Cape Cod Trip

We finally made it to Cape Cod this summer. It was great to see Uncle Frank! Sue and I took Kaylee and Walker for two nights in August. Too bad our "big boys" couldn't make it. Dad was there too and we all had a blast! We went down on a Tuesday and home on Thursday so we avoided the crazy, weekend traffic. We came home the same day they were bringing Ted Kennedy's body to Boston. Luckily, we made it off the Cape before they shut the highways down (for security). If we'd waited until after lunch time to come home we would have been stuck in traffic for SO LONG.

Kaylee and Walker in Uncle Frank's living room.

The secret place, up the ladder in the living room.

Walker and Uncle Frank having a nice, morning conversation.

At the Chatham Bars Inn for drinks.

Kaylee and Sue at the Chatham Bars Inn. Great place, right on the beach.

Kaylee and Walker on the trampolines.

Walker on the bumper boats.

Dad and Sue at the bumper boats.

Sue at Franks.

Dad and Sue. You can see the ladder for the secret place in the background.

Dad and the morning paper.

Dad and Frank. Walker on the comper.

At Skaket beach.

Kaylee on her laptop.

French fries on the beach.

Computer at Franks.

Snow cone at the beach.

Dad and Uncle Frank at Skaket Beach.

The fun never stops

Busy days lately. Now we're into baseball. We've got practice 3 times a week. We've got to fit that in with boy scouts and hip hop (not to mention my work, Scott's work and school). Everything is going so quickly lately. Summer will be nice. Time to slow down and relax.

Studio life this time of year is crazy with everything recital (ticket sales, costumes, choreography, rehearsals, music, programs, chaperone finding, dance photos!). I'm done with all my dances. Good. That's a HUGE relief to me. Trying to finish 15 dances makes me feel like I have homework all the time until it's done. So now it is all done and I'm very happy about that. I like all my dances and think the kids do too. I've actually got one more dance still in the works but it's not for recital, so it's not "time sensitive." The one that is not finished is for my new adult jazz class that we just started 6 weeks ago. We're doing a 10 week session in Andover for adults. It's fun. I like to add on a little bit to that dance every week, but since we're not performing that piece it's more fun than work for me. Something different for me, choreographing for adults. It's fun and good, but I'm still ready for summer!

Here are some pictures of a sleepover a couple weeks ago - Walker's best friend, Gage, slept over and they actually sang some karaoke with us and LIKED IT. A first for Walker. See, parents can be FUN!

Gage and Walker singing to Spongebob music. Matching Spongebob pj pants were the "costume" of the evening.

Scott's not too sure about this. You can see how good the boys are by this look.

They're really getting into it.

Future rock star?

The Green House

I noticed the first flowers of spring today in our yard.

We started our green house a couple of weeks ago. We planted carrots, peas, wax beans, green beans, strawberries, and some flowers: sunflowers, marigolds, lavendar, hosta. It was nice to get into the warmth of the green house. Now we have to remember to water every day. We have it on the timer to heat during the dark hours. It still gets really cold at night. Yesterday there was ice on the bird bath in the morning. I plan to can a lot of veggies this year. It'll be nice to have them rather than have to buy them at the market next winter. I'll be a regular earth mother all summer. Walker can help and he can learn all about it too.

Scott being a little goofy over the planting.

Walker mixing up the soil and water. Then he's being goofy too.

Kaylee Slept Over!

We finally got Kaylee for a sleep over again. It'd been quite a while. Everyone is so busy with their own activities. We made it happen last Saturday night. She is such a good kid. She and Walker have always gotten along really well. Now at 11 she is still making time for him. So good of her. When I picked her up after work Saturday afternoon we went to the market and she got to pick out the snacks. No more peanut allergy so that is good! I think it was a rough couple of years for her, since she loves peanutbutter so much. Now she can finally eat it again.

Saturday night they watched movies and played with Legos.


Kaylee is really good with Legos.

