The Actors Ide

While Harry was in Texas with Bobo (that's the name he came up with for my mom -- grandmas don't get to pick their own names) visiting with with my brother and his family, he put on a little play with his cousins James and Katelyn.

I'm not sure why the pirates captured Minnie Mouse, but I'm told everything came out fine in the end.

Vacation photos!

So this August we rented a beach house in Rhode Island for a week.  It was great!  Everyone enjoyed it.  Especially Gilly.

It was an easy walk from the house to the beach -- Gretchen's favorite, I might add.

We lucked out on the week that we picked for our vacation:  both of my brothers could spare some time to come to visit!  That meant that Scott and Julia came to visit with Sage and new, cute, and somewhat pneumatic baby Jura (despite Scott's new job at Harvard) and that Seth and Lana flew in from Texas with Katelyn and James (despite their hectic work schedules and Lana's night school classes).  Here's a pictures of all of Grammy Donna's (Did I mention she came, too?  So did Gretchen's mom) grandkids on the couch:

I don't want to start another "sea monster" craze, but what is this thing? Mom took the picture and says it's a big bird of prey taking a sizable fish out of the water for its dinner.  I have my doubts, though...
Especially since I think that this could be one of the monster's partially decomposed feet, washed up on the shore (which would explain the stink at certain points along the beach, come to think of it).

Anyway.  The kids had a lot of fun even if, come bedtime, they were all parked on the floor of one room like SUVs on the Block Island ferry.

They're still working on that bike path to Block Island, by the way.  So if you're planning on biking there, make sure you bring a towel in a Ziploc bag to wipe the salt water off your frame afterwards.

Lots of fun.

Maybe too much fun.

James and Harry played with Star Wars toys and Legos much of the time they were there.  Mom took this picture and originally captioned it "James and Harry or Seth and Ben?"  I still like Lego, and I know Seth still digs Star Wars.  Oh, and if you happen to be the people who rented the house after we did, I'm so sorry for the Lego bits you probably stepped on in the middle of the night.

Well, that's about it.  Except for one strange bit of deja vu.  When I first walked into this rental, I thought to myself, "I've been here before."  See, I had some friends who went to URI for college and these beach houses get rented out to college students in off season.  But there are lots of beach houses, probably all built at or about the same time.  Probably all look similar, right?

Maybe.  But when I banged my elbow on the corner of the sink while using the bathroom in the middle of the first night there?  That clinched it.  I've definitely been there before.

A Big Day

This is a big day at our house. First and foremost, Gillian turns four!


Harry, who has been on a whirlwind tour of grandmothers' houses, is coming home.


AND Nicky is coming home from camp!


Gretchen and I can kiss goodbye the bliss that comes with having only one child at home. But we missed them. And boy howdy, did Pablo miss Harry.

Wedding

We went to a wedding this weekend. A family friend and our former babysitter tied the knot. It was a lovely ocassion and the kids looked fantastic!

Gilly got dressed up to be the flower girl. It didn't stop her from squashing bugs, though.


The kids behaved themselves exceptionally well, even through a long church service.
Well, mostly behaved themselves.

Harry was the ring bearer, and looked killer in his rental tux.

Guests of Texas

I just heard from my brother, Seth.

While I was moving to Connecticut with my family, he was moving to Texas with his. Same reasons -- job moves.

He's doing well! My niece Katelyn loves school, even though it's a full day session instead of the half day she'd been doing in Rhode Island. Her younger brother James is digging the scene, too.

Seth asked what the weather was like here. I told him about the snow we have on the ground, and how the 4 inches of rain we receive (in one day!) had pretty much turned it all into tiny glaciers. Seth told me that the weather in the Dallas/Fort Worth area was maybe in the 40s F in the morning and in the 60s during the day -- cold for the locals, idyllic for a New England transplant. Hail is the big concern there. And lightning. A sudden overhead bolt scare the dooky out of him the other night.

