What A Weekend, Part II

After our Friday trip to DC it was time for some Saturday fun at home. Just before lunch we headed down to a local playground to see a petting zoo and the second Easter egg hunt of the week. I wasn’t expecting the petting zoo, but it turned out to be pretty fun. There were chicks, puppies, a piglet, some ducks, chickens, a lamb, and an alpaca all accessible to the kids. I felt a little bad for the chicks. A whole bunch of the children were coloring Easter eggs before walking into the petting zoo and the chicks were covered with tiny pink, blue, and lavender finger prints from all the petting and touching. The egg hunt was organized pretty well as they had little sections roped for the different ages of the children. Linda and Elizabeth did a good job and now have more candy at home than Superwife and I will let them eat. The rest of the day was pretty tame as we hung out at home and colored eggs after the girls nap.

Stay Tuned for Part III, Easter With The Amish

What a Weekend, Part I

If the way Sunday ended, with all of us collapsing from exhaustion, you could tell we had a jam packed weekend. On Friday were out of the house by 8:15 and on our way to Washington, DC. Linda and Elizabeth had never been there so Superwife and I decided to take a short day trip to the Museum of Natural History, followed by a picnic lunch on the Mall. I had been prepping Linda and Elizabeth for a few days before letting them know that we’d see some dinosaur bones, some bugs, and some jewels. They were both scared at the thought of dinosaurs, but very excited about bugs and jewels. The ride there went off without a hitch, a little traffic coming in to DC, but that’s to be expected. On our walk from the parking garage to the museum Linda kept commenting “what a beautiful city. I like Washington.” The girls were a little scared by the fossils, a little bored by the jewels, and a little excited about the bug zoo. The picnic on the mall was great as the girls got to see the capital building and big white crayon (Washington Monument) from afar. We mistimed our departure by about an hour and wound up stuck in some pretty bad traffic all the way home, but Friday was still a great day and I cannot wait to do it again this summer.

Stay tuned for:

Part II, The Easter Egg Hunt

Part III, Easter With The Amish

New Pics

I just uploaded a bunch of new pics from Christmas weekend in Danvers, Ma. I'll work on getting some of the movies posted shortly. Click on over and have a look.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers day to all of the Dad's in our family. I hope you have a wonderful time with those that care about you.

Linda, Elizabeth, and Terry took me to a Riversharks game last night, a minor league baseball team that plays just across the river in Camden, NJ. We got to have hotdogs, ice cream, go down on the field and run the bases, and get a black eye. (just in time for Auntie Amy's wedding next weekend.) Elizabeth took a spill down a set of steps in the 5th inning- luckily her face broke her fall. It's actually worse looking today. Superwife is doing everything she can to control the damage, hopefully it'll be gone by Saturday.

Holiday Vacation, Day Three

We spent yesterday afternoon playing with Christmas toys and watching Madagascar, a new movie that Elizabeth received as a gift. The Thomas the Tank Engine trains, Hooked on Phonics hand-held learning stick, and Puppy Bingo game are all HUGE hits so far. Elizabeth loves Linda's toys, Linda loves Elizabeth's toys, and so far everyone has been very good about sharing.

Today is New Years Eve and Superwife is home for the day. She came up with a great idea for the girls: Lindissimo and I go to the movies, and she and Elizabee got to the Please Touch Museum to renew our yearly membership. After checking the movie schedule, we quickly rushed out the door to see The Tale Of Despereaux. This was Linda's first time ever in a movie theater. I think she would have been perfectly happy eating popcorn and watching previews for two hours. When the lights dimmed and the movie started, she was absolutely giddy. "Daddy, why is it dark? Daddy, why is the curtain opening, Daddy, why is it so loud?" The questions just kept coming as the movie started. Despereaux is very good fairy tale about a hero mouse who saves a princess, but I think it was a bit to intense for Linda. About 15 minutes in, she asked if she could sit on my lap because she was scared. Terry and Elizabeth picked us up after the movie and we all went home to feed the girls some YoBaby and fish sticks.

I was pretty happy that Terry decided to renew our membership at the Please Touch Museum. It's one of the better kid friendly places in the city and recently moved from it's downtown location to Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park.

Dinner Tonight: Potato pancakes (regular and sweet potato.)

Holiday Vacation, Day Two

We had a slight hiccup this morning. After a quick trip in our new red Radio Flyer to the tailer, we got in the car and headed to Tunnels of Fun, an indoor playground a few blocks from our house, has apparently shut down. We made a quick drive-by to see if they were open yet and instead saw a big LEASE sign in the window instead. I hyped it up to Linda the day before and she was very excited to "go to the place with the tree in the middle with the phone in it and the nets." That description makes perfect sense if you've ever been to Tunnels of Fun. I made a quick change of plans and took them to the Smith Playhouse instead. Tantrum averted. The girls had a great time and it's days like these that I am thrilled that we live in the city. There is always so much to do.

Dinner Tonight: Breaded pork cutlets, roasted potatoes, salad

Holiday Vacation, Day One

Superwife, Lindissimo, Elizabee and I spent this past weekend in Boston visiting our family. We got off to a very late start on Friday because the girls decided that they didn't want to sleep on Christmas night. we wanted to be on the road by 5:00, but I don't think we all got to bed until 3:30. We left around 8:30 and got into Danvers around 3:30. The girls did very well in the car and were very excited to see everyone. Uncle Jeff was there with his dog so there was lots of squealing from Elizabeth when we arrived and she saw two doggies. Except for the drive home, everything went well. It was great to see everyone and all of us got some very cool gifts. (Thanks for the headphones. I love them.)

