Hey, Y'all!

DC in a Nutshell

 
We were there for three weeks. We did a LOT. The boys had a blast.

 
My nephews are huge.

 
This water park? Was the bomb!

 
The water park was the ultimate place for Dean.  He could climb things AND get sprayed by hoses. SCORE.

 
Dean, Adam, Uncle Mike, Marcus and I went to the movies twice, on rainy days. We saw RIO and Kung Fu Panda 2 (again). It was great, great fun.

 
This little cutie pie is Lukas. Here, he seems to be doing his best Elvis impersonation.  It took him a bit to warm up, but by the end of our trip, he loved his Aunt Jen, especially when we'd sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" together.  Dean and I babysat him one morning and Dean kept asking, "Baby Lukey, you okaaaaaaaay?  Are you okaaaaaaaay?  He's okay, Mama."

 
Marcus turned 41 while we were there. We celebrated with ice cream cake, complete with blue icing.  He and I also went on a real! live! date! to see INXS.  Marcus was very bent out of shape because Berlin was opening for them.  I was actually excited because my inner-seventh-grader wanted to geek out when they sang "Take My Breath Away."  Marcus actually enjoyed them a lot in spite of himself.  He walked all the way over to the aisle when Terri Nunn walked through the audience so he could hi-5 her and get some phone pics.  INXS was great.  We are not huge fans of the new lead singer, but I mean, no one is going to replace Michael Hutchence, you know?  The highlight of the evening for me was watching the Farris brothers sing a beautiful accoustic version of "Don't Change." It was a blast to be out with my husband listening to some great music.

 
Pop Pop made bamboo cane poles for the boys. Neither was very good at fishing, but I think they appreciated the sentiment. They also had a really good time playing in all the mud on the bank.

 
My favorite thing we did was the Potomac Pirate Adventure. They load you up on a boat and sail you around the Potomac for 40 minutes while a mildly scary man teaches you to be a pirate. Dean The Dangerous was REALLY into it. We all had a blast being pirates and seeing the sites from the River.

 
The photo above was taken on what definitely qualifies as one of the top five hottest days of my life. So what did we do? Took the little fair-skinned children to the park!  They were pretty much done within an hour of our arrival. We did get them to hold out long enough to ride the carousel, which Lukas HATED because he had to ride with me instead of his daddy. But the park was pretty awesome, complete with tons of bridges, things to climb on and a really nice maze.

 
When it was time to come back home, Dean was a great travel buddy, doing a little light reading at the airport and taking a good nap on the plane.  We just barely made our connection in ATL and had our plane not landed at the next gate over from where we needed to catch our connection, we would have been stuck in ATL for SIX HOURS. Thank God for small favors.

When we got home, this had happened:

 
The good news is that it didn't fall on the house.  Dean is very concerned and keeps suggesting we attach the tree to Marcus's truck and pull.  Marcus cut a lot of the small branches off with his chainsaw today, but said he needs a bigger chainsaw to get the larger ones. He is seriously contemplating renting a chainsaw from Home Depot. (Raise your hand if you think THAT is a bad idea!) But we'll get it handled.  More than anything right now, we're happy to be home in our own beds with our own toys.  Chainsaws and all.

Good Morning, Baltimore

 
I've been to BlogHer. I've even met and talked to a few of my blog friends on my own, without the aid of  conference. I know the excitement.  I know how much fun it is to see the people you know only from their written words and pictures come to life right before your eyes.  I knew I'd be ecstatic to see Alissa today.  What I didn't know was how cool it would be to see our kids meet.

 
Um, mom, we're kind of on a conference call here. Could you check back later?

Alissa and I have speculated for quite some time that Dean and Liam would likely be great friends, two peas in a pod, and all such as that.  For two days leading up to our meet-up at the Maryland Science Center, these guys couldn't stop talking about each other.  Dean kept asking, "When we seeing my buddy? Wiam?"  When they first spotted each other, they made a run for it, crashing together in the cutest three-year-old hug ever.  Along with my four-year-old nephew, Adam, they were quite the fun bunch of boys. 

 
Whenever I read blogs, I always think, MAN! I wish I lived near THEM so our kids could play! But it's never been a reality before now.  I have to tell you--I'd happily forego any and all blogging conferences in the future if it meant I could spend that time and money hanging out with some of my blog friends and their families.  I think we sometimes forget how deep these friendships are, how much these people mean to us and how many things they get us through, even if we've never laid eyes on each other in real life. It was extremely cool to see one of these friends from this uber-important aspect of my life interact with my family.  Alissa and I talked about how much fun it would be to get the boys together every year on our annual trip to visit my in-laws in DC.  I hope that's a tradition that will stick.

