroom condo we were packed in kinda tight but we had a blast.  We spent some time at the beach, but most of it swimming in the pool.  We also got Kohr Brother's Frozen Custard (my all time favorite!), and have great family meals.  

Noah and Faith loved getting to play with Elisha for the weekend!

He is always the first one to come and see Elisha and want to play! 

I'm glad that Elisha will have great boys to look up to in the coming years!

In a few years she is going to be a great babysitter! 

Andrew got creative when protecting his sunburned head from the sun. :-)

On our drive back from the beach we stopped at my Grandparent's house to visit Great Mommom and Great Poppy! It was nice to get to spend some time with them as well!! 

Laughing with Mommom!

Great Snuggles!

Play Time!!

It’s fair time!

This is Andrew’s favorite week of the summer! (In case you were convinced by that let me tell you it was complete sarcasm.) But I do love fair time!  We went to the fair for a few different visits.  On the first day we went to see one of the sheep shows.  Elisha got to go into the show ring with Poppy! 

Then we went back another day just to walk around and hang out.  Then the third day we got to go and see Great Mommom and Great Poppy! It was so fun to get to hang out with them and spend the day walking around outside and enjoying each other company! 

 

Uncle Louis

While on our Florida vacation Elisha and I had the privilege to meet Andrew's Great Uncle Louis who I have heard so much about.  His health has not been the best for some time now.  In fact, last summer (2013) he was not feeling up to having visitors so I was not able to meet him on our Flordia trip which just build my anticipation for this year.  When we arrived he was quick to find Elisha and was overjoyed when he saw him.  It was beautiful to see his reaction to the next generation.  I am so grateful to have spent some time with him talking about Kassouf family history among other things.  Uncle Louis is like a grandfather to Andrew and his brothers and I know he cherishes any time they can spend together.  It was a great added bonus to our Florida vacation! 

Elisha at 3 months and Uncle Louis at 85

4 Generations of Kassouf Men

The Sunshine State

I tell you what, my son has been to more states in his first 3 months then many people visit in a lifetime.  On this trip he bumped his total up to 11 states (plus the District of Columbia).  Hopefully with all the traveling we did this summer he will enjoy traveling his entire life because his mommy and daddy love it!  We went to Orlando for a few days with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a nice relaxing week.  We spent a lot of time at the pool and at the resort just relaxing.  We did a few other fun things too. 

The first day we went up to Winter Park to paint pottery at All Fired Up.  This studio is owned by Alea, a family friend.  She made us feel at home visiting with us and helping throughout the process.  We made some more foot print items but thankfully with Alea’s help we were even able to get a few hand print items which is almost impossible with babies because the first thing they do when you put anything in/on their and is make a first.  Alea would quickly paint his hand while Grandma held him and I held his fingers straight.  It was definitely a team effort but I got handprints and I am very happy about that!! 

 

  We also ate lunch/dinner at some of our local favorites.  We got breakfast at Keke’s. Breakfast is my favorite food so that was a big hit for me.  We ate lunch at Maggiano's,which is one of Grandpa’s all-time favorite restaurants.  One day we went to Copper River Canyon which has amazing salads with special homemade corn bread croutons.  

At Maggiano's for lunch. 

Elisha was not sure he wanted his bottle.

Elisha really wanted Daddy's food!

We enjoyed our time relaxing at the resort also.  We spent most of the time swimming in the lazy river or walking the two mile path by the lake.  Grandpa chose this resort because of the lazy river and he enjoyed it day and night.  He enjoyed it even more when Grandma bought a tube for him to float.  

There were so many wild birds but the most interesting was the large Sandhill Crane family that would greet us on our walks.  The parents stood as tall as the stroller!

At the end of the week we had to go back up to Winter Park to pick up our pottery.  We made it a half day trip and enjoyed a boat ride tour through a series of lakes.  A highlight was seeing Mr. Roger’s home.  It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Elisha slept through his first boat ride but Florida law required him to wear a life vest so we got him all suited up and then gave him a bottle which put him to sleep and he enjoyed his ride! And we went to BurgerFi, a local burger place that sells custard ice cream! Custard is my favorite!

All in all it was a great week and we had a blast spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Kassouf! 

Summer Re-cap "Myrtle Beach- Time with Grandma Kassouf's Family"

We went to Myrtle Beach for a week to spend time with Andrew’s extended family so they could meet Elisha.  Aunt Joanne and Uncle Michael drove in from Texas and his Aunt Susan now lives in Myrtle Beach.  Mark and Ashley also came up from Charleston for a day so we could see them too! There was a lot of excitement over the newest member of the family.  He was definitely the star of the week.  He also got to meet many new people from Grandpa’s church. 

