July

So I never thought I'd be one of those OBNOXIOUS moms ("Look at what MY daughter can do!"), yet here I go... She's been doing a great job (when she feels like it) coloring in the lines... but PAINTING in the lines!! Now THAT'S impressive!!!
(And yes, I know... to those who have not lived through someone else's toddler years, you're thinking what's the big deal?? But for a wee one, painting in (or really close to) the lines is quite a feat!)

The last day of July & it was a fabulous one!
It started off with a day at the park with Tori - teaching her how to feed the ducks.
Nick got a smidge too close to the edge of the lake & got yelled at. He busted out the newest addition to his arsenal of toddlerdom meltdowns: the pout.
Despite the fact that Adrienne worships Aunt Keri, she was asked not to push her on the swing any more. No! Not by me.... by ADRIENNE HERSELF! Keri's a big wuss & won't push them any higher than Nick & Ade can push each other, so Uncle Peter had to step in to save the swing session - within 2 pushes he had the chains buckling.
If I remember correctly, this was Tori's first time down a big slide. Whether it was her first or tenth, Peter cracked her head not once, but twice trying to get on it. So while he may be laughing at this point, she was none too happy about the experience.

To be fair, Peter had to manuever (umm, cram?) his 6' 5" frame down a little kid twisty slide while holding a 1 year old...

Tori... with the I'm-SO-done-with-this face.

OK, trying again with mommy who DIDN'T cause any concussions!

Keri quickly mastered the slalom technique.

The official Allenhurst Welcome Committee waving hello to the bennies.
So many options.... bugs.... rocks..... sticks.... dirt....

Inspecting his treasures du jour... rocks.
While Nick was busy stockpiling nature (in my pockets), these girly-girls were practicing a dance routine ? modeling ? acting ? feminine wiles ? all of the above!?

Peter proving that his ultra-cool, uber-loved factor is well deserved. He said to me, "You ever flatten pennies on the tracks?" "WHAT are you talking about??!!" "You put pennies on the track & when the trains run them over they flatten out! We used to do it all the time!" "OK, big shot. PROVE IT!"
And prove it he did!
The fierce penny crusher in action.

Trying to get an uber-cute face shot of the trio watching this escapade. Didn't work. Nick's got his rocks. Adrienne's busy showin' her hoo-ha to The Jersey Shore cast rejects & Tori is just done....

.. as in D-O-N-E.
DONE.

But then Peter appeared... And if Nick thought his booty of rocks, dirt & sticks were treasures.... they were NOTHING compared to Peter's handful of copper doubloons!

Working on the grande finale spin-twirl-dip move of their performance...

... and the crowd goes wild!!!

And if only she had a 100 arms, she'd hung Aunt Keri with every one of them!

After the park it was lunchtime, so we headed back to the house for a picnic.
A few weeks ago at the dinner table I gave Nick a do-or-die look. It has since started a meal-time ritual of giving each other "the look".

Done with grilled cheese.... time to roll around. I love baby booty shots!

Then a visit from Mima & Pop Pop with Pop Pop tirelessly checking off things from his to do list - Project #285, sanding down & refinishing the front door. Adrienne offered to help & he wasn't turning down any offers.

Of course if Adrienne was doing it then Nick wanted to do it too.

And what it actually looked like (pretty cool!) with their silhouettes sanding away...

And to wrap up the day (and the month), dinner on the boardwalk

Everyone says Nick is a mini-Greg & Adrienne is a mini-me. Sometimes I can kind of see the latter, most of the time, not so much. But this picture... THIS picture... it simply freaks.... me... OUT! That's me. No question. That's ME.

Back at home, Nick can't muster the energy to sit up and even Adrienne's grass skirt looks exhausted...

