Vashon Island

After a difficult post-vacation re-entry into the real world, we decided a day trip was in order. We piled into the car and piled the car onto a ferry to sleepy Vashon Island. It's the kind of Northwest community that has more galleries than stop lights. There's even a beach, but it's a standard Northwest beach and ease our re-entry any. It was a quick day of beach stroll, hike back to the car, a well-worth-the-wait brunch, and finally a front row seat on the ferry ride back.

 

Camp 2013! #vacationbacon

 

Camp hit all the high notes it always hits. Unfortunately, on day one those notes were cries of agony. After decades of swimming in Maine lakes, we had our first encounter with cercarial dermatitis, a.k.a. duck itch. After a morning of agony, heavy doses of Benadryl, and every home remedy our iPhones could find order was restored and vacation was able to continue... with a thick layer of suntan lotion on every child.

 

Veronica learned to swim at Camp this year. She had steadily been making progress and swim lessons with Josie in Seattle, but something clicked for her in the endless hours in the water. And Carmen, that's far enough.

 



Simon (here sporting an aforementioned think layer of suntan lotion) approached the lake with reckless abandon and did not learn how to swim. The gentle slope of the shore thankfully gave us enough time to grab him before the water reached above his neck. At least he managed to stay awake.

The Leary & Sebos joined us this year. Our family gathering undoubtedly required more travel than any other family in Maine. Grayson alone surely traveled further than anyone else to get to Vacationland. For the first time in Camp history, there were more kids than adults present. This seismic shift in social structure led to dramatic changes is camp behavior. There was junk food around the clock, days on end in the water, and games until bedtime. And there was an inflatable trampoline in the water. 

Cape May 2013

We enjoyed an especially long vacation in Cape May this year. After more than a decade of rushing into and out of town, we decided to stay a while. The usual suspects made the trip. Tyler's love of baseball was a refreshing addition to Brendan Tour. But the real story is Evan's swing. The city of Charlotte Little League is going to have the record books rewritten. Veronica loved all the one-on-one time with her favorite big girl Lindsay.

Veronica could not have been happier hitting the beach everyday. Poor Simon proved the power of classical conditioning. After learning to sleep to a sound machine set to "ocean", Simon fell asleep upon arriving at the beach and slept the entire time.

Simon learned how to 'cheers' his sippy-cup from, who else, Uncle Simon. It's important that he's taken the role of namesake so seriously.

Spring... wait it's over?

Spring can be a funny season in Seattle. It can start with 80F and sunny weather and turn around and plunge into Juneuary while you're not looking. Also, your children can grow up while you're not looking. Daddy had a busy sequence of business trips this Spring, even one all the way across the pond to merry old England (and that's a long trip when you have to cross a continent just to get to the pond). I swear the kids looked different upon each return. The other trip was to a land of air conditioning. It was so non-descript it's not even worth mentioning. Their smoked meat was good though.

The entire family travelled to LA to celebrate Uncle Brian getting old. We had a great visit with Grammy, Uncle Brian, and Auntie Sarah. Veronica and Simon enjoyed being so close to the beach. Almost as much as they enjoyed being so close to Grammy.

Veronica graduated from Children's Corner Montessori. She is not 4 3/4. I would ask where all the time has gone, but it's all cataloged right here. So that answers that. Veronica continues to get bigger and stronger despite our pleas. And keeps getting smarter from eating so many blueberries. She has taken an interest in writing words, but that mainly seems to be an attempt to influence the grocery list. Her passion right now is dancing. A parent with aspirations would sign her up immediately, but I like her version far too much to ruin it with actual dance. And there is always creature adventuring. Thanks for that Wild Kratts. Your episode on the life of earth worms has had a profound effect on our home.

Simon grows into more of a boy and less of a baby everyday. He seems to be fostering a devilish sense of humor, climbs fearlessly, and loves cars. I mean he loves cars. He can't get enough of cars. His favorite car game is to line them all up. He learned to say "car" before he learned to say "dada". Although, I should probably stop answering to "Mama" if I want him to learn by name.

