I Am...What I Eat

Sizing each other up

2012-01-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

This picture is already a month old now - Alisha's head is so much bigger now! Yesterday Zach was telling me that he loves his sister. Primary reason? She's "soft." I can't really argue with that (she is soft). And fortunately, he hasn't squashed anything too important on her yet in confirming this quality.

Raspberries

2012-01-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

Balding twins

2012-01-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

Alisha's cute newborn hair has started falling off in front, making her look even more like dad.

Turn down the sunlight, please!

2012-01-10T22:01:00.000-05:00

Grandma Marjorie (Baby Road Trip part 2: Fredericksburg, VA)

2012-01-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

My mother can't travel, due to the state of her cancer. She's been terminal for over 10 years and will continue to exceed expectations, I'm sure. However, she was officially switched from treatment to palliative care in October. So we drove her new granddaughter south, to her home in Virginia.

Baby Road Trip - Part 1: Annapolis

2012-01-08T17:08:00.000-05:00

It's hard to explain the motivation for this road trip, with a 2-week-old baby, without going into depressing matters. Such was the nature of the last few months - with the exception of Alisha joining our family.

Introductions... over the Chanuka/holiday period for Jenn's family - she had been planning to bring her family to visit us after the baby was born, not so very long ago. My mother's health. And being too pregnant to travel during Thanksgiving. In any case, the travel was less difficult than I expected, once we packed pretty much everything we owned into the car, anyhow.

Our first stop was in Annaoplis, where Alisha met her cousins, Sarah and Sydney, who took many turns holding her, in between chasing Zach in circles around the house:

Holiday decorations downtown Annapolis:

Sarah, the Chanuka elf:

With a newborn, time spent on the floor...

These 2 also spending time on the floor (Zach adores his cousin, Sydney):

Look, an X! (on the ground, at the Naval Academy, which Zach found to be otherwise boring... and Alisha slept:

Check out the new hat. If only my head were 3 sizes larger... (and soon it will be!):

At home...

2011-12-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

It has been just about a week since we came home. Alisha is adapting well, liking all things more or less except for diaper changes.

Zach spent the first couple days whining but has since warmed up a bit, enough for a photo anyhow.

The new baby: Alisha Pam

2011-12-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 9, we got to meet our daughter, Alisha. As with newborns, she came out cute, but looking like she'd spent too much time on the stove cooking. The picture below was taken on the morning of the 10th. (Mount Auburn Hospital provided the hat.)

Zach came by to meet the new intrusion on his life Saturday (thanks, Justin, for the family photo):

On first meeting he proclaims her "good" (which lasts about till she comes home and he realizes that things are going to be different).

And Sunday we headed home, Alisha engulfed in her giant car seat.

Her birth was so uneventful it was both surreal and almost boring. I was induced on my due date, because of the potential medical risk of her small size. This was based on a tape measure to my belly plus ultrasound measurements that put her in the 13th percentile for weight. Well, she came out at 7 lbs 13 oz - perfectly normal in size. I wasn't super excited about the prospect of being induced, but was honestly scared of going into labor in the middle of the night or at work, given how quickly things happened with my first birth. So having the whole thing scheduled for a Friday morning gave me the peace of mind that Zach could be taken care of and there would be no ambulance involved. I started the pitocin around 11 am, started active labor at 5:45 and delivered Alisha at 7:02.

Alisha is named for her Aunt Jenni (Jennifer Josh's sister) - her Hebrew name. (Elisha, which is a boy's name - we think it was intended as Aleeza, but was mixed up in her hazy post-newborn days.) As happy as I am to honor Jenn with a namesake, it startles me daily -- that we have a daughter named after Jenn. Her middle name, Pam, is in honor of Josh's Aunt Pami, who passed away 2 years ago.

Lilia's 4th

2011-11-23T21:24:00.000-05:00

4 year old girls... princesses. With a break for Steve to demonstrate how to perform the limbo to a pack of preschoolers, with a large penguin and a drink.

