Camp BBQ

Tonight was John's camp barbecue.  Basically, John and his fellow campers get to stay late at camp.  They get in an extra swim and some extra activities.  Then they get to eat dinner and their families can join them for dessert.  We got to camp and were given name tags, two tickets for crafts and one ticket for zip lining. 

We found John playing with one of his friends.  He was so excited to see us!  He picked up Gillian and then started talking super fast.  We had him give us a little tour.  He showed us the splash park and the bunny barn.  Then kids played on a playground that looks like a pirate ship. 

Next we went to the arts and crafts place and John and Gillian were able to make their own sand art.  John picked a big zig zag bottle and Gillian picked a little sun.  Gillian had a counselor help her, while John and Daddy worked on his bottle.  

We decided to take a break and get some Ritas.  Gillian was shy and didn't want any, but John and I enjoyed our treat.  While we ate, we got to talk to one of John's swim instructors.  He said that John is doing really well with swimming.  That made Daddy and I very happy. 

After dessert, we went to check out the zip line.  There was a long line, so we went down to the lower playground and tried out a few balance ropes.  And the kids went down a really big slide.

Then John and Daddy waited in line for the zip line.  

I stayed down and got a great video of him.

 
We had a great time visiting John's camp!

The boyfriend

Tonight in the car, Gillian told John and I, "I have a girlfriend."  John said "You mean, you are someone's girlfriend."  She said "Yea, I a girlfriend."  John asked her, "Who's your boyfriend?"  She proudly announced "Nicholas!"  She has been talking about Nicholas for awhile now. A few weeks ago, she told me that she pushed Julia off of the seesaw because she couldn't see Nicholas. So I wasn't too surprised when she said he was her boyfriend. She then said "We go to the beach together!" I didn't understand this statement, so I said "What?" She said "We was in the sandbox and pretending it was the beach!" 

St. Leo's Fair

We drive past St. Leo's church everyday on our way to school. Every year they have a fair in June. The kids have watched the rides slowly assemble and every morning as we drive past, I hear "Can we go tonight?" This week has been a little busy for us, so last night was the first night we were able to go.

We arrived around 6 o'clock. We were able to walk around and figure out what rides each of the kids could go on and which rides to avoid. The first ride the kids wanted to go on was the Dragon Wagon. The Dragon Wagon was a little roller coaster. Gillian was a little short to ride by herself so Daddy was going to go on with her.  But Daddy was a little too big. We just let John and Gillian ride together.  They loved it.  When the ride was done, Gillian said "Again!" 

 

Daddy took John to the Super Slide and I took Gillian to a small kiddie ride.  She was not too impressed.  

 

We met back up at the Elephants. John and Gillian went together. While waiting in line, John held Gillian's hand and made sure she gave the attendant the tickets. They climbed into a blue elephant and off they went.  Gillian was much happier on this ride, because it went higher in the air.  Next they went on the "Tub of Fun" (basically the wild teacups).  John was determined to spin their tub as fast as possible.  Gillian was loving it, until her head kept bouncing on the side of the tub.  Daddy and I would watch Gillian's face and then tell John to go fast or to slow it down.  Again, she loved it.

Our next stop was the Super Slide.  John was going to go by himself, but there was a last minute change, and Gillian and I went too.  We got to the top of the steps and climbed onto the slide.  John waited until I was settled with Gillian.  He held my hand and off we went.  Gillian giggled the entire trip.  Check out the video below.

We then let John go on a bunch of rides without Gillian.  He went in the fun house, on the elephants, and again in the fun house.  He loved the fun house.  I think it was just because there was a slide at the end.  While John was on the Elephants, Gillian said "No go on the Elephants.  I go on the crocodile."  She kept calling the Dragon Wagon, the crocodile. 

The kids went on the Crocodile, aka Dragon Wagon, two more times.  The last time, they got to ride up front.  Gillian says "The crocodile in the front." was her favorite ride of the night.  We ended up our trip to the fair with a cotton candy to share.  Overall a fun night out with the kids.

