Homecoming... and an update

The best thing that happened to me yesterday was coming home from girls' camp (after being in the dry dessert heat just a day previous) and being escorted by Dan and our girls to the nail salon to get a pedicure complete with mechanical back massage. It was just what I needed! I'd show you the before and after, but I don't want to lose the remaining readers we have. My feet were unrecognizable.

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We spent about a week in Utah/Idaho for some family time with a family reunion on Dan's side. I never met so much extended family at one time! I'm so glad I finally got to meet so many of them. We had a great time in Lava Hot springs, so much that we couldn't get the girls to leave the pools.
We planned on returning to NYC a bit earlier, but everyone seems to love to fly out of SLC so we were stuck for another day (Dan) or two (us girls). There was pressure to get home, but we took advantage of the extra time to spend with friends and more family.
After the reddest of red-eye flights, I had a little less than a day to get ready for girls' camp.
Feeling unrested but determined, I arrived at camp and I'm so glad I did. I had a great experience this year. The Young Women of New York are simply amazing! I'll just leave it at that.

While we were in Utah, Dan and I celebrated our five year anniversary.
Five years...
It seems like so few. I feel as if we've been together a lifetime longer, and I mean that in the best possible way. I won't go on and on about it though. I won't go on and on about how blessed I am or how wonderful life has been or about what a better person I am or how happiness abounds or how I've had some amazing, life-altering experiences, all because of Dan...
although, all of that happens to be true.

Gone again

We managed to stay home for nearly a month before leaving again.
We are traveling to and around the great states of Utah and Idaho for a grand reunion.
Be back soon!

Jane's birthday, the play-by-play

Note: below may contain info and photo overload. Be prepared.

"Good Morning, Jane! Happy Birthday!"
I was more excited about Jane's birthday than anyone, I think.
I wasn't so excited about Jane turning two as much as I was about the potential fun to be had for the day.
We started early, our schedule running on zoo-opening hours. But we looked outside.
Oh, oh- It might rain. We better hurry.
Hey, let's open one of Jane's presents!
Jane got her very own Hello Kitty umbrella. She acted as if she has waited her entire life for her very own umbrella.
We had to test it out immediately... in the non-existent rain.

Jane kept pointing to the kitty, "Kitty, kitty, kitty... " She was so proud. Ah, the joy! (Thanks, mom!)

Before leaving, I asked Dan to take a birthday photo of Jane with me and Hannah.

Yes, isn't that sweet. What can't be shown, is how wet and mad I was two minutes after this snapshot was taken, when Hannah sprayed me and the camera down with a hose.

Time-out for Hannah and then for myself to go get me and the camera dried off.

After picking up Jane's friend, Caitlyn, (and apologizing to Hannah) we were off.
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...



This was an exciting new feature. Don't my little chicks look excited?
The Queens Zoo is small, quiet, picturesque and perfect for two-year olds with little to no attention span. We breezed through most parts. The highlights, as much as I can surmise from the little ones' P.O.V., were:
the sea lion feeding, and the barking
the alligator
snack time
the flowers
the "do not cross" cables that are so fun to cross
petting the coyote skin that the zoo youth educators had
watching ME feed the sheep

I think their favorite part of the zoo trip was riding on the carousel, which really had nothing to do with the zoo. That's always a sure thing for everyone's entertainment.


Except maybe for Dan's. Cheer up, Dan!


That's better.
Right as they got off the ride, BOOM... CRACK and then the rain.
Good timing.

Hours later, after a wicked storm with a sky dark as night, we headed to the subway for a downtown trip. Our destination?
Ellen's Stardust Diner.
Our friend is a singing waiter there on occasion, and as it was his last shift before he and his family leave our ward and move to Wyoming, we thought we'd pay him a visit.
The food is as good as to be expected for a diner, but not as good as the prices suggest. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was fun and entertaining. The girls loved watching the train go 'round and 'round the track up above. Dan and I loved watching our friend belt out show tunes and golden oldies. We had no idea he could sing so well! Actually, all the waiters had amazing talent.
At one point, one singing waiter sat down by Jane to serenade her. At first she looked right at him with a "may I help you?" look, then she looked at me as if to say, "who is this guy?"

Don't worry- she's not about to cry.
See her full mouth and that brown goo under her lip? That's Tootsie Roll juice, an appetizer before her fried meal. We're such good parents.
With all the loud singing, the place seemed like some off-Broadway theater which featured dining room seating and a strange medley of songs. We had a great time.

Home again, and time for the good stuff, at least the stuff that matters to Hannah- presents and cake!

Hannah had requested cow pies for Jane's birthday dessert, but after I suggested a cupcake cake, she changed her mind. Maybe it was the double "cake" that sold her. We'll have to talk to her about cow pies later.



Jane went nuts on the frosting, kind of like last year.


Just like last year, that's all she ate- the frosting.
Presents this year, including the aforementioned umbrella, were:
a raincoat, (thanks again, mom),
Dora DVD,
baby doll stroller, could be the winning gift this year, and
lots of books, three of which are about sheep and lambs- her favorite.

