Don't blink

Our baby boy, Jonah, started school today. He is in the same class with Cara (a Montessori program), but he is only there for half a day while Cara stays all day.

He was excited at first. He was even upset that he didn't have any homework to take and turn in. The tide seemed to have turned when he told Adriana bye in the hallway. When we arrived at his classroom, he turned to me, started sucking his thumb and buried his head in my shoulder.

We coaxed him down by getting Cara to show his cubby to him. He was also quite excited that he could have another breakfast in his classroom. He sat down and we left with a little fanfare.

When I went to pick him up, he started crying because he said he was going to miss Cara. Even though we had explained that we would pick her up along with Adriana, he seemed to think that she was going to stay there, even through the night. The teacher assistant told him we could pick Cara up later, and that seemed to satisfy him.

He said he was tired and that he had Cheez-Its for a snack in the classroom. I think the Cheez-Its convinced him that the class had to be okay since cheese crackers are a major food group for the Cool Kids.

For the record, Jonah is the only one out of our three that I have stayed home with full-time the whole first almost four years.

Don't blink.

Getting some lovin' from his sissies before leaving for school.

Upset that he didn't have any homework to turn in.

Big sis showing him where to put his book bag.


Uhm, maybe this place will be okay after all.

The next three pictures are actually retakes from this morning. Seems the lens decided not to work properly when I was taking his picture. The other pictures were better, but they were blurry.

Yeah, he's going to hate me one day for this one.

He was worn out and upset because we left Cara at school.

First and second days of school

The girls are now back in school. I took pictures on their first and second days. I decided to take more than one day because the girls wore school shirts from last year on the first day. I wanted also to have a picture of them with a new outfit.

Cara is now taking her own lunch so we can manage her carb count.

Jonah starts school tomorrow and will be in the class with Cara.

End of summer break

Sorry I have been absent. I was trying to free up some space on my laptop to make way for a new map download for "Herman" (GPS). I was burning cds like crazy so I could delete pictures, only to find out that my free download had expired. Oh, well. We get one a year and we really don't need again until next vacation.

So, we ended the summer with a quick trip to take the children to see Dora the Explorer Live. If you don't know, Dora is Cara's favorite character. She even has the same haircut. Dora has not come close by in about two years, so this year she was back on tour. We took the children to see her. They had a great time. Adriana had once said she wouldn't go to a Dora concert if we went, but even she was singing along to the songs.

We also spent a couple of days on the coast. I tried to take some beach pictures of the children once again, but as always taking pictures of my three seems to be a challenge. One day, I am going to save up my money and hire someone to do the pictures on the beach.

Jonah gave us a slight scare while we were on the coast. Bruce's mom went with us to help me watch the kids while Bruce was in classes. We were at the indoor pool when Bruce came in to speak to us. Jonah was walking around the pool and turned to wave to Daddy. When he did, he lost his footing and fell in the pool. I was in the pool with Adriana. I tried yelling for someone to get him, but no one was paying any attention. Jonah did have on a floatie suit, so he started floating almost as soon as he fell in. Bruce went over immediately and pulled him out. I think the whole thing scared Cara more than it did Jonah.

One thing for sure, that boy is going to turn my hair completely gray. Good thing I color it.

The children also enjoyed spending as much time as they could in the pool that we got for them at the beginning of the summer. Adriana especially enjoyed it and is turning into a good swimmer.

I am now ready for true fall weather.

For some reason, Jonah did not want his picture made with the Dora backdrop.

This is about the best I was able to get. Notice a certain little girl's hand is slowly gathering sand.




Enjoying the above ground pool.

On the way home

We finally headed home around 3:30 p.m. which was about an hour and half after what Bruce wanted. We did hit rush hour traffic around Baltimore, but nothing too bad. We thought about buzzing by Washington to let the children see some of the sites, but we were ready to get on down the road.

We drove and decided to take a break to get the children some pajamas at a Target and a Starbucks for me. We were buying them pajamas because theirs was somewhere among all the luggage. I had one bag set aside for the things we would wear the next day, but I didn't think to put their pajamas in there. We were stopping for the night, so we needed something for them to wear.