 
The little guys had a blast in the kids' area of the museum where they caught fish and played in a submarine. They ran wild in the dinosaur hall and ate lunch at the Beaker Cafe.  After lunch, we walked down to a cute splash fountain where they managed to soak themselves.  It was great fun.  Alissa got to meet Marcus and his mom and dad, and we got a good amount of time to talk about Blogs and life in general.  I always feel so rejuvinated when I've seen one of my girlfriends and today was certianly one of those times. I feel as though my social battery has been recharged.  (Too bad I had to break out my "mean mom" voice when my child started acting a fool and tried to jump into the Inner Harbor.)

Super huge thanks to Alissa for making time to meet up with us and for taking us to the very cool museum.  I hope it's the first of many fun times together...for us and the little buddies.

 

 

Preparing to Peace Out

We're gearing up for our annual trip to the DC area to visit Marcus's side of the family.  This year, we've decided to fly and Dean is beside himself with excitement.  Every morning he tells me, "We got to go to the airport, get some juice (I love his priorities), take off our shoes (security), get on the airplane, buckle the seat belt and take off!"  Whenever we ask who we're going to see he yells "Uncle Mikey!!!!!!!!" (That's Marcus's brother. He's a lot of fun.) This will be the  first time since last August that we've seen our nephews, Adam and Lukas.  We're looking forward to trips to the park and nature reserve, riding the merry go round at the lake and playing in G-Mama's basement, which is absolutely packed with cool toys. 

I feel like the boys are finally old enough to go and see some of the sights of DC this year.  Dean, of course, would be happy to spend every day in a museum looking at dinosaur fossils.  Adam is obsessed with camping, so there might be a front yard campout with sons and dads.  (I"ll be inside eating pie with my mother in law.)  Pop Pop is making the boys cane poles out of bamboo from their backyard, so there will definitely be fishing. (As if there were any doubt about that.)  Marcus and I have a few new dishes in our repertoire that we want to make for everyone.

Mostly this visit will be just that--a visit, a time for us all to get reacquainted, to see how much the boys have grown, and to play. Oh, my mercy, will we play.

 

Florida Vacation: Week 2

The second week of our trip was spent in Stuart, Florida, up near West Palm Beach on Florida's west coast.  Marcus's uncle and his wife have a great house there that they'll live in full-time when his aunt retires in a couple of years.  On the drive down from Ft. Lauderdale, we stopped at a very cool kid's museum:

 
Dean was happy to have something to climb.

Marcus also had a good time:

 
He got really good at making enormous bubbles! At one point, there was even a crowd of kids just standing there watching him.  I thought he should have gotten commission, but the smile on his face was enough.  He needed this break like you wouldn't believe.

 
Building makes you tired!

On our first night in Stuart, we all met up with Marcus's aunt and uncle and their puppy, Lucy, for a great dinner at Pelican Cafe, right on the water.  Dean was on the best behavior we've ever seen from him in a restaurant. He snuck fries to Lucy under the table, talked to everyone, watched the boats pull into the marina, read some books, played with Batman toys and ate nearly every bite of his dinner.  He even tried some of his G-Mama's coconut crusted mahi mahi and liked it! After dinner, we went for a walk on the dock, then played on the playground.  All the playgrounds in Stuart have sand. Dean does not like sand in his sandals.

 
No sand in da shoes anyMORE!

Our week was spent visiting different beaches, exploring Stuart, which is now where I'd like to retire, and fishing from the backyard:

 
What a view!  The only bad thing about this place was that I had a slight heart attack every time Dean left the screened-in porch because I was CERTAIN he and his fearless half-fish self were going to dive head-first into the river.  We made him wear his life vest, which went over about as well as you'd think it would, and just hovered over him like freaks every time he was out back.

This house was...interesting.  We had read all about it online, even seen some pictures before selecting this one to rent. (My MIL had ultimate responsibility for choosing the house, but we got to chime in.) We knew it had an above-ground pool, which probably would be ok for us to wade in with Dean. When we arrived, we saw a pool that looked a bit like an oil drum and had no way for you to get into it. No ladder, steps, not even a sturdy rope.  We quickly abandoned the idea of swimming.  The house also had a trampoline. I"m not the biggest fan of them and Marcus HATES them, so we weren't ecstatic when Dean wanted to jump.  Fortunately, this one had a big white circle right in the middle, so we could have Dean stand in the circle to jump. He immediately requested that Marcus and I jump with him, which we did a couple of times and which turned all of our feet, legs and the butts of our pants BLACK. (it came out with some Oxy Clean)  One night he beeeegggggeeedddd to jump, so I got up there with him. First jump? FIVE SPRINGS flew off into the yard. The sucker was dry-rotted. And that, friends, was the end of trampoline time.

The inside of the house was, how you say?, DATED.

