Ice Cream...

We all scream for ice cream at the Tuck Shop on Shelter Island with the cousins. Blue ice cream with sprinkles was big seller. More to come... just got home from the ferry and need to take a nap.

On Vacation

Finally, we're on vacation! Right now we're hanging with the McKerrow's in Nantucket... tomorrow morning we're heading to Shelter Island to bug Aunt Donna and family. In the picture above... we have Hunter (9 mos), Jack, Piper (5 y.o.) and Harper (8.5 y.o.).

We got here late in the afternoon on Friday and have gone to the beach 2 times, gone fishing, shot of rockets, went out on the boat, hit a tent party on the beach and swung on the swing set for hours on end.


Jack is really enjoying the beach this year. He happily sits and plays in the water, throws rocks and eats chips in a beach chair. The water is very warm and the weather is super... a little hot but with the sea breeze we're doing just fine. He also likes to be pulled fast on the boogie boards...


Stephen brought rockets to shoot off in the yard. We've done it just once so far... the recovery team had a bit of a hard time locating Rocket 2029... finally it was found on the edge of a pond in a neighbor's yard. Whoops.


We hit the Opera House Cup tent party on Sunday evening. It's a party on the beach to celebrate the end of race week. It is sponsored by companies like Sperry's and Vineyard Vines. The kids had a good time dancing on the dance floor... while Stephen and Tim annihilated the raw bar. The folks from Vineyard Vines were handing out pink foam whale hats to the kids... they loved them. The VV people also took a bunch of pictures of the kids wearing the hats... they liked Jack since he was wearing their clothes. Maybe he'll end up in their catalog!





We went out for what was supposed to be a nice cruise in the boat. At first it was fine... we were hanging out and watching the parade of colorful sailboats... then Mt. Jack erupted - complete and total meltdown. It started because he didn't want to wear his life jacket and then tripled in intensity when he found out I didn't bring a "ma ma" on board. Stupid mistake on my part. We ended up having to go back to the slip and let a few of us off the boat. Then Tim took the kids and his Mom back out to sea to do a little fishing... in peace.




Jill and I keep trying find some time to go get a pedicure... shockingly it hasn't happened yet. Maybe this afternoon :)

Jack is totally and completely in love the with the swing set here. I can't even count the hours that Stephen has spent pushing Jack... ugh. What is he going to do when he realizes we're leaving in the morning?

Hangin' with Grandpa Tractor

Yesterday I had to head to NY for the day for a friend's bridal shower. So Jack and I packed up the car early (8:15) and hit the road - leaving Stephen behind for the day. I anticipated a "free day" for Stephen, you know - a nap, lunch... a nap... some snacks... you get the idea. No, instead he did household chores all day.

Anyway, we got to Grandpa Tractor's around 10:45 and the plan was for me to leave at 11:30 to head to the shower. I thought we might have a tough transition when I left, but I was very wrong. Grandpa Tractor invited Jack for the much anticipated tractor ride - and Jack couldn't say bye bye to me fast enough.

The shower was very nice, had a great time seeing Michelle, Christy and Mandi for a few hours. When I was driving back to Dad's I was anticipating a terrible report (tantrum, no eating, no sleeping). Boy was I wrong. He had a great time. Went to visit the cows on the tractor, went for a walk, ate his pasta and actually asked to take a nap. What? Who's kid is this? Glad it went so well - but wonder why he saves his typical 2-year old behavior for Stephen and me?

Here is the "other" tractor... not Grandpa Tractor's real tractor. Apparently this is a back-up?

Showing off by counting to 10 and eating a stick of cheese.


Jack working the controls on the "real" tractor and telling Mom to back off... really nice.

Chillin' with the Jack-man

Jack chilling with Dad on the couch - trying to get comfortable after a long day at school.

On Saturday, Piper stopped by for a little playtime. This is the dynamic duo after a lunch of pasta with butter and lemonade. They both like Caillou... I think Jack is in love. FYI - Piper loves bacon too. In this shot he's playing it cool... very nonchalant.

"Sun"day Fun

Another beautiful day here in Foxboro. No muggy weather and the mosquitoes seem to be declining in numbers finally. Stephen took advantage of the sunny skies and mowed the lawn. Jack wanted to be with him during this chore. So first Stephen tried carrying Jack and mowing at the same time... that just resulted in a very sweaty and tired father. So I suggested putting Jack into the toddler backpack we had gotten from Artie. Brilliant!

It was brilliant until Stephen was mowing under the tree in the front yard and didn't duck down far enough - letting Jack get a face-full of tree. Whoops. No major injuries but we moved onto another tactic. We suggested to Jack that he use his (actually Ryan's) mower to follow behind. This worked for about 30 seconds before a full-on meltdown took place. That means it was time for one thing - a nap!

He finally fell asleep around 1:15... by 4:00 I was making noise in his room to try and wake him up. He looked so peaceful but I didn't want him to sleep for so long - just throws him further off schedule for night-night time.

Look how long he is... he's huge!

When he finally woke up we played a bit then ate some dinner. We tried to think of something interesting to do - and Stephen came up with a winner - we headed to Crescent Ridge in Sharon. It's a dairy bar with real live cows! Woo Hoo!

Jack belted out a few big "moo's" for the enjoyment of the cows.

Took a couple big jumps off the rocks. No injuries to report. Just some bug bites.

They also had a big old tractor (kind of looks like Dad's old one) that Jack took a turn "driving."


Finally went night night around 9pm... tomorrow is a school day. I'm not far behind...

When You're 2...

...you don't need much to entertain you. A cardboard box is fun. A wooden spoon is interesting. A 4x4 piece of plastic with some squirty holes and the hose attached is a darn good time.


Jack and Ryan squirted the water in their faces. Ryan enjoyed drinking the water straight from the mat. Jack tried washing the toy lawnmower.

This morning Stephen and Tom took the boys over to the pool. Tom took control of Jack who only wanted to play in the big pool and Stephen was in charge of Ryan in the kiddie pool. Not sure why it worked out like that but I can assume that it's probably always a little more fun to play with someone you don't get to all that often. Maybe?

I'm just glad we finally had a nice warm day - with no mugginess. Looks like we'll have half a good one tomorrow too.

Beautiful Picture @ Saratoga

Okay - this posting has zero to do with Jack. My friend and former colleague, Ric Easton, took this picture at Saratoga Race Course the other day and posted it to his Facebook account. I loved it so much I thought I'd share it with you. He went up to the track and started taking pictures during the early morning workout (6am)...