Plum Island, again

2011-11-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

My father is lucky enough to live a few minutes from this place, and it is perhaps one of the most perfect places on earth, especially when it's just a bit too cold to be crowded. This time we took on the tall grass of the marsh before heading onto the world's largest sandbox, where I could park my pregnant behind on a large drift-log while Zach filled his bucket (and shoes) with sand.

October Snow

2011-10-30T12:48:00.000-04:00

Aside from the snow-covered pumpkins and leaves, I now understand the implications now of heavy snow on top of full unfallen foliage: Our yard and driveway are a mess of giant maple branches and show-dropped shrubs. Last night our street was blocked by a down tree. Neighbor's VW was impaled by a limb, into the engine. Power out in much of the town, though ours has mostly been on.

And... the cleanup crew:

Plum Island in October

2011-10-21T18:24:00.000-04:00

Topsfield Fair (2011)

2011-10-04T22:09:00.000-04:00

Rides (we sent the kids on their own this year):

The giant pumpkin:

Waiting for more rides:

And... a corn dog, bunnies, sheep, baby chicks (we got to hold one, even), duck races, saw milk extracted from a cow, a blacksmith heat iron, bees making honey, tractors... the usual stuff.

Wet Grass Contemplation

2011-10-02T09:11:00.001-04:00

Tashlich in Concord

2011-10-01T09:09:00.000-04:00

As an atheist-Jew, there are certain rituals I enjoy. Tashlich is one of my favorite - throwing sins (or, as we explained to Zach, "bad decisions") of the past year in the form of bread into the water, to be consumed by scape-fish. Zach has apparently been telling the folks at daycare that "mommy has a baby in her belly so she yells a lot" (true story, I'm sad to admit) so there were a bunch of bread crumbs thrown on that count. Our co-Jews, Jer, Sha and Lilia joined us with some old rye bread at the Old North Bridge in Concord.

Free-Range Peacock

2011-09-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

At the Franklin Park Zoo. Thankfully, peacocks no longer instill mortal fear in my son, as they did when he was 2.

100 years

2011-09-12T20:39:00.001-04:00

Levie van Dam, crossing the century mark.

Levie is my stepmother's father. He still walks and manages his paperwork, though not quite as briskly as he did at 90. Outliving all your friends may have its downsides, but nonetheless, think of all that has passed and changed over the course of those last 100 years.

Snack

2011-09-10T16:18:00.000-04:00

Reading with Opa

2011-09-08T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sharing a deck chair

2011-08-30T15:30:00.000-04:00

Sydney (with the blue toenails) and Zach.

"Mustard" (the cable car)

2011-08-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

Canon Mountain, Franconia Notch, NH, with the added bonus of a lot of rain, cold air and almost no visibility. Zach and Sydney were willing to take on the "hike" at the top anyway (it's only about 10 minutes around).

Zach was convinced that the mountains that had clouds on top of them were volcanoes (thank you, Dinosaur Train). But, going up into this mess was a useful lesson in how weather happens.

Mustard is the nickname of the yellow cable car. There's also a red one, Ketchup.

Zach and Sarah in the lake

2011-08-24T10:37:00.000-04:00

Preferred activity: making "muck" soup.

Nap (on unmade bed)

2011-08-22T22:53:00.000-04:00

July

2011-08-21T23:00:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. It started mid-July with an incongruous string of text messages from Josh. I got to work, I think it was Friday 7/15, and first saw a message with a picture of fancy butter from his dinner the night before (he was in California, working). This was followed immediately by a note stating that his sister in the ICU with a high fever and blood pressure problems. Their parents had been in transit to Australia for over 24 hours so far, where they were supposed to spend a month.

That night I dropped Zach off at a campground in Carver - 2 hours from our house. Just as I was arriving, Josh called to tell me they were transporting Jenn to DC because her condition was so critical and they needed a more specialized cardiac team. So, instead of instead of staying with Zach to enjoy the weekend, I left him at the campground, in the care of his buddy, Ryan. I headed back home to wait for Josh, and pack up for a 6am flight to BWI. Andy and Estee, upon arrival in Adelaide, realized they needed to turn around. They took a walk, bought some mints and waited for the next flight back to Sydney.

