Camping on Lake Ontario

This past weekend, we decided it was high time to try a family camping trip.  Calvin had camped out in the backyard with the boys and they had done well, and were excited about sleeping in the tent again.  So we headed up to Hamlin Beach State Park, which is not too far away, right on Lake Ontario.  We arrived around dinnertime, only to realize that our stove had not made the trip with us.  We evaluated our options and decided to try cooking on a fire.  Calvin took the firewood to the site to start a fire and I took the kids to check out the playground near the store. 

Our home away from home, with dinner cooking on the fire. 

Hey, your carrot stick looks better than my carrot stick!

Family portrait:

Roasting marshmallows; Brian LOVED this!

The next morning we went to the lake for some playing in the sand, and of course, fishing (not that there were any fish to be had).  We took a lot of pictures. 

Aaaaaaaaaand…

…throw!

I have a lot of pictures of Brian like this throughout his life. 

Playing together. 

Yay!

 

Brian out on the fishing pier:

Then it was time to visit another playground; check out the static hair!

Followed by a nature hike on the least well-interpreted nature trail ever.  Hikes, of course, end like this:

Tired little legs being hauled by parent power.  Eli and I rested in the tent, while Brian and Calvin shared an ice pop that he is still talking about.  (“Mom, I want a white blue red.”  Took me a while to figure out what on earth he was talking about.)

A lot of reading took place that afternoon as we tried to decide what to do next. 

And a tired Brian lay down in my lap.  He’s not tired, he insists, he just wants to look at the “bea-YOU-tee-ful” sky. 

Finally, we went to the lake to go swimming.  I took each of the boys in twice, and Calvin stayed with the other one on the shore.  There was lots of playing in very wet sand, and lots of splashing in the water. 

After cleaning off the slime of Lake Ontario, we drove in to Hamlin for a yummy pizza dinner.  This was much better than the plan of noodles with old pesto sauce and leftover beet salad, so in the end, not having the stove was a good thing.  We stuck to cooking the fun stuff, like more marshmallows:

And Calvin snapped some very flattering pictures.  I am exhausted just writing this, BUT WAIT!  There’s more!  We went back to the beach AGAIN, to enjoy the twilight and try to get in some more fishing.  I put the kids on a lifeguard stand to get a cute picture, because how could I not?  Look!

Then we set off to find Calvin and enjoy the sunset. 

Finally, it was bedtime.  Whew!

The kids, of course, were early risers.  It was a struggle to keep them quiet till 7am when quiet hours ended.  Breakfast at the campsite; granola and yogurt, the only thing missing was a cup of hot coffee!

The, since we lucked out and it wasn’t raining (as had been predicted), we set off to the beach one last time.  And by the beach, I mean, of course, the playground at the beach.  Can you believe we had the whole thing to ourselves at 7 in the morning?  Where was everyone?

 

It took Eli a while but he really warmed up to the tunnels. 

The photographer at work:

When it was time to leave, Eli cried and cried and cried.  Finally, it was Brian holding his hand that calmed him down.  “Don’t worry, Eli”, he said.  “We’ll go camping again soon.”

(That might not be what he is saying in this picture though, because it looks like he is talking about something tiny.)  Great time in the great outdoors, we may be trying it again very soon before the summer ends!

SeaBreeze 2011

Last weekend was the annual picnic at SeaBreeze, we went on the kiddie rides first. Here they are on the boats. Not too exciting for Eli, at least. Brian on the other hand liked all of the rides.

Brian was pretty excited about the cars, here he is waving to Eli in the yellow car. Eli wasn't too excited to be in the car either.

Finally, the turtle-coaster was the hit for both of them. Eli loved it! Miles of smiles...

Mom and Brian on the teacup ride - Brian loved them all. We spent the afternoon in the waterpark. It started pouring rain soon after we got in the water so we all got drenched - in our swimsuits! The lines were short during the rain, so Brian got a lot of good waterslide runs in. No lost keys, no meltdowns, so all in all, a success!

The things they say, age 4

Today in the car Brian was telling me all the rules for Disneyland.  As best as I remember:

“Rule number one: No food and drinks, because then you get crumbs everywhere.

Rule number two: No pushing or hitting people.

Rule three: No bombs [?!?!?]

Rule four: No dumping dirty water on people’s heads.

And that’s all the rules.”

This is Brian with his flower.  He is always picking flowers (clover) for me, so one time I picked him this red clover while we were out walking.  He was riding his trike and carried this carefully back the whole way, riding with one hand, and as soon as we got home, he ran inside, filled this container (an empty ricotta container) with water, and gave his flower some water.  It was so sweet!

