Miss you, Trevor!

Unfortunately, Trevor couldn't make the trip down from Montreal with Travis, and he was definitely missed. He and I had a few minutes to talk on the phone, while Trav took control of my camera.

Hope to see you soon, Trevor!

Trav's visit to the Jersey Shore

I realized that my previous posts made it seem as if all we did over Trav's weekend visit was eat lobster and loose money. But the Jersey Shore is so much more!

Trav and I after swimming in the Atlantic Ocean at Sandy Hook State Park, just a mile from my folks house. Very refreshing!

No visit to the Shore is complete without a visit to the boardwalk. We went to the Pt Pleasant Boardwalk, and it was packed! Hard to find adult friendly rides there (lots of 'you must be shorter than this line to ride this ride'), but we finally found one.

Trav was really into it! Look out kids, here comes Travis!

And a visit to the water pistol pig race table, where Harry and Sally came into our lives. We had to separate them at the end of the weekend, when Sally made her way to the Great North. Happy travels, and we hope to see you again soon!

A Day at the Track

No visit to NJ is complete without a visit to the racetrack, right? So, my Mom and I took Travis to Monmouth Park horse racetrack for a little gamblin'.

My mom and Trav at the start of our day at Monmouth Racetrack.

The winning ticket?

After three wins, I survey my options. Of course, my winnings amounted to about $10, but still!
And after three losses, Travis has had it with gambling. Another intervention avoided!

Trav's First Lobster!

Travis came for a visit this past weekend from Montreal, and after 12 hours on a train, it seemede the least we could do was offer him lobster! Here are pictures from his first battle ever. I think he won, in the end.

S-P-O-O-N-S!

On Tuesday night , I was able to join my cousin Corey for her 2nd Annual Girls Night Celebration. This evening might also be called, "All the kids are at camp, let's party!" Over the course of the evening, about ten good friends of hers, and my other cousin, Lisa, arrived to enjoy a night with the girls. Corey has a gorgeous home, and we spent most of the evening poolside, but I was a bit slow with the camera, so the pictures only show us late in the evening, gathered around the picnic table for a friendly game of Spoons.



I'm not sure I can explain Spoons. Its not complicated, but there are a lot of moving parts. It almost didn't matter, because the real point was getting the chance to chat, revisit all stories, and make new memories. By the end of the evening, my face hurt from laughing so much. Each of these women have children of various ages, some teenagers, one newborn, most in between. They all seem to have totally different personalities, but they all still enjoy each other so much. The stories they told make it clear that some of them have known each other forever. They get together at least a couple of times a year, just the girls, and some of their stories can't be retold without a signed release. In short, they are all great fun, and I was so glad that I got to be a part of it. But, next year, I might have to bring my own spoon...

Notice the almost empty box of "Tooters" on the table. Yum!

Hello, New Jersey!

I arrived back in NJ last week, and I have been having fun with my folks ever since. They live in a great house on the Jersey Shore, so ocean views every day, and sometimes even a glimpse of the NYC skyline. As my Mom says, its all about the view!

I got here a week ago, and its been nothing but good times since. When I arrived, Mom told me that Dad thought it would be a great idea to go to a show that night. She couldn't remember what it was called, but it didn't really matter. I was delighted that we were going, and that Dad had thought of it! So, off we went.

To a one-woman show about the perils of dating. Not bad, actually, and the largely female audience seemed to enjoy it. Dad was one of maybe five guys in the audience, because he is a Renaissance Man, and open to discussing all manner of topics, even why men suck, and then turn out to be only misunderstood.

Since then, the pace of life has slowed considerably. I wake up much later, and therefore go to bed much later. I've already read a couple of books. And most importantly, I've spent a lot of quality time with my folks, which was the whole point. So, great times, but a bit less photo-friendly. I did try last weekend, and all I have to show for it is the picture below.

We went for a walk at the Long Branch Boardwalk. It was a beautiful day, and a great day for a walk. We just strolled up and down the walk, people watching and enjoying the breeze. I got this picture of Dad, which is a very familiar one. I have countless pictures of my Dad just like this one, pointing off into the horizon at something interesting that is always out of frame. I wonder what he was talking about?

Anyway, I'll try to pick it up on the picture taking to help illustrate the Jersey Shore in the future.

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me...

James saves the day! As Anne, Andie and both babies were sitting under the apple tree, crack! Down came a limb! Luckily, James was there to catch it, and give everyone a chance to escape. Good work, James! And Anne was just saying her yard finally looked the way she had always dreamed it would. Sigh.


Everyone pitched in to help with the clean-up. Mr Olson, the next door neighbor, came right over with a hand saw to get the big branches out of the way.

The boys helped gather the apples. Apple pie, anyone?

And neighbor Bob Windsor loved the opportunity to get out his chainsaw. In fact, he may have enjoyed it a little bit too much!

***

To make amends with nature, the whole crew went to the cooperative farm where the Doughertys have been getting fresh vegetables this summer.

The boys learned to identify tadpoles, and they tastes fresh berries they picked themselves.

Connor and Andie met a pig. Definitely not a Wilbur!

And then, the main attraction: cow milking! The dairy had about 40 cows, and we got to watch them be milked. Which may have been a little bit too much farm for us.

So, we moved on to the baby cows who needs some milk of their own. We had those bottles out for maybe 10 minutes before they had completed finished it off.

Great job with the clean up, Finn! Now, everyone back home for showers, quick!

