Down the shore

Our trip down the shore was during the last week of August.  Yeah, this is way past due!  The trip was absolutely delightful, with the exception of the weather, which was sub par!  However, big guy loves the beach so much, he was more than happy to be on the beach for hours and hours swimming in the waves, doing full body writhing in the sand, and enjoying the boardwalk at night.  Here are some classic shots of big guy down the shore.

Big guy getting fully sandy 

Our nightly custard! 

Our nightly rides on the boardwalk 

Our last night, enjoying some treats and the view

Hair's a mess

you can always count on a pre-schooler to keep it real. The other day big guy is on the potty doing a #2. I was sitting next to him and we were chatting.  My bangs were pulled back into a clip.  He looks at me and says, "Mommy, hair's a mess!"  Thank you dear child for always keeping it real with me!

Preschool and Homework!

This year big guy is in preschool, that's right, my baby has started his public education journey!  Let me say that it officially started last week, when all the kids were officially there who will be there for the rest of the year.  And so far, we've had three homework assignments!  I really can't believe it.

First came the sheet welcoming everyone to the new school year.  On it came instructions for the whole year: bring 2 change of clothing, lunch, wash sheets every week, the usual.  Then came, every week is a new letter.  Help your child cut out pictures that begin with that letter.  Ok, no biggie.  Big guy and I went for a nature walk and collected acorns, then at the farm we picked apples.  I also cut out a picture of some apples.  Ms. C, big guy's teacher, said we did an excellent job.  Big guy talked all about the acorns and about picking apples at the farm.  Then on friday, I come in and there is a binder sitting in everyone's cubbies.  Ms. C tells me that needs to be decorated and is due Monday.

Ok, now I'm feeling a little stressed.  I need to invest in safety scissors, a glue stick, and tap into my inner crafty side.  Craftiness for me is like eating soup.  I really have to be in the mood, otherwise it's a disaster!  Anywho, I went to the rite aid and got safety scissors, three glue sticks, and some monsters university stickers.  Big guy and I decorated the binder in a half hour.  I used a piece of card-stock to put everything it and then tucked it into the binder cover.  A picture of big guy, his name, and stickers of stuff he likes: trains, apples, cats, etc.  And we cut out pictures for the letter B- balloon and bacon.

Today, I got to school and there was poster board in the cubby!  Oh no!  Ms. C saw my face and was like, Oh, yes, this is due on thursday!  A poster with big guy's name, age, bday, favorite color, favorite activities and pictures of his family.  OMG!  I had a minor panic attack.  More homework!  he's only 3 1/2 for goodness sake.  So, I started bemoaning and being excessively dramatic about more homework when all of a sudden I look down and there is big guy staring at me.  A quick realization, I better quit this bad behavior before he starts acting that way about homework as well.  A quick smile and "Yay homework!" was all we needed before heading home and on to my next homework assignment!

work and play

One of my summer days happened to be on a day that hubs had a day off.  So, hubs stayed home with big guy, while I went to work.  The nice idea that I had was for them to come to my job around 2:00 and we would head over to the elmwood park zoo.  Big guy was a bit grumpy since he had fallen asleep on the way over and only got about a half hour of sleep before getting to work.  But we had a pretty good time seeing the giraffes, chickens, and playing on the playground.  Ok, the playground was probably the highpoint since they have wood chips on the ground and those are endless fun! After the zoo, we headed over to the Friendly's for dinner.  And big guy sat on one side of the booth by himself while hubs and I were on the other side!  He quietly alternated between coloring and watching thomas on hubs' phone.  It was awesome!  Hubs and I ate all of our food without having to say anything to big guy about eating his cheeseburger.  Then we all got sundaes.  An awesome end to the day!!

back to reality

Hello! I'm still here!  We are back to reality, hence why I haven't been writing, so busy and exhausted. For instance, last week was my first five days of work in a row since May.  and I fell asleep at 8:45 every night, I know, pathetic.  But we are adjusting to back to school.  big guy is getting back into the school groove.  tough, because he got to spend 6 whole weeks with me and I'm really fun!  but we are adjusting.  still to come, end of summer beach trip.  fall festive fun has begun!

