uniforms, gun talk, sheep and bubbles; or, ketchup

At first, I thought Papa Seal was going to takeover this blog entirely; but, no, he has home renovations and a dissertation to do (and since I am not, nor do I plan to be, directly involved in any of that business)...so I'm back! Since we are well into June. I thought it relevant to share how we finished out the month of May (this is more for Papa Seal's benefit than anything else, this blog is how he remembers things, so you know, I am just making memories possible). So yes, this is a catch up, or as I like to say, ketchup post.

First there was the grand event called Coast Guard graduation. I like graduations because it means I get to see Papa don his wedding duds again (the people in the military, they call them officer whites, whatevs).

The speaker at said grand event was Vice-President Dick Cheney (I recognize the ridiculousness in my linking to this; but, I think the picture is funny. I mean, it's official and everything). Some people referred to him as Howdy Doody, you can understand their confusion given his choice of millinery which many (myself included) deemed inappropriate for this auspicious formal occasion. But hey, given the choice of him shooting people or wearing inappropriate hats, I guess I will take Howdy Doody any day.

And then because I am me and my family supports my weird pursuits in all things fibery, we went to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival in Cummington, Mass. There was a lot of fiber (and a lot of it came home with me).

I am pretty sure that one day, the Pup is going to realize that we don't go to these festivals for him. Or warehouse yarn shops either (Webs, Northampton. Again. I know. It's like we live there.), he is a smart kid. He's going to catch on pretty soon.

And lastly, there was a birthday party for our friend Ruthanne. She turned 3, which--I am given to understand--is a very big deal. There was a lot of fun for the small fries.

There are tons of pictures to go with this scintillating abridgement of our May activities, you know where they are should you be so inclined. I need to catch this blog up before our trip to southern California at the end of the month. Because that is one California post that I wouldn't mind posting myself. So yes, there is going to be a flurry of posting here (shocking, I know)--you know, in my copious amounts of free time.

cousins in california

Mama is cooking a pie right now which I am sure that you can soon find here. So I thought I would help her out by doing my first ever blog post....so here it is! We recently had a great trip to California and the Pup had a chance to hang out with his cousins. We will focus on the three little ones here with more photos from California in flickr. The little Pup learned how to make some new faces from his big cousin.

We even made a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

And now for the grand finale...a video from the aquarium!

Needless to say, the Pup is looking forward to hanging out with his cousins again next month!

feeling sheepish

You know how I said I would put up a post last week and then I didn't (she says sheepishly)? I meant to, but Papa took the computer to his conference sessions everyday, and the Pup and I figured there was fun to be had and recuperate from, so while I process the 300+ photographs from our west coast trip (I will do that tonight), I thought I would put up the post that would have gone up last week, you know, had I actually posted it...

A few weekends ago, the Pup and I wandered our way to a fiber festival (Papa had work to do so couldn't come along, he didn't shed any tears about this at all, I am sure). It wasn't the big one that we usually go to in May to kick off Novakkah (or my 8 day birthday celebration, if you aren't in the habit of celebrating for 7-8 days, I highly reccomend it), since we were going to be in California that weekend, I knew I would be missing out on the sheepy fun this year in Maryland. To make up for it, I went local and stayed in my home state. The Pup and I drove about an hour and half away to Vernon for an afternoon of fun (and a cheeseburger, because eating a lamb burger just seemed cruel on so many levels).

The Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival is really small, but it was fun. It was the right size for the Pup to see "the sheepies, the puppies, the doggies and the bunnies."

I was able to find some fiber (shocking, I know) for spinning.



And I was also able to see the loom that I would like to add to my fiber equipment arsenal up close and personal. It's a beautiful piece of equipment, this loom.

You remember how I said that I wouldn't get into weaving? Right. The weavers at the festival were using the singles (one ply yarn) spun up by the spinners to weave their pieces. It was pretty cool, you know, if you are into that sort of thing.

I had so much fun at the festival, I even brought home a sheep!

Or rather, a pup in sheep's clothing. As the pup would say, "ha, knee slapper!"

northern exposure

A few weekends ago, we wandered to parts northern, but separately. While I was in Conway, New Hampshire doing all things crafty, Papa and the Pup went to Portland (and Cape Elizabeth), Maine to visit with friends.

It was fun for Papa Seal to catch up with an old classmate, and the Pup got a chance to make a new friend. There was much rolling down hills. It was also a good opportunity to test out the sunglasses that our friend Lennon gifted for his birthday.

He is clearly a fan! Thanks Lennon!