 

Softball, babies and bruises

Today Daddy had a softball game with his work colleagues. The softball field was at a park with a playground and a picnic area. When we arrived at the park this morning, it was raining a little bit. But a little rain did not stop the kids from playing on the playground. Their pants got wet but they didn't care. They climbed and slid and climbed some more. The rain stopped and we took out some toys that we brought. John had some super hero weapons and masks. Gillian had babies and a baby stroller. John immediately made friends with a couple of boys. They ran around the playground with the super hero weapons. They were playing nicely until John came running over to me crying. I asked him what happened. He said "I fell!" Poor boy didn't get hit, but fell going up the stairs of the playground. He fell headfirst into the stairs and hit his nose on the steps. He did a good job, his nose already look bruised when he came over to me. 

Gillian didn't meet friends right away. She was shy, but finally a little girl came over and asked if she could play with Gillian's babies. Gillian said yes. The little girl, Juliana, took the stroller for a walk. Her mom came running over and yelled at the little girl. I explained to the other mom that Juliana asked to play with it and Gillian said yes. Juliana's mom told me that Juliana likes to steal babies. Gillian and Juliana were best friends after this. They played on the playground together and pushed the babies in the stroller. There was a rock wall on the playground and on the back of the rock wall was a "fossil" of a dinosaur. The girls kept parking the stroller under the playground by the rock wall. Gillian would run over to me and say "The dragon is scaring the babies!"

We did watch Daddy play softball (a little) too. Daddy was up at bat and Gillian shouted "Go Daddy go!" Daddy hit the ball and ran to first base. John saw this happen and shout "Go Kyle!" All of Daddy's colleagues burst out laughing when they heard him. 

Outside

I love that the weather is getting nicer. John and Gillian have been playing outside everyday at school and when they get home they just want to play outside. When I got home tonight the kids were playing outside. I watched them play. John was collecting "helicopter seeds" and Gillian was following him around. He found the "helicopters" and brought them to the top of the slide and would drop them over the side. I called them inside when dinner was ready. John came running and Gillian cried. I think she was a little surprised that it was dinner time already. We ate dinner and when we were finished, John immediately asked "Can we go outside?" I can't argue with that. I sent them outside while we cleaned up the dishes. I went outside to see what they were doing. I pushed them on the swings for a little bit. Then John decided to get off, so that meant that Gillian was done with the swing too. Gillian went under the swing set and was pretending to serve John and I some milk. I am so glad that they have active imaginations and the desire to play outside. 

John 0, Slide 1

John was playing outside at school today and fell down the stairs to the slide. He said "I was going down the stairs and I think I missed a step!" Poor boy scraped his cheek and forehead and fell into the mulch.

While he was in the shower tonight, he complained that his eye hurt when the water hit him. We soothed his eye pain with a cool washcloth. He said "Now the funnest guy in town is the boringest guy!" I must have looked confused, because he followed that statement up with, "I'm the funnest guy in town!" Apparently his injury will make him boring. He then told me "My eye hurts really bad and my cheeky and my forehead. You know what! There's a pipe that takes blood to my forehead and my cheek. Maybe we can figure out which pipe it is and fix it!" Love the way he thinks. We cleaned up his face and got him out of the shower. My poor little boy.

The Beach

Daddy and I decided to take the kids to Manasquan today.  It was our first time to the beach since Hurricane Sandy.  We bundled the kids up and packed them in the car.  In the car, we reminded John about how the hurricance destroyed houses and the beachfront.  We also talked about Gee-Gee's.  For those of you that don't know, Gee-Gee's is a pizza place where Daddy and I met in high school.  We both worked there during the summers.  Gee-Gee's is very important to both of us, not only did we meet there, but we spent countless hours there.  A lot of our memories revolve around that building.  John knows Gee-Gee's as The Pizza Man (simply because employees wear t-shirts with a man holding a pizza).  Anyway, after reminding John that there may be some damage to the places he knows, he said "We can help clean up!"

