Pops' Quiz

Pops gave me a Pop Quiz when I got home tonight:

Which of these things did Lil' Chief do today?
A) Climb up onto the table and knock over the vase of beautiful yellow roses sending shards of crystal everywhere.
*Certainly a baby can't push out a chair, hoist himself on a chair and scamper onto the table*
B) Grab a brown marker and scribble all over himself and then all over the couch.
*Like that has EVER happened before... at least not with brown*
C) Dump a Slurpee all over himself and the car seat.
*Surely no one would give a one year old their own Slurpee to wield in their car seat*
D)All of the Above

The Haunted House…

I was helping Pops with dinner when Tadpole casually walked in and said, “Hey Mom, if you need me I’ll be in your room.” Then sauntered out of the kitchen. Not a minute later I heard the most eerie howling sound behind me. The little hairs on my arms stood on end. My blood turned cold. I slowly turned around to see this apparition float through the room…


After scaring the ghost away with my shrill screams, Tadpole dashed back into the room to see what all of the commotion was about. I asked him if he saw the ghost. He said, “Ya, I passed him in the hallway.” Ghosts obviously don’t spook him. I don’t know where he gets his nerves of steel.

Birthday Girl

The only person more excited for my birthday than ME was TADPOLE. Everyday after work (for months) he has greeted me at the door with this blue box with some treasure inside carefully wrapped with his favorite silky blanket. Sometimes he even springs out of bed and brings it to me first thing in the morning. After so kindly offering me my birthday gift, he often asks me to share my birthday presents on my birthday. Boy was he ever disappointed that I got shoes!
Abizella took me on a shopping spree for my birthday. I definitely hope this becomes a tradition. She was super cute, insisting that I give her a fashion show at every store and grabbing all sorts of fun ensembles to don. She was also good to let all of the sales ladies know it was my birthday so I could get all of the special treatment. After the girl fun, we spun home to grab the boys for a dinner date and MORE SHOPPING!

On my actual birthday not only did I get an *afternoon nap*, a delicious grilled dinner, and Cold Stone cake... but also a trip to the beach!
It was heaven... Even if Superkid took a couple of spills off of his little island and got some "barnacle bites". Where does the kid come up with this stuff?
Tadpole practiced his "Baywatch" montage...
Superkid took me to "Look-Out Rock" for the best view of the beach. He has been talking about taking me there for my birthday all week.
Lil' Chief just ran his little legs off...
While Abizella just swam and swam with the mermaids...
I asked a sweet little old lady who was passing by to take a birthday picture for us. She asked how old I was and when I told her I was 36 she responded, "Why, you're an OLD LADY!" and then laughed her head off. I did too. Love the last 36 years. I wouldn't give any one of them back.
Thanks for all the birthday fun Toads!

Tough Guy

Don't let his tough guy exterior fool you...

Inside Tadpole is all soft and gushy pudding and cream. Especially when it comes time to squeeze lemons for his baby “Orange Blossom’s” lemonade tea party.

Texas

I had this awful dream last night. It was about Texas. I don’t know if you have noticed, but there has been a gold-rush going on down there. During the daytime I am assured of its roomy, inexpensive, luxurious living. During the night I try to deamonize it. You see, I am bitter towards the cowboy state, it has robbed us too many times of our favorite people (you know who you are!). And now, we have fallen victim again. While I am very happy for our Blackburn friends and their new exciting adventure. I am very very sad to see them go. We all are. In fact, I am scheming a way to snag one of the girls. We could really use a little sister around here. Plus it would ensure visits from the rest of the B's. We love you guys!

Filthy Foot Contest

Summer feet are fun.
What do you think, who had the most fun?

Even though Superkid's shoe bound feet never win this contest,
rest assured when it comes time for the Filthy Ear contest, he has just as much sand in his ears as the next kid!
Yes, we actually do line up the Q-tips for judging.

Moving On Up

It's official, Abz is officially a FIRST GRADER. Oh, how the time flies!

Full Hands, Full Heart

Ever been wrestling a mess of kids in the parking lot and someone passes by and says,
"YOU'VE got your hands full."
In my opinion, you're just missing out if you don't.
Happy Daddy's Day Pops. Thanks for taking such great care of us, keeping your sense of humor, and loving us all along the way.

Diaper Shuttle

I'm a believer in getting the Toads to pitch in and carry their own weight.
First on the list is getting them to shuttle their own diapers to the trash. Superkid, Abizella, and Tadpole all got on board with this (at least initially until the fun wore off) but Lil' Chief thinks he is the boss of me and simply refuses.

