Staying Younger in RI

Sunday, August 21, 2011

NYC afternoon

It has been awhile since my last entry for a couple of reasons, I did not want to admit my vacation was over and I have been so darn busy the past week! Last Saturday we were sad to say goodbye to Lucia and Tim's house in NJ but super exited to spend the day with Aunt Barbara. We left without a hitch at 10am and made it to Barbara's by 12:30. We had a great afternoon visiting with her; we walked to a near by playground where the kids picked apples (lol) and we enjoyed two wonderful family meals together. The kids and I were so sad to have to leave that we stretched our stay until 8pm and finally got home at 11:00pm. We are hoping to see Aunt B in a week or so here in RI!

Looking at photos on the iPad

Walking to the nearby park.

A lady was making huge bubbles at the park.

The kids were intrigued by Aunt B's mailbox.

The kids made themselves quite comfortable as they wanted to spend the night!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A little bit of everything

I guess I will start by saying that Shawn and I have now been married for TEN years as of today. It certainly hard to believe it has been so long as it does seem like just the other day that I packed up and moved out to live in Cleveland with Shawn and a random room mate and his dog named Vinnie that shed way too much!

Here we are 10 years, 2 houses, countless jobs and most importantly 3 kids later and still both very happy with one another (confirmed as of 5pm today).

So today we did a bit of everything:
We started the morning coloring some rocks to leave behind in the rock yard for Lucia and Tim. I was outside with the kids while they did this and saw three incidents that left me questioning the integrity of people and really what this world is coming to. So I was outside for all of 45 minutes and saw:
1. A man run a stop sign at the corner.
2. A car go by and throw trash out the window AND
3. A car stop at the stop sign, an elderly woman hop out and open and shut the tailgate (as if the driver instructed her to check it) and then the car sped off and left the lady! The lady went running down the street in her elderly way after the car, then the car stopped and a man hopped out and screamed at her and she got back in the car and it drove away. It was such a strange 45 minutes of time. As if I was being reminded of how truly lucky I am to be surrounded by good people who care for each other and the world around them. I know, I know ...random but totally needed to be blogged. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

First thing we did this morning was decorate rocks. Midmorning was spent on the bay at a new playground and watching people catch crabs.Then we went home for lunch and Myles enjoyed a long nap while Hudson and Molly did crafts. At 4pm we went to the ocean for a swim and to collect lots of jellyfish. We were home at 6pm for showers, dinner and sometime outside coloring rocks and talking to people as they passed by and watching Shawn weed the flower beds. Kids are now in bed. Shawn is sipping his beer and watching preseason football with a smile and I am about to grab myself a cocktail.

Goodnight.
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sunflowers for Make a Wish Foundation

Okay so I have some time on my hands...this never happens! So I thought I would post some pictures from two Fridays ago when I was home with the kids. My friend Danielle who has a little girl Sophia and I took our kids to this sunflower field at Buttonwood Farm and enjoyed some of their homemade farm fresh $4 a scoop ice cream! Thankfully, all proceeds it turns out, go to Make a Wish Foundation; otherwise I would have been horrified by the cost of taking the family out for ice cream.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Back from a great day at the beach

Just got back from another great beach day. Myles is napping and Molly and Hudson are playing quietly. I am making a vegetable stir fry as I write. Shawn is reading his book.

By the way he did a great job completing the 10 mile run! I walked and he ran and then we celebrated with a drink. I don't have pictures to post of the race but hopefully I can get some from a friend soon! Also last Friday Shawn went deep sea fishing and caught a few fish for dinner! (wait until i figure out how to post that picture-from shawn's phone) Cool stuff. All is good here in Jersey!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Pt. Pleasant Boardwalk

Today the weatherman got it right. He predicted afternoon showers and a t-storm and it actually happened. Shucks! We went to the boardwalk because it was wristband day which means for $15 each child could ride the rides as much as they wanted. Well it only lasted about two hours and we only got through about one third of the rides. I think Shawn and I were more bummed about it then the kids! We also enjoyed an adventure filled time at the Fun House which brought back some great memories of the Boardwalk in the summer of 2009 when Papa Jim was with us. I remember taking Myles and Molly in the Fun House and Myles not following the direction to hold his hands out in front of him when going through the glass maze and he kept bumping into the glass walls. He ended up with a bloody nose and he had to exit, get cleaned up and start again. Jim, Shawn and I did all we could to try to contain ourselves...it was classic. This time M&M were old pros and hardly scared int the Fun House but Hudson was Terrified! He completed it but not before he made both Shawn and I promise him that he would not die. By 3pm we were soaked and ready to call it a day as all the rides had shut down. Huddy asked, "mom is this what you call a bummer?" "Yes, total bummer that we have to leave without doing all the rides". So today we learned that we can have a "total bummer but still have FUN"!

No blood this time around.

Hudson scared of the alien in the Fun House

He got close but shut his eyes.

The kids clung to be prior to going down a slide in the dark!

We survived!

Real Jersey pizza for lunch-yummy!

This is us childless as all THREE kids went on the rides.

Monday, August 8, 2011

A day at the beach

We just got back from our first full day on the beach. It was complete with sand castle building, wave running, a long walk and a trip to the ice cream truck. Good times, happy kiddos and tired but happy parents. Now we are chilling by the television watching Suite Life on Deck, eating popcorn and coloring.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Last evening it was approaching dinner time so Shawn and I decided to have a picnic dinner on the beach. We got our delicious dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, watermelon and coleslaw all packed up and ready to go when wouldn't you know it began to rain! I ran to my handy iPad to check the radar and saw it would stop within 20 minutes and that the sun would come out again. We waited and sure enough the sun came back out and brought a faint rainbow along with it right over the beach. I looked at Shawn and the kids and reminded them that when we were on vacation in Florida in January we also saw a rainbow. I announced that maybe it was a sign from Papa Jim and he is letting us know that he is with us here on our vacation. Nobody really responded; we went along to the beach to enjoy our dinner and the gorgeous evening. When we returned Molly and Myles were out watering the flowers and rinsing off and Shawn was just walking around picking weeds here and there when he found a dollar. "See", I said "it was a sign from your dad, he wants us to know he is here with us and since you weren't convinced now he is showing us the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." This thought was intriguing and Shawn reminded me that his dad did indeed love the Dollar Store. Kind of a magical end to our evening. One of those moments that make you go "hmmmmmmm". We studied the dollar and noticed nothing unusual except that somebody wrote "Diane B" on the dollar. We don't know who "Diane B " is or what it could mean some are chalking her up as Papa Jim's new girlfriend!