Family Beach Weekend

Sam loves the beach and was very busy.

The boys watch a sea bird trying to catch a fish.

Vivian explores the beach. 

   Some photos from our weekend away with the family.

The first evening, fog rolled in.

Nana and Vivian relax.

Sam hangs out on a rock.

Tired grandparents and grandchildren. 

Auntie's Coffee

We were away for the weekend with the family at a beach house for my parents' anniversary (photos to come).  Tessa met us there and Vivian and I picked her up from the train station.  Unfortunately, her iced coffee spilled on the train, something that Vivian had to talk about at length.  There were ten minute conversations at various points throughout the weekend about Auntie coming on the train and her coffee spilling.  She even started talking about it again this morning in the car.

Bird Feeders

I just found these on my phone.  After we made the bird feeders last week, Vivian and her buddy were pretty convinced they were purses.  So they walked around with them slung over their shoulders.  That was awesome because we made them by smearing peanut butter onto toilet paper rolls and then rolled them in bird seed. Then they would walk around occasionally picking off birdseed to snack on.  

Animal Adventures

Considering we live in a city/suburb, we have had some adventures with animals this weekend, luckily they were both outdoors.

A biker prodding trying to prod the turtle along with a stick.  The turtle
withdrew his head and hid.

The first one was on the way to soccer in the town that I grew up in.  We were driving down a main street when we spotted a rather large turtle trying to cross the road.  Or rather, on his way across the road.  There were three or four people trying to assist him and help him to avoid getting crushed by a car.  We pulled over to take a look, knowing nothing about turtles, I couldn't really do much to help, other than keep the kids out of the way.  There was extensive conversation about how long his neck was, whether he could be picked up by his shell, tail, by biting onto a stick and dragged, nudged by a stick, etc.  Eventually the crowd grew and someone grabbed the poor thing by it's tail and ran it over to the edge of the stream and deposited him there.  Hopefully his day improved.  Needless to say, we were late for soccer, but it's not everyday you witness a turtle crossing a street in these parts.

Someone eventually pulls over and picks up the turtle by it's tail.

The second instance was at our house.  We had made some bird feeders last weekend at a friend's house.  I finally hung them outside a kitchen window yesterday.  Since the kids got a large bird feeder for Christmas, that has been primarily ravaged by squirrels, I thought we'd put this away from the porch  where the squirrels run along the banister to jump on the bird feeder.  I also put it a distance away from the large trees, to stop them from jumping from the branches on them.

Our bird feeders.

So this morning we were preparing to leave the house when there was a loud thud against the window, which caused Sam, Vivian, and I to jump about a mile in the air and me exclaim a bad word.  We turned to find a squirrel splayed across the window screen, like a starfish, holding on for dear life.  (Did I mention we live on the second floor?)  After about 30 seconds of scrambling, the squirrel gained it's footing on the small window ledge and started munching on the bird feeders.  The unfortunate part was there was no way for the little guy to get down.  Sam suggested we let him in for a visit.  I explained why this wasn't a good idea.  I consulted Chris who was in the shower.
Silence.  "I'll think about it.  Let me see when I get out."

The squirrel (as viewed from the inside), happily munching.

A little while later we were all contemplating the squirrel, Chris and I debating what to do, when the squirrel suddenly lost his little grip and disappeared from view.  We froze and listened, a second or two of paws scraping and then nothing.  Chris and I exchanged glances.
"What happened?" Sam exclaimed.
"The squirrel jumped back to the tree." Chris told him.
"Squiwel?" Vivian repeated.
"Big jump," we said.
"So can, you like take a look for it when we head out?" I asked Chris.

There was no sign of the squirrel when we left, Chris checked the bushes and plants.  Hopefully it wasn't too injured.  I'm guessing he fell onto the overhang over the tenants' window and then scrambled down the house somehow.

The children regarding the squirrel.

I'm kind of waiting from some kind of squirrel revenge or retribution, the tree that is usually bustling with squirrel activity has been strangely silent today...

I Found This Amusing

A recent  humorous piece in the New Yorker:


Playground Purgatory

Bug Bites, Ebola, and Superman

Vivian woke up yesterday (actually she hadn't really slept... she was up every half hour to hour), with bug bites on her cheek, ankle, back and a very swollen one on her arm.  She'd run a little fever overnight too, and it was hard to know what to attribute it to, the bites or something she was fighting off.  I called the doctor and they said to give her some Benadryl.  After a few hours they still didn't look great.  Sam seemed very concerned and kept kissing her, telling her it was okay, and not to be worried, asking her if she wanted a Band-aid or snack, or a hug.  Finally, he pulled me aside, "mom," he whispered.

 "Yes?" I whispered back.

"Did Vivian get bit by the Ebola bug?"

"No.  She definitely did not."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because we are not near the Ebola bug and because that's not how Ebola is transmitted."

Then a conversation about Ebola ensued (again), until Sam was satisfied that she didn't have Ebola.  

An hour or so later he checked again, "should we take her to the hospital just in case?"  It was kind of at the point that I was thinking of taking her to the hospital myself. We had to talk about the symptoms of Ebola and I had to assure him that she did not have Ebola (again).

"No, we'll take her into the doctor, she'll be fine."

I took her into the doctor and she threw a massive fit the entire time we were there, from the point where she was supposed to stand on the scale (yah right) through the appointment.  She screamed charming phrases such as, "no doctor!"  "You stop!"  "I go bye-bye!"  "I want my car seat!" "I go!" "Doctor no, no touch!" "You open door now!", etc and tried to throw her rain-boot at him.  It was hard to have a conversation.  The doctor reiterated that it was just a bite, though what had bit her, he didn't know.  He said to continue giving her Benadryl, every 4 hours instead of every 6.  So yesterday evening when my parents came over (with dinner!), I had given Vivian Benadryl and she started acting a little strangely.  She got her things for bed and went to the bedroom to go to sleep, got in bed, fought to keep her eyes open and then came to eat dinner with me.  Except that she sat in my lap fighting off sleep and refusing to eat.

This happened twice.  I finally put her to bed and she fell asleep.  My Dad went out and bought some homeopathic cream to try on some of the bites and I snuck into the bedroom to try to put it on.  She sat up and started screaming, "no doctor!  NOOOO Doctor!"  Oops.  

The next time I went into the bedroom she was half awake.  "Mama?"

"Yes, Vivian?"
"All finished doctor?" 

"Yes, all finished at the doctor."

"Oh."

A minute later, "Mama?"

"Yes, Vivian?"
"Superman have owies?"

"Um... no?  Superman doesn't have owies."

"Mama?"

"Yes?"
"Nana lie down?"

"No, Nana went home.  She can't like down."

"Oh."

"Mama?"

"Time to go to sleep Vivian."

"I say night, night Daddy?  On phone?"

"You can say goodnight to Daddy."

I took her into the living room to say good-night to Chris since she was clearly wide awake.  She showed him all her owies and checked whether Superman had owies again.  I went back to bed.  I left them eating Triscuits and watching reruns of the Simpsons while Vivian babbled.  

Her bites looked a little better today, though she had scratched one while she slept so that it was open.