Summer Wrap-Up Part 3

Maria and Michael took some time every week to work on schoolwork and we also spent time at the library.
Lots of time was spent being silly...

and Em and Lu even found time to take naps every once in while!

School starts in a few days and we're all looking forward to all the fun things we do in the fall!

Summer Wrap-Up Part 2

We celebrated Nick and Dan's birthdays, Emily's half birthday...

Maria, Michael and Emily did crafts every week at Club Galleria, we had fun at the Balloon Festival even though the wind was too strong and no ballons took off and we did our part to help keep the Village Creamery in business.

Sadly, we also hosted four hermit crab funerals. Army, pictured below, is the last man standing.

Summer Wrap-Up Part 1

(Because I have so many pix to post, I've decided to do it in parts)

As usual, summer sped by. The Massa family didn't do all the things we usually do during the summer (due to money, weather and distance) but we still managed to have plenty of fun.

We spent lots of time at the park, we saw lots of movies, Harry Potter at the drive-in and made many visits to the Children's Museum.

When it wasn't raining we relaxed in our yard and cooled off in our pool, slipped all over our slip 'n slide or played soccer, football and frisbee.

County Fair

We had a blast at the Dutchess County Fair.

We didn't get to spend the whole day there because Tropical Storm/Hurricane Danny sent a drenching our way. Despite the rain in the late afternoon, we got there early enough so that we were able visit with the 4H livestock, the exotic animal displays and the butterfly tent. Maria, Michael, Emily and Lucy got to go on all the rides they wanted and we all got to sample the "world famous" Dutchess County Fair milkshakes.

Everyone is already looking forward to our next visit next year!

Don't Talk to Strangers

We were at the Mid Hudson Children's Museum this afternoon.

While visiting the second floor and unbeknownst to me, Emily wandered off into the construction site for their newest exhibit. It was at this point that I'd noticed that Emily had disappeared from the puppet theatre and I was starting to panic that she wasn't in the corner I'd just left her in. I heard a voice from behind me, in the construction area, ask, "Does this belong to you?" When I turned I saw a man holding a very angry looking Emily. As he passed her over the barricade (because nothing stops Em) he told me, "As I was picking her up to get her out of harm's way she said, 'No thank you, I already have a family!'"

Only my Em!

The countdown begins...

Summer never officially "starts" for me till the Fourth of July. Then I blink and it's Labor Day already, but enough with the negative end of summer stuff.

So on this, our first week of summer, we did a bunch of stuff.

Monday morning was nice and quiet since Nick had the car and I had decided it would be a "school" day. Maria and Michael did lots of schoolwork all morning and they actually had a good time doing it! That's right, I'm that mean mother that wants to make sure a whole years worth of schoolwork isn't forgotten during the mind-numbing dog days of summer. Emily pretended to work on her letters, but thought it was more fun to trace her feet. The remainder of the day my children went back to their usual LOUD selves.

Tuesday was the first day of Club Galleria at the mall. 1, 2 and 3 spend two LOUD hours with 100 other LOUD children and their accompanying Mommies, Daddys, Grandmas, Papas, babies and anybody else the families think to bring with them at center court and do crafts, play games, win Radio Disney raffles and snack on inappropriate snacks. They LOVED it!

After that we went to the Picture People to pick up the photo of Emily that won the Build a Bear photo contest. We incorrectly thought Em also won a Build a Bear, so there was much yelling when we left the mall without one. She'll get one...eventually.

Wednesday was a library day. Emily has storytime and crafts first, then an hour later M&M and later on in the afternoon Maria is in a reading program so we enlisted the help of Grandma and Papa who live right around the corner from the library.

Lucy got to spend time with her best friend Holly, so everyone was happy.

Thursday started out as errand day. First stop was Barnes and Noble and storytime there was even too much for Emily. INSANITY! We had to stop in for a bday gift and luckily I got in and out of there without any fuss for the very first time! After that was WalMart. I must note that it's always a good thing to "know" your children. It was because I know Emily so well that I was able to save myself an enormous amount of embarassment. While we were standing outside the restrooms and I was collecting stuff to change a stinky Louie, I knew when I heard "WOOOOW, Mom that lady is sooo..." to clap my hand over Emily's mouth before the VERY large lady passing by was reminded of just how large she is. Fun!

Later on in the afternoon, Maria and Emily had a birthday party to go to. Maria was over the moon because I allowed her to sit up front in the passengers seat. She wondered if Daddy might not mind permanently switching seats with her so that she could sit up front all the time. Emily is friends with the birthday girls little sister and the two of them had a BLAST! I was most surprised to hear that the two of them had changed their names for the afternoon. Emily was Elizabeth and Maria was Isabella. Imagine my embarassment when I was corrected after correcting Emily that her friends name was Maria, not Isabella! "We're PRETENDING!!!" The big girls spent much of the party in the pool and, as usual, my Maria had to be dragged OUT of the pool!

We ended the night with Jester Jim in the library's backyard and ice cream at the Village Creamery which just happens to be across the street from Grandma and Papa's.

Today was a park day and tomorrow we're hoping to be able to use the Slip n Slide

Till next time...

The Blueberry Thief

She's 14 months old today and well on her way to a life of crime...