Let's Go Fishing

We made it to Long Island about 2:00 on Friday, after getting a little bit later start than we intended. Sometimes, it's just too hard to get up at 6 am. We stopped north of Baltimore for our usual breakfast at Cracker Barrel with about 1/2 the population of the planet near as I could tell. Who knew Cracker Barrel in Bel Air, MD was the place to be at 8 am on a Friday?

Drew was so excited to see Nana and Grandpa, and he couldn't wait to go fishing. We hadn't even taken his fishing rod that he got for his birthday out of the package yet, so he made sure we did that almost the minute we got there.

On Saturday, we took a trip to Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, NY which was Theodore Roosevelt's home. Adam had seen a show on the History Channel (now there's a shocker for you!) about him and asked his father about the house. Charlie had been there years ago before it was a national park. Luckily for us, it was National Parks Day (or something like that) so Uncle Sam paid our way into the site. Adam and I toured the house while Charlie stayed outside policing Drew after it became obvious that Drew was not interested in the life and dwelling of Teddy Roosevelt. After the tour, we walked through the apple orchard (and ate some apples) and walked on the the nature trail down to the salt marsh by Oyster Bay. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside.




On Sunday, Drew wanted to get in another round of fishing before we left so I took a few more pictures to commemorate the event. Nana even came down to the water to supervise.


It only took us a pleasant seven hours (OUCH) to get home, but we did take a short detour for dinner at Mastori's in Bordentown, NJ. Drew has decided that he likes diners, although I don't see that it makes much difference when you only eat chicken tenders and french fries.

Skin and Bones

On Tuesday morning, before Adam went off to work and Drew went off to school, we had a big breakfast of waffles and bacon. The only reason this is notable is because we won't have many waffle Tuesdays for a while. We'll be lucky to get some cold cereal on work days! Oh well, I stashed these in the freezer -- not quite the same as just out of the waffle iron, but still pretty good.

Drew has been fighting some sort of sinus problem for the last few weeks. I thought it was a cold, but it keeps hanging on so I finally broke down and took him to the doctor (actually the nurse practitioner) today. It's always fun trying to keep him from playing with all of the equipment while we're trapped in the room waiting to be seen. Anyway, he seems to be okay (looks like he lost a pound or two though), but he's getting a course of antibiotics just to make sure. He loves that pink stuff.

After school, we went to the mall to exchange his Halloween costume. I accidentally got him one that was too large last week, and he's been on me to go back to get another one. Halloween is really a big deal to Drew. He's been talking about it all year, and now it's just a month away! Of course, he had to try on his costume as soon as we got home, and now he can't wait to scare every person he knows! First up are Nana and Grandpa who we'll be visiting this weekend. We're getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and heading north. It'll be hard to keep Drew from wearing his costume in the car.

Me and My Shadow

Today when we were walking out of church, Drew told me to say hello to his shadow. So we both said hello to our shadows, and I told Drew that I'd like to get a picture of his shadow. At first, he wasn't sure it was a good idea, but he finally relented. I thinking he's leaning way back here to make sure he stays out of his shadow's way.

It's All Happening At The Zoo

Today we took a road trip to the zoo for the first time in quite a while. Since the weather has started to cool down, it's a lot easier to make the circuit through Africa and the Maryland Wilderness. We had to take several detours since they are doing some major construction, but it looks like they'll have some nice exhibits next year.

The giraffes and the penguins are always a favorite for Andy's kids (maybe because Mommy likes giraffes and penguins?).

Do you think Hailey likes to have her picture taken? Alex and Drew are not quite as enthusiastic. All Drew wants to do is look at the monkeys and go on the big tree slide, but Alex is up for anything.

One spinning turtle shell per customer. Feel free to have arms and legs outside the shell at all times.

After we had all the fun we could have at the zoo, we decided to take the kids to Andy Nelson's Barbecue (Drew called it the pig place) in Cockeysville to get some lunch. Andy has been here several times, since he doesn't work too far away, but I've never eaten here even though there are people that swear they make the best ribs in Baltimore. I have to say that the ribs were really good, plus I really liked the chicken, potato salad and cornbread, as well. We bought more food for dinner (can you say "Take me away, Lipitor!) so we added some beans and pulled pork to our leftovers. Adam was quite pleased with his meal when he got home from work, and says the ribs are worth the (30 mile) drive.

When we got back to Andy's house, we forced the kids to stay outside and play until almost 6pm. This picture was taken just after Drew fell asleep. The boy was worn out!

New Camera

As Hailey reported on her blog on Monday, we purchased a new camera this week. I haven't really taken many pictures with it yet, but the quality seems to be significantly better than our old one. Plus, it has a feature which will be immeasurably helpful to me -- image stabilization. I can't tell you how many pictures have been deleted because the picture was too fuzzy. We'll see if this camera can improve my picture taking.

We're selling our old camera on e-bay, and Adam did a very thorough job of posting pictures to show every part and piece. So far only one bidder though. It always amazes me how technology works -- we bought our old camera three years ago for twice the amount of our new camera and the new camera has lots of features that the old one didn't have (or didn't exist at that time). I guess that's one reason I'm not an early adopter of new technology - too cheap (no i-phone for me!).

Drew was very excited to get his very own magazine in the mail today. Dad and Melva got him a subscription to Disney and Me, so now he can read his magazine just like Mommy and Daddy. It also reinforces learning his letters and numbers which he's working on at school. Somehow, the magazine has migrated into the bathroom. Where do they learn these things?

