First Letters

Sadie wrote her first letters today! While she was at school she drew this picture and wrote these "A"s. She's quite taken with the letter "S", but it's a lot harder to write. The second letter in her name and the first letter in the alphabet is a very a good place to start. We're, needless to say, very proud of our big girl.

Uncle Craig

We've had a pretty quiet weekend. The big excitement was a visit from Uncle Craig this afternoon. The kids had a great time visiting with their uncle. They also had a play date with their school-mate Gabriel and his little sister Lucy. And that was all post-nap. Before the nap they had swim lessons. Maybe quiet weekends aren't that quiet.

Lacy Park Riders

Here are some photos J. took while being a super-dad. J. watched the kids two weekends in row while I went to weddings in New York and San Francisco. He did an amazing job taking care of the kids and the house while I gallivanted all over the country. From the photos above it looks like the kids didn't suffer too much during my absence.

Water Games

Well, my new computer has not made it faster to upload photos to the blog yet. It looks like I need a few lessons to get this down. While I figure this out I wanted to share some summertime photos of water fights in the backyard. Uncle Tommy gave the kids these great fireman water packs that provide some serious drenching action. The kids love them, but J. and I have to hide while they use them because they don't quite understand the "Don't shoot the adults" instruction yet.

East Coast Vacation Part 4

My posting to the blog was slowed by getting a new computer and a trip to New York for 36 hours. I've lost count of how many times I've traveled east this year. The computer turned out to be defective, which is good news because now I feel super-fast on my new MacBook.

So, back to the vacation. We rounded out our trip with 5 days in Maine. 5 days felt luxurious after we'd been on the road so much. The kids loved Momma Su's farm, although even picking vegetables for dinner was not enough to get the kids to eat vegetables. I'll just have to keep dreaming. The highlight of every day was a trip to the chicken house to collect eggs. There was much discussion about which chicken was Sadie and Jack's favorite.

On Saturday we had a fantastic lobster bake! My good friend Nora brought her son Wheeler and another friend from high school, Sarah, came as well. The kids had lots of fun pulling each other around in wagons and Sadie had a love fest with Momma Su's friend Robin.

We spent an amazing amount of time swimming. We went to three different beaches and a gorgeous pond. It was swell being able to drive 5 minutes to some of the best swimming spots in Maine. The kids could have lived on the beach.

We also had a wonderful visit with all my Verrier cousins. Jack and Sadie had the red carpet rolled out for them with a kiddie pool, toys, and endless arms to hold them.

The hardest part of the trip was saying good bye. We're happy to be home, but so many people we love are just too damn far away. I'm ready to start playing the lotto to raise funds to live bi-coastal. It's time that I raised my sights beyond just the kids eating vegetables!

East Coast Vacation: Part 3

After lovely Bethany Beach our clan hit the road for the three days. On our first day we drove from Bethany to Brooklyn, with a pit stop for lunch at Mum and Pup's in Pennsville. Our first day of driving was probably our roughest, but we fortunately made good time and arrived in Brooklyn in the afternoon. Our wonderful friend Lisa welcomed our weary clan with open arms and quickly escorted us all to a nearby playground. Jack and Sadie loved the playground with its great sprinkler play area. We spent the night at Lisa's and got a little time to get to know her new son, Lee.

The next day we met up with a big group of friends from J.'s days in Boston and explored more of Brooklyn's playgrounds. We took to the road around noon and headed for Brockton. Our second day of driving was a lot of fun and arrived at uncle Alex and Aunt Gladys' house around dinner time. Gladys knows a thing or two about young kids and was amply prepared for Sadie and Jack. There were toys galore, and things really got rolling when a whole band of cousins arrived. Sadie was absolutely smitten with her cousin Amalia, and Jack got lots of love from the whole crew.

The next day Gladys took us to wonderful lake in Sharon, MA. We had a very pleasant morning of swimming and then hit the road for the last leg of trip to Maine. We got to Maine in the late afternoon just in time to pick peas for dinner. The kids were super excited to finally make it Momma Su's farm and had a ball exploring every last nook and cranny of the farm. More on the farm to come in our last installment...