This has NOTHING to do with kids - mine or anyone else's. But this was SO wild & I saw it from beginning to end so you have to hear about it...
My commute is 39.7 miles 1 way, door to door. I leave the house at 6:45am. So far, other than being on the road with Monday morning bennies, still drunk from the weekend before, the only other bit of actual excitement was seeing my first REAL car fire. Not just some smoke under the hood but an honest to goodness care-in-a-ball-of-flames burning on the shoulder. That was... until this particular July Friday afternoon...
I'm CRAWLING along the Parkway and am at a stop alongside the Arts Center exit. Should I hop off & take the backroads or stick it out 1 or 2 more exits... I just... can't decide.... I finally started to cut the wheel to sneak into the last bit of exit ramp before the hill & I saw a bit of VERY speedy movement in my side mirror. WHOA NELLIE! Some BENNY (of course) in a Jeep is flying up the shoulder to bypass everyone else. But HA! there is a Statie in an SUV RIGHT on his tail. SO BUSTED!
Well, since I had stopped to turn into exit 116 that left a little space in front of my truck - and the Benny (with the Statie on his tail) pulls right in front of ME! Oh YEAH! I get to watch his dumb ass get pulled over. Sure enough, another 1/4 or a mile or so later, the cop turns on his lights & does a quick blip of the siren. The Jeep drives on. Oor rather inches forward - remember, we're in Friday afternoon shore traffic of what they're promising to be a stellar weekend. My top speed was about 35 so far... The cop lets his siren run & starts with the horn over the loudspeaker. The Jeep crawls on. This continues until exit 114 when I hear a siren in the distance... Sure enough, a cop comes FLYING up the shoulder to join the low speed / standing still chase. Folks, this continues on for EIGHT AND A HALF MILES. Yes, 8 1/2 miles of driving about 20 miles an hour (if that) and cops hopping on at every exit to join the fray. Let me tell you.... I was a kid in a candy store. If that chase went to Cape May I would've followed. I saw it start and I just HAD to see it thru!

And see it through I did. Yes, I was snapping pictures with my camera.... my cell phone... calling Greg & Carrie with the blow by blow (speaking of, this guy must've blown OFF the charts!!).
The finally tally: 9 cop cars, 1 BUSTED benny & a shutdown southbound Parkway (I was the LAST car they let thru *phew*) on a summer Friday.
And that, kids, makes up for a LOT of crappy commutes.
This is what her favorite orange dress looks like when it's on properly.
This is what it looks like when daddy dresses her.
A musical act was brought into school & she got picked to be one of the puppeteers! Nick's teacher (who we just adore!) knew we'd love to see her so she sent us this picture message. Move over Jim Henson!

All day it was gorgeous. I put the kid's in the car to head to the track & the sky turned black. We got to the track & the parking attendent asked, "Are you SURE you want to go? The sky is going to open any minute!" We got to the main gate & the ticket lady asked, "Are you SURE you want to go?!" I RAN across the front lawn and literally heard the rain slamming into the pavement behind me... JUST as we got inside, dry as a bone.
I just loved this horse... all shades of light grays with reddish-brown spots. He had just bent down to go eye-to-eye with the kids (ok, Adrienne... Nick was too busy shoveling popcorn down his throat).
Keri asked the rider, "What's his name?" The rider, with a thick Spanish accent replied. "Roger?" Keri repeated. "No. BOOGER!" he yelled back.
Not exactly Barbaro or Secretariat...
Tickling Tori's Toes... better than any horse race!

We had just settled in for a family style sushi feast in the family room when I realized Adrienne's sippy cup was MIA. "Adrienne... where is your cup?" "I don't know..." "How do you NOT know?! You JUST had it!!" I buzz around the house 56 times looking for it - she hadn't gone upstairs & it's not like we have a whole lot of furniture yet... there are only so many places it could be. Peter hopped up to help me look for it. He takes one step into the dining room, "Umm, Lor... I found it."
Sauvignon Milk, 2010

After dinner a little lounging to watch Nemo. Except Tori gripping that chair like she's on a Tilt A Whirl.

Then a little down time as they prepare to go to bed. And by "down time" I mean tackle Aunt Keri down to the ground...
At the usual choo choo train park... but this time we're taking it up a notch: FOOD FOR THE DUCKS! But this would be the day the ducks are vacationing in LBI. Instead, we have Canadian geese.

Yiayia & Papou have a pool... Mima & Pop Pop have a pool... so I thought we'd mix it up a bit & get a Slip N' Slide.

