vacation all I ever wanted
It killed me for most of the summer to not talk about our vacation here! Now that it’s over I finally can! I didn’t ever mention it because I felt weird about too many people knowing I was leaving the house for 10 days. We’ve had a lot of break-ins in our town and I didn’t want us being away to be too obvious.
Sooooo, we went to Florida, on the hottest week of the year. Yep.
I really don’t like heat, but I got over myself and had 10 days of fabulous! We tried to do fun things every morning and spend the afternoons in the pool, (at least, Josh and I did, while Damon worked.) Only one day out of the whole trip was too thunderstormy to swim. As long as I can get in the water I’m happy. ;)
We went because Damon has a new job, where he will mostly be working from home, but one week a month he will be in the office in, you guessed it, Florida. Josh and I got a chance to tag along to St. Petersburg this time since we had a free place to stay and school hasn’t started here yet.
Okay, I’ve bored you enough with the words, here is our trip in pictures! (For all three of you that actually want to see them!)
Man, those pelicans stunk!
The beach!!
St. Pete Beach was absolutely gorgeous. Next time we go, we’re spending more time there.
We don’t have trees like this in New Hampshire!
An armadillo made out of junk car parts? This is one of Josh’s favorite pics!
We should have seen an alligator right here, but it was even too hot for them. Ugh, the sweat.
After Damon’s work week was over we left St. Pete and spent a few days in Orlando.
The Lego store…need I say more?
Damon had some issues taking pics with his iphone. And he used to be a photographer??! Hee. Okay, it was just a liiiittle bit sunny out, and he couldn’t see what he was shooting. Also, the only day I didn’t wear black. Ahem. Did I mention the sweat?
The best part of the day at Magic Kingdom. Seriously. Minnie air kissed me on the cheek. So ridiculously cute.
Kennedy Space Center was my favorite day. There was lots of air conditioning…
We can’t pass up an opportunity for a Vulcan hand sign. Ever.
And really, what is a vacation without one of these?
ps. I have to give a shout out to my MIL and her husband for staying in the house part of the time and doing tons of chores for us! And another to my friend’s daughter “C” for checking in on my cat the rest of the time! Thank you!
Filed Under life, photos, the boy Tagged Florida, life, photos, vacation
most days
My days are virtually the same, hour-by-hour, sitting at my desk, searching for photos, making lunches, begging telling Josh to play outside, cleaning up cat puke, and avoiding anything resembling housework. Thankfully, most days are punctuated with little bits of humor, like watching Wipeout. I know, I know, it’s all kinds of wrong, but I can’t help it. :) And, yes, I let Josh watch it too…
Anyway, I wanted to show you a few things I typically see around here on any given day.
Look closely at the top of the photo. Yes, there is an extra cat in the picture. George is often found sleeping with toys piled on top of him.
I know I’m not the only mother in the world whose kid has extra sensory perception regarding the phone. Right? As soon as it rings, or even if I silently start to dial - he’s in the room. Talking to me. Or giving me hand gestures. Anything to get my attention. Or to listen in. Every single time! This photo? If I had saved them all I would have hundreds just like it:
Have you ever been to Passive Aggressive Notes? Well, I could have had a whole website of “I’m On The Phone Notes” if I had just planned ahead.
Lately we’ve been on a kill the clutter kick and we’ve decided to have a yard sale. A whole lot of crap is now piled in the garage:
And that’s not even all of it. Every day I put a little more in the pile, now named the Monster that Ate the Garage. We need to have that yard sale soon!
And last, but not least, is an older photo I found, taken by my husband that perfectly illustrates most of my days:
A cat that thinks he’s a person sitting on a Garfield book with Legos and crap all over the place. If a corner of a computer and a coffee cup were in the photo it would be perfect. :)
Filed Under family, humor, life, the boy, the cat Tagged life, photos, the boy, the cat
pretty fuzzy
It’s vacation week here, except once again it’s not my vacation. I need pretty, fuzzy things to distract my from all of my friends’ facebook status updates from Disney World. Sigh. Do you need pretty, fuzzy things too? Here ya go!
