Summer "Things To Do"

I do not have my kids signed up for anything this Summer so they will be home with me.  I found some lists online as to things kids can do while they are home.  We've only done some of them so far. 

One project the kids picked out was called Hot Rocks.  You find some nice large smooth rocks and heat them in the oven for fifteen minutes to get really hot so when they come out you can use crayons to melt designs on them.  I wish this project lasted a little bit longer.

I actually thought we could take a walk to Rock Creek Park and find our favorite rock beach (where we love to throw rocks into the creek) and find those large round smooth rocks and bring them home.  Instead, they found these flat smooth rocks that have been hanging out on my back porch ever since we moved in here.  I used them to keep my table cloth (in picture) down when it gets windy.  It didn't matter - it still worked. 

I put them in the oven for fifteen minutes on 350.  I used wax paper on cookie sheets for the kids to make their mess, I mean to do their work on.  Careful, it's hot!  The kids tore the paper off some crayons while waiting for the rocks.  Once done, they got to work.

It was rather neat to see the crayons melt so easily.  The pictures I saw online had some simple designs on them, but the kids seem to just have so much fun melting all the colors onto the rock and making swirly designs.  I think we'll need more rocks next time.

They all seemed marble like.

So they dried rather quickly and now adorn my back porch table.

We did this the day after Father's Day.  I had another quick project in mind for the afternoon that I was definitely excited about.  I had been reading a magazine and came across this recipe for a cake in a cup, ready in five minutes in the microwave.  I don't know about you, but that just sounded so yummy and a really neat idea.  The picture in the magazine looked so luscious!  They used really elegant mugs with just a bit of the cake showing, topped with fluffy whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  I had also heard of this recipe before but never had the chance to do it.  So, I looked online to see what people had to say about it.  I was thinking of making it for a dessert after Father's day dinner, but we were to full after dinner to think about eating dessert.  Reading the comments just make you confused sometimes, because you get half the people saying it was the best recipe ever and the other half saying it was disgusting.  Hmph...just had to try it for myself and I knew the kids would have fun with it.

There were two recipes.  One that was circulating the Internet and the one I found in my magazine.  I thought I would try the one I found online.  I had Anne helping me.

It looks yummy, right?  It tasted pretty good in this form.  I used a wide mug because I read the heat distributes better this way.  It made sense to me.

I also read that 3 minutes was all it really took to nuke in the microwave.  We had it set for five and checked it after 3 minutes.

Honestly, it didn't look so good to me.  I took the spoon and took a bite.  Immediately, it felt spongy and dry. 

It kind of felt like packing popcorn.  It tasted rather the same to me, too.  YUCK.  It was edible, but why even make this recipe if it doesn't satisfy like it's supposed to?  I'd rather wait 20 minutes for a box recipe.

My boys came running to the back porch and devoured the cake in the cup and thought it was the best thing ever.  These are the kids that don't even eat their birthday cake on their birthdays!  My kids don't like cake - look at them. 

Gone in seconds.

So, I had to try the recipe I found in the magazine.  This recipe was a lot different.  It had butter, the other didn't.  Butter makes everything better.  I tried it, why not?  So, Anne and I went for it!

Ohhhh, it looked better.  Did it taste better?  Let's ask Anne....

Same result - Yuck.  This time (and this is my fault) too much salt.  For some reason I was thinking salt enhances the sweet.  I also used kosher salt.  Either way, it was basically the same old thing.  We concluded that cake in the cup is really not worth your time or calories. 

If you are looking for a similar cute chocolate dessert in minutes - stick to the molten lava cakes in ramekins.  They are definitely a fun yummy chocolate dessert.

Adventure Aquarium

Soon after summer vacation started we had planned on going to Joe's 15th reunion at Villanova.  After attending the afternoon event we drove by some of Joe's old haunts and had lunch at the King of Prussia Mall!  That mall is something - huge!

We stayed overnight at a hotel (my kids love staying in hotels) so that we could go to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ the next day.  This is after hitting the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul for Mass in Philly.  It was a beautiful church.

Unfortunately, our FONZ membership didn't get us a discount at this aquarium.  My kids love animals and we've been to so many aquariums and zoos that we couldn't pass this up.

There is a view of Philly from across the bridge.

This aquarium had a lot of cool sharks, petting stations for various animals like sting ray, sharks (the small harmless kind) and starfish and some shellfish.  You could even swim with the sharks if you were 13 years or older.  I'm not sure how that worked, but I didn't see any volunteers!  I wish I had better pictures, but I got a lot of blurry shots.