Our DVD player provided the girls' entertainment for the remainder of the evening, and I didn't feel an iota of guilt.
Looking back on the day, I can say it will be a memorable birthday of our little Jane O.
She may not remember it, but some day, she'll know about it.

Mother-daughter picnic date

Hannah has been asking if she could go on a picnic for some time now. She has some books with picnic scenes, complete with the red-checkered blanket and she never fails to point it out to me. Well, tonight the little lady was granted her wish.
For our date, Hannah and I packed up the bike trailer with the necessary items for an outdoor meal and headed to the nearest park with grass, which isn't as close as you might think for all the parks they have in NYC.

Here's what was on the menu, designed by Hannah:
pasta,
tomatoes,
chips,
apples with peanut butter,
yogurt,
pink lemonade and
chocolate milk


In addition, Hannah wanted some time for activities so we brought along bubbles and water balloons (again, her choice). Hannah has been wanting to play with water balloons since she saw kids filling them up at the park, but I realized tonight when I pulled them out that she didn't know what to do with them.
I said, "OK, do you want to throw them now?"
She looked at me incredulously, eyes wide and slowly said, "Nooo!"
"Well, what do you want to do with them?
"We can put them in the grass."

Eventually, I convinced her that the divine purpose of a water balloon is for it to be thrown with great force. I threw one and after it popped and splashed, she was eager to throw one herself. She made me proud as she launched each one.
We blew some bubbles and then it was time to go.

I really enjoyed having the time to focus only on Hannah. We definitely need to do it more often.

When we came home, we ate some of these simple and delicious treats that I saw on Natalie's blog this morning.

Hannah saw them on her blog too, and wanted them for our date so we made some. We decided to share them, much to Dan's delight. Dan said that's how s'mores should be- he's one of those who doesn't care for the dryness that a s'more can offer. I can see what he means.

We watched The Princess Bride to end Hannah's date night. She often asks to watch it, but she can only watch it with us- "It's scary!" but she loves it anyway.

I so look forward to date nights.

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Be back soon

This is where we will be until July 7th- Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July.

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Here we come!

This is how excited we are to go to Cannon Beach next week. Yes, we are looking forward to the same vacation we take every year. It is one of those vacations mixed with the right amount of play and relaxation. We never get tired of it. Also, the girls are older now and Jane won't be eating the sand every five seconds... we hope.

(photo from last year's beach trip)

The beach at Ft. Tilden, Part II

After the wonderful day we had at the beach Thursday, I decided to take Dan for his Friday off. It was quiet, relaxing and beautiful.

















Dan took some great photos using his Kite Aerial Photography kit (happy father's day to him!).
You can see some here and here.

To see two days of the beach at Ft. Tilden, go here.

Big Apple on fire

These are the kind of clothes our children wore yesterday.


And this is (something like) how they were dressed today.


It was the kind of day in NY where you just learn how to sweat. We knew it would be a hot and humid one, but rather than go to the beach, we decided to take Dan's dad, who had just gotten in from a 9 hour plane ride from Germany mind you, to the Big Apple BBQ at Madison Square Park. Supposedly, all the best BBQ pits from around the country come here for this particular weekend. We thought it was worth checking out.


As soon as we got off the train and up to ground level, we needed some refreshment. I still can't believe I did this, but I bought a sno-cone from Mr. Frostee, and I was excited about it. That was a mistake. It came pre-packaged and it tasted like it had been in that truck since the vehicle's date of manufacture. Never again.
Once we were at the park, we decided to just pick a place to eat from right away, without doing much research. We were just hot. The line I waited in paid off. I'm not usually one to eat, or think about eating, meat off the bone, but the brisket line was too long so I thought I'd give Blue Smoke's ribs a try. Oh man, were they delicious! I devoured mine like a wild woman. I really wasn't that hungry. They were just that good.

Hannah had a blast playing in the water there. You can see Jane below just to the left and then Dan enjoying some ribs next to his dad.



Jane was playing a little too safe so Dan decided to get her feet wet,

and everything else on her body. Poor Jane.
Just feeling the spray helped cool me down so the heat was bearable. The crowds were not, however, so we headed for home fat, happy, tired and wet.

Here are some details of the Big Apple BBQ.

On the weekend

Oh yes, we've been gone... again.
Thursday, we left for Ithaca, NY to do some good ol' family camping and for me to participate in a 10k trail run.
Here are a few from our outing.









This is the gorge that runs through Cornell University.



More on my race later.

View more pics of Ithaca here.

An unexpected holiday

Dan doesn't usually get Memorial Day off, so when he called at 2:00 this afternoon to tell me he was coming home, I was pleasantly surprised. We decided we needed to get out right away so we rounded up a bike for me and rode to the nearest park with a carousel and expensive ice cream, among other things.

t.g.i.f.

Dan had yesterday off so we took our buddy-pass-winning friends, the Williams family, to the wildly popular and outrageously exciting Queens Zoo. Actually, it was quite dead (figuratively speaking) and it felt like we were the only ones there. We weren't complaining. We had a very leisurely zoo experience, and the kids enjoyed the few animals that reside there.
You can see much more zoo fun here.