May Heat Wave

We will be entering our third day of 90+ degree weather tomorrow, which for us New Englanders is quite a jolt into the summer season. 

The heat has been magnified by Charlie's busy schedule this week; we were informed on Wednesday that he was in fact ready to test for his blue stripe belt on Sunday so this has meant three long sweaty afternoons in a row for him at the Taekwon do studio; I felt particularly bad for him today because he had sparring -- all geared up he is a sweaty mess even on temperate days, much less 90 degree ones. Add to this baseball practice Wednesday evening and a baseball game tomorrow morning and you pretty much have a kid in desperate need of a shower at any given moment all week long :-)

Since the heat wave started yesterday Charlie has discovered that snakes like hiding under trash cans when it gets really hot. He has discovered two snakes this way since yesterday afternoon and he also discovered one in his snake trap, which he had thrown under a bush weeks ago and that I at least had forgotten about. The snake-trapped snake required a thorough greasing up with Pam cooking spray and a careful peeling off from the sticky bottom of the trap, which Mike very patiently accomplished and the snake escaped unharmed. The snake trap, thankfully, was deemed one use only and thrown out so we at least don't have to do THAT again. 

In pet snake news, Checkers is becoming comfortable in his new home. Which means that instead of hiding under  his log or rock 24/7 he now comes out to slither around his cage, which is actually really disconcerting, especially when you are in Charlie's room and catch a glimpse of something slithering out of the corner of your eye. I much prefer him hiding under his rock. 

In other news we are two weeks away from my 5K and I did finally accomplish running 3 miles today, the length of the race.  "Running" is a stretch. In fact "jogging" is a stretch. "Old lady jogged " is probably more accurate. Yes, I old-lady-jogged 3 miles today without stopping. 

Anyway, more updates from our baseball, Taekwon do and heat filled weekend to follow!!

Teaching The Neighborhood Children The Joys of Catching Snakes

7 Year Check Up

I took Charlie for his seven year well visit this afternoon. He measured and weighed in at 52 1/2 inches tall and 73 lbs respectively, which puts him, as usual, off the charts for height and weight. His doctor said he is on track to be at least 6'4" and that I should "teach him to dribble now." She said, as she did last year, that his weight remains fine and that BMI percentiles aren't accurate for very tall children. 

She also marveled that she actually hasn't seen Charlie since his last well visit -- in fact, she noted his last sick visit was the summer before starting kindergarten, when he had a raging case of molluscum contagiousum that required a trip to the dermatologist to sort out. 

At the risk of totally and completely jinxing myself, Charlie has not had a sick day at all this year and in fact the last time he had a fever over 99 degrees was, I believe,  while I was still home on maternity leave with Amelia. 

So here's keeping our fingers crossed for another healthy year!!

Herb Garden

We have herbs! Cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley and chocolate mint to be exact! The cilantro is already looking like its on its way out though thanks to Charlie dropping it in the store and then my attempt to separate it while replanting it into the pot...

Flips!

Memorial Day 2013

We had a fun and relaxing Memorial Day - the sun was out for the first time in days so this morning I re-potted my tomato plants and then went for a jog -- I can officially jog two miles of the three required for my 5k :-)

We spent the afternoon at Phil & Sue's where we barbecued and the kids had fun playing in the yard and with their dog, Lola. Here are some pictures:

Bad Dream

CHARLIE: "I had a terrible dream last night!! I dreamed that me and you were in a hotel and I closed my eyes and all of a sudden we warped to a nail salon. We were standing in the nail salon when a woman walked in and said she wanted her nails painted but the girl behind the counter said, 'No, you're not pretty enough to get your nails painted.' So I looked at her and I thought, 'Wow she IS ugly!' And right then I knew she had read my mind and that she was going to chase me, so I ran out of the nail salon and I looked behind me and sure enough, she WAS chasing me!!"

This dream baffles me on so many levels...

Trying Out Our Green Thumbs

With cherry tomatoes, sweet and hot banana peppers and marigolds :-) Seeing as Charlie managed to break just about every stem while re-planting the marigolds and Amelia already flooded the banana peppers, I'm not holding my breath :-P

Running Buddy!

My running buddy and I ran 3/4 of a mile yesterday and 1 mile today! Working my way (slowly!!) up to that 5k next month! Couldn't have done it without her :-P

Meet "Checkers"

Or, as Amelia keeps calling him, "Corny". 

It was fairly inevitable that we would leave this afternoon's annual Massachusetts Reptile Expo with something alive. The corn snake won out because it only needs to be fed once a week and doesn't need the calcium supplementation or special lighting that the lizards require. 

And of course because snakes are Charlie's first love...

Insurance Salesman

The other day while doing homework Charlie asked me, "Mom, how much do you pay for your homeowner's insurance?"

To which I responded, naturally, "Umm, err, what?"