The start of my kids' fascination with animals was with Happy the hippo at our National Zoo here in DC.  My kids were his biggest fan and it was a sad day in DC when they moved Happy to Milwaukee.  No more hippo.  My kids have moved on to sharks and alligators, but always hold a special place for Happy.

Adventure Aquarium had hippos.  We didn't know what to expect, but they had the best place to exhibit their two hippos.  It was wide and open and had a play area, a large indoor pool filled with colorful fish and toys for the hippos to splash around and swim in.  They had a lot of birds of all types flying around the exhibit, too.  If you kept on walking around the corner, you'd see a dark room with a window that showed you underwater - for when the hippos came and swam by.  And that is exactly what these hippos did.  My kids were face to face with two hippos and were in hippo heaven!  It wasn't crowded, as what we're used to, so it was definitely the highlight of the visit.

I think the size alone of one of these creatures is just amazing.  A picture really doesn't show that. 

It was a good weekend trip!  A lot to see.

A Family Walk

Summer vacation is now here for the kids.  We've had great cool weather to start off the Summer, but unfortunately today is back to what I remember Summer being - hot and humid.

So during this great weather, we had decided to take a family walk through Rock Creek Park (RCP)towards St. John's (Joe's work) and hang out there for a little bit while Joe did his thing and then walk back home.

These are pretty aren't they?  I have a Hydrangea bush in my yard and it isn't this pretty.  It looks rather sick.  I was just recently told they are one type of bush that is easy to maintain.  This just tells me and you that I do not have a green thumb, whatsoever.  Something is wrong with my bush.

There are so many deer around that we always search for them when we go through the RCP.  This is a picture of the kids just watching a deer eating.  It didn't look too frightened and didn't run away. 

Joe got me that triple stroller so I couldn't give him any excuses as to why I didn't go jogging.  It's a work out just pushing it around.  And it turns out that he's behind the triple jogger more than I am.  Nowadays, we have Anne riding her bike, me with a single jogger and Joe with the triple jogger when we go through RCP on a family jog.  We get the most interesting comments from passerbyers when they see that triple jogger.

So we made it to SJC to do whatever it was Joe had to do.  The kids were having fun with all the markers and started to draw.  Eddie made himself at home, with his black sharpie, clipboard and paper and went right to work at Joe's desk.  I thought it was just so cute.

I do not have any specific plans for the kids this Summer.  I will not be sending any of my kids to camp of any kind.  I have them all to myself.  I will have to be creative as to how to keep them busy and occupied.  Yikes.  So far they have been enjoying spending down time at home and just being lazy.  We do have a two week vacation in Florida coming up and then a short trip to Pittsburgh at the end of July.  Then football season starts.

I hope all of you are having a great Summer.





Kindergarten Graduate

Patrick on his way to Kindergarten Graduation!

Patrick celebrating after graduation.

Here's to my 1st grader!  Yeh, Little Guy!

Birthday Request

This past Memorial weekend we celebrated, not only our fallen soldiers, but my daughter's 9th birthday.  She wanted to repeat what we did last year on her birthday which was a fun day at Ocean City, MD.

A few months ago while I was bringing my other kids to their well-visit at our Pediatrician's office, I had made an appointment for Anne.  They asked what the nature of the appointment was going to be and I responded with, "Her...." little pause "...9th well-visit appointment?"  Never have I been phased by the change in age of my kids, but for some reason 9 years old seems so much more mature that 8.  For the first time, I got that "Where did the time go?" feeling, however I tried to shoo shoo that away because I don't like to dwell there. 

We woke up really early on Sunday morning and left the house at 5:30 am to make it on time to 8:30 Mass.  It was a really nice drive over with no traffic!  The weather was going to be perfect!  After Mass we looked for a place to play miniature golf.  We wanted to find a different place this year.  We chose some medieval place to play 27 holes!  Once we were in the parking lot we all got changed in the car into our beach gear and began to slather, I mean spray on the sunscreen.

Joe is pretty thorough with the sunscreen.  He gets the top of their heads and has them close their eyes to spray it all over their faces. 

He looks like he's ready to play mini-golf, but he opted to just watch us play.

Bernadette wanted to play but she made do with running through all the courses and playing with the rocks.