We arrived at the beach.  Daddy and I wanted to see Gee-Gee's, John on the other hand was more concerned about the big piles of sand.  He kept saying "I'm going to the top of the highest mountain!"  I really didn't think anything of it, and said go ahead.  Then I turned around and noticed that one of the piles of sand by me had glass on it.  I didn't think.  Those piles of sand came from the streets or even from in front of Gee-Gee's where glass and all kinds of other debris were inside of them.  I didn't let John climb the piles by the boardwalk.  I took Gillian and John farther onto the beach so that they could play in the sand.  John was totally interested in all the debris in the sand.  Pieces of wood and wire and anything else.  We specifically told him and Gillian to not touch anything.  They ran up and down the piles of sand and even found a couple of shells.  After playing for a little while, Daddy and I put them back in the car and we drove to the inlet.

When we got to the inlet, John and Daddy started to walk along the rocks.  Since I had Gillian, we stuck to the beach.  We sat and watched a few surfers.  Then Gillian saw John and Daddy on the rocks.  She pointed to them and said "I go there!"  The rocks at the inlet are big and sturdy enough to walk all the way out, but carrying Gillian I was a little unsure.  I took her and walked along the rocks for a little bit.  She kept pointing to John and Daddy, who were about 20 feet ahead of us.  We ended up catching up with them and I handed Gillian off to Daddy.  I grew up in Manasquan, but I had never been that far out on the jetty.  Once Daddy head that I had never been out on the jetty, he made it a goal to get all the way out there.  I stuck with John for the second half.  He really got me worried.  The rocks are big, but there are also some big spaces between the rocks.  John would jump from rock to rock and all I could envision was him falling into the cracks.  He didn't fall.  He did a great job, but he did get Mommy a little worried.  We made it all the way to the concrete at the end of the jetty.  And stopped to take a few pictures. 

I took Gillian on the way back and Daddy took John.  I'm thankful that I had to carry Gillian, because on the way back, the wind started to blow really hard and I almost fell a couple of times.  Daddy had to deal with the wind and a little boy.  Overall, we had a great day at the beach. 

Busy

I am lucky. My kids play very well with each other. Tonight they made a little game out of chasing each other around the kitchen island. Gillian was holding her wand and John was holding his two swords. John was trying to tap Gillian on the back with his sword. But she wasn't running fast enough. So he kept yelling at her saying "Run faster! Run faster!" Them John tells her "Ok let's do it again without our weapons." The two of them put down the wand and the swords and run around the island again. They ran and ran until they laid down in Duncan's bed to rest. I was finished in the kitchen so we all moved downstairs to play.

It didn't take John long to create a new game. He took his two little Nerf guns that Uncle Bob gave him for Christmas and he started shooting them across the room. He then said to Gillian, "Gill! Get the bullets!" Gillian was more than happy to run around the basement picking up the darts. She picked them up one at a time and ran them back to John. During one of her trips across the basement, we heard John mutter "This will keep her busy!"

War

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch. We met Aunt Betty, Uncle Joe, Uncle Bob, Aunt Trish, and the cousins. We had lunch and the kids went outside to play. Sammie only stayed outside for a little bit and ended coming inside to play with Gillian. The girls decided to watch Cinderella. The girls snuggled on the couch and watched Gilly's favorite princess movie.

I was talking to Grandma and Aunt Betty when we saw Uncle Joe, Uncle Bob and Daddy walk past us. All three of them had Nerf guns, with additional magazines and bags full of extra darts. They headed out back to blindside the boys.

When I got out back I saw Daddy on the deck firing down to the boys below while Uncle Joe and Uncle Bob were running around shooting at the boys. Justin and John were running around and giggling. It was chilly outside so I only watched for a few minutes.

When they came back inside they shared their stories. At on point John got a Nerf gun set it up with the bipod and laid down on his belly. He aimed and fired right at Uncle Joe. He hit his mark and shouted "I got his gut!"

