Fathers Day 2010

We attempted to make daddy's father day weekend a special one. First off, he got to sleep in BOTH days, which took incredible restraint from Remi and me. I mean seriously, daddy is never home when we wake up and then on a weekend when daddy is home, mommy tells us to let him sleep. C'mon lady, are you crazy?! Saturday morning we got up and slowly started our day and then headed to our favorite nursery to purchase flowers for the house. Sure we were a month late into the planting, but we timed it right, as the nursery just marked all their flowers down by 50%. We took advantage of the swagger wagon's ability to fold down the third row and loaded up the back with flowers.

Then on Sunday, the big day, daddy slept in and we brought him breakfast in bed and gave him our gifts. Remi and I each made a book for him and mommy gave him a kickstand for his bike. After the gifts were given, we once again loaded up the car and headed to Gallup Park, where we embarked on an hour long canoe trip up the river. This was Remi's first time in a canoe and she loved it, or most of it, the last 10 minutes she basically screamed, but still, she lasted for an hour. Way longer than I did on my first canoe trip. Then it was off to lunch and nap time.

After nap we headed back to Gallup park b/c the men in the family wanted to fish. And get this... I CAUGHT MY FIRST FISH!!!! Sure, I've been to a trout farm and caught a fish, but that was guaranteed. This was in the river, I casted it out, saw my bobber go under and reeled it in. We were all so excited. I told anyone who happened to be canoeing by and did several, "I caught my first fish" dances. Of course, we didn't actually plan on catching anything, so we took a ziploc from the diaper bag... instant fish holder. I decided to name my fish mosquito and couldn't wait to take him home and cook him up for dinner. Later on in the afternoon, I caught another fish, well sort of... This one was big, real big, and his name was daddy. Yup, that's right, I caught him with my hook right in the back, needless to say, that ended our trip. Then it was home to cook up mosquito for dinner.

Mosquito was small, really small. So small, we probably weren't allowed to keep him. He did produce about 5 bites of fish, which I gobbled right up. I did decide to share one with Remi and she was none too happy about only getting one.

All in all we had a great father day and we hope daddy did too!

The minivan filled with flowers

Remi's first canoe trip

she loved to paddle

it was so pleasant, we were on the look out for turtles, but found none...

Me and mosquito

Remi got kind of bored fishing

Everybody, meet mosquito

cookin' him up

sharing with remi

YUM!

Children's Garden at the Botanical Gardens

Last week I met up with my buddy Emiliano at the Children's garden inside the botanical gardens and we had a blast. The garden has bells to play, slate to draw on, a spider web to climb, wood to make our own shelter, slides, a smelling garden, a touching garden and WAY more. Our little sisters joined us, which meant the mommies had to pay attention to them, allowing us big boys to run around like maniacs!

Remi loving one of the many water fountains

making our way to the children's garden

"hey mama, can we have a garden like this at home?" to which my mother responded by laughing and saying, "ahh, buddy, I don't think so." No real explanation was provided. I plan to revisit this suggestion at a later date

Remi, grazing with the sheep

my sweet cheeks sister

Playing in the spider web

Pretending to be a tram sliding down the slide... i.e. moving very slowly

Remi and Regina, can you tell which is which?

smiley girl

Date night with Daddy...

A couple of weeks ago, daddy came home early and surprised me with a special night out, just the two of us. We decided to go fishing at our favorite spot and have a picnic lunch. We had a great time, just the guys... While we were there, we happened to run into one of the respiratory therapists daddy works with. He had actually caught some fish... He let me hold some fish as well as help him release some fish back into the river. And as BONUS, a train went by, honking its' horn. Daddy, fishing and trains, what more can a kid ask for...

Casting - a skill I'm improving upon everyday

The view from our fishin' spot

Holding a fish Chris caught

It felt funny!