Yeesh, I need a pedicure!  I learned to not bring your purse while playing, to make sure everyone goes to the bathroom before playing AND to get a pedicure before going to the beach. 

I am sure that Joe won with the best score, however I am not sure if it was me or Anne who came in second place.  I was too busy escorting kids to the bathroom, taking pictures, being patient with those who were a litty grouchy and finding bandaids for skinned knee.  Otherwise, I think I would have come in first - having my game on and all ;-P

We searched and searched for parking.  Finally, found a place not too far away.  We gathered our stuff and started walking.

Garbage bag full of beach toys, classy!

Beautiful day!  The beach a little crowded for my taste, but there was plenty of room for my kids to do their thing!

After a few hours at the beach we packed up our stuff and left to walk the boardwalk and to find some dinner!

Oh Yum!  And after pizza there was ice cream!

They all wanted cones!  I insisted Bernadette get a cup instead because of how messy ice cream can be.  We had two cookie dough, one vanilla and one strawberry (Eddie calls it pink ice cream). 

Didn't I say messy?  They just weren't eating it fast enough.  I wasn't worried about it at all - I had good ol' diaper wipes to save the day!  Otherwise, I would be cringing and trying to convince them to throw the ice cream away already!

We walked back to the car after a great full day of fun, sun(burn) and sand!  You'd think the kids would have konked out on the way home but they were entertaining themselves for most of the ride home!

I'm very thankful for such a good day with the family and that Anne had a memorable birthday.

Just The Two Of Us

I know, it's been a long time.  Sometimes, life keeps you busy.

Easter came and went.  It was the perfect weather, all of Joe's side of the family were able to come and visit and fun was had by all.  I couldn't be more thankful.

After Easter, I had planned on visiting my family down in Florida.  Originally, it was just going to be me, but after talking with my sister I figured it would be a good idea to bring one of my kids with me to visit their cousin Ben since they missed each other at Christmas.  I decided bringing Anne with me would be fun.  Just the idea of having one child with me on a plane to Florida just thrilled be beyond belief.  Just one!  I'm so used to 5.  Also, the idea of having some one on one time with her just made me happy.  When I told her that she was coming with me she was just as excited.

The night before we were to leave for Florida, I spent an hour of it on the bathroom floor feeling very sick to my stomach.  The nasty stomach virus had come to our house.  Luckily, I didn't throw up and was feeling somewhat better the next day.  Thank God Anne didn't get the bug.  However, after landing in Florida, I get a text that Bernadette had starting throwing up.  Poor thing.

My sister came to pick us up at the airport and brought us immediately to see my Mom at Utopia, a facility where she receives treatments.  We got to meet the people who treat her and the other patients that have become friends.  We spent the rest of the day just relaxing at Joys house and resting up for the next day - Legoland!

What a fun place this was!  It was a great weather day.  I didn't think it was too hot.  The crowds were very reasonable too!  Legoland is a new attraction in Florida somewhere in between Tampa and Orlando.  Again, just having to look after one child was just amazing.  Anne is such a good kid, it was just like going with my best buddy.  Fun!  Of course, the whole time I kept thinking of how much fun my other kids would of had if they were here.  I kept taking pictures of the things I knew they would have loved.

As soon as we got there, I knew I had to go buy some sunglasses for Anne because it was so bright.

We also needed to find out what rides she could get on.

She measured at exactly 48 inches which was the height she needed to be to ride most of the rides at the park.  That made her happy.  We walked around for a while and she saw her first roller coaster that she was excited to try.  It was called The Dragon.  Joy and Ben decided to pass and we would meet them after it was over.  While we were in line Anne was very quiet.  Quiet in the way that worried me a little.  I thought she may have been feeling sick and I asked her if she was feeling ok (thinking that nasty virus had got her!) and she said she was fine.  She had lost her chattiness all of a sudden and the wait in line was sort of quiet.  As soon as we approached the ride she started getting anxious.  It finally dawned on me that she gets very quiet when she's nervous!  We got on the ride and it started slow but then the big hill approached and then off we went!  Anne started screaming, "Help me!  I want to get off!  Ahhhhh...."  I stopped screaming and assured her she would be fine and that it was almost over.  I think she was glad that she tried the roller coaster, but had decided that she wasn't very fond of them.  That was the last roller coaster of the day.  I am totally proud of her!  I was too chicken when I was her age.

