Bubbe & PopPop visit

With one parent retired and one more retirement on the horizon, we are starting to taste what life would be like with more visits from Bubbe and PopPop.  They came into town 6/24, then went to celebrate their anniversary (36th) in NYC for a few days, and then hung out some more before heading to Boston for a visit.  Given that we are on the way home (95S) they gave us one more visit on their way back (7/9).  

Here is the Bubs reading to Mia.  When choosing who should read her bedtime books, Mia chose Bubbe a lot.  She also was caught sitting in Bubbe's lap at one point and has been off lap sitting at night for awhile.  (I like to think it is the hot weather, only time [and Autumn] will tell).

PopPop was also a hit in the reading department:

Since my dad has expressed such an interest in gardening, the first thing we did with Bubbe/PopPop was showed them our community garden plot and plant some stuff since we didn't have time the weekend before, which still a move-heavy weekend.

Here is my mom doing "itsy bitsy spider" for Gavin because that is his new favorite thing.  

                                      

Here are some of Mia and Gavin having a great time cooling off in the pool together.  Despite the hair pulling (Gavin!) and the toy snatching (Mia!), they really do play well together for the most part and can have the most contagious laughter I have ever known to exist (mostly by Mia imitating Gavin's vocalizations).  

                                     

                                                   

                                                   

How cute is that?  I mean, what a great evolutionary strategy to keep us protecting them despite all the lack of sleep, whining, fussing, biting etc that can go on in a household with 2 under 5 yrs.  It is so effective!

Here are "the boys" planting our garden:

Eggplantito as we refer to him

The garden by night (the emptiness was later filled by some green beans).

Oh to be young and nude again in public.  That kind of thing will getcha arrested if you can't still figure out your age in months!

Itsy Bitsy Spider again

Later, we took them to one of Highlands claims to fame, the Twin Lights (thanks and props to Dave for taking two pictures and then going through the trouble of stitching them together on some random software late at night for me).  We never made it inside because they open at 10am and we were there at 9:30am and didn't feel like waiting.   

We visited the ocean (Sandy Hook):

and the bay (Popamora Point, seen below where the Henry Hudson bike trail begins):

before we went swimming, we rode the bike trail a bit:

Then we went in:

Of course we didn't bring our camera but there was a sandbar about 0.25mi away from the shore that was walkable (it never got to deep).  It was so cool to be surrounded by water but dry and brought back memories of growing up in Miami.  We went with Mia (via an inflatable boat) and were actually able to lie down in one area that had NO water, only wet sand.  There were little jelly fish though so we had to keep vigilant on the walks to/from.

 Here is Gavin passed out bayside.

 One of the perks of having parents in town?  They babysit (for Dave's b-day present) so we could have a long-overdue date night. 

We went (walked!) to Highland's City Tap House.

We also celebrated Father's day for my dad, a little bit late but at least in person, by going to Laura's pancake house down the road.  I didn't bring my camera but we took some pictures with my mom/dads so stay tuned for those (I will update this post).  

If anything is captured on camera during our brief 7/9 visit with the 'rents, I will update here.

First trip to Sandy Hook Beach

Our first weekend after my first week of work and the kids' first week in daycare we decided to go to Sandy Hook, which is a strip of land (national park) that starts in Highlands, NJ and extends 7-8 miles north and then a bit west towards NYC.  We are so happy to finally spend time together as a family on the weekends.

Since it is only 1 mile from home, we tried out the new-used bike trailer

Here I am biking over the Rt 36 Bridge (see the ocean?), this is the same route I run in the mornings, which is breathtaking to wake up to, even if it is 5:30am (Gaaaavin!)

Here is Mia when we first arrived, beside herself with excitement

I couldn't choose which picture best captured her enthusiasm and love for the beach. . .

. . .so I didn't.

Mia leaves footprints. . . 

Gavin leaves hand/knee prints :)

Getting ready to build a castle with mommy

Can't take credit for this one though; this is daddy and Mia's.

We had a great time at the beach and learned an important lesson:  never turn your back on the ocean.  While mommy was situating Gavin in his floaty, a big wave crashed on us and he got pushed out of his floaty and tumbled underwater for longer than I'd care to remember.  Panicked, I grabbed him expecting to do CPR or something.  He didn't even cough water up and was just a bit shaken up (most likely less than I was).  Although we found sand in his ears for days to come (Dave calls it his ocean neti pot), this is a lot better of an outcome than I dare to imagine.  We keep going to the beach and slowly his fear/hesitation dissipates.  Sorry little buddy!

Monster Truck Jam father's day and Dave's 32nd birthday

"SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY!"