I have walked him over and shown him where to put it. I have put it in his hands and walked him over to put it in the trash. The closest I got was him picking it up (I could see the wheels turning-"I'm going to take this to the trash") taking a few determined steps in the direction of the garbage can, looking at me, smiling and setting the diaper down, and shaking his head "no" (the wheels turning once again- "No way, I'm walking straight into the trap"). I was just about to take his little hands, help him pick it up and escort him to the trash when Tadpole swooped in, snatched the diaper, shot Lil' Chief the, "You can't catch me" smile and dashed to the trash. This scenario has happened twice so the second time I was ready with my camera for the, "Hey! You totally swiped my diaper and spoiled my game!" expression on Lil' Chief''s face.

I was hopeful that after the much applause and accolades Tadpole received for successfully disposing of the diaper, Lil' Chief would be on board with being the, "Diaper Shuttle".
Still no dice.

5 out of 6 Toads Like French Toast

Abizella thinks it smells like "squid wrapped in a dirty old sock".

According to Phrogbottom rules, she is up for making breakfast tomorrow.

He's Ruined All Other Cookies

We have become cookie snobs. Not me really, I have never met a cookie that I wouldn't eat. But the kids are major cookie snobs. With few exceptions, they will only eat Pops' homemade chewy chocolaty deliciousness. Little Chief is still undiscerning. I can get through the entire grocery store while he gnaws on the freeby bakery cookie. Last Saturday when we were shopping Abz turned up her nose at the freeby cookie, but politely asked if we could buy a bag of store-bought cookies. I agreed, and of course she had to hand select the perfect package of chocolate chip cookies. The next isle over I noticed another brand of chocolate chip cookies was on sale. Abizella was busy driving the car cart with Tadpole when I made the switch. I winked at Superkid and said they were the same cookie, just on sale. After lunch we cracked into the cookies. The kids clamored to get their share. Superkid took one bite, set his stack down and said, "Mom, you should have paid the extra buck."

Truth is, money can't buy the dreaminess of Pops' cookies. As far as other chocolate chip cookies go, the kids will just have to learn to live with disappointment.

Speaking of disappointment, Pops' made up a big batch of chocolate chip goodness for us to devour while watching the Tony Awards. Overall, Pops was pleased with the good showing for the "Book of Mormon" musical, but it was good thing he had his cookies to drown his sorrows when it came time to announce the Best Actor. Andrew Rannells, you were robbed!

Sleeping Toads

I love them no matter what, but they melt my heart when they are sleeping...

Especially when they poop out on the fly...
Or use the magical powers of their silky blanket to do the trick...
What little angel babies...

Carpe Diem!

With the temperature in the 90s, we decided that it was a much better beach day than work and school day. We can always count on our party cousins to be in on the fun. We made arrangements the night before. All of the kids were down with the idea, although Superkid did come to me in the morning wanting to know if skipping school would affect him becoming a pilot. I assured him that taking one day off for a little beach fun would not de-rail his goals (remind me of this when he is in high school and the beach day is his idea not mine).
Abz sat up straight in her bed that morning and yelled, "BEACH DAY!"
No worries, we kept it educational. We had a resident marine biologist next to us on the beach who scooped up lots of friends to share...
Superkid was inspired and started his own, "Day Aquarium" full of sea snails...
Little Chief got into the fun too... but he was more into snacking on snails than collecting snails. His enthusiasm was not hindered when I scooped the first snail from his mouth... he just walked back to the snail covered rock to pop another one in. ICK!
Cousin Tiney was successful in diverting Little Chief's attention to the big girl's shell collection...
Tadpole was truly in his element...

We are so HAPPY summer fun is HERE! We are even happier to share it with our Rhode Island cousins!