Aunt Susan got some snuggle time! 

Uncle Mark! What are you holding over there?

While we were in Myrtle Beach we went down to the boardwalk one day with the Mossburgs and we rode the SkyWheel.  This was Elisha’s “First Flight”.  It was cool because although you did not have to pay for his ticket he still had to have a ticket and it was called an “Angel Ticket” and on the ticket it said the little angel’s first flight. 

He's my angel!

Elisha's First Sky Wheel ride! Thank you Aunt Joanne and Uncle Michael. 

Check Elisha's new outfit! This was such a fun afternoon!

We also went to the beach with Grandma one day so he could put his feet in the Atlantic Ocean.  Elisha was not quite sure what we were doing but he was fine with it all.  We also took some pictures with his feet in the sand.  This one took a little more convincing.  He was fine with it but his faces at first were very confused.  

Elisha put his feet in the Atlantic Ocean!

Oh what is this?

He liked the sand.  He liked it so much he blew bubbles at it!

Our first trip to the beach!

Summer Re-cap "Special Grandma Time"

Mom Kassouf watched Elisha for us while we went on our birthday/anniversary trip.  She had a great time getting extra snuggles.  They had fun taking walks, hosting visitors, and just hanging out at home.  By the end of the trip I was missing my snuggle bug.

Smiles, just for Grandma!

Aunt Erin and her mom came to visit! 

Summer Re-cap "NEW YORK NEW YORK"

New York! New York! As many of you know Andrew’s favorite place in the entire world is New York City (yes I said the entire world).  So Andrew and I decided that we would “postpone” birthdays this year and go to NYC for a few days to see a couple shows.  It ended up working out that we went two days after our anniversary so it was an anniversary/birthday celebration.  Grandma came to watch Elisha so we could enjoy our trip which included three shows in two days.  It was a crazy busy but a super fun time.  We started with If/Then; which we had seen on its world premiere weekend in Washington D.C. on its pre-Broadway run.  We wanted to see it again because when we saw it in D.C. Andrew spotted the writers at the end of the show and he stopped to talk to them and they told him when it goes to NYC it will be so much better.  So we went to see how it changed.  I liked it even more the second time around, I felt like it was much easier to understand this time.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go see a Broadway show.  

We got the meet Idina Menzel!

Then Wednesday night we went to see Aladdin which is Andrew’s favorite Disney movie.  It was a very high energy show.  The genie absolutely made this show.  He was such an amazing actor and was so pumped up the entire time.  It was a great show that the entire family would enjoy. 

The Genie from Aladdin

This time on our trip we stayed at a hotel near the Meadowlands and rode NJtransit bus into the city.  It is a great deal you pay $8.50 for a round trip ticket which takes you straight into the Port Authority.  Thursday our plan was to go into the city to stand in line for Les Miserable rush tickets.  Rush tickets are available the same day as the performance when the box office opens at an extremely discounted rate. These tickets are extremely limited and so we thought we should get there between 6 and 7 am to wait in line till 10 am when they went on sale.  Andrew decided Wednesday night that he would just get up and go into the city to stand in line by himself since it was so early and he was allowed to buy up to 2 tickets.  He took the 6:21 bus into the city and got in line at 6:50.  He was the first person in line although a few other people joined him with in 20 minutes.  

Andrew's 6 A.M picture from the rush line.

The rush tickets were $37 a piece; which were SUPER cheap.  When we looked at buying tickets before the show every seat in the house was over $100.  Because Andrew was the first one in line he got the only full view seats available.  When he looked at the tickets they said row AA and from what the ticket clerk said we assumed this was the very last row of the orchestra.  Much to our surprise when we arrived that evening AA was actually the very first row! I had never sat in the first row before.  It was quite an experience!  You see so many small details that you may miss sitting in a different place.  The expression on their faces were amazing! Les Miserable is also our all-time favorite show so it was an amazing show/experience. 

Earlier in the day after Andrew had gotten our tickets we went to a free concert that was taking place in Bryant Park.  We had been to Bryant Park many other times but it just happened that the day we were just hanging out in the city there was a free concert from a mix of Broadway shows. 

These are 4 of the actors from If/Then.  They all sang in the concert at Bryant Park. 

It was a great, exhausting yet refreshing 2 day trip for Andrew and me.  Elisha also had a great time with Grandma!! Thanks Mom Kassouf!