shoes

shara finally got shoes - 2 pair @ LLbean - what a relief!

Slept with door open

Shara slept for the first time with her bedroom door open. Cats still stayed in our room.

A Visit to Camp Looker

Shara had her first big girl trip away from home last week. Jill, Samantha and Liz picked Shara up last Thursday for a few days in upstate NY. Liz wasn't able to join, but Shara had a great time with the rest of the family. I'm hoping Jill or Samantha will be able to contribute to this so Shara has a lasting memory of the trip. Getting her bags packed was fun. I'd tell her what to fetch from around the house and she was on a mission, "ok mommy, I'm on it..." Off she'd go and then ask for what was next. She's great at helping if she's given specific tasks.

From what I heard, they went to their camp at Sacandaga Lake and Shara went kayacing and even swam with the fish! Seeing that she enjoys playing with the frogs in our pool, that's not so surprising though. They all watched the Princess Bride - Shara's now 2nd favorite movie. When we picked her up on Sunday she was happy to see us, but not in a hurry to leave! I think she could have had another day or two and been fine.

We had to make a stop at Jumpin' Jacks. We all enjoyed the fine food & atmosphere. What's summer without Jumpin' Jacks?

She really is feeling better about being independent. I'm very proud that she's decided to go for a week at one of our local day camps, without even knowing who's going to be there with her. Tina is going to drop her off and pick her up for us, which is great because the time they make the camp day is really for stay at home moms or people with au pairs/nannies.

Science science science science

Yesterday we went into Boston to the Museum of Science. Thanks to the museum pass from the library, our admission was only $5 each! We had mostly a good time. The animal show was really interesting. They concentrated on just one animal - a great horned owl and by just talking about one for the 20 or so minutes, they could really explain a lot of facts about it, rather than a little bit about a lot. Much more in-depth. Shara spent a lot of time looking at all the gears and watching how they all worked. We also spent some time at the Escher exhibit. It wasn't interesting at all to Shara, but after 1/2 a bar, she was much more attentive and enjoyed the many different pictures that show seeing is deceiving.

After the museum and a lengthy discussion about where to go for dinner, we compromised and went to Quincy to Tony's Clam Shop on Wollaston Beach. Shara and I split the fried seafood platter and Alan tried the chicken kabobs. It was very good. Shara started off liking the calamari and cole slaw but ended liking the chicken the best. We ended with ice cream across the street at the beach.

On the way home, Shara said that she was going to watch the end of her movie after she got ready for bed and if she fell asleep to just carry her up into bed. Keep in mind, we didn't leave for home until 9 PM. Needless to say, Shara didn't get to act on her plan because she fell asleep on the way home and got plunked into bed, clothes on and everything.

Shara doesn't like beer

Last Saturday we went to the Blue Hills Brewery Festival and Shara tried the watermelon beer. She didn't like it. It was actually just ok. We liked the wheat beer better. Shara didn't take another sip though. We had a fun time in the drizzle - took a tractor ride around the Irish cultural center, walked around the center and listened to some music, ate some pulled pork, watched people throw some kegs, and even hunted for a keg. We didn't find it - boo. Afterwards we went for an early dinner at Takara in Canton for yummy sushi, then walked the long way back to the car, and finished up at Crescent Ridge. Nice day!

Sunday we went blueberry picking - got a huge bucket full - ended up being 5 quarts to put in the freezer. Do we have a blueberry pie this Thanksgiving? I think we may!

The rest of the week was less eventfull. Swam every day though and on Thursday evening went to the library to get a museum pass and took a walk through the gardens. Wow, they're beautiful! Friday found 5 frogs in the skimmer basket. Shara made pets out of two of them - Fat and Thin. They may be in the garden behind the garage. Shara was sad to release them but knew that they'd be much happier in a garden than in the chlorine pool.

Check out more photos at Picasa.

July mini-vacation

We had some fun times the past few days. Wednesday Shara & I had a leisurely morning of playing with baby, swimming, and hanging out, followed by a short trip to the West Bridgewater library, a round of mini-golf at Golf City, and an ice cream across the street at Good Days. It was so hot! We kept taking drink breaks during golf but both sweat up a storm. We then stopped at the market to get food for dinner. When we got home, we didn't have long to wait for Alan & Liz arrive. That was a real treat, having Lizzy here for dinner & overnight. Liz, Shara & Alan went in the pool and I got dinner together - grilled chicken w/ an Indian sauce, grilled vegetables, and fruit on the side. The grapes were really good and everyone enjoyed a nice, relaxing dinner.

