Making Friends Is Hard To Do

My sister gave Charlie 2 new toys - a cute orange monkey and a sweet green dinosaur (or so I thought - turns out they were neither sweet nor cute). I decided to put them onto his car seat so he could have some buddies to hang with during our boring and mundane car trips.

At first he was totally digging the company...seems that Mr. Monkey made for a fine travel companion. Things were going well.


Uh oh, bad monkey. He must have said something wrong...things started to take a turn for the worse.



Cue full panic mode...Dino clearly drove the nail in the coffin of this trial run. Charlie seriously hated these monsters that invaded his happy little seat. Usually he passes right out in the car - this time he screamed his head off until I removed the beasts from his line of vision.

I guess he enjoys the simpler parts of life...gazing at the clouds or the ever-exciting sun protector on the window. Lesson learned.

Oh, The Drama

The other night Phil was taking Ry to karate - he was packing everything up for the trek and Ry was getting anxious that they were going to be late.

Phil said "Just give me a second, I'm coming" and Ry said "Daddy - let's go - you're KILLING me!"

Slick Ricks

Like father, like son - poor Cole inherited more than Phil's devilish sense of humor and dashing good looks. These two have the WORST cowlicks in the entire world!!

The only remedy for both of them is to slick the hair down to their heads. Cole's always pops right back up, but I was able to snag a rare pic of them in perfect formation.

Lookin' good boys!

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture

My friend passed along the greatest iPhone app. It turns the phone into a Polaroid camera - you even get to shake it to make the picture appear faster.

What's old is new...ain't technology grand?!

Summer Days...Drifting Away...

We just got back from an amazing trip to Ocean City, NJ. I decided to download everything into a slideshow (click on the picture below to see it larger) - we did so much that it's hard to blog about everything individually.

Now that we're back it's such a reality check...summer is really over and it's time to get back into the swing of things. For now I'll just stay in denial by looking at our pictures and thinking about the warm seabreezes and carmel corn on the boardwalk.

See you next summer OC!

So Much To Learn About Ry

Ry created an "All About Me" book this week in school. When he's a grown-up and writing notes for his Supreme Court briefs, I'll always remember his adorable 4 year old handwriting. Wait - that's crazy - when he's an adult they won't even write anymore; it'll all be electronic. But I'll still remember his scratchy, thoughtful penmanship.


No, we don't live in a totem pole. Apparently we're looking at the roof, windows and doors - just not laid out in an architecturally correct manner.

The top part of this picture are the trucks that are part of the border around his room. Red blob on the left is his car bed. Red blob on the right is his zebra. Yes, I know a zebra isn't red...Ry knows a zebra isn't red...but you have to give him props for the stripes. I guess we'll consider him to be in his postimpressionism phase.

His favorite foods as outlined by our young artiste: apple, chicken nugget, grapes, cherry, blueberries, lemon. Really, a lemon? Silly me I thought it was chocolate. Going forward it's lemons for dessert!

He explained that the last page was his favorite book. I was a little shocked to find that he made Corduroy so chesty (being a boy bear and all), but Ry let me know that those are his buttons. Get your head out of the gutter people. Buttons.

Bring On The Fall

The team piled into Big Blue and headed to Highland Orchards for some apple picking. Cole was running from tree to tree and whenever he saw an apple he screamed at full throttle, "HERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!" I hated to break the news to him that there was about 50 million out there on the trees - he seriously thought he was discovering gold every time he saw one. Hence us leaving with about a zillion apples.

Ry, on the other hand, took two steps out into the orchard and declared that "the grass was hurting his legs" and chose to wait at the car. I think he inherited his Mom's outdoor instincts.

After the apple picking we fed the goats/chickens/donkeys/llama (at least I thought that was a llama...but as I write this I realize it seems weird to have a llama mixed in with goats and chickens...hmm...what was that?) and played on the playground. Evidently the grass length on this side of the orchard was more acceptable.

It's hard to believe that we'll be back soon for the pumpkins and hayrides...wasn't it just Memorial Day???

Growing Up

Charlie is now 7 weeks old...sigh.

Headbanger

Don't be intimidated by Cole's wicked awesome moves...maybe someday he can teach you the art of couch dancing.

Open Water

The boys' first fishing trip...boating on the lake...swimming in beautiful water...happy smiling faces...good friends...no memory card in the camera. Lesson learned!

Luckily I had my trusty iPhone to snap up some memories.

While I sat with Charlie in the shade of the shore, Phil wrangled the boat along with a feisty 2 year old. Turns out that floating in the middle of the water wearing a lifejacket isn't Cole's cup of tea, but Ry enjoyed himself and said his favorite part was "when the Langan's boat crashed into our boat." I'm not asking any questions.

We Proudly Present...The Silly Show

Tonight Ry asked if I could get the camera so I could tape him doing "his show" (which he appropriately named The Silly Show).

Like a true actor/director, he demanded perfection of every take and had me record him no less than 20 times. And like a proud artiste, when we watched the videos afterwards he was cracking up at his genius. I'm talking tears coming out of his eyes, seriously.

After careful deliberation and a series of re-takes, he selected his favorite cut. Please to enjoy.

In West Philadelphia Born And Raised...On The Playground Is Where I Spent Most Of My Days

Today we headed out to the Please Touch Museum. Our membership has served us well, and the boys now know which exhibits they like best and how to get to each one.

After the museum we went to the Smith Playground in Fairmount Park. To anyone with young kids who live close to Philly - this is a must see!! It's totally free and there's so much to do. The Smith House is a mansion that was built in 1899 - a beautiful building that was actually created with the intention of kids playing and having fun. The outdoor playgrounds are the best I've seen yet - the boys went down the hundred year old wooden slide about 50 times.

Charlie was a great travel companion - that is until the horrific traffic on the ride home had us trapped in the car for over 2 hours. We made it home pooped but happy - I've definitely earned my sleep today. G'night!!

Karate: Yes. Dancing: No.

Ry had his first karate class last night. Seriously...it was so stinking cute. The teacher joked around with the kids but also set really clear rules - after class Ry declared that he was "silly but very serious." He was slightly dissapointed that they didn't do any Power Rangers moves, but I told him they had to build up to the flips and high kicks.


Thank goodness there was an empty racquetball court next door. Cole spent the entire half hour running in circles and screaming. Although this can be considered normal behavior for him, it was good to have him in a contained space.

After karate we went into town for Swingin' Summer Thursday. There were 2 scary clown sightings, but we still managed to have fun eating ice cream and listening to the bands. We were babysitting our niece and nephew, and I'd say we fared pretty well with five kids ages 4 and under.

Unfortunately it's been proven once again that Ry inherited Phil's rhythm. Although he's having fun, my man's just got no game.