Sunday we went for a "Mystery Ride." They didn't know where we were going but I did. Fun. We ended up at the SSC, the See Science Center in Manchester, NH.

http://www.see-sciencecenter.org I'd never been there. It was really fun. It has a HUGE Lego model of downtown Manchester. I could have looked at it for so long. It was really cool. Must have taken years to complete. I was bummed because I forgot my camera. The following were taken with my phone. They came out alright, though.

Gear center. They were all magnetic. You could get them all to work together if you tried. Walker did not really have the attention span for that, though. He wanted to run all over and see what else there was to see.

Cool mirror room.

Pulley chairs.

Air ball. They had different size and weight balls and this air thing. Each ball stayed up or bounced on it differently.


The task was to get all these large nails on top of the red pole. We had NO IDEA until we looked at the cheat notes.

Super big bubble maker.

The Millyard in Manchester. All Lego, with running train, trolley, little amusement park and running water.

These pictures just can't do this project justice. It was amazing.

Have I mentioned this Lego Manchester is really cool and big?!

Sunday morning we got up and did our 4th annual Easter Egg coloring. Kaylee has always done it with us.

They have to reach as far away from themselves as possible. I guess that's what makes it so much fun.

Egg dunk.

Almost done and then the finished product. They turned out great! Each year the kids spend a little longer with the project. At the end they were mixing all the colors together.

Walker served his eggs to Scott for a snack. Yummy!

Spring is here...

I can tell it is spring. The snow is gone. Walker is wearing a windbreaker and flying his kite. We've started riding our bikes again. Summer can't be far behind. Except that right now it is pretty chilly. I'm up here at the computer with a nice, hot cup of coffee.

It's been busy lately. Walker started Intramurals at school. He loves it. They play a lot of games and run around and get nice and sweaty. We were lucky to get into that program. Only 20 first graders got in and he was one of them. Yay! He was so excited. The only downside to it is that it is on Tuesday - like everything else he does. We go from that to Hip-Hop, then cub scouts. We always hope there is no homework assignment on Tuesdays!

Baseball starts soon. Saturday morning is the team photo. Walker is on the "Owlz." It's a step up from t-ball - "farm league." Last year we did not have a good experience with t-ball, but that wasn't our fault. The coach and her son weren't wonderful. This year Walker's cub scout leader is the baseball coach! That guy is awesome. Most of his cub scout den will also be on the team, so we know the boys and families. It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. This year is the first time he gets the complete uniform. Last year it was just the t-shirt and hat. Now it's that plus the pants and baseball socks. He'll be so cute!

Only 6 more weeks of dance classes (not including vacation, but hey that's vacation). I'm almost on summer vacation! As much as I love dance, I love summer even more. We are all looking forward to camping.

Here are Walker and some buddies at the Pinewood Derby. They made their race cars and then raced them. We didn't win, though. Which is actually a good thing, because then we didn't have to go to yet another meeting to the state finals. But we didn't tell Walker that.

Ready, set, go.

Walker's hair is getting really long. We colored the underneath of the back red. He's wanted to do it for a long, long time. We finally had some time to do it. It looks cute. I like it long. Obviously, Walker does too. It's his hair, he can do what he wants with it (to a point!). Scott doesn't like it.

Walker in hip-hop right before the pinewood derby. You can't even see the red hair from the front.

Family Karaoke Night

Walker FINALLY decided it might be fun to hang out with us in the music room last night. He's usually dead set against it and makes us feel terrible about having any fun without him. But last night was different. We spent time first planning his "pinewood derby" car for boy scouts. After that Walker said he didn't want us to go sing. We don't usually on a Friday anyway, but since he brought it up we decided it sounded like a good idea. Scott and I are so evil! I made Walker the "official photographer" letting him use my new camera. He had a great time. He and Scott even did a couple of little comedy routines. Walker mostly said, "Yeah, like an idiot." But it was funny and seemed to work with whatever the theme was.

