So it was a late-ish night last night, what with the bad service we had at Bahr's, my favorite restaurant; and then I stayed up to finish my book, until probably 3am. Megan had to be at a swim meet for a 6:30 warm-up, so she and Kevin were gone, and the cats and I settled in for a good Sunday "lie-in". Until, that is, the phone rang at 6am.
It seems that Megan had grown bored of being left in the running truck while Kevin got the coffee and bagels, so she decided to join him in Dunkin Donuts. Safety-minded and well-taught, she locked the door behind her. The door of the running car, with the key in the ignition.
But of course, all's well that ends well, and another family happened to be there at that very same Dunkin donuts, 15 minutes from home, and they took her in time for warm-ups, while Kevin waited by the newspaper box for me to come with a spare key (thank goodness I knew where one was!)
Last I heard she had still not swum, but she was the top seed in both her freestyle events, the 200 and the 400; she was seeded fifth in the 100 back, which used to be her best event before swimming endless laps of freestle took over her life. I am sorry I won't be able to go to watch the races, hopefully Kevin took the video camera up and will capture the moments. Brian and C are still sound asleep, worn out again, I guess, from all the 'Fresh Air'.
We really have been lucky with the weather so far, and the forecast remains pleasant. Tomorrow is not supposed to be nice, but that works perfectly because Brian has to go to the orthodontist in the morning anyway. C can come along, they have a room full of free arcade games for him. Maybe afterwards we can bowl or see a movie. And then, on Tuesday, I plan to bring him to the swim practice down at the beach and see how he does. If he likes, he can swim in the meet that evening. And I still owe them all a trip to the water park - I'll have to coordinate that with weather and swimming.
Last night we were really lucky, we even did see the poor dolphins that are stuck in the rivers. They were swimming around just as happy as they could be. C said he had never seen a dolphin, so I wish they had come closer to our boat, but they were close enough. All the boats were hovering around and looking at them. At one point, they came really close to a group on a jet-ski. Afterwards we went to Bahr's, and C ordered lobster! It was the most expensive thing of any of our dinners, but we figured it's his vacation and his birthday, so we sucked it up and took a picture of him in his plastic bib. He was wearing a sweatshirt I grabbed from Brian's closet, and when I brought it in later, I found the bib all rolled up in its pocket, and also a broken up crab claw. He must not have known what he was supposed to do with them, although he sure knew how he was supposed to eat that lobster!
In other news, we are still thinking of what to do today. It is St. Patrick's Day in July at the race track, and we will get free grandstand admission for wearing green. Also, it seems to be a beautiful beach day. I guess I'll see what happens when the boys wake up. I hate to have to pay the $20 guest fee for the beach club, so I am trying to avoid it for the weekend. I had asked if they'd let C in for half-price, but they agreed so reluctantly that I just paid the whole thing, to avoid controversy.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Crime Solvers
So today we took C to the beach and kept him there for several hours. Again, he seemed to have fun, and was quite a novelty. He loves the sand, and comes home covered in it. So far he has gotten through the day without falling asleep. Hehe.
Anyway, on our way home from the beach, we passed an ambulance out on the main road. On the ground on the side of the road, some people had spread out a blanket, and there was a small girl sitting on it, and another standing nearby. There was an ambulance there, too, with its lights flashing and the back open. I wondered about it, and thought, well maybe she had a seizure or something and they brought her out and called 911? Still, it didn't make sense.
So we came home and started showering and getting ready. Kevin came home and my friend dropped off her son (who thankfully chatters enough to make up for C's selective muteness), and we headed out for dinner. As we were driving up the road, a Chinese woman flagged us down. She was carrying an infant and asked if we had seen two small blonde girls walking. She didn't make a lot of sense, but said she was living in her friend's house and they had gone looking for their mother. We said no, but went to drive around to look for them.
Suddenly I said, hey! Weren't those two little girls by the ambulance blonde? So we turned back and went to the Chinese woman. She had said they had left half an hour earlier, but we had seen them twice that long before. Kevin then called the police station with the woman outside the car, and sure enough, they had the girls. So we told the woman they would bring them to the house, and she told us she was the nanny. Then she asked us if she would get in trouble. :X (Ya think?) Anyway, it was bizarre. The police told her to go back to the house, and they would come.
In other news, so this was my second post of the day. I still hope C is having a nice time, although it is sometimes tough to tell. He was certainly worn out yesterday, but he slept till after 10 today, I think it was about 10:45 when he finally came downstairs. Brian is now all worked up because apparently C plays terribly violent games on his playstation at home, and I made Brian put the violent games away. I'm just a little disappointed that he is not giving anything back -- he smiles once in a while and is surely still polite, but he conserves his words to the point where he may be bordering on rude if he keeps it up. Hopefully he is just uncomfortable in a strange world; but I think I may know why his last years' family didn't sign back up ...