Well it was June 9th, a week early for father's day but knowing we'd be in the throws of moving I wanted to make sure Dave's special day didn't get lost in the craziness that would be our life during that time.  It was a total surprise to Dave, he thought we were going to Philly's beer week celebrations, something he probably would have also liked.  The thought for doing a monster truck jam is 2-fold:  my brother and dad went when I was young and being the tom girl I was, I was so jealous. . . and Matt didn't even want to go, but whatever male bonding I guess.  Speaking of which, with all of Mia and my manicures and tea times together, Dave kept saying that when Gavin grows up he is going to go to a Monster Truck Jam just the two of them.  Well, Mr. Gavin will never remember this day (despite his being wide awake the whole time to my surprise [it started at his bedtime]) but I assure you we all had a great time.  Well except for that 15 minute walk up the meandering ramp to the poor people seats with a baby in a carrier, preschooler in one hand, Dippin' dots in the other hand, and Dave holding two beers.  Other than that, it was amazing and loud!  Glad we brought headphones and pink (to convince Mia to wear them) ear plugs.  Mia liked the Medusa truck (the only one driven by a woman) that unfortunately crashed early on.  And, of course, Grave Digger won and it was his 25th anniversary of a career that started in Philly so that was neat.  Here are some pictures:

The arena

 Gavin, mommy, paci and lovie. . . still wide awake at 7:30pm

 Mia and daddy take their automotive competitions seriously!

The whole family :)

Who says beauty can't be found at a monster truck jam?  Look at that sunset!

So late was it that Mia got hungry towards the end and given our choices ($15 cotton candy) the fries seemed the most reasonable and here is photographic proof that you can't keep child #2 healthy for as long as child #1 (sorry Gavin, first french fry at the tender age of one).  hahaha he'll live!

So this was June 9th, we moved in June 15th, then daddy's birthday on June 17th was a small celebration at a Freezi-yo in a strip mall down the road before my first day of work June 18th.  

An ice cream  lover. 

The boys (32 and 1)

moving: Philly-->Highlands, NJ

                                   

Just like a fairy tail, the third time is a charm:  The first house was too big, the second house was too late and the third house was just right.  More detail you ask?  Well the first house was on 3 acres (in Marlboro, NJ) but this came with an important caveat that was way under emphasized during our visits. The owner of the home also owned a landscaping company and they said the workers picked up the equipment, which was stored on the property at 8-8:30am and 4-4:30pm.  Although odd we figured this was okay until we found out this was not all and strange men were still roaming the property at 6pm when we visited once.  Furthermore, the son even lived in the office/garage/efficiency with his 2 year old!!  Information we should have had much before we were ready to sign.   The next house was in Atlantic Highlands, NJ and we really liked it but the landlord said it wouldn't be ready for move in until June 26th despite advertising a move in ready date of May 1st!  We even extended to her that she could take until 6/26 to get her stuff out but that we needed to move in June 15th.  Not only was this not good enough for her but Dave found her curmudgeonly and it just didn't feel right.  So unfortunately, our first visit to and move in date at 50 Valley St. Highlands, NJ were rather close together.  Furthermore, Dave had to visit on his own while I was at work finishing things up at Monell.  Here are a couple of pictures from Dave's visit:

The wood stove and cute bookshelf in yellow

Here you can see the yellow book shelf again, another set of bookshelves and some of our landlord's (Arnie) custom made twig shutters (http://twig-shutters.com/index.html).  Oh, see that huge TV?  He told us that has to stay, he can't move it.  Although worried at first given that we don't watch TV much, it has been fun to watch movies on occasion on such a big screen.  

Here is the staircase to the 3 bedrooms and bathroom upstairs.  You can see the stained glass light at the bottom landing.  There are a lot of unique things like this to the house.  The window to the right of the picture is in the covered porch/sun room, which is an office that came with a beautiful and huge mahogany desk.

Moving in. . .

Boxes, boxes, boxes, it was quite an accomplishment to get that table up and uncover our couch.  Feeling like I had nowhere to sit down, for even a day, was too much!

Getting stuff on shelves, even if they are random (like bananas) for now.

Weekend in Maryland

FIRST WE STAYED THE NIGHT AT THE TILLERY'S

boy cousins

breakfast time with Aunt Gee Gee

just the guys again

mani/pedi

awww big cousin Trey is the best!

Great uncle Tommy makes me giggle

THEN WE WENT TO COLLEGE PARK, MD TO SEE POLLY AND ALEX

(not pictured:  a bike ride through the mud)

hence, bath buddies (before Gavin fell in)

TV time

Painting

artists, hard at work

here are the kids at the park ("stand close for a picture")

Swinging Gavin up close and personal

doing walking laps

so proud of being able to go under water (for a sec) like a big girl

Alex and Mia on tummies

after-swim snack (the boys)

say, "cheese er granola bar"!

me and Alex 

Polly and Alex

Mia and Mommy

Gavin and mommy