The De Luca Family: 2011

Christmas 2011

A visit to Santa

Nick was very brave! He told us that "He no cry" this year, and he was right. Unfortunately, Ben did not make any such promises, and promptly burst into tears as soon as he hit Santa's lap. Not sure Ben's outburst did anything for Nick's confidence, but he held it together. Maybe next year they will "both no cry", but by then we'll have a third potential crier to deal with, so I'm pretty sure the odds aren't in our favor!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning.

Love, love, love matching pajamas!

These sweet men were spoiled rotten by Santa and everyone else. It's a full on toy explosion at our house, but they loved every minute. Nick exclaimed "It's just what I needed!!" every time he opened a present. Apparently, he really "needed" a lot!

Fun Fall Pics

Nick has been learning about leaves, acorns, all kinds of fall stuff at preschool the last few weeks. He has been so excited jumping into the leaves every weekend as Brian rakes them up. Ben, who is walking everywhere, loved the leaves too!

Picking apples at Carter's Mountain

It took a while for Nick to realize that you don't pick one off the tree, immediately take one bite, then toss it in the bag. Lots of Pink Lady Apple picking to be done there if you can manage the hike. Which was approximately the exact same steepness of Mt. Everest. Approximately.

Ben's First Haircut!

Before

During

After

So handsome!

Typical sweet Ben, no tears, just happy as can be to be playing in the police car!

Halloween!!!!

Our little pirates in their fancy pirate ship, "The Scurvy Dog".

It poured the whole time during trick or treating, so good thing we had a boat!

Big Weekend!

We kicked off the weekend by going to "Touch a Truck" on Saturday morning. There were all kinds of trucks that the kids could get in, touch and learn about. They also had helicopters, and they were a huge hit as well.

Sunday we headed to the pumpkin patch at Chesterfield Berry Farm. It was pretty much freezing, but it was still fun feeding the bunnies, goats, chickens, cows, etc., riding the tractor train, checking out the "spooky stuff", corn cannons, pig races(A fan favorite of big city folk Mike and Siobhan who were with us. Turns out you just can't get these in NYC and Boston!) and going on the hay ride to pick out the pumpkins. Benjamin really didn't want to leave the pumpkin patch at all, but despite an all out tantrum, we decided to take him back home with us.

First Day of Pre-School

Nicholas seems to be adjusting to pre-school really well! It was a rough first few days, but today (day 4) there were no tears at drop off! This was a huge break-through! ;) He has a great teacher, and he loves all the painting, play doh and recess at pre-school. It's going to be a great experience once he gets the hang of his new routine.

Emerald Isle---The Sequel!

We were supposed to be going to the beach in Waves, NC with the Dahlquist's last week. It had been planned for months and months. Turns out, Hurricane Irene completely washed away parts of Highway 12, leaving Waves inaccessible. So, at the very last minute we booked a house on the ocean in Emerald Isle, NC. There was little hurricane damage there, and we were lucky to find a little house on the ocean just a few days before we were to check in. The weather forecast was supposed to be non-stop rain all week. Turns out, that couldn't have been more wrong! Sun every day with just a few storms one morning, giving us a chance to see the aquarium. Another beautiful week at the beach to close out the summer!

The view from our porch

Anna and all of her little minions looking on! They all LOVE her! And who could blame them?

Ben playing in one of the tide pools that formed after high tide each day.

Wading in the surf with Daddy. Adorable!

Brian set up several little races for the kids. This is Anna and Nick at the starting line.

A fun week with great company! What a great way to end the summer!

Benjamin turns One!!!!!

How big is Baby Benjamin?!?! Sooooooo BIG!!!

And apparently one year old! How did that happen?

We celebrated on Saturday despite the big hurricane. Lots of fun with friends and family despite the weather. Maura made THE MOST DELICIOUS cupcakes and mini-cakes in the world! It was Grandaddy's birthday on Saturday so they each got their own little cake. Grandaddy seemed to be able to eat his in a much more civilized manner than Mr. Ben.

Opening presents with Nick and Anna. Don't tell them, but it wasn't actually their birthdays or Christmas. Although I think Nick got just as many presents as Ben.

He's only one and knows how to work the camera!

Happy Birthday to our funny, handsome, wonderful Benjamin!

A Visit to Maymont

Ready to see some animals! This time last year Nick was having NONE OF IT when it came to feeding the goats! He's come a long way....

Ben got really excited about all the chickens!

After some persuasion, Nick decided it was safe to feed the donkey. He is STILL saying "nice donkey" three days later! It really was a very nice donkey, not nearly as crazed as the goats.

This goat doesn't look too crazy in this picture, but several were locking horns trying to butt the others out of the way when it came to food. And the food was only tiny little grains. They must be desperate.

All in all, a great day at Maymont!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Josh and Katherine's Wedding Weekend!

We flew to New York on Friday, Nick and Ben's first plane ride! They did pretty well, definitely better than driving. The ride back was not so smooth!

We spent lots of time at the pool!