13-14/70

Days 13 and 14 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Yesterday (Tuesday), Elijah went to daycare and Ed & I went to Stowe for the day. We walked around a bit, had lunch at the Shed and then ice cream at the Malt Shoppe. We are so thankful to have some of these special "couple days" built into our summer, without having to pay a babysitter!

This morning, Ed left for a few days at Deer Camp. Elijah and I brought Zoe to the vet, grocery shopped, hit the playground with Beth and Dianna, and (after all that) refused to nap this afternoon!

Thankfully, he was able to rally for our evening plans- Beth, Jim & Dianna invited Elijah & me, Liz, Todd, Reese & Quinn, Jenn & Casey, and Jen, Matt, Acadia & Emma for dinner. I don't know how they manage to host such affairs without losing their minds. Six kids under the age of 7 just going NUTS in their house...yet they take it all in stride. At one point, I caught Elijah blowing bubbles from the porch into the house, just t0 give you an idea of the chaos... I told you it was a wild night!Walter, the world's most laid-back cat, gets some extra special attention-

Trying to calm the kids down with some shows. The adults were so loud in the kitchen that the kids kept complaining they couldn't hear the TV- even though the volume was up to 73!

We were even graced with this beautiful rainbow.

We didn't leave Beth & Jim's until after 9PM. The whole drive home (5 minutes tops), Elijah kept saying, "It's dark. I need to go to bed."

12/70

Day 12 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Today looked like it was going to be rainy, so Liz and I decided to take the kids to the ECHO Aquarium to see the "Backyard Monsters Giant Robotic Insects" exhibit. Can't beat the price ($2 with the library pass).

We were greeted with this 12-foot-tall praying mantis: We didn't know it was going to be so scary, and the kids were definitely a little unsure at first. I don't blame Elijah for not turning his back on these gigantic carpenter ants! If he looks a little scared here, he probably is! But by the time we got to the scorpion, Elijah was feeling much more at ease:Overhead, a dragon fly:
Onto the rest of the aquarium. Elijah and his little buddy, Quinn.Reese (7), Elijah, Quinn (3):A constant favorite- the water table:Later at home, Elijah begins telling Ed about the insect exhibit. Born into the Alexander story-telling family, first he pauses for effect......then takes a moment to recall all of the details, before.......launching into an animated description of what he saw...What a boy!Winding down with some popcorn and "Wonder Pets."

And finally, some pre-bed puzzle-time with Mom and Dad.

Good night!

11/70

Day 11 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Paul Mailman 10-miler in Montpelier this morning- Liz and I finished in 84:52 and were thrilled, as we had set a reasonable goal of just breaking 90 minutes. Mostly, I was just thrilled to see the finish line :-) Actually, it was a nice day to run, a competitive field and a great course. When we saw some of the other people running, and the shape they were in, we devised a new motto- "Someone has to come in last, it might as well be us!" In fact, we were far from last place, right around middle of the pack. Great fun- I'd do it again next year.
Ed and Elijah hung out at home; I was back by about 1:00PM. Ed got the lawnmower working well enough to finally knock down the grassland that has become our yard...Rain expected for the next few days, so he was glad to get it done.
That's it- no pics, I'm going to bed!

8-10/70

Days 8 through 10 of our 2010 summer vacation...

I haven't had a chance to sit down and update our blog lately. Thursday I had my final curriculum day at school, to work on Honors Biology with my colleague Katy. After picking up Elijah from daycare, I rushed home to shower and hit the town with some of my Fairfax ladies. We went out for dinner and drinks in Burlington to celebrate my friend Liz's birthday. My favorite picture from the evening came out all fuzzy, so I posted this one instead. The birthday girl is on the right wearing pink. Friday we stayed home for the day. There were some families heading to the beach, but we couldn't quite motivate to get there. The weather was nice, Ed worked on wood and Elijah and I went for a nice walk and picked wildflowers along the roadside. We had a babysitter (Molly) coming for the evening, which is always kind of a bad scene as far as Elijah is concerned. He usually starts crying the moment a teenaged girl walks in the house. But last night, he was quite excited- I guess it's another sign of him becoming a big boy. In fact, Molly sat down on the floor to do a puzzle with Elijah and he ran over to me and pushed on my legs, saying, "Go away, Mama!" Then he did the same thing to Ed. We took that as our cue that he was going to be just fine, and headed out! It was such a relief over all the times we've left him crying his eyes out with sitters...