I was helping Finn get into some pjs the other night, and he really wanted to wear a pair with feet. Unfortunately, they were way too small. Anne took one look and said to go ahead and cut the feet off. I did, and that worked, but then what to do with the feet? Check out below...

He was so excited to have some "slippers" to wear, and loved running around the house with them. He loved them so much that we had to try and find some slippers for Seamus. He had to make do with "fire socks," but unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that.

***

When I found my camera, and went back for the picture, I found Finn with a toy in his hand. It was a giraffe rattle that a friend of mine, Jamie Tadlock, had given to me for him when he was born. I had given it to him then, and hadn't seen it since. It was really fun to see him playing with it, and realize that almost two years have gone by since he first received it. Also, weird to think that two years have gone by so fast.

Thanks, Jamie!

Cousins

MJ and Connor lived through a number of wardrobe changes over the course of the weekend. It took them a little while, but by the end of the visit, they had really warrmed up to each other.

MJ & Connor in their Fourth of July outfits

At the Science Museum of Minnesota. MJ displays her signature "rock on!" finger suck. I'm sure Connor is looking forward to partying with his cousin again soon!

Happy Fourth of July!

We rushed back from Wiscousin to Minnesota (with the help of unknown man in pickup truck on County Road F. No lie! That's what they name roads in that state!), and made it to the airport to pick up some very special visitors -- Andie and Connor Dougherty from South Carolina!

The weather was beautiful, so we spent the afternoon at the Pool & Yacht Club.

What a great way to celebrate the holiday!

Greetings from Wiscousin!

I can now cross Wiscousin off the list. I have seen, I have conquered. Bob and Paula Windsor, dear friends and neighbors of the Minnesota Doughertys, invited us to join them for a Fourth of July spectacular. The morning would include foot races for people and for turtles. Awards would be presented for those who excelled, and fun would be had by all.

So, off we went, at 6:45am Wednesday morning. I know, ridiculously early for a holiday. At some point, I thought jokingly to myself, I wonder what state we are in now? Little did I know...


Finn gets some pointers on his 100 yard dash from Bob Windsor.

After completing her 2 mile run, Anne relaxes on the sideline with Finn and some Windsors. Finn was hoping he could get a tuxedo shirt like Jeff Windsor. His birthday is coming up!

The turtles relax after a tough day of racing. No, really! They raced!

Post race, the boys compare ribbons. There is video of them actually competing, but I haven't figured out how to upload that kind of stuff yet. I'm sure Anne or James will fill me in eventually.

The Doughertys gather for a family shot. Now, back to Minnesota! Andie and Connor will be arriving soon!

So, what is appropriate reading material for a 3 1/2 year old?

When I arrived in St Paul, Seamus was in the process of reading The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan. By reading, I mean having read to him, of course. He really enjoyed the Wizard, and the color illustrations had a lot to do with that. He and I made our way through it, and as we were reaching the end, I thought it would be nice to have some new books to read to him. So, I looked up the illustrator, and found a book, and immediately ordered it.

And so Beowulf came into our lives. I remember this book being assigned to the other English class in high school. I didn't have to read it, but some of my friends did, and I remembered them being pretty divided about whether or not they liked it. I don't remember ever hearing anything about the story.

As an adult, I've discovered that I really like the classics, and I've gone back to read again books I dragged myself through as a teenager. Beowulf was always on my list to get around to reading eventually. Now was my chance!

The cover was the first clue that maybe I should have researched the story a bit before purchasing. (But aren't the illustrations beautiful?!)

A brief synopsis:

Grendel, the evil ogre, is killing people. Beowulf comes to town and kills Grendel. The people celebrate.

Grendel's mom, the evil sea hag, starts killing people in anger over her son's death. Beowulf goes out to find her, faces the sea serpents, kills them, and ultimately kills the sea hag too. The people celebrate.

A death dragon comes to town and kills people. Beowulf goes out to face it, and kills it, but not before receiving a wound that kills him. The people mourn.

The end

So, what's not appropriate about this story? Its definitely improving his vocabulary. Seamus will be the first kid on his block to know words like 'blood-letting,' slaughter' and 'massacre.'

What has really made this complicated is that this is now his favorite book. I've read it to him twice. I thought about taking a picture with Seamus holding the book, but its in hiding right now.

I'm not sure if he has really forgotten it, though. Even now, as I type this, Seamus is in the other room, having some "private time," if you know what I mean, and I can hear him chanting "beowulf, beowulf" to himself.

This has lead to interesting discussions, however. Below is a picture of Grendel, the evil ogre.

The first discussion was about the fact that Grendel is an evil ogre. Shrek, another Dougherty favorite, is a good ogre. Hmm. There was some brief confusion about this, but its hasn't come up again. We haven't watched Shrek again either, but I'm sure that is a coincedence, and not a sign that this book has ruined the movies for him.

The second discussion started with the question from Seamus: "Did God make Grendel?" As I frantically looked around for his mom or dad to help me with this theological discussion, Seamus let me know that an evil god created Grendel. So, now he understands the concept of polydeism. Isn't that what a god-mother is supposed to teach her god-son?

Anyway, no need to fear. Beowulf is hidden, and with any luck, already fading from his memory. Nevermind the fact that Seamus has taken to stalking me in the backyard like a sea serpent. Or that he keeps pretending that his hands are really claws. I'm sure this will fade in time.

Now, on to Oliver Twist, a wonderful story about an orphan boy sent to work in the factories as a child and beg for more food before being enlisted in a band of kid pickpockets and sent onto into the world of petty larceny. Isn't literature grand?