July 2009

Off to Wisconsin we must go...in July we took a drive (18 hours in 2 days) out to WI, cramming our Subaru with 2 kids, the dog and camping gear. We camped in Ohio, trying out 2 new State parks, one each way. Now I know why it is the buckeye state, having had to clear our tent site of about 2000 of the blankety blank golf ball sized nuts. One park will not be on the return list as it seemed to be preferred by people waiting for their audition call to reality TV and had biffys (outhouses.) We tried out our new family size tent. It is HUGE – suitable for a family of 10 who practice ballroom dancing on vacation – Jamie could stand up with headroom to spare.

And of course just to add to the fun both the adult sized, very expensive, but long unused and stored in a non-climate controlled attic, inflatable mats failed to inflate. Neither of us slept well, or really at all. I did get to hear some interesting night birds and owls, not to mention a train line somewhere... and locate several blankety blank buckeyes I missed when we set up the tent. Just the way to start a 10 hour drive.

But we made it! First and favorite stop, the Zoo. They have strategically located the carousel at the entrance next to the new playground. It's surprising that anyone gets to see the animals. Lela rode the lion, of course.

and the mountain lion. She doesn't discriminate.

So Lian wanted a lion ride too, but she won't go alone.

First and favorite stop (after the carousel), the lions, what a surprise. Henry treated us to a roaring exhibition.

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words.

Got to feed the goats. They serve the goat pellets in edible ice cream cone cups.

And there is a buying opportunity. More stuffed animals, just what we needed, NOT.

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And I got put to work. Decided to close the pond, since it was pretty much a muck pit. Fun, fun, fun.

July 2009 Part 2

Too many pictures for one post!

We played with Grandma.

and Grandpa.

Then off to the County Fair! Lela the adrenalin junkie loves the rides. Lian will go - if she has company.

Lela went on the jet flier. According to her, it was the best.

Finally left about 8 hours latter after a second spin on the Ferris Wheel. Why we only go on dollar a ride day.


Another day. Lunch at Ella's Deli, a theoretically "New York" style deli. The place is crammed with mechanical toys, whizzing along the ceiling, in the tables, all over the walls. And they serve a pretty good corned beef.

And they have a carousel.

Lela rides horses too.

Then off to the butterfly exhibit at Olbrich Gardens. Lela had a zebra butterfly that was very attached to her. That's supposed to be good luck.

The Wilson's assembled for a photo, courtesy of photo shop. Who wasn't in the first picture?

And then the long trip back.

May June 2009

Chinese class ended for the year. Lela and her friends have been together since they were 2.

Sunday School ended too. This is the cherub choir (mising about 10 kids) performing on Sunday School Sunday. And yes, we got some more use out of those flower girl dresses.

Lela finished 4s pre-k with a spring concert. After a rocky start (it took me three weeks to get out of the building) she thrived in her tiny (6 kids) class and ended the school year getting ready to read

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Lian also did very well in her speech focused pre-k and was recommended for the integrated class for her next year. And she ended the year with much shorter hair courtesy of some scissor experimentation. I had to take off about 6”in the back to even it up, and her bangs looked strange for a while. At least it was after the wedding.

The girls started swimming lessons at the nearly Town park and Lela took tennis too – if she can learn to hit the ball, she’s got a sport, as she was the only little girl who stepped into the ball and really swung

This is not their swimming lesson, where they were not wearing life jackets. It's at our good friend's pool, " Grandma" Barbara.




Fun in the waterplay at one of our favorite parks.

I took them into NYC to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, courtesy of Aunt Carrie's Xmas gift, the green that says I know you know what you want. They loved it. Afterward we had dinner with friends who had gone ot see Mama Mia, and above and beyond, had stood on the TKTs booth line to buy the show tickets for us too. Thanks!!!

Memorial Day 2009

The highlight of May was a jam packed Memorial Day weekend. We went down to Annapolis for nephew Jason's graduation from from the Naval Academy on Friday (he gave President Obama a full body hug.) Swiftly followed by his wedding to long time girl friend, Erika, on Saturday in DC.
L & L were their flower girls.

Killing time between the wedding and reception. They felt extra princessy in their beautiful dresses.

Sunday we had a private tour of Arlington Cemetery with (let's see if this makes sense) Gillian's significant other, Juan's brother, Jaime. He was the Commander of the Marine Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown at the time (now retired back to Chicago.) Then a very looong drive back home.

It was a trip that tried to break our spirits. Leaving NY we discovered that A. the driver's side window would not go down and B. our Easy Pass was not working either. So it was cash lane and pulling up to open the door all the way to DC and back. On Memorial Day Weekend. Packing up to leave we found we had a flat. As we left DC it started to rain and as we were crawling through north Jersey, we were treated to a massive lightening storm. A normally 4 hour trip took 7 hours.

But we got back in time for the local Memorial Day Parade on Monday, Lela's forth, Lian's second.

Followed by a picnic at church, with games and fun for all.

April May 2009

We had one really hot day - in April. It was 90 degrees at the end of April - and that was the last time it was that hot until late August. The water was still about 35 degrees, but hey, it was hot.

The white violets bloomed in May. We've taken a picture of the girls in the violets in the corner of Grandma's yard every year.