Now, I have a request of all the folks living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I know that moving to Texas does not make you a Texan. You have a national identity there. I can understand and respect that. I have heard that even having your children in Texas does not make them Texans. "If your cat had kitten in the oven, you wouldn't call them biscuits."

Fine. But I would really appreciate it if you would look a little more favorably on those who are new to driving in your area. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm not going to single anyone out. You know who you are and you know what you're doing. Just, please, be a little nicer to people who are inexperienced in the ways of, say, merging and lane changing in your fair land.

Okay? Thanks. Or, as you say, "Much obliged."


UPDATE

Looks like Seth took a little of our fine weather with him to Texas:

1st Day at School

Today is Nicky and Gillian's first day of school. Nicky is going back to school -- 5th grade -- after a year off for homeschooling. This is Gilly's first day ever. She's only three.

By the way, Harry is going to school too -- kindergarten -- but we have to wait a few days to get him into the right school. (I could publish an entirely new blog on the faults and foibles of the Providence School system, so I'll spare you for now.)

Here they are, all set to go!

Gilly says "bye!" with a wave over her shoulder.

Here we are waiting for the bus. Don't I look so brave? (Yes, it's coffee in my coffee cup.)

15 minutes later and we are still waiting. I took Gilly for a little stroll so she wouldn't get too restless.

Another 10 minutes and we are still waiting. The bus never came, so Gretchen drove her to school. Good thing she had the car today, huh?

While Gretchen and Gilly (with Harry) went off in search of pre-K enlightenment, I walked Nicky to his school. We live 0.9 miles away from his school, so no bus ride for him. Poor guy, I think he's the last kid in America who actually wants to ride the bus -- it just hasn't worked out for him yet. Maybe when we move.

Messy Kids

Before getting dropped off at camp, Nicky enjoys an ice cream cone.
Actually, Gretchen needed to kill some time before registration started.
Thanks to Nicky's eagerness, they got there an hour early.

Later that day Gretchen and I took the kids to the beach.
We stopped at Aunt Carrie's on the way, and you can see the effects
of clamcakes and chowder on my immense gut in the background.

Gilly had a great time playing in the sand and surf.

Greatest Toy Ever?

So, what is the greatest toy ever created?



A box!

Big thanks go out to Randi for scoring this for me. It just fit in the car.

Remembering Sushi

"Sushi" is the name that Nicky gave to the goldfish he won at
U. Hartford's Community Day last month.

I had previously taken the motor out of an old blender,
installing a low wattage night light in it's place.


Sushi looked great in it.

He (or she, we can't tell with fish) was a very cute fish
and was a joy to have in our kitchen.

He will be sorely missed.

Dangerous Duo

Katelyn and Harry, hopped up on yogurt drinks and armed with crayons.
Lock your doors, folks.

"I'm a Big Girl Now!"

(Special guest blogger, Gretchen.)

Gilly came to lunch when called, but got up on Harry's chair
as if to say, "I'm a big girl now so I can eat like the rest of you!"

She was much better behaved, too, for both boys became
clowns upon seeing the camera!

Scott Turns 38

This is my brother, Scott.
He turned 38 yesterday while the rest of the nation filed their income tax.

His wife and step-daughter made him an awesome cake.

Scott Eyed. (Get it?)

Actually, Scott had many cakes for his birthday.
Good thing he's in such good shape, otherwise he'd never be able to blow out his candles.

In case you're wondering, the sweatshirt Scott's wearing says "Independent Fabrication." That's a custom bike shop that our cousin works at.

Also, all these photos were from a party I couldn't attend. I wiped them from Tess, who took some awesome photos.

From Three Years Ago

I have two children. Nicky is six and Harry is about a year and a half. While building a spice rack for their mother last Saturday I overheard this "conversation" taking place in the living room:

Harry: Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Get off me, Harry!

Harry: Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Mom! Harry's hitting me!

Mom: Harry, get off your brother.

Harry: No! Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

That's all I could hear, Nicky yelping and Harry copying him. After that, my laughter drowned them out.

"Iceberg" Lettuce

Last night's salad might have looked a little strange.

Thing is, Harry put the salad fixings in the freezer.

