On the way to the mall to see Santa I turned to the back seat and reminded the kids that it was judgement day. I explained, when Santa asks "Have you been good?" will you answer Yes or No? If you answer Yes, and Santa saw you being bad, then you will have lied to Santa. If you answer No, Santa might not bring you everything you wanted.
William states "I'm going to tell Santa that Mary Grace has been naughty and that she keeps on kissing me!". A few seconds later, Mary Grace says "William! If you don't tell Santa that, I'll never ever kiss you again!".
William, of course, responded with "OK".
We got a good laugh out of that. So, on the Big Man's lap, the kids responded to the question "Have you been good?" with "We've been mostly good". That was a reasonable answer I thought. Future politicians?
We're all looking to Santa's visit this year and scrambling to get ready in time. Feeling the pressure of a short December as a result of our vacation to Arizona.
William has been saying some very funny stuff lately. Notable:
William: Daddy, look at my new sneakers! Daddy: Wow, where did those come from? William: From a box. -- William: Abby Shadow (our "cat") is curious about humanoids. -- William: Mommy, I was using a permanent marker and I didn't get any on me! None at all! Well, I did get some on me..
This morning the kids were very excited to go out and play in the freshly fallen snow. I had some chores to do outside as our vacation precluded me from finishing my winterizing, so it worked out perfectly.
The kids made a mess of the driveway trying to shovel the snow, and I put away the deck furniture, emptied the lawnmower of gas and took out the snow blower. Mary Grace quickly tired of the snow as she usually does; I think she just goes out for a little while so she can earn her cup of hot cocoa!
William wanted to go sledding, so I dragged him in the sled down to BF-Joe's house and back. On the way back he remarked that he wanted to go down the hill at Cobbs Hill Park. Since we were already bundled up, I loaded the sleds into the car and off we went.
The sledding wasn't great and we only stayed for 1/2 hour, but we had the place to ourselves and unlike last year, William didn't require me to tow him back up every time. Tummy sledding yielded the best results in the un-frozen ground and few inches of snow.
Tonight, the little angel showed his exhaustion by first getting into bed without my prompting, them falling asleep while I read a Christmas book all about Santa and the North Pole. Sometimes that boy can be a challenge, but other times he's the most wonderful and precious thing in the whole world!
On the eve of our departure, I wanted to note some of the highlights for future memories, so here goes.
William's nightly ritual of falling asleep in front of the TV. I think he fell asleep on every person's lap at least once, and tonight the final night, he fell asleep next to Mary Grace on the floor watching Happy Feet. He seemed to really enjoy going to sleep in this way, but sadly, it won't continue once we return home.
Mary Grace's "thing" was playing with Nate. He teased her daily, and the loved every minute of it. She asked me to help her hide her lovie and blankie one afternoon because she didn't want Nate to get it. They played and played and wrestled and teased and played some more. It was wonderful to see.
The kids loved seeing all the pretty Christmas lights in the desert, and they also loved echoing Anne's early observation "that snowman looks silly in the desert", and applying that to everything; "Christmas lights look silly in the desert!"
They got to play with Jon's huge Lego collection, dominos, Uno, checkers, hot wheels racetrack, Connect-4 and finally Monopoly. Monopoly was a bust, but Uno was a big winner.
We saw beautiful sunsets every evening, swam in toasty hot tubs, shopped, ate out and saw beautiful sights. But for the last few days, Mary Grace has been telling us that she wanted to go home because she missed school. She's drawn some beautiful pictures of her getting on the school bus and I think she got a little Teary-eyed wishing she was back home.
One last long day of travel tomorrow and we'll be back to snow and cold and home. Hold on kids, here we go!
Another night where William fell asleep on the couch before 8:00pm. The little angel just can't seem to adjust to Arizona time. So there he sleeps on the couch with his blue blankie wrapped around him as the rest of the family plays and talks all around him.
Today we went to the McCormick Stillman Train Park for a carousel ride, a miniature train ride and some ice cream. We played legos for a long time this morning while Mommy went shopping.
The day before Thanksgiving we went to a local kid play park called Crackerjack. We started playing miniature golf, then progressed to young kids go carts and indoor games.
This year, we decided to spend our Thanksgiving in Arizona. So far the trip has been great; fine weather, lots of fun activities, and cactai. We're looking forward to a trip to an old west town, the Phoenix Zoo, and Ikea!
Nobody has bonded more with William than our neighbor Joe. He's the guy that William wants to play with all the time, and William is Joe's go-to guy as well.
This week he got to go to the Sandbox (local indoor playground) with Joe and had a fantastic time. They have a fantastic time whenever they're together.
Oh, and William has yet to master Joe's name. He still calls him "Jophes", instead of "Joseph". What's in a name though?
Hope they stay close always!
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
We had a nice Halloween weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we went to Strong Museum for their trick-or-treating event. Lots of costumes, halloween activities, prizes, etc. Then we went to Jines for dinner (kids in costume).
Sunday afternoon was kind of low-key, but we did get a leaf maze raked into the backyard. It's one of the kids favorite activities. I rake paths in the leaves and the kids run through trying to get the best time.