Now keep in mind, they've had ample tutelage at Donna's house as to how to use a Slip N' Slide. But no... they just go right for the little pool at the end & splash around in there... somehat apprehensive about the shooting water along the edge...

Sitting there trying to contain the shooting water is SO NOT THE POINT of a Slip N' Slide!!!

I'm explaining ad nauseum how to do it... Kept saying, "Dive DOWN it!!"
Which translates to crawling UP it.
OK! Here comes a little crazy fun!

At this point everyone is completely soaked, muddy & covered with bits of hay (because we have no lawn - just dead, dried out weeds...) when Adrienne announced that she had to go potty. Well guess what, sister... you are NOT trekking through my house solo (since she will somehow touch EVERY inch of floor, carpet & wall on the way to the loo) and I'm certainly not dragging Nick & myself in there too... so here's one of those life-lessons on how to handle a LOT of beer while tailgating at the Arts Center. The art of the Pop a Squat.

Could I have put on my bathing suit & shown them how to master the Slip N' Slide? Please. But I will do the sliding for them...



Now they've been dragged & are starting to get into the whole Slip N' Slide. OK, maybe not get into the slipping & the sliding, but at least they're having a blast & going in the right direction...
Don't know why... but when Nick gets REALLY excited the hand goes right to the mouth & he does a little toe-tap shuffle step...
Trying to catch the spray...
(yes, I have about 600 of these face shots - HYSTERICAL!!)

Trying to catch them from the other side didn't prove to be any easier...

So he went right back to work from the front...

Ta da!

After all that slipping & sliding it was time to wind down a bit & get ready to go to Kaylin's birthday party. I decided to bust out a new movie - Toy Story 2. Nick was INSTANTLY MESMERIZED that a whole new Buzz adventure was about to unfold before his very eyes...

No high drama wetting the bed incidents prior to this visit (unlike Brenna's birthday last month), so bathing suits were brought & they just LOVE Aunt Cindy's house!

Yes, even Nick hopped right in this time.

Bumper Tubes

Why watch Dancing with the Stars when we have our very own Soul Train duo.
(with a little WWF furniture throwin' at the end...)

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
(save a tree! make a robot!)

Suddenly our (unmade) bed has become the epicenter of our upstairs and the holy grail of places to play / wrestle / bounce / dance / read....

A trip to Six Flags with Mima & Pop Pop.
I love this shot... My mom trying to get Nick corral the kids, Adrienne cracking up at something completely different...
And if that was cute, this one is fab!

Not quite Kingda Ka or Nitro... but Pop Pop's a good sport...

Her first time on a 'big kid' ride... ALL BY HERSELF!

What an AWESOME picture....
Except for that bar! Where's Adobe Photoshop when you need it...?!

Cuddling with Calvin...

We had JUST JUST JUST finished dinner.
Go ahead... toss them around all you want. But if they puke, you're dealing with it!

The annual Petrantis Pool Party. Nick would've done anything to get to the bottom of the pool. He kept jumping off the steps into the water.... REGARDLESS of whether or not someone was there to catch him! I finally let him get a lung full of water - figured that would teach him not to do it again. Nope. Right back at it. Jump, choke / sputter / regroup, regroup, jump, choke / cough / sputter, regroup, etc etc...
This was how I finally resorted to keeping him above - by the back of the life jacket because he wanted no part of being 'held'. And you can see how he's straining to get his face into the water - this time to blow bubbles...

While Nick is trying to turn himself into a merman, Adrienne is utterly & totally petrified to go in unless she has a death grip on me.
She was on the steps and I was trying to convince her to jump to me - I SWORE up & down I would catch her (I would! Really!). The discussion had gone on so long it was turning into a heated battle and about to come to blows. Just then her precious Uncle Glenn comes in the pool - he had been watching the battle unfold... he does nothing more than say, "Adrienne!" and gave her a little come hither hand gesture. Quick like a bunny she hopped right off the steps to him.

ARGH!!!!!!

He just looked at me & laughed.

"Let me see, did you swallow that big mouthful of food?!"

"AHHHHH"

TOO TOO TOO CUTE!!!!!

