Armpit Symphony

I'm forever telling Devin that he's all set for college. Between his love of joke telling and his ability to make any part of his body squeak, I'll think he'll fit right in. Nick decided to help Devin "hone his craft" this weekend at the lake and taught him to add a little water to maximize the sound effects. I think the results speak for themselves...

Chillin' at the Lake with da hood

We spent a splendid day at the lake with a few EGN School families. It's funny how your social circle does a lot of morphing to the parents of your kids friends. It was nice because although a good share of these folks were parents of 3rd graders, there was a 1st grade family or two and a couple scout families too. Even nicer because in the words of RH "I've never seen a group of kids get along so well. There haven't been any fights!" Well said, RH!

My favorite part was when Julia was looking for a seat by the fire and MC said, "Here, come sit with me!" Soooo cute!!

Trying to catch them jumping into the lake was hysterical. Timing was, well, a challenge. We spent the day boating, eating and doing some stuff for the kids (thanks for the s'mores Ellen!!)

Thanks to John G. for being the grill chef! Man makes a mean dog!! Best idea of the day goes to my sister, Heather, for coming up with the idea to freeze a bunch of toys in a block of ice for the kids. Brilliant - big hit!!

Some of my honey, Dustin (oh, and the others too)

Love, LOVE L...O...V...E Dustin Pedroia. Love him. Eat him up, pinch his cheeks love him. Oh, and he's the most awesome player. (Drooling on keyboard, in a totally non-stalker-still love and adore my husband kind of way.) Took as many pictures as I could before I made myself stop and just watch the game last night. Here are a few (and some for my sister and Devin too). Heather, you can love me now for the bounty of Jon Lester shots, and Devin - sorry the Coco Crisp shot ain't so crisp).

Did I mention the game rocked???? Did I???

Fenway Family

Last month my Dad and my sister went to a Sox game as her birthday present. They had such a good time (and for anyone who watched the game, they had bangin' seats right in camera shot all night) that they decided to make it a family night.

So, Heather and I drove up from CT and the folks drove down from ME and we met outside the Sausage King booth on Yawkey Way. We downed a few Fenway Franks and headed in. We had seats in right field, so a perfect view of my favorite right handed batter, Dustin Pedroia.

Besides the incredible game (which the Sox won 6-5 against the Twins) which had just enough action and drama that we spent most of the last few innings on our feet...we had a totally crazy thing happen that still makes me howl when I remember it.

My Dad is a tremendous fan of the new Red Sox reporter, Heidi Watney (feel the impact of this understatement now). So much a big fan that he had a shirt made in her honor. Front is Red Sox, back is "Heidi 01". See photo of him wearing it proudly. Several questions, comments from other Heidi fans abound.

Well, we joked about getting Dad close enough to her to show her the shirt, meet her etc. Well, any of you been to Fenway? Needle in a security laden haystack. But, it was fun to think about.

We entered through the gate in the southeast corner. This is where the players park, exit the stadium etc. All of this came as a total surprise to us until we were walking down the ramp and I saw Kevin Youkilis walk to his SUV about 15 feet away from me. I yelled "Youk!!" and then everyone saw him. (Sorry, Youk.) Well, then we saw the barricades outside with hardly anyone hanging out there and thought, what the heck...we'll stalk for a while.

We saw most of our favorites head out, which was cool. The most awesome players rolled their windows down and gave the fan shout out. Red Sox rock, truly. Loving them all today. Timlin just strolled out of the park and walked home. He's so big, I can't imagine anyone would mess with him anyway...

Well, as we watched and were just about to pack it in, guess who walks out? Heidi Watney. I looked at Dad, Dad looked at me. She had to stop before she crossed Yawkey so I said "Go!" My most vivid memory of the event is watching my Dad hightail it across the street to catch up with her.

I was so busy pulling out my camera/telling Dad to show her his shirt/trying to convince her that he wasn't a crazy stalker that the details are fuzzy, but WE MET HEIDI!!!!! Dad shook her hand, she thought his shirt was "Oh, how cool!", and we got photo proof.

I laughed and smiled so much my face hurt the whole way home. Needless to say, a great night for the Sox, and my Dad!!

Julia at Nomad's

Trying out the new Blackberry feature on my phone. Here's some footage of Julia climbing the rock wall at Nomad's. She scaled these things like Spider Girl.

Chillaxing in the tub

Here we are enjoying the hot tub (warm tub). Thanks for a great weekend John & Libby!!

Petting the Sharks

Here we are petting the little sharks. There was one scary moment when one of them was headed straight towards Julia's dangling fingers with it's head up out of the water, but all was well. (See second photo, snapped quickly before I lunged for her hand.)

More Aquarium

A group shot, the jellyfish tube (hysterically funny to watch them float gracefully to the top and get shoved fairly forcefully back down to the bottom by the pipe) and look - it's Nemo!!

Aquarium

I was enthralled by an aquarium with hippos. They have a huge habitat, it was quite cool. It's a really nicely laid out facility that was easy to navigate. We had a blast. Devin is standing next to a sign that says "Birds poop every 15 minutes. How long have you been standing here?" We thought that was pretty funny.

Check out Neil and Julia in the shark tube. Yikes!!

Chillin in NJ with Libby, John & Crash

We snuck down to Jersey for a long weekend to hang with Libby and John. They have a new addition named Crash that they got for Christmas. Crash is a Havanese and he's a hoot. Our favorite was "run like hell". Apparently Havenses are chicken herders and I suspect this running and stopping on a dime is somehow tied in. Rumor has it that the Springer Spaniels are slowly going to get taken over by Havanese. We'll have to wait and see...

We took a day trip to the Camden Aquarium and saw Philly over the river. We pet sharks (yes, really!), saw hippos, ate awesome sushi and hung in the warm tub (it was too hot for a hot tub so they cooled the water down a bit so the kids could swim).

It was a nice leisurely visit with the fam. What a way to start off the summer!!

Sunday Dinner at mom and Tom's

Mom wanted to pull the family together for Sunday dinner before she headed out to Florida for vacation. We had such a nice, relaxing afternoon. We got to visit, talk and laugh. More belly shots. Really, who is the pregnant person in this lineup??? More of baby E. Isn't he getting big??

Cross Over Picnic

It had to happen eventually...our "little" Cub Scout has become a Webelo 1. The Webelo rank is the last rank in Cub Scouts. After Webelo you become a full Boy Scout. We had very cool weather and threatening clouds all afternoon. At one point right before we were starting the ceremony I looked up and saw this swirling cloud formation. I looked at John L. and we said "uh-oh". Fortunately, no tornados here. The ceremony just ended as the sky opened up.

To thank the fantastic Bear Den leaders, Mrs. D. and Mrs. B. we put together scrapbooks of the year in Scouts. A very small thank you for all the great things they did with the boys all year.

Congrats to all the Cub Scouts on their new ranks!!

Heather's Birthday/30th Anniversary

We had dinner (Dad's yummy homemade spagetti sauce) at Mom and Dad's on Heather's Birthday. We had the best cake ever (pumpkin choc chip with Magnolia bakery frosting) and then Mom and Dad opened their squares for the afghan we've been making for them. So happy the last cat is out of the bag!

Good Ones from Father's Day

A coouple with my good lens from Father's Day...