Sunday evening we had a neighborhood pre-trick-or-treating pizza party with all the usual suspects (all the kids under 8 in the neighborhood) and the parents. The magical beer wagon makes an appearance and we all head out for candy gathering together.
This year, unlike past years, the weather turned sour and we got graupeledupon. That led to a general consensus that it would be best to abandon trick or treating, so after about an hour, we threw in the towel.
Heading into the house, Mary Grace started crying somewhat hysterically, complaining that she couldn't feel her hands! Yeah, it was THAT cold. So we put the poor thing on the heat duct and let her warm up, and all was good.
After a little inventory effort Mary Grace decided she wanted to go out for another round, so at 7:45, we went back out into the cold rain. We got 3 houses in when she stumbled, fell out of her rain boot and with a soaking wet foot, demanded to be carried back home. Looking back, it was quite entertaining :)
Here's some data to slow down your computers
Oh, also, William claims that he was throwing up out of his butt today. I guess he was feeling left out of the stomach bug loop. :)
Tonight, Anne and I drew a line in the sand on Mary Grace's refusal to eat vegetables. We had a roasted turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed carrots with butter. Mary Grace refused to eat anything except for the turkey.
So we told her no desert (homemade cinnamon buns; her favorite) unless she ate 3 tastes of a carrot or mashed potatoes. She refused. So we bartered down to 1 taste of carrot or potato. No way. So no desert.
She was very upset when the three of us sat down to desert and she started complaining about her tummy hurting. I figured it was some sort of a plot to get a cinnamon bun, but we held firm.
So she went to be hungry, but with the expectation that she would get cinnamon buns for breakfast. We felt terrible, but it gets worse...
At 10:30pm we heard her coughing and went to check on her and she was throwing up.
So not only did we hold back her favorite desert from her, but we ignored her complaints that her tummy hurt when it turns out that it very likely really did hurt.
Forgive me, Lisenas. I'm not a big baseball fan and I never played baseball except for family picnics. I'll try to encourage William as best I can, but I'll need your help to have him carry on in the tradition of Nate and Jon! :)
Here's a few pics of a little practice we had in the yard. We had a lot of fun!
She was driving with the kids in the back seat, going to Midtown. Somehow she ended up in the wrong lane and was having trouble getting over to the right because one car was essentially pacing her.
She she mutters "come on, I have to get over, J E R K". (spelled out)
Imagine the angelic voices coming from the back seat.
"Mommy what does J E R K spell?" - Mary Grace "Oh nevermind..." - Mommy "J E R K spells Jerk! Mommy what does jerk mean?" - Mary Grace "Eh, um. Jerk means silly..." - Mommy "Oh, so Daddy is a jerk!" - Mary Grace "Well..." - Mommy
This year, as in past years, Chris Lori and Sarah came to visit for the Seabreeze Final Fling weekend. It's the weekend after Labor Day where the park reopens for one last time, mostly for season pass holders and their friends and family.
Arriving at around 2, we made our way immediately to the Tilt-A-Whirl, Mary Grace's favorite ride. William hasn't been very interested in this one but decided to give it a go since we had special guests. Here's a few good shots from the designated non-rider, Anne.
The rest of the day was filled with lots of exciting rides, patient kids as the others rode adult rides, fun at the park and lazy river and unhappy kids who may be outgrowing the kiddy car ride.
I will always remember the first time we put Mary Grace on that ride and the excitement on her little face. Same goes for William, but seeing them ride together is just priceless :)
The best part of the day (for William) was when he wanted to play the spray the water into the fish-mouth game. You know where you have a squirt gun that shoots water into a little hole, and whomever's fish gets to the top first wins? Well William was so determined and focused that he won! We were all so proud of him, and he even got to pick out his own prize; a blue stuffed-animal clown fish.
Anne was busy reorganizing Mary Grace's room tonight and William comes into the kitchen where I was cooking, saying he's hungry. Mary Grace chimes in "I'm hungry too".
I respond "how about macaroni and cheese?"
"Yeah!"
So I make it up. Elbows, 2 slices american cheese, milk and butter. Same recipe as Anne uses (minus a Jessica Sienfeld sneaky vege addition).
William eats about half, then states "This is the worst macaroni and cheese EVER!" We all chuckled over that as he ate a slice of my homemade bread instead.
We've been prepping Mary Grace all summer about going into Kindergarten and she's been very excited for it. This week it finally happened!
Her first day of school was September 7, and the bus was to arrive at 7:44am. She had already gone into school to meet her teacher and see her new classroom the week before school. Uniforms were all purchased, supplies all delivered, lunch and snacks packed. All that remained was sending my baby girl away on a bus.
Mary Grace, of course, approached school with no apprehension or fear. Just a great big smile and hugs for William. It probably helped that she knew that her a few of her neighbor friends would also be riding the bus, but for the first time she did remarkably well.
In fact, we could barely keep her off the bus!
Just to make Mom feel better, Anne followed the bus to school and took this nice photo as proof that she did in fact arrive at school. Whew!
Once Mary Grace got in she had a great first day of school and even got back on the bus and came home. Bonus!