There was another area of the park called the Imagination Zone.  Here, we were able to build a car made out of legos and then test them on their various race tracks.  You can return and modify your car until it works to your satisfaction!  Anne and Ben went to work.  Anne was very focused when building her car.  She spent a lot of time on it.  She finally lifted her head up with a look of satisfaction and pride and said, "I'm done!"  Ready to test her car out on one of the race courses, she turns and immediately runs into a woman that causes her car to fall onto the floor.  It falls apart.  I look at Anne and she just starts to cry.  I felt so bad for her.  Poor thing!  I pick up all the pieces since she is stuck in the depths of despair!  The woman who ran into her helped me pick the pieces up, but looked at Anne and said, "They're just legos!"  Geesh, thanks.  I'm sure that made her feel much better.  Luckily, she got the car back together and was able to test it.  It turns out that her car was not very fast and it veered to the left or to the right.

Also at the Imagination Zone, the face of Albert Einstein made out of legos!  Amazing!  They had a ton of things made of legos, obviously!  I took too many pictures of that sort of stuff.  They had a place in the park called Miniland where they made real cities made of legos.  It was really cool.

They had parts of Florida, Kennedy Space Center, California, New York, Las Vegas and my favorite, Washington, DC.

They were all made with such great detail!  They had a few areas in the park where they had videos showing the makings of various lego structures.  I know there are computer lego applications that aid these builders!  There must be!

The highlight of Legoland was the Ford Driving School where kids can obtain a driver's license.  While they wait in line, a photographer takes their picture which they will later put on a very official looking piece of plastic and sell for $14.99.  They put all the kids in a room to watch a video on how to observe traffic rules (red light, green light, yellow light, stop, etc...) and then they separate the parents and the kids.  The kids go grab a car while the parents go to the viewing area to watch their kids put what they've learned into practice.  There is a reason kids do not operate motor vehicles.  It was so very entertaining to watch especially when traffic jams occurred and the looks on the faces of the kids stuck in it! 

Anne was a very good driver!  I told Anne at the beginning of the day that she was allowed to get one souvenir at the park.  She chose to get her $14.99 driver's license.  She didn't ask for anything for the rest of the day.  She really loved it!

The rest of the trip was spending time with my nephew Benjamin and with my parents.  My mom is doing so much better from where she was during Thanksgiving.  My parents are living with my sister while she is receiving treatments nearby.  She is now breathing on her own, eating well and is beginning to regain more mobility.  Her main goal now is to get back to walking.  I got to see her rigorous daily routines and two of her physical therapy sessions.  I really admire my mother for all that she is doing.  She's working hard.  My father, another example of love, dedication and hard work.

Spending time with my nephew was fun too.  We would sleep into the late morning, go to the pool in the afternoon and spend hours there.  Anne absolutely loved this since we rarely go here at home.  She improved so much in her swimming (never had lessons) that I think it's only going to be a matter of time now until she can say, "Yes, I can swim". 

They played video games!  We went to the mall and did some fun shopping, had lunch, and got treats.  At night, we all just hung out.  One night we went to the Fair that was happening at the mall.  There was a Ferris Wheel that I wanted to go on with Anne.  Once she took a look at it from the bottom and saw how the cars on the Ferris Wheel wobbled a lot while rotating, she didn't want to go on it.  Sigh...oh well.  We had a lot of cotton candy, fried oreos and fried dough to eat.  We went on other fun rides and played a lot of games in which they won many little toys!  It was a lot of fun for those kids.

On the day we were going to leave we went to the Farmer's Market downtown St. Petersburg.  I love going to them.  Even if I don't buy anything, I just like walking around. 

Here's my sister with a couple of coconuts.

Anne eating some pizza baked in a wood fire oven.  It was so delicious!  Yummy.

We all shared.  This is Pad Thai - yummy too!

It was sort of hot day.  Anne was resting in some custom made expensive chairs.

Anne was looking at the bees that produced the honey being sold.

This I haven't seen before.  A pickle bar!  Oh yum.  I bought some of the garlic marinated ones.

This is my mom out and about.  She was having a good time.

This is my nephew Ben and Anne.  They are one month apart in age.  I'm so happy I was able to take this trip with Anne and to spend time with my family.  Thanks to my Dad and Mom for helping us get to Florida, thank you Joy for bringing us to Legoland and taking us in!  Thanks Ben for letting us spend time with you and letting play with all your fun toys/games.  Thanks to Joe for watching all the kids while I was gone.  Love you all!  See you this Summer.