Nouna put it best.... Russian Water Roulette

Time to wind down.... Amidst the crowd of kids and all the places he could POSSIBLY cozy up, he finds his way to Uncle Jimmy's "throne" & starts rubbing his belly, Homer Simpson style. SUCH a guy...

Oh boy, oh boy did she have quite the crush on Nick! The poor kid is a HARDCORE Yankee's fan & there was a game on... but Adrienne batted her eyes at him & asked if he would watch Nemo with her... and he DID! What a SWEETIE!
Time to get dressed & call it a night...
Umm, sorry buddy. I have to draw the line somewhere... wearing my heels around the house, ok. But wearing my bikini bottom for the car ride home... no. Just no.

This was really mean... but I TOTALLY didn't think she'd actually do it!
She was so so SO excited to get her (2nd) haircut. And keep in mind, the only reason she wants to get her hair cut is to get the lollipop at the end!
Her appointment was at 9:45am & it's 5min down the road. The clock said 7:31am. Every 10min for the past hour & a half... "Is it time to get my haircut?!?" Finally I said, "See that 7 there?? When it turns into a 9 you let me know... THEN it will be time to go."
And she just stood there. For a really.... really... REALLY... long time until Greg (yes, Greg) couldn't take it any more & explained I was messing with her... If she was going to stand there for 2hrs, I had NO plans on telling her otherwise!!!
After the haircut we stopped by school for their 1yr anniversary party. It was a Festivus!
Nick would come over to the mesh & say, "Hug, a-mommy?" while putting his arms flat on the mesh while pushing his cheek into mine. He'd bounce a little more, come back & say, "Kiss, a-mommy?" and plant a big smooch on my lips right thru the mesh.

COME!!!!!

ON!!!!!

Giving the evil eye to Ms. T, Adrienne's teacher, who is coming around the side of the table to sit next to him. It took Adrienne about 2 months to warm up to her & now Nick melts down whenever he's in her presence.

Making door hangers... Nick got 1 sticker in & needed another snack break.

Getting ink.

She went for the Mike Tyson look.

They were SUCH troopers at the hair salon and then at the school fair so we took them for an ice cream treat. Adrienne got to pick... and she based her selection not by flavor but by color.... purple!

At the Ribs for a Cure fundraiser... Adrienne scouted out her spot and was there for most of the afternoon. Nick would get in, then want to get out, once he was out he'd want to get in, then want to get back out again....

Keri started throwing him around & that did the trick - he didn't want to get out again.

Is Baby Logan (as Nick calls him...) not the ULTIMATE Gerber baby!?
Absolutely delicious!!!!

The band clearly needed some additional backup instrumentals...



I've got to get the story on this... something about this family who brings the wrestling belt with them EVERYWHERE... Nick was allowed to try it on which was, apparently, a pretty momentous occasion.

My parents took the kids to the farm... although this shot truly makes me wonder: just who is looking at who....?

This is how I get the kids to eat fish... (aside from the fact that I have "Fish are friends... not food!" in a constant loop in my head)
They make breadcrumbs by stomping on Goldfish crackers which I then use to coat the fish!
Cracks me up because they'll ask for seconds & even thirds... "Can I have more Goldfish chicken?" "It's fish." "OK, can I have more chicken fish?"

Maybe she'll grow up to be a pet groomer...
(I don't know how it is that for someone who SERIOUSLY dislikes cats, Greg is often found with one curled up next to him.)

As previously posted, Nick's favorite spot is the corner of the couch. Regardless of what (or who) may be in the way.

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old..."

The night we celebrated Olivia's first birthday it somehow came up that Nick has eaten his fair share of spoons. Yes, plastic spoons. He bites down on them hard enough that he cracks off nice sized chunks. And then swallows them. Laurie was shocked / horrified. I explained:
The first time was scary... take him to the ER? Wait it out? Finally we called the peds who basically said if it went down it will come out but the fear is if it punctures something while in there... we would know within a day if anything was wrong. The second time, ok, we know the drill & were on guard. The third time, it got nothing more than an eye roll.
A little later I got home, put the kids to bed and Greg walked in the door. What happened to his fan (that Yiayia had given him 2 hours before)?? It looks like he took a bite out of it.
So make it: 3 spoons, 1 fan.

