http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=1755139666841541603 about a dream: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Another Land Trust hike!

This time we did the Linekin Preserve/Burley Loop hike. It was a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be! Oops!
The hardest part though was that Maggie fell asleep shortly after those pictures were taken, and Nick, Dad, and I had to carry her the whole mile back. Poor Nick did the very steep uphill part. She was exhausted though from all the fun we'd been having with Erik, Isabelle, Chester, Craig, Elizabeth, and Jess all weekend. Probably mostly from staying up until 10:30 the night before.
Fishermen's Festival was super fun, as always. Mom and I took the girls to the Miss Shrimp pageant on Friday night, and it was great. Nina is pretty sure she's not going to want to do it when she's 9, but Maggie is game. And she already knows what she wants to do for a talent--twirl a baton! She came up with this before she even knew that 2 of the contestants were doing just that.
On Saturday morning we got downtown in time for the trap hauling contest. It was cold! But that's ok, that meant I got to wear my pretty new jacket. I love it! Trap hauling and crate running were lots of fun too.
Then on Sunday, we did the hike and had lunch at Dunton's. The weekend was too much fun--we didn't want it to end!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I am too tired to post!

But I just had to write a quick note about our fantastically fun Fishermen's Festival weekend. Pics and updates tomorrow, but tonight I'm just waaaaay too tired. :-)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Also, we went to the dentist yesterday

The girls did great and no cavities!

I got to go first, and Maggie and Nina passed the time by harassing the dental hygienist. "What's that on your hands?" (gloves) "What are you doing to my mom?" (cleaning my teeth) "What's this for?" "What's that?" "Why's that there?" and on and on and on and on... The hygienist was laughing. As was I, as much as it was possible.

The girls went next and did a fantastic job. Maggie loved getting her teeth cleaned and wanted to come back every day. Nina was less enthusiastic. She did fine, but she did not (NOT) like the tooth rinser and sucker straw. Wait, I take that back: she didn't even get to the tooth rinser. The sucker straw went over so badly that we didn't even try it. But it would have been even worse for her. So she just rinsed and spat the old fashioned way, with a plastic cup and the sink. No big deal.

The most exciting part was probably the little gifts they got--a toothbrush, sparkly toothpaste, and some flossers.

Nick, you had best sleep with one eye open tonight...

It's no secret that Maggie and Nick have a somewhat, shall we say, adversarial relationship.
Last night, she fell asleep plotting ways to get the computer away from him today (why? so she can go to "my little pony backslash online" on the good computer). I thought it was idle bedtime chatter, but when she woke up, she picked right back up where she left off. Over breakfast, she got this devious look on her beautiful little face and said "Oh no, Papa already ate breakfast! I was going to trip him!"

See, Plan A was to leave her half-eaten bowl of cereal at the breakfast table and wait for Nick to come and finish it. But unbeknownst to him, Maggie (and I, her faithful minion) would each be holding one end of a rope lying innocently in his path. And then, when he walked by, we'd pull it tight, tripping him). Devious. I told you.

But that's alright, Maggie is a quick thinker, and she whipped up a Plan B. Actually, I think she'd probably cooked it up before bed last night. I think watching Infested! with me at night probably put her in a slightly twisted state of mind. Regardless, Plan B was to put her thinking stool in the path from Nick's work chair to the coffee machine. Then, when he went to get some coffee, he'd--wait for it!--trip over it!! The funniest thing of all is that she does her planning in this adorable stage whisper, and Nick can obviously hear her. But he's such a good sport, and he obliged her, went to get some coffee, and fell over her thinking stool. Maggie yelled "woo hoo!" and ran for the computer.

Unfortunately, Nick had only been playing along and wasn't truly injured. And he wanted his computer back. So Maggie was forced to fall back on Plan C, which was my favorite: hitting Nick with a baseball bat. For real!

It's ok, she carried out the assault with a little toy princess baseball bat, and he wasn't injured. But watching her hit him on the butt with it was priceless.

Still, in the end, Maggie didn't get her way. So Nick, maybe consider locking that door tonight!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Ok, one last post about vacation

We hit the West Hartford Children's Museum on the way home (you guessed it, reciprocal membership, thanks to our Boston Science membership!). What fun! We haven't been there in years (since we had our most recent NY Hall of Science membership. See the pattern here?). We had a scary experience on the way in:
The girls almost got eaten by a sperm whale! AAGGGH!!!!
Hee hee. Kidding! The real danger came inside, when we all almost got eaten by dinosaurs!!
Maggie saw them while we were looking at the animals (they have lots of rescued, abandoned exotic pets. Very fun!). She ran back into the room and said "You guys!! There are real dinosaurs in the other room!!"
It was confusing, because they were animotronic dinosaurs. Haha! And it only took us 10 hours to get back to Maine. Practically a new record!

Monday, April 23, 2012

And finally, the rest of the vacation...

