update

well, it has been so long since i blogged i can barely remember!
we had a great visit with tips, milla and poppy. we kept ourselves very busy and had a wonderful time.
so let's start at the beginning and see how much i can remember.
thursday i drove up to boston and picked everyone up, it worked out great b/c chris was able to keep zaven home. that night we got home ate dinner visited a little and then slept. friday morning we were up early

zaven and nell
and poppy and chris were off to sail newport where poppy joined and passed his sailing inspection with flying colors, the executive director ended up giving him his on test!
it sounded like they had a great time. chris and poppy both took turns sailing the boat.
i played tennis while milla and tips stayed with the kids.


tips and nell
then "the girls" headed off to the newport flower show that was being held at rosecliff. it was a beautiful event and very enjoyable. poppy and zaven went to 1st beach and rode the carousel and played, while chris went to the gym. as we left the flower show a rain storm kicked up and luckily we called poppy and zaven and scooped them up before the bottom fell out!
we zipped by the ice cream shop and then headed home.
that night chris and i had dinner plans at a parishioners house so milla, poppy, tips and the kids went to anthony's and had lobster!
saturday we went down into newport and walked around and shopped and had lunch at the Black Pearl, known for its clam chowder. the weather was beautiful. that night we grilled swordfish and had vergetables from tips' garden that they had checked through on the plane! what a treat.

poppy and nell
sunday we went to church and chris had a great sermon about grace. we did coffee hour. then chris and poppy headed back out for more sailing. having some delicious salmon for dinner. followed by a walk at sachuest point


milla and poppy at sachuest point
monday, aunt laurie, jim and leander and laura came over for a picnic on the beach. poppy and i made a delicious brick sandwich for the occasion and pb&j for the kids. it was great. that night we went out for a wonderful sail on a 12 meter, the american eagle. previously owned by ted turner. it was a great time. we were told we could bring drinks and snacks. but i am not sure why, there was not time to eat. we helped with the sailing and were at about a 45degree angle most of the time.
after we got ashore we stopped and got burritos.

poppy on the 12 meter
tuesday we dropped poppy at the bus station so he could head to the airport. meanwhile, milla, tips and i went to lunch at the new york yacht club with a parishioner. it was a beautiful day and we sat outside and admired the harbor while enjoying lobster rolls and macaroons.

tips and the harbor
while there we were also invited out today to see the tall ships and go sailing. and that is what zaven and i did this afternoon.
again, a great time.

captain zaven

bennett and zaven on maritime

we are missing our milla poppy and tips. ned, ellen and thier kids are coming tomorrow. should be more fun!

picnic

i love a picnic. so when i heard that the bird sanctuary was having a picnic from 6-8 with music games and a sunset hike, i packed up the kids and headed out (chris had a meeting).
zaven wanted pb&j (with cashew butter, not peanut, and mixed raspberry and apricot jellies), pizza goldfish and a cookie. i took a salad with tomatoes, feta, olives and mint, a plum and a banana.
here is nell admiring my plum. she gummed it for about 10 minutes.


zaven played with some of the other kids



and made his mad face when i suggested that he eat some of his sandwich before eating his giant cookie.



then the kids played animal charades and we went for a hike, although it was not the sunset hike to hanging rock, as advertised. it was a walk to the pond. we saw some swans and their babies. came back and listened to some music.
it was a really nice night.

today, zaven had grace over. they played well together. nell and i did laundry and cleaned the bathrooms and made the beds. we ordered pizza tonight for dinner. chris was in providence for a meeting.

tomorrow we will finish cleaning up and head for boston to pickup milla, poppy and tips! nell and i will go get them, while zaven and chris go to a party. should be a good day.

oh yeah... there are some baby skunks living in our yard! so stay tuned to see who gets sprayed.

