Truck Drivin' Man (and women)

Friday was Truck Day at the Tolland Library, so we went truckin' with our friend Emmy.

An attempt by all at looking excited (though they really were)

They had a lot of fun, but apparently when they went with dad to truck day last year, ice cream was served. There was a lot of concern about where the ice cream was. We had to settle for complimentary water bottles. Everyone was obviously thrilled... :)

Livin' La Vida Loca

Livin the CRAZY LIFE is a perfect way to describe Matt's past month. In 5 weeks, he was traveling during 4 of them.

First he was off to the Domican Republic doing some research for a project he is working on with some friends at Duke. (research on vote buying, in case you were curious)

Here's Matt outside Faro de Colon (aka Columbus' palace). Technically it was Diego Columbus, Christopher's nephew, but who really get's picky when we're talking 1492, ya know? This plaza was also the staging ground for Cortez and Pizarro's invasions. Sir Francis Drake also took care of business here too. Gosh, having Matt around gives us so much more information than just Cara...who would have guessed?


He got to go to the the temple in Santo Domingo a couple of times as well. Pretty!

On his last night, he ate dinner at La Meson de la Cava (The Cave Inn), a very nice restaurant actually in a CAVE. Note the awesome rock wall behind him. And since I wasn't there, he ate dinner with a stalactite.

Overall, a successful trip and he got done what needed to be done for work, which was good too.

Next, he was off to NYC for a 36 hour excursion to get his Brazilian Visa (for trip #3). Yea that Meg lives there so that he had a free place to stay and some company too. (thanks Meg--he liked the crepes and Thai food)

Of course, knowing Matt, the first thing he did after going to the Brazilian consolate, was to meet his best friend. Together at last!

His 36 hour adventure also included getting to see Bobby Flay on the street taping part of his TV show, seeing Brian Williams at the NBC Store (what the heck was he buying?!), and seeing a free Moby concert at 30 Rock. That's really how he saw Brian Williams. My only question was "Who's Moby?" He tells me he worked a little on that trip too....I'm still unsure about that!

And finally, the trip that he was anticipating for about 18 months--a conference in Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL (ok, Brasil). Thanks to awesome weather up here in New England resulting in a cancelled flight and a late connection, he first got to spend a FULL day in Miami.

Here's Matt at Miami Beach. (no swimming for Matt, he had his laptop and didn't trust those Floridians).

Finally RIO!!! Here's Matt at the Botanical Gardens. Oh so pretty. There was a family of monkeys playing in the trees that he got to watch for a while.

There was also a family of monkeys hanging out on this table. Gross!

And here's Matt atop Sugar Loaf Mountain, overlooking Copacabana Beach. How beautiful is that!!!! There was a lot of rain and cloudiness but fortunately there was a bit of clear sky on his last day.

Highlights of the trip included playing beach volleyball with some locals (and feeling like he was pretty pathetic), eating lots of meat (note: I ate meat while he was gone too--it was called 'chicken nuggets'--no bitterness here), and going to an upscale party with good food and guava souffle with ice cream for dessert. Oh yea, the conference was good too.

He tells me that he would definitely take me someday, though for now I'm content just having him stay in Connecticut and not travel for a good long while.

I Lost It

It happened. The first tooth has been lost.

Gotta love a kindergarten smile. Oh how we tried, but between awkward smiling age and overbite, it was hard to get a shot where you could really see the hole.

Funny that the first tooth we found loose is still in her mouth. Within a few days, Mary suddenly had 4 loose teeth. It became very clear that one of the bottom two was going to go first. She went to bed last night with a lot of wiggles, but I still thought we had a few days before the big 'event.' She woke up this morning and it was LOST. Literally. Lost from her mouth, lost for good. Don't know if it got swallowed or lost in the bed somewhere, but we have searched and can't find it. The tooth fairy is getting a note tonight instead of a tooth.

Speaking of the tooth fairy....the tooth actually being lost added a sense of urgency to my making a 'tooth pillow'. It's amazing what you can do when there is a time frame of necessity.

Actually, I'm feeling pretty proud of it. I made two, so that she and her cousin Hailey can have matching tooth pillows.

Now if only there was that same sense of urgency about those curtains for Andrew's room...

Kids Can Do Hard Things!

Thinking a lot about my kids (and kids in general) and the things they are able to do. Life asks a lot of us sometimes and it's been fun to watch my kids do hard things.

MARY--recently she felt left out with something because of her food allergies (and actually this happens more often than I wish) and was so brave and mature about it. I've been impressed with her time and time again regarding her allergies and the way she handles them.

ANDREW--a few weeks ago he was asked to say the 5th Article of Faith in Primary at church. We worked on it all week and he memorized it! Bless his heart. I even asked him about it again today and he can still say it. It's fun watching our kids rise to the occasion when we give them the chance.

WHITNEY--I took the diapers away on Thursday and the potty training began. What a girl! The first few days had me wondering what I was doing, but it's only Tuesday and the past three days have been accident free (knock on wood). She has done SO well and I've been impressed with her ability to figure it out.

ANNIE--just look at her. It's got to be SO hard to be SO cute and SO good all at the same time. How does she do it?

Wiggle It, Just a Little Bit

Our first loose tooth has arrived!! Two actually. We got home from a birthday party Friday night and Mary said her tooth felt wierd. Sure enough....both top front teeth are loose. Talk about excitement at our house. The next morning she wanted me to take a picture of her and her loose teeth, pajamas, bedhead and all!

Andrew was excited about her loose teeth, then he cried because he wanted one too. Fortunately he is back to being excited for her. I have a feeling this is going get emotionally ugly before it's all over. Mary, our drama queen, will be sure of that!

Happy Birthday, dear Matt....

Matt hit the big 3-2 last week! The kids sent him on a present treasure hunt and were so excited by it that Matt never actually found any of his gifts. He had lots of helpers. After Mary's birthday and then party, we were getting a bit tired of regular cake, so Matt went with the ever delicious Eclair Cake for his birthday treat! Delicious.

"Look! I found a treasure!"

Happy Birthday Matt!!!! We love you!

With Mary's birthday and party combined with all of his crazy traveling lately, I felt like his birthday was pretty lame-o. Fortunately he still loves us. At least I think he does--He was in the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks in May, right after his birthday he went to NYC for 2 days to get a Brazilian visa b/c he just left today to go to a conference in Rio de Janeiro for 5 days!

Maybe we should have given him a more awesome birthday so he'd stop leaving!!!! :)

(after this trip, the traveling is done and we're all relieved about that, including him!)