Mystic trip

I love a good, "Hey, lets hop on the ferry and explore CT for no reason because we can" last minute trip. We chose to take the ferry from our village port and shoot straight across the Sound to Connecticut. It only takes 75 minutes and on a sunny day like today, it's a beautiful boat ride.

The last time we rode the ferry was about two years ago. I took a pic holding Em before we left port. I tried to recreate the photo (it is my FB wallpaper) and almost broke my back. Em is rocking 72 pounds of solid goodness and I could not hold her for more than 15 seconds. Ha!

No, Ben is not peeing off the top deck of the ferry...

A kind couple offered to take a family pic for us - first one in ages!!

All smiles! Sorta...

Ben was soooo cranky the entire ride because we made him leave his Legos in our car on the bottom of the ferry. Jerky!

He brightened up a bit when I pointed out pirate's cove at the end of the harbor. 

We even had a police escort out of the harbor! Naughty pirates.

But as soon as we hit open water, he went back to Mr Pouty face.

Just toss him overboard, Dad!

We chose Mystic to be our place of discovery this trip - Mostly because I loved the movie Mystic Pizza as a teenager. We were planning on eating at that place for dinner but the reviews were mediocre and this wood fired pizza place was across from our hotel and this mama loves her some wood fired pizza!!

Not a crumb left over - everyone had four slices!!!

We also chose to take Dodo the dog w us so our hotel choices were limited. This Econo Lodge was happy to have us all and the kids were happy it had a pool. "This is the best hotel ever!!" was exclaimed over and over. (Good thing we have never stayed in a five star place w them - they simply don't know what else is out there!!)

I don't wanna go sightseeing!!!

The hotel is right across from "Olde Mystic Village". We enjoyed walking around the old buildings that have been converted into shops and restaurants. (Well, daddy, Emma and I enjoyed it. Ben complained he had to walk - wanted to drive our car - ACROSS THE STREET. Yes, Ben was born in LA - and nobody walks in LA - but buddy you are a NYer now!! Toughen up!)

Can we just leave him with the ducks?

This place certainly cheered him up. I wasn't complaining much about entering either. :)

We threatened to take his chocolate if he didn't smile.

Such focus.

I have chocolate, now I don't have to smile again.

Such cute freckles.

Freckles or chocolate sprinkles?

Best part about hotels? Mom lets us jump and wrestle on the bed!!!

Look at this fancy place!

Wish us a good night's sleep - tomorrow is going to be a busy day. 

Em turns 7 three times so far

Ben's birthday is in late January, most friends are in town and if he wanted, he could easily have 20 kids at his party. That being said, it is right after the holidays and harder for family to come visit and celebrate with him!

Emma on the other hand is our Summer baby = family comes to visit / she goes to FL and PA and has multiple family parties, BUT her party with her friends are a challenge because no one is ever in town! (We invited 10 girls to her bowling party this week and only two are available.) I guess the multiple birthday cakes make up for it a little, but I am a little sad for her about the friend party (she is more sad that they don't come and GIVE HER PRESENTS... hahaha)

On the morning of her real birthday, she requested pancakes:

Happy Birthday to ME!

Grandpa, Grandma Nancy and cousins Leah and Frank were enroute and she was so excited to see them. They arrived by lunch and the family fun began! She was excited for presents - Daddy and I gave her a mini-trampoline. Daddy was unsure about my choice, but let me tell you, she uses it non-stop daily, great exercise disguised as a birthday present!

I'll jump seven times because I am now 7!

As the rest of the fam was coming in on Saturday, we had "birthday brownies" for her first candle blowing session. She almost went from Rapunzel to a bald minion with all those flames.

Cha-cha-CHA!

She opened Grandpa and Grandma Nancy's gifts that evening. I love me an Amazon WISHLIST and I can generally count on Grandma Nancy to do her shopping there. She bought up the list and we had one happy kiddo!

That would be a pogo stick, a youth baseball bat, a new bike helmet, and a new swimsuit with rashguard.

Saturday morning as we awaited the arrival of Grandma Lou and Aunt Lisa, Mommy played short order cook. Ben requested a triple decker. What? "A triple decker, Mama." What's that, buddy? "A pancake on the bottom, then a waffle, then bacon on top." Okay, kid, promise you will eat it all? "YES!" And he did.

The before shot. The after is boring because HE ATE IT ALL.