The pretty.
The fuzzy.
More pretty.
More fuzzy.
And pretty again.
The last fuzzy thing would be my brain…but I don’t have a picture of it. :)
kicking cancer’s ass one science post at a time
If you don’t know WhyMommy, well, you should. And if you do know her then you know why I’m doing this.
I was very fortunate to meet and hug (and eat chocolate-dipped fruit with!) Susan aka WhyMommy at BlogHer this summer, but I feel like I’ve known her for oh so much longer. I’ve been a reader of her blog Toddler Planet for years, long before I was a blogger myself. One thing that has always been clear in her writing is that throughout her trials with cancer, Susan is first a mother. She’s also, quite literally, a rocket scientist.
Some of you may know that Susan has recently been diagnosed with cancer again, and is undergoing surgery again, today. We wanted to do a little something to support her, in the way only bloggers know how. In the spirit of Susan’s love for her kids and for teaching them science we bring you Team WhyMommy’s Virtual Science Fair! (Thanks to the amazing Stimey for the putting it all together!)
So the science fair project I did with Josh was one he didn’t actually know was happening. I stealth-scienced him. :)
My goal for this last week was to fit any science topics I could more into our daily life and conversations, whenever and wherever they seemed to fit. Here’s a few of the highlights!
First we took a walk in the swamp behind our house. It’s early for the frogs yet, (and for mosquitoes for that matter! Yay!) but even without spotting any wildlife we enjoyed it. Clearly he did:
It’s so pretty back there, and we’ve never really taken the time to appreciate it. I’m so glad we did. And we’ll be going back weekly to watch the changes as spring and summer progress.
While we were up in Maine this weekend, we had a chance to stop by my friend’s house to see her new baby cow named DC. Short for Diet Coke, the cow was only 3 days old, (!!) and as cute as can be. I don’t think Josh has ever petted a cow before, at least not a tiny one. I wish I had gotten pictures though! I didn’t even think of it. He also got to pet one of her chickens, which she picks up and holds just like I do with my cat. (She’s been known to comment under the alias “Cluckers” here. I wonder why?)
When we got back to my parent’s house from visiting Cluckers, it was dark and the sky was full of stars. Josh and I really don’t get to see that very often. We have too many trees, and far too much light pollution around our own house. So I made him stop and look. I pointed out Orion, and Cassiopeia, and he asked where the Big Dipper was. Now I’m planning an evening out with him, with a star map in hand, and we’re going to look at the stars for as long he wants to!
One of the most fun things we did this week was taking a walk by a nearby brook that looked more like a river from the heavy rains we’ve had.
Whoa! Of course we talked about the flooding, and we inspected the edges to see how high the waters had come up just a few days before.
See where he’s standing? All of that was underwater!
Then he found a clearing and danced like a leprechaun! So much for real science. :)
This week has made me realize that I really don’t do enough of this stuff with my kid. Sure we spend lots of time together, and he loves to read science books, but we don’t experience it as much as we should. I think we just forget to stop and pay attention to things during our usual hectic days, but now that we’ve started I’m not going to stop our science adventures, it’s been too much fun!
Thank you Susan, for inspiring us in so many ways! I hope you can look at the stars with your boys again soon. xo
ps. Go check out all of the other Team WhyMommy’s Virtual Science fair posts!
Filed Under blogging, photos, the boy Tagged blog friends, photos, science, the boy
snuggles
Most evenings we let Josh have one tv show before bed. Usually he has a snack and plays Legos while he watches, but once in awhile I have the pleasure of cuddles instead. Tonight was one of those rare nights, and I don’t ever take them for granted. Damon has been out of town for a few days, and Josh needed some mommy time.
Josh cozied up to me on the couch, and then George snuggled up to him. Sigh.
Josh loves his cat, and George loves his boy.