 
This four-foot-tall lamp and her sisters, the driftwood lamps, complete with creepy fake birds perched on them, were among my favorite decorations.  There was also a gramophone (not just a record player, a GRAMOPHONE), a vintage sewing machine, bamboo furniture and this gem:

 
That is a 1968 Fridgidaire Flair Range. (The stove pulls out of the drawer below.)  My great-grandma had one just like it. It. Is. A. MAZING! Yes, it still works, though you need an advanced degree in engineering to figure out which knob does what. 

I think my favorite part of our Stuart trip were our visits to Indian Riverside Park.  They have a kids' museum, which we never actually made it into, a spash park, a small beach and a great pier.  There are tons of gazeboes for shade and clean restrooms.  Dean enjoyed splashing around in the water park and we spotted several dolphins off the pier.

 

There were also some IN YOUR FACE nature moments, like the afternoon this manatee showed up right behind the house:

 
Marucs and I had a similar experience on our honeymoon in the Keys, so we knew they liked hose water.  Dean was so excited he squealed.  It was pretty dang cool.

Florida also has its fair share of lizard-like creatures, including this little guy:

 
That's Gary the Gekko and he's about the size of my finger.  He spent most of the week on a chair on the patio, unless Dean chased him into hiding.

It was a fantastic, relaxing week in an absolutely adorable town. I'd go back in a heartbeat. (Like, now, please.)

Next time, I'll tell you about Thurston and Gladys (not their real names....at least I don't think so), the people who own the yacht parked outside the house!

Florida Vacation: Week 1

First of all, let me acknowledge the fact that having 2 weeks to go on a trip is pretty amazing. This was a trip to visit family as well as a much-needed vacation. My in-laws invited us to join them in Florida while Marcus's brother, his wife and their boys were visiting the Czech Republic, my sister in law's home.  Her parents have not seen the boys in over a year and her sister had not yet met their youngest son.  We missed them, but it was fun to have my in-laws to ourselves, allowing them some one-on-one time with Dean.

We started our trip in the Ft. Lauderdale area, where lots of Marcus's mom's side of the family lives.  We had a rental house that backed up to a canal off the ocean and had a phenomenal pool.

 
Vacation rocks!

Having the pool at the house was great.  Marcus's Uncle Billy is in the hospital right now, so his mom and dad spent a lot of time visiting him.  Hospitals are not the greatest place for toddlers, so Dean and I usually stayed home when they visited.  The pool proved to be a ton of fun. Dean, I think, is part fish. One day we spent six hours in the pool.  SIX HOURS. Do you have any idea how pruney you get after SIX HOURS in a pool? PROOOOOONEEEEEY!  The smile on his face, however, when he learned to jump off the side and put his face in the water? Was worth every wrinkle.

We spent a great day at Zoo Miami. If you are ever in south Florida, go to this zoo!

 
You can get super-close to the animals  and they have a nice variety of specimens.  You can even feed a giraffe! (Or he can lick you! Right in the face!)

 

Oh, HEY, y'all!

There were a couple of nights when we had extended family over to eat with us, which was fun.  I got to meet the cousins I've heard about for years but never met and we got to show off Mr. Dean. 

The nicest thing about having 2 weeks for vacation was the "permission" to have a buffer day if we needed it.  Dean sprouted an ear infection 2 days before we left, which sent us running to the pediatrician for antibiotics.  She threw in a steroid for good measure.  His ears had started feeling better by the time we left, but a couple of days into the trip, the antibiotics started to upset his stomach. That same morning, I sprouted what may have been bronchitis. In a nutshell, we both felt pretty crummy.  Instead of hitting the zoo that day, we stayed in, watched a movie, played with a treasure chest full of toy soldiers, ate yogurt, took medicine and snuggled.

Once we started to feel like ourselves again, we were back in business, hitting Ft. Lauderdale beach, a cute outdoor cafe and swimming swimming swimming until our first week was over.

Up next--Week 2 in Stuart!

 

Countdown to BlogHer10: Packing

Yes, I realize I don't leave for 23 days, but I'm already thinking through what to pack for BlogHer '10.  My mom and dad were here this weekend and I showed my mom what I was thinking of wearing. She's never been to NYC or BlogHer, but she thought my choices were good. (Thanks, Mom.)  I've read some great guides and posts about what others wear and I think the best advice I've read has been to dress in something that's comfortable yet professional.  It is a conference, after all.  I'll be networking all weekend, granted for myself and my own little site here, but I still want to convey a professional attitude.  So I've decided to dress as I would for the first day of rehearsal for a new show.  I'll wear things that are practical, yet stylish, comfortable, yet show my personality.