Thursday we got up and had breakfast and then had a great swim. Liz, Shara & I raced and played for over an hour before getting cleaned up and heading out for a day at Legacy Place. We had lunch at B-Goods, saw Toy Story 3; Shara has to remind me to bring the tissues because all the movies we see are such tear-jerkers, ate ice cream at JP Licks, and did some shopping at Oop & Whole Foods. The man behind the counter at JP Licks really liked Liz and was very informative about the different flavors. Yes, she is "quite a dish!" Shara and Liz had fun at Whole Foods picking out vegetables, but food shopping certainly isn't one of Shara's favorite activities. She was really cold by the refrigerated section and a little bored by the beers, but had fun in the veggie area. We took the long walk back to the car and then took Liz home. She did a nice job decorating her apartment and suggested having Shara come over for supper one night while Alan & I have a date night, then we could all sleep over and go home the next day. I thought that sounded great! Shara fell asleep on the ride home but then perked up for dinner. That night she couldn't sleep, saying she was having bad dreams about the sad movie. She ended up sitting on my lap while Alan & I finished our cocktails and watched Glee. Seems like it all went over her head, but it was the first time she was in the room while we had a "grown-up" show on.

Friday Alan & I were going to have a hard hike and take Shara to Tina's for some swim fun at Theresa's, but Shara petitioned us to take her too, and seeing as we weren't going to go on a really hard hike, told her that was fine but she had to know that we were going hiking and if she wanted to go she was not allowed to complain. She agreed and we went up to North Andover to walk around the Anderson Ward Reservation. We stopped to pick up lunch at Panara and had an enjoyable picnic under some pine trees. It wasn't really hot out of the sun. We then took a walk up a hill to see the solstice stones, which were more of a sun dial/compass. Shara did complain, but not the whole time. She just didn't like walking up-hill, but then got over it and we actually had a nice time, until we got more into the woods and the bugs started biting us. We ended up going quickly down the hill and more directly to the car than we had anticipated. The next stop was to Smolek Farms. I had heard about them for a while, and it was a small place with a few deer to feed, geese, and PYO berries. We didn't pick anything, but Shara played for a bit on the playground with another little girl who was there with her family, fed the deer; you pour the corn down a tube and they eat it at the bottom on the ground. Shara found that she could look down the tube and watch them eat - that was cool, and then we, of course, got ice cream. I had an amazing parfait - soft vanilla ice cream with raspberries. They were frozen, so very juicy and they put on a lot! Shara & Alan split a lemon slush. The ride home took 2 1/2 hours, 1 hour longer than it should have because of all the traffic. We got home, Shara had to be woken up (only fell asleep 1/2 hour before getting home) and she and Alan went swimming and I fixed dinner. Basically leftovers but made into a Southwestern salad with more grilled vegetables. Shara now likes grilled zucchini too! She was able to sleep well last night.

Sucessful Trip to NH

So last Sunday we went to New Hampshire and had a great time. I could tell when Shara woke up that it was going to be a good day. She came into the office all smiles and ready to start her day. We got out the door quick, since most things had been packed and planned already. We drove up only stopping for bagels & doughnuts, and liquor. We got to Plymouth, NH at about 11:30 AM and went to the deli in town for what we originally planned as a picnic. The rain had already started, but it was just misting, but when we got to the Polar Caves it was pouring. We decided to have a picnic in the back of the van. I love the minivan just for this reason. Shara used the liquor box for her table and we had our sandwiches. When we were done, the rain stopped and we went in. Had to stop in the giftshop for the entrance ticket and of course for some sillybandz. Shara got a tie-dye, glow in the dark, sweets & treats pack. We then headed toward the caves, stopping to feed the deer corn and witness a peacock with his feathers all pouffed out.

The caves were really cool (no pun intended). There are about 15 caves? to go through. All are very little, and some have easy stone steps to go down and up and some are more challenging. Alan held Shara's hand throughout, but she did all the climbing herself. We didn't take any of the chicken routes and went through every one except the lemon squeeze. I was disappointed that I didn't try it. Had I a change of clothing and a shower available I might have tried, but it was a 14" passage that you had to angle your body through in a certain way and if I got stuck, that would have ruined my day! After the caves we walked around a bit through the rock garden and then headed out.

Shara was getting tired, but we went farther from home toward Littleton for ice cream. This was one of the Sterns' Road Food recommendations - Bishop's Ice Cream. It was good, but not great. We all enjoyed sitting at the picnic table outside having ice cream in a sleepy town. The way back to the highway was with the intention of finding the fields of lupine. The festival was over but I wanted to see if it was worth coming back. What we saw didn't impress us that much, but the area is so beautiful, maybe we will and combine it with the strawberry festival around the same time. At this point, Shara was tired and cranky, and we were headed home anyway. She played a couple of the games she brought as we headed toward home on the highway. We stopped to eat at the Tilt-n-diner. We had enough leftovers for several meals afterwards. We ended up getting home close to 11 PM, since traffic was so bad. There was a big NASCAR event and others coming home from a weekend or vacation. But Shara was sleeping, so she got her rest.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. We ended up going in the pool Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Shara had a birthday party Thursday at Kidz Planet. She was a little too tired to really have a great time, but enjoyed watching the kids, rather than join in herself. We didn't get home until close to bedtime. Yesterday Tina had the kids use our pool - just Cole & Shara, Jack & Michael. Sounds like Shara was in the water all afternoon! Now she's at Oma & Jidors. Alan & I went to dinner & Eclipse and will pick her up this evening. Busy summer so far!