Frog Room: End of the Year Party

Last Sunday, my preschool room had an end of the year picnic and I was so excited to have all of my froggy friends to MY park. That's right, the location of the party was a block away AND it was right during nap time. SCORE! I had lots of fun playing with friends, saying good bye to the oldies (the 5 year olds going off to kindergarten), and playing with daddy. Most of my froggy friends don't even know I have a daddy, so it was nice to bring him to the party and show him off.

The preschool academic year is over, so starting this week, Camp Keshet starts... Basically, it's just preschool with another name. We have really cool outside classrooms set up that have lots of our indoor classroom things in it, like the supermarket, the pet shop, the "house," and my favorite, the block and instrument corners! I can't wait. PLUS, we go swimming every Tuesday and Thursday and go on a field trip every Wednesday. I tell everyone I see that I'm going camping this summer, and everyone is very excited for me, albeit, a bit confused... I will say that I am a bit sad that my small group teacher, Ellen (whom I adore), does not work in the summer, so I will be moving to Julie's group for the summer. She's awesome and always has the best art projects, I can't wait to create some more masterpieces, as my old ones feel a bit "stale."

Climbing the ropes with my buddy Emiliano (who was devastated by Spain's loss to Switzerland, by the way.)

My man, Charlie

A bunch of froggy friends, takin' a snack break. I got to have juice!

Zach (who is off to kindergarten next year), me, and Yoni (one of my good friends from school. Yoni and I are the same age, almost exactly, but as you can see, there is a bit of differential in the size department), Yoni is moving back to Baltimore and will be dearly missed. And yes, he is wearing a Beastie Boys t-shirt.

The Goldstein Swagger Wagon

As promised, here are a few pictures of our new car. We all love it! It's so nice to have so much room. Just last weekend we had 4 adults and 2 kids in the car and no one was cramped! No need for driving 2 cars anymore! Mommy has accepted that she is on the road to soccer momhood and is embracing it with open arms!

View looking into the back of the car from the front seat

View while sitting in the THIRD ROW!

Daddy's last 3rd year weekend call

That's right, two weekends ago, daddy took his final weekend call for his 3rd year of fellowship. Now, I'm not really sure why this is such a big deal, as starting July 1, daddy will be on call EVERY day for an entire year, but he assures me, he will no longer be a stranger in our own home. Personally, I'm withholding judgment until I actually see a change. Here are a few pics from that weekend. Daddy got called in early on Saturday morning, but was home by 4pm to go strawberry picking with the rest of us and then on Sunday, he didn't get called in at all, at least, while I was awake... So Sunday, we headed to the Taste of Ann Arbor, a big party that shuts down the main streets in Ann Arbor, as it's the finish line for the Ann Arbor - Dexter Marathon. We headed downtown to try yummy food, listen to great music and run into lots of friends from around town.

Mommy, Remi and I headed to the farmers market Saturday morning to pick up our first farm-share of the season. I, of course, got distracted by the construction...

Soccer has been a challenge for me, as it only happens once a week, I'm a bit slow to feel comfortable on the field. Mommy says I peeked too early... The first game, it's all been downhill since then, and NOT in a good way.

My number one fan, always on the sidelines clapping for me, even if I'm not playing!

My strawberry box, empty, as I started to pick... Well, it ended up empty as well, since I ate every strawberry I picked and tried to eat mommy and daddy's as well!

Remi, navigating the strawberry field.

Photo op with daddy

As you can see by Remi's shirt, she sampled a few strawberries as well

Our roses in bloom in the side garden. They are so pretty. I'm not sure why mommy is cursing every time she weeds that section of garden.

Remi and I anxiously awaiting the band to start. We were enthralled, even by the sound check!

Remi, sucking down fried plantains from daddy's hand

movin' in for the kill... C'mon daddy, you know you want to give me more...

Gotcha! The look works every time.

Jumping rope in the kids section

The library had a "Rock the Booth" photo booth set up, and they were giving away free photo strips. We had lots of fun in the booth.

Just a random photo of Remi, this is what she looks like when mommy forgets to take the bowl of cottage cheese off her tray...