My foot fell asleep but I didn’t move an inch. There was no way I was going to be the one to disturb them!
Filed Under life, photos, the boy, the cat Tagged life, photos, the boy, the cat
Santa Claws
I just can’t help myself. Josh has all these little hats from his multitude of stuffed animals lying about the house. I pick them up, look at them and think how purrfectly they would fit on George. And they do. As long as he sits still.
I swear it’s not photoshopped! Damon and Josh witnessed George posing for a good 10 minutes so I could get the perfect shot. Yes, I managed to hold in my lap and take the photo at the same time…
I am an old cat lady.
Filed Under the cat Tagged christmas, george, holidays, photos, the cat
keep scrolling
Seeing as I’m going to a blogging conference I probably ought to post something on this here blog eh?
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Nope.
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Got nothing.
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Um. So what are you doin’ this week?
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I’m packing….sort of.
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Flying alone. Yep. I am. Not worried though. Nope.
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Oh, and did you know stupid United Airlines charges $15 extra to check just ONE bag? The outrage!
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Yeah, I really got nothin’.
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Oh, wait! News! I actually changed my twitter avatar to a REAL picture! I know! It’s so people at BlogHer can, you know, recognize me. If they can recognize me off a itty bitty thumbnail that is.
Anyway. I’m working, and packing, and generally getting ready for my first alone vacation in, well, um, ever. Ever. Alone. Can’t wait. Can’t wait. Can’t wait. I wish I was leaving NOW instead of Thursday.
Let me leave you with this. In my pre-BlogHer preparations today, I charged up my camera battery and cleaned off the memory card. And found…the reason I need a vacation:
There’s a whole SERIES of them. And of the cat, and of his toys, of the back of my head, and of half-black bananas and…you get the picture. (~Snort~ I crack myself up.)
God I love this kid.
But I am soooo tired.
The continuing saga of Batman in Vegas
(See part one of the saga here.)
So Josh and I are surviving Damon’s absence but it sure hasn’t helped that the weather is really cruddy this week.
The only things entertaining us are Josh’s extremely loose tooth, and the random photos of mini-Batman that Damon’s been taking all over Las Vegas the conference hotel. Note to hubby - more actual VEGAS please. Ahem. I’m trying to live vicariously here.
So apparently Batman really can fly:
Oh wait, he’s just stuck the window with gum. Nevermind.
Batman prefers Macs. So do I, I just can’t afford one!
Are all photographers generally messy or just the ones I know? Not that I’m judging mind you, after all, they are my kind of people.
I think Batman is a bit anti-social, turning his back on our friends and all.
Hey Russ, long time no see!
Batman is tired and needs a nap. Ooooo, let’s ride the escalators first!
Good night Batman, I’m sure we’ll see more of you soon. Especially since I have nothing better to blog about.
PS. to Damon, Happy Birthday babe. Love you, miss you, and hate that you’re gone on your birthday. We might have to have cake in your honor. Heh.
skunks, pinatas, and Batman, oh my
It’s been a little crazy around here.
How am I supposed to get any work done when I’m constantly on call to rescue stuff?
And then I wasn’t home to see this visitor, but my boys caught it on film for me. Good thing George wasn’t outside! He really is dumb enough to chase a skunk. Been there, done that.
That’s just great. Not. Guess we’re avoiding the backyard at dusk for awhile.
Yesterday was busy partying with some friends:
He spent over an hour in an extremely cold lake and didn’t mind a bit. He’s also changed his mind about swimming lessons! Woot! Good thing, because he really didn’t have a choice. He’s going like it or not, but it’s easier if he likes it.
And now today, DH is a plane for Vegas for a week long business trip. The one that I *was* supposed to go on until the Star Trek Experience closed and I decided going to BlogHer was better after all.
Batman went with him to document the journey for Josh:
At the airport, and on the plane:
It’s gonna be a long week, but most likely an entertaining one!
what I did yesterday
I got my hands dirty!
And I loved every minute of it.