No TV

On Sunday, Daddy and I looked around the basement and decided that the kids have created a ridiculous mess. Their toys are everywhere. The basement is such a mess that we cannot find the remote controller for the television. Daddy and I decided that the kids cannot watch any TV until the basement is cleaned. When I say no TV that means the TV in any room cannot be on while the kids are awake. So yes, we are all being punished a little bit, but considering the mess in the basement it is worth it.

It is now Wednesday and the basement isn't much cleaner and the kids have not watched any television. John did try to negotiate with me yesterday saying "It's going to take forever to clean up. Maybe you can help too." I told him I would help him but that Daddy and I would not clean the entire basement like we normally do. He sighed and said "we are never going to watch TV again!"

The kids are doing anything possible to not go into the basement and avoid cleaning. Last night they entertained themselves by John laying on the floor and Gillian sitting on his back. The basement needs to get cleaned before these kids hurt themselves.

giggles

Today Daddy and I were upstairs watching football and decorating cookies.  We could hear the kids in the basement playing and giggling.  They sounded like they were having a good time, but we couldn't see what they were doing.  Gillian's giggles could be heard upstairs and it sounded like she was having a good time.  Daddy went downstairs to investigate.  The video below is what he found:

Belated Halloween

Hurricane Sandy ruined the kids Halloween this year.  After the hurricane hit, the Governor postponed Halloween until Monday, November 5th.  We still dressed the kids up on October 31st, even if it was to run errands.  They had fun dressing up and we put smiles on a lot of people's faces that day.   

 

 

So the Governor postponed Halloween until Monday, however our town cancelled Halloween on Monday.  On Monday, Tinton Falls still had about 20% of the town without power plus the department of public works did not have time to clean the brush or branches up.  The mayor deemed it unsafe for the kids to go trick or treating.  The kids school reopened on Monday, and asked that all the kids wear their costumes to school today.  John was so excited to wear his costume.  He dressed as Flash this year.  In case any of you forget, John is super fast! And since Flash is the fastest super hero around, it just made sense for John to dress up as him for Halloween.  Gillian was a beautiful lavender fairy.  She loved being a fairy, but I think this may be my last year to pick Gillian's costume.  I packaged up two Halloween cookies per kid in both John and Gillian's classes and the kids brought them to school today too. 

I got to pick the kids up from school today (one of the perks of working from home when the office has no power) and I also got to talk to the teachers.  Miss Mary Ellen, John's teacher, told me that she put cookies in each of the kids pumpkin buckets and the extras we opened and used for snack.  I'm so glad they were able to use them.  Landon also stopped me in the hallway and said "I had one of your cookies today!  It was yummy!"  His grandma said "Oh, you're the cookie mom!"  I leaned over to Landon and whispered "We will have cookies for Thanksgiving too!"  He jumped up and down and said "YES!"  I am so glad that he loves the cookies too.  Anyway, John had a pumpkin bucket full of Halloween goodies (a glow in the dark sword, cookies, rings stickers etc).  Gillian also had a Halloween bag with all kinds of goodies.  Even though the kids didn't get to go door to door trick or treating, they still ended up having fun.   

Gillian and her book

Gillian has grown up a lot over the past week.  Daddy and I are not sure if it was because we had nine days home with the kids so we were able to see it or if she is just at that stage.  She is talking a lot more.  She is more independent.  She used to wake up and stay in her bed until we came and got her, but now she gets up and walks downstairs all by herself.

Daddy has discovered that she is really good at finding animals in one of her books.  The video below showes Gillian looking in the book for animals and all her funny comments. 

Play time

We found out today that the kids' school is open tomorrow. At first I told Miss Kim that the kids would be there unless I didn't have power at the office. After thinking about it a little bit, I decided that they need to go to school. They need to be with other kids and get back into the routine of regular life.

Gillian has started following John around the house. She wants to do whatever he is doing. John decided today that he wanted to use his sleeping bag. He got it all set up in the living room and when Gillian woke up from her nap she wanted to play too. Of course they can't share one sleeping bag. Daddy found another sleeping bag for Gillian and they played quietly together.