We Decided to Flip 'Em

We decided to "flip-'em" and stay a bonus day in Philly. Some of us were lured in by the major pig out at the Franklin Fountain. For others of us, it was all about Independence Hall.
But first we had to inspect the Liberty Bell...
Who knew Philly would offend Abz' delicate sensibilities as much as D.C.?
Little Chief got promoted to stroller pusher...
And even spent a little time "free-range" before the big tour...
Finally, we made it. Uncle B will attest to Pops' love of this sacred place. Pops, Uncle B and I took a trip here 10 years ago. Pops was unsatisfied with the sparsity of pictures I was taking and took over the camera. When I developed the film I found an abundance of pictures of this building. As for all those pics Uncle B and I thought we were posing for, turns out we were more obstacles to what Pops really wanted to record. After photographing every stairwell, chair, and wall in the place we re-emerged from the hall. Pops said, "That was great! Who wants to do it again?!" and like kids at Disney Land we raced to see who could get in line first for the next tour.
This tour of Independence Hall went a little bit differently. This pic is proof that we all actually made it inside. We didn't actually survive the tour, but one of the Park Rangers took mercy on us (and everyone else in the tour) and let us jump ahead and just spin through the main hall. Perfect.

Then back outside to burn some steam before the long haul home...
Pretty amazing, we were back on the road by 10:00 a.m. Only regret is it was a little too early to ride out of town with a steak and cheese in my greasy little mitt.
Abizella begged and begged to stop in New Jersey on the way home too. I explained to her that the Zeller family was in NYC looking at the Tall ships. Abz said, "But Mom, isn't Friend-SHIP, the most important ship?" She got me there.

There were some natural ups and downs to the ebb and flow of our journey, but I have to say the worst part had to be the stroller. Our dutiful, much beloved, double-wide stroller met its demise the day before the trip. I ran to Babies-R-Us that night and bought the cheapest double stroller on display, reasoning that we only really needed a double stroller this one last time. Wow. I have never bought anything more cheaply made. This hunk of junk dropped wheels right and left. "Excuse me, is this your wheel?" became a regular conversation starter for the folks who crossed our path. Our first clue should have been the manufacturing error with one of the umbrella's being attached backwards. Good riddance!
But to leave the post on a high, I asked everyone what the best part of the journey was. Here is our list:

One thing we can all agree on is being with Uncle Brian and Aunt Jenny was the best part! ...oh ya, and swimming at the hotel!

Pops: National Archives, Mount Vernon, Independence Hall

Superkid: Mt. Vernon and the Capitol Tour ... pretty cool to see Philo T. Farsworth, inventor of Television...can't see it in this pic, but there was actually a rainbow descending on his head (the heavens smile on the inventor of TV)...


Abizella: Star Spangled Banner, the First Ladies dresses, and twirling the night away on George Washington's back patio


Tadpole: Watching the 400,000 "Rolling Thunder" motorcycles roar below our window at the hotel. He called them his "friends". Wouldn't be too surprised to see Tad on a hog one day. And he wins the "banana split enthusiast" award!


Little Chief: He loved to run and run and run. He was the family's ambassador.


Me: Reading Captain Underpants to the kids in the car and listening to them giggle, walking through the monuments and following Little Chief up and down the halls of the hotel as he expended his energy.

When can we go back?

D.C. to Philly

Next up... Capitol tour!
This tour has greatly improved since the last time I took it 10 years ago. With the addition of the visitor's center (constructed underground in front of the building), came tours with headsets. This is crucial because this place has a wicked echo... which would have made this feisty group extremely unpopular. The headsets also were a great distraction for the kiddos. I actually learned more this time through than when I went by myself 10 years ago.
(view from underground visitor's center)

Superkid sucked it all up like a little sponge.

Reagan time.
Nap time.
Abizella abstained from partaking of the rich olfactory experience the Nation's Capitol had to offer. It wasn't just this building that offended her, it was pretty much the entire capitol city.

We also were delighted to meet up with Uncle Brian and Aunt Jenny one more time for lunch. It is a good thing we are going to see them next month again, because they are pretty much all we talk about around here.
And of course, no trip to D.C. is complete without paying homage to the Supreme Court. It was closed for tours, which is probably for the best. Ever since the BEST tour guide EVER left his post there 10 years ago, there really is no point. Oh wait! Unless you happen to be married to the BEST tour guide EVER! Too bad it was closed. I would have loved to glean information at Pop's feet as he re-lived the glory days. I am not being facetious here.
Just ask Sandra Day O'Conner's husband!
Pops had a really great idea to swing by the Washington D.C. temple on our way out of town.
By now we REALLY deserved it. Ice cream time. Over the winter when we were locked inside we watched the entire Man vs. Food series. We just couldn't fly by Philly without indulging in the Franklin Fountain.
And did we EVER. 2 enormous old fashioned banana splits!
Our kind of heaven.
Some of us didn't come up for air...
Some of us blew caution to the wind and dove in head first!
I love me some Philadelphia!