The biggest challenge for me is going to be the fact that I'm not staying at the convention hotel, but rather with a friend in my old neighborhood in Queens.  I don't mind the commute and I certainly don't mind all the cash I'm saving by not having a hotel room.  That said, I'll have to plan for outfits I can change into in the bathroom or maybe the Serenity Suite. (Unless a blog friend offers me use of her room to change, or I could always call up a friend in Manhattan and drop by their apartment, I suppose.)  Either way, I need my stuff to be portable and easy to care for, especially since I more than likely won't have access to an iron in the middle of the day.  I'm bringing Dean's small rolling suitcase, which should be compact enough not to kill me on the subway, but big enough to hold my laptop, camera, makeup and a change of clothes.

My packing list is starting to shape up. Here are my thoughts about what to bring:

• Laptop with all its accouterments.
• Camera--I'm going to try to talk Marcus into letting me bring his Olympus camera because it's 1000000 times nicer than my point-and-shoot.  I not only want to take pictures of the conference, but of my IRL friends and favorite places in the city. Plus, there are some awesome breakout sessions about photography for your blog, so I'd like to have the camera with me so I can fiddle with it while learning new tricks!
• Cute dress for parties that will go with the shoes I wear to the conference that day.
• Regular AND travel makeup bags.  The regular one will be what I use in the morning, then I'll bring my travel-sized one with me for touch-ups throughout the day. (Yes, I'm that vain.)
• Priority Mail flat-rate box.  I'll use this to mail my swag home to myself!
• Snacks.  I keep hearing how hungry you get (and I believe it!), so I'm packing my favorite trail mix: almonds, craisins and M & Ms.  If you sit next to me, I'll share with you.
• Business cards.  I'm ordering mine from Vistaprint.com.
• Clothes:  khaki pants, jeans, a couple of dresses, blouses/t-shirts, pj's, yoga pants (not for BlogHer), super-comfy (but cute) shoes, sunglasses, rain slicker, rain boots if they fit into the bag, shorts or capris for Sunday and Monday.

Fortunately, I spent several years navigating the subway with everything from luggage to giant binders for work to a baby stroller, so I know what I can and can't handle on the train. I'm putting cab fare in my budget for at least Saturday night, since I'll be coming home late from CheeseburgHer and hopefully toting lots of cool swag.

If you're going or have gone to BlogHer in the past, what did you pack that was a life-saver?  Anything you wish you'd packed, but didn't?  Be sure to let me know if you're going this year--I want to meet you!

Countdown to BlogHer '10: My restaurant picks

Julie recently asked that I do a post listing my top 10 favorite NYC restaurants for those going to BlogHer. Of course, the foodie and former New Yorker in me is MORE than happy to write this post!  A couple of my favorite places have closed since we moved (sad, sad day), but NYC has plenty of tasty spots to satisfy any and every palate...and budget. 

I should admit that I'm not hugely familiar with the area immediately around the convention hotel, but it's just a quick walk or ride from there to many of these places.  Also, keep in mind that New York City restaurants are machines--they are equipped to and used to churning food out quickly for greater turnover.  It also doesn't take nearly as long as you might think to get from one place to another in that city (most of the time, anyway), so don't feel as though you're restricted to a 2-block radius on lunch breaks.

Also note that if you ask other New Yorkers to do this exact task, you will get completely different answers and they will probably heartily disagree with at least one thing on my list (as I will with theirs).  New Yorkers are ferociously loyal to their favorite places, especially if they are in the neighborhoods where we live (or lived in my case).  I have a deep love for the Upper West Side, as I worked there most of the time I lived in the city. I ate as many meals in UWS restaurants as I did in the restaurants around my apartment in Astoria Queens.  These are just places I enjoy for one reason or another and that I think would satisfy a tourist or a local.

Here are my picks for where and how to eat in NYC (Manhattan only), in no particular order:

1.  Diners.  I'm not naming one specifically because really?  They are more or less all alike to some extent.  They consistently have good burgers and salads and GREAT breakfast. Which leads me to Jen's #1 tip for visiting NYC:  EAT A BIG BREAKFAST. In a diner, you can generally get a very filling, tasty breakfast for around 6 bucks. They have a great selection--waffles, pancakes, French toast, pastries, eggs and omelets of all sorts, bacon and sausage.  Fill your belly in the morning to give you stamina and eat cheaper and lighter at lunch.  If I had to pick my favorite Manhattan diner, it would be Applejack Diner, 55th St. and Broadway.  They make a great reuben and the world's best cheese fries and they have tons of good breakfast specials.

2. 44SW  I love this place.  Here's their site.  I've never had a bad morsel of food there.  When I worked at a theatre on 42nd Street, this was where I'd go with friends for a late-night bite after a show.  The cuisine is excellent, the atmosphere is cozy and it's not insanely loud.  If you want a nice Italian dinner, you can't beat 44SW.

