Beaching It!

On one of those hot Saturday afternoons a couple of weeks ago, we packed the kids into the car and drove to Singing Beach for a picnic dinner and to fly kites...

Which was entirely unsuccessful since there wasn't a lick of wind...so Ian decided the waves were way more fun!

As did Jocelyn and Poppa!

When the sun started to set, we walked back to the car, sat near the boats in the harbor while eating homemade ice cream from the local shop.

What a nice night! This is what summer is all about!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

This blog entry is a couple of weeks late but I didn't want to let it pass without posting. We celebrated Poppa's birthday a few days early this year with a BBQ on the patio - Nana, Grammie, and Pepere came over to help us celebrate. It was a beautiful afternoon. The kids enjoyed riding bikes on the patio as usual...

and playing with every backyard toy...

Then it was time for cake - a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake this year since Poppa seemed to enjoy Jocelyn's so much!


And look who was front and center for that - you guessed it - Jocelyn and Ian were not going to miss that opportunity!

And then Jocelyn was a big help to Poppa opening his cards...


And presents...Thank you Nana for the keyboard for his new Ipad!


While Ian got some attention from Nana and Pepere!!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Southwick's Zoo

We went to check out Southwick's Zoo this week while Julie and I were off from work. What a cool place - well worth the long drive along back roads to get there!


Jocelyn wanted to hold the map of the zoo, so she was our tour guide throughout. Here she is showing us the llamas, which smelled about as good as you would imagine.


Jocelyn loved petting the goats, who seemed to enjoy it as much as she did...


...but the young man chose to keep his distance.


This was a theme that developed throughout the day. For example, Jocelyn loved feeding the deer some corn right out of her hand...


...while the little man high-tailed it out of there as soon as the deer came near.

In his defense, there were some frightful creatures displayed pretty up close and personal, including an alligator who looked like he was scouting for lunch...


...ring tailed lemurs with piercing gazes...


...a giraffe tall enough to reach out of its pit to feed on some plants right at our feet (by sticking out its long tongue, wrapping it around a shoot in the ground, and yanking it out)...


...and a Bengal tiger taking a nap.


Can't blame the young man for spending much of the day holding on tight as he is here.


Just before leaving Jocelyn and Ian decided they would like to take it down a notch and ride the carousel, which had the desired effect - happy faces and a long nap on the car ride home.

Happy Birthday America!

Since there usually is not much going on in Wellesley on July 4, we took the kids this year to Needham's Independence Day celebration on July 3. Not only did everyone have a blast, but Jocelyn had her "A Star Is Born" moment! More on that below.

We started with pony rides, which Jocelyn adored (Ian was a little gun-shy, at least at first)...


...and from there we went to have our faces painted. Ian wanted a baseball painted on his cheek, and Jocelyn (surprise, surprise) went for Hello Kitty.


Then we headed over to the field where the fireworks would take place. We hung out, listening to the band that was playing, and dancing...

...when suddenly the singer asked for a child to volunteer to sing part of a song. Jocelyn was up there just as fast as you can imagine! She had the crowd eating out of her hand when she sang the line "Why's everybody always picking on me?" from "The Charlie Brown Song." She made her Momma and Poppa very proud!

When her star turn was complete, we danced while the band played until dusk...

...and Ian got so hot from dancing that we had to strip him down to his onesie!

When it got dark, the fireworks began, and they were amazing. They went on for about a half hour, and the sky was completely lit up with vibrant colors! Jocelyn and Ian seemed to love their first experience with them (maybe because they got to stay up waaaaaay past their bedtime).

For the rest of the weekend Jocelyn would spontaneously blurt out, "why's everybody always picking on me?" What fun. We hope everyone else had a safe and happy 4th too!

Jocelyn is Three and a Half!

Our little Peanut turned three last Christmas Eve, so we had a Half Birthday for her this past weekend. She is all about Hello Kitty the past few weeks, so the house was filled with Hello Kitty balloons and other decorations.

Just after arriving, Nana brought in the first gift, a scooter Jocelyn had been asking for...I think it had the desired effect!


Jocelyn asked for face painting at her party so she could look like Hello Kitty. The person we hired also did some magic tricks before starting on her works of art...


...and had all the kids enthralled while she asked them to help her pull a rabbit from her hat.


They seemed a little skeptical at first, but then were very excited to have a little bunny to pet!


And then even more surprised when a dove came out of the same hat!


When the face painting began, the Half Birthday Girl was first in line of course...


...and loved how it came out!


In fact, all the young ladies loved how their face painting turned out. Jocelyn's friends Alex and Grace were painted like princesses...




...and cousin Poppy got some cool ladybugs...


...and even Momma got some pretty flowers at Jocelyn's request.


Jocelyn asked me to get my face painted too, but the face painter explained that I would need to shave first. So I escaped by a whisker, so to speak. Jocelyn was a little disappointed, but I think I redeemed myself when the cake (a Hello Kitty ice cream cake) came out.


I don't think I've ever seen someone so happy to see her birthday cake.


She started blowing out the candles before we were even done singing "Happy Birthday" because she wanted to dig in.


And dig in she did!


Momma searched high and low for Hello Kitty candles and decorations to put on the cake, and I think Jocelyn loved the result! Happy Half Birthday Peanut!