Mid-morning Saturday we found Tim in the basement waiting room, half asleep in an uncomfortable chair, holding Jenn's purse. Once they let us see her, Jenn was lying, sedated, in the emergency cardiac area with all the blood in her body being pumped through a heart-lung machine. Later that day, after more surgery, she was moved upstairs to the cardiac ICU. It seemed like a good sign.

But, as you probably know, things did not improve. After 11 long days - of vigilant hope and multiple trips back and forth between Boston and Maryland - she was taken off the life-supporting machines. I got word from Josh on Tuesday just after I had heated up my lunch, which I never ended up eating.

7/27 - We drove together to the hospital Wednesday morning in silence. Watching Tim prepare himself to give the final ok for this was the most heartbreaking thing I've witnessed, stating simply, that he would always want more time.

After that there was a hazy period of time that started with 3pm lunch at the Chinese restaurant across the street from the funeral home, where Estee explained to the poor waitress what had just happened. Then a funeral - where the girls talked softly to their mom in her wooden box. The traffic-halting line of cars. And the 108 degree burial. The dirt. The flood of people and food at Andy and Estee's house. The long drive home.

At this point, Josh and I have returned home and have settled back into our "normal" life. It's easier from 500 miles away to get back into our routine. The details of my life are more or less the same. Estee, Andy, Tim and the girls are having to figure out a whole new normal. Sydney is 10. Sarah is about to start kindergarten. I can't imagine starting kindergarten without my mother.

The snapshot below was taken on June 19.

Ice cream indecision

2011-07-13T23:09:00.000-04:00

At Carl's in Fredericksburg, VA, just before Zach demonstrates his lack the skill in getting to the bottom of a cone of soft serve in 85-degree weather.

Space Cadets

2011-07-11T23:21:00.000-04:00

At the Udvar-Hazey Air and Space Museum. First pic: overlooking the retired space shuttle, Enterprise, with Sarah in full astronaut attire. Second pic: running/stopping, on the catwalk. If you're out by the lovely Dulles Airport near D.C., it's worth checking out. Cool stuff, even if you're only marginally interested in airplanes.

Sunscreening at Aquia Landing

2011-07-05T22:32:00.001-04:00

Exploring northern Virginia by car in the 90+ degree weather. If only the Potomac River were just a bit less green and smelly...

Regarding the attire - Zach did eventually put on a suit, yes. I'm not sure why as there was nobody else there. I have no explanation for my husband's hat.

Pissing Horse

2011-06-30T22:31:00.000-04:00

My mother-in-law turned 60 this past weekend, not that anyone is counting. A horse-drawn carriage was procured to deliver her to the surprise party with her 3 grandchildren and husband. And when it parked to dismount in front of the house, it released about 6 gallons of urine.

Most impressive.

Great Brook Farm

2011-06-13T21:41:00.000-04:00

Carlisle, MA. A couple animals (sheep, goats, etc.), good weather, some horse/walking trails, and a bunch of bugs.

3 kids on a hammock swing

2011-06-08T22:47:00.000-04:00

Self-explanatory, right? Ryan, Zach and Lilia, swinging.

This leaf thing... the kids decided to pick my hostas. Whatever, I don't really like hostas anyway. Putting them in front of their faces was Sharona's idea, who then used her mad skillz to get the kids to all pose with some semblance of uniformity.

I'm getting a bit of a third wheel thing here.

April...

2011-06-05T22:24:00.000-04:00

Camera has been in the shop since some time in April. Found this after getting it back - probably the first blooming thing from the beginning of spring. Gee, that seems like it was a while ago.

Dumb Tourist Shots

2011-04-27T23:17:00.000-04:00

My camera is in the shop - auto-focus broken and spots on the sensor. So I dig into the archives to provide you with...this.

At "mile 0" (US Route 1). For whatever reason, this is a landmark.
(Photo credit: Justin Wade)

This landmark is more descriptively labeled. And a fine landmark it is.
(Photo credit: the nice German lady in line behind us)

Eyelash

2011-04-21T23:40:00.002-04:00

Party Bath

2011-04-12T19:41:00.001-04:00

For those who asked, this is what 5 boys in my bathtub look like:

RJ and Logan needed a bath. Zach, Xander and Ryan didn't want to be left out of the action.

