4 And 1/2 Hours....

That's how much time I have had yesterday and today, with only 1 child to take care of.  Now granted, Luca is worth 2 kids in terms of work, but he still naps a good 2hrs in the morning.....  so combine Vince and Zoë's summer camp, with Luca's nap, and holy crap I am a free woman for 2hrs!!  I'm sitting here staring at the clock, feeling heart flutters over the tough choice of what to do with the precious time.  So I come to the blog, and then get anxiety over trying to choose which blog post to work on: Vince's birthday.... oh wait, maybe my mom's final departure from California(complete with pictures of the dog rug)... or maybe Father's Day, or our anniversary.... shit! I'm so behind!  I can't be normal, I have to be messed up in the head that having total free time from any kids just makes me start breaking a sweat while I frantically try and figure out what the best use of my time is!!!

I'll start with my little girl, here's Zoë yesterday morning just before leaving for summer camp. She was so excited when she woke up!!  She wants to carry her own lunch bag; and I better help her get her backpack on or boy she gets mad!

Vince was a bit more reserved, looking at us through glaring eyes, not sure if he really wanted his lil sister tagging along to his school.  He did reluctantly grumble to agree to watch over her.... and he behaved enough for one good photo 

We got to the playground and Zoë ran for the swingset, not even looking back.  So much for my anticipated(or maybe slightly hoped for) emotional goodbye.... although I did sit in the car and watch her for little bit, feeling a pang of nostalgia for my little baby girl.  

Well, that pang of nostalgia came to (literally) a screeching halt with Luca's angry cries from the backseat..... demanding I pay attention to him. Yes buddy, time for some water and pretzels.  Life goes on.  I backed up, and drove away not to return until 1:30.

On to catching up on life.  I've been wanting to put out a little update on each kid, here's one I started on Vince a few months ago:

This is Vince, May 2013:

favorite book: One Morning in Maine
favorite food: mint chocolate chip ice cream (or any green colored ice cream)
favorite toy: anything lego, or part of lego city, or trains
favorite song: This Little Light of Mine
favorite musician: Willie Nelson when he sings Whiskey River
favorite activity: going to my friend Max's house
what I want to be when I grow up: a construction worker, working with bulldozers

Vince, right before going to his first sleep over at his buddy Max's house 

Circa April 2013

We dropped him off at Max's, and it was another story of "he ran in and never looked back to even say goodbye or goodnight"..... we had a moment of nostalgia, and then headed out to our kid free date night.

We celebrated his 5th birthday on Saturday June 15th, with about 40 kids and just as many adults.  We were incredibly lucky in that it rained all week before, and was cloudy the day after... but on Vince's party day it happened to be sunny and warm; good for the pool/piñata/pizza triple combo that happens to be the only birthday party we know how to throw.  I'm still asking around for anyone who took any pictures whatsoever, because Mike and I didn't.

We did remember to take a photo of Vince in his yearly t shirt, he's getting there!

One friend did send us a short video that he had (thanks Chris!), of both Vince and Zoë getting a shot at the piñata.  So at least we have this.  You can tell Mike is ready to be done, he's trying hard to move the kids along quickly

We've spent the last few days out in the pool, and Vince just started swimming under water himself yesterday! He just dunked his head, and stayed down for a while.... I thought for sure he didn't mean to do that, but it turns out he did! 

And let me just take care of our anniversary post while I'm at it.  It's been 7 years of amazing, difficult, happy, and really rough times.... all rolled up together, and there's no one else I'd rather be with on this roller coaster! 

Here we are enjoying dinner at the Scarlet Oak Tavern, the waitress brought us free champagne and put some candles in our dessert after she found out it was our anniversary

Here's to 7 years, and many more!!

Public Transport, with 3

For the AIDS walk in June, we decided to take the train into Boston.  We forgot to look up the schedule, so we missed the fact that half the train was down for the weekend.  This made it so we had to get on the train for part of the ride, then get off and take a bus for 3 stops, then get back on the train again, then get back off at our destination.  Try that.... while toting 3 kids, a double stroller, a diaper bag, a day pack, water, etc.  Then take the temperature up to a humid sticky 90 degree feel, and you get 5 cranky people! 

By the time we actually got to the start of the walk, we felt like we did it already..... and were ready to just lay in the grass and go to sleep! We walked about half the walk and called it quits. 

 Here's me and Vince, trying to make the best of it, still relatively happy

 Vince and Zoë always love train rides

This was the aftermath of the day.  Zoë had enough and fell asleep, Mike was DONE.