Fair

We have managed to escape going to all the overpriced fairs this Summer on the island as we've been pretty busy. So when Gramma Lou mention the Wayne County Fair was open while we are here in PA visiting, I gave her the stink eye! Turns out this Fair is only $10 to get in and you ride unlimited rides - our kind of fun! We picked a good time to go, too, no crowds and no waits for the rides. The only downfall was it was 85 degrees and no shade anywhere - but we survived the afternoon and had a great time.

So happy together! HA!

The fair had a good mix of kid / teenager rides. Ben is right at the height level where he can ride some of the big kid rides but not others. This silly kid dragon ride is always a good starting point to get them warmed up.

Press the green button, Carnie pal!

Emma wanted to go on this horrific twirly whirly ride but Ben wasn't tall enough so he hit up the "monster trucks" while mommy was forced to ride with Emma and try not to puke. I was ruined for the rest of the afternoon!!

How cute am I?

Mother of the YEAR!!!

I was then forced to go up on the GINORMOUS ferris wheel even though I am afraid of heights. I'm telling you, I earned plenty of Good-Mommy Karma points at the fair!

Need for Speed!

I was very impressed with their desire to want to ride the crazy speedy rides. They didn't get spooked at all! I couldn't even snap a pic of them on the bob sleds as they were flying way too fast!!

YUM.......

We ended the afternoon with Italian Ices - mommy even got one, because let's face it - I DESERVED IT! hahaha

We headed to Grandpa's pool afterwards to cool down. It's the first time in a couple of years it has been warm enough for us to use it when we have come to visit. Hooray!!!

Grandpa has lots of younger Grandchildren hanging about, so his yard is full of little kiddo toys. Ben was having a blast "reliving his youth" - Emma wasn't far behind him. :)

Independence Day goodness

As the kiddos are in FL w Daddy, the house has never been cleaner. I've done nothing but work, work out, and eat healthy. Oh, and be BORED OUT OF MY SKULL. Apparantly, I do not know how to just relax and do nothing... So instead I blog! 

The 4th of July is always very special to us here in PJ. Our village puts on a monster of a parade. People come from all around to enjoy the festivities and its s great morning. 

This year was weather perfect. Cloudy and mid 70s. No humidity. No rain. Emma chose to march in the parade with the lacrosse team again with her bestie, Anna. Her mama grabbed the girls and dropped them at the drop off spot and Ben and I chose to walk down into port as parking is the usual parade nightmare. 

We located our pals and waited for the fire station whistle to blow at precisely 10am. It did and the fun began! Ben is not so interested in fire trucks and bands and the usual parade fare, but what he loves is catching the candy they all throw out to the kids. 

Personally I'm a sucker for the bag pipe bands. I won't show you a pic of me hiding my tears behind sunglasses each time a fire house bag pipe group marched by!

The lacrosse team was early in the parade: 

Em had a blast tossing out dum dums to her adoring fans. 

I rounded her up from the parade route end and we rejoined the group and watched the rest of the parade. When the parade was over, we made our way back up the monster hill to the bungalow and much to my delight, neither kid whined or complained about the walk! A 4th of July miracle. 

We headed to our very first PJ friends home in the late afternoon to swim and BBQ the night away, and lemme tell ya - lots of fun happened as per usual, this awesome family knows how to throw a party. 

Daddy manned the BBQ and I played life guard. Good thing the Bunch are now great swimmers and I could watch from a distance. 

The water was cold but that did not stop them! Pool, the hot tub, then pool, then hot... You get the picture. For 7 hours straight!!!!

Well into the night they swam. 

Until they were absolutely FREEZING: 

We finally made them get out and dry off one last time. Minutes later we found this and decided it must be time to say good bye! 

Happy Birthday, America!

Take me out to the ballgame

We had never been to a Long Island Ducks baseball game before, so when Ben got invited to a birthday party at the game, we decided to make a family day of it. So did many of our favorite families around town with kids in Ben's class, so it turned out to be a super fun time!

Nuttin' better than baseball!

Super fun until Ben saw kids eating cotton candy. From that moment on he was OBSESSED with finding the cotton candy selling man and purchasing said sugar for the usual ballpark overinflated price. He wouldn't sit still. He could have cared less about the game, he wanted the dang COTTON CANDY.

Duh, Mom, COTTON CANDY IS BETTER THAN BASEBALL!

But here was our challenge. The "party" part of the baseball game was to happen in the 3rd inning. We instructed Ben he would have to wait until after the pizza party to get the cotton candy. Those were the three longest innings in all of baseball. He whined. He wiggled. He got on every last nerve of both me and the usually patient Daddy. Emma and her pals had a blast hanging out. I doubt much baseball was watched, but at least they weren't whining!!

Besties...

