Love, Learn, Play: Twins Days 2014

Sorry for the lack of updates since we returned home from California! It felt weird to go from writing here every single day to not writing for nearly two weeks. It took us an entire week just to recover from the time change (e.g. getting the boys to bed before 2:00am Michigan time!) and then we spent five days elbows deep in the boys' yellow submarine costume for the Twins Days Festival- so there hasn't been much time to update!

Because our original plan had been to stay in California until at least the middle of August, we almost weren't going to make the Twins Days Festival this year. In all honesty, I'm glad our plans changed because I think we were a bit crazy to think we could miss a year! But California did provide our inspiration for the boys' costume this year... as we were cruisin' up the PCH to Malibu one Sunday morning, jamming out to the boys' favorite Beatles song of the summer with the windows down and the wind in our hair and the boys singing at the top of their little lungs- it became very obvious that we needed to build a yellow submarine!!! Once we were home and got started on the build, I couldn't believe that we had even considered missing the festival this year and I made a mental note that no matter where the boys' adventures may take us in the future- we will always fly home for the Twins Days Festival!

The boys attended their first festival in 2010 at only 11 months old, meaning that this year was their 5th festival though they aren't even five years old yet! That first year we walked down to the swimming pool in our hotel not knowing that we were walking into a giant family that would become such a special part of the boys' lives. Each year we start our Twins Days weekend with this family and now that the boys are older, they look forward to the pool party as their favorite part of the festival! They couldn't wait to get to the pool to see their big brothers Matthew and Michael and to tell Denise and Dianne that they spent the winter living in New York City and to swim with Jason and Joe! To see how these friendships have evolved and to see how excited the boys were to see their friends is just incredible. I can't even begin to imagine what will happen as year after year unfolds- Twinsburg is a truly magical place full of magical people and I can't even begin to express how honored we are to be a part of this incredible family!!!!

If it is easier to tag and/or copy our pictures from Facebook, you can connect with us here and we'll be glad to share: https://www.facebook.com/lissa.paddock

First- a little video we made of Jon and the boys building the yellow submarine! Everyone always asks how he makes everything, so this year I finally had the forethought to document the whole process. It was five full days of family fun!