Butterflies

2011-04-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

Went to a butterfly place. Felt a bit like cheating taking these pictures. So many butterflies. Like shooting...who the hell shoots fish in a barrel anyway?

Marilyn Monroe

2011-04-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

No story here... just the obvious thing to do upon encountering a larger-than-life Marilyn Monroe statue in a wind-blown dress, with a sleeping kid.

Zach's collections

2011-03-31T23:39:00.000-04:00

The streets of Key West yielded droppings from all sorts of flora. And when things got dicey with toddler anxieties about separating from the collection du jour, we tried photo therapy. As in, "no, you can't keep it, but I can take a picture for you to remember it."

Just don't ask what happened with his buyer's remorse over a VW bus souvenir, once he realized he could've gotten a train. We're still talking through that one, though now the questions are just "mommy, next time when we go to Key West, I can get a train?"

Yeah, sure. Next time we go to Key West. (Fortunately he has no concept that this may not happen till I retire.)

Zach on 3/21/11

2011-03-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Smathers Beach

2011-03-29T22:17:00.000-04:00

Across the street and past the snack trucks - from our (excessively mirrored) rental condo.

No complaints.

Drinks in Key West

2011-03-28T22:56:00.003-04:00

I can't drink like I used to, which is not saying all that much. However, there's nothing that says "vacation" quite like a drink before 1pm on a hot Tuesday afternoon.

Just add cheese fries...

(I get a bit trigger happy with the camera when I there's alcohol involved)

But, hey, at least I didn't climb a palm tree to put my beads up there. Someone else took care of that.

Kiss

2011-03-15T23:12:00.000-04:00

(Sarah and Gretchen)

As my husband could tell you, I'm a hopeless anti-romantic. But I still find this cute.

Jeni as seen from Hoboken

2011-03-15T00:03:00.002-04:00

1) Jeni's glam pose.
2) Riding Gretchen (with spike from Empire State Building uncomfortably under her elbow)
3) Natural exuberance

Saturday was a lovely day to be a tourist in Hoboken and Jersey City. Well I guess that's what you'd call me - and Zach. We were there on our first mom-son road trip, visiting my sister (Sarah), her daughter (Jeni) and girlfriend (Gretchen).

Note to self: go back to Hoboken and eat more gouda swirls at the Old German Bakery.

Making Biscuits

2011-03-08T23:14:00.001-05:00

Biscuits from scratch - on a weeknight. Serves as entertainment for mom, toddler and provides a wealth of extra calories for all.

Rope

2011-03-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

Watching the Dragon Parade

2011-03-05T15:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year! Yeah, ok, I know, it was like 3 weeks ago. And was a very cold morning in Chinatown when they had the dragon parade. Zach of course was super psyched because he'd seen it first on Caillou. I was super psyched when I realized we could watch the festivities from inside while eating a delicious meal of faux meat.

Lilia was a bit grumpy, but you can't really blame her given how cold it was outside.

Dinosaurs and other bones

2011-02-28T22:12:00.000-05:00

Free Sunday morning at the Harvard Museum of Natural History prompted some interesting questions. Like, "does it hurt when it eats us?" (looking at whatever giant swimming thing that is back there). Also found a large sulfur rock that matched Zach's sweater, and a couple rocks from space. But really, it was all about those dinosaur bones.

Friendship

2011-02-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

Only mild encouragement was needed for this.

Ryan's Band-aid

2011-02-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

Drumlin Farms

2011-02-21T21:56:00.000-05:00

(Rakes)

Last week included 2 spring-like days. Unfortunately they fell on Thursday and Friday. But I was determined to get outside on Saturday, even though we'd fallen squarely back into winter.

So, dragged my family out to Drumlin Farms in Lincoln, where the outdoor walking is punctuated by warmer indoor spots, like a greenhouse with sprouting stuff,

and a couple of animal barns.

Along the way also saw some nifty caged birds of prey, one of which was chowing on a dead mouse. Whiskers and all. Also got to check out some roadkill pelts, including Zach's favorite animal du jour, the skunk.

