GREAT WEEKEND!!!!

8/19 - 8/21: This weekend was awesome! We watched Harry Potter part 2 on Friday night and ate pizza. Abby and I made breakfast in bed for everyone on Monday. Abby learned how to make eggs and bacon. Saturday, we played a little Catan met some friends for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and dinner at Chow Baby. We closed the night watching Harry Potter 3 with a promise of no TV or movies on Sunday. We had an active day on Sunday including the trampoline and a bike ride to the forum and dunkin donuts. Abby was a trooper on the ride. Marina and I also spent some time doing our inside out coaching and finished our "reality" session.

The quest continues!

8/18/2011 - we finished Harry potter tonight and then started a new Catan game. We introduced a new variant tonight: Fishermen of Catan from Traders and Barbarians. The girls caught on quick and everyone had fun.

Game on!

Nice night at home. Kathleen prepared dinner for us as I taught the girls to play Ticket to Ride. We all had a nice evening and are looking forward to spending the weekend together

REWIND: Spring Break 2011

This spring break, we went on an extended road trip down to Florida. We took off on a Friday night and drove non-stop to Disney World. We got a one night hotel in orlando to sleep for a couple of hours and then went to the Carribean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World. We spent the first day at the resort pool where there were water slides, dance lessons and dance contests for the girls.

We spent the whole day there and then went to the boardwalk for dinner. Abby made a pact with me to eat a stuffed grape leaf with no complaints in exchange for 5 trips to the ice cream store where I would not complain about how many toppings she wanted! We watched a crazy number of live performers on the boardwalk (magicians, plate spinners, jugglers, etc) and did two laps round the lake in a surrey with the fringe on top.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom with my parents and rode everything! It was Abby's first time on Space Mountain and we rode it at least 10 times! I used the speed pass to everyone's advantage and we went from ride to ride to ride with very little waiting. We did some great classic rides like the Indy cars where the girls drove, Pirates of the Caribbean with an animatronic Jack Sparrow, but some of the old classic rides (country bear jamboree) seem kind of lame to me now and even to the kids :-(

We had a big dinner together at the Polynesian Hotel and then went to bed. Whew!

Last day at WDW, we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and rode Expedition Everest, Dinosaur! and the Kali River Rapids where we all got soaked! We then hopped parks to Epcot and rode all the virtual reality rides (Mission SPACE!, Soarin and Test Track) 3 times each. We did a couple of old standbys and got dinner at the Turkish Restaurant with the Belly Dancers. I could not persuade either M&A to get up and dance :-(

We left for my parents place that night and got in after midnight. We spent the next days at the pool, went to the beach, got stung by jellyfish, ate ice cream to make it better, played games and watched movies (Splash! and Young Frankenstein). We eventually got home none the worse for wear and nobody got sunburnt!

Coup-fourré

Tonight was a good night! Marina and I went for a bike ride and continued our practicing of riding on the road and also on the trail. We went out to Simpsonwood and worked on going over roots and up hills. We talked about controlling fear and how not panicking on the bike is very important.

Kathleen and Abby made dinner together (salmon, rice and peas). Abby picked, cleaned and chopped fresh basil all by herself and used it to season the rice and the salmon. Over dinner we talked more about fear and used FDR's famous quoter "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" as a way to explain that being scared is OK, the trick is not letting your fear dictate your actions.

We had ice cream for dessert and then played several rounds of Mille Bornes. We switched teams each time and everyone won at least once. We worked on focusing on the game a bunch so that it ran smoothly for everyone.

Dive, dinner, deal!

Abby and I went to the pool again so she could work on her back dive. She loves the pool and really enjoys riding her bike over and back. She's still not tall enough to consistently get started by herself.

Her "crawl" stroke has really progressed this summer and I'm really proud of her.

Marina made a new dish tonight with Kathleen - Chicken and green beans over rice. She loves making new spice combinations (Cinnamon, Basil, Salt and Soy Sauce).

We made special desserts for everyone - Root-beer floats for me and Kathleen and Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Banana Ice cream shakes for the girls.

We played UNO and Mille Bornes tonight. Marina talked smack early and delivered on her early bragging "I am so going to win!". Abby and I cleaned up on Mille Bornes and were near unstoppable.

REWIND: Road Trip!

6.10.11 to 6.22.11 - I took a 2 week road trip with Kathleen, Marina and Abby!

First stop, Washington DC: We stayed with Kathleen's friend Veda and her family. The girls loved Veda's daughter who is 9 years old. We went to the park several times watched movies at night and went out for pizza and frozen yogurt. We met the Eidelkinds at the International Spy Museum in downtown DC. It was great! The girls adopted formal covers, played SPY!, and got souvenir T-shirts. We went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We talked all about the founding fathers, American history and the importance of education, freedom, equality, responsibility, honor and tyranny. We did the entire Mall! we walked the full circuit and saw all the monuments (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, MLK (under construction), FDR, Korean War, Vietnam War and a really cool collection of sculptures honoring the US Navy. I split my shorts bending over >:-( and then stopped for ice cream. After the snack we headed out to New Jersey!

New Jersey: We stayed with Kathleen's brother's family in their new house and played with Charlie and Alice non stop!. We went to park to fly kites, went to see David perform and got Mr Softee a couple of times too. After 3 days, we headed up to NY.

NY: We stayed at the Residence Inn where my parents stay for the summer and had a blast. We hung by the pool, read, played games by the pool (Blokus and Scrabble) and in the game room (Ms. Pacman, a driving game and Pinball). We took the girls into the city for a surprise visit with Kathleen's brother Ray and his wife Chris. We all went to the International Photography Museum and saw an exhibit on Eliot Erwitt.

We stopped in China town for soup dumplings, got Gelatto in little italy and walked back to the subway in the pouring rain! The girls like getting wet. Me, not so much. The highlight of the trip was going to see Mama Mia on Broadway (the girls second broadway show!). Next stop Baltimore!


Baltimore: We stayed with my sister and her family for 3 days. Went in the hot tub and pool (the girls keep begging me for a hot tub...I wish!). We went to the park and Marina played tennis with her cousin Haley. I took all the cousins to see super 8 (great movie! the kids all loved it!). We ate stone crabs by the pool, did a big jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table, played more blokus and scrabble and had slumber parties with all three cousins every night. The girls watched movies during the long drives including Planet of the Apes, Bill and Ted's excellent adventure and Pippi Longstocking.

Backdive!

Saturday 7/16/11 - We made breakfast together, eggs and bacon. We went to see cars 2 at the movies and played games at home (battleship! Marina won!). I went to the pool with Abby, while Marina played with Kathleen and I taught Abby to do a backdive!


Marina and Kathleen made dinner together (cous cous, dumplings and peas). Marina was very proud of her recipe and cooking skills. Cooking is one of her favorite things. Kathleen and I read Inkheart to the girls before bed. Abby loves her new husband (her pillow!)