Miles to Go

Just a quick post before I head back downstairs.
It's Friday night and I just want to sleep. Unfortunately, there is much to do.
But if I'm a good girl and super duper organized, maybe I can squeeze in a couple garage sales tomorrow morning. =-)
So, inspired by Jena (THANK YOU - I had almost given up hope)...here are the latest pictures (courtesy of Grampy and Grampa).



And last, but certainly not least...THE LOOK.

The Weekend

We had a lovely weekend up at the Lake. Caroline was in hog heaven once she figured out how to "Swim all by myself" with the help of a life preserver and tube. It took Sam a bit longer to acclimate to the water, but he did have a fun time, too.
Thanks Grampy and Grampa for the great pictures!

Catch Up

Just a quick post - I'll caption things later.
It's hard to get things up this week - I would have never imagined that having "only" one computer would cramp our style.
Lots to do today...these are from the Children's Discovery and Science Museum in Acton, MA.
Two thumbs way up. It was a blast.
Now all I have to do is to figure out how to get Caroline to smile in a picture!

Wednesday Night

I think we need to do this stay-cation thing more often.
We've been having a very nice week and luckily the weather has been cooperating.
After our adventures on Monday, we went down to the Mystic Aquarium on Tuesday morning. If anyone is thinking of going down that way to stay for a few days with small children, take note that an admission ticket is good for three days, which definitely makes it worth the price. But if you're like us and only going to stay for a day - it is a bit expensive. We got there about eleven o'clock and the place was packed. All sorts of school groups and camps. Ugh. Kids everywhere. So we wandered and tried to stay outdoors to have some elbow room. We saw the Sea Lion show, which was cool. But then the kids started to get schootchy - so we made the executive decision to take a drive around and come back after everyone woke up from naps.
We drove around Mystic and then up to Misquamicut. We stayed awake (with a little help from DD) while the kids were relaxing. It's beautiful along the coast in southern Rhode Island. I never realized it - I just don't associate Rhode Island with beaches, I guess.
We made our way back to the Aquarium by 2:30 or so. Our timing was perfect. The groups were leaving and most of the people staying were families with small children. The kids got to pet the rays, see the penguins, play in the tidepool and watch the beluga whales without much interference. They had a great time. Everyone was fried by about 5:30 and we went to get some local fare for dinner. We could feel our arteries clogging while eating - but boy, was it good!
We didn't get a lot of pictures yesterday - the kids would not stay still and my camera isn't quick enough to get them before they bolt away...
See what I mean?

And again?

And yet again?!?!

But we did get some decent shots...

Sam loved the beluga whales


But Caroline got more than a little freaked when this whale came right up to her and "smiled"!

He looks comfortable, doesn't he?

Dada, I got you nose!

Of all the great things we could see at the Aquarium, they play with a sewer cover!

Caroline thought the salt water air smelled like skunks.

Today we had a good day, as well. Grampa and Auntie Dr Chrissy came down (THANK YOU) to watch the kids to allow Jim and I to tour the American Antiquarian Society.
Fascinating stuff. Totally worth another tour.
It's wonderful that we have a resource like this open to the public - not to mention right down the street!
Then, after dinner we went down to Assumption and fed the ducks. There were a couple new ducks (including the ugliest one I have ever seen), but there were also some missing - the foxes got them. We had fun. And now it's time to rest up for what tomorrow may bring!

Sam didn't feel like giving his bread to the ducks, so he sat in front of them and ate it

Until the ducks got a bit too close for comfort - then he decided the ducks could have anything they wanted:

Dada and Sam:

She's too much (and loves showing off her new dress from Turkey):

Say goodnight, Sam! Here's to a good night of sleep.

A Day Late...

