Things they say

Two men in suits walked into the YMCA lobby where we were having a snack.  Brian whispers, “Mom, are they the president?”

Hiking in the woods, Brian (our self-appointed line leader) tells us we are going to continue for 0.4 miles.  He also tells me his teachers called him a GPS.  Can’t imagine why…

I asked Eli what he wanted for breakfast and he said “cinnamon.”  On applesauce?  In oatmeal?  I asked.  “No, mama, no.  Cinnamon.”  He knows what he wants!

Eli saw a school bus (this is big excitement in our car) and said “Bus!  Bus!”  Brian and I had already seen it, so I told Eli we’d seen it already, that was the bus we were talking about.  Brian said “Yeah Eli, I already saw that bus waaaaaay back in the 1480s.”

Brian told me, “When I get big, I think I’d like to have a job.”  Good, I say, most people do.  What kind of job?  “I’m going to work at the hospital like daddy.  At the same hospital with daddy.”  A doctor, I ask?  “Yes, I’m going to fix broken bones too, we can work together!”

Eli's first day of school

Then on Tuesday, Eli started preschool at the Y too! He is doing the same 2x2 program that Brian did when he was two. Eli just barely makes the cutoff and is probably one of the younger kids in the class. He was very excited to go!

He was not very excited to pose for this picture.

Eli knew where he was going already; he was not nervous like a lot of the other kids.

He's a preschool pro, having followed Brian to school all last year. He found some toy cars right away and got to work! We know 2 of his teachers from when Brian was in the class, and they were happy to see the boys again.

By all accounts he is doing great so far! I've had 3 people tell me they checked on him and he was doing great, so it must be true. It's nice having a network of spies there! In the afternoon, after dropping off Brian at his school today, I told Eli we were going home for a nap, and he said "No mama! No nap! School!" I'm glad that he's enjoying it so much already!

Brian's first day of school

Monday was Brian's first day of preschool!

This year he has school at Camp Arrowhead, which is part of the YMCA, but has the advantage of a lot of outdoor space compared to the Y where he has been doing school.

The classroom is full of fun things, including a pet hermit crab!

His class is small, just 8 kids, all boys. They all headed straight for the play kitchen (Eli too!)

So far Brian is really having a good time at his new school. Having school every day in the afternoon has been a bit tiring for everyone, but hopefully we'll adjust and sleep more at night (haha)!

Rehoboth Beach, take 2

This week, Calvin is on vacation, so we are down in Delaware for another visit to the beach!  The weather forecast looked grim, but fortunately we had a couple of nice days before retreating north today.  We went to the beach right away when we arrived on Sunday, thinking it might be our only chance!

Eli loved walking on the “mountain”, and Brian worked on some kind of wall/moat system that I don’t know the details about. 

The wind was brisk, so we took the kite out for a spin after dinner.

Eli got a turn too!

Monday morning, still no storm!  So we were back at the beach where I got a picture before my camera batteries bit the dust. 

The rain finally came, so Tuesday was a day to visit the library, walk around town (sans kids, who were at the library), and visit the Dogfish head brewery.  It was supposed to rain all week, but lo and behold, Wednesday morning was bright and sunny again, so off we went!

Run, run!

Playing with the beloved sand toys – the jeep and bulldozer. 

Running to get water, dark clouds always on the horizon. 

Fun with Papa in the water. 

The guys working hard on a construction project. 

Family picture!

In the afternoon we went to Cape Henlopen state park, where we visited the nature center, and Fort Miles, a WWII fort. 

Petting a horseshoe crab

Eli in a bunker (he is saying “cheese” rather unhappily). 

Climbing on the enormous guns

Oh, that smile!

The end of a hike, with some tired kiddos.  And the end of our beach vacation, a good time was had by all!

Camping in the Adirondacks

Since camping went so well last weekend, we decided to do it again this weekend.  After all, there are not many summer weekends left!  We went to Limekiln lake in the Adirondacks this time, a 3.5 hour drive into uncharted territory.  Traffic delays added to the long drive time, and by the time we got there, we had to hurry to make camp and cook dinner. 

We remembered the stove this time!  And I got all fancy and made real food: shrimp and veggie shish-kebabs, corn on the cob, and noodles.  Then it was time to go explore the giant rock in the campsite!

The kids ate almost nothing but still had the energy to bounce around the tent at bedtime like it was a bounce house. I guess sitting in the car is not all that tiring! We resolved to wear them out the next day.

Brian got an early start on that plan.  He’s our early riser.  “The birds are telling us it’s time to get up,”  he says.  We got dressed and snuck out to let the other two sleep a bit longer; Eli is not so good at tent sleeping.  He has a tendency to end up on the ground with no pillow or covers.  Anyway, I managed to make a small fire to warm up with, and then Brian and I went for a walk before breakfast.  It was beautiful to see the mist on the lake!  After breakfast, Brian enthusiastically helped with the dishes.  Eli wandered off, and we realized that without the crocs, he is pretty well camouflaged! 

The campground had a canoe rental place, so we went to rent a canoe for the day.  The kids were not happy to find that they had to sit on the floor; they wanted to sit on the seats.  Eli was so unhappy about it, in fact, that he started sobbing hysterically a short way out.  We decided to return to land and he played happily on the shore with Calvin while Brian and I went out.  It was a picture-perfect day on the lake and on the beach!

After lunch, I stayed with Eli to take a “nap” while Calvin and Brian went on a hike.  They found raspberries, saw a family of deer, and went wading in the lake.  I lay down in a tent while Eli hit me on the head and said “Wake up, mama!”  Hmmm.  I got the short end of that stick. 

So I put Eli in the car, went off to find the others and we all drove into Inlet, the nearby town.  Eli passed out (of course), and Calvin stayed with him while Brian and I had gelato and went exploring.  We found a lovely beach that had, of all things, a pirate ship!  Brian had the best time playing on the ship.  We also found a playground on the way back to see how the others were doing.  It was a great little town!

Back at the car, we grabbed the swimsuits and the rest of the family, and headed back to the beach.  Calvin and Brian are in the middle of this picture.  I forgot my swimsuit (D’OH!), so I got to stay on dry land. 

Brian about to jump off the little dock.  Apparently he didn’t like it much.  But they had fun out in the lake, while Eli and I played on the pirate ship and in the sand. 

Eli was saying hi to the people below deck, quite literally. Of course he wandered off when I tried to video it, but I re-focused him.

Just some shots of Eli in the ship, playing with the sand, Brian and Calvin out on the pier, building a sand castle, more sand fun, and a tiny shot of the town of Inlet.  We had a great afternoon there!

Fancy dinner number 2: salmon, rice-in-a-bag, potato salad, and some pizza we got the kids that they didn’t eat.  Unfortunately, Brian was much too busy playing with the bear locker to bother with dinner.  After dinner, Brian and I went out for another paddle around the lake.  Then, we made smores and the kids loved it (of course).  Needless to say, they went down without a fight that day!  We enjoyed a nice, quiet fire. 

Sunday morning we decided to try all going out on the lake again, since we had the canoe till 9am.  The plan of attack: I paddled while Calvin sat with Eli.  Brian had to sit on the floor in this plan, so this time around he sulked the whole way.  Darkening skies and the rumble of thunder sent us back to the shore quickly, and we packed up the site in a hurry.  Brian really wanted to go back to the playground, so even though it was wet, we headed over there to play for a while and have lunch. 

Goodbye, Adirondacks, our trip was too short!

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!