A Shirley Temple with a maraschino cherry at the wedding dinner.
A piece of watermelon Trident before the ceremony.
A giant lollipop at the cocktail hour.
Archive for August, 2009
Bribery
Saturday, August 29th, 2009Wedding Day
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
The big day was all about getting primped and photographed, acting proper and partying. Flora and Charley were troopers and even managed to stay up late enough to boogie down on the Smithville Inn dance floor before collapsing in a heap and going to bed. It was a lovely weekend of wedding festivities, and the moment I’ll remember the most is rocking out to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer” with a handful of The Swans. Biggest congrats to Tracy and Chuck!
View Flora and Charley’s “Tracy and Chuck’s Wedding Day” photos
Rehearsal Dinner
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Friday evening was the rehearsal and dinner at Fred and Ethel’s Lantern Light Tavern. During the rehearsal, Flower Girl Flora wasn’t up for walking down the aisle solo, so we switched up the procession order and had her walk down with me. Then during dinner, Chuck surprised Tracy with a Barbershop Quartet — Flora didn’t like that very much either. But there was at least one thing she liked, as did “Charley Gilmore” … the chocolate mousse dessert!
Marshlands
Friday, August 28th, 2009
On Friday Marty took Charley to some nearby Marshlands where fishermen were bringing in their clam harvest for the day. Typical boy, he loved the boats. In fact, he loves water, too. Even toilet water. Sigh.
Storybook Land
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
On Thursday we went to Storybook Land — a kitschy New Jersey theme park with small rides and animated displays of classic children stories. Both of the kids had so much fun walking around and looking at everything, and Flora really liked the rides. But she liked the displays the best, and kept saying, “I want to go on another story.”
Road Trip
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
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The fam headed to Smithville, New Jersey, for an extra long weekend to celebrate Tracy and Chuck’s nuptials. The shindigs were held on the grounds of the historic village — home to more than sixty shoppes, five restaurants, two gazebos, two arcades, paddle boats, ducks and roosters, an antique carousel, a train, and more — all overlooking Lake Meone. On the way down we stopped at The Brown Stone House for lunch — a retro diner in Hamden, Connecticut.
14 Months Old
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Fourteen months old and this is what Charley is up to: walking, running, spinning, climbing, exploring, talking, flirting, doing silly tricks, and getting into everything. He got all four of his first year molars in at the same time, and now has eight front teeth plus four back teeth. I can count on one hand how many times he has slept through the night. He loves dogs, trucks, and any toy his sister has. But most of all he loves to just be outdoors.
Papa and Amma Visit
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Flora and Charley’s Papa and Amma came to visit from Kansas City, MO, for a long weekend. The kids quickly learned they could get just about anything they wanted with a smile or a thank you, and they ran Papa and Amma ragged. As usual, we played hard and ate lots. Several trips to playgrounds, the zoo, the beach, outside, and restaurants later, even the kids were pooped. But they really just had the best time. We keep trying to get Papa and Amma to move close-by — we’ll keep working on them.
Little Muffins
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Charley watched the making of, then sampled, the banana chocolate chip muffins Flora and I baked together. Flora did her sampling in the process. I just really wanted an excuse for Flora to wear this adorable apron I got for her at a Mommies Who Shop event, which I now blame for my subsequent addiction to etsy.com — could handmade little girl’s clothes BE any cuter? I do not think so. In Charley news, he’s really getting quite agile with his walking, and can even spin around in a circle!
New Words
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009This morning, when Charley heard the garbage truck coming down the street, he got all excited and said, “guck, guck!” He also says “uh-o” for uh-oh and “eh-mo” for “elmo.” And he’s been making awfully silly faces and doing silly things (like putting pasta on his thumb) to get a laugh! He made up his own word for eat &mdash: a clicking of his tongue (to imitate the smacking of lips we do when we ask for a bite). It’s also the sound he makes when he sees the cat (to imitate the teh-teh-teh sound we make to call the cat). And all food is “na-na-na-na,” which we think came from banana.
Chillin’
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
We have finally had a consistent break in the rain, but there has been no shortage of heat and humidity. So the kids have been chillin’ in the kiddie pool on their days off, and loving it. And finally Flora has stopped pinching and smacking Charley, replacing hurts with kisses and hugs. Charley, in turn, doesn’t cringe when Flora gets near, but instead leans into her for a snuggle. They are really starting to enjoy each other’s company — Flora loves to make Charley laugh by playing peek-a-boo and making silly faces, and Charley loves trying to keep up pace with Flora. And they both love to play chase and dance with eachother.
Best Play Date EVER
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
The Colby Crewe and fams got together for a play date at the Nerneys this weekend. But this was not going to be an ordinary play date, we soon discovered. The Nerneys had rented a BOUNCE HOUSE and broke out with a SLIP N SLIDE to entertain the kids, and got FIVE flavors of Abbott’s frozen custard to keep everyone cool! The play date bar has been set high … very, very high.