The little dude is fast.

Recycled decorations.  Thanks again Mindy!

Noah’s new phone from his Nana and Opa.

Sleeping Savannah.

Dragonflies.

Savannah and her new haircut.

Michael, who is renting a room from Noah’s Nana and Opa.

Kate ordered a taco salad that was bigger than her head.

Leaving is lame.

We stopped by Wild Things to get Noah a new winter coat, he never made it more then 3 ft into the store, distracted by crayons.

Last stop of the day, PVD!

Julian’s binoculars.

The Deaner’s spoiled Noah with even more birthday presents.

School bus!

Crow puppet!  (bad flick, this looks a lot less creepy in person..)

Thanks Deaner’s!

Look at this!  Chicken, artichoke hearts, peppers, a little olive spread, and feta on garlic and herb bread!!  Everyday please!

Noah had a pancake.

After we walked across the street to check out an antique store.

Noah made friends with a butler.

Then we stopped to see Noah’s Nana at work.

Then a nap and some tickles from Grampa.

Rain, rain.. going away.

Since we couldn’t just have the party on the lawn, we relocated to my Dad’s new garage.  Nana, Aunt Mindy, and Kate spent the morning decorating.

The remains of Saturday night’s fire.

Darn rain.

Noah’s first present of the day, a fire chief outfit…

…to go with the fire fighter theme!  Check out the great cakes Noah’s Aunt Mindy made!!

My Uncle Wayne got into the spirit.

Kaelyn and Jaycee.

This one is a real nice and thoughtful gift…

Noah asked my Nana to hold a gift for him.

Tagging the floor of Grampa’s garage.

One more look at those cakes before we tore into them.

Abigail and her Aunt Lori.

Abigail, making sure everyone has a fire hat.

“What a bunch”

Thanks to (Noah’s) Aunt Mindy, Nana, and Grampa for planning, decorating, cake-making, and hosting.  Thanks to everyone else for coming over, up, and down for Noah’s birthday party!!!

Noah learning to deal with the paparazzi.

Amazing mozzarella sticks.

Breakfast.

Park #1

Stuck croc.

Park #2!

Lost and found.

Then like that, we were gone..  headed back to NYC, with a quick stop for lunch in New Haven.

Now I’m a little bummed that I can’t make the color right on this pizza because this thing was a beast.  I feel like this photo isn’t very appetizing, but trust me, it was great.  I think it was called the “Italian Bomb” pizza.  Pepperoni, Sausage, Bacon, Peppers, Mushrooms…  I’m sure I’m missing some other stuff, but you get the idea.

Noah ran back to the car, I crawled…  belly full of bomb.

Thanks for having us Joshua, Amanda, and Julian!  It was great to spend the weekend with you kids, see your friends, see the beach, see the Charest’s, and see your parks.  Can’t wait to go back.

The Charest’s came over!  Benjamin taught Noah and Julian everything they needed to know about grilling.

Then Ben tried to teach Noah how to kick BOMBS!  Julian didn’t need any help.

Noah tried to warn everyone that Santa was watching… (anyone with white hair and a white beard or mustache is “Santa” right now)

Getting a lost ball.

Gooaalllllll!!!

Fast forward to Saturday morning and the (sleepy, messy) boys having some breakfast.

Papa Deaner.

…to be continued.

Party food!!

A baby with a party mohawk!!

Amelia.

Chester.

(cold!)

Ehh..  time to go.

Solid times.

One last run in the driveway.

No scrapes this time.

Packing up.

Lisa was ready.

Fast forward 5 hours.

Lemon eater.

Disclaimer, Noah did not sleep in the cabinet, and he eats more than lemons.

Fast forward 3 hours and to a found playground.

Ok, not the greatest playground ever, but it did the job.

…just keep an eye on the car..

Rabbits, which are probably hard to see.

One last ride on the truck.

Balls over New Jersey.

12 hours after leaving Avon, we were back in Brooklyn.  Vacation over.

“In HD where available”

Noah and I picked up a beach blanket.

It takes a while to get used to the beach.  Gotta get sand in your toes..

Gotta get used to sand on your hands…

Not to mention getting used to that bright sun.

When we left the beach there was a firetruck at the end of the boardwalk.

Whoa…

Later, back at the house, Noah’s toy firetruck fell from the second story balcony.

“Sorry firetruck”

…because after I got back from a grocery run with Emmett, Noah was running in the driveway and took a dive.

Nana dried up the tears with strawberries.

Then Noah got mad at us for trying to clean up his wound and ran into the corner of the cabinets and got a cut on the left side of his head, more strawberries.

Luckily, he’s alright.

The pool is fine too.

Intercom.

World Cup Final.

Post nap bruiser.

Birthday party for Emmett.

Bratty birthday boy with silly string.

The poorly influenced younger brother.

The battered and bruised birthday boys nephew who is nervous about all this silly string stuff.

More pool.

Kate hoping tomorrow can be less eventful.

Finding lunch on the road is always tough.  Getting out of the car and into the humidity can be brutal.

Nice to stretch the legs.

They sure like peanuts in Texas…

Still nasty out.

4 hours later…

Bossy.

Cute though, so one more flick from the tractor…

2 hours later…

30 min. later…

45 min. later and we’re done.

13 hours total.  NYC to Avon, NC.

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More buses!

Running!

The container holding the pickles leaked vinegar!  Yeah!  Family fun times!

All this happened in Red Hook on Friday where we met up with Julia, Benoit, and Louis for dinner.

See it??  In those boxes is one of those precious things that makes the heat of Summer a lot more tolerable.

Lobster!

Benoit traumatizing Louis.

Noah poking my lobster in the eye.

So good.

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Come on!?!  Whoopie pies!?!?!?  Amazing.

You don’t have to be from New England, or be Nana Holt to love Whoopie pies.

And like that it was done.  A little piece of New England, 15 minutes from our apartment.

Peace Louis.  Let’s do this again soon.