Self-dressing attempt

2011-02-20T21:41:00.000-05:00

Fail.

Snow Hats

2011-02-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

The Dishwasher

2011-02-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

My husband is a genius. Not only does he double as a battery-free portable calculator, but he somehow managed to salvage the dishwasher (one we inherited from the prior owners of our new house) avoiding recurring kitchen flooding, despite the following hurdles:

a) having no prior experience with dishwasher repair (hence the laptop)
b) getting the wrong replacement gasket from LG
c) having spare parts after putting everything back together.

It's been about a month now, and has been completely functional since. Though, a word of general advice: don't buy an LG dishwasher if you can help it.

Zach helped too. (That is a plastic toy c-clamp he's using, not a real one.)

PJ morning with Sydney and Sarah

2011-02-15T21:25:00.000-05:00

Zach recently had the pleasure of a visit from his cousins, Sydney and Sarah (and their mom and Josh's folks - who all now fit in our house at the same time, even - construction finished just barely in time). Always a pleasure for me as well, since they entertain, dress, and feed him.

After the snow

2011-02-13T22:33:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to feel like I'm seeing nothing but white. Well, it's now turning gray but showing little sign of diminishing. A bit of blue sky is at least something, spotted out of the kitchen window while working from home at the tail end of on of our recent blizzards.

And some of the snowy stuff outside.

Seasonal Catch-Up

2011-02-10T22:51:00.000-05:00

Zach turned 3 today.

He's now in his bed, hopefully not getting ready to barf up the 4 cupcakes plus Friendly's quesadilla dinner now. Alas, I was sifting through piles of pictures that accumulated during our last few crazy months and realized I had missed posting a few milestones in my son's life.

Halloween:

Clearly, this was a dinosaur. Right? An off-the-shelf-from-Target costume, no less - I'm almost ashamed to admit. However, while trick-or-treating, Zach was repeatedly asked if he was a dragon, or, even better, Yoshi. He still asks on a near-daily basis when it will be Halloween again.

Lightnng McQueen "big kid" bed:

This was the carrot we dangled during the long and painful process of packing up all our stuff. Various loved objects disappeared, and Zach had to spend his weekends hanging out with a guy named Adam (our realtor) instead of at the playground, so we needed something. In reality, the bed is plain wood (it was handed down from his cousin, Sarah). We just tossed on a Cars bedspread. But as far as Zach was concerned, it was the perfect Lightning McQueen bed. (For those not around toddler boys much, that movie is like crack for them.)

And as an added bonus, he was given the freedom to wander out of it in the wee hours of the night to find mom. (Which actually isn't so bad, now that we also have upgraded, to an enormous king size bed.)

Chanuka:

We had a bevy of menorahs, but no pictures. Just this stellar snapshot showing a bunch of presents, and the awesome combo of striped sweater and track pants in matching baby blue. Probably one of those days when potty training didn't go so well.

Christmas:

Seeing as we're Jewish, we had no tree or official festivities. However, we did have a ham and a duck and a festive dinner with my mother, Terry, and the Wades. Saru was kind enough to steal this gingerbread house from a co-worker, which the kids pretended to eat for quite some time before being allowed to snap some of the nonpareils off the roof.

Also looks like we forgot to dress Zach for the day, as this was dinner time.

S'more Monster

2011-01-31T21:51:00.000-05:00

Especially scary when it's in your living room, within reach of the couch.

RIP Snowmen

2011-01-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

There once were 3 snowmen. Ok, technically speaking, 2 snowmen and one snowlady. They lived for about 3 minutes before Zach decided it would be more fun to shove them over. Which he did with glee. Then they got snowed on. And started to look like big white dinosaur eggs. Which is what I told Ryan they were, and he almost believed me.

See?

Cold house

2011-01-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

I may have mentioned the new house. Here it is, after the first round of snowstorms. There are several things about it that don't make any sense, like the rounded "bow house" roof - despite being built in the 70s. Someone had a bit too much fun laminating rafters for that pseudo antique look (and yes, we fell for it!).