On Monday we took the girls to the Hall of Science. We used to have a membership when we lived there and went frequently, but Nina didn't remember any of it. That was money wasted I guess. Kidding! Nick and I always enjoyed ourselves!
The museum was a hit, as always. Nina enjoyed this surf board that demonstrates how it's easier to keep your balance with your feet further apart. I can't remember what Maggie said her favorite thing was*, but both girls really liked the thing that you drop your coins into and they whirl around and around and the drop down. You know, the coin donation things. That was probably their most favorite thing actually. I tried to explain how that makes a good model of orbital motion, but they were having none of my educational explanations.
Look at us, having fun:
Here's Nina's surf board thing:
and here's Maggie, standing next to the hotel she built:
We got in for free thanks to the reciprocal membership program and our Boston Science Museum membership. We had wanted to go to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (free thanks to the reciprocal membership our Boothbay Botanic Gardens gets us), but it was closed on Monday. Which was fine, it was so, so hot that we wouldn't have been able to handle it.
That afternoon, we met up with some old friends at the North Queensview playground, and there was merriment all around. On Tuesday we went into Manhattan and got the girls' Austrian citizenship paperwork filed, saw some more old friends, and did the playground one more time. And we left for Maine bright and early on Wednesday.
*Nick remembers: Maggie's favorite thing was the model of a power grid, which demonstrates how the grid can absorb the extra electricity load when one major line is damaged, but if too many are down, the grid will shut itself down to avoid destroying the remaining lines. This is how major blackouts often happen.





New York trip, continued...

Sunday morning, we went to Cony Island:
The girls got to eat some rainbow Italian ice (finally!) and Wyatt and Vanessa and I played in the sand. Good times all around. It was pretty deserted (for NY) and very clean.
In the afternoon we went to Aunt Maria's house for some BBQ and lots more family. Lots of outdoor time, too, which the kids sorely needed. Nina was horrified to learn that although Queensview has a lush, green lawn, there's a fine for walking on it. On the way home Wednesday she declared that she missed the outdoors so much she didn't want to go inside for a week. That's my Maine girl!!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

I'm not taking them to church any more!

Today I took the girls to church, as usual. Nick sometimes comes, but more often stays home and does his invoicing (or so he says... I wonder if I set up a nanny cam, would I catch him snoozing or watching sports center? We'll never know, because I'll never bother). Anyway, the girls and I are at church with Mom and Dad. Maggie is drawing ponies in her pony notebook, and Nina is helping her find blank pages. Neither child appears to be paying any attention to the priest's homily, which is fine, so long as they're being quiet, which they were. Then suddenly Maggie looks up at me and whispers, "He's telling you to be nice!"

What the heck! He was indeed, but she was listening? I told her "He's telling all of us to be nice. That means you too!"

I hope she wasn't implying that I'm not nice enough, but I do believe she was. Only my child would take what she learns at church and use it against me. This kind of behavior isn't addressed in any of the parenting books I've read. Maybe I should put the ten commandments up on the wall, with "honor thy mother and thy father" in bold.

Friday, April 20, 2012

More catch-up blogging...

But first, I just have to say AAGGGHH!!! Blogger has changed everything and I'm so confused. The blog will probably look exactly the same when you're looking at it, but the controls and where I write my posts are entirely different. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually. But I really don't like change! Well, anyway. We were in New York last week for Grandma and Grandpa Scorcia's 65th wedding anniversary.
Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa! The party was fantastic, but we'll get there. First, getting there:
We left for Boston on Friday. We were going to leave after school, but, well, Nina's teacher mentioned that half the class was going to be gone on Friday, so I figured that the kids would just goof off all day anyway. Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Henry, I can hear you laughing at me now. But yup, Nina played hookey and we took off at about 11:00. We pretty much drove directly to Stoughton, too. I think we stopped once or twice. A record for us! We got in to Erik and Isabelle's at 2 or 3 and played in his backyard and with the neighbor's kids for a while. We left bright and early for New York and got to the hotel at 11:30. After a quick hello to Vanessa, Ethan, and Wyatt, we all got dressed and left for the party.
We had so much fun! So, so much food. "Why do they keep bringing more food?" Nina asked at one point, astounded. (Also, "Am I really related to all these people?" Yes, poor sweet child, you really are.) Maggie loved the calamari! I loved everything, but especially the cappuccino in champagne a flute and the cake. Yeah, I'm a dessert kind of woman.
And the company was fantastic too! After the party, we all went to Uncle Thomas and Aunt April's house for more hanging out and fun. We got back to the hotel at about 10:00 and conked out. What a great day!

let the catch-up blogging begin...

This one is from a while ago. Maggie was pretending to be a grown-up...



She was talking in her princess voice, making very polite conversation. She said she was married to Nick and that she didn't like playing games, because she's a grown up. The crossed legs were her idea. I guess crossed legs + coffee mug = grown up. Too cute!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I don't believe I ever put this on the blog

One of the many problems with Facebook is that sometimes I'll put a photo up there, and then neglect to put it on the blog. Oh, the woes of 21st century parenthood!

