Blankie: Harbinger of Bad Boyfriends To Come?

About a year and a half ago, at the ripe old age of three, Laura decided to adopt a lovey. Specifically, a swaddling blanket covered with butterflies. Unlike Annie Bear, who 12 years later is alive, kicking, and at sleepaway camp with Clare, Blankie has not aged well. Exhibit A:

Blankie is so fragile that I am afraid to wash it - not that Laura would let me. Thus, Blankie is disgusting. However, Laura finds such talk quite offensive, and badgers me until I admit to liking him (her?) (a false claim, naturally). I have tried to plant the seed that Blankie will not stand the test of time, and may some day need to get thrown out. You can imagine how well that has gone over.

Today, Laura threw a tea party using the new set she bought with the allowance she saved for several weeks. In addition to inviting me, I suggested she include some stuffed animals. So, she invited Mousie and Blankie (here's hoping her creativity in naming improves in the coming years). Who invites a blanket to a tea party?? That was when it struck me: Blankie is probably the first in a potentially long line of undesirable boyfriends that we will attempt to discourage, and instead likely reinforce her determination to keep around. Perhaps I will start referring to Blankie as Bad Boy. I can hear her indignation now...

2015 Buffalo Shuffle: Fourth of July at PCC

Given Danny's sore throat, our Fourth of July kicked off with a trip to urgent care to see if he had strep. He did not, so we headed back home for a relaxing morning while Tim and Larry golfed. We weren't too sure what Danny would be up for, but decided that we couldn't all forego the festivities. So Tim and I took the girls to the PCC pool, planning for Larry and Danny to join us for dinner and, ideally, fireworks.

Due to the inclement and chilly weather earlier in the week, this wound up being our first and only swim at PCC. The girls had a good time with Tim, and I once again enjoyed staying in my regular clothes and observing! (This happens so rarely in Atlanta, after all.)

Happily, Danny was well enough to meet us for dinner and carnival games, which kept everyone amused and thus enabled us to stick around for the fireworks. The buffet was delicious, the games fun, and the weather glorious:

Missing Donna, but knowing she was where she should be.

It was unanimously decided that Park Club knows how to do the 4th!

2015 Buffalo Shuffle: Favorite Spots Revisited

There are plenty of places we look forward to revisiting when we head to Buffalo. The kids love the quick walk to Spot Coffee for breakfast:

I love the typically cooler weather, allowing lovely runs around Delaware Park (and this year, Clare joined me more often than not, preparing for cross country):

We all love the Buffalo Zoo, and this year we got some exceptional views of all the animals, particularly the tiger and lion:

Danny is so tasty!

Laura and I returned to the Museum of Play in Rochester (below), while Donna took the other two to the Rochester Museum and Science Center, which turned out to be excellent!

Donna, Clare and I returned to tea at the White Linen Tea House, where we celebrated sweet Ryan's arrival:

And, we returned to Fort Niagara, where they were having a weekend reenactment of the French & Indian War. This was quite a scene, and I suspect would have been more enticing had Danny not been miserable with a very sore throat:

After observing a battle, and procuring a toy knife, I took Danny and Laura home while Tim, Clare and Larry headed for Niagara Falls on what was truly a spectacularly beautiful day:

Lots of quality time in quality spots!

2015 Buffalo Shuffle: Bay Beach

This year's summer visit to Buffalo was a bit condensed, owing to working around Clare's travel and camp schedules, and trying to coordinate with the CA cousins. Oh, and due to the arrival of the newest family member, Ryan Michael Frey! While I think we would all have liked a bit more time, we managed to hit all the highlights as well as try a couple of new things, so mission most definitely accomplished.

Clare with her adoring charge, Andrew

Last year, the weather did not cooperate for us to get up to the Wards' beach home in Canada - and our first two days in Buffalo made us wonder if the same would hold true this time. Fortunately, Mother Nature smiled kindly on us and we had a glorious day at Bay Beach. It was the kind of weather that meant adults weren't too interested in swimming, but that did not deter the kids. Better still, I did not have to wear a swimsuit and had the pleasure of sitting in a beach chair, chatting with adults and watching the kids have a blast.