After the party and the entire stadium singing happy birthday to the birthday boy, Ben was finally granted his wish. You can see the evidence here as well as a few stolen handfuls of popcorn. As expected, the sugar did not slow him down and he had no desire to be at the game anymore as he got what he wanted. He kept switching seats annoying us all, trying to roll his baseball off the bleachers, etc. we finally gave up in the 7th inning and left the game. By the time we got home the kids were suffiently tired and went right to sleep after brushing away the evidence stuck in their teeth. I think we may wait another year or two before going back to a game!

He is freakin' lucky he is so cute and we love him immensely.

8 is great

Well, would you believe it's been 8 years since the Emsadoodle was sliced from my belly? Wanna see the picture? I wasn't blogging back then... You know you want to. Daddy was shooting pics like he was working for the Discovery Channel on a documentary about c sections!

This was the least graphic of them all.

Aren't you glad you read this blog?

So gift number one, GROUP*N for the trampoline place! Woot! Woot! These kids jumped their cute tushies off for an hour and were sufficiently exhausted...

Look at meeeeee!

...until an hour later when COUSINS arrived to celebrate the weekend!!! They played the day away with Leah and Frank, then we put them on a boat with Daddy out of our port to fish the beautiful absolutely perfect weather evening away!

Catch 'em up!

The girls chose a little happy hour action at Schafer's on the water. The perfect place to catch up on all the things happening in life.

Another round, barkeep!

We beached it up Saturday afternoon and then came home to BBQ and bday cake. How is my baby girl EIGHT?

Happy Birthday, my love.

This girl loves a good birthday present - the nail art was a huge hit. Who knew???

More! More! More!

We beached it up again on Sunday - the weather really was perfect. The water has warmed up nicely and the fun beach crowd is in full swing. I somehow did not take any beach pictures! Crazy! Then came home and BBQ'd again. The Indo Board got a lot of use this weekend. My 14 year old nephew ran four miles with me - and by 4 miles I mean he ran two blocks with me until he figured out the route and then left me in his dust. :)  We loved having family with us to celebrate. 8 is GREAT!

Before he wiped out and cried for 30 minutes...

Yellow belt!

The mamataxi has been very busy the past few months taking our little ninjas to Karate. It has been an interesting process to observe. It all started with Emma's BFF, Anna, inviting her to "buddy" week. Ben wanted to go, too, so his friend, Kai, invited him along (they are all in the same class). I have since learned that if you attend a buddy week class you are pretty much sucked into joining - not in a bad way though!! This class is so good for the kids (physically and mentally) and the instructors obviously love what they do and do it well - that you can't NOT let them join!

Emma - who is a moxie filled young lady around the house is so FOCUSED in class. It is a fascinating transition to watch! While we still battle at home, it has actually gotten better - partly because we hold her accountable to the mental toughness she is learning in class and partly because I can threaten not going to class when she is occasionally wicked.

Ben started off all gung ho, but his enthusiasm occasionally wanes and I have to really work hard to get him out the door. Once he is there he has a fantastic time. He is STILL the class clown and it gets him warnings (sensei is trying to help him understand the difference between "having fun" and "being funny"...). Warnings lead to time outs which lead to the loss of your belt until you earn it back. He has only been in time out once for his silliness - I'm hoping that cured him!

They have been going 3x a week for 45 minute classes for about 3 months now. Guess what I JUST REALIZED - I can drop them off and run three miles and be back before they are finished! WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG??? Probably because two of my favorite local mommies are karate moms, too, and I actually enjoying hanging out and yacking with them! Such a trade off - adult conversation vs exercise... what to choose? ;)

They tested for their YELLOW belts on Wednesday. It was a big group from a two different dojos testing. All the kids were respectful and focused with their eye on the upgraded belt prize.

Listening to instructions.

It was quite a physical test - and they were good and sweaty. Both passed with flying colors. Phew!

Ninja Emma

Ninja Ben

Don't let this picture fool you. They were ECSTATIC!!

I like your belt!

We are very proud of you, Emma! She practices every day, too!

Orange next!

Very proud of you, too, Ben!! He kept his silliness in check for the bulk of the testing.

Class Clown

Karate besties! (minus Kai...)

Friday Happy Hour

Daddy called in his Father's Day gift two days early deciding he wanted to take Ben out on a charter boat fishing. We gals decided to make an evening of our boy-free time and walked down port. We hit up the library stocking up on more chapter books, then Lainie's Way for some birthday gifts, C'est Cheese for an appetizer, ice cream for dessert:

Rocketship Park for some play:

The fountain to make some wishes: 

Dinner at the Steam Room (YES, I know we already had dessert but girls can do whatever they want!):

Then we walked back up the giant big hill home. A very fun and satisfying evening!!

While we were making rounds, daddy and Ben were fishing up a storm. They caught a bunch but this one caught by Ben was the only keeper - a 19 inch fluke. Ben was thrilled asking, "When are we going to soufflé the fish?" Can you tell daddy watches a lot of French cooking shows??

Makers Festival Fun

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