par-tay

Most Esteemed Son #2 turned 3 today. It was a big deal. There was a party at school. And then there was a PAR-TAY at home (no, I don't know what the difference is either--besides desperate grasping for hipster status and the other being, well, English). We had fun. And, of course, HE had fun. So there we are.

Photos and (more) video in flickr.

rhinebeck, 2010

We did go to Rhinebeck, New York for a wool and sheep festival two weekends ago. And we had a great time. The weekend was less about sheep and more about having fun and seeing old (and new friends).

The pups found rides.
And Papa entertained the kids at a knitter's meet-up.
And yes, we saw sheep.

More pictures in flickr!

one weekend's worth of fun

There was one weekend, back in October, that I never got around to mentioning. I should do that now. During the weekend before Halloween, we went headed up to Maine for our annual LL Bean run. We ended up cutting the trip short because we wanted to have the pups dedicated at church, so we ended up in Maine for an overnight, which was all the time to we needed to do the things we most wanted to do.

We saw our good friend Amy.
We ate a great breakfast (BreaLu is very family friendly, though I love Bintliff's American Cafe, it's hard to have an enjoyable experience there with young children, in my opinion).

And then we went to L.L. Bean. SP1.0 got a winter coat and ski pants--there was a lot of dressing going on (the new duds will see a lot of action, because it will eventually go to SP2.0 (as is the nature of hand-me-downs).
And then we headed Connecticut so we could get the boys dedicated at church. Not a lot of shots from the dedication as we were all on stage (and it still amuses me that so many people in general; but, especially at church think SP2.0 is a girl).

After the dedication we headed to the apple orchard and picked apples.

We picked a pumpkin.And then went home and made applesauce. It was a good weekend!

of reunions and homecomings

I know I am a bit behind, bear with me, it's the story of my life right now. We have been busy with weekend and weekday wanderings; it seemed like a good idea to take a breather and catch things up a bit here or Papa may never remember the fun things we did in the month of October 2009.

During the Columbus Day weekend, the Wandering Seals headed to the USCGA (did you see the rankings?) for my ten year reunion. It was fun seeing all my classmates (that were able to come, almost 50% of the class, actually).

Papa Seal and the pups did a fun run on Saturday morning, we don't have any pictures of that, you will have use your imagination, I am pretty sure it was cute. SP 1.0 is all about running now. It's cute.

My class marched on the football field in true slacker style. We showed up 2 minutes before march on and were stunning in our neat and orderly formation.

I think, maybe, you start caring about neat and orderly formations again when you hit 20 years out, because '89 seemed to have their act together, kind of.

But the other classes were actually quite impressive with their march on bits, most of them anyways. There was one class doing rifle drills with umbrellas, which I am sure had them all rolling on the floor when they were planning it; but, the excecution could have been better.

We stayed for a little bit of the football game, long enough to get a family portrait at least.

And then later in the evening I had dinner with the "girls" of '99 who could make the "Girls Night Out."

Between all of us, we were able to piece together what all of the women of 1999 were up to (those that graduated with us and those that left early). I think it's pretty neat how people have kept in touch. And, quite frankly, my "girls" are doing some pretty awesome things with their lives, whether they stayed in the service or got out. It was a great reunion.

There are some fun shots in flickr, of course. Stay tuned for mad-capped mouse adventures.

to cali or bust

We returned from our vacation a little over a week ago. My intentions were to process all of pictures before uploading them; but, that would mean you would be waiting till Christmas, so I figured I would just put the pictures up in flickr and give a little recap, as it was a pretty big deal, what with SP 2.0's first plane adventuring taking place. So hey, Christmas in July!

We made our annual trek to Carlsbad, California and it was a ton of fun. Getting there was a bit trying since we were sent home the Friday night we tried to depart (clearly, the airline and airport was unaware that we had some seals to see); but, the airlines fixed us up right and proper for travel on the following Saturday. Note to self (or really, Papa), do not book flights for late afternoons/evenings during thunderstorm season.

