Super Storm Sandy

 Last Sunday, Super Storm Sandy rocked the Northeast.  I hadn't yet really endured the full throttled power of a hurricane, tagged as a super storm or otherwise.  We dealt with Hurricane Irene a couple of summers ago, but that didn't really have much of an effect on us inland PA folk.  This storm, however, really packed a wallop.  I got a few pictures of my section (as it's called in Levittown..."neighborhood" everywhere else in the country), which was one of the worst areas hit in PA.  I didn't get many pictures because by the time I got out of my house, there were already people out, many of whom,  as you can imagine, were beyond emotional as they were looking at 40-50 foot tall oak trees on top of their houses and/or cars.  It was crazy.  Then to watch on the news what the storm did to the New Jersey coast line/shore...I'm still completely amazed at the whole thing.  It was very a very scary experience.  I posted as a status on facebook "Being from Kansas, I think there is something to be said for the spontaneity of a tornado. Waiting for this huge storm to hit is like waiting all day for the bully to beat you up after school. Not a fan."  The bully totally won this one!

Catching Up/ Halloween costumes

I recently realized that I hadn't posted to the blog for quite a while.  Things have been absolutely crazy at the Kane house over the last month or so.  I took a transfer to our districts high school from the building where I was working before, the All Saints Episcopalian Choir has been extra busy, we've been getting the boys ready for Halloween, and endured "Superstorm Sandy" and her aftermath.  So, for those who follow the blog, I apologize for not keeping it up as I should over the last few weeks.

Here are pictures of both boys in costume.  We had just received both costumes in the mail that week so we were having the boys try them right before heading off to Colleen's cousin's house for a Halloween party.  Of course, Christopher was extremely excited to be a Giants "fan"...we've both tried to explain to him that he's a player and not a fan, but he's headstrong that way...and Matthew was just happy to have a yellow sandbag to throw around.  Some of the pictures are blurry as the LCD screen on our camera broke (Matthew got hold of the camera...totally my fault for leaving it out) and we have yet to get it replaced.  Regardless of he photo quality, I think the pictures to a good job of depicting the excitement the boys had with their costumes.

Makin' Da Pizzas, Eh?

 Colleen took a long weekend trip to Denver with a couple of her coworkers to visit another coworker who had recently moved to that area.  While she was away, I've been trying to spend some quality time with the boys.  My mother-in-law kept them Friday while I was at work.  Today, Saturday, I took the boys to breakfast at a local mom-and-pop shop where we dine from time to time.  We followed that with a trip to the grocery store and Walmart to buy Christopher a new bike helmet.  As I've been trying to pick up running (looks more like speed walking when I do it), so we decided to go for a ride today. I pushed Matthew in a car-wagon thing and Christopher rode his bike.  I usually go around the entire section, which is about 2 miles, but Christopher pooped out on me and we only got about 1/4 or 1/3 around the section and back.  I'll take what I can get I suppose.  We had some lunch, then we headed for nap time.  After the boys woke up, we decided to cook up some individual pizzas for the 3 of us.  I love cooking with the boys and they seemed to have a good time as well.

Sesame Place --Jack Hanna Animal Show

Thankfully, Colleen had already bought the tickets a couple of months ago or we'd probably still be in line.  We went to see the Jack Hanna Animal Show today at Sesame Place.  It wasn't a very good show, but that had little to do with Jack Hanna.  Sesame Place had relocated his show from an indoor theater to an outdoor theater that is completely surrounded by a popular right, a floating river and very close to a huge water slide.  We couldn't hear anything he was saying very well, but the animals were very cool.  I'd love to tell you what species the animals were, but I didn't get all of them, so I'll do what I can.

Jack Hanna

Red Honey Bear

Grey-Spotted Leopard

3-Ringed Armadillo

Caracal

Grey Kangaroo

Magellanic Penguin

Swift Fox

Siberian Tiger

They had brought out 2 Siberian Tigers.  Pictures weren't too bad considering I was about 40-yards out.  After the show was over we hit some rides before we headed for home...but, unfortunately, not before Christopher's complete blow-out and melt-down. 

Laughing

Funny Faces

Colleen and Christopher in the middle on the zebra striped one

Elmo's Flying Fish ride

The Meltdown

Virginia Beach....well, the beach

 

Why would anyone go to Virginia Beach and not go to the beach.  We made it every day, but one (Christopher made it every day for a little bit) and found it to be very relaxing.  Matthew, of course, wasn't at all excited about being in the ocean, but we did make him go in with us a couple of times as we think it's important to try things...even when you're scared.  Christopher had some troubles initially (the first day only), but Shannon (Colleen's cousin Jackie's wife) got him to go in on day 1 (I believe there's a post about our first day at the beach).  Christopher loves that girl.  Once he got in and felt around a bit, it was almost impossible to get him out of the water.  We had some knock-out-drag-out fights pulling him out when it was time to leave the beach (usually followed immediately by a long, semi-comatose nap.  Anyway, here are some of the pics we got at the beach.

Matthew chilling out on the beach and Christopher taking a rare break from the water to play Daddy's iPod Touch.

 Matthew and Mommy in the ocean.  This was one of the 2 times that we got him to "almost" willingly get in to the ocean.  He wasn't at all happy about it initially, but he got into it after a few minutes.  He wasn't so into it that he would venture out any further than Mommy's beach chair though....even with Daddy or Shannon!

There's always time for frisbee or a game of catch on the beach.  The boys also had a fun time throwing the ball around with different family members.  

Christopher had a blast playing in the ocean all week...mostly with his cousin, Kaylee, who also loved playing in the ocean.  I was able to get some shots of the two of them playing together from the shore, but only a few turned out. Christopher "The Giant Sea Otter" Kane took well to the water I think.

Christopher and his cousin, Kaylee playing in the water while Christopher's uncle, Pat, rides a wave

 This is what Matthew did mostly on the beach...play for about an hour, then conk out!

 ...and finally, there's always time for some PB&J....even on the beach!