No Good Excuse

I have lots of excuses for why I haven't been in this space lately, but none of them are that good really. Just life. So much going on and until this heat wave, we've been spending the majority of our time outside. My kids are at such magical ages, so cute and so maddening at the same time. The are either fighting over toys or rolling around giggling together. At one point in the car the other day when Remick was screaming, Makili asked me, "What would happen if Remick got dead?" Yikes! I didn't really know how to respond to that except to tell him I would cry every day for the rest of my life. I also assured him that I know how frustrating it can be to have a little brother sometimes (no offense Blair. just kidding). I don't know what really caused him to ask that?

Remick actually is a complete and total menace for his part. He is such a cute little trouble-maker and is clearly positioning himself as the family joker. He cracks himself up. And he tries to make everything into a joke, which works a lot of the time. He is also a little diabetic in training - he loves bread and sugar and would eat them for his entire diet, maybe punctuated with some grapes for garnish.

We've had a terrific summer, but I have to say I'm done with 90 + degree days. The last two days on my own with these two have been long. And the waves have been big, which is good for surfing, but not so good for babes at the beach. I took them to Plum Island on Tuesday, which might as well have renamed itself Young Child Deathttrap. Big waves, steep beach. I was trying to help each one get in the water to cool off, but when I took Makili in, Remick tried to follow us. I was watching him, but a huge wave came just as he crested the top of the beach hill. The wave was very shallow when it reached him, like 2 inces, but it was very fast and it scared him. He turned aorund and tried walking back up the hill, but the wave started receding just as fast, and knocked him over. Water, still very shallow, washed over him while he was screaming, and he got sand caked in every inch of him body. We might not get it all out until next year. He was fine but I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. Now if we could only get market cancelled on Sat for the hurricane, I might recover my exhaustion!

Garden Triumphs

What a growing year this year has been! I ate the first (and sadly only) canteloupe out of my garden earlier this summer which was pretty amazing! and watermelons! I have a bunch! I have tomatoes coming out of my ears and well you know about the flowers. Today is tomato canning day, which to be honest isn't my favorite day of the year, but it can't be put off any longer. You can only eat so many tomato mozzarella salads, tomato pies, etc. Canning tomatoes is a lot of work and really the only part of the process that I find fun is the winter day when you crack the jar open and get "your" tomatoes into a meal. Every other part is a pain!

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My birthday was Sunday and it was LOVELY! Raph surprised me with a SURFBOARD for my birthday which was a shock and SO exciting. He actually gave it to me on Sat. night, and on Sunday we were awakened by the beeping phone telling us we had a text message, which turned out to be from our dear friends, John and Gwen, telling us, "Surfs up!" And by 8:30 I was in the water off of Long Sands surfing. It was great! I have a new wet suit, and even though I am quite self-conscious about it, I decided not to let that stand in the way of my time in the water. It took me a long time to figure out where exactly I wanted to be on my board and I was exhausted about four seconds after I went in, but I had SO much fun and can't wait to surf more. The day was pretty much like a blast from the Hawaiian past, since that is where John and Gwen live, and some other friends we know from Hawaii (who now live in CT) also showed up. It ended up being a great beach bash with a bunch of friends, followed by a motorcycle ride with my sweetheart (babysitting services provided by Ann and Larry - thanks!), followed by an outstanding dinner shared with friends and family. It was such a perfect day! I am so lucky.

A Goodbye Party for Rudy

We had a memorial for Rudy this week. We had two in fact, but I was working during the second one. But the first was at Fort Foster, and we were lucky to get to see many relatives we don't see too often anymore. Like any Matty event of late, it was a baby-fest, and I never tire of photographing the babes as they grow. I'm glad my kids are lucky enough to grow up with other kids their age in the family.

Rudy's brother, Uncle James, attended, along with a lot of Rudy's wife Virginia's family. Virginia died when Larry was 23, so we never knew her, but it is fun to imagine what she might have been like by getting to know her siblings and nieces and nephews. (Rudy and Virginia were both from families of 10 children!!!) The crew spread Rudy's ashes into the Atlantic there at Fort Foster, and they "divided the estate" which consisted of two suitcases full of clothes and old lottery tickets, which we're pretty sure aren't worth anything.

Anyway, some pictures from the party, mostly of the babes.
Virginia's siblings - from left to right, Bobby, Gardiner, Ruthie, and Lawrence.
The cousins (and sadly I don't even know all their names. Help me out here!)


Jo wearing Rudy's jacket while dividing the estate.


Little Rudy growing big to fill Big Rudy's shoes!

Uncle James is fascinated by the babes...

No back up.

When you drive four hours to go camping, you can't back out. Not even if a certain one-year-old screams his bloody head off all night and you end up having to drive out of the campground into the parking lot and sit there for the rest of the night because you feel bad for the other campers.

BUT, not being able to back out has its perks. For us, it meant we were able to explore Acadia for the first time. We stayed in a breath-taking campground right on the ocean, went on a horse-drawn carriage ride, enjoyed the tidepools, and views and were overall really proud of ourselves for making it happen. And of course the kids had a good time. Even if they were tired.