Food Storage and other quirks

Calvin makes the most of his wardrobe by storing up for those times when you never know if your mom is going to remember to get you a snack.

Another Calvin quirk that we recently discovered: he talks to his fingers (and his fingers talk back). Yesterday we were taking him to some friends' house to be watched while we went out, and on the drive over there his fingers were asking some questions about where they were going and Calvin was reassuring them.

I couldn't help but remember Bryn's imaginary friend Humpty Dumpty when she was Calvin's age. She took him everywhere and even buckled him into the car. I unwittingly sat on him more than once, and was severely scolded for it.

Coolest thing out my window today

This rather large bird swooped over our balcony and into a nearby tree, probably scoping out our beloved pet Chippy the Chipmunk(s). Any takers on identification?

Peter's new look

Peter surprised me by getting a new hairdo, among other personal changes. Doesn't he look so handsome?

The Rope Swing of Infamy

While we were up in Vermont, we hit the rope swing of infamy again. This is the same rope swing I shattered my finger on in 2002. Peter pulled some pretty cool stunts on it; I was just happy to swing on it again and not break any wee delicate bones.


yup, that one's me

Campout (lucky) number 7

We attended our 7th annual AW campout up at Sharon, VT this weekend. We were fortunate to be joined by Peter's sister, Becca, and her family and spent our days hiking, swimming (pond and river), touring the Joseph Smith Birthplace Visitor's Center, eating gourmet camping food (including a three-course dutch oven dinner), gazing at stars, roasting foodstuffs on rollo-roasters, hammock naps, and other such revert-to-nature activities.

For the first time in a long time, the weather cooperated all three days and not a drop of rain fell.

Restaurant Week alla Marco

Restaurant Week in Boston is not to be missed. Some of Boston's finest (and most expensive) restaurants open their doors with prix fixe menus at a fraction of their regular prices for a few precious days of the year.

This year I ventured to Marco (an Italian restaurant in the North End) with Laura and a couple of friends. The food was as aromatic as it was delicious, the atmosphere was cozy and uncluttered by the usual North End gaudy decor, and the dessert was divine.

clockwise starting in upper-left corner: Pork Milanese, Truffled Mushroom Risotto, Shrimp Scampi Pasta, and Chocolate Panna Cotta.

Paper Crafting

With all the rain we've had lately, Bryn and Calvin continue to obsess about paper, pens, scissors, and tape (almost entirely unaided and uninspired by adults). Here are a few of their most recent creations:
Dinosaurs: Bryn's is a T-Rex

Wolf to scare Calvin (by Bryn)

Post-it note person (Bryn)

Pants for Calvin (Bryn- they were disappointingly too small)

And finally, a blown-up nitrile glove drawn upon with red marker. Note: Crayola non-washable markers do not stay put on nitrile- we now have some lovely red handprint accents on our walls.

Reason #478 to love the library

You can learn ballet while your little brother takes a nap!


p.s. Mom, I think Bryn has quite a Johnson smile in the second photo. Now if only we could do something about the hair...

Resident Birding Expert

Calvin informed us today that the Cardinal Bryn spotted 10 feet out our front window was, in fact, really a chicken. He is very insistent about it.



*photo from Google Image Search

Night Games and other Outdoor Activities

For me, nothing says summer like outdoor games like Sardines and Kick-the-Can. I'm in the process of sifting through photos from our Family Reunion in June, and found these golden shots. The games were instigated by Peter's mom and dad.


Some of my other favorite night games are:

* No Bears Are Out Tonight
* Wave
* Ghost in the Graveyard
* Hide-and-Seek (of course)
* Buffalo
* Capture the Flag

What are yours?

Feeding the horse

Peter took the kids on a walk to feed the local horses and brought along a single long carrot. As they approached the pasture, Peter broke the carrot into three pieces, handed one to Bryn, one to Calvin, and kept one for himself.

He was just showing Bryn how to hold the carrot so the horse could eat it from her hand, when something whizzed past him into the pasture: Calvin had flung his carrot piece at the horse with all his might, and then proclaimed matter-of-factly, "I scared."