Are You Ready Kids?

Today Drew and I went to Target to buy a couple of things with the giftcard that Grandpa Tom and Gramma Joan sent for his birthday. He's been asking for some Spongebob pajamas so we got those, and we also got a new cartridge for his V-Smile game. The cartridge is sitting on top of the entertainment center until he gets all of his stickers for the week. Gotta love the carrot.

For other reports of the day, just see Hailey's blog. She sums it up pretty well. (I only helped a little bit.)

Our Latest Blogger

I want to welcome Hailey to the world of blogging. The first post of The World According to Hailey went up today, and I'm sure that she have lots of interesting things to talk about over the next few months. Keep us up to date, Hailey!

I had a pretty busy morning. Scott and I headed to the airport around 7:30am where I dropped him off at Southwest (maybe we'll be seeing him again soon?!?!?), and then I drove to Anne Arundel Community College to teach my cooking class, Game Time (healthier finger foods to enjoy while watching the game). Although I had 6 people signed up for the class, I just think 9am cooking classes are not going to be very popular.

I got finished just after noon and headed back over to Andy's to see how he was dealing with the three children. Amazingly enough, everything seemed calm, and Alex and Drew actually played together nicely for a little while, although the picture below might tell otherwise (that's Alex wearing his 2 year old Spiderman costume).

Since Andy needed to study, Drew and I came home around 3:00. I was ready to relax, but, of course, Drew was raring to go. He rode his bike down to end of the street and back, got play dough all over the kitchen and then decided that he was ready to hold Sally all by himself. She's sitting in his lap here, but it's hard to see the almost black guinea pig against the navy blue pants. Of course, now he wants to hold her every 5 minutes and can't wait to show Adam when he comes home from work.

Regarding the guinea pig incident of yesterday, Drew keeps saying "Daddy saved the day!"

Happy Rosh Hashanah

Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah so that means that schools were closed. Carole asked me if I could watch Hailey and Alex in the morning, so Drew and I headed over to their house after breakfast.

I took this picture of Sally before we left which is interesting since we had a bit of a guinea pig emergency today. Sally's doing quite well, although Drew is still unnerved by her scratchy little nails, so he doesn't want to hold her. Maybe that's why she's doing so well. Isn't she cute (in that small rodent sort of way)?

Anyway, Carole called me as we were driving to their house to report that she was running late (shocker, extraordinaire), because Hailey and Alex had managed to let one of their guinea pigs loose, and he had sequestered himself under the entertainment center. All efforts to get him out were fruitless. Meanwhile, Purl who is genetically designed to dig for rodents is desperately trying to burrow under the 1/2 ton entertainment center to get to Bear. Carole and I tried to move the entertainment center, but it was too heavy and we didn't want it to fall forward which would be a really serious problem. So, Carole went off to work, Purl was locked in her cage and there was much lamenting about the imminent demise of Bear, the guinea pig (not to mention the horrible imagined punishment to come when Daddy got home).

Luckily, our white knight showed up at lunch time in the form of Adam. He managed to move the entertainment center enough so I could put newspapers underneath and then we slid it away from wall. Then, Hailey was able to retrieve Bear (who was in no danger anyway and seemed quite content where he was) and Purl was happily released from prison.

After all of that excitement, we headed off to Red Robin for lunch. It was packed, of course, but we managed to get a table with only a minute or two wait. Drew was in rare form, so these pictures were taken while Hailey, Drew and I waited for Adam to pay the bill.


Here's Drew getting yelled at for standing in the middle of the flowers outside.

It's always a little crazy when the cousins are hanging out together. They'll be together again today since Drew and I are meeting the kids at the bus today, and Andy is keeping Drew overnight (I'm teaching a cooking class tomorrow morning). Also, last I heard, my cousin, Scott was in town again (I have not yet had confirmation that he's actually here), so we'll be seeing him tonight as well. I think I'm taking him to the airport on my way to school in the morning, too. Meanwhile, Carole headed out of town for her annual girl's weekend in Cape May, so that's why much juggling of children is occurring.

You Light Up My Life

I can't believe that it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Part of the reason is that we've been really busy getting used to the new routine with school, and Adam has been either working or doing school work. We haven't really had any family outings since we went to the fair. On top of that, Drew started getting a cold last Friday, so we've been staying close to home most of the time.

In the meantime, I finished up with my summer client, and I've gotten a full-time job which I start October 1. We'll be having a big transition here since Drew will now be going to daycare for before and after (school) care which he doesn't yet understand. He just likes to say "Mommy, get a job!" (where he got that, I don't know) I'm currently in the process of working out all of the logistical issues that go along with the change, and I'm sort of shocked that daycare is going to cost almost as much as it did when we were paying for full-time infant care.

One thing that Adam and I are happy to see is that Drew is making big progress with riding his bike. He is able to go further each time he goes out, and either Adam or I try to go out every day with him. Drew still wants to put on his brakes when he's going uphill and forgets to put them on when he's heading downhill (and too fast!), plus I'm sure he'll be using training wheels for quite a while. Progress not perfection as we like to say.

Drew is having a great time in school, too, although he has some trouble listening from time to time. I know, that's a shocking revelation. However, he hasn't had to call home yet, so that's a good sign (if they continue with an unacceptable behavior after getting time out, they have to call home to report to Mom and/or Dad).

Since Drew has 2 teachers, we're seeing quite a bit of duplication of work--not that repetition is bad for him, but we get lots of project like this coming home:

Of course, we can all use a little more light in our lives, can't we?