Go Giants

We just got back from a trip to Chicago. Quinn and Matt saw three games and I went to two. The first game was a 6-3 win, the second a 2-1 loss and the third a 4-2 loss (I think those are the right numbers)! But all the games were exciting...the last game was 13 innings! Quinn loved all of it and never got bored. We laughed in the second game because he had a fantastic view for about 3 innings. Then the biggest man ever  with a neck the size of a large tree trunk sat down in front of him. Oh, well. Quinn also got a lot of laughs and comments because of his panda hat.

Other things we did on this trip included a visit to Millenium Park; lunch at the Taste of Chicago; dinner after the day game at Rockit; and a fun day with Tanya and Paul including a visit to the top of the John Hancock building, and a visit to the zoo. I have never seen a gorilla so close up before! I also got a chance to visit the Chicago Museum of Art which is enormous. Three hours and I probably didn't even see half of it. I must have seen artwork from at least 20 artists I have heard of; and countless others I hadn't. The impressionism area was great (and crowded), but I really enjoyed looking at the religious art with the gold and all of the beautiful detailing in the fabrics, etc.

This is an old story, but a couple of months ago, Matt woke Quinn up at 1 in the morning to see the end of the Canucks/Black Hawks series. The game was just about over for the series win, when sure enough, the Blackhawks scored...making sure Quinn would lose sleep on a school night as the game went into overtime! Fortunately, the Canucks scored pretty quickly.

One other funny story...After Quinn found out who he has for a first grade teacher, he got out his phone list from kindergarten and began calling all of his friends. It was great to listen to him talking to his friends.

End of School

Quinn is almost done with kindergarten...hard to believe! And I am almost finished with my long-term sub position. There sure is a lot of celebrating for teachers and students at the end of the year--it's kind of like the Christmas holiday season. Lots of food, too. We are going to have a kindergarten pool party; a T-ball pool party and a Children's center pool party. I think I need to hire a lifeguard!

Today is kind of cold and dreary and I asked Quinn if he wanted to go to the movies. He said "Mom, you know I'm not really a movie person!" True. So we're waiting for Matt to get home from his trip to Chicago and maybe we can come up with something fun to do. This morning we went out and bought BeyBlades (how long will this toy phase last?)...One set for Quinn and one for Kieran's birthday. At least we didn't break them yet, and they don't need batteries.

Summer vacation plans are still a little sketchy. We will probably do Smuggs for one week, but we are way behind on planning and choosing a condo. Then I'm voting for a few nights by the CT shore, so we can visit the Brookes on their vacation.

The pool is looking really good, mostly thanks to Emmet for working for us 2 days a week this summer. I should have decent gardens this year with his help. We are still waiting for the basketball court to be done...I hope it will happen soon so Quinn can use it this summer.

Spring in CT

We just got back from a nice vacation/visit in South Carolina with my Uncle John and Aunt Mia. They have been asking us to come for a couple of years and we were finally able to fit it in! Their house in Kiawah is beautiful with a wonderful view of the expansive salt marsh in back of their house. My favorite spot was the screen porch; great for drinking coffee and looking at the view (I sound like a Maxwell House commercial!) Of course, that tranquil time was quickly interrupted when Quinn and Gussie woke up and landed in my lap. The hot tub wasn't too hard to take, either.

We got to play golf at two great courses. Thursday was "grown-ups only" (our rule, not theirs) at a course named Osprey Point. This course had a lot of beautiful manmade lagoons and $3+ million (gasp!) homes. That's a lot of money to watch alligators climb up your bank. Very scenic, and maybe this is what kept all of us from making any putts! Quinn spent the day at Kiawah Kids Kamp, and seemed to like the very warm pool and the fact that they played "Big Time Rush" music when he first arrived. The second course we played at was Briar Creek, which was just off the island. This is a really nice, I would think really exclusive country club. Quinn will now think that any golf club offers free cookies, danish and a cooler full of juices to the players before they head out for their round! Quinn did really well for his 9 holes, especially considering we had left his driver at the range 2 days before.

The whole trip was great...and the frightening ride in the car during the severe thunderstorm added the little bit of excitement we may have been looking for! John, Mia, Bo Diddly and Gussie were wonderful hosts and they made our visit seem very special.

No Buster!

Actually, Buster has been a pretty good puppy. We've had a few accidents here and there but I think between crating him at night and taking him out literally every hour or two...he's getting the hang of it! Of course, he hated being out in the rain. And he's quite the little biter. Depending on his mood, it can be little nibbles if he's just being quietly playful, but if he's all revved up--especially with the kids--his little razor teeth can pack a good little whallop. So far, no crying children so that's a big plus.

Here are some differences between Kirby and Buster.

Kirby never really minded loud banging noises or thunder...I think Buster is going to be afraid of them.

Kirby was never a fan of climbing under furniture...he never had that cozy, enclosure feeling that dogs are supposed to have! Buster will go under our bed on one side and come out on the other. Maybe he's making new friends with the dust bunnies.

So far, Buster has no romantic interest in pillows...I have my fingers crossed he'll stay that way. I think Kirby was a freak of nature.

Buster likes to play "fetch" a little bit, but I think Kirby might have been the best canine shortstop or goalie that ever lived.

Meanwhile, on the two-legged front, Quinn is doing great and is gearing up for his 3-sport spring. Once the temperature gets out of the 30s, we'll be ready to go!