After a fun and very full day, we packed everything up in the car, including a big bonus; our niece/cousin Sarah took up our offer to come stay for the weekend! It was a little cramped in the back seat with Sarah sandwiched between the two kids seats, but off we were. For about 5 minutes.
We had just started the movie (Babe, on the iPad), when we heard an odd noise coming from the back seat, following by Sarah SCREAMING "OH MY GOD, HE's THROWING UP!". Poor William was hurling all over himself. Emergency pull over into a parking lot and two more hurls leading to a little boy COVERED in stinky yuck.
Anne jumps to the rescue, removing William from the seat and getting his clothes off. I called for reinforcements (Chris and Lori) and we headed back to Chris and Lori's to start the cleanup effort. Bath, laundry, seat hose-down and car cleanup behind us, we set off again just over an hour later. William slept on my lap in the back seat all the way home.
Thankfully, whatever made him sick was not longlasting, as he woke the next morning perfectly healthy. It was a beautiful weekend for us and we took advantage of a few Rochester institutions; Saturday afternoon we spent at the pool at Midtown and Sunday afternoon at Strong Museum. Both were loads of fun for all involved. Sadly, Monday was Sarah's return trip back to Buffalo. Anne met Chris half way in Batavia where they had dinner.
The kids are looking forward to our upcoming overnight guests next weekend for Seabreeze Friends and Family day as well as the Clothesline Art festival at the MAG.
Finally, tomorrow is an ultra-exciting day, Mary Grace's first day of kindergarten! She'll be riding the school bus for the first time ever. Blog forthcoming.
I've been trying to motivate the family to go on a daytrip to Niagara Falls all summer long. Checking out the calendar I noticed that there are just a few weeks left of summer so I scheduled a day off and announced my intentions. So on Friday, August 27, off we went.
We had a brainstorm to invite Sarah along for the fun and were psyched when she said yes. So after about an hour and a half drive to Buffalo, then the falls, we arrived.
Our first stop was Goat Island for a great view of the American falls. We took photos from two vantage points, then headed back towards the car for lunch.
After lunch, we proceeded to the Maid Of The Mist! After watching it ferrying people towards the falls, we were all very excited for the ride. At only $15ish or adults, it was a steal. Kids 5 and under are free, too!
The approach to the American Falls gave a great view and we took advantage of the photo opportunities. Then we proceeded towards the Canadian Falls, where the mist was so thick that we all got soaked! It was the best part of the ride though. I'll always remember Sarah and I screaming "I'm on top of the world" with our hands up in the air. LOL.
Even the kids enjoyed it, although William cinched up his raincoat as tight as he could to keep from getting wet. This from my boy who takes every single opportunity to get wet and play with water when at home. Towards the end of the boat ride, he asks me "When are we going to see Niagara Falls?". "This is it, silly!".
After we disembarked, Sarah and I climbed the steps on a path that leads right up to the edge of the falls, where we got even wetter than we did on the boat. Luckily we still had our raincoats from the boat ride on! Sarah remarked that the enjoyed that part of the experience more than the boat. You must do it, if you go. Here's Sarah getting soaked!
So the major stops visited and dinnertime approaching, we decided to head back to Buffalo for dinner with Grandpa.
Next post about the rest of the evening and weekend.
A big part of the end of winter and the beginning of spring is a Saturday afternoon of planting seeds with the kids. This year we planted a multitude of flowers and vegetables, but as always, tomatoes are king.
We planted 10 salvaged seeds from a pack of organic seeds we bought in 2008. I wasn't sure they would be viable, but up they came and slowly they grew. While my brothers family was enjoying July tomatoes, ours were still small and green.
In early August, we got a few, but then they all went crazy! Here's a picture of the first harvest, most which went into 10 jars of salsa which we'll enjoy all winter long.
The shopping cart is what the kids harvested into. :)
One of the things we haven't done a lot of this summer is go to the playground. So to correct this situation, we piled up the kids into the wagon and headed off to what the kids call "The Rock Wall Playground".
It's actually two playgrounds at a school down near Berkely and Milburn streets. I can never remember the name of the school though. :)
We arrived an instantly made a new friend, a very nice little girl whose name escapes me. After playing on the slide, the "submarine", the monkey bars, and the swings, we headed over to the little kids playground where you can see Mary Grace sitting on the Rock wall. (Nate, you were at this playground with us a few years ago!)
This weekend, we leveraged the additional traffic in the neighborhood for some old-fashioned entrepreneur-ism in the form of a kettle corn stand. "50¢ Kettle Corn" reads the sign that Mary Grace made all by herself!
The kids had a great time manning the stand (Mary Grace dressed in her Arial princess costume) while Anne and I observed from the front porch. Most of our customers were neighbors, but some were friendly strangers, like the guy that gave Mary Grace a $1 tip, or the folks who bought 3 bags (exhausting all our inventory and forcing Daddy back to the kitchen to make more).
Mary Grace was the sales person and accounts receivable and William was in product fulfillment and the treasurer.
They made over $11, of which the majority was spent the next day at the Park Avenue Festival on jewelry and kids inflatable "rides".
