Alexa started preschool on Friday, September 16th. She will be attending a local nursery school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So far, she has really enjoyed going and meeting new friends. She loves the playground and we usually make a stop there on our way out. 

It's been a while since I've written here. I guess we've been too busy to keep up! We enjoyed a family trip to Virginia Beach in late June. We visited some historic sites before hitting the beach for a few days. 

In late July, Alexa, Minna and I made an extra special trip back to Virginia. This time to Chincoteague Island to attend the famous annual Pony Swim. About 2 years ago, Alexa and I discover a children's book, "My Chincoteague Pony," which tells the story of a little girl and the annual event that draws thousand to watch the wild ponies of Assateague Island swim to Chincoteague for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fireman's Carnival auction.  

The swim takes place according to the absolute perfect tides. Anywhere between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the last week of July. Of course it was our luck that this year's swim happened at 1 p.m. which meant a very long, very HOT wait as the bus dropped us off at the park at 8 a.m.! At 1 p.m., however, as the flare went off to mark the start of the swim, all of the excitement of seeing nearly 100 horses swim toward the shore made the very long, very HOT wait all worth while. It was an emotional experience. And the story wouldn't be complete without the mention of the mud we had to trudge through to get to the actual viewing area. Sure we could have watched from the comfort of our chairs in the Chincoteague Memorial Park. But we wanted an up close and personal experience. This meant making our way through thigh deep M-U-D! A few calculations and you'd figure out that for Alexa it was nearly waist deep! She lost a shoe, I lost my footing and we nearly lost Minna as we slowly made our way through! Again, seeing the ponies = worth it...even the MUD!

In August we made our way to Rhode Island for another visit with Minna and Ptah. We stayed in the same home that we rented last year and kept busy at the local beaches as well as a day trip by ferry to Block Island. Alexa rode the flying horse carousel in Watch Hill, but this year she was big enough to sit on the outside horses and give her best effort at "catching the brass ring." On our last day in RI, Connie, Adam, Sofia and Joseph spent the day with us on the beach and Daddy drove up to see us too.

When we weren't traveling, we spent a ton of time just enjoying the summer at home. Daddy (after a ton of hard work and a positive attitude) got our pool open in mid July! I wish I had before pictures...it was awful! We swam as much as we could when the weather allowed. We went to the Land of Make Believe with Aunt Eileen and our friend Christian. We watched fireworks together at CCM for the 4th of July. We had lots of play dates with Alexa's bestie, Kate and her little sister. Denise visited and we took her to the Jersey Shore in search of Snooki! And we spent a bunch of time with Alexa's new and beautiful baby cousin Stephanie, who we welcomed on June 8th.

These past few weeks we've been able to celebrate birthdays with some great friends! Alexa always has such a great time at  parties. We saw some old friends and enjoyed a great afternoon in, of all places, Hopatcong, where we celebrated Gia's 1st birthday! We got to celebrate with Brodie as he turned 12! Hard to believe he'll be a teenager next year! Ty turned 8 at the beginning of June! We even traveled to Vermont to celebrate Jailee's 4th birthday with our favorite friends! It's always fun to see our friends and to watch such amazing kids grow up!

And we couldn't possibly forget our little "Tootsie Baby" (as Alexa like to call her). Tootsie turned one on July 13th. 

One of the special things Alexa and her Minna share together is their love of ceramics! Burlington City Arts holds a family pottery night and when we are lucky enough to make a trip to Vermont, Alexa and Minna take advantage of the time to make beautiful creations! 

Alexa has really enjoyed the company of her new best friend Kate and Kate's little sister Nikki recently. We have gotten together for a Fairy Festival and a trip to the farm, complete with horseback riding! We always look forward to our play dates with Kate and Nikki and we can't wait for all the fun that this summer has in store for us!

Alexa has been attending horse camp for the last several weeks. She and three other 3 & 4 year olds have been learning to ride and care for ponies at the Seaton Hackney Stables in Morris Township. The girls have been very engaged in the activities, learning the terms and tools necessary to becoming a true equestrian!

The girls have ridden the ponies sideways, backwards and even standing on the saddles! It's been exciting for me to watch her participate each week because I know she is genuinely enjoying this experience!

A special thanks to Minna & Ptah for this birthday gift! It is one that will fill us both with memories for a lifetime!

Well, winter sure wanted to hold on here in northern NJ! We thought that Mother Nature had forgotten all about us! Good thing Easter was late this year...

On a very chilly day in early April, we met up with Alexa's new bestie, Kate and the rest of her family for an egg hunt in Mount Olive. 

The field was filled with 10,000 eggs and the girls were eager to get going and collect as many as possible! Once the fog horn was blown the girls were off like race horses! Within a total of maybe 8 minutes, the hunt was over and the girls had overflowing baskets! It was time to crack each one open and see what goodies were hidden inside.

In late April, Denise visited us from Vermont and she brought with her some cage free chicken eggs from our friend Marry in the islands. We decorated the eggs and Alexa hid them over and over for us to find! She was so excited!

Easter day was beautiful and Alexa was kind enough to go along with my desire to dress her up...even wearing the Easter bonnet her Aunt Eileen had gotten her last year. We woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had visited us and left a basket filled with goodies for Alexa! We even found the Bunny's footprints on our carpet! What an awesome surprise! After breakfast we had a egg hunt in the yard with Ryan, Alexa's new and favorite neighbor friend! The kids ran wild around the front yard and collected tons of eggs filled with chocolate treats! Wow, the Bunny was good to Alexa this year!!