Sunny Day! Everythings AOK!

I think I told ya how we got, how we got to Sesame Place. Yeah! your catching on, you are supposed to sing that line! I do think however that I gave undo credit to Garmin in my last post for getting us to Sesame Place. Cari-anne deserves the kudos for organizing this special day. She had been keen on taking the boys there, and for months had been visiting their website, promoting the idea of the trip. I was like, ok, sounds good, whenever. Once she shared her idea with Caitlin they sprang into action, picked the day and I was swept along for the ride. I remember Sesame street as a kid, but since I was about 6 years old when it hit the air, I don't think I got hooked quite the same way kids born after 1970 did. My most vivid memories of the show involve the song for the number of the day. This always ended with the baker guy falling down the steps with that particular days number of coconut custard cream pies or some other cakes. Of course the higher the number the bigger the mess and, em, the more educational.

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Here's a link to the song of 5 if you are interested!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=2BRDQzfi234&pop_ads=null

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I also have a bit of a warm spot for the old school main characters. You know, Big Bird, Oscar, Bert and Ernie just to name a few. Through osmosis I was vaguely aware of the little red guy from some time in the 90's? when the "Tickle Me Elmo Doll" was all the rage. At that time it never occurred to me he would be such a celebrity in my house someday. And a celebrity he is! Sometimes its seems like round the clock Elmo! with Elmo Potty Time, and Elmo Green, and Elmo Outdoors. Elmo! Elmo! Elmo! I have to admit I happen to like Elmopaloza episode myself. It was pretty exciting to actually meet him in person and he was just as friendly as he is on TV. It was exciting to meet Bort n Owney (as pronounced by Aidan) too.
Just seconds after I snapped this shot Ernie gave Jared a huge High Five that the camera didn't catch. Darn! It wasn't all hobb-knobbing with fuzzy stars though. There were rides, splash pools, giant bed bounces and the dreaded three story Nets and Climbs. From a distance this looked like the most exciting place to be. I couldn't wait to get into it myself, but when you introduce dozens of other little kids, and your own kids disappear down long ropey tunnels, the midafternoon nightmare begins. Just imagine chasing a twoddler who slips easily through a narrow rope tunnel past 13 kids that are coming your way. On top of that you are like 40 feet up in the air. It took Jared and I forever to track them down crawling this way and that without and exit in sight. Of course the whole thing ended in tears with Cari-anne consoling me and her little brother, promising that we never had to enter that maze again if we didn't want to. The boys took the whole think in stride and drifted peacefully off to their afternoon nap, and Yes, Ryan is sound a sleep sipping on his apple juice. Shhh! they may wake up and want to go back into that net thing.

Quietly now, you can sing this next line too.

If you want to find your way around, here's a map of Sesame Place.

http://www.sesameplace.com/sesame2/park-info.aspx?id=interactive-park-map

Can You Tell Me How To Get To...

During our trip to California last fall, Jared and Caitlin introduced us to their GPS which they affectionately call Norma. Cari-anne was quickly enamored with this device as well and Norma became our chief navigator during our vacation. Things weren't quiet as rosy between Norma and I as she continually barked out orders for me to switch lanes, turn here, turn there, and turn around. This little box was driving me crazy! The running joke was that Norma hated me and had I not been out numbered by Norma lovers she might have found herself recalculating in pieces along some stretch of California freeway. Well things may have cooled a bit between Norma and I, but when Cari-anne began pitching the idea of getting a GPS I still wasn't to keen on inviting our own tiny box with a smug British accent into our car to start ordering me around. I resisted for a long time but finally gave in and Garmin (we haven't given him/her/it a name) moved into our automobile. We tried a variety of voices from Australian to Cantonese and settled on the American gal, so I guess that makes Garmin a she. Most of the time I ignore her and drive the ways I always have. After all I fancy myself a pretty good navigator and have found all of my short cuts and ways around using my own internal compass. We don't need to go into how much fossil fuel I may have wasted over the years finding all of these alternate routes. I suppose just out of politeness I have taken Garmin's advice here or there. She does have a much more pleasant speaking voice than Norma, and I have to admit that I have been surprised a time or two on the time saving short cuts she has suggested. Today I even took Garmin out for a Jog. Cari-anne switched the icon from a car to a pair of jogging shoes and Garmin and I ran my 2 mile loop together. For half of the loop she was telling me to turn around and go back. For the second half she told me to proceed along my well worn route. Yeah, this was telling me stuff I already knew but it was pretty cool to see how fast I was running, and she has a little clock, and who doesn’t like a map. The turning point may have been when Garmin answered that age old question that people have been singing about for 30 years or more. “She told us how to get, how to get to Sesame Street.” Ok I suppose you can't hear it but you were supposed to sing that last sentence. Come on you know the song “Sunny days chasing the clouds away.” Doesn’t everybody have these songs going through their heads all of the time? Well Garmin directed us right to the parking lot of Sesame Place which I'll be sure to post about next time. It was a great day with the kids. Jared and Caitlin also met us there. I was very careful that we did not park close together to avoid Norma's bad influence on Garmin. I suppose I might sit down and figure out what other bells and whistles she has after all. Hey, this doesn't make me a late adopter of technology, does it?