Ice on the inside of the window - that's a bad thing, right? But these faux antique windows...we can't replace them in any reasonably cost-effective manner. Hmm. Guess we'll just keep the blinds down till spring and hope for the best.

For posterity, here's the whole thing, with snow cover. Actually, there's a lot more snow now... in fact, if you stand in this spot and look up, you can barely see the house at all, just a heap of white:

Red things in the snow

2011-01-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

Red thing #1, probably obviously, is Zach's coat. Red thing #2 is one of the several dumpsters we've had in the driveway collecting debris from our basement reconstruction project. I love that the snow sits on the hood in almost the same pattern as it does on the dumpster.

Candy Craft

2011-01-19T22:10:00.001-05:00

Zach really got into this craft project. Started with a kit from IKEA which was quite tasty, before we covered it with nasty Betty Crocker frosting.

Ice

2011-01-17T22:13:00.000-05:00

Before we were inundated with snow, there was ice. Those are air bubbles, looking a bit like frozen fireworks.

Zach was highly fascinated by the invitation to walk on the frozen lake, not to mention the couple kids playing hockey.

He watches a lot of Caillou, which is a Canadian import. While highly annoying, it has taught him about hockey, taboggans (though strangely, no curling). And, most importantly, about Zamboni trucks - so of course he wanted to know why there wasn't one on the lake.

Zach vs. snow

2011-01-16T23:56:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year when we measure by the foot. Screw inches, those are lame.

Zach has been having a blast doing all things snow - shoveling, licking, climbing, sledding. He really likes Josh's new gadget, the Snow Brum, for clearing high-volume snow off of cars.

And it's helpful that he wears red, as I might otherwise loose track of him. Snow exploration is one of the few activities that he will do on his own.

PS: In between continuing to try and move into the new house, shopping for a new bed and all its various parts, taking care of a 2-year-old, life, etc., I have a few abandoned photos from the last few months. In the shuffle, I'd lost my mini USB cord and was unable to get those photos from the camera to my computer. Till yesterday, when I found it in my underwear drawer. God only knows how it got there.

Turkey Day, Turkey Leg

2010-12-10T21:32:00.002-05:00

Leaves before they fell on the lawn

2010-11-12T22:48:00.003-05:00

Pretty dogwood trees, but damn there were/are a lot of leaves out here. 30 leaf bags so far, more tomorrow.

Leaves in the lawn

2010-11-11T14:41:00.002-05:00

Hairdo

2010-10-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

Daddy Chain

2010-10-23T22:19:00.000-04:00

Josh & Zach

2010-10-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

From the summer.

Topsfield Fair 2010

2010-10-17T22:50:00.002-04:00

Somehow, Maya got put in charge of the kettle corn.

"Fishing"

2010-10-15T23:33:00.002-04:00

Making French Toast

2010-10-11T22:59:00.002-04:00

Zach, Jeni, in pjs, in Grandma's kitchen.

Alyssa, amused

2010-09-29T23:13:00.002-04:00

Raspberries

2010-09-28T22:46:00.002-04:00

Tatoo

2010-09-27T21:53:00.001-04:00

Sunflower again

2010-09-23T21:53:00.001-04:00

Packing. Fail.

2010-08-29T22:28:00.003-04:00

Well, they actually did help me empty out a linen drawer into the box, but only after crawling around in the box for quite a while.

Nap

2010-08-27T23:25:00.001-04:00

Dirty Window

2010-08-24T23:51:00.001-04:00

First S'mores

2010-08-21T22:15:00.002-04:00

For both Zach and Ryan. They even got to hold their own marshmallow sticks and didn't catch fire (them or their marshmallows, that is).

The Basin

2010-08-18T23:40:00.003-04:00

Very strange rocks. This place is about a 5 minute walk from i-93 in Franconia Notch. Yet Josh and I managed to become separated from each other for about an hour due to poor senses of direction and no working cell phones. Good thing we didn't have anywhere to be in a hurry.

I also have pictures I took here with a film camera several years ago. Now that I'm looking at them, they seem to be identical to my new ones. Hm.