housekeeping

well, let's just say, it is not my forte.
so since mom, tips and dad are coming on thursday, i am trying to get things in order.
the laundry is done, but i need to make the beds and put the towels out and then just dusting vacuuming etc.
i am going to try to a little bit each day until then. should be fine. but i am sure i will be running around cleaning up on thursday too. all that being said, we are very excited about their visit.
we also just changed out what was holding out tv and stereo stuff.

i think the new set up looks pretty good. not magazine worthy. but pretty good. i wish we had some amazing system that was all encompassed in some small stylish box, but alas we just have all this stuff. but the file cabinet was from the "trash and treasures" tent at the church garden party, no one bought it so we got it for free!
the tv cabinet thing we had in atlanta was great because we could close it, but it is enormous for our current space. the ceilings are so low if would feel like it was towering over us.we also got this lamp.

now obviously something has to be done about the top thing. but i really like the base. and again you can't beat the price!!!

today has been pretty dull. the weather is good and we had heard yesterday that today was newport county day, meaning that the tourist attractions are free to residents of newport county...ie, us. but i picked up a weekend paper and i can not find anything confirming that. i have also looked in the two weekly publications and there was no mention of it. we enjoyed a great harbor tour last year during the newport county days, and i was hoping to do the same today, but i don't think it is going to happen.
we also returned two dvds we had borrowed from some folks. went by third beach to check on some catamarans we had seen there over the weekend,


which appeared to be for rent. but, alas, they were not there today and the guy at the parking lot said it was a one time thing. i will check back next weekend, because i don't think he knew what he was talking about. but we will see.

i pushed zaven on his swing for a long time, while nell sat in her stroller and watched. then zaven played in his sprinkler beach ball and ran around until he was cold. now nell is sleeping and zaven is playing pirates. i may make one more call about the boat ride. but now it is a little overcast. hmmm.

Happy Father's Day

To all the dads out there. Happy Father's Day. Especially, Papa, Poppy, Godfathers Peter, Charlie and Greg. I hope you have a good one.
We will be giving Chris his gifts after church. I am not sure if he is going to be surprised of not. the gift has been in my car for awhile and he may or may not have seen it already. oops.

yesterday we had a nice day. chris had a blessing of a relationship and zaven nell and i went to the farmer's market. it was a beautiful day. then we all got home at the same time and had a little picnic in the backyard followed by chris and zaven putting together the extremely cool hydrogen car that meg sent zaven for his birthday. they had a good time working on it together and it was very cool process.



then we headed up to sachuest point for a walk. again the weather was just too nice to not be outside. then we stopped by anthony's for some fish for dinner.

then chris and i rented babel. it was good. but i was so nervous waiting for terrible things to happen in each sequence.

the art of the playdate

there must be one. i am not sure zaven and i know it...
we have a friend of zaven's over today, grace.
he is very bossy of his guest. i am trying not to intervene unnecessarily, that they might work it out on their own. but someone is constantly running to "tell on" the other. today my approach is to assure them that they are good friends and to work it out. and if zaven insists that he is the "boss" then i let him know that as boss he has to make sure everyone else is happy, that that is part of his job. seems to be working pretty well.
here are some pictures, they ate lunch in the elephant tent outside and played in there for a long time. when they spilled some snack they let dante come in and clean it up for them.


nell and i have been doing yet more laundry, it never ends! making spinach dip for the choir party tonight and trying to get nell to eat some more food. i gave her applesauce. she is not a fan. what little i do sneak in her mouth she makes a terrible face. i keep trying, assuming she will get the hang of it. the rice cereal she still thrashes her head around. but what i get in her mouth she swallows without too much fuss. i guess i will try peas next... we shall see.
she is enjoying more of her toys lately too. here she is looking at a tower of soft blocks. zaven stacks them up and she knocks them over.


yesterday, zaven, nell and i went to the beach to play with grace and henry. it was a cloudy and 60 degree day, but they still had a great time.
so far the first week without school has been good. playdates are a great way to keep everyone happy. i can certainly get more done and not feel guilty about not playing with zaven and nell seems to like to watch all the crazy antics of zaven and his friends.

