A day with Pop Pop.

We went back to the U-Pic blueberry farm in Hillsborough with Pop Pop and picked 6 quarts of organic blueberries. Clare ended up with about 4 berries in her bucket and 17 flowers for the fairy garden. Wesley had no berries in his bucket but plenty of fun wandering in the patch and making up games. When we got home I made some muffins from Vegan Brunch that tasted like they belonged in some fancy coffee shoppe. An added blueberry bonus: Clare pooped in the middle of the patch. Not in her pants. That girl is amazing, she can go anywhere!

We painted a few wooden things on the driveway for fun (secret birthday gifts for GiGi) after rest time. I got an added bonus when not only did both kids sleep during rest time, but they slept until 5 p.m.!

Pop Pop built a campfire and we roasted marshmallows. Before dinner of course! The kids loved this part and Clare can't wait to have more fires in Michigan. She declared that she wanted to teach her cousin Savannah all about roasting marshmallows. I hope her older cousin is very tolerant of her rock star status in Clare's eyes.

Wesley's rock star: Pop Pop. Each morning Pop Pop responds to Wesley's requests to get up at 5:30 a.m., 6 a.m. and most recently much closer to 7 a.m. He makes Wesley bacon and eggs for breakfast followed by some Kipies. They hang out until Clare gets up a bit later.

Today we are packing up all of our treasures to head to Michigan tomorrow. My grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and we are all going for a campy week at Pleasant Lake.

More vacation fun.

Instead of torturing some sleep deprived orthopaedist to put a new cast on Clare's arm we decided to come back to Boston. This morning the kids and I drove into the city and met up with Pop Pop at the Christmas Tree Shoppe. I took Clare at 1:15 to the Cambridge Health Alliance Orthopaedic department. We were seen quickly and I can't help but think that our stand out personality had something to do with it.

Clare and her 2 Little Mermaid dolls did great showing the staff her broken cast. She merrily sat on the exam table and even explained that she fell and it broke.

And then they turned on the saw that is really really loud but won't hurt her. Yeah. That part didn't go over so well. I managed to snap this picture of the horror just before the silent cry erupted and the entire building knew that somebody dressed in a princess ballerina costume in the cast room was not happy. From here I swooped in and 4 of us managed to pin her down while someone maneuvered the saw. They made two cuts in the plaster cast and a few moments later they turned off the dreadful thing. During this time I think I promised Clare the world as soon as it was over.
And then everything was okay. She let them put the cast on (fiberglass this time...still no waterproof or my secret hope: a splint) and even complained that they were getting her dress all wet. Instead of pink or purple she pulled a fast one and went for yellow.
Bright neon yellow with smiley faces on it.
And then I took her to Target to get her the world. Her choice: a new crown, earrings, necklace and ring set. I threw in a princess blanket for good measure and a cherry icee. We topped it off with a visit to GiGi's office dressed in full regalia. She was quite the star touring around with GiGi and managed to score twizzlers and stickers from other staff members.

I think I'll need a long vacation after this vacation just to recover from the drama.

Argh.

Clare's cast is breaking. That part between her thumb and my thumb. And it seems to be spreading. Looks like we are heading to the ER again or back to Boston.

Blueberry Hill

The kids took off running for the blueberry bushes as soon as we climbed out of the car. Clare beat him to the bushes but he didn't lag behind long.Wesley would screech "More booberry Mommy!" each time he found more berries (which happened a lot during our visit). He picked berries regardless of their color which resulted in some heavy bucket editing at the end. The fields were flanked with ponds and baby mountains in Hillsboro, NH. Cost per organic pick your own quart: $1.50Watching Clare pick berries made me kind of teary. She would hold back the branches with her good hand and pick with her dominant yet casted hand. Her speed suffered but she managed to get enough berries in her tummy for a full on berry belly ache.

At the end the woman looked at ALL of our berries and said "no charge." Huh? I asked her if she was kidding and she said no. I refused to leave without paying something so she said $1.50. I left $3, promised to come back and loaded the kids into the car. A great outing.
Next up: what to do with the berries? Spelt blueberry chocolate chip muffins for the birthday boy!

Birthday Boy at 6:30 AM

We had quite a day! Play at home, new Diego gizmos, birthday greetings from your sister when she woke up, birthday blueberry chocolate chip spelt muffins, the park, feeding the ducks, a trip to Starbucks, naps, blueberry picking and dinner out. Throw in a few hundred rounds of Old MacDonald and Happy Birthday to You, practically unlimited swinging pushes, and we can just about call it a day. Wesley, I hope you had as much fun as I did today.

Feeding the Birds

Such loving children. Feeding the ducks at the pond in Concord. Sharing english muffins, a shining sun, a joyful 2nd birthday, and gorgeous New Hampshire summer weather.

Such peaceful bliss.