The Belmar Five

The Belmar Five took place this past weekend on Saturday July 11. It's a nice flat five mile race at the New Jersey Shore. There's a shot with me right in the middle of the pack at some point along the route. I've been out running a few days a week lately but by the finish of this one I realized that I may not be doing it enough. The days after found me pretty sore. It was a fun race on a beautiful morning and summer days at the Jersey shore are the best! One of the greatest things about these organized races is the turn out of people to support the runners along the route. People with signs and noise makers cheering everyone on gives the whole event a festive atmosphere not to mention a little pep in your step. There were boom boxes and stereo's playing music all along the way. Yes! You can be sure that the Boss and Born to Run were heard on many of those sound systems. There were also people with garden hoses offering any runner who was interested a shower as they ran by. At one of the watering stations a little boy politely asked me if he could splash me with a cup of water. It was impossible to say no to such a well mannered kid and I said Sure! The next thing I heard was oohh! me too! Me Too! from all of the other kids and was soon soaked. My goal was to finish under an hour and I met that with about 7 minutes to spare. Jared also joined me on this run and here are shots of each of us crossing the finish line. Unknown to us at the time, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was in the race as well. Here is a picture of him responding to questions from reporters about how he felt about coming in behind me in the race. Rather than comment he handed them a Corzine 09 flyer. No that's not true! Had he actually been asked this, he would have not been incorrect to mention that I was only about 50 seconds ahead of him and that I didn't stop to shake any hands along the route. Not to mention our age difference which really isn't as great as I might like it to be and the fact that he has a bum knee due to his much publicized car accident a few years ago.

He also has an entire state to manage where let's face it, my responsibilities are on a bit of a smaller scale.

Here's to all the runners in the Belmar Five!

April, May, June Showers bring July Showers?

Wow! It really has been one of the wetest Springs, beginning of Summers, I can remember. For weeks it has seemed like it rained non-stop! Lately however, we seem to have settled into the Big, Big, Big Downpour every other day or so, and even that has tapered off. The boys, No, make that all of us, love the big lightning shows and loud rumbles of thunder! We kinda look forward to these displays of nature at it's loudest and flashiest. We are also seeing the positive effects on all vegetation. I almost feel like we live in a tropical rainforest. Another benefit is that we have only had to turn the air conditioner on once! Out for a jog this afternoon the temperature was a mild 71 degrees. In past years we had the AC going full force since early May to keep the house cool. I should zip it now, lest I jinx myself. I'll find some wood to knock on since I don't want to bring on the hot, hot, hot weather. We have had some beautiful days in the mix. On the weekend of June 27 we put our yard on the map and participated in the Great American Backyard Campout.

http://www.nwf.org/BackyardCampout/about.cfm

We pitched our tent for the boys first out of doors overnight camping experience. They were all about staying up as late as they could, watching and pointing out every lightning bug and gleefully screaming along with every cricket and bird chirping in the woods. With home just a few steps away, this was our test to see how they may handle some further away from home outings. Eventually they did fall asleep and I'd say they are seasoned and ready to camp and hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Cari-anne agrees scaling my plans back just a little bit to simply visiting a local campground for the night. For Christmas the boys had gotten me a Wee-Ride to attach to my bicycle. Yes! They researched the online, read all of the reviews and technical aspects and when they finally found the right product, at the right price, convinced their mom to submit the order. I think they worked as Elves at the mall for a few weeks to pay for it. At least that is the story I got. Well they couldn't have picked a better gift. The box did sit in the garage unopened for 6 months, but once a sunny warmer day arrived, the day after camping actually, I broke out my gift, put it on my bike and was off taking turns with the boys touring on 2 wheels. It really is an awesome device / seat that attaches between my seat and the handle bars where a boy sits comfortably pointing and

speaking directions on where he would like to ride to. Seeing how much they enjoyed themselves made me realize they are actually quite sneaky getting a gift that allows them to be chauffeured around the neighborhood. Aidan repeatedly requests "Daddy go by the ungumbellas" which is short for can we please ride past the splash park with the many colorful umbrellas that around it. We rode by here at least nine times and he still didn't want to stop. This was such a hit that it was not long before we went out and bought a 2nd WeeRide to attach to Cari-anne's bike. Now we can all ride past the ungumbellas together. We've taken senic rides down by the Deleware River as well. My poor bike had been suffering from lack of attention as of late but I do believe this problem has been remedied. It's hard to believe but Ryan's 2nd birthday arrived and our baby boy is growing fast. He even blew out all of his candles by himself! and while keeping in step with a tradition that will range far, far, far into the future we caught a shot of Ryan as he passed the mile 2 mark on his journey.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Now I did just catch myself after the 3rd time repeating words in triplicate. I know the boys pick up a lot of our speech and mannerisms and this is an instance where I've picked up one of theirs. They usually talk about being able to do things when they are Bigger, Bigger, Bigger (which is happening way to quick if you ask me) Now I've fallen into emphasising things in their speak. In future post I'll try, try, try to limit myself to the use of an adjective one time for each sentence. Anyway, We also Celebrated the 4th of July with all of the fanfare and fireworks. The boys talked about it all day before and then for days afterward. It was a blast! Summer is the best! ooops! What about running? Well there has been a little of it in between all the other stuff, but probably not nearly enough! I do feel a bit guilty about that, but haven't you heard about all this rain we have been having!