New Hampshire trip- day ten

We were both exhausted but sleeping in bed with big guy is troublesome, mostly because he squirms horribly!  So, I got up and was anxious to get home.  but this was such a cute pose, I couldn't wake him! We got up and said goodbye to G and her family.  We started the three hour drive back to our house.  I got lost at one point, just from sheer exhaustion from lack of sleep and driving so much.  But we were home by 11:30am.  Big guy was thrilled to be back with his trains.  And I was glad to be back on home turf.

*Hubs had been husband of the year while we were gone, literally cleaning every part of the house.  It looked great, and besides running over and killing several budding watermelons, he was amazing! *

New Hampshire trip- day nine

Sunday morning was spent packing and getting ready to drive the five plus hours down to cousin G's house in connecticut.  Big guy got some final quality time with gmom dino and pop pop g.  Lots of train videos and playing trains, as well as running around outside with Max the dog.  big guy and I were both very sad to leave them.  The vacation (minus the day of pukies I had) was perfect.  Something about being with my mommy for ten days and with nature was the perfect rejuvenation! I of course sobbed when we left, as did big guy.  Luckily, big guy passed out quickly and slept until I stopped to get gas about three hours later.  Then he watched a funny video he and dino had made earlier in the day about a hundred times!  We got caught in some traffic, but made it to G's house around six.  Her boys, especially H, were just as attentive and fun as they had been the sunday before.  We went over to their swim club for dinner.  G grilled up hot dogs and hamburgers, and brought along fresh fruit and some artichoke dip.  Big guy swam in the pool, played in the sand (see below), and ate heartily.  Once the sun set, we watched the synchronized swimming show that the girls who belong to the club had been working on all summer.  big guy was delighted and was showing off his leg moves as well!  We went back to G's house and second cousin M read big guy a book before we went to bed.

New Hampshire trip- day eight

Saturday was our last full day in new hampshire!  We started our day at the dump! Here is everyone after throwing the trash in and dino begging the guy to squish the trash, event hough only our trash was in there.  He very nicely obliged!

Dino and I decided to spend our last day on the beach, which is exactly what we did- for five hours! But it was absolutely delightful.  The sun was shining, it was about 80 degrees and big guy spend probably four and a half of those hours in the water.  Following the beach, we went home for dinner, trains, bath and bed.  Check out some of the beach fun we had below:

Here he is with dino after digging a watering hole!

Swimming with the famous pink floaty!

Eating some pretzels on the beach!

New Hampshire trip- day seven

Thursday turned out to be the one yucky, rainy day of the week!  Since we couldn't go to the beach, we went to see Zeus, arguably the world's largest horse.  He weighs 3,000 pounds!  While the average horse weighs about 1,000 pounds, Zeus is huge and magestic.  I'm not much of a horse person, I mean, they are beautiful to look at and absolutely amazing, I have no desire to ride one.  But it was hard to not be impressed by the sheer size and beauty of Zeus, as well as the other horses in the stables.  Big guy and pop pop G were especially impressed with Bandit, the horse they are with below.  It took big guy a few minutes to warm up and get comfortable with the horses, but once pop pop g was petting them, he soon was as well.

Following the horses, we went to feed the huge brook trout and of course, the ducks.  The food machine was a quarter stealer, but big guy enjoyed seeing the huge fish!  It's hard to see because it was raining, but the fish were over two feet long!

Following the duck and fish feeding, we went back home to relax and have lunch.  We decided to go to the movies, I mean, what else is there to do on a rainy day!  We saw the movie Planes, which was awful!  Wait, I shouldn't say that... if you weren't a small child (big guy) or someone who knew things about planes (pop pop g), then it was awful.  Dino took a nap.  I actually had phone reception, so I checked my work email and texted people fun pictures from the previous days!  After the movie was mercifully over, we went over to the Hart's Turkey Farm Restaurant, where everyday is thanksgiving! big guy ate a huge meal, mac and cheese and a footlong hot dog!  I had the turkey sandwich, delicious! Seeing as thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, this was a very special treat.  After having some ice cream, we went home for bath and bed!