Graceful coordinated tosses to the birds despite broken limbs. Baby ducklings.

But wait. What's that in front of Clare?Yes! The boy child slipping into the pond! Without a second outfit of any sort in the car 45 minutes from home.
Oh shit! My new pants from Wylie are all wet. And my shirt too!
Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha! I'm in a pickle now for sure...at least Mama brought a spare diaper.
Such fun! I think I'll do it again.
With vigor! Scaring the ducks away with my giant splashing and loud giggles.

After the park and pond adventure we headed to the local Goodwill. $2 later he had on a pair of navy wind pants and an Old Navy polo shirt. Phew.

Happy 2nd Birthday Wesley!

Happy 2nd Birthday Wesley! It's just you, Clare, and Mama in the woods today. We have a Diego themed day planned, perhaps a park visit, an exploring walk in the woods, cake, tattoos, lots of play, and extra special attention.

Retro Fun

25 cents at a church flea market brought these U.S. Navy Frogmen home with us yesterday. The bottoms are filled with baking powder and they are placed in a clear tub of water. "They swim, dive, and surface all by themselves!" So we loaded them up and watched the men go up and down the men go in an unpredictable manner that totally thrilled these two kids (and the grown ups too).

Saturday

Rock climbing after ice cream at the ice cream barn.

A little walking and exploring with GiGi.

Lots of yard sale treasure hunting this morning. They managed to find treasures at each sale we stopped at.

Cow gazing in ballerina attire.

A small medical check up midday. We all received a few check ups and are deemed healthy by the fairy princess doctor in residence. Her healing tool of choice: the sparkling silver magic wand.

A day.

We braved Lake Horace for about 15 minutes with the cast cover. We painted stegosaurus dinosaurs in the kitchen.We went to Weare to pick up a package that came in the mail (and one for Mommy too!).

We made paintings using things from nature as our paint brushes to explore texture and lines.

They really got into this and quickly went beyond the initial twigs we gathered for the project.

We caught bugs with our new bug catching gear and looked at them with magnifying glasses. We drew pictures of the bugs we found using markers and index cards so we could remember our finds after we released them back home.
We helped Pop Pop build a big fire so we could roast marshmallows after dinner in our pj's. This was probably the highlight of the day and they already requested that we do it again tonite!

See Ya.

Through the woods.

New Hampshire Trash

Found: One toddler powered car in a Concord trash pile. Found: One kiddie soccer goal in a Concord trash pile.

The car caused a bit of tantrum sharing issues yesterday but today they did much better. The soccer goal is a total hit and goes with their 50 cent soccer balls from our Saturday morning yard sale treasure hunt (the same one where I found a Coach bag for $2). Good stuff that made the afternoon better with goal dancing and cheering.

Fairy Gardens

During rest time my mom and I went for a drive to clock my mileage from yesterday's run. It then morphed into a ride to the produce stand, a stop at the garden market, and one yard sale. We came home excited with our yard sale finds (more on those later) and with our plan to create a fairy garden with the kids.

I wasn't sure how Clare would respond to the idea. We gave her 2 purple plants, 2 red plants, and one sunflower grouping. Her response: I've got shovels in the basement we can use to dig! So much for GiGi's plan to wait till morning. We got to work planting, gathering stones, collecting sticks, and planning the garden.

Somewhere in the process I lamented that I'd never done this as a kid with my mom but I caught myself and realized that I was getting a chance to do this with her...now. We all got into it, Clare collected fairy rocks (ones with sparkles) while GiGi planned the layout. When Wesley woke up he jumped right in wanting to gather and add to the garden. After a while we let them finish things up while we enjoyed wine on the deck. They had so much fun running around in the woods together and in the yard. I really enjoyed seeing them play together and just being outside.

The garden requires daily maintenance too...adding plants, watering, finding the fairies food, making the beds, and whatever else she dreams up. All in all a very inexpensive creative project for all of us far away from the water.

New Hampshire Weekend

Pop Pop cut walking sticks for both kids. They enjoy trips up and down the hill looking for Pop Pop at various points during the day. Double points to Pop Pop for coming up with a water/sand free activity!

Gigi takes the kids to feed the chipmunks every day. They scatter seeds and then watch the chipmunks come out to play.

The doggies used to be a great play option until Wesley had a bit too much fun. Now we are going with the 'no touch' policy to ensure that we call can live together assault free in peace.

We picked up this Mc Donald's play center which entertains and entertains. They make french fries, ice cream, use rocks for change, and feed us all of our meals. The center cost $5 and we got it from a house on the side of the road between here and Concord.

So far no water play. The magic glove is too big for Clare's arm and won't seal. Until we figure out a waterproof/water safe system I am keeping the girl far away from the lake. I think I'll take her to a real McDonald's for a mother/daughter date while Gigi and Pop Pop take Wesley down to the lake for some fun.