Olivia has now been schooled on Yiayia's infamous 'No! No! No! finger wave'



WHERE IS MY STRAW!?
She looked under her plate, on the floor... but forgot to check with her cousin!

Nick decided to take over Papa Nick's head-of-the-table seat.
And he got QUITE a tongue lashing for it!
(OK, Papa Nick totally didn't care about his seat, but Nick picked up his plate and was about to dump everything off of it when Papa Nick yelled at him which got the pout going.)
What's with that LOOK on their faces!?
As if it's a plate full of brussel spouts, spinach and okra!
Happy Birthday to ME!
Her VERY FIRST indulgence into the world of confectionary delights...
(then again, this is the first one that Laurie & John KNOW of.... if I know Yiayia........ that's all I'm sayin'...)
Happy 1st Birthday Olivia!!
(now let's see how long it takes your mom to put you to bed after eating that whole cupcake! ha!)
I don't usually include our life outside of the kids since this is THEIR blog (wait, we HAVE a life outside of the kids??) but this wedding is most definitely blog-worthy...
Laura & John got married on our ANNIVERSARY!
Not only is it spectacular that we now share our anniversary (or should I say 'anny') with friends but we were made to feel like royalty at THEIR wedding. EVERYONE was wishing us a happy anniversary - their families, friends, they even had the band announce it!

The groomsmen gifts.... Patent Leather Air Jordans.

Happy 6th (!!) Anniversary to US!

Not only was it a kid-free night out for us but also for Peter & Keri and John & Laurie. Unfortunately for Nick & Gayle it was NOT a kid-free night out for them since they were there with us!
We're the 3 best sisters-in-law that anyone could have
We're the 3 best sisters-in-law that anyone could have
We're the 3 best sisters-in-law that anyone could have
And we'll never ever ever ever leave each other
(ok, I REALLY have to stop watching The Hangover...)

Where WERE the kids you may ask... they had a sleepover at Mima & Pop Pop's house!

And to start off Sunday, an early morning playdate with cousin Ryan.
They got a new 3D TV.
So... Rob & my dad were playing but Ryan & Adrienne had on the 3D glasses and thought they were driving. Nick... maybe he has 3D eyes because he was cheering like a madman and had NO part of actually participating!
We headed to our next playdate with cousin Olivia...
He's getting REALLY good at climbing! Getting down, not so much...

Believe it or not I had my pick from about 4 shots that all came out just as adorable!
Later that afternoon we went to the track (it was St. Patty's Day in July, hence the green) with even MORE cousins!
Glenn was SUCH a good sport - the kids decided he was one of them the ENTIRE afternoon and teased, tickled and tackled him non-stop.


Up to now it's been Adrienne who has been trying to keep up. Now she's one of the 'big kids'. Nick could care less about actually keeping, or ever catching, up. He's just happy to RUN.
See what I mean....!?



So this brings the tally up to QT with 4 cousins in 1 day!
Corinne & Cassandra saw Nicole & Olivia earlier... We saw Ryan & Olivia earlier... If only there was a Tori siting we would've gotten all the cousins!
Then again, there's Cousin Oliver in the background here - some random little boy who became Corinne's shadow the entire time we were on the playground...

Somehow they came up with this game of goosing Glenn...

And then he'd goose them back.
(Meanwhile, Nick had long prior settled into the sand and was working on burying himself...)
Aww, hand in hand... what an ADORABLE daddy-daughter picture....!
That's odd.... Glenn's an Eagles fan, not a Jets fan. Oh wait! Glenn's not her daddy either!!
Last race of the day, we finally got over to the paddock. I asked the kids which horse they liked - Adrienne wanted #1. Nick wanted #8. After about 47 rounds of "Nick... there IS NO #8. Pick another #!" and he'd say, "NUMMER 8!! NUMMER 8!!", he FINALLY blurted out "NUMMER 5!!" GREAT! Let's bet!
And Nummer 5 won! Nick's winnings.... all $1.20 of it!
Waho-hoo! Time to retire!
Aww, a hug...
The moment didn't last long...

