Down by the Bay.

This is our week vacation down on the Chesapeake Bay with my family. So far, I am relaxed, slightly tan, overfed, and starting to get curious as to where my children are. There isn't really a town to speak of in this area, so all of our activities are home-based and nice and chill. It's sublime.

Here are a few of the highlights from the last few days:

• 7 hour exact car ride with CJ only getting car-sick once. Perhaps that's not really a "highlight".
• Cousin-Time. My kids love their cousins. From the moment we enter the house, we don't really see them. Accept for meal times, bathing and kisses goodnight, they are more than thrilled to be preoccupied with their cousins. So many sand castles to be made, fish and crabs to be caught, waves to jump into, water gun battles to be won, video games to be mesmerized by, that they are in bliss. The other day Zack remarked that it was like a g-rated fraternity house in the kids room. All of them hanging out with some playing video games, or pool, and one just messing around on the guitar.

• Just chilling on the beach or pool with my Mom. She is so much fun to chat with and spend some hours enjoying the scenery and talking about this, that, and whatever. They have to leave early this week to go to my Aunt and Uncle's 50 Wedding Anniversary in Texas. So glad they are going, but a little sad that my time and my kid's time with their Grandma and PopPop is short.
• My early morning bike ride. 12 miles on flat country roads. It was peaceful and serene.
• Dinner with my siblings. With 20 people sitting down for dinner nightly, things get a bit frenzied. But the other night, I got to sit and have dinner with all of my sisters and brother. That certainly is not an experience that happens often and I really loved it.
• Ripley on vacation. That crazy dog just LOVES being here. This is her best vacation. She is never leashed, she plays in the sand and the water, smells new smells, chases frogs, and has a toddler to hang out with for food dropping on the floor. We even forced her to go in the canoe with us. It's her Best Week Ever.
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• Catching a puffer fish. That was cool. Way better to see it puff up in person than it was in Finding Nemo.
• Listening to my nephew, Ben, who at age three loves to sing "Down By The Bay" and make up silly rhymes. It's too cute.
• Enjoying a cup of coffee and the quiet of the morning out on the patio. The bay waves lapping over and the birds chirping.
• Alexander insisting on showing me the fiddler crab habitat. It was an adventure to get there and he knew the way. He led me along the shore and crossed a marshy cove to get to the place where "his cousin, Luke, estimated that more than 2,000" crabs were. He was so proud to show it to me.
• CJ and Alex holding their first live crab. I remember that as a child. Memories.....

• Fireworks and the sunset on the water. We can always count on CRAZY Uncle Paul to bring the explosives to the party. We only had a small show the other night. I think that the spectacle is on tap for tonight.

First weekend of Summer!

It's the first weekend of summer and do we sleep in and lazily spend some hours at the pool??? No WAY! We head to Pittsburgh.

Saturday morning we headed to the Carnegie Science Center. What an incredible museum! This is far and away better than the Philly Please Touch Museum. More interactive, more exhibits that actually work, and so much cleaner. Normally we estimate the kids will last about 2 to 3 hours in a place like this, but when we hit about 4.5 hours and needed to go check into the hotel -- no one was ready to leave. I highly recommend this place for anyone of any age!!

Here the kids are touring the US Requiem. It's a submarine/exhibit. Personally I liked all the welded steel ash trays in every nook in every room. Really??? Diesel fumes and smoking. Was that a good idea? Although if I was trapped under the sea for months at a time, I would no doubt smoke like a chimney.

The robot exhibit was another big favorite. The kids were overjoyed to see R2D2.

Then we headed to PNC Park to see the Pirates defeat the Mets. It was a perfect, clear, mild summer night at the ball park.

The view from our seats was fantastic!! Almost postcard-worthy.

Typical for CJ at a sporting event, she got her picture with the Parrot within 10 minutes of our arrival. How does she do it???

The game was exciting and quick, but nothing can compare to the excitement the kids got from the cotton candy!

Here we are waiting for the post-game fireworks and Huey Lewis concert. HILARIOUS!

While they were setting up the stage the crowd was standing and cheering. CJ loved it!! She joined right in and screamed her heart out. Fast forward to her teenage years... I am afraid. Very afraid.

