Sunny Sunday

So -- a day and a half after Andy got back from yet another trip to Germany, he set off on the 40-mile bike race out of Mt. Arlington, and beat his own record by 11 minutes!  The weather has been so much better this year, he's had a lot more time to get out and ride... and he's also super motivated since this year he's also doing the Gran Fondo out of New York City in May.  We greeted him at Mt. Arlington Park with the Union Jack flying and lots of cheering.  After that we decided to pack a little picnic lunch and take our favorite walk along Lake Aeroflex at Kittatinny State Park... only ONE plane took off while we were there, which I guess is better than nothing!  When I got back home I posted on facebook this photo of me with the kids, and so many of my friends freaked out with "Oh my god! You look great!" because lots of them haven't seen me since I lost weight (for the sake of historical documentation, as of today I've lost 26 pounds).  It's all very flattering, but I did choose the MOST flattering shot out of about 5 photos.  Anyway, what a gorgeous day, couldn't have been nicer.

Great Wolf Lodge!

This week we had an unexpected treat - an overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge in PA with Carol, Ryan and Addie!  Carol and I hatched the plan over the weekend, and we all set off together on Tuesday at 12:30, after taking both boys out of school early.  All the kids were beside themselves with excitement -- a waterpark!!!  a sleepover!!! too much happiness!!!  When we arrived we were able to go right to our room with all our stuff, change into our swimsuits, and head straight for the waterpark.  It's quite a place... loads of different kinds of pools (kids pool, wave pool, lazy river, etc), tons of different slides, some of which involve different sized rafts, a huge "treehouse" with loads of water gadgets you can control... it's very easy to spend two days there and not run out of things to do or enjoy.  The kids were great, no meltdowns at all, except for occasional little things that you'd expect.  They didn't even mind when it was time to go back to the room after our first few hours there; we all changed out of our swimsuits and headed down the road for dinner (the only downside to Great Wolf: overpriced, unexceptional food).  We got back just in time to zip to the room and change into jammies for storytime in the lobby, where dozens of kids and their parents gathered for the event.  After that... bedtime!  The girls were asleep almost as their heads hit the pillows, and the boys took a bit longer, but not too bad.  Carol and I stayed up chatting for a good while, then finally zonked out.  Why did Maddie have to wake up at 6am, way earlier than normal??!!  Ugh.  So tired.  But anyway, we had a nice breakfast in our room that we'd all packed from home, checked out of the room for good, and spent the ENTIRE day in the waterpark, with a short break for a pizza lunch.  I think one of my favorite parts were these neat waterslides that started at the top of the treehouse, that you just sit down in and slide (no raft) -- they're sooooo swirly and fast, I screamed the whole way down the first time - both kids loved them!  Maddie was amazing, no fear.  The wave pool was cool, too - the waves were so strong they could easily knock you down if you weren't careful!  We all spent that last 2 hours or so in the warmest, smallest pool, just paddling around, Maddie floating in a dreamy, smiling way, kicking around, Ollie finally able to take off his life jacket and swim on his own (it was 3 feet deep!).  Maddie kept talking about how she couldn't wait to tell Daddy everything -- we're looking forward to our next visit already, as Daddy will certainly love it, too! 

