Stardate 63476.32 - Kate Eats

We recently started Kate on solid food (you can compare her expressions with Loren's first bites of food here). Just baby cereal right now, but she seems to really enjoy it! Loren also enjoys helping.





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Stardate 63436.35 - Beach House!

What a crazy few weeks! As we mentioned, our counter-offer on the studio next door was turned down so that was the end of our wild idea to combine apartments into a bigger space. Instead, we decided to rent a place on the Jersey Shore to spend weekends on the beach. We've got the place for a year, to decide if we like the area and the weekend commute and if so we may purchase a weekend place out there. Even in the winter we're likely to spend weekends there as it is better to be cooped up in a 3-bedroom, multi-floor, 2 bath house than in our apartment in the city!

Oh, yes, I also had a pretty big birthday at the end of May when I turned 40. We spent it carrying loads of stuff to Cheryl's parents' place to pre-stage it for the beach house. Loren helped Grandma make me a peanut butter pie - yummy!!



Then this past Friday we finally got the keys to the beach house. Here Loren poses in front of the place, which has great roses and landscaping.


It does have a small yard on the side and in the back that I had to mow on Sunday. Loren helped with her mower.


We spent most of Friday and Saturday moving things into the house and visiting garage sales close by in NJ to furnish the place. Sunday we finally got to take a break and spend some time on the beach, which is just a 2-minute walk from the house.


We got out early on Sunday so there were not many people there yet.




We ended up staying until Monday morning. I got up early and drove the car back home (and I still made it to work early), and Cheryl took the girls for a ride on the ferry back (so they wouldn't have to be up at 0500). Now just a few short days in the city before we head back out there. We're having a problem with the high-speed Internet DSL from Verizon so they are sending a tech over Friday to take a look, so I'm going back down Thursday night and the girls and Cheryl will come down on the ferry after work on Friday.

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Stardate 63402.5 - Memorial Day (Observed)

On Memorial Day we walked over to Central Park and visited a playground, had a small picnic, and stopped by Bethesda Fountain. It was a gorgeous day and we all had a great time. Of course, we would have enjoyed the day even more had we been spending it at our beach house--but alas, we don't get the keys until next Friday.



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Stardate 63396.22 - Fairy Loren

It seems like every post I write these days I talk about how much time has elapsed since the last post. Here are some random pictures from around the apartment from the last week or two. The photo above is of Loren in her fairy costume. Below is Kate in her new(ish) exer-saucer (thank you Craig's list!).



Here is one of our weeknight babysitters, Sarah, with Kate and Loren (and our messy apartment in the background).


Lastly, here I am with Kate at Cheryl's Grandmother's condo on the beach in Sea Bright. Kate is practicing her standing. She really, really, really wants to sit up and she is trying so hard to do it.


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Stardate 63375.03 - What a Roller Coaster!

It has been a little crazy these past few weeks. First, we've been thinking about getting a used car to replace the 8-year-old Toyota Rav4 that we currently have. It is a little small for a family of 4 and luggage, and we are starting to have some space issues with luggage when doing things like traveling for a long weekend. We found some good deals on some loaner Volvo XC70s, but by the time we got around to scheduling a trip out to the Long Island dealership they were all sold (at least we knew a good deal when we spotted it!). So that sort-of fell through.

Then, the studio apartment that abuts our unit on one side went up for sale. We entertained grand notions of buying it an combining units, but it turned out that the seller really wasn't all that interested in selling (he'd rather rent), and he really was not interested in any offer below his asking price (and we were not upping our offer without a counter-offer, especially in this market!). So that fell through.

But the excitement of having more space made us think about how we keep spending all the summer weekends in NJ, and how we keep trying to cram into Cheryl's Grandmother's beach condo (1 bedroom, 1 bath). So we decided to look at real estate on the Jersey Shore, with the idea of purchasing a summer/weekend home. While looking, we found a terrific 3-bedroom 2-bath house in Highlands, NJ with a driveway and a little yard that is only 2 minutes from the beach (an article on the town from the New York Times is available here). We decided to rent for a year to see if we liked the area enough to eventually buy something. Our lease starts the first week of June.