Which they most certainly did. Clare enjoyed playing the role of eldest child on the beach, which made her the center of many young ones' attention. Danny and Laura, meanwhile, spent hours with the yellow kayak. Seriously, hours. Danny was most often the captain, giving rides to many a kid and also enjoying solo voyages. But as you see from the top photo, Laura wasn't afraid to lead the pack, either!

The day was the epitome of fun in the sun, and we are so grateful to be invited every year!

Clare & Abby's Excellent Adventure to Florida

It must be summer: Clare has just unpacked a suitcase, only to fill it again for our trip tomorrow morning to Buffalo. This will be the story for this lucky girl all season, between family trips, sleep-away camp later next month, and last week's trip to Florida with Abby and Chris.

These girls really love Starbucks. And evidently Clare is quite adept at giving false names... "Mint"?!

As it was Clare's first time spending a full week away from home, without parents, it's not really my story to post...but why let that stop me? Chris kept me supplied with cute pictures of the girls clearly having a ball!

Victorious shoppers!

These girls rarely stop laughing!

We definitely missed her, and at one point Laura asked if she would be accompanying us to Buffalo, or if perhaps she wast just gone for good? But we're glad our bird spread her wings so happily!

Growth Opportunities

Towards the end of our Florida vacation, Laura began singing a particular song quite frequently: "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)." I believe she and Danny had found a snippet of this on YouTube, as they would sing it back and forth to each other a fair amount. This is a song right in line with her personality, but it also coincides with a surge of welcome independence on her part. For one, she has developed the ability to swing by herself, no starter push necessary.

She also requested the ability to earn allowance, which meant she now has chores, including setting the dinner table, keeping her room tidy, and tidying up the toys in the basement.

Last, but certainly not least this time of year, she has become an independent swimmer! After three sessions of swimming lessons, and multiple trips to the pool, she doggy paddles with the best of them and leaves the floaties in the car. One of my favorite kind of summer milestones!

Camp Mommy & Middle Child

Our first, non-traveling week of summer vacation kicked off with volleyball camp for Clare, preschool camp for Laura, and the highly-anticipated Camp Mommy for Danny. The extent to which he was excited about this week suggests both that he really, truly likes me, and also that he is really, truly a middle child who savors every moment we have together.

Aside from visiting the new reptile exhibit at the zoo, I wasn't really sure what we would get up to (beyond a few lunches out), but fortunately Danny didn't require a full-scale plan. He embraced leisurely mornings roving between electronic entertainment, Legos and his Nerf guns, allowing me to shower, get the girls off to camp, and even toss in a load of laundry here and there.

Our first excursion was to the zoo, and he was delighted to see so many reptiles. I believe I demonstrated a lot of patience around these creatures, so kinda hoping we don't have to return any time soon... We shall see. It IS a well-done exhibit.

Danny satisfied his reptile interests in plenty of time for us to trek to our favorite sushi buffet, where we both satisfied our appetites heartily.

The next day we simply got donuts and waited at home for a dishwasher that arrived but was damaged, so was not installed. I put aside my grumpiness, and we opted to watch "Swiss Family Robinson" (which we had watched with great success over our Florida week). Watching a movie mid-morning is pretty rare for me, but was a great item on the Camp Mommy agenda.

That said, I couldn't spend an entire week that way, so the following morning we dropped off the girls and headed to Kennesaw National Battlefield Park for some hiking. The cannons were, obviously, a major draw.

As was the promise of a Frappuccino if he was willing to head to Target with me afterwards. Where we managed to snag the game Sorry (played with great hilarity later that night with Clare), a new Frozen puzzle for Clare, a foam bat and ball, and some Legos (purchased with his allowance). Target: what's not to love??

The Legos spawned an interest in returning to the Legoland Discovery Center here in town. Since I knew taking Danny by himself was going to be easier than carting Laura, too, and thus juggling their bound-to-be-varying desires, I submitted. After we checked out the new gourmet donut spot, that is. Yum yum!

By now, I think we were equally glad when I received an email requesting a play date with Holden for the following day. I was out of good ideas, and I think Danny was ready for someone who was a bit more steadily receptive to continuous goofiness! Nevertheless, I genuinely enjoyed my time with my little man. Not sure how interested he will be in a third summer of Camp Mommy, but I'm game if he is! (Perhaps by then we'll make it to the actual Kennesaw Mountain I sought, and not just the park...)