I paid for the pajamas, and the girls and I headed for the restroom so they could change. Adriana was quite concerned that the Target people would think that we had stolen the pajamas. I told her that she need not worry because I had the receipt, but that did not satisfy her. Somehow, she finally got her pajamas on and we left the restroom. On the way out, we ran into our cashier who remembered us. I told her to reassure Adriana that we were not about to be carted off for stealing. She reassured her and said that she knew we had bought them. Adriana seemed satisfied.

On the way back south, all three fell asleep. I was bound and determined to spend the night as far south as I could that night, hoping to get across another state line.

We were about 30 minutes from the next state line when the interstate on our side came to a complete standstill. We could see what looked like a bad wreck up ahead.

I was driving and when I stopped, I felt like our van was still moving. Then, I felt that still small voice (and Bruce's) telling us it was time to call it a night.

We were able to take an exit right beside us and bypass the wreck. We spent the night at a hotel in a sleepy little town. Bruce and I said that was probably the best we had slept since the trip started.

The next morning, we headed home. It was also "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick Fil-A. We weren't close enough to one at lunch to participate, but we did stop at one for dinner.

Cara, Jonah and I put on our cow gear and gladly got our free meals. Bruce and Adriana were too chicken to participate. Get it? Chicken? I crack me up.

By the way, we battled plenty of driving on our trip, but not until we were in our home state did we almost get wiped out by a car. God was gracious though, and we did not end up in a wreck.

Philadelphia Freedom

The last official day of our vacation was supposed to be spent loading up our van and then enjoying a nice day around Philadelphia. At least, that was what I thought. Or that was what I hoped.

Silly, silly me. You would think I would have learned by now. I mean, we have been married almost 10 years now.

You would think that I would know that Bruce has too much of his Daddy's genes in him for him to ever relax on leaving day. Just ask him or his brother to tell the story about the time Papa and Nanny were keeping the grandsons for the weekend. Let's just say Papa didn't let moss grow under his feet.

In the future I will try my best to remember that on leaving day we need to do just that-pack up and leave.

So, the nice valets downstairs loaded up our stuff and then parked our van while we took a tour of the city on a double decker tour bus. Thought being on top of the bus would be a good idea. Wrong, again.

At first it was okay. Then, it got very hot and the ninety minute ride turned into more like a three hour ride.

We were trying our best to be back at the hotel by 3 p.m. to get our van and then leave town before rush hour traffic.

Needless to say, that didn't happen. We are just glad it happened when it did since the tour bus company wasn't in too great of a rush to get us back.

While we were on our tour, though, we took in a lot of sites. So many that we have decided when Jonah is about Adriana's age we will go back. Then, they should each really appreciate the historical sites.

We did get to the Liberty Bell. Adriana and I both said we wanted to see it if nothing else. We made it there.

We also saw Benjamin Franklin's grave. Pretty neat to see all that history.


For some reason, Jonah wanted me to take his picture at the cemetery. Uncle Chris is so proud.


People pitch pennies on Benjamin Franklin's grave which our tour guide said was funny because he was the one always trying to get people to save. When you toss your penny, you are supposed to make a wish. Bruce tossed his and it rolled off. His wish was to leave on time.

The Liberty Bell.

The steps Rocky ran up. Not quite historical, but interesting nonetheless.

Let's see, where was I?

Oh, yes, boring you with all the details of our vacation. So let's finish up, shall we?

The day after our visit to the Please Touch Museum, we went about 30 minutes north of Philly to Sesame Place. If you are not familiar with Sesame Place, let me explain it a little. It is a theme/water park what is centered entirely around Sesame Street characters, or as it has turned out these days-Elmo and his friends.

Bruce said this theme park was really more for moms in my age bracket than it was for the kids. His point is that most of the kids now are into the Disney Channel and Nick Jr. instead of Sesame Street. His generation missed Sesame Street all together since I was two years old when it first came on the air.

(By the way, did you know that Sesame Street was created to help teach inner-city kids how to read? At least I think I have that right.)

Anyway. As I mentioned, Sesame Place is a theme park along with being a water park all rolled into one. We had planned to spend two days at Sesame Place because the ticket prices were the same for one day or two. Bruce and I planned to spend the first day on the dry attractions and then the next day on the wet ones. We did pack our swimsuits and towels in case we did decide to do the water attractions. Glad we did.