New Hampshire trip- day six

I was feeling a bit better on thursday, so we decided to avoid swimming, since I didn't want to infect anyone else.  Instead we headed over to the Squam Lake Nature Center to see local NH animals. We saw a huge amount of animals including our favorites: the minx, mountain lions, deer, frogs, black bears. Below are some cute pictures of our adventure.

 Upon arriving you get hot pink stickers.  guess who took them all?

Big guy stretching next to the height of a deer.  See the moose nose above the deer antlers- moose are huge!!! 

big guy and dino by the gardens 

Black bear- super cool! 

And following our trip to the nature center, we played in the giant dirt patch that the dogs had made in the yard.  Yay for dirt!

New Hampshire trip- day five

I threw up all day with a bout of 24 hour food poisoning.  Big guy hung out with dino all day on wednesday.  thank goodness for dino!  She gave him breakfast, they played on the hammock, and then she and big guy ran some errands.  They went to the library and checked out some books.  they went to the supermarket, where dino let big guy stand and hold onto the front of the shopping cart!  dino!  and yes, now he does it with me since he got away with it with dino.  Then they went to visit one of dino's friends who was up on vacation.  Once they returned, big guy managed to convince pop pop g to watch train videos and play trains- obsessively!  Luckily, big guy got pop pop g and dino wrapped around his fingers at this point, so they pretty much did anything he wanted.  just they way it should be!

New Hampshire trip- day four

On tuesday we went to Weirs Beach, which is on the big lake!  Conveniently enough, there is a railroad that rides along three towns on the lake, so we got to take a ride on the Hobo Railroad.  No joke, see second picture.  We timed it nicely after a morning of hanging in the yard and checking out all of the little frogs and flying grasshoppers, that we took an hour train ride and then got to hit up the beach.  Here are dino and pop pop G with big guy waiting for our train!

On the train, there was a balloon artist, here he is making big guy a yellow giraffe!

After our amazing train ride, we went down to the beach- beautiful, right? Weirs beach is much bigger than the beach we went to the day before.  Lots more people and you aren't allowed to use floaties!  We made sand castles and swam for a good three hours before heading home to have dinner, bath, and bed.

New Hampshire trip- day three

Our first full day in New Hampshire was on monday.  Luke woke up very early, boo!  So, we went downstairs and realized it was freezing!  When we checked the thermometer, it was 48 degrees outside, yikes!  We bundled up and watched some tv while we waited for dino and pop pop G to get up.  The dogs, however, were up with us, so we did have some company.  Following dino waking up, we decided to put on our wellies and explore dino's yard and 8 acres of woods!  As you can see, we were still bundled around 9am, when we started our adventure.  We checked out the meadow, the vegetable garden, where we discovered several pumpkins growing.  Then we went to see the brook and sort of got lost while trying to find a beaver dam.  Luckily, we were dressed appropriately and Max stayed with us the whole time.

 Below is big guy played on a fallen tree.  He used it as a bouncy seat almost.  Max was never too far!

After escaping the woods, we got changed and headed to see Wolfeboro, which is on the big lake- Lake Winnipesaukee.  Wolfeboro has a really cute three blocks of shops and restaurants, but the views are really what to go and see.  Here is dino, big guy and I standing next to a river that leads away from the lake:

After checking out the local bookstore and candy store, we went to eat at a diner.  See dino and pop pop G with big guy.  yay for potato chips, they make great smiley faces!

