Grandma's visit part 2 1/2.....

Our trip to Point Pleasant! Last nice day before Hurricane Danny moves up the coast. I love, love the ocean if I didn't have a seven year old in tow that insists on being entertained every second I could sit there all day and watch the waves. But this was a Boardwalk trip with the intentions of letting Macy have as much fun as she could; which included the Jenkins Aquarium, miniature golf, the fun house, ice cream and games. It was a busy day!







Macy loved the touch tank....after watching the sting rays splash around violently ( I think they were trying to escape by jumping out of the tank) she got up enough courage to touch the very slimy, bumpy sea creatures along with a star fish and snail.



Golfing at Castaway Cove. I haven't miniature golfed in years, so we had a lot of fun. And we have to thank grandma for coming along and keeping us company. We will miss grandma when she leaves and look forward to the next visit.

SiLlY GirL!!

Okay, I'm trying really hard not to be embarrassed by the fact that my daughter is trying to sell little cut up pieces of watermelon to my fellow neighbors and drive by cars of people (that I may know) for yes..... a dollar!! I'm proud of her for shooting for her dreams of: making money to get an American girl doll, but really, a little tiny piece of watermelon for a dollar? needless to say, only one person stopped promising to come back with change.....thank goodness dad saved the day with a dollar and a promise to buy the whole plate!!


oh, to be young again!

Happy Fourth of July!

We started the day at Van Saun Park. And what a gorgeous, sunny and cool day. we love that park and zoo, its so small with plenty of trees, never crowded and cheap to boot! Macy and I spent the day walking around the zoo, going to story time, petting chickens and eating hot dogs. even though we brought a perfectly good lunch, what would the 4th be without hot dogs!




My favorite part was feeding the birds. If you get a chance to do this at your zoo, do it. We were laughing so hard, at one time there were three or four birds on our hands and arms. We both kind of freaked out. But they are the cutest, prettiest birds.


Macy loves the reptile house. who knew! they always do a short learning session at the sea tank. Macy loves listening, learning and touching all of the small sea creatures. Today we learned about horseshoe crabs (for the third or fourth time).


I'll make it to Gatorland on of these days.


At the end of the day after playing and waiting patiently, we hiked up the street and watched the New York fireworks. Though we were miles away it was still pretty cool that we could just walk up our hill and watch them, beats the crowds.

We spent the day thinking of Poppy and will always remember the special times we had at the house. Celebrating his birthday, sitting under the misters, wathcing the kids in the pond, walking up and down the waterfall, eating yummy food and watching fireworks. We will always keep poppy close in our hearts and never forget what a wonderful, patient, hardworking and amazing person that he was. We love you Poppy.

The First Signs of Summer!!

1. Fireflies! this is Macy's first attempt at catching the first firefly of the summer. I know I've said this before, but fireflies are my favorite thing about the summer. They are just so cute!!



2. Staying up way past bedtime eating late dinners outside, popsicles for desert and trying out new bug catchers while hoping the citronella candle is only chasing away mosquitoes.



3. Wishing my dad and husband a very "Happy Fathers Day" I grew up with the best dad in the whole world, hardworking and fun, positive and caring. I'm lucky enough to have married an equally awesome guy! I have to say Bob is the most positive, happy person and always making us laugh. He's hardworking, smart and takes very good care of us making sure we have a little fun along the way with all the hard work we do throughout the year.



4. Rainy day parades and when I say rainy....it has rained for the past 20 out of 25 days, they don't call it the Garden State for nothing. Carlstadt has put on an annual childrens parade and picnic for the past 140years. Rain or shine apparently. The kids walk around town with police/fire engine escort, then play on rides, games, get prizes, eat hot dogs and ice cream. Even though we're close to the "big city" they make it feel very "small town". The kids got soaked but didn't seem to care and had a blast in the freezing rain for hours.



5. Gardening. Yes we have planted three tomato plants that have really taken off. We hope they bring us hundreds of cherry tomatos to have with fresh basil and mozarella.

I love what summer brings!

Macy's night of fame....RECYCLE!!

We are so proud of Macy. Of 595 entries for the recycling poster contest, Macy was one of the 42 winners. They had an awards ceremony and dinner honoring the winners where Macy came in second for the first grade class. And a $100 savings bond! not too shabby. Her poster was displayed in the borough hall and now the school. We were pretty excited for her and after a long week of being worried about getting tubes in her ears, this was a good ending.

Macy had tubes put in yesterday morning. It took about ten minutes and a whole ten minutes to come out of the anesthesia. As soon as we were home, she was back to normal. Now after having fluid buildup for so long we thought that was why she's been soOooo loud now this will change everything. So far....she's just as loud. Hopefully it will make things better for her and she will be able to hear and sooner or later become more quiet. Poor thing, she's going to be going through quite a lot these next couple of weeks, its amazing how resilient and fast kids recover. I must say she is quite a trooper!!

Watch out Lance Armstrong

Finally, Macy kicks the training wheels. It took her all of one day to learn how to ride her bike on TWO WHEELS! Bob's waited years for this day, for those that don't know, Bob is an avid bike rider when he has the time. So now the two can ride together and leave mom in the dust (I'm not complaining) We are very proud of "not so adventurous" Macy!!

I had the opportunity to stay home with Macy this summer. These are some of the fun things we did:

Disney World with Aunt Sara and her family. It was Macy's first trip to Disneyworld and she loved it. Thanks to Macy's cousins (which she loved spending time with, sorry Ethan) she had the courage to go on the big rides. Once she tried them we couldn't get her off Splash Mountain. We also went to Kennedy Space Center which was really hot but lots fun. Well worth the trip! We were so glad we had the chance to spend time with the Ford family.