"Summa, Summa, Summa time...Ooooh Summa time. Let's just sit back and unwind.

We have been home for a week now after some major living it up, with TWO weeks worth of vacationing. Since our return, we are trying to adjust to life back home in the city which hasn't been too difficult because we have been staying busy with several visits to the pool, different playground excursions and even a special trip with Kathryn to an arboretum out in the 'burbs which has a special exhibit of 17 tree houses. It turned out to be a hot day in the sun but beyond fun. 

So about our vacations, the first week we drove up to the Pocono Mountains and shared a place with my brother, his dear wife, and their three fabulous children. What a pleasure it was to spend some real quality time with them! The rest of our immediate and extended family stayed in two other places, and we would get together with them for a few hikes and every night for dinner. One day, Bryan took Victor white water canoeing with the rest of the family. It seemed to be a nice bonding thing for the two of them to have a little adventure together, without mommy and baby brother. 

What a ball the boys had all week playing with their cousins! They kept busy outside exploring and finding creatures, absorbed in their own little worlds. I'll tell you, it was a glorious sight to behold.

As refreshing and fun it was to get away from out normal lives, there was not a whole lot of sitting back, unwinding on my part. No, not much of that at all, not with a new toddler on the loose, whose curious fingers must grab at everything at record speed. The boy is on a mission to examine everything in his sight every waking second, and in the process, he can create some dangerous situations for himself and the people and/or things around him.  Thank goodness, our "destroyer baby" is still on two naps a day. I think there is still some sanity in me because of them. 

Victor, on the other hand, was not much trouble at all, in fact, he was a purely delightful child almost the entire time we were away. As long as he has some food in his tummy and enough sleep under his belt, he was good to go, with bursting enthusiasm for the natural world around him. I can't get over how outrageously imaginative and inquisitive he is. He was determined to have fun with his cousins every chance he could. When he wasn't off in the woods earnestly trying to find some interesting creatures, or really any creatures at all, to put in his "bug habitat", he was sitting down, quietly cutting out something or coloring. I was so proud of him.

Our visit to Michigan was as lovely as it always is.  We had the most amazing sunny weather, did lots of swimming and boating, and eating tons of delicious food that my sister-in-law, Betsy, prepared for us. She is an amazing cook. 

Their beautiful home is located right on Lake Michigan, so they have their own private little beach, along with a woodsy section in the back, a gorgeous garden, a trampoline, a hammock, different types of swings (even a baby one for Ivan), and a tree house. So, yeah, it was basically a week of heaven for us. And this year was extra exciting because my sister-in-law and her husband just adopted three siblings from Russia. We happily welcome Peter, who is 8, Madeline, 7, and Amelia, 5, into the family. They are such great kids, full of exuberance and goofiness, making them oh, so fun to be around! Victor and Ivan especially enjoyed having other children around to connect with. 

I will be posting photos of them and other summer vacation photos in the next day or two.

For now, I must sleep...

Story time with lovely Nana

Here is my mom, whom I call Mommy and her grandchildren call Nana. She has always been a lover of books, her favorite being the Bible. Here she is reading an old book with photographs of a baby doll who is lost in the woods and befriends a teddy bear and other forest creatures. It is a book that I completely adored as a child but seemed to have forgotten until my mom whipped it out at the beach house and started reading, instantly capturing the interest of all the kids (besides Ivan, who was napping at the time.) 

I never realized it before, but I so appreciate the way that she sculpted in all her children a desire to read. She made books a consistent part of our lives and took us to weekly visits to the library for story hour, the same library that my dear deceased Aunt Lucille worked as a librarian. When I was about seven years old, I used to pretend that my book collection was a library and put a card in the back of every single book. I still have some of them with the small index card, stuck on the page with pink ballet tape, and the words "Name" and "Date" scrawled on top with blank lines underneath. As I recall, this was some very important business at the time. 

So, I am striving to carry on this love of books over to my boys and, to my delight, Victor has always been obsessed with books. Having received many over his four years as gifts and as local thrift store purchases, he has acquired an outrageously huge book collection. 

The thing is, I feel guilty that I don't read to Ivan nearly as often as I have read to Victor. I really do try but, unless he is absolutely exhausted, he is just too restless and would rather get down and explore. Still, he has some favorites that he enjoys, and I can tell that he loves our weekly library visits, almost as much as Vic and I do. I am hoping that he gets into reading soon though because, in my opinion, there is nothing quite as relaxing and wonderful as curling up on the couch with my baby and reading a good children's book. I guess, only time will tell. 

 

My dear Dad, I just love him.

Here they are: my dad, aka Pop Pop, his grandkids (minus Ivan) and his beloved sea gulls. These photos were taken in the backyard of "Nana and Pop Pop's beach house" a little over a week ago. Their place is located right on the edge of a golf course, which makes for a beautifully serene setting. So quiet and peaceful... that is, until five LOUD and very enthusiastic children come into the picture, ready to feed some stale crackers to the seagulls with their seagull-loving Pop Pop. 

For as long as I can remember, my dad has always adored these particular birds.  We have numerous photographs of me and my brothers and sister, over the years, throwing up expired crumbs for the gulls to fight over. Many times they would come right up and boldly grab food directly from our upraised hands. I have a vivid memory of my dad tossing them bits of old bread and with a smile, saying "I love sea gulls," in such a happy, affectionate manner that my sibling and I found it completely hilarious, and now this quote has remained a family joke.  

I, personally, find seagulls obnoxious and aggressive, and if I am too close to the feeding frenzy, I cringe with anticipation of getting pooped on. But I still harbor a slight fondness for them solely for the fact that they are so part of the beach experience, which is probably why my dad thinks they are so fabulous. Anyway, I love looking at these pictures because they show my dear pop making more lovely seagull memories for the next generation of kids. They are thoroughly enjoying it, and he is in his glory. Don't they all look so peaceful and content in the last photo, where they are watching the last birds gorge themselves on the remaining food? Good stuff.

Uno Bello Bacio (a beautiful kiss)

WOW...A (dead) SHARK!!!!!!!!

A sunny, stormy day at Sesame Place

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I took the boys to Sesame Place, where "we became kids again". My friend, Nicole, arranged a group of 15 moms/kids to get together and buy group tickets at almost half the cost, which made a HUGE difference, considering how outrageously expensive the regular tickets are. We had a wonderful time even though the weather was a bit on the cool side, with some thunderstorms rolling through. This actually worked out to our advantage because there were not a whole lot of people there, so no waiting in lines, which can really make me crazy, especially when a whiney voice incessantly asks "how much longer?"  So, it was nice and relaxing, but cold, on the many water rides. My mom was such a trooper. She was shivering, but still had a smile on her face, ready to have more fun. What a fabulous Nana! 

Here you see Ivan in a train car, my mom and Vic climbing on the nets, and Vic and me on Super Grover's Viper Trail, a roller coaster that we went on FIVE times, the last time resulting in some major nausea on my part. As you can see from the intense excitement on Victor's face, this was his favorite ride, which has caused him to think Grover is "super cool."