Walker being a little ham.

Beginning stages of the pinewood derby car.

Planning the pinewood derby car.

Walker took this one. I never would have thought to, but it's a good one. This is one of the binders I made that catalogs our music. Apparently, I had a lot of free time on my hands over Christmas vacation.

Scott and Walker - the standup comedy team.

He looks cute adjusting his mic.

Thinks he's funny.


The actually are funny together. Sorta the kid version of Cheech and Chong.

Walker took this. Don't know what I was looking at. Shaggy hair day. At least it's shiny. Sue gave me a new shampoo and conditioner that she hated but I like it. It's Garnier Fructis. Thanks Susie.


We took this of ourselves. Looks it. Our eyes are the same color.

We only missed one day of school this week due to snow. Some districts are going longer into the summer. Our district came up with a great plan where we won't have to go longer in the year. They're adding 10 minutes to the beginning of the day and 10 to the end. It won't really affect anything for us, but does meet the state standard for school days. So, I think it was a good solution. Have I mentioned we are halfway to summer? I miss camping. I'm ready to be warm all the time. I'm going around with my fingers frozen all the time these days. Even immediately after working out at the gym and I'm sweaty I still feel cold. Gotta wrap up in big sweaters and dream about Sandals, St. Lucia. If I win the lottery that is where I'm going first.

Walker took this picture of Morgan. She's a cutie. I can't believe she will be 9 this summer.

Indoor fun

Monday was a school holiday so we met Braydon and his mom at Party Playland in Hampstead. It's a cool "bouncy house" place. It's like a big warehouse area with 6 different bouncy set-ups. They especially loved this slide.


Braydon and Walker hamming it up.


They wanted me to take these pictures for "their" girlfriend, Ashley. I printed out a few for Walker to take to school, but he said they were too afraid to give them to her.



Silly kids. Walker's good at making funny faces.

Walker and Daddy boxing in the kitchen last weekend.

Boxing soon turned into wrestling.

We spent 7 hours driving to and from Providence, Rhode Island last Sunday. Why so long? It was a very bad snowstorm. It was supposed to stop, or at least not be as bad as it was. We went to an open audition for Walker with a talent and modeling agency. He loves that stuff and really wants to be in the business, so we try to take advantage of any opportunities we hear about. It was a long ride, though. Yuck. He did well in the audition. Maybe we'll hear something. Maybe not. We'll keep trying. He wants to be a model for Kohl's catalogs.

Twilight - too scary for Walker

I just finished the 2nd book in the "Twilight" series. I'm loving it. I got started because I'd heard that it was the best thing since Harry Potter. Walker wanted me to read it to him, but I thought I'd read it myself first. If it was good, I'd read it as fast as I wanted. If it was inappropriate I wouldn't read it to him. So, I finished the first one. Walker wanted to know what it was about. I told him about the love story between the human and the vampire. Nothing scary, no death and destruction (I left that part out). Suddenly, he is afraid of vampires. He doesn't want to be left alone in a room at night. Last weekend I made him a garlic clove necklace and he wore it. He felt much better. He also wore my big cross of nails. So he was doubly safe. Funny what sticks in their minds. I will not be reading this series to him. I have not discussed the werewolves from the next book with him. I can't wait to read the 3rd book. I'm anxiously awaiting Bella to be bitten and made immortal. Good story.

We've been busy. Walker is back to hip hop. Boy Scouts is also taking up some time. We've been doing a lot of play dates. His friend, Braydon, is coming over today after school. We've got Gage's 7th birthday party on Saturday. Walker's birthday invitations are all made out and ready to go, but I thought it was a little early for sending yet. The party isn't until Feb. 21. I can't believe he is going to be 7 already! The time just flies by.

I'm into the 2nd semester at Andover School of Ballet. We are halfway to summer now. We'll be gearing up for recital soon. Busy times ahead.

Here is Walker wearing his garlic necklace and his nail cross.

He should be safe from vampires now.