NOOGIES!!
And then he tried to poke Greg's eyes out.

My girlfriend came into work with her nails painted like watermelon slices. Yes, she did it herself to practice before she did it on her daughter. Well then... I'LL SHOW HER!
That night I got home, "Adrienne!! Do you want a manicure!? We'll do your nails like bumblebees!"
I painted them up & she gave me the stink eye for the rest of the night.
WT...?! Here I give you a mani, a fabulous BUMBLEBEE mani, no less & you pout about it all night long....

The next morning on my way to work I'm stopped at a light. It's a GREEN light.
!??!?!?
Thankfully I figured it out before anyone else approached the intersection but what a TOTAL blonde moment!! As I'm driving, pondering my spaceheadedness and dreading how the rest of the day is going to go... it hits me. The stupidity set in last night, NOT this morning.
No WONDER why Adrienne was bummed about her bumblebee mani! Bumblebees have STRIPES not POLKA DOTS!!!

......ugh......

So much for 'all I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten'... Looks like I better go back to nursery school.
The only thing bigger than Nick's head.... his mouth. I SWEAR he's going to swallow his own head one of these days....

Saturday afternoon of July 4th weekend... at the park. It was EERILY empty. Not that I'm complaining, and granted it was about a trillion degrees so everyone was probably at the beach or resting comfortably in their AC'd homes, but not us! They found some shade and Adrienne started rolling - SIDEWAYS - across a little hill.

After I demonstrated how to go DOWN the hill (thankfully no one other than my kids was around to witness THAT) Adrienne gave it a shot - and rocked it!

Now Nick's trying too - but doing the same sideways-hill-roll...

Whoa! Actually gathering up some speed!

Adrienne suddenly decided she wanted to sit by herself. Nick had NO intention of letting her.

The afternoon went PERFECTLY. I got them BOTH down for LATE naps, headed over to Chris's annual July 4th pool-party-BBQ for dinner and Greg met us around 7:30 when he got off work. The kids were being AWESOME (Nick never stopped eating & Adrienne never got out of the pool) so we stayed pretty late. As we were leaving Greg (Mr. I-Hate-Fireworks) said, "Hey! It's already after 9... let's just keep the kids up a little longer and go see the fireworks!"
You don't have to ask me twice.... I L-O-V-E fireworks!
So this was their first fireworks show....!

As each one went up he'd point & give a loud "Ooooooo!"

She whimpered, whined & fussed the ENTIRE time: It's too loud. I'm cold. I want to go home. They're scaring me.
Only to ask the SECOND it was over, "Can we come back again!?"
*sigh*

The Headless Swingers in The Legend of Choo Choo Train Park

Let's chase the ducks!
Can't you just HEAR me screeching, "Do NOT take another step!!!"

Just a randomly good picture of wildlife...
Stadium seating for the train show.
Hooo-hooo! A northbound double-decker and a south-bound at the station SIMULTANEOUSLY!

Good show! Bravo!

I was wondering how Nick would handle it now that his perch over the back of the couch has been cut off....
Any time a scary part in a movie comes on (case in point: the shark is about to eat Nemo's mom & sibs) he runs behind the railing and holds on until it's over.

This is just the cutest... and I can't believe I caught it on video.
She's checking out a Daddy Longlegs. And what are Daddy Longlegs' kids called...!?



We were BARELY out of the driveway (in our BLACK truck which had been baking out in the sun ALL day) on the way to Mima & Pop Pop's house for their July 4th BBQ when Adrienne announced she's "SO COLD" and needed her blanket.

SERIOUSLY!?!?

My salsa.
Do you care, probably not.
But I managed to make 3, yes THREE, batches 3 consecutive days for 3 different parties AND I even remembered to bring a bag of chips to go WITH the salsa.
I'm SO not a super-mom, but I've got to tell you I'm PRETTY freakin' impressed with myself!

Yup. These proportions are JUST ABOUT right...
Mike (my dad's bff) captures the most AMAZING moments... WITHOUT contnuous shooting, no less.