Lilia's Hair

2010-08-16T23:46:00.003-04:00

Sunglasses

2010-08-04T22:35:00.003-04:00

Yes, the kids are using flashlights as microphones. Heavens knows why they even know what microphones are.

Harborscapes

2010-08-03T21:50:00.003-04:00

Featuring Sharona's giant lens once again, a few big clouds, and some strangers in a dinghy.

Fort, flashlight, camera

2010-08-02T22:55:00.004-04:00

Took the Boston harbor speed ferry out to George's Island this past weekend, where a fort was erected from which to blow up ships during the civil war. The interior is surprisingly dark. Gory history aside, it's a spiffy place to take kids, flashlights (thanks, Alyssa) and cameras.

Check out Sharona's lens (way bigger than mine):

Sarah not posing

2010-07-31T23:38:00.004-04:00

My nieces (and their mom) paid us a visit last week. Sarah, who's 4, is usually set on goofy poses when she spies a camera, a la the 2nd ridiculous picture. So this was a surprise, and maybe just a bit extra serious.

Cat tail

2010-07-29T23:04:00.001-04:00

Candy Bracelet

2010-07-24T16:14:00.002-04:00

Like crack for a first-time 2-year-old.

Zach & Grandma Estee

2010-07-22T23:36:00.002-04:00

Smirk

2010-07-17T23:07:00.002-04:00

Facial expression credit goes to Terry. I have no idea what he was doing, but Zach found it amusing.

Foot

2010-07-13T21:51:00.002-04:00

Painting

2010-07-12T21:30:00.002-04:00

First Mojito

2010-07-11T21:38:00.002-04:00

Ok, yes, it's a virgin mojito.

Being on vacation (off work for a week, anyhow), I thought it my prerogative to mix myself a mojito with lunch, seeing as we had all the ingredients on hand. Zach insisted that I let him have some.

"No, it's for grownups."

"Why?"

"It has alcohol in it, it'll make you fall over."

"Why?"

I had no better answer so to get him to quiet I offered him a lick from my finger. Instead of disgust, he proclaimed, "I like alcohol!" Then, after some consideration while I went off to squeeze another lime, "but I don't want to fall over."

More 4th - Parade

2010-07-10T22:32:00.001-04:00

Sarah, from behind (above) and Zach with his cousins, Sydney and Sarah (below) after the Annapolis Independence Day parade.

Of course, this is how Zach watched most of the parade, except during a couple of the marching bands, when he dropped his hands to listen:

This was followed by staying up late to watch fireworks with massive sound-blocking headphones, insisting that Uncle Tim held him through the entire show while he looked the other way. But now, it's all he talks about, e.g. "Hi Ryan. I saw fireworks!"

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T09:12:00.001-04:00

First Organ Shop tour

2010-06-27T21:29:00.002-04:00

My father's shop had their largest piece ever ready to ship out (to Wisconsin), and only partially assembled as it was just too big to fit in the large assembly area. Decided this was a good reason to get Zach up there for his first tour; he was duly impressed, though he did not like the Vox Humana pipes - thought they sounded like chickens, which of course, are scary. And was a bit disappointed that he was not allowed to climb the high ladder to the upper decks.

Pink

2010-06-17T21:32:00.000-04:00

Peas!

2010-06-16T21:40:00.001-04:00

Salem Willows in the rain

2010-06-14T21:25:00.004-04:00

As seen from the railing on the pier (set up by Josh) between downpours, chop suey sandwiches, a semi-functional high-speed merry-go-round, and a singing monkey machine. Meg and Yash head south to DC next week on new adventures, good luck!

Gloucester Pier

2010-06-09T23:06:00.003-04:00

Bus Test Drive

2010-06-08T22:59:00.005-04:00

At the "Touch a Truck" event in Charlestown last Sunday. A simple, brilliant concept: gather a bunch of cool trucks into one parking lot and open it up for kids to crawl around on them.

What we didn't account for is how Zach would react to a parking lot full of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks in which an unspecified number of children might be allowed to push siren buttons. That is, with much whining and clinging. He didn't even want us to put him into the bucket on the bucket truck, sit on the cement mixer, or explore much other than the back of the UPS truck and the free samples from the ice cream truck.