The first thing on the schedule after our arrival to the Land of Sun, was an afternoon birthday tea to celebrate a special someone turning five, I don't have to tell you how I feel about birthdays. It was great (for those interested in the requested "photo shoot" you can find those shots in flickr).
The following day included dinner, hibachi style, at Benihana. This might be one of my favorite shots from the whole trip and it's not particularly stellar, technically speaking; but, it's kind of hilarious.

There was beach play (I didn't go, this shots were taken by Papa), I stayed in the air conditioned dwelling...it was very nice.

We went to Legoland, which, while crazy, seemed particularly calm when comparing it to the slimmest possibility of going to Disneyland. But the kids (the ones who needed a ticket to get in anyway) really had fun. The babies, I am pretty sure they thought it was kind of hot; but, yay (!) bright colors!

We had a lot of fun there (I really like this shot of the three of them...it's very Breakfast Club-y).

A lot of fun.

And, as you can imagine, there were a lot of Legos there.

We were also able to see old friends (or rather, meet them in SP2.0's case).

We filled our bellies with ice cream.

And then we returned home (some of us so happy that vehicular hugs were in order).

It was a good trip.

There is a computer-crash-worthy equivalent number of photos in flickr for your perusal, should you, you know, be interested in that sort of thing.

things to do in baltimore when it rains

Since it's June, it seemed only natural that I tell you about some wandering we did in May.

We headed south to attend the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival so I could (start the celebration of my birthday and) meet up with some blog-knitting friends (or rather, some of SP 1.0's adoring fans) and buy some fiber--for those interested in more fiber talk, go here.

I am sure a time will come when fiber festivals won't be fun family trips anymore and I will be doing them solo; but, till that time, it's a fun family affair. Because really, how can you not love sheep?

And since we were down there, we also headed to the Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium as well (on the advice of some good friends).

We had a lot of fun at both the festival and the aquarium. It rained off and on at the sheep and wool festival, which, wet wool, yay! But the aquarium was the ideal indoor activity for the following Sunday because the rain was torrential. We had a great time.

We were able to get a hotel pretty close to the aquarium which was good for kiddos who needed naps...or tummy time.

More pics in flickr, of course. Coming up: Pup 2.0's 6 month update, and 1.0's "Hey, I'm 3!" Catch-up. At the end of the week. I promise.

easter a-go-go

Because we were driving back to Connecticut on Easter Day (actually, our trek started on Good Friday) after my father's funeral service and other arrangements, there was little to no planning concerning Easter festivities for the wee ones. Luckily some very good friends prepared Easter baskets for the boys which provided a goodly amount of bunny-rific joy.

SP1 did ask where the eggs were however. So upon our return to Connecticut, Papa had to go and find some. Shockingly, he found a grocery store open and bought some eggs for dyeing.

As we ate some of our newly dyed eggs, SP1 wished me a Happy Easter, it was pretty cute. But not as cute as this:

Thanks for the bunny ears Dru, Marley and Lennon!

a birthday, belated

Some of you may have been wondering how SP1's birthday celebration went last month. Let me assure you, the ascendancy to the age of three was celebrated with due diligence. There was, of course, a birthday week, which began on St. Patrick's Day this year...because it seemed right.

He got a Frisbee on the first day, which in hindsight, was probably not the most brilliant gift to bestow upon someone newly three (feel free to learn from our mistakes).

As our family tradition dictates, the birthday prince/king (there are no princesses as we have no girls save me, and no one bakes cakes for me, really) gets to choose his cake. SP1 said he wanted a "strawberry cake." Which really, could be anything. I took it literally and made him, well, a strawberry cake.

It was Ina Garten's Country Strawberry cake, which really, is a glorified strawberry shortcake; but, there you are.

We had two parties on his actual birthday. First there was the celebration at school.

Eighteen goodie bags--it isn't for the faint of heart--that's the parents' perspective, of course. But it was pretty fun. The kid liked it, so really, that is what matters most.

We also had a few friends over to celebrate at home. It was pretty low key, as low key as we get, I guess.

The Pup's favorite present was the yoga mat he asked us for a month before his birthday. No, seriously.

He said he wanted a yoga mat for his birthday. A blue one.

And then we wrapped up the celebration the day after by writing thank you notes.

The whole celebration was a nice way to welcome in the big three, I think.