Sometimes it's better when they are fighting. When they are quiet is when they are getting into trouble. Daddy found Gillian stuck in her kitchen sink yesterday. We are not sure how she got in there. All she said was "My head! My head!"

Beach bike ride

We took the kids and our bikes down to Manasquan Beach today. John did awesome. He pedaled down to Seawatch Beach and then down to Main Street and back. We did stop at Gee-Gee's so John could play a few games. He needed the break then because we were pedaling into the wind. After we got done in with the games we told John that our next stop was the playground. He immediately said "Do I have to ride? Can I walk?" He was so tired. But he got back in the bike and rode to the playground. When we stopped at Gee-Gee's we also moved Gillian's seat from my bike to Daddy's. While we were switching the seat, Gillian kept saying "Shoes off!" We took her shoes off and she went running to the sand. My little beach baby wanted to put her toes in the sand. We finally got to the playground and the kids had so much fun. It was a beautiful, fun day.

Brielle Day

Today was Brielle Day.  For those that don't know, Brielle is a local town and they have a day every September with a 5K and 10K race, craft & food vendors sell their wares and the local fire engines give rides to the kids.  Daddy and I have been going to Brielle Day since we were little.  We started going again a few years ago and meeting up with my Mom, sisters and brother. 

Last night we told John that we were going to Brielle Day in the morning.  He immediately said "I remember! We went on the fire truck last time, and we got sprayed with water!"  He remembers everything.  I was showering this mroning and apparently, John went in to wake up Daddy.  John woke him up by saying "Today's the day we go on the fire truck!"

It was lightly raining when we arrived.  We walked past the last couple of 5K runners.  John, so nicely, ran along side of them and said "I'm the fastest runner.  I'm even faster than adults."  We then met up with Aunt Betty, Aunt Trish, Grandma, Grandpa, Sammie, Justin and Kyle.  We walked around looked at the crafts and assorted vendors.  Justin and John found some wooden guns that shoot rubber bands.  The nice vendor let the boys try them out and both decided they had to have one.  Well, Justin actually got two and John got one, but they were very happy with their purchase.  No Brielle Day is complete without some old fashioned sarsaprilla.  We enjoyed our sarsaprilla and headed over toward the fire truck rides. 

Aunt Trish, Aunt Betty, Justin, John, Kyle, Gillian and I went on the fire engine.  I'm sure I have mentioned it before, but Gillian does not like the fire whistle that goes off at the fire station behind our house.  So I was prepared for Gillian to not like the fire truck ride.  She loved it at first.  She leaned over and watched all the cars and waved to the people as we drove past.  But we made our first turn and the fire truck sounded its siren and that was it.  She jumped into my lap and didn't move.  We drove past the fire station where we got sprayed down with water.  Poor Gillian got hit with the most and was soaking wet.  As we started to approach Brielle Day, I told Gillian to look for Grandma and Daddy.  She started yelling "Grandma! Grandma!"  When she did finally see them, she burst into tears and started to cry.  I think the whole trip was a little overwhelming for her.  If you ask her now if she wants to take a ride on the fire truck, she quickly says "No!"   

After the fire truck rides, the rain started to get heavier.  We all headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch.  Gillian and Sammie played with Gillian's babies while the boys played with their new guns.  John and Justin were dueling.  Don't worry.  We gave both of them strict instructions. No shooting their rubber band guns at anyone. 

 

  

Beach Day

School was closed on Friday.  I asked Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Betty to watch the kids for the day.  Since Grandma and Grandpa go to the beach everyday they decided to take the kids with them in the morning.  Aunt Betty didn't have school on Friday so she joined them.  Also, Aunt Trish had the week off, so Aunt Trish, Sammie and Kyle also went to the beach. 

I dropped the kids off at Grandma's already dressed in their bathing suits along with some beach toys, towels and a couple of changes of clothes.  I left them in capable hands, and I headed to work. 