Charlie repeated, "Your homeowners insurance -- how much do you pay?"

"I don't know, it's bundled in with our mortgage," I finally answered, " and why are you asking me this? I am pretty sure you don't know what homeowners insurance or a mortgage is!"

Charlie replied smoothly, "You should call Met Life. Their homeowners insurance is only 50 cents a day. " 

About here is where I realized that Charlie has been watching way too much tv. Or at the very least, paying way too much attention to the commercials. 

"So are you going to call them?"

First Mani/Pedi

Amelia's escapades with the nail polish last night earned her a trip to the nail salon after gymnastics this morning, seeing as I was only able to get about half the nail polish off last night. Thankfully they only charged me $8 to take the polish off and give her a fresh coat. 

Manicure & Pedicure

Amelia somehow managed to get to the Hello Kitty nail polish that I thought I had hidden safely away on top of my dresser, and gave herself a manicure and pedicure while I was fixing dinner... It took about half an hour and 3/4 of a bottle of nail polish remover to get the polish off to even an acceptable level. The picture does not do it justice -- she literally painted each toe from top to bottom and had random smears of nail polish on her arms and legs. Surprisingly, for the amount of nail polish on her body, there was surprisingly little on the carpet. 

Mother's Day On The Lake

We had a wonderful Mother's Day with Mike's parents and brothers up in NH which included a delicious dinner, another birthday cake for Charlie and even some more birthday presents, from Uncle Tom. The fish and the wildlife were out in force -- not only did we enjoy the first fishing of the season but we also found a teeny baby snapping turtle as well as some newts (altogether different from the salamanders in our yard), so Charlie was in heaven. Here are some pictures:

Catcher

Mother's Day Present

From Amelia:

Wow, gee thanks hon. I especially like that last one...

The Gig Is Up

CHARLIE: "Mom, tell me the truth -- is Santa real, or is it really you and Dad?"

ME: "Why would you think it's me and Dad?"

CHARLIE: "Look, I already know its you and Dad so just tell me!"

ME: "Who's been telling you Santa isn't real? The kids at school? The kids on the bus?" (When in doubt ALWAYS blame the kids on the bus.)

CHARLIE: "Nobody! I've just been thinking about it all day, and I know he isn't real! The tooth fairy is really you and Dad and so is Santa Claus!"

ME: (defeated.) "Okay, he's not real."

CHARLIE: "Oh my god, I can't believe you and Dad have been lying to me all these years!!"

Going For The Tube Top Look Already

Picnic On A Slide

Happenstance

My plan this morning was to put Charlie on the bus and then head over to Harvard Square to meet Katie and Kyla at the playground there, but since the fog was slow to burn off this morning making it downright chilly we decided to meet at the Childrens Museum instead.

At South Station I rode the elevator up to the concourse with a woman and her baby, and we struck up a conversation. It turned out that she also lives in Quincy and was heading to the museum as well. We had time to kill since we were an hour early for the museum opening so we grabbed a table together and got to know each other a little bit.. It turns out that she does not drive either, having grown up in European cities where nobody drives? I don't know ;-) She also has a membership to every Boston institution and then some, including the Aquarium, zoo, Science Museum, Isabelle Stewart Gardner museum, Museum of Fine Arts, etc, and religiously takes her 7 month old (whom she adopted) to all of them. We exchanged numbers and are going to the zoo on Monday, which I have heretofore avoided since it involves taking a bus and I have never been sure about managing the stroller on a bus, but she is meeting me beforehand so we can go together; it is great to meet someone who is actually more adventurous than I am regarding taking kids on public transportation ;-) She also lives in the Marina Bay section of Quincy which is beautiful during the summer and she has a pool and has already invited us over when the weather gets warmer.

So as you can tell I am excited to have randomly met a new friend today!

Hiking

This afternoon we took the kids hiking in Blue Hills, a large state park that stretches from Quincy into Braintree and Milton, has many hiking trails and also has the dubious distinction of being a protected habitat for rattlesnakes.

Charlie brought along one of his birthday presents from us -- a rock hunting kit which included a rock hammer, goggles, field guide, magnifying glass, etc all in a handy backpack.

It wouldn't be a hike with Charlie of course, without the requisite snake spotting -- a black racer which Mike found by the side of the trail eating a frog, and which both boys went barreling into the underbrush after!

Here are some pictures from the afternoon, including one of the snake if you can spot it in the underbrush:

Charlie's Birthday Menagerie

Charlie had a great time at his birthday party this afternoon -- he thoroughly enjoyed the hour long animal show which included 2 snakes, a chinchilla, 2 tree frogs, a hedgehog, a tortoise, 2 Madagascar hissing cockroaches, a bearded dragon and a baby alligator. Amelia on the other hand, watched most of the show from the safety of the stairs. Here are some pictures of the afternoon, with birthday video to follow.