ANYWAY.... he wanted to get a picture of Nick & me. He wasn't camera ready so I gave him a few raspberries to get him laughing.
I leaned in for a kiss & he gave me a raspberry instead!
(I know it looks like he's trying to French me but it was really mid-raspberry!!)

As INCREDIBLE as Mike's pictures are (this one notwithstanding) they do make me PAINFULLY aware of how much makeup I SHOULD be wearing...

Pool time!
To get things started my dad stuck his head in & blew bubbles - the kids FREAKED! It caught them SO off-guard - they thought it was riot!!

Are you SURE you have enough room to get a good running start???
(as Adrienne & Nick come to a COMPLETE stop after that lengthy running start to THEN flop in... or in Nick's case, wiggle in since his buddha belly gets in the way)

And just like that, Nick was done. No more pool. He would run around it, stand at the edge but would NOT get back in.

Thankfully Ryan loves TO entertain as much as Nick loves BEING entertained.

Hmmm.... Should I eat my neon blue cupcake neatly or make a total mess...?

I'll try not to get my hands dirty.

Ehhhh, there's no fun in being neat.
Let me tell you, he rubbed that icing into his hands like he was a 70 year old hen who had just been given a vat of Creme de la Mer. He wasn't going to let a single dab of icing get away.
I swear his fingers STILL have a blue tint...

Looks like he ate a Smurf.

Vanilla is good...
.... but chocolate is SO much better.

It's tradition... Mike gets a group shot.
Adrienne's chosen a new family.

As much as Adrienne LOVES Uncle Peter, Nick is enamored with Aunt Joan (Ann-Doan). Even just to mention Ryan's name starts Nick on a frantic search for / questioning of Ann-Doan?? Ann-Doan??
He's CLEARLY inherited his father's mastery of the art of flirting. Right before this video (during which he did actually jump into her arms) she said he spotted her across the room, FLEW to her and then... stopped. He didn't know if he should hug her, jump on her, or what. So he just stood there and got REALLY confused.

I JUST missed it.... of course the camera was already packed away... Adrienne had literally DRAPED herself across Rob's head.

Rob really is in there somewhere...

No doubt my FAVORITE picture of the day, maybe even the year.
First, watching as Joan had to chase down, tackle & pin Ryan to get his shoes on. And then her comment to me:
"THIS is your future."

Back at the choo-choo train park which now has the duck factor.

Duck: "Oh LORDY... They're BACK!"
Duck: "Quick... HIDE!!"
Didn't work. Poor ducks were chased from one end of the park to the other about 7 times.

I took them through the car wash. I think it was their first time...
Nick could care less. Adrienne seemed a little concerned but held it together just fine.... UNTIL....



Whatcha lookin' at?!
Mirrors on the CEILING!?!
What kind of kinky McDonald's do they HAVE in Ocean Twp!?!?

Since it was a steambath outside I had them blow off their steam in the McD's indoor (read: pumpin' AC!!!) playroom.
I only took a few pictures but they're having SO much fun I had to post them all....

After about 6 attempts to get her to find the entrance to the slide in the maze of tubing she finally came down - walking the last bit. She came out & said, "My feet are all WET!" Huh?! Sure enough, there was a big puddle a few feet in from the edge. I was horrifed... "DID YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT?!?!" "NO mommy!" That was almost WORSE because someone else must've. EWWWW GROSS!!! The only win was that she didn't slide her tush through it.
OK, well, it's time to go anyway. So off with the socks & let's head home.

Staging a protest as I'm trying to get them out the door she declares she HAS to go to the potty. NOW.
We go into the stall, get her ready... no TP.
I go into the next stall, get TP, come back & she's already gotten herself on the potty. Gross, gross, gross. But fine, what's done is done.
She gets up and I could tell something just wasn't right....
The back of her dress had fallen INTO the toilet.
Soaked, sockless, dressless... we finally take leave of Mickey D's...
Tuesday night (you know, Tuesday, the new Saturday) we had a BBQ with a few of Greg's friends (who are now our NEIGHBORS! yeah!). I fully intended to get pictures of the 8 kids that were there but the only one I managed to get was at the end of the night...
Adrienne and her man, Boomer.
TOO cute, right?!