Vaillant Family Blog

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hayden's 5th Birthday Party!

This past weekend we celebrated Hayden's 5th birthday at Skyzone (an indoor trampoline park) in Columbia, MD.  We had our own private jumping space and the kids had a blast.  We had an hour of jumping time but it seemed like most of the kids were pretty beat after 45 minutes.  Eric, Lincoln and I were also able to get out there and jump and it was definitely a good workout.  Hayden had such a great time celebrating with his family and friends!

My dad caught this video on his ipad. 
And some photos.....

Hayden, the 5 year old ninja
Lincoln, the wild man
Jumping out of the foam pit
Mommy had some fun too.  :)
My favorite boys
Nana & Grammy!  Such a blessing that both of them were able to make it!
Spiderman Cake
Singing Happy Birthday!!
Family Pic
Opening gifts with cousins

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Georgia Visit 2014

Last week Eric took a week of vacation and we planned our annual trip to visit his family in Georgia.  We flew out on Saturday morning and overall the trip went great.  Lincoln did not sleep a wink on the plane but got a snooze in the car.  Hayden was so excited he just chatted the whole flight and car ride.  Eric's parents recently built and moved into a new home so we were excited to arrive and get a tour of the new house.  The house is beautiful and they even put in a pool for all the grandkids! (next year we plan to go when we can use it.)  We were also very excited to arrive and see Uncle Sean and Aunt Andrea who were also in town from Louisiana visiting.  It had been 4 years since we had seen them.  Hayden and Sean immediately started building Legos and were best of friends the whole trip.

Linc doing some light reading on the plane
So excited!
Lego building with Uncle Sean
Out for a bike ride

That night the whole family came over for dinner.  Our sister-in-law, Aimee, is expecting so we had a big gender reveal party.  Aimee and Aaron had found out a few days before but waited until we were all together to share the news.  We all took a vote before the reveal....5 of us thought it was a boy and 3 thought it was a girl.  Our niece and nephew, Alyse and Aaden, opened a container and the blue balloons were released!  Everyone was super excited and we were so happy we could be there to be a part of the celebration and reveal.
The votes
Boy or Girl?

The 5 on the left were right!  :)
Alyse and Aaden happy for a baby brother!

On Sunday Mel and George had planned a Housewarming Party in the afternoon.  Many friends and family stopped by and it was so great to see everyone.  It was a beautiful day so the kids played outside almost all day.  That night the immediate family stayed for spaghetti dinner.
The girls - Andrea, Ang, Tammy, and Aimee

The guys - George, Aaron, Wayne, Eric, and Sean

The Vaillant Fam

George and Mel

It worked out great that Monday was a school holiday so we headed to see the new Lego movie.  Hayden had been talking about it for weeks and was so happy to see it with his cousins.  Lincoln stayed with Uncle Sean and Aunt Addie so Eric and I could also both go.  After the movie, Nana had planned an early birthday celebration for Hayden.  It was such a fun day!  That night things got a little wild and all the guys took a late night polar plunge in the pool.  It started with Uncle George jumping in on a dare, followed by Wayne pushing in Sean and falling in with him.  Eric voluntarily jumped after that and then Papu and Aaron took the plunge.   The kids thought it was hilarious!
Hayden talked about this for weeks!  It was such a cute movie!

Fun with cousins - Emma, Alyse, Aaden, Carson, and Hayden

Spiderman cupcakes of course!

Party time!

Singing Happy Birthday!

The guys after the Polar Plunge.  :)

On Tuesday we chilled out at the house and went out shopping for a new travel bag for Hayden and all his birthday gifts.  That night everyone came over for our last family dinner and the kids played outside well into the dark.  We flew home on Wednesday afternoon.  The boys pretty much slept the whole flight home.  :)
Emma pulling Lincoln, Alyse, and Aaden
Papu with Linc, Hayden, and Alyse
Tired boys!
We had such a great time hanging out with all the family and were grateful to everyone for making the time to see us everyday we were there.  We can't wait to come back next year! 
 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Great Wolf Lodge

This past weekend I treated the family to a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge.  My Origami Owl business has done really well in the last year so I thought my Christmas gift to Eric and the boys would be a fun family trip.  We drove to Williamsburg, VA on Friday morning.  Lincoln is typically not great in the car for very long but he made it almost the whole way without too much fuss.  We were able to check in early so Lincoln went down for a nap while the big boys went straight to the water park.  Me and Linc joined them a couple hours later.  We played all afternoon.  Lincoln was a little hesitant at first but warmed up pretty quick and was exploring all over.  He was really brave in the water and did not want mommy or daddy to hold his hand.  He took a couple dips but didn't seem to mind.  Hayden was able to do almost everything on his own except a couple larger slides he did with mommy and daddy.  The Lodge had a lot of other fun activities outside of the water so we took advantage of pretty much everything.  I had gotten Hayden a Pup Pass which allowed him to do a craft, play a 4D game, make a stuffed animal, and enjoy some other treats.  I got us a suite with a separate room since Lincoln goes to bed so early.  They had an 8:00 group storytime in the lobby that Hayden enjoyed both nights.  It was a very fun family weekend and we will definitely try to make it an annual trip!  Here are some pics from the weekend...
Where are we mommy?
A little hesitant
This is cool
Hayden was hard to catch on camera.  :)
Fun at the arcade
Craft time - Hayden chose to paint a robot
Storytime
Trying the obstacle course
Me and my cheeseball
Stuffing Oliver the Wolf
Magiquest - this special wand was a game throughout the hallways of the lodge.  A wizard in the trees gave you different items to seek and activate with the wand to complete each quest.
Finally got Hayden to pose for a pic.
One with mommy while the bucket dumps behind us
The boys on the lazy river.
Eric turned and soaked Hayden.  Linc looks ready for it though.  ;)
Drying off to head home!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Discover the Dinosaurs!!

Today we decided to take the boys to a "Discover the Dinosaurs" event at the Maryland State Fairgrounds.  Eric had interviews first thing in the morning at the hospital so he met us there after.  After sitting in a little traffic and waiting in line for tickets Hayden was super excited to see all the dinosaurs on display.  The dinosaur exhibits were pretty cool and you were able to touch some of them.  They had other activities like face painting, inflatables, dino dig, and gem and fossil mining.  It was really busy and the lines were really long but Hayden was patient waiting to do most of them.  Me and Lincoln only stayed about an hour and a half and then headed home for a nap.  Eric stayed with Hayden for a few more hours.  Here are some pics from the day...

Walking through the exhibit
So excited!
Dino heads
Hayden and Daddy...so brave :)
Dino dig
Dino slide
Crazy dino face!