The fireworks were amazing. They were shooting off from on the field, from the back of the stadium, from a boat in the river, on the bridge over the river and off of the top of one of the skyscrapers downtown. I love fireworks, so this was my favorite part. It went on forever!!!

Here's Huey. Damn. He is old.

After going to bed at 11pm and up by 7:30am, we downed some breakfast a local diner and were off to the zoo. This zoo is far superior to the National Zoo in so many different regards. Go here.

This is CJ with $8,000 worth of ivory. The zoo keeper was so trusting. Sucker.

Here is our happy family with Victoria the Elephant. We got to pet her ear, truck and body. This was so very cool. I wasn't expecting how hairy she would be on her trunk. But there were long, hard hairs all over her. This was just so cool.

My monkeys hanging out with one of their kind.

The shark tank was Alex's #1 must see. Since they were at the very end, he waited quite a long time. He was psyched when we got there!



No!!! Don't pet it!!!

One of the more exciting exhibit for us that day was the sea lion tank. Since they are playful animals by nature, we were tickled that the animals were so engaging. Check out this video to see what I mean.

Great Citizen

Yesterday was Alexander's last day of First Grade. While most kids were counting down the minutes until the half-day was dismissed and summer officially began, my guy went off to school sad. The night before, he had gotten terribly upset thinking about First Grade coming to an end. He said he was really going to miss it. He is sensitive and thoughtful and I love those traits. But a seven year old boy crying over the end of school? A little crazy, right?

When he got off the bus, Zack and I met him with our own quirky rendition of Alice Cooper's "SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!!" He gave us a shy smile and then ripped open his bag to show us his surprise. He handed us a certificate and then told us this story....

Alexander: "I got a Citizenship Certificate at school today!"

Us: "Wow!!! That is wonderful!! Congratulations!"

Alexander: "Thanks."

Me: "Did everyone get one today?"

Alexander: "No, just Madison and me. The teacher had to decide what one boy and girl from each class got it."

Us: "AWESOME! That is so exciting"

Alexander: "Yeah."

A little later on...

Alexander: "Ya know, when I went to get the award, I had to hold my breath."

Us: "Why?"

Alexander: "I didn't know who they would call and have to go up on stage"

Us: "WAIT A MINUTE!!! Did your teacher give this to you in class?"

Alexander: "No, the whole school was in the general assembly and Mrs Z. (the Principal) called the kids up on stage."

Here my guy who shies away from any and all spotlight attention, who hates getting on stage with the class to perform, and was sad going to school today was singled out for being a good kid. Talk about a proud parent day!!

CJ Graduates

Wow, I can't believe we no longer have any preschoolers in this house. Seems like it happened all too fast. Not for CJ, though, who has been asking to get on the bus with Alexander for the last 2 months and go to kindergarten. This day could not have come quickly enough for her. But for her sentimental parents, we have bittersweet emotions about our little baby girl being a big kid in elementary school.

On her last day of school, the class did a little "Promotion Ceremony" for the parents. I loved it!! The class sang all the silly songs they learned over the year and then the teachers handed each a diploma-esque certificate. All of the kids were so proud of themselves!!

CJ with Mrs. Wylie. Personally, I will miss having a child in Mrs. Wylie's class. She is so good for this age group -- extremely patient, full of fun and silliness, and nurturing a love for going to school in each child. She's simply wonderful. One of my favorite lines Mrs. Wylie said recently was a note to the parents about an upcoming field trip to a muddy marsh. She wrote, "Please have your child wear shoes that can get muddy and won't make your child sad." How perfectly put for a preschooler!


Some rock stars are known by one name... CJ chooses three. CJ "Claire Julia".

The proud preschooler and teacher.


Another parent made corsages for all the kids. While she loved the flowers, eventually they were a bit to "itchy".

The next day Alexander had school and we walked him to the bus stop as usual. Alex was sad because CJ got to stay home and he HAD to go to school, CJ was sad because she thought she was going to be able to go to kindergarten TODAY, and I was just happy that I wasn't going to have to write another check for school tuition. Well, at least not for 11 more years. :-)