Mother's Day. Another warm one. That is a very selective portion of our backyard. Aren't I the luckiest mom with 2 such cuties?

Feb March 2009

Lian's birthday party at home. Her favorites were the princess Ariel costume and doll.

Lian's birthday party at school.

Chinese (or Lunar NY ) New Year party with Lela's Chinese class. It was thrown together in a week by moi and 2 other families. We had 80 people attend. The kids performed the dances they learned, did crafts, made dumplings, and consumed most of the big Chinese buffet we had arranged.

Happy year of the Ox!

Behind the scenes at Grandma. L & L assist Christy prepping Jamie's birthday cake. Those are the kind of candles that don't go out, ho ho.

Yes we have snow in zone 7. Notice the kid size shovels, Jamie's brain wave. They actually do work (for a few minutes.)

Easter morning. The EB was very good to the girls.

Easter. The EB visits at church coffee hour after the egg hunt. This year's innovation was empty plastic eggs and goody bags for all, ensuring a fair distribution. Jamie got a haircut after seeing his birthday pix.

We can't be good all the time!

JanFeb 09

Well the blankety blank things loaded in reverse order, so Feb 24, Jamie's birthday and he is still over 50. And needed a haircut.

A trip to the Coney Island Aquarium. The big guy is plastic. We topped it off with a walk (very brisk) on the boardwalk, and L& L charged out onto the sand to chase gulls. We finished up at Nathan's for hotdogs.

Valentines Day. More candy. Amazingly enough, Lela had no cavities and while Lian had 3 fillings done (not fun, lots of screaming even with happy juice) that is more likely due to the typical soft enamel that goes with clefting.

Back to Jan, Lela's princess party. That's Lian bending over in pink and Lela in Belle yellow. We had cupcake frosting, pinata, running around, running around, pizza, and cake.

The Birthday girl and sis.

January 25 was also Lela's 4th Family Day. That floppy little baby who couldn't crawl, let alone walk, is now a beautiful, bright, athletic (she is the Queen of the Monkey Bars) young lady with a vocabulary bigger than many adults. She likes kindergarten, but what she really likes to do is.....direct.

Well I actually managed to post in Jan 09, so read that . A bit more to come...

Slacker

Visiting Donna H in NYC to see the Xmas decorations on New Year's Eve day in snow and 12 degree wind chill. We look happy, but we're freezing. Dressed for Xmas eve family service and Xmas dinner.

What's in those stockings? (lots of candy as it turns out, Santa must have a major sweet tooth.)

Happy Birthday to Princess Lela. She's a big girl now.

One of many presents.

And I'm not even close to Gen X, sigh. Yep, days, weeks, even months have passed since my last post. Let's just say computer issues, work, school vacations, and holidays sort of over ran my life.
It's celebratory time for us. We started rolling before Xmas with parties, parties, parties. Then the big event itself. Santa comes to our house with stockings but takes all the presents to grandma’s house (she has a fireplace, we just have a furnace.) Xmas eve was family carol service at church (where the carols are numbered and you yell out your favorites - loudest numbers get sung.) Then a delicious dinner at Grandma's, mostly courtesy of Aunt Christy. The sleeping beauties didn’t rouse until after 8, so we didn’t commence present opening until almost 10, and went on to noon. Stuffed animals, books, DVDs and My Little Pony ruled the day.

We squeezed in a visit on New Year's Eve day to Donna H in NYC, wandering the freezing canyons of Manhattan to view the decorations in the big department store windows; Macy’s, Lord and Taylor, Saks and finished up at Rockefeller Center. I’ve just finally thawed out. School didn’t restart until January 5, so we had lots of hanging out time. Then they’re out again for MLK day, but that was a merely a segue to the first big event of 2009, Lela’s birthday.

Lela's 5th birthday was on January 20, and her Family day was on the 25, home 4 years. We had a family dinner and watched reruns of the Inauguration for party number one. Saturday the 24th we went into Flushing, NYC (The biggest Asian neighborhood in the US) with her Chinese class, had a tour and lunch at a Buddhist temple and then the kids performed their ribbon and fan dances at a local nursing home. Monday night we made a Lunar New Year's dinner at Grandma's (longevity noodles, shrimp, dumplings - all the favorites) and Lela declared we must address her by the Chinese name, Fu Qin (pronounced Chin) for the evening. Wow, how the time has flown and transformed a tiny baby girl, more like 6 month old than just turned one, to a confident, beautiful, sassy young lady. She's discovering her identity as Chinese and American and is proud of it. Happy Birthday and happy Family Day to my darling girl, and Happy Year of the Ox to all.

But more to come. We are now counting down to birthday celebration #5, the last and biggest. We had Chinese class (cupcakes), pre-k (another batch of cupcakes) Sunday School pre-k (even more cup cakes) and a family party (ice cream cake I did not make, puleeze.) Sunday afternoon, 15 little girls in princess gowns will be arriving to play, make candy necklaces, bash a pinata, eat, eat , eat and yes, decorate yet more cup cakes (one more batch to turn out and 3 pounds of icing in all shades of the rainbow per Lela's request. ) And a large and pricey princess ice cream cake.

I promise to post before March, computer willing and the kids don't get up.