Ed and I were supposed to go to the movies with some friends, but then decided that we'd rather have dinner and meet up with them afterwards. So we went to the Longhorn for dinner, where I ate more than a person twice my size should eat. Then we killed some time at Home Depot,

with the plan of meeting the others at 9:15.

At 9:15, we met Beth, Jim, Liz and Todd at Cody's Irish Pub in Essex for a drink or two. It was a nice way to end the evening, and it sounds like we didn't miss much with the movie (Grown Ups with Adam Sandler), nobody seemed to think it was very good.

Today (Saturday) was overcast int he morning with a deteriorating forecast for the day. Elijah and I hit the playground first thing, to get in some running and climbing before the rain arrived. We made it a little over an hour before the sprinkles turned to showers. The rest of the day was a complete washout, so we played legos- That shiner on his left eye is from diving head-first off the couch. I was in the other room, when I heard, "Yee-haw!" which means he was riding up on the couch back. Then I heard thud! and silence and finally, "Waaaaa!" Sigh.............What a boy. "Potty training" update: For several days, Elijah hasn't even wanted to sit on the potty. In fact, he used it twice that first day and then never again. He obviously isn't really ready for toilet training, so I decided to just back off and be really casual about it. This weekend, I brought home the potty that my friend Beth used for her daughter Dianna, just to have another one around the house. I told Elijah that it was a present from Dianna, whom he adores. He asked a couple of questions and then sat down and made his very first "poopy in the potty!" Big news around here...

The potty reward tonight was a chocolate-covered granola bar and an episode of Dora the Explorer.

Heading to bed early tonight- tomorrow morning is the "Paul Mailman 10-miler" race Liz and I have been training for. We ate a big spaghetti supper tonight, hope it works!

7/70

Day 7 of our 2010 summer vacation...

After an early run with Liz, I dropped Elijah off at daycare and went about the major task of emptying, cleaning, lining and reorganizing all the kitchen cabinets. It took me nearly 5 hours, but this was the first time I've done this since we moved into this house 6 years ago! Meanwhile, Ed continues his work on our woodpile:
Ed reads Elijah "The Jungle Book" and "The Three Little Pigs" before bed:I have one final curriculum day at MMU tomorrow and then Elijah will settle into his "summer schedule" at daycare- just 2 days a week. I'm looking forward to some time at the beach, pool and playground!

Can't wait for our vacation in Maine next month- we're even planning on seeing Thomas the Tank Engine in North Conway, thanks to a great tip from Aunt Lisa (which I never properly thanked you for, Lisa...sorry, and THANK YOU! Elijah is going to love it!)

6/70

Day 6 of our 2010 summer vacation...

The things you can get done when you put your child in daycare. Here's a recap of our day: Up at 4:30AM for a run with Liz, home to shower, dropped Elijah off at daycare, Ed and I went to the Bagel Cafe, the Credit Union, Lowe's, Men's Wearhouse, Three Tomatoes, Rack Warehouse, The Superstore, Chittenden Solid Waste office, a Doctor's appt (Ed), a pedicure (me), Lowe's (again!), the grocery store, Joe's snack bar for a creemee, the seamstress, and finally back to pick up Elijah! WHEW!!! Trying to fit it all in, taking advantage of a toddler-free day :-) Zoe is enjoying the Dog Days of Summer-
The bain (bane?) of Ed's existence- also known as the "World's Worst Lawn Mower." Works about 25% of the time.One of these lawn mowers works better than the other (Hint: it ain't the red one!)Here it is, working for about 15 minutes. If it looks like Ed is running, he is. Gotta mow what you can until the equipment breaks down.Elijah waits on the sidelines in case he needs to take over-The two greatest purchases of the day: a really handsome suit that Ed will wear to Tyler and Aimee's wedding (he is going to look amazing!), and this shiny new gas grill for Deer Camp:

5/70

Day 5 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Today I had a curriculum day planned at the school, so Elijah went to daycare and Ed stayed home to cut wood. At daycare, Elijah napped on a mat instead of in the pack-and-play for the first time! Not exactly huge news, but not much else to report today :-)

4/70

Day 4 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Happy Fathers' Day!

