CSA Week 3 and Wacky Hair Day

Yesterday, we received kale, radishes, cabbage, red leaf lettuce, beets, collards, rainbow chard and romaine lettuce from the farm. It's a lot of food, especially considering that Deborah and Jeff are on vacation this week, so we're eating the whole share ourselves. We'll be all over that "Strive for Five" thing.

Today was also Wacky Hair Day at Drew's summer camp. Adam moussed his hair up into a mohawk, but it didn't stay up very long - just long enough to get the picture and have all the kids see it. He's got that same fine hair that his parents do (or did, as the case may be).

Tonight was the last night of Vacation Bible School, and Adam took Drew since I had another engagement. Luckily, Dusty was found safe and sound (the end of the skit), and Drew was very relieved. I need to say a big thank you to the ladies who were his teachers this week. The one time I peeked in on him, he was instructing them in the proper way to sing/perform "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". I just don't know where that bossiness comes from.

VBS Week

No rest for the wicked. Today was the start of Vacation Bible School. Drew and I raced to get there in time for dinner so we wouldn't miss any of the fun. I could have used a night at home to recover, but I knew Drew would love it. He got to hang out with his friends Evan and Maura and some new friends from the other congregations who participated, plus they got to stay out late since we didn't get home until after 9.

Pastor Craig and Pastor Beth played characters in a skit which will continue each night (one of the other characters disappears and they have to try to figure out what happened to him). Stay tuned.

New Hampshire - Dinner Party and Father's Day

I wanted to show a picture of Pat and George's house from the lake. I took one that was not great, but Pat sent me this one and it shows it a little better. It really is perched up there on the hill.


Adam was catching fish on Saturday, apparently they weren't biting for George.

In the second boat out of the day, Adam and Drew went swimming. Here Adam is letting Drew jump into about at a depth of about 90'. Luckily, he can swim or at least keep himself afloat, which is no mean feat since you can tell he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him.

Drew likes it when Grandpa George drives the boat really fast.

Uncle Joe was supervising some fishing from the boat slip, and then, back at the house, convince Drew to splash around in George's frog pond. I said that I didn't think that Grandpa George would approve, but Joe didn't seem to care.

We had haddock, bluefish and lobster for dinner. Since Millie and Joe were already coming to visit, George and Pat invited their neighbors, the Mouse family. Unfortunately, Stephanie and Millie got roped into picking the lobsters which is a time-consuming and messy job. Of course, Drew loved the lobster -- anything over $10/pound is ok with him.

Today is Father's Day and time for us to head home. We had planned to have a fancy brunch at Steele Hill Resort, but our plans changed when Christopher called with a flat tire near Manchester. While George went off to rescue him, we ate French toast and bacon at home. Sometimes, you just have to be flexible.

Shortly before we left, I got the four generations to pose for a picture. I can't believe they were all looking at the camera and smiling!

It was a long trip home - we arrived just before midnight, and Adam and I both have to work tomorrow.

New Hampshire - Fishing and Funspot

Adam and Drew have been thoroughly enjoying themselves since they got to Grandma's house in New Hampshire. Since Pat had to work Wednesday and Thursday, she was sleeping during the day so George took the boys out on the boat for a big day of fishing on Friday. Adam sent me some great pictures of Drew that he took with his phone, but he didn't have the camera so I don't have any pictures to post here. Drew did catch four fish and was very excited.

I arrived in Manchester yesterday morning bright and early, and Adam picked me up at the airport. Drew decided to stay back with Grandpa George, so Adam and I stopped and had pancakes at Heritage Farm in Sanbornton on our way back. Since the guys had been out on the boat most of the previous day, we decided to do something different and headed to Funspot in Weirs Beach with Great Grandma. George elected to stay home and miss the fun.

Great Grandma sure plays a mean pinball (notice the game she's playing).

Drew tried his hand at shooting and skee-ball.

When we got back from Funspot, it was time to start thinking about dinner. George splurged and bought cowboy steaks which he cooked on the grill. We also had Pat's great potato salad and corn on the cob. After dinner, George talked everybody into a boat ride. We motored down to the loon sanctuary on Lake Winnisquam, although I said that there were plenty of loons inside the boat. It was so beautiful on the lake in the early evening (see the picture at the top).

CSA - Week 2

This week we received romaine, green and red leaf lettuce, Swiss and red Chard, strawberries, two kinds of kale, and spinach in our CSA. The strawberries lasted about a nanosecond, and we're working our way through the rest of the leafy greens.

Adam and Drew left for New Hampshire today. Adam is driving in the evening hoping that Drew will sleep for a good part of the trip (sure, that's going to happen).

Graduation

Drew graduated from pre-school yesterday. Adam, Dad, Melva and I were on hand to witness the momentous occasion. They sang This Land is Your Land and The Ants Go Marching with choreographed hand gestures, and they did a great job.

Afterward, we all went to lunch at Red Robin to celebrate. Drew is very excited about going to kindergarten in the fall.

Love the Hair!

Andy kept Drew for me for a couple hours on Saturday so I could help get ready for the church yard sale. Hailey was off to a birthday party/sleepover when I got back, but Andy and Alex were up for some dinner so we went to Uno. Alex was sporting his new mohawk hairdo that Andy gave him while Carole was away for the weekend. Hope she likes it. The ladies seem to like it, though. He got compliments from some girls walking by our table at dinner and then again at the movie theater (Kung Fu Panda) on Sunday. He was oblivious, of course.

On Sunday, we raised over $1200 at our church yard sale - a new record! It makes all that time in the sweltering heat worth it.

