Art Is Subjective

While we were in New York, Phil and I snuck away to this great antique store down the road from our friend's house. We were casually walking around...doing our own thing...enjoying the quiet.

At one point I stumbled upon a painting. It had a tag that said "Elephant Art" and the signature said "Bozie - Lincoln Park Zoo - 1990." I immediately googled Bozie, and discovered that she's an Asian elephant who paints on canvas to help keep her occupied while in captivity.

I called Phil over to show him - just because I thought it was hilarious. We laughed and I moved on to look at other things.

Only when I turned around, Phil was still standing in front of the painting. Head slightly cocked to the side, he was taking it all in and I thought to myself, "I'm now the owner of Elephant Art."

And here she is hanging in the house. Well done, Bozie.

In A New York State Of Mind

The good news: We had an incredible weekend visiting with our friends in upstate NY. The bad news (for them): It was Hall Of Fame Induction weekend at Cooperstown (right near their house) so all hotels were sold out...which meant the Kerpers descended on their peaceful little home in full force. Sorry guys!! Love you!

We were somewhat looking forward to the 4-5 hour drive. We figured with everyone sleeping we'd actually be able to talk. We realized about 3 hours in that sleep was nowhere in sight and the car had an opposite effect on Charlie, who was singing and screaming for most of the ride.



The first night we piled everyone into strollers and wagons and walked down to watch the mighty Oneonta Outlaws. We ate fast-melting popsicles and Ryan heckled the crowds by screaming that the Phillies rule. Gulp.





Saturday morning we kicked off the day blueberry picking. I think we ate more than we bought, but we still managed to pick enough to make 3 pies.






After the picking we went to Grandma Jeanne & Grandpa Paul's farm. The boys got to feed the sheep, make the pies, and go riding on the 4 x 4s...pretty cool stuff for the "city kids."




After quick naps we made a run to the local pool. The water was amazing and we were literally the only people there. Bonus!


The last thing on the agenda was a drive-in movie. It was the first time I'd been to one and it was pretty cool (despite the bees that attacked Jim and me). The boys had fun too lying in the grass, watching the movie and trying to pick out the constellations.


On the final day we packed up the car and left our poor friends to bask in the quiet of their destroyed house. Here's a picture of the twins before we left.



Thanks so much Aunt Mel, Uncle Jim & Graham! We had a ball and can't wait to do it again. Hope you didn't feel like this while we were visiting...xoxo.

Happy Birthday. And Grossness.

We had a joint birthday party for our youngest guys and Phil's friend from The Big Bug Show came out to wow the crowd.



I think that the kids both loved it and were horrified by it at the same time - as evidenced from this picture below.


Part of the show had the kids eating bugs - a few ate the larvae worms and Ry ate a chocolate-covered cricket. Um, ew.


Although she's dressed like a princess, she's eating a worm. Now that's my kind of princess.

My two-year-old chowing down on the cake (bug-free)...

And my almost-one-year-old living the dream in Icingville.

At the end of the day we asked our friends to take a family picture. I wouldn't say that we're in full compliance, but we're getting there.

Happy birthday to my youngest babies! P.S. Please stop growing up so fast.

13th Annual Outing

Every July the Kerpers gather up in beautiful (aka rustic) Northern PA for a family reunion (even though we pretty much see each other all the time anyway...it's just a good excuse to get away).

This year was the 13th annual "Kerper Outing" (named after the outhouse in the woods) and our first experience up there with the 4 kids. We had to stop about 2 hours into the 3 1/2 hour trip to run laps. Seriously.


When we arrived we realized that our cousins had set up a tent the size of our first floor at home (it had a bedroom). Our 5 person tent paled in comparison.


The first morning was dewy and cool - perfect conditions for going salamander hunting. The little critters were out and about and we saw tons of lizards and a few snakes too (ew).


Dean, on the other hand...not so into by the wildlife. Kids are so hard to impress these days.

That afternoon the kids were looking for entertainment, so we fired up the hose and filled some water balloons. The grown ups soon realized that there was a sling shot, so we knocked the kids out of the way so we could have our own fun.

In the midst of all this excitement, Charlie fell onto the pole of The Palace (our cousin's tent) and ended up looking like Nelly for the rest of the trip.

Once the kids got the taste of the hunt, it was off to the mud hole to dive for salamanders. I don't need to tell you how this ended up - use your imagination then multiply that mess by 5.



The fam recently got this hauler / tree-cutting-down-thinger and Eric took some of the crew for a ride. He ended up needing to chop something down in the middle of the path and the kids marveled at his burly manliness (with their hands over their ears).



Here's a picture of the kids (minus the 2 baby munchkins who were inside napping). Just a few years ago we were hanging out with GG trying to kick the keg...now we're chasing after kids and diving into mud puddles.

At least there was still a keg!

Happy 4th

To celebrate the 4th we loaded the kids in the car and party hopped. First stop was our friend's house in Jersey and we fist-pumped all the way to the festivities.

Next up was hanging with some cousins to eat some BBQ and fight over the helium balloons (only a few unfortunate popping incidents).

For some unknown reason - in the middle of all this madness - we decided to paint our bedroom. One coat of primer and 2 coats of Dove's Cry later...we were transformed.

Our final day was spent swimming at our Aunt & Uncle's house and then our annual neighborhood party.

We consumed the family's weight in beer and hot dogs, and had a great time catching up with everyone. Proud to be an American...U-S-A!

Catching Up On Pics: Ryan

Ry has been oh-so-happy to declare himself a 1st grader. He's really into reading non-fiction books right now - which is great until he asks me to read to him. Not really my cup of tea to re-learn the Periodic Table or dissect the inner-workings of an atom.

Luckily, he's also into Harry Potter, so I've got a little bit of an out.

Catching Up On Pics: Cole

Oh my sweet, sweet Coley. I swear this kid is having constant conversations with the devil and angel on each shoulder.

He's wrestling his brothers one minute then begging me to snuggle with him on the couch the next minute. Doing flips on the trampoline then saying both of his legs are broken. Eating a bowl of ice cream then asking for dessert. Putting on Crocs then saying he wants to wear sneakers.

I wonder where he gets all of that from?