I have the girls by myself all week so I'm a little nervous about how things are going to go. I'm taking them to the Zoo today and an indoor playground called Tunnels Of Fun tomorrow. Both places are always a big hit so I know they'll have fun.

Dinner Tonight: Home made Gnocci with an arugula salad with goat cheese, tomato, and craisins.

Merry Christmas Everybody

Terry and I planned the present wrapping pretty well this year. Rather than leaving it all to the last possible minute, like last year, we did a little each night and were able to get to bed at a normal time on Christmas Eve. The girls woke up at the usual time, around 6:30, without much fuss. It took Linda a few minutes before she blurted out "did Santa Claus come?!" We followed our usual tooth brushing, face washing routine before we went downstairs. Linda's face lit up as soon as she saw the goodies. I think Elizabeth was excited just because she saw how happy the rest of us were. The first thing they saw was a sink and washing machine for their Rose Petal Cottage playhouse. Linda tucked it away in the playhouse and moved on to the next present, but Elizabeth dragged it out of the house and wanted to play with it. The rest of the morning went well as they tore through gift after gift. Christmas 08 was much more fun than last years vomit fest. Thank you to everyone who sent the girls a gift. We are very lucky to have such a generous family.

We leave early tomorrow morning to for Boston for a nice long weekend visit. Merry Christmas.

Gift Idea

I have a link to the jewelry store where Linda and Elizabeth are each registered for a pearl necklace that you can purchase individual pearls for. (See "ADD A PEARL" at right.) The store is having a 20% off sale from 15 Nov through 30 Nov. I don't have the exact figures, but each pearl should be about $30 when bought during the sale.

Grammie Linda and Papa Nick started each of them off with a necklace and a pearl Last year. If you're looking for a very cool gift to give the girls during the holiday's, this might be it.

New / Old Pictures

I posted some "new" pictures to my Flickr page of Linda's first Halloween party. Click on over and have a look at Linda and her friends all dressed up.

My Feet Are Killing Me

Linda throwing rocks in the surf in Humarock.

New Pictures

I just posted a bunch of new photos to my Flickr page. Go on over and have a look. You'll see: Aunt Jeanne's visit, Linda coloring Easter eggs, Easter morning.

Deck the halls (& the toilet, the carpet, the bed sheets, &...)

So you kind of expect to have fond memories of your baby’s first Christmas, with them struggling to figure out wrapping paper and wearing a little red suit or Santa bib. Elizabeth’s first Christmas was unfortunately defined, at least for me, by vomit. It started with Steve around noon and by mid afternoon his vomiting was so frequent, violent and loud that even Linda in her present-toy-cookie induced self absorbed state asked why Daddy was ‘yelling’ in the bathroom and if his tummy was going to be all better soon. Needless to say there were minimal pictures taken as I struggled to take care of the girls and keep them at a safe distance from their father. And Christmas dinner never happened. The girls went to bed seemingly unaffected and Steve continued to get sick until about ten o’clock that night. At eleven, Steve called from his bed on the couch, “Terry, what’s that noise?” He walked upstairs into Linda’s room and started hollering for help. I rushed up to find a bewildered Linda covered head to toe in a vomit coating of broccoli and chocolate sauce. I bet you can all smell the holiday cheer right through the computer. I took Linda into the bathroom for a scrub down while Steve resisted the dry heaves as he gathered up the bedding and wiped down the race car. Linda, who thankfully has only had one other throw-up event in her life and it was well over a year ago, kept asking, “What I do all over my blue blanket?” She was in relatively good spirits as we got her back into bed and moved Steve into her room on the air mattress. The sickies were going to sleep together and watch out for each other. I was pretty sure I was in the "well room" until Elizabeth started projectile vomiting after nursing at about 2 AM. I just stood on a pile of dirty laundry in my bedroom and let the regurgitated milk splash off of me and drip down as I wasn’t going to be able to make it down the hallway to the bathroom and the thought of more cleaning at that hour was just too much. Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to Mommy. It took a few days, but all the dirty clothes/bedding/floors/bodies got cleaned and Linda opened up all of our presents. At least I didn’t have to take care of everyone while throwing up myself. Santa, next year can you leave the viruses outside?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Paul and Joanne made the trip down to spend the holiday weekend with us. It would have been a little to difficult for us to travel anywhere with the babies so it was great news for us when they let us know they'd be coming down. Terry baked the pies, Paul and Joanne took care of Thanksgiving dinner, Elizabeth and I watched the Jets lose, and Linda shoved Oreos in her mouth. There are a few new pictures taken over the holiday weekend on the Flickr page. Go on over and have a look.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! What a great night. The neighborhood was absolutely filled with kids, parents, and neighbors. It was just one big outdoor party. Terry and Elizabeth took care of handing out the treats at our place while Linda and I hit the streets. It didn’t take her long to figure out the routine. She was getting so excited that she was saying “trick or treat” before we were within earshot of the neighbors handing out candy. We didn’t need to ring even one doorbell as most of the neighbors were sitting outside on their front step waiting for the trick or treaters. After about a ½ hour of collecting candy Linda and I went back home and sat on the porch with Terry, Elizabeth, and our neighbors Angelo and Elenor. They handed out ten bags of treats and we handed out six before we finally called it quits.

Linda was a little too into the candy last night. Terry and I let her have a few pieces of chocolate while we were sitting outside handing out the goodies. When we finally came inside to start the wind down before bedtime routine I let her open one more piece of candy, a mini-bag of M&M’s. When I asked if I could have one she clutched them with both hands, backed away from me and whispered “no.” I think Terry is going to have a very difficult time keeping Linda the junkie away from her stash today.