Father's Day happened. Doughnuts at Top Pot. Playing at the Sculpture Garden.

Mama had a birthday. Although Vivi may have been more excited. She played a heavy hand in decorating the cupcakes.

Easter Bunny laid a lot of eggs this year

Easter came early this year, but not as early as summer weather in Seattle. It was sunny and 70 all weekend. Apparently that kind of weather puts the Easter Bunny in a generous mood. Veronica charged her way though two Easter egg hunts and even found the coveted golden money egg (with a two dollars in it!). Simon even go into the action. The there were all the dyed eggs. It was a, dare I say, egg-stravaganza. Veronica and Mama dyed and painted nearly two dozen eggs every color available. But wait there's more... the Pennsylvania Easter Bunny sent so much chocolate that Veronica should be set until the Christmas shipment arrives.

In other news... Veronica's writing is coming along nicely. With some help from Mama she wrote the grocery list for Friday Night Movies. Veronica also picked the menu... Simon's vocabulary is starting to emerge. The "Mama's" and "Dada's" are more accurately said and directed. "No" is definitely his first word, which flowed nicely into "uh oh" and the occasional "whoa". He continues to toddle everywhere he goes, but if he had it his way he would ride Veronica's scooter. It's going to be a challenge to keep him off of it for the next two years until he's big enough to ride it... When Veronica wants to emphasize something is true, she says "for real life". It's adorable... Veronica disappeared in the backyard for 20 minutes today. She swept months of leaves and pine needles off the patio and then put everything away when she was done. I still can't believe that happened... Inspired by her favorite tv show, Wild Kratts, Veronica likes to be a "creature adventurer" and find animals living free in the wild. The recent episode about worms inspired her to dig up and find worms. Birds get less excited than Vivi about finding worms. This phase could last a while... Simon tried bacon for the first time. It went well. And after months of eschewing every fruit or vegetable we put in front of him, he also seems to like roasted broccoli. It's the only vitamin he gets outside of bagged baby food. Simon also tried McNuggets for the first time this week. That also went very well... And in completely unrelated news, Simon is finally growing into 12 month clothes.

I left my hat in San Francisco

Daddy had a work trip to San Francisco and invited the entire family along. The family spent the work days at the hotel pool and at a nearby children's museum. Veronica even met a travelling companion, Athena, the daughter of Daddy's co-worker. They had fun swimming, drawing, playing instruments, and of course carouseling.

We stayed the weekend and did the normal tourist attractions. Fisherman's wharf and the sea lions were checked off the tourist attraction list quickly. We lingered a bit more at the Palace of Fine Arts and Ghiradelli Square. Veronica mastered the skill of spotting chocolate across the city. She took full advantage of vacation rules at every turn.

In local news, Simon made the full commitment to walking this week. The world champion crawler needed to walk pretty well to make it worth his while. His first word is also coming into focus. Despite generally saying yes to life, Simon's first word is "No" and is paired with a vigorous head shake. And on a not entirely unrelated note, Dr. Ferber made a visit this weekend and Simon is spending night two in the crib through the whole night. 

Daddy Daughter Dude Day



Daddy Daughter Days have always been about greasy lunches and excursions (typically to the zoo). The closure of daycare and some half-way decent weather on President's Day set us up nicely for a fun day. Simon joined the tradition and served as the transition to Daddy Daughter Dude Days. Simon is going to have to work on his timing if he is going to enjoy the full gamut of Daddy Daughter Dude Day. He slept through strawberry milkshakes and cheeseburgers at Dick's and didn't wake up until the carousel was already spinning round and round.

Veronica was in a giving mood at the zoo. She fed the penguins for the first time and fed the budgies for the gazillionith time. The budgies took a while, but we did finally find a hungry one.

Simon's walking has been increasing as rapidly as his weight. Simon just crawls far too well to bother learning how to walk. He is starting to rise up from a seated position and walk instead of depending on his parents to prop him up. He still crawls too well. So fast that he has to lower his head to pick up even more speed. He has run into a few cabinet doors as a result.