We hung around the bungalow all Saturday afternoon and partied it up. Daddy BBQ'd, kids played with cousins, we played board games, and tossed the frisbee, played lacrosse, tossed the footbal - it was a lovely way to spend the day. I made a "Ninjago" cake at Em's request. I tried two new recipes (cake and frosting) and were very disappointed in the outcome - the cake was dry and the frosting was "meh". But Emma loved it so that is what matters, right??

Happy Birthday, again, Ninja-girl!

By the way, I love that she is more interested in Ninjas than princesses these day. Girl power!

Less fiery flames today! Hair remained intact for party 2.

She was very excited for round two of presents. Grandma Lou, Aunt Niki and Aunt Lisa pitched in and got her a Kindle Fire. I'm not sure how she felt about it. What do you think?

Duh, Ma, I LOVE IT!

Grandma Lou and I snuck a secret present for Ben. He spent hours building it and hasn't put it down. I love this picture, it tells so much about the day. 1) Daddy is passed out in the background after helming the feeding of 12 people. 2) The cousins are relaxing watching a tv after playing with my kiddos all day. 3) Ben is drinking his milk with my favorite Tupperware purchase ever. 4) Legos are awesome - I just wish he qualified for some kind of scholarship, because, DANG are they expensive. 5) The beads in the container on the table are ALL OVER THE HOUSE now...

We do get our monies worth, he builds them, plays with them, dismantles them, builds something else, dismantles it, build the original again, etc.

We wandered around our village Sunday and had lunch at C'est Cheese, our favorite sandwich and salad spot. We headed to the harbor and looked at all the sweet boats around the docks. It was a bit chilly and we were worried it may rain and ruin our beach plans. But alas, the sun came out and blessed us yet again!

Cancer, schmancer! My Daddy...

Obligatory cousin shot on the dolphin...

I love our little village, but you already know that!

We took advantage of the sunshine and spent Sunday afternoon at the local private resident beach. At one point cousin Frankie was tossing the football to E&B in the water, they were retrieving it and running it back to him. He accidently tossed it a bit over their head and Ben went to grab it and got a little over his head! I was a good 15 yards up the beach and saw him doing the tip toe I'm in too deep bounce in the water, and sprinted to the water to save him. Frank saw it after I did and came up fast on me, dove in and scooped him up. Ben was a complete stud - those swimming lessons are paying off, plus the fact that he has always been fearless / had good water instincts. He didn't panic, just kept bouncing up for air until he was rescued! I suggested he get right back in the water to prove to himself there is nothing to be scared about, which he did, and I am so proud of that kid (and grateful to Frank for saving him - I wasn't wearing a bathing suit but was ready to dive in fully clothed for the rescue. As a matter of fact, I am happy to report, that was the first time since I mangled my ankle at the end of March that I ran - and I don't know if it was the adrenalin or what, but I sprinted with no pain!) Ben came home to excitedly tell Daddy who stayed at home that, "Frank saved my life!"

Before all the life saving excitement!

Party three started out like this: 6:45am flight to FL to hang with Abuelita and Grandpop for the weekend which meant we were up at 4:45am to head to the airport. Daddy had the distinct pleasure of escorting these two cuties to FL this time while I stayed behind to man the office and the dog and the bungalow.

I'm smiling at such an early hour because I know I am going to get more PRESENTS!

Ben was again not left out of the present thang:

We are single handedly keeping Lego Star Wars in business.

Summer visits to FL always start out at the pool. The humidity is oppressive so they swim all morning then hang out inside all afternoon playing / watching movies waiting for the heat to break. Daddy texted me this picture with the caption, "Thank you swimming lessons, I actually get to relax on the side of the pool for a while as they swim!"

Our little dolphin and sperm whale (their choices, not ours!)

Abuelita spoiled the girl with more dresses! (She is the ONLY female offspring / grandkid.) Thank you, Abuelita!

Daddy loves the current style (modest long dresses) versus skorts (which I have no problem with)!

Birthday cake number three: (I CANNOT BELIEVE I MISSED THIS ONE!)

It got two thumbs up - Go Publix bakery!

Boomers

We celebrated Em's pal Anna's birthday at a hole in the wall establishment called Boomers. It was horrific for the parents, but the kids had a blast - go figure. They forgot the party was happening, had to scramble to get a table set, the pizza was inedible, they burned the popcorn, the juice was made from pure red dye #5, the arcade games were mostly broken, the ones that worked did NOT spit out tickets... and the list goes on - seriously? How did the kids enjoy it so much? Because kids are fun loving easy going kids! A lesson learned by this mama on this occasion.

Lighten up, Mom, I'm a PILOT!

Get off the road - this kid has ZERO concept of steering!

