Fuff Madness

Josie and her fuffs. We couldn't find any one day so we pulled the crib away from the wall, and Josie went on a recon mission back there. This is what she discovered:





Then she grabbed them and took off running down the hall.

Landscaping

Here are a few pics from our landscaping project, which we finally got around to doing. Thankfully, we didn't "do" any of it ourselves. Watching the landscapers build the retaining wall made it clear to us that we never could have done it--it was unbelievable how complicated it was. Keep in mind that it took us a year just to seal the deck. . . Thank goodness the landscaping is done so we can enjoy it!

Jimmy's Busy Summer

And here is a backlog of pics from our July. Jimmy took two classes at the Center for Talent Development at NWU, one on pyramids and another on polygons. He really had so much fun. The video is Jimmy on the last day of the pyramids class, where there was an expo featuring all the stuff the kids did. Jimmy is describing how the pyramid he built is one of the smaller structures in front of the three pyramids at Giza.

The downside is that his interest in Ancient Egypt prompted me to reinstall an old PC game called Pharoah, which is a SimCity building game where you build a town (and eventually, pyramids). I'd be embarrassed to admit how many hours Jim and I spent playing this game back in the late 90's . . . Anyway, Jimmy is now obsessed with it too--in particular with finding ways to make the huts he builds for the people turn into fancier homes. So he builds chickpea farms and juggling schools and temples to Osiris. And he checks to see what his unemployment rate is. And he talks about building enough granarys to store the harvest, and enough bazaars to distribute the food . . . It's just insane, but he's having a blast.

We'll Miss You, Grampy!

I've got to get caught up with posting pics of the kids, but I've been avoiding it because I knew I'd have to post about Larry passing away. We'll miss him dearly. I was just talking to Mom tonight about the little things he did, like teach me how to change a light fixture (I've been remodeling our downstairs bathroom). But it was really the time he spent with the kids (Jimmy more than Jos) that meant so much. I remember how I'd bring baby Jimmy over on Larry's day off--he'd watch him while I graded papers. He always had time for them. Jimmy sure seems to have lots of great memories of the time they spent together!

4th of July Weekend

Here are pix from the weekend--we spent a couple of days up in Wisconsin. The weather was perfect. The traffic, horrible! We got stuck in Fox Lake, and had to pull over at another point because one of our tires was leaking. The pit stops drew out our trip way too long. Regardless, the kids had fun playing in the water, where Josie sat and poured water into buckets, and Jimmy rode some pretty good-sized waves on a little raft.

Josie found playmates in both Lily and Auntie Jeannie. Lily brought out all kinds of dolls and stuffed animals for Jos, and Auntie Jeannie gave both Jimmy and Josie golf cart rides up and down the hill.

Somehow we found the time to go to Burlington, where the kids played in the park (well, Josie mostly complained) and we had our first Adrian's of the year!

More Vacation Pix: Just the Parents

Here are some pix from our cruise to Bermuda. We left New York on a Sunday, were at sea two days, then arrived at Bermuda. Our stay on the island was three days, then we headed back to New York, and arrived early Sunday. We'd never cruised before, but really enjoyed it on the Norweigian Dawn. We had a great room with our own balcony, and so enjoyed the sights and sounds of the waves along the side of the ship.

There was plenty for us to do on the boat, and it was relaxing to travel that way. We hung out by the pool, and even took in a little chess and a Wii tennis tournament, where I finally beat Jim . . . The restaurants on the ship were great, and we liked that we could eat wherever we wanted to at whatever time worked for us. We did some running at the gym, and went to one of the big shows on the ship--how ironic that we finally got to see The Second City perform, out on the ocean instead of back at home. They were a riot. Most importantly, we got to sleep in!

The island was great, too. The sand really is pink at the beach, and after spending one say at Horseshoe Bay, I've become a beach snob. I've never really gotten much from going to the beach. The water is always way too cold to enjoy. But the pink sand was like powder--there were no ground up rocks, no shells. The water around the island was a beautiful greenish color, and was crystal clear. And warm. So Jim body surfed and I rode the waves too.

We did a bunch of other stuff too, and enjoyed some riduculously expensive meals (everything in Bermuda is expensive). But it was a memorable place, to be sure. The island was dotted with colorful homes, all with white clay roofs. When we explained later to Jimmy, he thought it was neat that you could paint a home pink, orange, or his favorite color, teal.

Of course, the ride back home with the kids made it feel as if we never went on vacation at all, or that we did go . . . some time way, way back when :-)

Some of Our Vacation Picks: Kid Parts

A collection of photos of the kids here: a picture of Dad and Jimmy at a little farm we went to with the whole gang before the cruise, Jimmy's birthday at Gram Cracker's and Pop's, and our day at Sesame Place with Jimmy and Josie after getting back from the cruise, where we each got our now-a-tradition Elmo cupcakes. Jimmy was big enough to go on all the slides now, which he enjoyed, while Jos had fun trying a water slide for the first time with Daddy, and then a carnival-type ride with Mommy (she went on the Elmo fish ride, where she had to get some practice in waiting in line)! She was quiet as a mouse when she saw Ernie and Bert--arguably her two favorite characters from Sesame Street. She was in awe, but didn't want to get to close :-)

While we went on our cruise to Bermuda (pix to follow), the kids did great with their grandparents, Auntie Susan and Millie, and Auntie Sarah and Uncle Matt. They went to the Philadelphia Zoo, Sesame Place, and to a place with a very cool train layout (I think the largest in the country). Anything trains pleases both kids, so they had a blast!