Some fun tractor pics that I came across on the camera. Ed must have taken them yesterday-
We started our day by meeting Matt and Kate at 158 Main for a Fathers' Day breakfast. Elijah was not exactly on his best behavior in the restaurant. I need to take lessons from my wiser "Mommy Friends," who are experts at just quickly and quietly packing up their kids and sweeping them away when they act out...One of these days, I'll have to give that a try.


After breakfast, Ed left to meet Tyler for an afternoon of fishing. The weather was very unpredictable, shifting from full sun to an all-out downpour in the blink of an eye. They ended up later cancelling their fishing outing, and Ed landed at deer camp for a couple of hours, enjoying his (much-needed) break from our 2.5-year-old Tasmanian devil!


Elijah and I headed home and took advantage of a break in the rain to play with the pool and hose. Note Zoe in the background, keeping a safe distance!

Luckily, she was smart enough to stay just out of reach!
But here's the REALLY big news of the day (you might have to press play and let it load first):

Had to cut my video short due to a Telemarketer on the phone (on a Sunday! Father's Day!)

3/70

Day 3 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Not a single picture to share from the whole day! My camera didn't even make it out of my bag. Can I blame that on an active 2-year-old?

Anywho- started off the day with a grueling 10-mile run with Liz, I would have stopped to walk a half a dozen times if it wasn't for her! We're gearing up for the Paul Mailman 10-miler in Montpelier next Sunday...today was pretty hard, but I think we're ready for it!

Ed went to the MMU graduation this morning and Elijah and I headed to Heather's house for a walk and some "jump-time" on their new trampoline. So fun!

We came home for lunch and splashed around in the kiddie pool before heading out to party #1- to celebrate Alexandra's graduation from MMU. Saw lots of great folks there including Peter/Katie, Cedric/Susan/Lillian, Mary/Jacob/Jesse, Becky/Bill/Alexander, Debbi/John/Chad/Jake, several representatives from the Stuart Alexander clan and (a surprise!) Eliza, who had flown home from San Diego to surprise Alex for graduation. Chris and Martha were wonderful hosts as usual!

Around 4:00, we left for party #2- to celebrate Chelsea's graduation from Harwood. We passed Dan/Lisa/Grammie and Wes/Darlene & kids on the road :-( so never got to visit with them, but had a great time with the lovely Chandler family, as well as Matt/Kate and Tyler/Aimee. Paul and Lesley had organized a wonderful party with lots of delicious food, and Elijah was kept well entertained by a patient and fun Lauren.

We arrived home around 8:30PM and everyone but me is now fast asleep. But I'm not far behind...! Good night-

2/70

Day 2 of our 2010 summer vacation...

We met our friends at Maple Street Pool for the morning and early afternoon:

Later, some afternoon painting, so nice (read: less messy) to be able to do that outside for a change!Today was a picturesque summer day- very sunny and mid-80's. Just perfect!

A parting shot of our garden...

1/70

Day 1 of our 2010 summer vacation...

Began with a rainy 5AM run with Liz, a delicious breakfast upon my arrival home, and Ed actually folding a pile of his laundry that's been sitting in the living room for about a month. All good things!
Later, I met up with some friends and we took all of our children bowling, came home for a nice long nap and awoke to some beautiful afternoon sunshine. Ed left for poker night, Elijah and I played outside, ate dinner, went out for a creemee (my first of the season!) and enjoyed an evening at the playground.

No photos to speak of, but a lovely way to phase back into summer break.