Following lunch, we changed into our swim clothes and went to a smaller lake (which was still huge), but had a small beach to swim and play in the sand.  The lake was absolutely gorgeous.  Nothing is more beautiful than looking out over the water and seeing mountains and trees. (see pic below big guy in lake pic)  To say big guy loved swimming in this lake is a huge understatement.  We were at this lake for about three hours, big guy was in the water for about 2 1/2 hours of this time!  It was a bit chilly, but he totally didn't care.  dino had also bought him a pink floaty which he had around him the whole time.  The nice thing about the lake, besides being fresh water and crystal clear, is that I could sit on the water's edge with dino making sand castles and big guy could swim in front of me happy as a clam, since it never got deep enough to be scary.  It was awesome!  Oh and extra bonus, there are ducks that swim with you!

After leaving the beach, we had dinner, bath, and bed. A perfect NH day!

New Hampshire trip- day two

We woke up bright and early at the Hilton in stamford.  Very cushy.  We headed out to cousin G's house and got there around 8am.  We were quickly greeted by a bunch of sleepy 2nd cousins, ages 10 (M), 8 (H), and 6 (T).  H was by far the friendliest to big guy.  He pretty much stayed with big guy the whole time, which was very sweet, but they were all very kind and attentive to big guy.  We had a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit, and banana bread.  Then we went down to the beach to play at a little inlet that is off of the long island sound.  The beach space couldn't have been bigger than a two car garage, but the ocean laid before us and became a playground for the next two hours.

big guy ran straight into the ocean while the other boys hopped onto kayaks to paddle out to a dock.  We waded into our knees and hunted for little fish.  Then we discovered little hermit crabs!  We spent the majority of our time collecting hermit crabs into a bucket.  Then big guy made a habitat by adding some sand and rocks to his bucket.  H came over and spent a good half hour with us collecting.  It was very sweet.  We also saw and cousin G picked up a live horseshoe crab!  very cool and very creepy! big guy finally put on his lifejacket and did a little kayak ride around a plot of sea grass.  And up until they capsized and everyone got soaked, we were in the best of spirits.  Following the full body douse, we were a bit more hesitant to go all the way in again.

We decided to head inside to get into some dry clothing!  And to check out the awesome playroom.  H stayed with us the whole time.  H and big guy played with legos, cars, banging on the piano, and finally trains!  Once cousin G realized big guy was obsessed with them, she unloaded two huge drawers into some bags for big guy to take home!  thanks G! After the playroom, we had lunch on the deck overlooking the ocean of yummy pizza and salad.

Around 1:30, we got back in the car to make the remaining five hour drive to NH.  Big guy promptly fell asleep for a few hours while dino and I drove and chatted.  We stopped at a McDonald's once big guy woke up and everyone peed.  Of course, big guy needed a promise of ice cream to get him on the potty.  good thinking dino!  Big guy got a chocolate milkshake for the road.  We hopped back in the car and big guy was an angel for the rest of the ride.  Drinking his milkshake, munching on pretzels, and watching Rio obsessively.  Honestly, I don't know if those songs will ever be out of my head!

We made it to NH around 5pm and stopped at a bigger supermarket to load up on some supplies.  Most importantly yogurt, cheese sticks, apple juice and local chocolate milk- yum!  We then drove around the big lake to gmom Dino's house.  When I say that NH is the most beautiful place I have ever been to, I mean it.  Huge mountains, lush, green trees, and bright blue water.  It's breathtaking and we were just driving!  Finally, we arrived at dino's house!  Beautiful!  We explored, said hi to pop pop G, and of course big guy was obsessed with the dogs, especially Max the collie!  We had dinner then hit the bath then bed!

New Hampshire trip- day one

Grandma Dino arrived on friday with her friend K, who she had driven down with.  We went to lunch at our local bagel place where big guy ate up a storm, before deciding to head to the pool for a few hours. Again, it wasn't really hot enough to go swimming, but big guy kept asking!  Following a yummy dinner and ice cream, we called it a night, especially since we were leaving the next day to start our road trip to New Hampshire!