Anyway, on our way home from the beach, we passed an ambulance out on the main road. On the ground on the side of the road, some people had spread out a blanket, and there was a small girl sitting on it, and another standing nearby. There was an ambulance there, too, with its lights flashing and the back open. I wondered about it, and thought, well maybe she had a seizure or something and they brought her out and called 911? Still, it didn't make sense.
So we came home and started showering and getting ready. Kevin came home and my friend dropped off her son (who thankfully chatters enough to make up for C's selective muteness), and we headed out for dinner. As we were driving up the road, a Chinese woman flagged us down. She was carrying an infant and asked if we had seen two small blonde girls walking. She didn't make a lot of sense, but said she was living in her friend's house and they had gone looking for their mother. We said no, but went to drive around to look for them.
Suddenly I said, hey! Weren't those two little girls by the ambulance blonde? So we turned back and went to the Chinese woman. She had said they had left half an hour earlier, but we had seen them twice that long before. Kevin then called the police station with the woman outside the car, and sure enough, they had the girls. So we told the woman they would bring them to the house, and she told us she was the nanny. Then she asked us if she would get in trouble. :X (Ya think?) Anyway, it was bizarre. The police told her to go back to the house, and they would come.
In other news, so this was my second post of the day. I still hope C is having a nice time, although it is sometimes tough to tell. He was certainly worn out yesterday, but he slept till after 10 today, I think it was about 10:45 when he finally came downstairs. Brian is now all worked up because apparently C plays terribly violent games on his playstation at home, and I made Brian put the violent games away. I'm just a little disappointed that he is not giving anything back -- he smiles once in a while and is surely still polite, but he conserves his words to the point where he may be bordering on rude if he keeps it up. Hopefully he is just uncomfortable in a strange world; but I think I may know why his last years' family didn't sign back up ...
quick Update
I must run to get Megan, but a quick update on C's arrival.
We got early enough to the pickup spot, and it was emotional when the bus pulled up. One woman was getting her girl and keeping her for the summer, and it turned out the mom was living in shelters. The girl was the cutest one on the bus!
The first girl to get off the bus was a little black girl with a huge doll, half the size of her body, and she looked all scared and brave. Then came ours. He is cute, small and thin, with his hair braided like half the NY Jets.
We dragged him back onto the parkway, and the kids showed him everything there is to do in the house. He didn't tell much about anything, in fact, he doesn't talk much, although he will say what he needs to if you ask him. We took him down for the swim meet (we LOST!) last night and then out for pizza afterwards. He fell asleep both there and back in the car! But he did seem to have fun hanging out with all the boys. They were down on the beach most of the time, just sitting and digging in the sand.
Today is his birthday and he says he wants to wait until Megan is done with her job, and then go to the beach. I think this will be his favorite thing to do. We have to get to the water park one day, and also he said he would like to ride go-karts. I think they have some at the amusement park in Keansburg.
Well, I must run. Megan is at practice and may be let out early, since there is a meet this Sunday. In other news, Molly has come through her Cape May trip and is well and happy. The cats have adjusted to our return, although Wren, with her bizarre habit of trying to bury food when she is done, knocked her bowl off the counter and snapped it in two. And we are back in talks with E, who survived her weeklong music fest trip. Next project is to get her room ready. (disclaimer: post not proofread!)
We got early enough to the pickup spot, and it was emotional when the bus pulled up. One woman was getting her girl and keeping her for the summer, and it turned out the mom was living in shelters. The girl was the cutest one on the bus!
The first girl to get off the bus was a little black girl with a huge doll, half the size of her body, and she looked all scared and brave. Then came ours. He is cute, small and thin, with his hair braided like half the NY Jets.
We dragged him back onto the parkway, and the kids showed him everything there is to do in the house. He didn't tell much about anything, in fact, he doesn't talk much, although he will say what he needs to if you ask him. We took him down for the swim meet (we LOST!) last night and then out for pizza afterwards. He fell asleep both there and back in the car! But he did seem to have fun hanging out with all the boys. They were down on the beach most of the time, just sitting and digging in the sand.
Today is his birthday and he says he wants to wait until Megan is done with her job, and then go to the beach. I think this will be his favorite thing to do. We have to get to the water park one day, and also he said he would like to ride go-karts. I think they have some at the amusement park in Keansburg.