As Sara has already pointed out, this post is late.
But I'm on stay-cation, so I think it's only fair to cut some slack. =-)
We have had a great past few days. Luckily, the weather has cooperated and we've had the most beautiful weather that we've had all summer. In fact, Jim and I were commenting that the cool weather has really spoiled us. Whenever the temperature is above 75 we find ourselves turning on the air conditioning in the car.
Since our time off as a family started on Friday (Jim got an extra week - I'm not jealous, really), we went down to New Britain, CT to catch a Rock Cats game (Thanks Pat and Erica!). Anyone that has ever been to New Britski will know how absolutely hysterical it is that we showed up on "Irish Night." Saturday night was a good game and the rain held off until just after the last out. We did end up staying down that way, though we were very apprehensive about spending the night in a hotel as Sam doesn't like to sleep, well, ever. But our prayers were heard and Sam fell asleep on the way to the hotel after the game and slept through the night in his own crib!!
We went to the game on Sunday as well. We got to meet up with some dear friends and had a wonderful time.
Anyone that knows me will know that I've been on a quest for the past 30+ years.
I have never, ever caught a foul ball at a professional baseball game. This quest has taken us to many, many ball parks and made us sit through rain and snow delays (hey - if there are less people, that raises my odds of getting a ball, right?), not to mention extra innings and positioning our seats strategically to (what I thought might) increase our odds of getting a ball.
With the kids, though, my quest has been put on the back burner. Our seats now are chosen more for available space, shade and where we're going to bother the least amount of people. In fact, we were in negotiations with the ticket office so we could get seats in the shade on Sunday. But after about the fourth inning or so, we moved over a section so that we could get a little sun. And don't you know it. After we sit down a foul ball was hit right at me! Fortunately, the rather athletic looking young man sitting directly in front of me had gone to the concession stand for a Slurpee - so I didn't have to worry about him. UNFORTUNATELY, I did not bring my glove. The ball went right in my hands (not without more than a little bruising - of my ego AND my hands) and then back out and hit my seat. It bounced to Rollin and he gave it to Caroline.
SO CLOSE! I couldn't believe that I had blown my chance that I had been waiting so long for.
But the good news is that two innings later it happened again- except this time the ball hit right in front of us AND I got it! I was so (and still am) excited! Technically, both Sam and Caroline got a ball at the game, since Rollin gave Caroline hers and Sam gets mine. But he hasn't gotten it yet. And probably won't (for at least a little while). =-)
Jim had to go into work today, so the kids and I had a vacation day by ourselves. We walked down to the Square to get donuts this morning and then went to the playground. We played in the pool and everyone took a two hour nap. It was lovely.
I'll try to get up posts as the week goes on of the things that we do. We're sticking very close to home and not going crazy - it's just so nice to all be together.
Here are some pictures from so far this week:
I cringe to think what would have happened if the water had turned on!

If he keeps this up, we'll have no flowers in the front yard!

To Sam's credit, he did keep the hat on for a lot of the time we were outside - he loves it because it's "Widdles".

Here are Caroline and Elena toasting to the wonderful weather -

Here is CJ all cleaned up after we went out for ice cream -

And here is Sam - NOT so cleaned up

Here is Sam towering over Mama while she is trying to read her magazine while the kids were playing in the pool today -

The kids were total monkeys today -

But all in all, the kiddos played very well together -

Rest.

Rest is certainly what we need after this weekend.
The funny thing is, we didn't feel like we were running around. In fact, today we hung around home.
But we do need some time to recover.

We had very interesting experience this morning at Bagel Time. There were a bunch of motorcycles parked out front. The bikes were surrounded by men that were rather, shall we say, "tough" looking. At least I found them intimidating. But Sam did not. He kept pointing and motioning at the motorcycles and it was obvious that he really wanted to go over to check them out. So we walked over and started talking to the men and asking them about their bikes. They were more than happy to talk to Sam. They told Sam all about their bikes and even let him sit on them (they were Harleys and Hondas, I think). Needless to say, Sam was thrilled. When Sam signed "Thank you", one man even knew sign and talked to Sam in sign! It was really neat and reinforced to me the need to stretch out of my comfort zone every so often.

Sam, Caroline and I also got to spend our first July 4th up at the Lake. Watching the fireworks on the boat was wonderful. We need to bring up the telescope next time so Caroline can look at the stars.
We did get some nice pictures from the weekend, courtesy of Caroline and Sam's Grampy and Grampa. I may add more pictures later (thanks for sending them so quickly!), but it's late and time for bed.




Does this one seem a bit familiar to you? It does to me!