Summer!

Five days into summer vacation, and we've been sweltering over here, but having fun!  

We kicked things off with an epic day/night at the beach on Friday. The boys and I arrived at 10:45, Scott joined us at 5pm, and we didn't leave for home until 7:45. I think spending 9 hours at the beach with friends is a pretty awesome way to spend your first day of summer vacation - I think Gabe thought so, too. 

And not only did we spend all day at the beach, but we also got to see the annual Air Show preview, which includes a team of paratroopers landing on the sand literally right next to where we were sitting, a stunt helicopter and several stunt planes performing, and a few huge transport plane fly-bys. And did I mention that the weather was absolutely perfect?  

The heat and humidity came back with a vengeance after that, though, and it was so uncomfortable for a few days. Ick. It wasn't too bad Saturday, and we spent the day at the beach again, but made it a much shorter day - everyone was pretty wiped out from Friday. Carmine is doing well with the whole beach routine, though. He gives us some trouble about going down for naps, but he does that at home sometimes, too, so that isn't really an issue. It's fun having a baby on the beach - and he's a lot easier than the big boys, since he can't run off anywhere and get lost!  

It's definitely a bit more work, though, and we probably won't be at the beach quite as much as we were last year, but I do feel capable of handling it on my own, so we'll get there often enough. If I've learned one thing over these past 5 days, it's that we ALL are much happier when we spend at least part of our day out and about. 

I'm happy that going to the gym is going to be a great option for us, too. I had been concerned about bringing Gabe there more than twice a week, since the daycare room is really designed more for the younger kids, and the older kids tend to get pretty bored and antsy when they have to be in there. 

But, as it turns out, the gym is offering special activities every morning for kids ages 5 and up, in order to keep the older kids busy and keep them out of the daycare room, so that it doesn't get so crazy in there. 

So far Gabe has played Bingo, painted a flowerpot, and played freeze tag and a bunch of other lawn games. He's loving it, and I love knowing that he's occupied and having fun, and I don't feel like I have to rush through my workout. He was actually disappointed that we weren't going to the gym today! So we'll definitely be able to hit the gym at least 3 or 4 times a week, which is great! 

We're keeping busy in other ways, too. We went to the library the other day and signed up for the Summer Reading program, and signed up for a few storytime sessions and some other activities the library is having this summer. They have some great stuff planned, and it's all FREE, which is a huge bonus, and the library is air-conditioned, so it's a great place to spend some time on a really hot day! 

I've got a bunch of other stuff planned, too - a couple of children's theater performances, free summer concerts, blueberry picking (hoping to do that tomorrow!), possibly a trip to the Dinosaur Place in CT, and of course several fairs/festivals that will be happening over the course of the summer. 

As much as I love the beach, I want to get out and do a little more this summer. Last summer I was pregnant and exhausted, and getting us all to the beach to sit on the sand all day was about as much as I could do, but this year I'm excited to be out and about a little more, and taking advantage of all the great stuff there is to do around here. 

Today was a pretty big excursion - to Gillette Castle and the Essex Steam Train with Grammy and Grampy. The trip to the castle included a short ferry ride, which was the first time the boys had ever been on a boat of any kind. Gabe was a little nervous, but after we got off the boat, kept going on and on about how much fun it was. 

They loved the castle, and we had a nice picnic lunch afterwards, and then decided to head down the road to the steam train. We got there just in time to get on the train, and enjoyed a nice ride along the river, then had a few snacks at the train station before heading back home. 

The weather was glorious, and it was just a really fun day. It was especially fun because Mom and Dad used to bring us to those places when we were little, and it's awesome to be able to do it again with them, now with my own little kids in tow. 

The plan for tomorrow is blueberry picking, so that I can make blueberry pie and blueberry muffins. And hopefully we'll pick enough that I can freeze some, too. And we'll probably go to the gym, also, since the scheduled activity for Gabe is making "patriotic crazy hats" for the 4th of July, and he doesn't want to miss that. 

Carmine did so great today, being hauled around and in and out of the car. He definitely has his moments, but overall he is such an agreeable, happy little baby, he is such a joy to have with us - which makes up for the fact that his sleep hasn't been quite as great lately as it had been. He's been waking up 2 and 3 times a night lately, instead of just once. It's usually a pretty quick feeding, though, and then he's back to sleep. Occasionally he'll give me trouble going back to sleep, and those nights are really rough, but he's still doing ok. And one of these days we'll get him to start sleeping in his crib....

Now that we have Gabe and Dante in separate rooms, they're both going to sleep right away - or even if they don't go right to sleep, they stay in bed and read quietly. Eventually we'll have to get them back in their room together (so that Carmine can go in his room), but for now, this is working, so we're just going to stick with it for a little while longer. 

Gabe is still totally gung-ho about summer reading, and is reading several books a day. He's not as excited about the chapter books as I thought he would be, but he does read them a bit. He is perfectly capable, though, of reading books that are labeled as being appropriate for 2nd graders!  

And Dante, when he isn't driving me crazy or fighting with Gabe, has me in stitches most of the time. He apparently heard something somewhere about North Virginia, because he's been walking around talking about "North Vagildran." And he mentioned something about it today - I can't even remember what the context was - but when he said it, Gabe asked him "What's North Vagildran?" 

Dante got all exasperated and sighed and said "Gabe, North Vagildran is a New York City Place, where the dinosaurs go."

And there you have it.

Comments

[Wes]

Just think... Once the Dante-isms grow up and become more sophisticated, Carmine will be right there to pick up the slack :-)