SAturday morning was spent finishing packing, as well as loading up the car.  OMG- we took a lot of stuff, all of which we used, so I felt OK with my decision to bring all of it.  Even still, we were packed to the gills!  We left around 11:30am to head to Manhattan, where Great Aunt H lives (who you will remember is 94 and where we went to thanksgiving last year).  Big guy passed out in the car for about an hour, which was good, because upon him waking up, we needed gas and to go pee! And randomly at the rest stop was a guy dressed entirely in "Captain Jack Sparrow" garb! We got caught in the normal amount of traffic on the new jersey turnpike between exit 7-8.  Horrible road!  But we made it to Aunt H around 1pm, just in time for her to take us to lunch!

Big guy at the veggie garden 

Big guy and Aunt H

We had a delightful lunch al fresco, it was absolutely beautiful out!  And while walking back to her apartment, we stopped at an outside vegetable garden right on the street and said hello to a butterfly.  We also stopped at a local park that had a huge playground with sand.  Big guy played for about a half hour while dino, Aunt H, and I chatted and watched him have fun.  We left Aunt H around 4 and drove up to Stamford in Connecticut, as we were stopping to see Cousin G the next morning.  Big guy did a wonderful job in the car.  After arriving at the hotel, we watched some tv, had a light dinner, bath, and then called it a night!

Aquarium

Upon returning from Disney, big guy and I had about a week and a half before our next adventure began- namely a road trip to New Hampshire.  It took us about five days to get back into our normal rhythm. We were all pretty tired and grouchy.  We made a couple of trips to the pool the second week we were home.  Although it wasn't really warm enough to swim, big guy had definitely been spoiled in Disney by swimming every day!  On wednesday (we were leaving on saturday for NH), we headed over to the New Jersey Aquarium with Grandma C, Pop pop J, and I.  We got there a little early, so we checked out the beautiful view of the Delaware river, bought our tickets, and waited for about fifteen minutes until family arrived.  Shortly after their arrival, we took a family photo which unbelievably everyone was smiling and looking at the camera for!

We went inside and spent the next five hours exploring the fish, sharks, turtles and hippos.  We also touched sharks, stingrays, starfish, and a sea cucumber.  It was an amazing trip and big guy was totally thrilled to see all of these creatures swimming around and having fun!  We ate lunch and of course got some ice cream before returning to see the sharks and the hippos a second time!  Below are some cute pictures from our visit.

Big guy checking out some frogs 

Big guy and I standing with the hippos 

Big guy with a hippo!

Disney Trip- Day Seven

Our final day in Disney! We were sad to see it end.  I spoke with the front desk and got our check out time bumped to 1pm.  I leisurely packed while hubs and big guy watched tv and lounged.  We went swimming for a few hours, then returned to the room to shower and change.  WE checked out and waited for the bus to take us to the airport.  While on the bus, big guy wanted to sit with hubs, so mamabear got a break!  They ate lollipops and watched youtube.  We got to the airport for our 5 o'clock flight.  We had an early dinner of yogurt and watched a big thunderstorm approach.  Our flight was delayed about an hour an a half, but we left and had a wonderful flight home.  Big guy passed out in the terminal before we boarded, but I wasn't lucky enough to have him stay asleep!  But he did great on the plane, again except for the last twenty minutes, where he refused to put on a seat belt again! We landed and made it home, with big guy passing out in the car.  I plopped him in bed while hubs unloaded the car.  A wonderful trip which we were sad to see end!

Hubs and big guy on the bus to the airport

Big guy asleep waiting for plane

Disney Trip- Day Six

Our last full day at Disney was super fun and relaxing.  We went back to Hollywood studios and saw Disney Junior Live! again.  It was just as fantastic as the first time.  We explored another part of park that we had missed before.  We got our Mickey pretzel and watched a Jedi training demonstration, which equaled laughing at other people's kid pretending to be Jedi's- hilarious! Then we made a lightsaber at the star wars gift shop.  We then saw the Muppet 3D movie because big guy loves kermit the frog.  Following the movie, we had lunch at the pizza arcade from toy story which had surprisingly good food! As we made our way to the exit, we munched on a Mickey ice cream bar.