Sunday, March 13th

Well, I wasn't able to hold Matt and Quinn off any longer. Yesterday, Matt looked at the newspaper and decided we should all take a road trip and look at a toy poodle in Colchester. It was love at first sight. He looks exactly like Kirby except that his coloring is a little more brown. He's a very pretty sandy color. He might be a little bit more a city dog whereas Kirby was definitely a country dog. We decided to stick with the name "Buster" that we had come up a few days earlier. Buster seemed overwhelmed by the open spaces in our house. I think he was pretty confined at the breeder's cluttered home.

I predict that Buster will have a very different personality than Kirby. He seems kind of mellow. His favorite activity it to crawl around behind your neck and lick your face to death. I just hope he eventually will be a ball chaser like Kirby. This puppy also seems like he might be a little bit more of a chewer than Kirby (one of the few bad habits Kirby didn't pick up). We'll have to see how he turns out! This week we'll get him to the vet and make sure he's on the right track with the "potty" training. So far he is doing very well! Last night he cried when we went to bed and left him in his crate, but he stopped after a while and seemed fine today. I think he'll get used to the routine quickly. Quinn is adorable with him. He held him in the car and was very gentle with him. Definitely a good age for a boy to get a dog...even if he does get tired of playing with him quickly, I'm sure he'll be a good addition to the family.

One last note: Grammy is away getting ready to surprise Aunt Cake for her 80th birthday. Wait until she sees who is waiting for here at home! Hope she doesn't mind our new addition.

Today is Wednesday March 2nd. On Saturday, Walker got married to Abbey in Cape May, NJ. We had a great time. The reception was at Congress Hall, which is where we stayed. I think we had the most slanted room in the hotel. Quinn and I were taking balls and rolling them down the floor without pushing them. But the hotel had a lot of interesting history and charm and the banquet hall for the reception was beautiful. The "Tiffany blue" color was really gorgeous. The cocktail hour was in the "Boiler Room" and it was definitely the basement! Quinn and Grammy both didn't care for that room too much. I thought it was cozy....it was probably even better suited for the after-party because there was a band playing and the acoustics were really good.

The weather for the day was really nice...about 45 degrees and very little wind. I still don't know how all of those women manage without coats. I went into the church with no coat and I was freezing outside! Quinn did a fantastic job as ring bearer....I was so proud of him I could hardly stand it. He ended up standing up for the entire ceremony next to Uncle Rob. I think Walker and Abbey appreciated the levity he brought...especially when he covered his ears when the minister began to speak about love! Barb and Grammy both laughed out loud.

At the reception, Quinn had to turn down many offers to dance. Some of the women really refused to take no for an answer and one of them actually picked him up, carried him to the dance floor and started swinging him around. He was a trooper about it...I think he might have secretly enjoyed the attention, otherwise we might have seen his "angry face." Two other highlights of the reception were Uncle Rob's best man speech...it was really emotional; and the entrance of the bridal party...each couple did a unique entry, such as a chest bump, etc. it was really clever. And of course, Walker and Abbey entered to the tune of "Brass Bonanza."

I thought Cape May was really pretty...too bad it's so hard to get to. And it probably gets warmer ocean water much quicker than Cape Cod. The first (or last) hour of the drive to get to Cape May is very open with a lot of water and marsh land. It was really pretty.

One other note to remember, Cape May had really good prices on lobster! We had a lobster lunch at the Ugly Mug that was really good. I think if I really wanted to, I could convince Matt to go back to Atlantic City and Cape May for a few days...we would just have to be strategic with going off-season to avoid traffic and high costs.

Friday, February 11 4:45 pm

We are supposed to have a big thaw next week with the temp getting up to 50 degrees! I really need to take a picture of our deck while the snow is at its highest (I hope!) Quinn lost his 2nd tooth today. As he described it, he yanked it and yanked it and YANKED it until it came out. Then he got to go to the school nurse and she gave him a special tooth box. Hope we all remember tonight at bedtime and later to get ready for the tooth fairy. Quinn thinks that he gets more money for yanking it out himself....not sure how he came up with that one!

I subbed 2 days at Tariffville this week and loved it. It's getting to be that time when everybody is speculating about next year and what will happen with the librarian situation. I hope they're considering me in that mix!

Quinn has a hockey jamboree tomorrow with Avon and he is so excited! He and Drew really want to win their games. I found out that Drew, Nathan and James are all signed up for lacrosse. Drew is actually signed up for lacrosse and T-ball, so we'll probably do the same thing. Lacrosse is either going to be extremely muddy, or it won't start until Memorial Day with all this snow. I can't wait to see when we actually get in the pool. Last year, Matt and Quinn were in by May 15th. My bunco friends want me to host a pool bunco party with floating dice for the water. That could be fun!

Monday is Valentine's Day, so Quinn has started writing out his valentines. It is like pulling teeth, although from what I wrote before, that's not a good analogy because he enjoys pulling teeth! So writing out valentines is much worse. I think our jigsaw puzzle phase might be over...it was fun while it lasted. We have been back working on mazes a little bit. Right now for books, we are reading Arnold Lobel books in addition to rereading a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". Quinn loved "Big Nate," so we need to look for another of those. We also read an entire "Wallace and Gromit" graphic novel which was pretty involved. I would like to try Tin-tin sometime. Mixed in with those books we are rereading the Mercy Watson series, and reading whatever Quinn brings home from the school library. I am trying to get through the 2012 Nutmeg nominees. So far, my favorite book is "Masterpiece".