This Weekend's Picks in JH

Anyone up for a little adventure tomorrow is welcome to join us for the 2nd annual Jackson Heights Film & Food Festival. Seriously - give us a call 'cause it should be fun.

Tomorrow is the food portion of the event, with several Jackson Heights restaurants serving dishes priced from $1-$3 from Noon-4pm at a local church. Yum Yum.

The films start tonight and continue through Sunday at the Eagle Theater in Jackson Heights. From the NYT: "It’s not easy to find American cinemas that offer samosas (Indian pastries filled with meat or vegetables) along with popcorn and candy. The Eagle Theater in Queens is one..."

While we probably won't make tonight's flicks, there is a kid's fest on Sunday (complete with free bagels and kiddie-rock) that we surely can't miss.

Testing Out

the new camera. If you listen to the video, right before Caroline goes after the ball a second time, she says "I'll get it!". I caught it on tape!

Go Grandma for teaching her this, though Caroline would never say it in front of her. This is completely indicative of Caroline's talking skills. She says words once or twice, but not often and never when you want her to. Clay got her to say 'please' the other day, but that was the only time. I can get her to say 'all aboard', but not when anyone else is around. If there are any theories out there about this type of behavior, please share them. We're stumped.

We both, however, understand her many faces...

Cheap Healthy Entertaining

I thought of my cousin when I saw this today and I post it here in her honor. For the college girl who once visited me in the city and pleaded 'Can we get chicken on a stick?!?', I give you the toddler equivalent.

Please though, be careful they don't run with the sticks.

Look down the comments for another good idea - edible apple ring jewelry.

Get your kumbaya-yas out

Beware! The network Fx has pulled a quick one on us all. After airing the 'Once More With Feeling' episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at 7am this past Monday, they switched the 7am slot to Malcolm in the Middle on Tuesday. While I have nothing against Malcolm, it cannot replace what has become a staple of my morning ritual since - oh 1999? I tried not to panic (sometimes holiday schedules tend to interfere with the Buffster), but after Malcolm was aired in this slot all week, I needed to take action - but how? The only way to counter this scheme would be with a fierce and unyielding... google search.

While I did unearth Fx's master plan (through an ingenious perusal of the Fx website), my search stumbled upon something far more interesting. Apparently, IFC Center in NYC is having Buffy sing alongs on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight (ala Rocky Horror not The Sound of Music). I immediately wondered how horribly wrong it would be of me to show up to one of these with a toddler - or, alternatively, how much a sitter would cost for an 11pm-2am shift. Though I bet Caroline could sleep through it (she did, after all, sleep through The Bourne Ultimatum last week), I don't know how comfortable she would be in a Buffy costume - that's an awful lot of leather.

For those of you who are as outraged as I, Fx will be showing Buffy at 7am this weekend - but I have no guarantees going forward. Tomorrow's episode is 'Tabula Rasa', the one where everyone forgets who they are.

And for those of you who are itching for some sing along action outside the NYC area, they also tour.

On a side note, how did I never know that Anthony Stewart Head is the brother of Murray Head? And yes, he did take over for Murray in Chess at one point. That means he can hit a tenor high C in full voice (4:45 of recording). Go Giles-

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A bonus side note: Everyone is familiar with at least these two aspects of the show Chess. It's also the prime example of how difficult it can be to write a show 's book around an already released concept album and a recently ended cold war. But it does have some great songs.

Almost caught up...

The end of our vacation in pictures happened on Tuesday, when I dropped the camera in the sand. Here are some shots of our pre-drop and post-drop activities.

Pre-drop: Having fun at Jones Beach

Post-drop: Seeking out borscht in Brighton Beach

This week's activities? Finding a camera repair shop

Labor Day (cont.)

Some shots of lunch at Wall's Wharf in Bayville:

Labor Day (cont.)

More pictures of the vineyards:

Labor Day

Labor Day was our big weekend with Grandma Carol and Grandad Alan, as well as the beginning of Clay's week off. We had lots of fun hitting the North Fork vineyards for a picnic on Saturday, Wall's Wharf for lunch on Sunday and lots of pastries in between. Some shots of the vineyards:

Oh my...

I hope this doesn't translate into endless hours of her teenage years stuck in front of a mirror, but Caroline has had a thing for her sunglasses lately - too cute. I would worry about her being too girly if she didn't also glow when trying on a dinosaur (dragon) costume for Halloween. She started roaring around the house. No pics of the dinosaur as our camera is currently kaput. Here are the sunglasses shots, though.

Road Trip (cont.)

More blurry slide action - and the choo-choo train!

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'.