Europe Trip 2011

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging, its been quite a busy summer. We were lucky enough to have a family reunion in England and Holland this year so I wanted to share some pictures of our amazing trip.

Despite the long flights and tons of car trips, the boys did extremely well. We flew via Reykjavik Iceland into London, stayed one night and then headed up to Norfolk on the coast and stayed in a lovely house in a small village called Mundesley with Rich's parents and my parents. Rich's sister Emma and her family were able to come and visit for a few days with the girls and we had a blast!
After a week there, we flew to Amsterdam, rented a car and headed about an hour and half away to a small village where we had our Dutch family reunion. There was about 50 of us, some of who I have met and several who I had not-we had lovely dinners, games, walks and lots of drinking :) The boys had a great time and it was a good trip. We were at my grandmas farm for 1 night and then flew back to Seattle, only to have a flight canceled and one extra night in Reykjavik.

Here are some pictures of the trip...
T with Ellie (right, age 8) and Sasha (left, age 6), He loves his cousins

 B with his mommy at the house in Norfolk

 My lovely brother in law Graeme with his two girls on the one sunny day we had

 Our lovely house in Norfolk right on the coast

 Tristan and his cousins

 B with his Daddy and his look a like-Papa

 Me with Sash at the Hotel we drank/ate at just about every night, the Manor House Hotel

 Me with Ellie at the Manor House

 Rich and his lovely Dad Roger, fishing, they had such a great time

 The Staercks, aren't the adorable?

 Everyone down on the beach

 T helping his Dad and Grandad fish, he loves the worms

 T with his Grandad on the beach

 OMG, are they twins or what? In looks and temperment

 Here is the Dutch house that was rented for the family reunion, such a pretty spot

 My cousins son Rutger with T, they are both the same age

 The family reunion dinner, ofcourse we're not in the pic, but in the other room eating and drinking while keeping the boys entertained-

 Me with Grandma Wolters at a dinner in the country

 The boys on my grandma's horse at the farm

Easter Weekend

Wow, what a weekend we had with the boys and family. Tristan had his first pee-wee soccer practice and was a little thrown off by the change from his Lil Kickers. Lets just say there were tears (surprise surprise) and a refusal to wear his shin guards. Lets hope its better this week.

He really enjoyed the easter egg hunt at Heritage Park, got so excited everytime he found an egg. Although he can't eat any of the candy inside since its all chocolate and he's allergic, so I'm buying it off of him for a toy.

Easter morning the boys loved their toys from their baskets-Tristan is carrying around his digital camera like its his best friend, snapping picutres every five mins. Brayden just chews on all his toys.

Here are some recent pics, the first is Rich and T driving a car at Lucky Strike after bowling-he was in heaven.

 Ah, our boys, cuddling all the time-they really do love each other :)

 The Martin family at Easter-had a nice day with the boys ....

 T getting his Toy Story Camera-he loves it!

 Brayden trying to grab the camera out of my hands, quite a strong tank...

 Our adorable boys-wow!

Easter morning the boys loved their toys from their baskets-Tristan is carrying around his digital camera like its his best friend, snapping picutres every five mins. Brayden just chews on all his toys.

He's Finally Better!

Well, the family is getting back to normal after what seems like weeks of chaos. Brayden came down with the stomach flu, which makes you feel horrible that there is nothing you can do. Thankfully the rest of us didn't get it and now he's back to normal, packing on the lbs and smiling away. Tristan and Bray have started wrestling (albeit gently still at this stage) and its so cute to watch. They really love each other and are constantly holding hands, cuddling, etc.
Bray turns 8 months next week so I'll post some new pics of the boys and what activites we've been up to. They are the loves of our lives :)

What a Weekend!!!

Gosh what a weekend-Despite getting over colds, I got laryngitis as well, so just sound ridiculous. It was great to see the Blyth's in town this weekend-we miss you guys! Between seeing them, a few playdates with friends, and Coffey's shower, we have been super busy and now back to some normalcy.

Brayden is really teething as we speak and learning to eat new foods-

Mr. Smiley-he's sure a happy boy

 Teething up a storm-he's now sitting up and chewing on anything he can find..

 Trist is SO his dad, who always makes this face-what a mini-Rich

 Brayden is getting so big, 7 months old now-sitting up and dying to crawl/walk

 This was yesterday, smiling away and happy as can be (when he gets his way)

 Tristan with his idol-Carter, cruising in the Escalade-so cute!

 Our boys-god they are gorgeous! We are SO lucky for our amazing boys!

A Rainy Weekend...

Geez, this weather has been terrible. We had a nice weekend with the boys, mainly at home, since the rain hasn't stopped. We're praying sunshine and summer come soon. Tristan surely needs daily activity and to run around as much as possible, boys have SO much energy. Rich has been traveling with work and gets back tonight after a visit to Nashville-poor guy is working so much.

Eating dinner out has a gotten a bit easier, still not totally enjoyable, when does this become easier, when they're both 5? We went to Z Teja's on Sunday and T was the best he's been in awhile-although I still can't totally kick back and enjoy my meal. Brayden is sitting up well now (just a bit wobbly) and getting his 8th tooth. He loves to stand on his legs (with help) and loves his bouncer.

The Boys loved when it was snowing outside-although can't last out there for long. It takes Brayden's breath away and T (taking after his dad) doesn't suffer in silence :)

Our little angel with his fat pink cheeks

The Boys-wrestling on the couch-Brayden simply adores Tristan and no one can make him laugh like his big brother.

The Martin boys this week

Recently we had Rich's mom and sister come and stay with us, which was so fun! They really enjoyed visiting with the boys and hearing the funny things Tristan has to say. My god, he's funny. He's really possessive with toys so it will be really interesting to see when Bray starts walking/crawling and wants some of T's toys. We can see it now.... arguing and wrestling.

Here are some recent pics of the boys, quite the personalities they have :)

Tristan at the Kirkland Waterfront, giving me the 'What Mom' annoyed face.

Bray in his bouncer, what a smiler, when he's not teething and in pain-poor guy.

T and his new car-he's absolutely obsessed!

Yeah, we have finally joined the blogging world.

Yes, the Martin family finally has a Blog! I can't believe its taken me this long but between work and the two boys, I didn't think I would have time to set one up. I wanted to make sure to stay in contact with as many friends as possible and let you know what is happening in our lives. I've attached a few up to date photos of the boys. They are both getting so big, our little angels. Tristan is doing really well in preschool and is OBSESSED with cars, trucks and trains. He loves his baby brother Brayden, they are so sweet together. Brayden is getting so big, our little tank. He's got 7 teeth and we've worked hard on each one of them. He adores Tristan and watches him wherever he goes.