Oh well. Lettuce is for chumps anyway.

A Day at the Races

The weather has been very kind to us today. The temperatures have gotten up in the high 50s after two weeks of arctic cold and ice.

So what better way to celebrate than to race up and down the driveway?

Stare, Smile, Grimace

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season today. Really, it was little more than slush from on high, but the kids dug it. Nicky built a snowman!



Notice all the green tracks in the lawn, showing where the snowballs had been rolled.



"All done, bored now."

That's the little snowman in the bottom left corner. It's camouflaged by all the yard debris stuck in the snow.

Sadly, the temperatures shot up right after these photos were taken, and Frosty is no more. Perhaps the detritus lives on as compost.

By the way, Gretchen made the scarves. Aren't they great?

Sunday with Gillian

From Gretchen's mother, Barbara Fluck:

I wanted to tell you about Gilly in church and Gilly at lunch. Boy, dress that kid up and she figures she can get away with anything. She can get her boots off now without undoing the zipper. So she hummed one under the pew in front of us. Gretchen retrieved it and put it on the seat--end of story??? Not by a long shot. Little minx picked it up, gave Gretchen a nasty look and hummed it back under the pew and then a look like 'That will take care of that' She stood up on the seat and held the back of our pew, flirted with the old ladies behind her, turned the pages of their hymnals. Of course when there was music she swayed and sort of danced in perfect rhythm. Before Harry went to Sunday school he took a hymnal and sang sotto voce whether there was singing or not. That was after he found he could not get past me and go fight with Nicky--well, at least until the very end when he made it by lying on his belly and wiggling like a snake to get under my leg and feet.

Then Gretchen decided we should go to lunch at Bliss and Harry was so excited he took a flying leap into the booth and hit hard as in tears and howling. It had to have hurt badly. He'd wipe his eyes and then start howling all over again. He did manage to eat his lunch so he could have a sundae like the picture. The waitress made it in miniature. Ice cream cures most pains. Nicky bought him a pack of gum which completed the soothing.

You say Gilly, how about Gilly? Oh yes she was in a high chair at the end of the booth and had a hot dog which Gretchen cut into little circles and gave her a puddle of ketchup for dipping. That was when she figured out how to do something she must have watched the big kids do somewhere. She made the circle into a stamp; the ketchup was the stamp pad and the paper, you ask. Why Mommy's arm of course. Did I mention Gretchen was wearing a new, pretty blouse? I think Gilly missed the fabric but cannot be sure. I wiped Gretchen's arm and that was Gilly's cue to show us that she was operating according to her own plan, and she stamped it again. The high chair was moved and then she moved a bit forward so she could reach my woolen skirt and wipe that nasty ketchup ink off her dainty little fingers. Another move of the chair and she had the ketchup all to herself and she spread it liberally over her face. Just one more adventure--she took a big drink of her juice and let it run down her front. The cold made her gasp and grab her tummy. We gave her a napkin and let her wipe herself. She really looked adorable as the day began.

When they headed for home, I came here and settled into my chair with a good book--which never was read--at least for the next two hours when I woke up and realized I had beat my record for sleeping in my chair, which hitherto had been half an hour. I did have a great time, but it was exhausting. It was Gretchen who deserved all the sympathy. We laughed a lot but I think if I had not been there she might have cried or screamed. I had mentioned in the beginning I was surprised that she brought Gilly. I am sure she understood at the end why I thought that. Well, now you have a full account. Have a good day and we'll see you Thursday.

Hallowe'en Train

We asked Harry what he wanted to be for Hallowe'en this year.

"I want to be a train."

Do you mean, you want to be an engineer? He got a nifty new engineer uniform for his birthday in August.

"No, I want to be a train."

So Gretchen cobbled together this costume: Harry the Train.

It's Thomas, of course.

Good thing we saved all those boxes, huh?

Nicky dressed as a vampire and Gilly as a pumpkin.

Pretty good, huh?

Boring Lunch

Poor tired Gilly.

Oh, well. Not every meal can be exciting.