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(In the car) Eli: “Brudder?  Cool car?”

Brian: “Yep, Eli, there’s lots of cool cars in this town.  And some not cool ones.  Like old cars.  And crashed cars.”

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Brian (out of the blue): “I hope I’m not allergic to Eli.”

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And a bonus Eli moment:

Eli woke up, got Brian’s teddy and announced “Teddy breakfast.”  He brought him to the high chair and put on a bib.  I asked him, “What does teddy want for breakfast?”  “Chicken” he replies.  Good choice for a bear’s breakfast, I guess!  So I gave him a bowl and spoon so he could feed the bear.  So cute!  Brian wanted in on the action too, so he is giving puppy a bowl of water.  Monkey see, monkey do is the rule around here and it goes both ways!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Today you are 4 years old.  Old enough to know your age, as well as how old you were, and how old you will be.  Given free reign of the breakfast menu, you chose waffles.  You were going to help make them, but wandered off to play, then wondered why you hadn’t gotten to help make them.  While we were eating, you wondered why Daddy wasn’t up yet… you are getting used to having him around on weekends, which is a bit of a novelty!  We went to a playgroup and had a blast with new friends and old friends too.  You were even surprised with little cupcakes!

You had so much fun this morning that you passed out (along with Eli) on the way home. 

It was incredibly adorable. 

I said you could have whatever you wanted for dinner, too.  “Anything at all, like…” I was going to finish with “pizza” but you were clearly thinking faster than I was and shouted “parsnips!”  I think this was more a think-of-the-weirdest-food-you-can-name thing, and not something you actually wanted.  Later you told me you wanted “China food”, so we got takeout.  You got the best fortune: To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.

We took a family picture:

It reminded me of this.

Then we went out for ice cream, yay!

The sign was generically perfect; you announced, “Yup, they know I’m the birthday boy!”  So we forced you to take a picture.  Sorry, but it was too cute to pass up. 

We spent the rest of the evening eating raspberries right off the bushes until it was time for bed.  Happy Birthday to our bright, funny, sweet little boy!  You are the world to us!

The Blue Angels

A big air show was in town this past weekend.  We had seen the Blue Angels practicing all week and I thought Brian might like it.  But he told me he didn’t want to see an air show, he thought a water show was much better, like the one at Disneyland.  I guess calling it an airPLANE show would make more sense to a 3-year old.  Anyway, I took him on Sunday, but not to the real show, just to park on the street by the airport like everyone else in Rochester. 

Kind of a “poor man’s air show”; I love the people in the pickup with lawn chairs and an umbrella.  Beats paying $20 to go in, where there is no shade, no food, no drinks, no backpacks, etc.  This plane flew right over us; it was pretty awesome!  Brian was busy with a freezer pop.  He’d never had one before and struggled to figure it out.  A lot ended up on the ground. 

We ran into some friends who had suggested this spot and sat with them in what little shade we could find. 

I love the Blue Angels so please indulge a few of the pictures I snapped:

I think Brian was overwhelmed by the noise; he was a little bit crazy, but he did have a good time. 

Here’s the proof:

He slept for almost 2 hours afterwards.  :)

County Fair

We went to the Monroe county fair this past weekend, and while by all accounts it was kind of a bust, involving one major tantrum, and two hot, tired, cranky kids, looking back I think it wasn’t all that bad.  Like the state fair, we saw some animals…

…rode a horse (no, not really)…

…looked at lots of plants…

…(mom, I’m sooo bored of these hostas)…

…but then we found some COOL ROBOTS!

And TRACTORS! 

And all was well again.  (Until we tried to leave without riding the $5 rides…)

A walk in the woods

One of our favorite things to do down in Delaware (aside from the beach, of course) is going hiking in White Clay Creek State Park.  It’s very close to my parents’ house and has a nice, wide trail that goes along a creek.  We find beaver dams and in the past we have seen ducks, but this time the only wildlife we saw was the tiny kind.

 

There were lots of beautiful dragonflies!

Hiking with Auntie Denise, he says, “Auntie Denise, I love you.”

The main attraction is where the trail gets close enough that we can go on the riverbank, and throw rocks.  Oh, we could spend hours doing this!  Eli is getting in on the action now too. 

He yells, “Big rock!  Splash!”  He went splash too one time.  Oops.  Oh, Auntie Denise, I see you on your iPhone!  Busted!

But to be fair, Auntie Denise is the one who found the fish and pointed them out to the kids.  They were tiny but we could see them!  Finally we turn around and head back to the car.  The kids were exhausted even though it was mid morning and this was how we left the park:

These kids are getting too HEAVY for this!