This kid on the other hand could prob pass his NY driver's road exam!

I wanna ride it again and again and again (and they did).

Hop on, Mom (and I did - just call me FUN!).

Always a hit!

Lacrosse camp

School is out and the camps have begun! 

Emma enjoyed Lacrosse camp again, Daddy did, too, as he got to be assistant coach! It was a four day camp, two hours a day in the hot sun. The bulk of the girls were studs - putting forth their best efforts and making the most of each session.

Some of the K-5 clinic girls. Can you spot Em? Pink stick, of course!

Coach Daddy

Excellent form (I think - I know nothing about Lacrosse!)

Hanging with Meg after clinic.

Ben was forced to entertain himself (lots of laps around the field!) for two hours each day as Mommy was representing at the office while Dad was coaching. I actually received excellent behavior reports on a daily basis from not only Coach Daddy but many of the parents who were there watching their kids that know us. Yay, Ben!

Sure, I'll hang with Meg, she may be my future prom date!

One, two, three BREAK! (Many thanks to Meg's mama for taking pics and sending them to me - hooray for technology!)

Independence Day fun!

Happy birthday, America the beautiful!

Our village hosts a 4th of July parade every year rain or shine. It is one of the largest on LI and firetrucks and bagpipe bands and you name it come from near and far to march and show their American Pride. The past few years have been sunny and HOT and HUMID so surely we had rain coming our way sooner or later. It was cloudy and ominous all morning. The parade started promptly at 10am, and guess what, so did the rain, as soon as the fire whistle blew! That did not deter too many folks from the show - that is why umbrellas and awnings were invented! Emma and Daddy marched with the Lacrosse team while Ben and I enjoyed the parade from the sidewalk out in front of our favorite restaurant, C'est Cheese!  It pretty much rained the entire parade, then off and on all day. We were supposed to do what American do best and BBQ outside with our pals, so instead we pulled the grill up to our back door, fired it up, BBQ'd, then ate inside - good fun!!

The fireworks were postponed until the 5th, thank goodness. It turned out to be the perfect weather day. We had a blast at the beach waiting for them and the village did not disappoint. This is the first year Ben did not freak out at the noise, "This is so awesome, Mom!" and we had a great night.

9:59am and no rain!

10:01am and it is downpouring!

With our besties before the parade.

Such troopers! They had a blast.

Parade is done - let's buy toys for America and play with them ourselves!

Indoor BBQs are just as fun.

Waiting for the fireworks at sunset at the beach.

Making memories...

An awesome display!

Summertime is here

Busy busy busy! So much for Summer "vacation"! 

Good news:

I have finally learned to pump! Mommy is HAPPY!

More good news:

The Summer BBQs with our pals have started!

Our preK graduate. We are so proud! Next stop Kindergarten with our FAVORITE teacher, Mrs. Shannon.

Graduation ceremony with out camera shy guy.

Last day of school! I'm outta here!

Last bus stop crew pic of the school year. Em on the left.

It's Summer. I'm bored. What to do? NERF GUNS! Thanks, Henry!

Oh, and build build build with Legos. Mommy's going to need to win the lottery - $9.95 a pop! Zoinks.

Old friends with kids the same age visit us on the island.

Yes, Ben immediately dropped to the ground and rolled down this hill 10 times in a row.

Can we have lunch here?

You are hurting my ears!

Ben's preK graduation was cute. He was very embarrassed / shy singing from the stage and his defense mechanism is to act super silly and blow raspberries and wiggle a lot. He did a great job when it was his turn to announce what his favorite preK moment was, "My favorite preK moment was playing with the school toys!"

Daddy and I were at our annual convention the last week of school. Gramma Lou swooped in once again to save the day. She made a great taxi driver as the kids had activity after activity after activity that week. I am hoping we didn't exhaust her to much because we need her back in January! :)

The kids started swim lessons at the beach this week. It was been very windy and the water is rough, but these kids have turned into FISH and are doing a great job in the water. Ben has discovered swimming under water and does not want anything to do with the fundamentals - I just wanna swim my way, Mom! But he powers through the 30 minute lesson knowing he gets to stay afterwards and swim his way. I know he is learning / listening because he tells me what they did after the lessons - typical Ben (seems like he is not paying attention but he hears everything).

One of my best friends from my Japan years was on the island this week so we got together at a beautiful museum out in the Hamptons to introduce our kids to each other. It was a short visit as we had to rush back for swim lessons, but is was great to see him after all these years and I love that our kids became instant friends. Em and Fin are going to start being pen pals - it is time for this kid to put pen to paper!