Tall

I keep our bowl of Easter candy on top of the hutch. After dinner tonight, John asked for some candy for dessert. I got up and reached for the bowl. Meanwhile, John pushed his chair over to the hutch. I told him "You can't reach it even on top of the chair." He tried and couldn't. He said "You know what? We need the 16th president! He could reach it. He's like taller than the ceiling!" I said "I'm not sure he is that tall." John grinned and said "Yea. He's really tall and he wore a tall hat too!" I said "I'm going to find out how tall Abraham Lincoln was." After a quick internet search, I discovered that Abraham Lincoln was 6'4". I told John. And he said "See! I told ya!" I said "We should find out how all Uncle Bob is. I bet he is as tall as Abraham Lincoln!" John was doubtful. I texted Uncle Bob. And he is 6'4" too! But John said "Lincoln is taller. Because of his hat!" But Uncle Bob said "Hats don't count." John said "But hats make him LOOK taller!" Uncle Bob said "Hats don't count." John laughed and came up with a new theory, "Uncle Bob is bald and Lincoln had hair. His hair makes him taller." Uncle Bob said "No. I've got hair. And Lincoln was bald. That's why he wore a hat." And then I sent him a picture of Lincoln and said "Not true!"

And that's when Uncle Bob FaceTimed us. He said "John, I have hair. See?" And he shows us his head. Then he says "See that? (And points the camera at grandpa's head) That's a bald spot. Lincoln had a combover. Do you know what a combover is?" John says "Yea. A combover is something covering something else." Uncle Bob said "See Lincoln had a combover. I'm just as tall." John didn't really seem to agree. So 

Uncle Bob asked him a few questions about Lincoln. "What number president was he?" John said "16th." Uncle Bob asked "What happened to him?" John said "He got assinated." Uncle Bob asked a few more questions, but John didn't know a lot of the answers. We learned a lot about Lincoln tonight, most importantly, that he was taller than Uncle Bob!

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a little different for the kids this year. 

Gillian was able to wear her Minnie Mouse costume to school on Halloween.  TLC normally has a parade in the morning and then Gillian's class had a party in the afternoon.  She had a huge bag of treats when I picked her up from school.

John, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to wear his Ninja costume to school.  He had to bring it to school and then the kids all got dressed in their costumes before they had an indoor parade.  Luckily, John's costume wasn't hard to put on and he really didn't need a lot of assistance.  He told me that they also had a party with snacks and each of the kids in his class got to decorate a little pumpkin. 

We picked up the kids from school and headed to my mom's house for trick-or-treating.  We stopped for a quick picture in front of Grandma's house and then we were on our way.  Gillian stayed behind the boys at the first house.  Since Sandy ruined Halloween last year and the year before that she was too small to really understand anything, it was Gillian's first real year for trick-or-treating.  It didn't take her long before she was running ahead of the boys to get to the next house.  She was polite and always said "Thank you!"  We were about five houses from Grandma's when I realized that we should change her shoes.  She was wearing her little Minnie Mouse pumps and they were really slowing her down.  I finally got her to change into her sneakers, about two blocks later.  She is a very determined little lady. 

We got to one house and lady that answered the door offered candy to the adults.  We all politely said "No thank you."  John said "It's okay, they just take it from us when we get home."  Wow, thanks for giving away our secret!

At another house, Gillian met another Minnie Mouse.  I'm not sure which one was more excited, Gillian or the little girl.

At yet another house, John went to the door, rang the bell and said "Trick or Treat."  He was able to pick his candy and came running back to us.  Before that lady closed the door, John shouted to me "Mom!  I got the orange kind.  The ones you like!"   

We stopped at Olga's house (a long-time neighbor of my Mom & Dad).  She let us come inside and she had a big tray of candy.  We told the kids, "Just one piece."  Olga said "No, it's okay they can have a few because I think I am done for the night."  John probably took three or four pieces of candy.  Gillian, on the other hand, kept taking pieces of candy and putting them in her bag.  I was busy talking to Olga, when I looked back at the kids there was a big empty spot on the tray by Gillian.  She probably snagged ten pieces.  Sneaky little girl.

We got back to Grandma's house and had some yummy soup and brownies for dessert.  Overall a pretty awesome Halloween!

   

The Beach

first time in the water

Gillian putting her toes in the water

The kids school was closed yesterday, and we decided to take them to the beach.  We met Aunt Betty in Manasquan around 9 am.  John and Gillian were so excited.  They ran down the beach right to the water. Gillian stopped before they reached the water.  John, on the other hand, went right into the water.  We were only able to get Gillian to put her toes in the water if we were holding both of her hands at the same time.  We spent a little bit of time in the water then we started working on a sandcastle. 

John and his castle

John has been planning on building a sandcastle all week.  He wanted his castle to have a moat and towers and a flag on top.  We were able to build a nice foundation for his castle along with a moat.  But John wasn't happy.  He wanted there to be water in the moat.  When that didn't happen, he got very frustrated.  We placed a flag on top of the castle and the kids went back to play in the water.  John spent majority of our time on the beach in the water.  He jumped over the waves.  He punched the waves.  He tried to body surf.  Uncle Bob and Justin joined us too.  When the Justin and Uncle Bob arrived, they joined us in the water.  John tried to use Justin's boogie board, but he fell off very quickly.  I think it was because his hands were super pruney from being in the water all day.  When he fell off, he went under water.  He wasn't too happy about that, so that was the last time he tried to ride any waves on the boogie board.  It didn't stop him from having Justin pull him on the boogie board in the little waves at the shore. 

Foreman Gillian watching construction

Gillian got Uncle Bob to make her a little pool.  She loved watching everyone dig for her, but refusted to go into it until it was "full."  Luckily the waves helped with that and in no time she had water in her little pool.

Not happy about the water level

 After Gillian had her little pool, everyone again went back into the water.  We only took a short break for lunch.  John went up the Gee-Gee's with Uncle Bob and Justin.  Surprisingly he came back to our spot on the beach with blue and pink spots on his face.  All around his mouth.  He can't keep a secret, so he confessed when we questioned him.  "I had Italian Ice!  And we didn't even use spoons!" 

Finally, I had to tell John that it was time to leave.  He wasn't happy at all.  Well either was Justin.  I can't blame them, they were having an awesome time.  In the car on the way home, we asked John what was his favorite part of the day.  He said "Well, it's so hard.  There were so many good things!"  I call that a successful beach day.