3.  VYNL DINER.  I mentionVYNL separately from other diners because it's so unique.  If you're a music lover, you've got to eat here.  Your menu comes to you in a record sleeve. All the drinks have catchy names like the Pearis Hilton.  The best part, though, is the bathroom.  Bathrooms, actually--there are 4.  Each is themed around a music superstar.  They rotate sometimes, but last time I ate there, they had Elvis, Cher, Nelly and Dolly Parton.  There's a tile mosaic on the wall depicting the star, plus a shadow box with that star's doll. The star's music blasts while you do your business.  VYNL is usually pretty crowded and loud, so you may want to go early or expect a wait.

4.  PIZZA.  Ok. Pizza is a controversial topic.  Here's the thing:  DO NOT eat at Sbarro. I know it's convenient and flashy right there on Times Square, but DON'T DO IT. If you do, I will be forced to disown you and you'll be very disappointed.  There are some NYC based chains, like my favorite, Ray Bari, that are good, but a lot of times you'll find the best slices in random little Mom and Pop shops. If you're walking by a pizzeria that smells amazing, it probably IS amazing.  Give it a try. You can usually score a slice of pizza and a coke for about $4 (or less).  My all-time favorite pizzeria is in Astoria, where I used to live.  I may have the cab take me straight there from the airport.  For BlogHer lunch breaks, I'd probably hit the original Ray's on Broadway at 54th St.

5.  Arte' Cafe.  This place is a subway or cab ride away from where BlogHer will be held, but it's worth it, especially if you go for the early bird dinner special.  Located on W. 73rd Street, this place was a favorite dinner spot for my friends and me when I worked at Lincoln Center.  The service is friendlly and fast and you cannot beat the early bird dinner--15 meals under $15 between 4-6pm daily, which INCLUDES dessert, salad and drink.  Their lunch specials are also fantastic and they have a good amount of outdoor seating. BONUS:  They are next door to Alice's Tea Cup, a famous NYC tea shop.  They also serve food, but you need to have a while to spare if you're going to eat there. I believe they only take reservations for parties of 6 or more.  But you can do what I like to do:  Eat dinner (or lunch) at Arte Cafe, then go to Alice's and grab a cup of tea and a scone to go!

6.  Hale and Hearty.  I have no idea whether or not they are a NYC chain, but this place has awesome soups and sandwiches for a pretty good price. They are scattered throughout the city.  The closest one to the Hilton is on 56th St. between 5th/6th Ave.

7.  Carmine's.  I know.  New Yorkers reading this are banging their heads.  But if you're a NYC tourist or you're eating with a big group, Carmine's is great.  (I like their food, actually.)  It's right in the heart of Times Square on 44th St. and serves big Italian dishes family style.  For four people, I'd recommend a salad and 2 entrees to share.  You'll be satisfied, I promise, and you'll get out of there for under $20 per person.

8.  Chat N Chew.  If you venture down to Union Square, which you should, pop into Chat N Chew on 16th St. between Union Square West and 5th Ave.  They serve up comfort food and awesome desserts.  My favorites are the turkey burger (oh, my word, it's delicious, I wish I had one now) with a teeny ween mac and cheese (a small version of their usually enormous favorite dish), followed by a big piece of Coca-Cola cake. 

Edited to add:  I just talked to a friend in NYC and she told me Cafe Mozart closed! SAD DAY.

9.  Cafe Mozart.  I assume a lot of folks will want to do brunch on Sunday.  My favorite brunch place of all time, Candella, closed and became a TGI Fridays. (It physically hurt me to type that.)  For those with a late flight out on Sunday or those sticking around through the weekend, venture up to Cafe Mozart. (It's on West 70th Street)  They have outdoor seating, but also have a pianist inside if you choose to sit indoors.  Everything I've ever had there has been awesome. I like their weekday lunch menu, too, but brunch is my favorite.  They used to have green eggs and ham on the menu, which were pesto-infused scrambled eggs, served with perfectly cooked Canadian bacon. This is likely where you'll find me on Sunday morning.

10.  Angus McIndoe.    If you are a theatre fan and/or want to see some celebrities, go to Angus around 10 or 10:30pm on any given night (except Monday--most theatres are dark that night).  It's THE place to go after shows.  They have incredible calamari.  Ask to sit upstairs.  If you want to splurge on a nice steak, this is the place to do it.

A few other thoughts...

*Don't fear food from carts!  You haven't really visited NYC if you don't eat a hot dog from a vendor!  I like mine with mustard and sauerkraut. OH, and FYI, you can't really get yellow mustard anywhere in NYC. They all use deli mustard. It's good. Try at least one hot dog while you're there. I would, however, avoid the pretzels. They tend to be overpriced and dry.  Meats on sticks are also tasty. (My friend Kitty, the world's pickiest eater, eats them weekly and calls it "Street Meat.")