Calvin continued to stand back and refused to come any closer as Bryn fed the horse her piece, then she fished out Calvin's piece with a stick and fed that one to the horse as well. I guess my 4-H barrel-racing roots won't be rubbing off on Cal any time soon.

My Prestige-ious Sister

I played the organ today in church and Laura sat with the kids. The person conducting the meeting was in the process of thanking me for prelude when he caught a glimpse of "me" sitting down in the pews; not at the organ (it was actually Laura in the pews). He paused, looked back to see if I could be in two places at once, and indeed, there I was at the organ so he continued in thanking me. He later confided to Peter about his confusion and Peter cleared it up for him. Too bad; I'd love for people to think I have magic powers like in the movie "The Prestige."

Berkshire Bonanza

My friend S secured a few Tanglewood tickets from work so we had a girls' weekend with our dearly departed D (who departed to the next state down).

We drove to the Berkshires and enjoyed the view of the misty hills backlit by a rosy sunset with no need to entertain the parcels in the back seat. We listened to the magic of Mozart out in the open air under the stars until late into the evening. We slept in without the interruption of little feet or little (and not so little) voices. We ate a hot breakfast without having to share. We went shopping and tried stuff on. We were gone for less than 24 hours, but it was a nice mini-break from responsibility.

Calvin's History of Dance

Like most toddlers, Calvin loves to get down. He has some "unusual" moves, so we decided to record it for blackmail in his teenage years.

Summer Blog Doldrums

Yes, I'm sitting in the blog boat with no wind in my sails. Yet Karen has just handed me a metaphorical oar: a tag. Rather than have another tag about myself, I thought I'd mix things up and write this tag from Calvin's and Bryn's perspective.

I. Name one of your joys in life:

Bryn: Kidnapping stuffed animals. My mom gave her an old orange pillow case that is the perfect kidnapping sack. She fills it with a few helpless (stuffed) victims and runs off laughing maniacally, interspersing it with projected desperate pleas from the parent stuffed animals.

Calvin: Twirling his hair. Preferably with his special blanket and favorite truck show.
II. Name one of your biggest fears

Bryn: Bugs of the flying type. If a mosquito lands on her she freezes, closes her eyes, and screams for somebody else to come brush it off. She cannot be persuaded to brush it off herself.

Calvin: The car leaving when he's only halfway in the door. He screams if we start the car preemptively and tells us repeatedly not to go yet until he's securely in his seat. Oh and I should mention wolves.

III. Name a goal you have

Bryn: To have a tondred and million of kids and dogs. Also, to visit the Great Wall of China and the Artic.

Calvin: To convince me we should have ravioli for dinner. Again.

IV. Name a current obsession

Bryn: Knots. She'll tie them in anything and everything (she's tripped a few dinner guests who are unsuspectingly have their feet tied to chairs). It compliments her joy of kidnapping well. I've been documenting the knots since I noticed the trend, and this seems the perfect occasion to share the disturbing obsession...
Calvin: Washing Dishes. You would think this would be helpful until you remember that he's two years old and loves throwing things.
V. Name a Random/Surprising fact about yourself

Bryn: Keeps her room fairly clean lately. With all the kidnapping and toy displacement that goes on during the day, this is no small task. She's also getting better at making her bed.

Calvin: Goes around singing "We don't wear sweaters in the summer," to the tune of the Simpson classic, "You can't win friends with salad." This jingle has almost cured him of his wardrobe ails.

Tag: any of my fellow sailors in the doldrums.

Wet again

We hit the spray park again today. Bryn splashed about with her friends while Calvin worked on his tan. Calvin also came up with a non-threatening way to have fun with water (see the video).

Bryn's new pet

Meet Hermie, Bryn's new bunny. Bryn picked this project from a book called I can make that! Fantastic Crafts for Kids. So we raided drawers for old socks, and came up with this frightening (yet lovable) creature.

Bryn has been playing (hopping him about and such) with Hermie in her bedroom, and just came out and asked if we could make him a raincoat and hat, claiming that she wants to take Hermie everywhere and how can she do that without the proper rain gear. It's bright and sunny today, so she's really thinking ahead.

I suggested that maybe she should just tuck him under her own raincoat- I haven't the foggiest idea how to go about making rain gear for a sock rabbit, and it is definitely not in the book.