We are leaving for an adventure on the left coast tomorrow...at 4:30 in the morning (it seemed like a good idea at the time). Papa is attending a conference. The Pup and I will post another catch up post during the week as we won't have any conference sessions to go to.

go fly a kite

I say I am going to post regularly and then there are technical difficulties (the photo archives was down, PROBLEM!). And let's face it, me putting up a post without pictures is as likely as me giving up carbs...not going to happen. So now that the problem has been fixed, I need to do some digital photoprocessing before sharing some recent adventures. While I do that, here is one of the happiest images of the pup I have taken recently. The pup's school had a kite day and it was a lot of fun.

There are a few more kite day shots in flickr, of course.

v-a, n-a, b-a-n-a-n-a-s

Last night, it occurred to me that I have not 1) updated this blog in a while, and 2) that I never shared the joys of our spring break adventures. So why don't I do that now?

During the 2nd week of May, we wandered to Williamsburg, Virginia for spring break. We started the journey by allowing the Pup to have his very first ice cream cone (cone being the operative thing of it) ever. In the car. I doubt very much that we will be winning any sort of "smart parenting" awards any time soon. If you are thinking, "oh, that sounds like it was messy." It was.

So, Virginia... We originally thought house-hunting was going to be involved; but, that was not the case (since we will be calling Connecticut home for at least one more year). Instead we had a few days of rest, relaxation and horses. That's right horses.

Anders did not find the historic home tours as interesting as we did. Thinking back, these are the adjectives that best describe his behavior on the tours: fidgety (wouldn't stay still), rude (kept talking over the docents), and incorrigible (he pretty much complained the whole time--"more horses...now...please." Apparently, this is what happens when wee ones develop the ability to speak and articulate an opinion.

However, when we got to the fiber shed, he was completely normal, enthralled even.We think it's because it was stuff he is familiar with. Roving, wool, yarn, threads, looms, spinning wheels. Yeah, nothing new there (it's like home; but, just a little cleaner)...

We also did a day trip to Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina (stopping in Murfreesboro along the way, because I just had to) to visit with one of my best friends since elementary school (the exact grade/year is still in dispute).

AC is a Tarheel fan in Blue Devil's clothing. This amuses me to no end. If you grew up with her, you would be amused as well.

She and the Pup got along really well. When we parted ways he cried for awhile screaming her name (it was very reminiscent of Rocky Balboa harping for Adrian). If we weren't sitting in the car with him listening to him wail for her, it would have been kind of cute. Kind of...

After a nice visit with AC we drove around the Duke campus where we unsurprisingly found our way to Cameron Stadium. The men's team was packing up to go to a game (against GA Tech, I think). So Papa Seal figured this was the perfect opportunity to trespass, or rather, to sight see (I can assure you that these unlawful shenanigans were not the doings of any strategy on my part...I just took the pictures). We walked in the stadium and walked on the court, the women's team just finished their practice. The Pup had fun. We like to take opportunities to expose him to college and university campuses, you know, let him capture the spirit of academia by the osmotic process.

We had a good time. And it was nice to have this adventure to get us revved up for our upcoming travels which we are really looking forward to.

Posting should resume with regular frequency now. I have gotten over myself and how busy I am. Sorry Mom.

happy birthday, baby

He is no longer a baby, that is for sure.

The Pup celebrated his second birthday and it was 8 days of fun.
The normal celebration of birthday week was extended to 8 days after we realized that Papa Seal had a class to attend on the day of his birthday. An extra day of celebration? No problem!

We did all sorts of fun stuff. There were lots of presents to be sure (because what would a birthday be without presents?!) and there were, of course, parties.

I took a page from my mom's playbook and took party hats and B&J's ice cream cups to his school during snack time on his actual birthday (I was told that the kid's don't actually like cupcakes; since my time is valuable I asked what exactly they do like and purchased accordingly). It was really fun.

Besides being told that my earrings were pretty, one kid told me that I was a "really cool mom" and another said I "made his whole week."

Seriously, if I can get all that from $20 worth of ice cream and party hats, I am more than happy to cater to this activity every week!

It was really fun.

Birthday night was a quiet evening at home until Kelly came home from class. Anders got to open his "big" present.

But I think he liked putting the present together more.

In order to really set the tone for celebration I made a birthday banner with a bunch of felt.

A fun activity that Anders "helped" me with throughout the week (if you call rubbing Play-Doh scissors against felt "helping," but there you are--if you are interested in the details of the banner go here.)

We capped the celebration off last night with a party, it was really great (there were party hats and balloons, lots of both).

It doesn't get any better than party hats, balloons and meatballs, people.

As you can imagine, there are so many pictures of this auspicious event in flickr, you may never want to see a picture of the Pup again...or not...