*The same goes for those kinda sketchy looking delis that double as quickie marts.  They usually make sandwiches behind the counter, they usually use Boar's Head meats and cheeses, and they are usually awesome.  Don't wast $25 at Carnegie Deli on 2 pounds of dry turkey when you can get a fully dressed sandwich on a fresh roll for about $2 at a small deli.  Deli breakfast is almost always good, too, if you're in the mood for a bagel or breakfast sandwich.

*Avoid chain restaurants! Do not go to Applebee's, TGIFriday's or even McDonald's.  You're in NYC and you're going to pay NYC prices! An entree that's $10 where you live will be at least $15 in Manhattan.  You're in New York, home of some of the best restaurants in the world.  Try them instead of chains!

*Pick up a copy of TIME OUT NEW YORK as soon as you get into town and read their restaurant section.  They'll have reviews of new places and tried-and-true gems.

New Yorkers--tell us your favorites that aren't on mylist!

Any type of cuisine you feel is under-represented here?  Ask me!  This is just my top 10 list.  Remember, I spent 7 years eating in this city. 

This was fun.  Now I'm hungry.

Guess where I've been?

Visiting the fam in DC!  We're home and happy to be here, but we had an awesome time.  It was our first time meeting this guy:

That's our new nephew, Lukas.  He was born February 23, making him just over 3 months old.  He is GINORMOUS. That's a 9 month size outfit he's wearing there. I have never seen sweeter baby fat rolls than on this guy.  His belly is perfectly round and great for blowing raspberries.  He is quite the smiler and loved it when I'd sing to him.  It was fun to be around a little baby again, but it did make me a little sad because Dean looks like an absolute giant person compared to Lukas.  (Even though Lukas is only about 10 pounds lighter than Dean.) 

Here's one of his face:

Totally cute.

We squeezed every drop of fun and activity we could get into our ten-day visit. I'd say we spent about  70% of our time outside.  We visited a really cool farm/zoo, complete with petting area where you  could feed a pig and give a lamb a bottle.  Dean spent 30 minutes chasing this rooster, screaming "Cocka-DOO!" Poor rooster.

We also visited the National Zoo, which was not as great as last time we were there. The elephant house is closed and it was so hot that a lot of the animals were not out where we could look at them.  We did get a free, um, biology lesson from some lions who chose the exact moment Dean looked at them to consumate their love.  Marcus and I tend to have an aphrodisiac-like effect on animals, as we have seen some sort of creatures copulating every single time we have ever been to a zoo or aquarium together.  The most memorable were the turtles.  That is not a good thing.

We spent a lot of time in the wading pool and sandbox where, naturally, Dean took off his pants. (Hence the lack of photo.)  The best was the day there was an open house next door for the neighbor who's trying to sell his house. Sidenote:  My MIL and I totally went to the open house, mostly so we could see the inside, which we'd heard hadn't been updated since the 70s.  I have one word:  GROOVY.  Anyway, a nice young couple was touring the backyard when suddenly they turned to their right just in time to see Dean streak by.  (Spoiler:  They didn't buy the house.)

Marcus's mom and dad re-did their basement a couple of years ago in time for Adam's first birthday party.  It is a toy mecca. There is an awesome play kitchen, a tent, tons of Little People toys, a workbench with tools and tons more stuff.  Dean and Adam had a blast down there.  There is a fantastic park with a nature center, playground and pond just down the road from the house, so we took many, many walks over there.  Know what we learned?  Dean is fearless.  He shimmied up one of those rope climbing things like it was nothing and went down the tallest curly slide.  He's so fast and so dextrous that he's hard to keep up with.  I'm so glad he's not scared to try things--he had a blast on everything from the swinging bridge to the monkey bars, with my hand never a few feet away, of course.

On Friday night, we took advantage of the park's free concert series and saw a fun Rockabilly group.  All three boys had a great time dancing and eating all the snacks we brought and the adults enjoyed listening to songs that didn't center around things on a bus going round and round. 

Marcus and I always try to squeeze in a date when we visit either set of grandparents. We usually go shopping, see a movie or go fishing.  This time, we had lunch at PF Chang's, which was hands-down the best Chinese food I've ever had in my life.  I had almond-cashew chicken and it was divine.  Marcus got crispy Sechuan beef that was sooooo spicy, but soooo delicious.  After our giant meal, we drove to the outlet mall and found a few deals.

One of my favorite things we did was visit Costco. (I know. I'm easy.)  Dean took a liking to a pineapple, which he carried with him for the entirety of our shopping trip.  I ate my way through the store, sampling smoked salmon, salsa, coffee, egg rolls and cereal bars.  Then we had lunch at the snack bar.  A hot dog and a drink is only $1.55. You can't beat that with a stick.