1st Week of CSA

Today was the first day of our CSA from One Straw Farm. Today we received strawberries, spinach, red and green leaf lettuce, green and rainbow chard and kale. I am splitting the share with my cousin, Deborah and her family so we also got to see them briefly when we delivered their food. We had terrible thunderstorms here today and many trees were down, including a big one in their front yard. Since they were in the midst of a massive clean up, our stop was very brief. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me or I would have taken a picture.

Luckily, we didn't have any damage, but a tree at the other side of our townhouse group was hit by lightning, and a neighbor had a tree take out her deck and some siding, as well as breaking her upstairs window. What a mess!

Tonight we had some of the green leaf lettuce as well as all of the strawberries. They were delicious.

I wanted to post a couple of pictures that were taken on the cruise. We didn't get any good ones of all of us or just of Adam and me, but I did have to buy a couple more of Drew.

The Family Business

We went to Long Island this past weekend to celebrate Judy's sister's graduation from Nursing school. The ladies below (Patti is 2nd to right) were so happy to graduate that they were willing to wear these silly glasses and have their picture taken to boot. The weather didn't want to cooperate -- it rained most of the day, but it actually stopped before the party started and held off until it was over.


Jenny's daughter Cassidy was kind enough to spend some time playing with Drew. He loves the older ladies already (must take after his Dad).

Adam was the grill man, but Charlie gave him an assist now and then.

Judy with granddaughers, Cassidy and Molly. We were waiting for Judy's brother, Steve, to make cotton candy. You can imagine that he's a hit with the kids. Drew couldn't wait to get some "rotten" candy, but then, of course, didn't want to eat it.

Got to have the family portrait.

The Hernandez siblings

Drew talked the younger girls into watching a movie with him (he was the only boy at the party). He wanted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks, but the girls talked him into watching Cinderella. The pirate gear is a gift from Nana. He wants to wear his eye patch to school.

Biking

We got a tag-along bike for Drew to ride behind last fall and finally got to use it in the last couple of weeks. He was a little nervous the first time went out, but now he's a pro except he doesn't always expend as much effort as Adam would like. They get lots of comments from people when we pass by. I thought these things were pretty common, but I guess they aren't something you see every day.

This is a picture taken from our first ride of the year on the Columbia trails.

Another day, we took Hailey and Alex for a ride on the Patapsco Grist Mill Trail which is one of our favorite areas. The kids especially like looking at the waterfall and climbing on the railroad tracks (we try to do that when the trains aren't coming).

On Memorial Day weekend, we met Andy and Alex at the BWI Trail. They hadn't ridden on that trail before, and Alex did a great job especially was using a bike with gears for the first time.

On a totally unrelated note, I've been trying to get a good picture of Drew lighting the candles at church. Obviously, I haven't gotten one yet, but he loves lighting the candles whenever he gets a chance. It's about the only time he sees the inside of the sanctuary.

Florida Vacation - Part 3 - Disney Cruise

After our big day at Castaway Cay, we came back to get ready for the Pirates in the Caribbean Paryy. I got this pirate costume at Target right after Halloween, and and I had to keep hiding from Drew. He was so happy to finally get to wear it.

He loved getting his picture taken with Pirate Mickey. He didn't even complain too much about waiting in line.

We sat with the same couple at dinner every night. They had a 5 year old girl named McKenna. She and Drew didn't really hit it off, but then Drew wasn't at dinner every night either (gotta love the kid's club!) Anyway, on Pirate night, we all showed up at dinner and McKenna had the exact same costume as Drew, so we had to take their picture together.

On the last day of the cruise, they had a little graduation ceremony for all the kids that were in the clubs. They all got t-shirts and little mortar boards - very cute. It was amazing to see all of those kids in 1 place.

We took a few pictures of our stateroom before we left. We were all sad to see the cruise coming to an end. We decided to sign up for another one - 7 days this time!




Sunset was beautiful on our last night.

Drew made sure there weren't any pirate ships coming to get us before we got back to port.

Florida Vacation - Part 2 - The Disney Boat

On Sunday morning, April 27th we headed to Port Canaveral to embark on our 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder. We had a smooth trip except for Drew asking every few minutes how much longer it was going to take to get to the big boat.

Here are Drew and Adam enjoying the Sail Away Party.

It was a little too crowded at the party, so we went to watch the ship pull out of port. It was a beautiful day, and we we so excited to finally be on the cruise.

The next day (Monday, April 28th), we docked in Nassau. We gave Drew the option to go ashore with us or stay in the Oceaneer's Club, and he decided that he wanted to stay on the ship and play with the other kids. Adam and I went on a short walking tour of of the city and took this picture from Fort Fincastle. We weren't overly impressed with the city, although Atlantis looked like it would be worth a visit if we ever come back.

We spent some time at the Mickey pool in the afternoon. Drew really wanted Adam to get in with him. Of course the water is only about 2 feet deep.

This is the water slide going into the Mickey pool. Drew really liked the slide, but he was much more interested in just playing in the pool.

This picture was taken at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. We signed the whole family up for Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure where you get to feed the stingrays and then snorkel with them for a while. Adam and I really enjoyed it, but as soon as Drew got in the water and the fish and stingrays started swimming around his legs, he was done. We finally had to make him go sit up on the beach and wait for us to finish snorkeling.

We put Drew back in the kid's club after that fiasco which was fine with him. Adam and I rented bikes and then went to the Adults only beach for awhile. It's no wonder they call it Serenity Bay - it was very quiet and peaceful. Here's what Drew looked like when we picked him up to get back on the ship. He was covered with sand from head to toe after playing some water game which obviously involved throwing or rolling in sand.