A few hours into my day, I received the picture below.  They were already at the beach having fun.  

   
When I picked them up later, I was very anxious to hear all about their day especially their adventure at the beach.  John carried his bag of toys to and from the beach (I warned John that when you go to the beach with Grandma, you have to carry your own stuff.  If you can't carry it, you can't bring it).

John and Gillian loved the water.  John originally told me "I don't want to get my bathing suit wet!"  But according to Grandma, he was in and out of the water all morning long.  And on one of the trips in the water with Aunt Trish, they had to go under a wave.  I know my John was not happy about getting water in his face, but he survived and continued to go in the water.  Grandma told me that he was not a good listener.  Grandma need a short break.  So she told John that he could play in the sand but he could not go in the water without her.  She sat down and before she knew it he was at the water.  He wasn't paying attention and got hit by a wave.  He fell down face first, but got back up again.  John wasn't the only one that had an adventure in the water.  Gillian and Aunt Betty had to go under two waves back to back.  

Overall I think they had a fabulous day at the beach with their cousins, grandparents and aunts.  I asked John if he wanted to go to the beach again.  He said "Yes.  But not that beach.  The water is salt water!"  I told him that all the ocean water is salt water.  He looked at me completely shocked "All the ocean water in the whole world is salt water?!? Oh Man!"
   

Secret Agent Spy

John is my big helper. He is big enough now that we have him do little errands. He is really good at getting sodas or juice boxes for him and Gillian. I also have him be a secret agent spy. This job requires him to be super quiet and sneaky. He will tiptoe upstairs and check on Gillian when she is napping. Then he will come running back to us to report her status. "Her still sleeping." We have been doing secret agent spy long enough that now all I have to say is "I need my secret agent." John will smile big and say "I know just what to do!"

Bike ride

We took the kids to Thompson Park this morning for a bike ride. We put Gillian's seat on my bike and the girls went cruising. Daddy stayed with John. We met up at the playground. The boys made it to the playground before us. John immediately said "We beat you here. We are faster than you guys."

We played on the playground and had a little snack before we were on our way again. This time we moved Gillian's seat to Daddy's bike and I stayed with John. John is really at riding his bike, but he needs to concentrate. I was riding behind him and I told him to move over to the right. Before I realized it, he was in the grass. He gets so distracted. He looks around at the people or the trees or his feet. But we will keep working with him. He will need to fix this concentration issue before he loses the training wheels.

Ninjago

John came home from school yesterday and said "me and Rashub, Gus, Nick and
Eva are in Ninjago."  Daddy told him that was great and that he was happy that he and his friends were pretending to play Ninjago.  John said "We aren't pretending.  We made a wish to be Ninjago for real." 

Ninjago is a television show about 4 Lego boys that are ninjas. Each of the boys get their strength from the four elements.  John decided he would be Kai.  Kai is the ninja of fire.  His color is red and his weapon is a sword.  Nick is the blue ninja also known as Jay.  He is the ninja of lightening and his weapon is nunchucks.  Gus is the black ninja known as Cole.  He is the ninja of earth and his weapon is a staff.  Finally, Rashub is Zane or the white ninja.  He is the ninja of ice and his weapon is the shuriken.  Oh, I almost forgot Eva.  Eva is the only girl on the show.  She is Nya, the sister of fire.  The five of them got together and decided that they would wish themselves into Ninjago. 

The four ninjas

John told us before bed last night that he needed to wear something red to school.  "I need to wear red, because that's what the red ninja wears!"  Daddy helped John pick out some clothes last night.  This morning, John got up early and got himself dressed.  He was very excited to go to school today, because all of his friends were going to wear their ninja colors too.   

John's outfit for school today (notice the socks)

After school today, John said "There was a problem at school today."  When we asked him what happened he said "The problem was that we didn't turn into ninjas today!"  I asked him if he and his friends were able play Ninjago today.  He said "No.  We can only play Ninjago if we turn into ninjas!"