Road Trip

I wrote this a long time ago (couple of weeks), but please humor me and just go with it:


A classic way to spend any finals' week is to take a road trip. Usually, though, this is done after finals are over. Caroline and I decided instead to throw caution to the wind and venture south twice before finishing up for the semester.


Our first jaunt was on Wednesday with Grandad to Aunt Roie & Uncle John's house near the shore in NJ. Caroline had a great time there, exploring their DVD collection and all the neat giveaways from the baseball stadium. Unfortunately, our pictures are kind of blurry because I'm currently having a fight with my camera over using the flash. I did get one shot of Caroline offering up her hair clip, though.


Then on Friday, Uncle Joe, Mary D., Caroline, Piglet and I trekked down to Cousin Liz's house for the weekend. We kept Caroline entertained most of the way down by afixing her accessories onto Uncle Joe's head. We managed to get 3 hair clips and a shoe on before he became wise to the deal. Later, we all played Ring Around the Rosie - a new favorite. Although we missed the Nets' game due to a downpour, Caroline got to make her first trip to McDonalds. She & Liz had a great time - Check out the blurry slide action:

Rainy Days

Last week, Caroline decided a cold, rainy day called for wearing her Oscar the Grouch shirt - a new favorite. Overcome by Oscar's presence, Caroline then herself became a grouch and sulked in a corner. This is something I had to document to present to her during a some future motherly guilt trip.

Upon finishing her Oscar impersonation, Caroline and AJ got caught up in her beads - literally. At first, AJ could tolerate it and loved the attention. After a while though, even AJ grew weary of the game. She eventually thwarted Caroline's attack by employing the put-my-chin-on-the-floor-so-she-can't-get-beads-around-my-head tactic, a classic defense. Caroline was stymied. Score 1 for AJ. Considering how limpy AJ was at the time, it was a much needed break.

MVP

Last weekend was a busy one and not without significance. After Saturday's lunch at Sapori D'iscia, the fam headed to LaGuardia Landing Lights Park for an easy game of.... say it softly now so as not to excite the canines.... frisbee.

Try as she might, AJ just barely caught 2 throws in her mouth - both very tame tosses at that. There were no might leaps or great runs and she did wipe out at least once. Caroline had a great time watching her play (& AJ had a fantastic time regardless of her reception stats) and we packed it up after about 1/2 hour of throwing. The significance of this, however, emerged as the day went on - when AJ was barely able to make it down the stairs for her evening walk. It got even worse on the days that followed, where coaxing her up and down the stairs and even down the block was a major effort. Poor dog. We are certain this will be her last season on the famed Landing Lights field before she's forced into retirement by the team's resident physician. Therefore, we are looking at dates now for her retirement celebration and MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) Award Ceremony.

On Sunday, we were treated to a BBQ out in Lake Grove at Chez Swensson. Juicy burgers, yummy kabobs and a modest amount of fruit were consumed along with some fresh corn on the cob. Caroline skipped the burgers and devoured the corn. She also had a fun time playing baseball with the DiBiases.

For the beef lover in your life

As I'm finishing up finals week, I'm a bit behind on my posting. This is mainly because I've really ignored my chores lately in favor of taking fun trips. More on that later -

Meanwhile, I just found out my cousin Kris has been holding out on me! She's got a blog on Cheap Healthy Good eats that's darn cool. I particularly like her recent post on beef.

And finally

Part 3 of our Jones Beach trip was to the pool. Caroline had a lot of fun despite being closely followed by her security detail.

Pay no attention to the man behind the glasses. He's just a another toddler out for a day at the beach too. Just watch him blend folks. He was even nice enough to swing Caroline around in the water a couple of times.

If you ask Caroline now if she likes the beach, you get a firm 'dup'.

Playing in the Sand

Caroline had a much better time in the sand on Monday than she did in Aruba. She put sand on her towel, in her shoes, on her legs, in her mouth, in her hair - oh - and in the toys we brought.

Catching Waves

By popular demand, here are some of our beach shots-

On Monday, we headed out to Jones Beach with Uncle Joe and 'the gf' Mary D. What a fun time! It was a perfect day with only a small crowd on the beach. We knew Caroline was going to have a blast when she got really excited about the tunnel under the roadway and the dirt next to the path. She hadn't even seen the beach yet.

She was all Clay - running into the oncoming waves (while holding our hands of course). Despite one or two face-forward spills in the sand, she loved it!

