Slurpee Love

Inspector Clouseau

Cousin Nancy let Gabey play with her wicked awesome magnifying glass necklace at a family party last weekend.  He walked around for ages "looking for bugs."  Such a little man.

Pre-K "Graduation"

Awwww.....isn't it sweet?

E and her best school bud.

Last Day of School

And just like that, pre-K is over.  Tomorrow is Ellie's class picnic and performance at a local park.  She's been singing the songs around the house for weeks now.  It should be, um, interesting.  When do kids develop a sense of pitch?

Here's E on the first day of pre-K, and the last.  Sunrise...sunset.  I made cookies to celebrate the first day of "summer" and now the kids won't eat their dinner.  Guess I made my own bed with that one.

Baby Shower

I know...I know.  This is my third kid, and I had a baby shower?  But really, any excuse to get the girls together for lunch.  And Bess and Amy were so incredibly sweet to put everything together.  While we all practiced being "the ladies who lunch" the boys BBQ'd at home and watched the kids.  I'm a lucky lady.

All my favorite ladies.

Third Friday

When we first moved here I spent a lot of time at a local playground, looking for people.  I was so used to the Brooklyn playground scene, which could be overwhelming in its chaos, and here felt, well, apocalyptic.  Maybe there'd be a family there, or a young mom pushing her toddler on the swing, but it was eerily quiet and I was far too intimidated to talk to anyone.

Well, a new playground has opened up with SPRINKLERS and everyone has come out of the woodwork.  Yesterday was gorgeous and I made plans to meet a friend and let the kids splash around before heading to Third Friday for cotton candy and a pet parade (seriously).  Turns out everyone in town had the same idea.  I think I ran into almost everyone I know.  So fun!  It felt like an impromptu country fair.  And the evening was perfect for Ellie to eat her weight in cotton candy and gape at the doggies marching along the sidewalk.

Someday kids, when you let mom sleep in on the weekends, and can get your own breakfast, maybe we'll get a dog.

Until then, cotton candy will keep her happy.

Watching the pups go by.

Fathers Day

Whew.  That was kind of exhausting.  Fun, but exhausting.  All poor Brian wanted to do was spend the day on the boat, preferably with his brother and the cousins.  And the day dawned beautiful, sunny, and well, windy.  A little too windy for me and the kids on the boat, apparently.  A few too many big rocking waves, and a few too many soaking splashes left the kids screaming and miserable, me clinging to the boat for dear life, and cousin Jonah laughing with delight. Seriously, that kid loved it.

So we aborted mission:  turned the boat around and headed to the river playground instead.  Brian and his brother went back out (it's not like conditions were dangerous, it was just too rough to be fun for me) and Sari and I picnicked with the kids and then let them run wild at the splash park.

After dinner at the boat club the water looked MUCH calmer so we got right back on the horse/boat and went out to the middle of the river for some Early Birthday Cupcakes for Uncle Mike.  All in all a successful day.  We don't give up easily.  Happy Father's Day, Brian.  We couldn't do this without you.

Sleepy Time

Gabe, 7:15am.

One Last Thing

We also went dancing, twice.  And I managed not to have my water break on the dance floor.

Tattoos

Well, of course, Uncle Sri got Ellie her first tattoo...May she be 25 the next time she visits a tattoo parlor.

Gabe chose a shark, but lost interest before it was actually his turn.

Sprinklers

Friends

Enough with lovely shots of Provincetown and cute kids getting their nails done.  What about the grown-ups?  Yes, there WAS grown-up time on vacation.  We even hired a babysitter, which was the most brilliant thing we have ever done.

The whole crew on our last night in town.

I'm not sure this is what the BYOB clam shack had in  mind....

A mid-bike-ride libation.

Walktails.  Because sometimes you have to take the kids to the playground.

Rainy day beers and oysters.

The men of the hour.

Me and Aunt Bess at the Tea Dance.

Boy time!

Atmosphere

Oh, Provincetown...See what I mean?  You're just so damned beautiful.  I didn't take all these pictures, but I'm compiling photos from everyone on the trip and these are some of my favorites.

Baby Manicures

The whole purpose of our Provincetown trip was to celebrate Sri's 40th birthday, so it only feels appropriate that the kids put him to work as their personal manicurist.

Ellie ended up with one hand purple and one hand red.

Little Antonia.  She's six months younger than Gabe, but they look like they could be twins.

Gabe went classic:  one hand purple, one hand purple with red stripes.  This was only moderately successful.

And, blow!

Whales!

When I found out we were going to Provincetown, the first thing that popped into my head was "whale watch!"  I don't think I've actually been on one since 6th grade, and honestly all I really remember from that was a poor classmate getting horribly seasick...That, and I think it was raining.  But still!  I had to drag all the kids and our closest friends out on a boat.  And I have to say, it worked out rather nicely.  The weather was superb, the whales were EVERYWHERE, and Gabe didn't start whining about wanting to go home until the very end.

The view of the Pilgrim Memorial, or "stick" according to Gabe, and "castle" according to Ellie.

Whale mouth.  This just blew my everloving mind.

Bess took this video and it's fantastic.  I love hearing how excited we all were.

Last Dance

It's late Spring, the season of endings and new beginnings.

While we were in Provincetown and the kids were losing their minds from too many cupcakes and mid-day ice cream cones, and not enough naps and consistent bedtimes, I kept thinking:  "It will be good to get them home and back into their routine."  But here's the thing.  The routine?  It's over.  Ellie only has two weeks left of school.  And today was her last dance class.  She was particularly devastated because I thought there was another week, so she wasn't prepared to say goodbye to her teacher today.  We're taking the summer off, and will start again in the fall, but her teacher is moving away.  A season of endings and new beginnings.

I'm hyper aware of the passage of time right now.  Two weeks of school.  Then three weeks of home-time with me and Gabe.  Then Ellie has four weeks of summer camp.  And the baby?  The baby will be here before summer camp ends.  Tick Tock.  Tick Tock.

I offered to take a picture of Ellie with her dance teacher, but she insisted on making it a selfie.  I swear she's practically a teenager.

E and Miss Christina, her first dance teacher.

Happy June!

Hi!  We just got back from an amazing week in Provincetown, MA.  I haven't been to Cape Cod since I was a kid, and I was positively giddy as soon as the landscape changed and the houses started to take on their cedar shingles.  Oh, New England Sea Towns, you always slay me.  I want to post a million pictures, but I'll try to control myself and chose just the best ones...so that process may take a while.

In the meantime, look!  Kids being cute in a parking lot!  We stopped at Grandma's on the way home from the Cape and the kids crashed on her floor while Mom and Dad went out to dinner and stayed at a hotel.  Holy luxury.  We even watched half a movie before we fell asleep!