A Promising Picking Season

We went on our first fruit picking trip of the season and I am exciting about our picking prospects for the summer. We may actually go home with as much fruit as we picked... well that is if the fruit in our tummies doesn't digest before we get home. Last year there were some hard times with Abizella dumping giant buckets of blueberries that were lovingly picked by Superkid and I. Usually, lacking the strength to do anything more, I would gracefully bend over my 40 lb. belly and scoop up the berries, twig, rock assortment and bring it on home. They were still good times and I was reminded of the fun every time I pulled out a ziploc of berry grime from the freezer to sift through to make a treat. Tadpole is too young to carry a bucket of his own so no worries about berry dumping there. And it turns out he was really in his element at the farm. He LOVED crawling through the strawberry patch and foraging for his own food.

Why here comes my little strawberry enthusiast now...

Sampling some tasty berries...

Okay, so they weren't ALL tasty...

Tell us what you REALLY think J.

But that didn't keep us from sampling...

Good thing they don't make you weigh the kids on the way out...

And we did try to get some into the baskets too...

C.B. is a real task master... I'll have to have her come over and teach the kids how to apply their skills to toy picking (picking-up, that is).

Superkid is the veteran picker.

Wah-lah! She did it! (S.K. would be VERY impressed)

Yeah! We did it!

Loads of Grandparent Fun

As I mentioned, Grandpa B and Grandma S paid us a visit last weekend. We LOVE having our grandparents visit!

It never takes long for the kids to get reacquainted.

The first few years we lived here we went tot the USS Constitution a few times each year. Now it has been a few years since we have been. 

So we paid Old Iron Sides a visit

On one trip to the Constitution I remember a wimpy little boy who was too chicken to crawl down the ladders (which are admittedly steep). I was very pleased at my toad's bravery and agility.

I have a soft spots for lifeguards...

Of course we played at the beach!

And we couldn't get enough, so we went back the next day when Cousin Andie, HH and Boo came to play.

It was amazing how much cooler the water was only one day later. It was the first time I have been to the ocean with Boo that she wasn't in over her head in the first 3 seconds.

But there still was plenty of fun to be had in the sand.

Sand Goatee

Grandpa graciously offered to babysit so Grandma S and I could go for a shopping spree at Talbots.

And no trip is complete without a stop at the Barking Crab!

The last time we were here was with our other Grandma S the night before Tadpole was born! Now he is having his first bowl of chowdah (excuse me while I wipe away a tear).

Then we had to walk off our dinner to make room for Cold Stone...

Abizella is always very watchful of Tadpole...

Come again soon!!!

We Are All Busy!

Grandpa B and Grandma S (okay, so maybe I need to work on a better descriptor. All of our Grandma's are "Grandma S") came to visit for a long weekend. We worked really hard to get ready for the visit. Starting on our nails; Abizella knew I was busy, so she took care of her own...


And the lawn needed to be watered, we can thank our innovator Superkid for taking care of this chore...




While I was mucking out the kid's room, Abizella took breakfast preparations into her own hands...


We have decided to combine dishwashing and baths until further notice...


At times like these, it is important to be extra diligent and efficient with exercising. Abizella had the great idea of using "all four"...


Sometimes things get so crazy that Superkid is forced to do all of the bedtime reading for his sister...


We're so tired that we fall over dead asleep anywhere...

"Cut Me Mick"

I forgot to document Abizella's eyelid mosquito bite from our camping trip. I only wish I got the pic of her eye swollen shut; she looked like a scene straight out of Rocky.

She looked like quite the brute at nursery the next day.

Risk Benefit Analysis

First of all, something miraculous has happened; for the first time in the 7-year-long history of the Toads living in New England and saying good-bye to countless good friends, finally, someone has moved BACK! We used to live next door to the Bs in our last apartment. Ahhh the glory days, when S.K., C. B. and I would sit and chat for hours. I am so excited for the good times to come. I am going to have to come up with some good nick names for this crowd, because they are going to become regulars on the blog! I am already in love with their daughter, who they cruelly ripped from our arms 2 years ago this month when she was just 1 month old. Little J totally cracks me up, she reminds me a lot of Abizella. And the kids absolutely love her too!

We have had a little confusion on meeting places, but finally got it right this weekend when they joined us for some hot dogs on our camping trip.

Our dirty little muffs altogether...

I am going to take credit for coming up with the good idea to go camping last weekend, Pops was actually pretty easy to convince. As a parent, I am constantly finding myself doing the calculus of the benefit of a mess. For example, is it worth letting Tadpole dump all of the clean silverware on the floor so that I can empty the rest of the dishwasher and put in the next load? Of course. It is the old, "Two steps forward, one step back" analogy. But when it comes to camping I am not sure that model applies. Can I argue that I am really at least one step forward when the trip is all over and I have a mountain of laundry and junk to sort through? That is why I came up with the brilliant idea of just eating hot dogs and donuts on the trip. I told Pops we would keep it so simple we wouldn't even need a cooler (which we of course ended up bringing).

As we sat around the campfire before bedtime, Pops and I told Abizella and Superkid stories of when we were kids and went camping with our parents. Pops told the kids how all of his cousins would go camping together and his Grandma G. would make a mountain of whoopie pies for everyone. I told the kids how my parents used to take us camping in the pickup truck and we would all sleep together on the bed of the truck, I in my mistletoe-sized navy blue sleeping bag with a glow in the dark interior. I don't know how old I was on those trips, but I must have been pretty young (at least I am hoping) because my mom would pack my little potty because I was afraid of using the pit toilets. I actually remember being frozen in my tracks as my mom tried to coax me onto the big smelly pit. And then there were the good times too like how we used to keep the watermelon in the brook to keep it cool. It is actually the, "Fun of the Moment" and "Memory Making" variables that are left out of the equation above. When I told my Mom that we went camping this weekend, she told me how she always kept a box packed ready for the next adventure. She just had to pull it out and add the package of hot dogs. She didn't mention the heroic effort it must have been to take all of us phrogs camping. She just said how fun it was. I am convinced she is right. I hope I never forget the sound of Superkid and Abizella giggling as they raced back and forth in the tent instead of going to sleep. I am already plotting our next camp out! Just in case the kids don't have the great memory that I have, here are some pics for them to look back at.

I think Abizella ate 3 hot dogs, a girl after my own heart.

Here is Pops cooking up #3 for Abizella

Don't let the picture fool you, this was not Tadpole's best night of sleep ever.

Abizella may have gotten her mother's love for a good flame kissed dog, but his mother's love of hygiene is not lost on Superkid.

Tadpole gets the "Communing with Nature" award.

I'd do a mountain of laundry (oh wait, I already do) everyday to see this!