Speaking of food (Oh, come on, you knew it was coming), we ate our fill of favorites like breakfast gravy, French toast, flank steak, pork shoulder with sauerkraut, tacos and chicken with dressing.  I even made meatloaf for everyone one night.  Dean survived for nearly 2 days on 1/2 a scrambled egg, a mango and some craisins, which are his new favorite thing ever. 

One of my favorite things to do in DC is visit Airport Park at Reagan Int'l Airport.  It's situated right at the end of the jetway, so the planes head right for you, then take off right over your head. It's way cool.  The boys had a blast playing in the dirt, clapping for the planes and having a picnic with their Nana.

We also celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday and retirement!  She's been counting the days to retirement for about 3 years now, so it was fun to be there for her last official day on the clock.  We celebrated her birthday at home with a yummy cake from Wegman's.  Dean discovered blue icing and him am in luv.

It was a super fun trip, packed full of fresh air, calorie-burning outdoor activities, laughs and sweaty little boys.  It's nice to be home, but Dean certainly misses his partner in crime.

Myspacebarisbroken

Ok, it really just had a big chunker of something lodged underneath it, so I removed the big chunker, but now it will only space if I hit it with my right thumb and I'm used to spacing with my left thumb so this  post may have we    ird spacingissu es. Ok?   Ok.

We are getting ready for a trip to DC to visit the rest of the Lanes.  I've been purging closets like mad, trying to find all our summer clothes that I packed up last year, locating the summer clothes I was too chubby to wear last year that NOW FIT (booyah!) and boxing up things Dean has outgrown so we can take them to our new baby nephew, Lukas, who at 2 1/2 months old, already weighs almost 15 pounds.  I'm also making a Yard Sale pile for the sale I intend to have when we get back.  I have a lot of clothes to get rid of, along with some general household crap we just don't use any more.  There is an enormous bag of paperback books in our guestroom closet, which I'd normally take to the trade-in used book store for NEW paperbacks, but our tiny town doesn't have one. (Can you believe that???)  So I figure we'll sell them for a quarter each and use the money for one new hardcover best-seller.  Kidding.  We'll save it until the library book sale at the end of the summer.  Or we'll go to Dairy Queen for a dippy cone.  Dean has also outgrown his little baby toys, like mobiles and crib soothers and the like, so we'll sell those, too.  Anything we don't sell will either be donated to the church Mother's Day Out program that Dean attends or taken to the big thrift store to be sent to  Hannah House.

Some of our neighbors had yard sales over the weekend, but we've kind of stopped going to them in our neighborhood, lest we learn a little more than we want to know about our  neighbors.  Last summer, we went to a sale down the street where they were selling underwear.  USED underwear.  Like, there were holes and blown elastic. Let me share a little commandment from the Book ofJen with you: THOU SHALT NOT PUT THY NASTY USED DRAWERS ON A TABLE IN THY GARAGE AND TRY TO GET PEOPLE TO GIVE THEE MONEY FOR THEM!

Traveling with a little one is always an adventure, especially when it comes to packing.  Dean's little suitcase is full of outfits.  When I went to zip it up, I realized there wasn't a single set of pj's, a single blanket or a swimsuit.  Packing FAIL.  Fortunately, we'll be taking several other suitcases, so I'm sure we can squeeze them in someplace. 

Did I tell you Marcus's truck died?  I did, I think.  This led to severe paranoia about our surviving car's well-being, which led us to rent a mini-van for the trek to our nation's capitol.  We thought about flying, but it's way to expensive, plus Dean gets airsick,which is just gross.  So we're driving.  I have to admit, I LOVE driving long distances with my husband.  So far, Dean's a good little traveller, so I'm hoping this will be a pretty easy trip.  It's about 13 hours, but we're leaving before dawn in the hopes that we can get a couple of hours under our belts before Dean wakes up ready for breakfast.  We've got some fun stops planned along the way, including Pigeon Forge, TN, and we'll take our time over 2 days to get to DC. 

My mother-in-law reitred last week.  Of course, she went to work today, which kind of negates retirement, but now she's done.  It'll be nice to have her around all day while we visit.  The one down-side of the trip is that they are having their master bathroom remodeled and it's not going well.  That means we'll all be sharing 1 bathroom. ONE BATHROOM.  I'm very happy Dean is not yet potty trained.

We'll report back here with cute pictures of Dean and his cousins.  I'm looking so forward to seeing my sweet nephew Adam and meeting the new guy, Lukas.  Baby snuggles shall be had.

"2 Weeks in DC" OR "A Barf Story"

Wow.  I've been gone from the internet so long, every site I visit is asking for my password instead of automatically signing me in.