Enjoying ice cream

Building a lightsaber

Big guy took a nap that afternoon.  We got up and swam for an hour before a thunder storm hit.  We hopped out and got changed.  We headed back to downtown disney to the movie theater that is a dine in theater!  We ate dinner while watching Turbo- the snail movie, which was surprisingly entertaining and heartfelt. When we got out we had to walk from pleasure island back to the main part of downtown disney.  We stopped and got a wetzel's pretzel before checking out the harley store and of course sitting on one!  Then we were lucky enough to catch the boat back to our hotel.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the water.  An absolutely perfect day!

At the Harley store 

Disney Trip- Day Five

We returned to Animal Kingdom to see some stuff again and other stuff for the first time.  This time, mostly since we got up late, we took a leisurely stroll through the park.  While making our way to the big tree, we saw every duck, other kind of bird, and mini deer.  It was really nice to take our time and since most people rush past the area, like we had the time before, we were pretty much alone.  We decided to go on the safari ride again, thinking we would have a wait, but yet again, no wait! This time we saw the ostriches, hippos, white rhinos, and the zebras walked in front of our truck!  so cool!

We got off and took the train to Rafiki's conservation island.  This time, we were all a bit more fresh (having skipped the pagani trails) and we actually got to walk to see the goats and cow.  big guy also got to brush a goat.  We checked out the inside and saw turtles, snakes, and bugs.  We also talked to a really nice cast member all about the food they serve all of the animals.  We especially thought the flamingo food was interesting.  We made our way to the bird show, with our Mickey pretzel, of course!  Then following a quick snack, hubs and big guy went on triceratops spin before we went back to hotel to swim.

Triceratops Spin

Following swimming for a few hours, we went to Epcot for dinner.  Big guy got some all american food, cheeseburger and yogurt.  I got my delicious vegetarian platter from Morocco world.  Hubs got some tacos in Mexico.  Big guy also snacked on an American cookie and tortilla chips.  This might have been our most fun night.  We danced to music in Germany and China.  Played the drums in Africa. (see pictures below) And got some caramel corn and chocolates from Germany.  We were all so relaxed and I was finally full with a good meal.  We went back to the hotel for bath and bed!

Playing drums in Africa 

My boys with caramel corn at Epcot

Disney Trip- Day Four

We decided that we should go to Hollywood Studios on our fourth day in Disney.  We were a bit disappointed in the overall park, but did have a few bright moments.  We got to go to the Animation Station area, where we learned all about how they designed the characters for Monsters University and got to color with a computer game.  The true highlight was Disney Junior Live! Big guy had a GREAT time and that says something because he was really grouchy that day.  The show has a live person, as well as puppets, which are controlled from below the stage, so the audience sits on the floor and looks up.  This is the best part of Disney World for young kids- interactive, fun, lots of songs to sing along to, and it is all the characters of the shows on the Disney Junior channel.  During the show, snow, bubbles, and gold doubloons all fall from the sky!

Big guy and hubs during Disney Junior Live! show

Following that awesome show, we went back to the hotel and went to the pool!  Since we had returned so early, we got a good three hours in the pool.  We then took the boat to downtown Disney for dinner.

Waiting for the boat to Downtown Disney

We ate at the Rainforest cafe, which was very similar to the trex, only we were smarter this time.  We got there early, we asked to be sat next to a fish tank and away from the animals, and got big guy a little bag of rocks from the gift shop.  An awesomely, delicious meal to boot.  Following our dinner, we strolled over to goofy's dessert shop and picked up a cupcake for big guy.

No worries- not a real alligator! 

Sitting outside Rainforest Cafe

Then we stopped at the Margarita deck and everyone enjoyed a treat!  We also danced to the performer playing on the steal drums.  We then wandered around and did some other shopping, before calling it a night before the rain storm hit.  The boats weren't running, so we ended up taking the bus back again, only this time we were dry!