Summer Days

Caroline continues to make the most of her summer days by just playing. Her swim lessons are done. Our takeaways:

• Some pools are really deep (Caroline was very unhappy to not find the pool floor beneath her feet when she tried to jump out of my arms during the last class).
• Swim lessons are worth the $, even if it's just an excuse to get into the only pool in the neighborhood. Caroline learned to kick her feet & that's a start.
• Four foot tall pool fences aren't safe enough - our pool's surrounded by barbed wire.
• As long as you can't actually hear thunder or see lightning, swim class is on.

Caroline's newest feats:

• Climbing ladders on the playground (even the loose, chain one) and sliding down the slides all by herself. Very scary.
• Helping me make dinner - using a step ladder to reach the counter. I also got her to eat pesto for the first time. I let her stir up the tortellini and told her not to taste any.
• Bleeding from the head. Thank goodness this didn't last long or else her first trip to the ER would be on the list too. You can see the cut by her right eye, though. Poor kid - how does a fall in the crib equate to that injury?
• Putting blush on her T-rex. *Sigh* And putting beads on Mrs. Potato Head. I think we've entered little girl country.
• Current word count: 5 (dup or dip/yes, deh/any #, mama, dada/daddy or bye bye)
• Newest animal sounds: anything that roars, growls or chomps
• Newest favorite food: Mommy's mint chocolate chip shake. By the way, my newest favorite food is a salad with lettuce, grilled chicken, walnuts, mandarin oranges & gorgonzola with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Try it - it is sooo good!

If you've got a couple of minutes...

... you can see how lfatboyl spends time with his baby. They're pretty cute videos - but the poor kid stuck in that bumbo all day while Daddy is 'watching him.'

Ready Set Bumbo



& Ready Set Bumbo II

Ready, Set, Bumbo III is coming soon.

Hi-diddly-ho, neig hbor-inos!

The staff at Time Out New York must really be bored. TONY did a piece last week called Simpsons in New York- including their New York counterparts. I can't imagine being chosen as the quintessential Barney is a good thing.

I also can't imagine Homer growing up in Jackson Heights. Apu? Well, that's a different story - I'm just sad they didn't pick my corner bodega owner, who is usually pleasant considering he's sandwiched in a 5'x5' area behind the counter with his wife and well behaved black lab.

Beware

Beware you husbands, you cell phone losers and breakers. You may think you've come out alright. Upon finding out you lost/ broke/ otherwise destroyed your cell phone, your understanding wife offers you hers until yours can be repaired or replaced. She even offers to order you a new one when the Verizon store says yours was submerged in water (a complete lie) and cannot be saved.


Oh sure - you may think you've come out just fine - maybe even slightly ahead, as you imagine the wonderful new cell phone the nice Fed Ex man is delivering with care right to your doorstep. As Frank The Tank would put it, "Maybe it's uh something really cool that I don't know about. You know?"


But, then again, maybe it's a hot pink Motorola Razr. Yes, every 13 year old girl's dream phone. And maybe the ring tone is set to 'Sunshine.' Oh yeah.


Don't worry says Clay, "I can pull it off for a few days at least."

Fake News!

Jackson Heights earned a mention in The Onion this week - definitely not something that would've happened when they were back in Madison.

Sometimes their fake news is just cruel, though. I mean, I know of no 'really good' Cameroonian places in the area. Indian? Pakistani? Thai? Argentinian? Colombian? Mexican? Ecuadorean? Halal carts? sure - but not Cameroonian. I would love to try some really good Cameroonian.

Why I suspect my daughter is actually an 8 year old boy...

The evidence is mounting:

1. Caroline's had a thing for dinosaurs lately. She loves reading dinosaur books, making dinosaur 'roar's and today I caught her sharing her plans for scaling the crib wall with a stuffed triceratops (the one with the ruffle, as Aunt Beth puts it) .

2. Caroline likes to cut you off when you're reading her a story. This is one new game that I find particularly annoying. It's similar to the interrupting cow knock-knock joke, but in Caroline's version, she interjects a loud 'aaaa!'

3. Caroline has questionable uses for some of her toys. I got her a set of plastic play food the other day - you know, the typical pots/pans/fruit/eggs/meat set with 56 colorful, choke able pieces. As soon as she got it open she took the flexible, plastic butcher knife and thrust it at her chest.

4. At the Queens' Hall of Science the other day, she spent a considerable amount of time examining the stuffed rodents in the toddler play area (see picture). She was also taken with the puppet show. Luckily for the staff, they were behind a wall. When Clay, Caroline & I went to the Queens' Zoo later in the week, she tried to rush the puppet show stage to express her displeasure. She had to be removed from the theater. They deserved it though - it was pretty lame.

Check out the pictures where Caroline is trying to sneak a kiss to the sheep & goats. They were flattered, I'm sure.