Well, here it is:

The girls each drew angry birds. They're so good! (Nina's are brown, Maggie's are blue. Obviously.) We got them some stuffed angry birds for Christmas (and they've gotten so much use! They're frequently brought out for another installment of the angry birds reverses ponies saga). Here, the girls posed them for a still life. Very good I think!

I realized I didn't update about Easter. It was lovely! The Easter Bunny came by while we all were sleeping and left the girls each a chocolate bunny. Also, that little rascal hid all of the eggs that we had dyed! Fortunately, the girls had a fantastic time hunting for them.

Then we went to church, and spent the day hanging out with all the family and eating, eating, eating.

And one unrelated funny: Maggie asked for some Lucky Charms, and I said, "Oh, we can use those to try to catch a leprechaun again! What would we do with it if we caught one?" Maggie responded, "We could make a leprechaun stew!"

Nina was horrified!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

crossed another BRLT trail off the list

On Saturday, we hiked the Wildcat Creek/Zak Preserve hike off our list. It was a nice trail--not too muddy or rooty, and I only found one tick. On myself, of course. I seem to be a tick magnet.

Here's the proof! (Of the hike, not the tick!)


Sadly, this was the best photo of us. Nick, Nina, and I all had our eyes closed on the first 2 photos. Rule of thumb: take as many photos as there are Halters in the photo. That gives us all a chance to have our eyes open. Haha!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Easter!

The girls and I colored Easter eggs yesterday. They were fast! All business, one egg after another. We colored 23! I hope everyone likes eggs. A lot!

Uncle Erik, Aunt Isabelle, and Chester are here right now, and the girls are in heaven. Nina even slept over at grandma and grandpa's last night so she could greet them when they got in at 10-ish. She got to watch Grimm with them too, she was one happy girl!

I'm sure I won't get a chance to blog tomorrow, so Happy Easter!!

Friday, April 6, 2012

peter rabbit, live!

nina's first grade class did a production of peter rabbit for us today. it was too cute! nina was a narrator, dressed as a yellow flower. she recited her lines perfectly! i have video, but it's late and i'm not going to upload it to you tube tonight. i'm sure it's far too big to host here on the blog. well, i'm not sure, i'm guessing. but it's bedtime, so i'm not even going to check.

here's how the classroom was decorated. very nice!

sorry if some of the pictures are blurry, i'm still getting the hang of the new camera!


i think nina was most excited about getting to stand on the table. it's the little things when you're 6...

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

WARNING--SCARY!!

No, not bed bugs or mice scary. These are the paintings Maggie and I have made of monsters. You've probably seen the ones we made months, or maybe even a year, ago:


The green guy was our first. I outlined the shape, and Maggie and I painted it together.




For the gray guy, I got pretty into the sky. Artistic, no? The pink and blue are a prince and princess fighting him.

But then today, Maggie and I did this:

Scary! The black slime dripping from him was kind of my idea. Maggie had too much paint and it was dripping, and she was about to freak out about it (RUINED! It would have been RUINED! Which you know she pronounces as "wuined."), so I jumped in and said, "Ohhh, he's dripping slime! How scary! I like it, let's do more!" I think I might have gone overboard.

The red blob on the lower left corner is a beer bottle full of blood for him to drink. That one was Maggie's idea. I can't say for sure who's idea the red fangs were, but i did paint them, so probably mine. But Maggie filled in the black mouth, which really upped the creepy factor by like ten.

Why do I fear that I'll one day be showing this to a psychologist??

saturday's hike

Remember how I won a Land Trust guide to all the preserves in the region? Well, I've decided our family goal is to hike every last one of them.

Fortunately to that end, we hiked Dodge Point on Saturday. Here are some pictures:






The girls did a great job. Nina emphatically did not want to go on a hike. She kept trying to talk us out of it, but she usually isn't too excited about this stuff. Then, always when we get there, she's all energy and excitement. Maggie was super excited when we got there. She yelled, "Let's celebrate the hike!" and ran ahead.

Today, Mom and I hiked Porter Preserve with Maggie. Nina and Maggie and I have hiked Porter Preserve together, but I think if we're going to tackle this challenge as a family, I'll have to make a rule that all four of us need to be present to cross the hike off our list. Unless it's something that just the kids and I do... I might have to be flexible on this one.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

mini golf

today dolphin mini golf had an easter egg hunt, BBQ, and mini golfing (of course!) to benefit the march of dimes. of course we were there! it was great fun. nina did a wonderful job. she golfed with mom and dad, and really focused and did her best. i tried to get her to golf with us but she insisted on moving ahead with them. maggie golfed on her own, no interest in keeping pace with me and nick. but, that left me and nick to golf on our own, and actually enjoy some competition. it was warm too. a lovely day!! here are some photos, taken with the new camera of course!


maggie, just after getting the ball in the hole


nina, just after a putt. you can see her ball right at the bottom of the photo. what a great shot! (i mean me, the photographer. but it was a great shot for nina too!)


maggie, determined to get the ball in.


look at that form!


they raffled off these bunnies, but we didn't enter. we have enough stuffed animals.