Well, I must run. Megan is at practice and may be let out early, since there is a meet this Sunday. In other news, Molly has come through her Cape May trip and is well and happy. The cats have adjusted to our return, although Wren, with her bizarre habit of trying to bury food when she is done, knocked her bowl off the counter and snapped it in two. And we are back in talks with E, who survived her weeklong music fest trip. Next project is to get her room ready. (disclaimer: post not proofread!)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Doobies and Chicago
The concert was OK. They didn't play What a Fool Believes, at least not while we were there. We left a little early to beat the rush, but waited in the parking lot, and after Chicago's '25 or 6 to 4', we didn't hear any more music, and people were starting to pour out of the arts center. So we left. I wanted to attempt to post pictures here, since I haven't been able to swing that within a post yet.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Summer Blues
Yes, every summer Megan has to come up with a malady. You would think that with all of the different pools to which she is exposed all winter long, she would not have such issues with pools in summer. But each year, once she's been in them for a while, she gets something weird. Twice it was skin rashes. Thankfully, it has never again been the oral thrush, THAT was bad. Last year it was a bad sinus infection and ear infection. Now it is swimmers ear.
Imagine she's been swimming since she was 3 and this is her first true swimmers ear. Last year they gave us drops for it but I think that was really her sinus/ear infection. So she is miserable. I used the drops yesterday morning and she felt better, so she spent the day in the ocean, then went to practice. After practice, she was quite uncomfortable. I think we have kept it at bay by treating it, so the pain hasn't become agonizing, but she holds it constantly. She doesn't want to miss the beach club time trials tomorrow, and the doctor actually said she could go as long as she wore earplugs and a bathing cap :/.
Otherwise, nothing is too exciting. We're probably going to get a new roof any day now. There is a big obnoxious sign on the lawn that says Chuck's Custom Roofing, it popped up while I was out driving around this morning. I bought some crab cakes for dinner tonight, and Brian, who is punished for saying, "oh my God!" when I told him that he had to sit on something other than just his towel in my car, is resisting the meal. His punishment is that he is not allowed to go down and play Call of duty. You know that I love to punish him from this, because technically, since it is rated 'M', he is not supposed to be playing it anyway!
In other news, Megan had her training for her volunteer summer job today. It turns out there are just two volunteers per class, so I guess sometimes there is just one or none, since Megan is only doing if three days a week, and some kids do it even less. The session begins on the 7th, and since we'll be away, she needs to email the teacher of her room to let her know this. Oh, and we got tickets to the Chicago/Doobie Brothers concert tomorrow night!! I had seen it online, and then Kevin saw it advertised, but we didn't do anything about it. This morning I got an email that tickets would be $10 apiece starting at 9am (lawn seats). So we got four. We're all going. Of course, they really cost $21 per ticket, when you added in the $6 for parking (we should go in four separate cars) and the other service charges. But still, that's pretty cheap for a concert. Even if we have to sit on the lawn. I think. But we'll see. The weather should be nice, and if nothing else, I will get to hear 'What a Fool Believes'.
Imagine she's been swimming since she was 3 and this is her first true swimmers ear. Last year they gave us drops for it but I think that was really her sinus/ear infection. So she is miserable. I used the drops yesterday morning and she felt better, so she spent the day in the ocean, then went to practice. After practice, she was quite uncomfortable. I think we have kept it at bay by treating it, so the pain hasn't become agonizing, but she holds it constantly. She doesn't want to miss the beach club time trials tomorrow, and the doctor actually said she could go as long as she wore earplugs and a bathing cap :/.
Otherwise, nothing is too exciting. We're probably going to get a new roof any day now. There is a big obnoxious sign on the lawn that says Chuck's Custom Roofing, it popped up while I was out driving around this morning. I bought some crab cakes for dinner tonight, and Brian, who is punished for saying, "oh my God!" when I told him that he had to sit on something other than just his towel in my car, is resisting the meal. His punishment is that he is not allowed to go down and play Call of duty. You know that I love to punish him from this, because technically, since it is rated 'M', he is not supposed to be playing it anyway!
In other news, Megan had her training for her volunteer summer job today. It turns out there are just two volunteers per class, so I guess sometimes there is just one or none, since Megan is only doing if three days a week, and some kids do it even less. The session begins on the 7th, and since we'll be away, she needs to email the teacher of her room to let her know this. Oh, and we got tickets to the Chicago/Doobie Brothers concert tomorrow night!! I had seen it online, and then Kevin saw it advertised, but we didn't do anything about it. This morning I got an email that tickets would be $10 apiece starting at 9am (lawn seats). So we got four. We're all going. Of course, they really cost $21 per ticket, when you added in the $6 for parking (we should go in four separate cars) and the other service charges. But still, that's pretty cheap for a concert. Even if we have to sit on the lawn. I think. But we'll see. The weather should be nice, and if nothing else, I will get to hear 'What a Fool Believes'.
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