Category Archives: Because They’re Cute

Fresh Air…

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I had the boys, Jack and Bear, today, all day. My strategy is the same as the one I used on my own boys when they were little: take them outside and run ’em.

Fresh air, lots of movement, and by 2:00 or 3:00 I can do what I need to do and they will be too tired to complain. The strategy still works!

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I think we walked 3 1/2 miles. That’s pretty impressive for Bear, at 4 1/2. He only sat down at the end, and he did get back up because my days of lugging a kid that size are over. The first park had a play structure, the second park had a lake that we walked around.

The only downside is that I’m kind of tired too… but they are more tired! Judy, their other grandmother, has them overnight. I guess I’ll find out if I did my job tomorrow. My hope is that they go to bed and sleep soundly all night long.

Tomorrow, Steve and I are taking them out hiking again. Outside. I like it way better than screens.

You never know what you’ll see if you just look…

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I stayed in San Clemente while visiting the Surfside Quilt Guild and my hotel was just a mile from the beach. The one mile walk down to the beach was very nice, the uphill mile back to the hotel was good exercise :-).

I walked to pier for the last time Wednesday morning and took photos of seagulls because I think they are cute.

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They look like birds with an interesting attitude… sort of nonchalant and friendly. And these guys were posing for me so I got closer…

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Close enough to notice that their tails are dotted!

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Who knew! And once you notice the dots, don’t don’t you think that they pull the black and white color scheme of the feathers together? Nature is just jam-packed with little quirky details.

 

 

Piece O’ NYC: Camp Lolanor Recap

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Our apartment is back to being quiet. We had a lot of fun with Camp Lolanor! We did a lot, ate a lot, and enjoyed observing teenagers — they’re like research experiments to us! Ella and Lola are both great kids. I hate how fast Ella is growing: it breaks my heart. That’s what having and giving these fun memories with her is all about though, I suppose. We asked the girls to name their favorite things that they did while at camp, and it was the smaller things — like finding latte art — that got to me and squeezed my heart. While I hate to see them grow, it’s nice that they’re developing an appreciation for chilling like adults. It blew my mind away that Ella just wanted to sit in the park and read a book. How nice is that?! We’ve got too many similarities now, Ella. Sitting, reading, and drinking coffee is what I’m all about.
 

We did several touristy things, like going to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, a musical, Times Square for the Toys R US store and a Hunger Games Exhibit, etc… We even took them on a sailing trip (but I don’t recommend the Friday sunset sail with two teenagers — it sorta ruined the romance for other couples we think … lol). We also played it by ear and made impromptu visits to Top of the Rock, walked to a cool bookstore in Brooklyn, and had a spa night where us girls put up our hair and put on face masks. It was loads of fun!My husband was the best camp coordinator and went to the musical with them (I took the night off). He also very adorably eaves-dropped on their conversations because he’s a ‘nosy’ uncle and all (I knew he wanted to be sure they weren’t talking about boys, he just won’t admit it…). And though we’ll miss our little coffee partners in crime, camp season is officially over for us! I’m whooped and poor Jeff had to catch a red-eye to Brazil the same night he dropped Ella off at the airport. I can’t wait to have him home for a little ‘us’ time.

More pics can be found below. I took plenty of the girls together, so that’s the stream you’ll see mostly. They’re the cutest “besties”!

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Piece O’ NYC: Camp Lolanor has begun!

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Camp Lolanor is underway. We have not been killed by glitter or hormones…yet ;p. So we’re all pretty happy. We’ve done many things already and still have a couple of days left! Today was a Brooklyn Bridge kind of day, so we woke up early and headed out to see the bridge. Neither Lola or Ella have seen it, so it was lots of fun!

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All campers have to agree to the camp rules!

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Then we parked it and had some lunch. Built NY supplied us with a few lunch bags/totes to help us keep our picnic goodies extra cold. Aren’t they cute? After testing them, I’ve gotta say – I really love the large one. It held a smaller lunch tote inside of it, three bottles of water, and various other things. After all of those things inside, I thought it would weigh a ton, but surprisingly it didn’t (super plus!). It’ll come in handy when I have to take my work lunch, laptop and books for classes to work this semester too. Ella likes using her own tote as a purse, it’s pretty cute ;p.

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Yeah, a typical Camp scene… Technology wins over talking any day it seems.

Jeff is taking the girls to see a musical tonight and they’re all currently making some sort of goodies in the kitchen right now. What more could kids want from camp?! They’re being fed, we’re letting them stay up late, and we’re watching all of their favorite movies! I’ll show more pictures next week, because there are tons…and these kids are super cool.

If you’re interested in sending your kids to Camp Lolanor next year (we’ve already gotten a few of Lola’s friends who want to attend), send me a million dollar prepaid check and I’ll think about it ;p.

Because they’re cute…

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Many thanks to NatureVideo for posting so many great videos! My favorite in this list of top 10 cute animals for 2014 is the Dumbo octopus.

You might wonder why I am posting this. It’s because I’m trying to reduce some of the stress in my life. I, and most everyone I know, has too much to do, not nearly enough time to do it in, and is not really ready for Christmas (or the new year for that matter). 5 minutes of cute animals did, in fact, make me smile and slow down just a bit. I hope the video works the same way for you :-).

Click here to see the video on youtube if it doesn’t open in this post.

And don’t forget about the fabric sale…