HI THERE!  Next time I decide to go this long without real internet (my phone does not count...cannot blog on phone...cannot read the blogs on the phone...sad day), someone slap some sense into me, k? K.

I'll tell you specific stories about things we did in the next few posts, but here are the funniest parts, mostly about vomit.

Our trip to visit Marcus's side o' the family in DC was lovely.  It started off VERY rocky, but, fortunately, improved.  Our flight out, the only direct flight from Birmingham to DC all day, was delayed. And when I say delayed, I mean we sat in the airport for SIX HOURS.  Did I mention how maticulously we had planned out our airport time?  How we left the stroller at home because OH! We'll only be in the airport for a little over an hour, part of which will involve Dean sitting in a highchair to be fed, so we don't need no stinkin' stroller!  Um, pretty much wishin' we'd brought the stroller, y'all.  Dean was a trouper.  He made friends, had some snacks, took off his pants and wet through every single diaper we brought in our carry-on.  Seeing as we were the last flight scheduled to leave, we had the airport to ourselves, so he could run free up and down the aisles without disturbing anyone. UNfortunately, seeing as we were the last flight to leave, all the shops closed before I could run in and buy some milk for him.  A very nice bartender named Kenny sold me a bottle and the day was saved.  He was great on the flight. This will be the last time he doesn't get his own seat when we fly with him.  He didn't sleep much, but was in good spirits when we arrived.  Pop Pop (Marcus's dad) picked us up in his shiny new car, complete with pretty new carseat for Dean.  Dean didn't fall asleep on the ride home, which we thought odd, but didn't really worry about much.  We arrived at G-Mama and Pop Pop's house at 1:30am. I got out of the car, opened the back door and said "Dean, we're here!" just in time to see him projectile vomit all over the nice clean car and carseat. 

After hosing down the car and carseat and bathing Mr. Motion Sickness, we slept the sleep of the dead.  The rest of the first week was packed with trips to the park, the zoo, train and carousel rides and playtime with Adam, Dean's cousin.  I got to see Kitty, my best friend from my NYC days.  She and I worked together at Cornell and even shared a house for two years.  Seeing her brought me a joy I cannot begin to describe.  It was like I unzipped a coat to find a part of myself that had been hidden during a long winter.  I laughed and smiled like I haven't in a long time, probably since the last long visit I had with my other best friend, Meredith.  Kitty and I went to the mall and shopped at Bath and Body Works, just as we did when we were young working gals with nothing better to spend our money on than flavored soap.  We tried on scarves at Macy's and shared sob stories about having feet too small to buy "big girl" shoes.  After our shopping excursion, we came home, where Marcus took one look at the relaxed smile on my face and said "Oh! You found Jen!"  I needed some girlfriend time, yo.

During our second week, Marcus and I each had a case of the morning queasies, which we thought to be caused by eating at Red Lobster.  However, once Dean threw up all over the breakfast table, the floor and his grandmother, we decided we might all have a tummy bug.  That particular "puke rally," to borrow a phrase from the college crowd, sent us to the ER where Dean received baby motrin for his 102 degree fever, a pedialyte for dehydration and a popsicle for being cute.  Oh, on the way to the ER?  He barfed in Pop Pop's car AGAIN. 

Anyway, he felt better pretty quickly, so that night, Marcus and I were able to go on a little date.  Our friend Cliff was performing in a play in downtown DC, so we went to see it.  We enjoyed ourselves so much!  Not only was it great to see a show neither of us had any hand in creating, the entire cast and the script were fantastic.  Afterwards, Cliff took us to a pirate-themed place where I had an enormous basket of pommes frites while actually facing the table.  (Any time I can enjoy a meal or snack facing the table instead of sitting sideways to face Dean's highchair is a huge treat for me.)

Each night after dinner, we took the boys to the park, played on the slides, walked around the pond so we could see the beavers and turtles, then returned home for a popsicle on the front porch. Dean liked to share his popsicle with the neighbors' dog sometimes. (*gag*) 

We were sad to see our week come to an end, but ready to get home, as I have contracted a lovely summer cold.  Dean started coughing the day before we left.  Our flight home was going swimmingly;  we discovered the man sitting in front of us went to Marcus's high school and that his youngest son had just come off the road with a national tour of a show we liked.  Dean looked like he was settling in to sleep when suddenly...you guessed it.  BLECHHHH. All over Daddy.  The flight attendant was so sweet.  She brought a bucket of water, some rags and about 300 miniature lemon-scented moist towelettes for us to clean up with and stayed with us until we were sure Dean was ok.  We channeled our inner theatre artists, doing what I must admit was one of the smoothest quick changes of a baby's entire outfit ever in an airplane.  And poor Marcus had to  ride all the way home with barf on his jeans.

Good times.