After waiting at the local K-Mart for a while for Bruce to get water shoes and to get tickets, we finally went into the park.

We stopped by the guest relations and got Cara a special bracelet that allowed her to go to the front of the line if the need arose. This was a tip I saw on the JDRF website. Because she has set times that she needs to check her blood sugars and to eat, some places will accommodate that with special provisions. So, she received a special bracelet, but as it turned out, she really didn't need it.

That day, we had lunch with Big Bird and Friends. His friends included Elmo (of course), Cookie Monster, Zoee and Bert and Ernie (or Bernie as Jonah called them). The lunch was good, but the best part was when I Adriana was able to meet Cookie Monster in person.

Right after she was born, my brother brought a small stuffed Cookie Monster to the hospital for her. When I was young, Cookie was my favorite character. I mean, who couldn't love someone who had a deep love for cookies? One year I was determined that I was going to have my own Cookie Monster. I made up some elaborate scheme that I was going to sew one and stuff him with sawdust. Don't ask me why I thought of sawdust. I couldn't tell you because even I don't know. I didn't have to though, Santa delivered one under our tree Christmas Day. (Come to think of it, I think I was Adriana's age when I got him.) I have had him since.

Pretty funny aside-when we met Cookie Monster, I told him that he was my first love. When we were talking it about it later, Jonah seemed upset and he said, "I thought Daddy was your first love." I told him, that yes, Daddy was my first and only true love. That seemed to satisfy him.

Adriana did bring hers on vacation, but I think she forgot him on the first day we were at Sesame Place and the second day she said that she would try to show the real Cookie Monster a picture of hers. It didn't happen. Oh, well.

At the luncheon, we enjoyed some time with the characters, and then we decided to embark on the rest of the park.

We were walking around when the children, especially Cara, started begging to get wet. We finally decided we would put on our suits and get wet. We also planned to catch the "Abby Cadabby" show since Cara said that is her favorite character.

Right as we were walking into the show, the bottom fell out of the sky and the rain came. The show was outside, too, but under an awning. The water rides were closed for a while. I told the people around that we had to apologize to everyone because the rain didn't come until we put on our suits.

After the show though, the rain let up and we were able to get on some of the water rides. That was the perfect time to be there. The crowds had thinned out quite a bit, so we were able to get on almost anything we wanted to without having to wait. The only downside was the temperature. The temperature was not that hot to begin the day, and then the rain made it even cooler. The kids kept on even though they were shivering.

We stayed around for a while longer before going back to our hotel.

We returned for a second day the following day. The days we were there, we could have easily done Sesame Place all in one day. The price was the same for one day or two, so we went with the two day ticket and went back.

The second day was the day Cara got picked for the Elmo's World show. A couple of days before she made the comment that she never gets picked for shows like that, so she was quite happy that she did get picked. (As was her mom.)

This is Abby Cadabby, Cara's favorite character. We were the last family she took during this rotation of that particular time. I think I would have cried if they had told us she couldn't see us right then. Look at Jonah's face, though. He doesn't look too happy to see her. I guess he was upset that she wasn't Elmo because he said that meeting Elmo was his favorite part.


Cara getting her hair weave. I included this one for her teacher. Can you believe she sat there for about 20-30 minutes getting this done?

You can't see it, but a giant watering can is sprinkling water everywhere in this section. I had to drag Jonah away from it.


Yes, you see this right. That is the girls along with their scared of heights mother going across this gigantic net thing. Adriana was the one who originally wanted to do it. I asked her several times if she wanted to do it and she said, "yes". Well, one of us needed to go with them, so since I do not contribute any monetary gain to this family at the moment, I was drafted volunteered to be the one. This thing was kind of like stairs. It gradually went up higher to the other side. About half way through, Adriana started panicking as was I, although I didn't let her see that. This was a great life lesson that we were able to experience about not looking back while you are in the midst, but looking forward. Then, when you get to the other side, you can look back and see how far you have come. All three of us made it.


Jonah in a happier moment with Elmo. Jonah actually calls Sesame Street, "Elmo's World". Poor Big Bird has kind of been left at the wayside as the star.


Yes! I Adriana was finally able to meet him.