The Little Things

It occurred to me last night that I'm not using the blog enough to record the "little things." Silly things the kids say, little memories, etc. One thing we never want to forget is the kids' minor obsession right now with small stuffed animals. It started well over a year ago when Ollie started carrying his little stuffed hedgehog with him everywhere he went. We thought he might never give it up, but one day, it wasn't Hedgehog anymore, it was Bakewell Fox. Then in rapid progression ,it was a tiny puppy, various birds, a duck, a few different kittens... the list goes on. No big animals, just little ones, about 4-5 inches long. His first *great* love was his (5th) birthday owl; Owl was never far from Ollie's side for over five straight weeks. A little kitten in Ollie's Christmas stocking then took center stage, but only for a short bit, when RED ROBIN showed up. A gift from our friends, the Weavers, Red Robin has had at least as long a run as Owl did... there have been times that Red Robin has flown the coop (gotten lost) but whenever he's found, he returns promptly to "first animal" status. For instance, after our trip to Florida this March, Ollie returned with Dolphin, whom he had been sleeping and playing with for many days. As soon as he set eyes on Red Robin again, down went Dolphin, and into his warm embrace went Red Robin. Ollie is tucked in every night with his special friend; he makes quite a production sometimes of tucking them in and demonstrating how they fall asleep together. I had to take this photo last night, of Ollie cradling Red Robin in his sleeping arms.
This has all been a bit jarring for me and Andy! "What if he's destined to be fickle," we worry! So much love poured onto one special "friend," only to have this friend abandoned when the next one comes along, or when fancy stikes?! But we have noticed that nearly every single animal comes *back* into favor at some point along the line, sometimes often! The main point is, he's showing such sweetness and attention to them, and that can't be a bad thing.
Like her big brother, and most likely because of Ollie's obsession, Maddie as well has had a great variety of special friends. She took Lamb with her to England last fall, and has also been very close to some bunnies, kitties, Owl, flamingos, and at least 3 diffferent Hello Kitties. We can't wait to see how the progression continues for them both - it's endlessly fascinating!

Happy Easter!!!

Easter in Maine - yippee! We started our holiday in the typical way -- taking down the Christmas tree that we'd left up since December. A live tree... and it still looked great!! Then we had several days of all of our favorite Maine things... morning walks to the harbor, playtime and meals with Grandma and Granddad (lobster! mussels! lamb!), ceremonial "first runs" on the zip-line (Ollie did the zipping), easter egg dying, a fantastic outdoor egg-hunt on Easter morning, a great 15 mile bike ride on the peninsula (Andy and Gillian), and Ollie's FIRST stab at cycling without his training wheels! He did great, going quite a long way each time before putting his foot down, and only falling gently once in a while. We had nice visits with Rich and Nicole and the kids, Don and Laurel, Anne and Tony. This year the Easter Bunny decided to go easy on the candy, and brought along a couple of stuffed toys and some other nice little things as well - the teeny tiny chicks in teeny tiny nests were a big hit! Granddaddy was SO pleased with his special Easter present - a stuffed playtypus - because "A platypus lays eggs; why can't it be the "Easter Playtypus" instead of the Easter Bunny??" You cn see his new friend tucked under his arm in the photo above. A happy, happy Easter - just couldn't have been nicer.

Lovely Maddie Turns THREE!!!!

Our Maddie Boo is three years old already! She's become pretty feisty in these last few months, quite determined to do things on her own and never, ever particularly willing to let me brush her tangled hair! She's also super duper chatty, sometimes stringing words together to create long, stream-of-consciousness sentences that seem to have no beginning, middle, or end -- she's just enjoying the journey. While we were in Florida a few weeks ago, Maddie FINISHED her potty training, and for the first time ever, she was able to wear her beloved Peppa Pig undies (a gift from her cousins in England). She amused everyone the whole week, dashing into the room to announce gleefully, "I had a poo!!!!" at which point we all cheered and shouted our congratulations. So much happiness.
On the morning of her birthday, Maddie came downstairs to lots of balloons and presents - from us, grandparents in Maine and England, and her cousins in England as well. We had a webcam with Grandma Carole during the festivities, who looked on cheerfully as Maddie tore into one present after another. When her last present came out - her first bicycle!! - she seemed pleased, though it wasn't the rousing excitement that mommy and daddy had been hoping for! :-) After breakfast, we got to work with cake decorating and getting ready for the party.
Maddie decided on a Hello Kitty theme for her party this year, though usually the theme doesn't extend far beyond the cake... but the cake is sooo important!! We did find some fabulous Hello Kitty balloons, plates, and napkins, and also gave each guest a cute little stuffed Hello Kitty as their party favor. In attendance were Ollie and Ryan and all of Maddie's best little buddies -- Madelyn, Addie, Addie (no, not a typo!), Logan, Emily, Campbell and Duncan. We all had loads of fun, and Maddie still talks about her Hello Kitty birthday, to anyone who will listen!