We're looking forward to having a place to escape to on weekends that is bigger than our current place. Not only can we store stuff there, but we can also use it even in the winter months as it will be better to be cooped up in a 3-bedroom house on weekends than in our 2-bedroom apartment in the city--more room for the girls to spread out. And Loren loves the beach so, so much. And look how happy Kate is when she got the news:


Here are some pictures from that weekend we went out to NJ (Mother's Day Weekend, actually) to look at property. We went to the farm in Holmdel Park that we have been to several times before with Cheryl's parents and Grandmother. We also invited Chris and Lisa to bring their daughter Lily and join us. And our friend Michelle was in town and so she also met us there for a visit.




Once we were back home, Loren asked for a photo in her new dress with Kate.


She then took this picture of me and Kate. I think she did a pretty good job! I had to squat down so I'd be level with her and the camera.

So we're all looking forward to weekends on the shore! We may even stay out a week or two over the summer as the commute in on the ferry won't be too bad. All part of our grand experiment to see if we like it.

So no car, no bigger apartment, no purchase on the shore, but a 12-month rental to see if we like it. And that crazy journey is why we haven't posted anything in 3 weeks to the blog.

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Stardate 63336.06 - Return to the Beach

Last weekend we had temperatures in the 80s, so on Saturday we took a trip over to Central Park for a picnic and to visit the Zoo. But first, here is a photo of Kate and Loren showing off their matching socks that Nana and Kraker gave them for Easter.


Loren has been watching Sid the Science Kid and wanted to bring a scientist bag with her to the park to look for bugs and to collect leaves and things. Cheryl helped her with her exploring while I tried to keep Kate out of the sun.



After eating our picnic we headed over to Central Park Zoo, and in the Children's Zoo portion the spider web is always a huge hit with Loren.


On Sunday we went to the beach. It is weird to remember how warm it was just one week ago, because as I'm writing this post it is in the 50s and raining today.




After the beach we went to Cheryl's parents' place where Bill entertained us with some Wii games. That company is doing something right in their marketing if they convinced Cheryl's parents to purchase one!


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Stardate 63302.14 - Alison's Birthday Party

A few weekends ago we traveled upstate to attend Alison's 4th Birthday Party at Gymboree. As the kids get older everyone seems to be moving the venue for birthday parties from people's homes to facilities like Gymboree--a pretty good idea, and one we subscribed to for Loren's 3rd birthday party. They kids get a lot of space to run around in, and best of all we don't have to clean up!

Here Cheryl carries Kate around the play area.


Loren walks across the bridge.


The birthday girl poses in what I called "My First Prison".


Once Kate fell asleep I took over carry duty for a while.


Loren really enjoyed the music portion of the program.


And of course, she enjoyed eating all the icing off of the cupcake.


But the most favorite activity of all was probably the bubble chase at the end of the event.


Afterwards we went back to Denise and Greg's place for Alison, Max, and Loren to play some more and so we could all catch up. It made for a late return home, but we all had a great time.

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Stardate 63299.45 - Easter

Wow, we've gotten really bad about updating the blog. Now that I'm no longer working from home I cannot just take 15 minutes in the middle of the day to put up a blog post every couple of days. And by the time I get home, eat dinner, get Loren to bed, I've got about an hour or so before bedtime (especially now that I'm trying to get back to the gym in the mornings).

Loren and I just had a funny exchange:

L - I have a present for you!

C - I have a present for you! Lots and lots of love!

L - That's not a present! A present comes in wrapping paper!

So while Loren plays with wrapping paper, wrapping me a birthday present, I'm trying to quickly put up some pictures from Easter weekend in NJ.

Here Loren and Kate pose in their dresses. I prefer the natural light to the flash, but the natural light photos frequently come out a little fuzzy.



Here the entire family attempts a pose.


Kate snuggles with Daddy.


Uncle Andy and Aunt Jen helped Loren to hide and find Easter Eggs after church on Sunday.





Loren just handed me a present, by the way, and said, "I have a present for you to open, Dad! I wrapped a key chain for you! Surprise!" This keychain, by the way, is one that came free in some solicitation for money and I'd given it to her 2 days ago.

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Stardate 63261.45 - Wingmen Video Featured on YouTube

The Artemis Eternal Wingman Video was featured on YouTube. If you haven't seen it yet, please check it out.

Although I was not able to be in this one (wasn't in Virginia when it was being shot there), I am nevertheless, a Wingman.

NYC