Ice Cream!

We also eat a lot of ice cream when we visit NY.  It's sort of like a sport in this area of the state.  So we headed off to a local spot in town and enjoyed some of their finest vanilla soft serve cones:

Hahahaha!  Mommy never gives us this much sugar at home!

Check out my ice cream mustache!

When in NY...

... do as the locals do.

In this case, it refers to eating French crullers.  I fondly recall this pastry from my childhood and teenage years.  Every Sunday my grandfather would bring me a fresh bagel and a French cruller.  While I was in college, the bakery went out of business.  Before each trip home, my grandfather would call all of the bakeries he knew to see who would be making crullers that weekend.

So when Adam and Ashley's grandfather found a new bakery that made French crullers just like I remembered, it brought back lots of wonderful memories.  And lots of funny photos!

oooohhhhh.  This IS good.

Isn't my chocolate mustache cute?

O' sole mio!  How I love these crullers!

Who needs a fresh bagel?  I've got a cruller.

Adam has a point.  This IS good.

I have a chocolate mustache too!

Goin' To NY

I was eating dinner and suddenly noticed a pile of stuff on the small table.  So I grabbed the camera and did what any normal parent of today would do:  interview the responsible toddler. 

Update from the Urban Farmers

Dear Farm Fans,

Please accept our sincerest apologies.  We were so surprised by our early harvest that we ate it all.  And forgot to blog about it.  This year we used some row cover to keep things warmer and slightly drier for our asparagus and strawberries.  The first harvest of the year was a solitary stalk of asparagus.  Here was our second harvest, taken on May 5.  Considering the weather we've had this spring, the harvest felt like it was on the early side.

No, shoes aren't relevant to asparagus.  But it was the closest thing I could grab to give a sense of scale.

Quit yer kvetchin'.  Photos of the kids return tomorrow.

Go For a Walk

Poor Adam.  All he wants to do is take Lambie for a walk.

Poor Lambie.  All she wants to do is be held by Grandma Carole.  Failing that, she'll pose for photos.  Who will stand their ground?  Let's find out:

Even our cousin tried to help.

Tooth Brushing

Everyone brushes their teeth.  Even our dolls:

Ingenious!

Adam really likes to find multiple uses for all of his toys.  This was all his idea, not mine.

Driver's License

Uncle Scott, now clearly the kids' favorite NY relative, handed over the keys to a few battery powered toys.  Wow.  These kids don't want to wait until they're 16 to drive, that's for sure.  

I'll say this for Adam:  he's lucky that he doesn't get his riding skills from his father.  Last time his father was on a snowmobile, he ran into a tree.  True story.  Just ask MLD about it next time you see him.

Ava and Ashley were quite the driving duo:

This toy probably isn't even manufactured anymore for safety reasons.  It's will be fairly apparent what those reasons are when you watch the clip.  And if the sun hadn't already fried my brains, I probably should have required a helmet.  Rookie mom mistake.

A-Cycling We Will Go

Over the past few weeks we spent a lot of time in NY playing with our cousins.  It's been fantastic!  New toys, new experiences, new video clips.  Here's the first of many:

I Think I Can

I Think I Can.  I Think I Can.  I Think I Can Read!

Not really.  Read any book to either of these two enough times and they will memorize it.  Still a neat trick, eh?

Sheep-ish Massage

It's been a very busy start to spring, which means it's been harder to find the time to blog as often as I'd like.  Without further delay, I'd like to share a video clip that I've been meaning to post for quite some time.  Look closely at the end and you'll see how this post earned its name.  Enjoy!

Resourceful Citizens

In this clip, the citizens are very resourceful.  Faced with the lack of toddler swings and a mother who insists they can entertain themselves, the citizens had no choice but to figure out the swing on their own.

This is what they devised:

Not bad, eh?

Singing Sensations

Hit it, kids!

Camera Shy?

Sometimes I think Adam is camera shy.  It's very hard to get a photo of him.  On our last hike I was rewarded with this photo:

Freeze!

Mommy:  Ashley, freeze so I can take a photo.
Ashley:  OK!  And this is what she did:

Mommy:  Ashley, why are you making a face?
Ashley:  Because I'm freezing!

After we got that out of the way, the photos improved.

Horn Pond Hike

Have you ever been to Horn Pond in Woburn?  It's beautiful.  Great place to walk, explore and see a lion:

Ashley's Second Haircut

This haircut went much smoother than I had hoped.  Turns out all this kid needs to sit still is a smahtphone and Daniel Tiger:

Not me?  I don't have to get my hair cut?  Finally!  I can smile near a barber!

This Daniel Tiger chap is quite engaging.

Success!  Lollipops for all.