Fair Weather Fair

Topsfield Fair highlights:

• Ivy being able to transcend her 2-D books and make the appropriate noises for the animals she's only seen on paper (you can actually see her mooing in one of the photos below)
• Calvin finding his courage and riding the elephant
• Bryn harnessing the power of her inner Rodeo Queen
• Laura finding true love in the petting zoo
• Holding/feeding/petting livestock and not getting the avian flu
• Relocating my stomach to my neck on the pirate ship ride with Laura
• Witnessing the sheer delight Amelia showed on the carousel
• Basking in the sunny warm weather

Lost in the archives: Rude Awakenings

We were wading through family movies tonight with the kids, when I came across this gem from a few years ago. Laura and I got bored one Sunday evening and decided to exercise our cinematic muscles and take advantage of Calvin's early loquaciousness.

*Warning: rated PG-9 for some cross words, toddler violence, and talk of stimulants.

Little Brown Jug

How I(vy) love(s) thee. After licking the top, she proudly proclaims it "YUM," and goes back for more. She's even figured out how to manipulate the lid off.

The craziest thing, is that in the same cupboard she also has her choice of syrup, brown sugar, molasses, and white sugar. Yet she consistently goes for the little brown jug. To her culinary credit, she often pairs it with the extra virgin olive oil.

Sadly, that cupboard is going to be boarded up per order of the Department of Health. What a mean mom.

Clambaking

We had a great time this year at the clambake up at Crane Beach in Ipswich. Can't you tell from their faces?

No, really, it was great. The weather was fabulous, the food was delicious (especially the corn on the cob- they didn't cook it in the clam pot this year), our kids didn't drown, Peter played volleyball, I played with my camera, and we all played with our family and friends.

I'm trying something new with the photos and the links to the Facebook albums. Thumbs up or thumbs down? And please, be honest. This is for posterity.

A Neck to Hang a Medal On

Peter's summer project at work culminated in a division conference/contest between the nine groups in his division today. The Director of the Lab attended the presentations (a big deal considering there are around 3,000 employees at the lab).

And he won first place! And this shiny medal (the kids were so very impressed and took turns wearing it all evening)! And $400 (which his group is using to go to lunch)! The demon of external validation ate well today.

Caught

Perhaps Buzz had a bad dream.

Life in a Box is Better than No Life at All

Twas 112 days before Christmas
Buzz Lightyear was sought
With such fervent desire
He quickly was bought.

Buzz stayed in his box
But came down from high shelves
And played many a game
With his rescuing elves.

So the paper went on,
His world had gone dark.
He yearned for the light
And a stroll to the park.

Mercy was granted
A compromise struck
Now they play with each other
Through the windows we cut.

The rest will be shed
Come winter vacation-
'Til then we will savor
The Anticipation.

Fruits of our labor

U-Pick, U-Eat, U-Pay, U-Eatsummore, U-Share, U-Makeapie, U-Happy.

Labor Day- sports edition

We dragged almost every piece of sports equipment we own to our local park this fine sunny-yet-temperate day. We played baseball, frisbee, soccer and basketball all morning.

On top of that, the playground equipment distracted our kids enough that Peter and I got in a game of Horse and 2 rounds of catch on our own. Who needs a backyard full of grass?

An Evening at Walden Pond

Ivy waved goodbye to the sun after it set for at least 3 minutes, babbling, "bu-bye, bu-bye, bu-bye..."
Calvin was pleased to have an endless supply of sand AND water to mix to his heart's content.
Ivy threw this giant rock around for quite a while.
Peter threw this giant baby around for quite a while.