Sunday Morning

They don't want to interrupt their morning shows!

The Park Bike

The kids are getting into the spirit of summer. A few weeks ago, we hosted Deana, Gino, Matthew and Emily at our house for a barbecue, and Robert and Samantha introduced them to their homemade water slide. The water slide is a small plastic children's slide, a Slip 'n Slide mat at its base, and a garden hose trickling water from above. It's a welcome relief from the heat and kids love it.

Robert and Sammy are proving to be little clones of their parents. They love to go shopping and, at any point in time, they can rattle off a detailed list of what they want. Sammy enjoys gardening and lawn care like her mother while Robert has taken to bicycling. He has two bikes just like dad and today we took him to the local park for a ride. As Robert was pedaling along, Bob asked him which of his bikes was his favorite. Without hesitation, Robert said he liked the bike pictured above (click on the image for a larger version)  as his "park bike" while the bike at home was his "home" bike because it has a handle for someone to help push it up the uneven sidewalks in our neighborhood. Just like dad; different bikes for different rides!

Samantha, like mom, could care less about biking but she has amassed quite a collection of stuffed animals. Though we've been trying to thin the collection, Sammy always seems to notice when something is missing and asks to replace it.

The kids are looking forward to a July visit from Nana and Pop-pop. Until then, they'll be playing outside, gardening and, of course, shopping.

Have a good summer.

Arizona for Easter

We set out for a mini family reunion in Arizona during the Easter break. Our last trip west was when the kids were seven months old, our travel plans in December 2010 ruined by Jet Blue. So this trip was a long time coming. The children handled the plane flight very well, with not a bit of crying except a moment or two during the descent into Phoenix as their ears popped. We had a decent rental car and opted to rent car seats rather than traveling with them on the plane. After just a few minutes in the car, you realize how nice the roads are on account of not having any freezing and thawing cycles to destroy the pavement. We arrived on Easter eve and quickly set out coloring eggs in the backyard.

Easter Sunday was spent at Aunt Deana and Uncle Gino's home, where we had an egg hunt and frolicked in the pool.

It was good to see aunts and uncles (Kenny and Debbie too) and have a delicious meal together. On Monday, we went to the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. It is a gem hidden in the middle of the city.

On Tuesday, and then again on Thursday at the request of the kids, we went to the Phoenix Childrens Museum. WOW. What a treasure, with hundreds of things to keep kids busy including this giant "sculpture" which kids can climb upon.

Wednesday we visited a local wild animal park.

And then it was back to the house for a joint birthday party for the kids.

The museum was so great, the kids asked to go back on Thursday, so we did. Friday was our travel day home. It was a good visit and the weather was perfect except for some strong crosswinds ascending out of Phoenix airport which made the flight seem more like an amusement park ride but without the amusement part.

  That's it for now.

Our first hike

We took our first real hike as a family today. Although we have been to various parks and taken short walks on wooded paths, we haven't been upstate hiking with the kids until today. We took an hour drive up to Harriman State Park and set off from the Anthony Wayne Recreation area. We started out slow, exploring the paved path and picnic area. For awhile, it seemed like we'd never leave the picnic area, since the kids were having fun running around. and climbing on the small boulders.



At some point, Robert declared that he was hungry, so Bob trudged back to the car to get the food bag. While the kids ate sandwiches, Bob cooked up chicken and rice on the camp stove.



After lunch the kids expressed (a little) interest in hiking further, so we found our way to a trail head and began hiking uphill. There were all sorts of rocks and logs to keep their attention.





The kids did surprisingly well looking for the trail markers. We made a game out of it by asking them to call out where they saw the marker and walk toward it. We encountered a few other groups of hikers, most looking significantly better prepared than we did. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the upper 50s notwithstanding the fact it is January. So it was easy to overheat and become thirsty. We eventually made it to the top, or what we called the top in order to get the kids to turn around.



On the way down, we stopped for a sip of water and to make a family picture.







It was, to say the least, a delightful day. It was nice to get out of our immediate surroundings to an area unfamiliar to us and do a little exploring as a family. The kids handled the experience well, probably better than the parents, since they were unaware of all the hazards. They had fun and that's what is important.

Our Christmas

Here is some footage from Christmas Day. The kids really enjoyed the day. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts.

Scenes from Christmas Day

Robert being a little silly with a Santa hat a couple of days before Christmas day. We put other pictures on our Flickr page, which you can get to here.

There are videos on this page! Each blog post has either a picture or video at the top of it. If you don't see it, refresh the page in your browser; sometimes it takes a moment for the video to appear.

Merry Christmas

We are wrapping up a wonderful Christmas. It has been a long day, particularly for Donna and Bob, who were up past 3:00 am (2:46 for Bob and 3:30 for Donna) this morning preparing gifts for the kids. We are both exhausted, but in a good way. There is something peculiarly satisfying about staying up late to put out gifts for your kids. This is the first year that Samantha and Robert understand the holiday.

The house has been decorated for a couple of weeks now. It's the earliest we've ever decorated; usually, we wait until the very last minute. This year we bought lights for the outside of the house and hung them the first weekend of December.

That same week, we took the kids to see Santa at Macy's New York City. It was a miserable, rainy day but we made the best of it. Macy's does a spectacular job keeping the line moving. It took us longer to get to Santa using the elevators than it did to wait on line for the pictures!

You may notice that Sam is wearing boots in the video. That's because she lost a shoe between the platform and train at Penn Station. Luckily Donna packed a spare set of shoes.

Enjoy the film. We'll have some footage from today up soon. Please excuse the grainy footage with Santa. It was nearly pitch black in the room with Santa, and the camera struggled to find the correct exposure.

To our friends and family everywhere, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Cheers