meanwhile, chris has been working about every hour of everyday. this morning we were trying to remember the last day he did not work, and this week it is more of the same. vestry, meeting in providence, memorial services, weddings, on and on. he is very busy. we will have to do something nice for fathr's day.. like leave him alone and let him take a nap!

well

you can't do laundry all day, if you don't start in the morning!



the last two days that is what i have done. the good news is, i am almost done and nell likes to play in the laundry basket.

zaven had a friend over today and that was fun.

on and on

we have had another jam packed couple of days. it has been fun.
friday morning we were up and off to zaven's graduation festivities. he did a great job singing.


after the performance there was a picnic and playing outside. making plans with some friends and saying goodbye to others. he loved his first year at his new school and will be at the same place in the butterfly class in the fall.


from there we went by the church to say hi to all the people working to get ready for the garden party. nell and i chatted with the ladies in the kitchen.
zaven followed the sexton around and helped him.

then we came home and got ready for the sitter to come. and chris and i headed out on the "booze cruise" with the bishop and clergy. it was a nice time. but they don't tell you it is a 4 hour cruise. i was a little worried about nell. but she did great. she i did not eat her bottle, but she did not starve or cry the whole time either so that was good. i met some nice people and their nice spouses which was fun. we will see several of them again tonight at a bbq we are going to and some others again next sunday at another bbq. our social calendar is filling up. surely a sign of our settling in here. it really does seem to take a year.

so then saturday chris was up early and off to the church to work. i showed up with the kids and bagels at about 10:45. I was planning to come home for a while, but we stayed on until 6pm. long day! zaven had a blast helping blow up balloons in the morning and then playing in the games tent and "winning" prizes. again the kids of the church were so sweet to him and kept track of him for me. nell and i just walked around and hung out. i think that it was a successful event. the weather pretty much cooperated. it is a funny thing. you certainly don't want it to rain, but if the weather is too nice then you have to compete with the beach. we certainly were not competing with the beach, but i don't think what little rain we did have, held anyone back. so that was nice.

here is a cute pic of nell playing with a hotwheels car. brice, it looks like we may have another car enthusiast on our hands!


today the fun continues, we have church, i am playing tennis at 1, zaven is going to a birthday party at 3- 4:30 and then the sitter is coming at 6 so that chris and i can go to the bbq. this one is no kids, next week with kids.

update. won at canadian doubles today...two against one! it was fun.
le

might as well fill er up.

well, this is not about the cost of gas and therefore the cost of gassing up the pilot (which is painful).
this is about the car load of kids i had today. there were 5! i agreed to be a driver for zaven's preschool.
i took zaven, nell, and three other cuties to the FOP where the graduation for zaven's school is, tomorrow. and where they were practising today. now, given that this is the last day until september that i have scheduled someone else to care for zaven, you might think i might want to enjoy my free time. and i did consider that. but then i decided, hey it might be fun.

and i was right. it was fun. the kids i had were so cute and it was not bad at all. but what a zoo. luckily i have the wiggles on my i pod and they were pretty excited about that. so we had some good tunes, the windows down and on the way back i was able to dig up a pack of fruit snacks, they each got 2. and were happy.
i wish i had had a recorder. it was free association at it's best. one says "do you know what my dog's name is?" the others chime in, "my dad is allergic to cats" " my sister has a cat" ... on and on.
"zaven, what is your mom's name" he says "laura, but i call her my mom, or mama"

i sat through the rehearsal, and even went ahead and videod it in case zaven does not stick it out tomorrow, with the crowds. they did a great job.
a very cute bunch of kids. tomorrow should be fun.
zaven calls it "gradulation"

in other news today, i finally stopped at the 7-eleven to find out if i heard right on the radio, that they had crystal light slurpees.


and it was true. and delicious. a nice cold zero calorie treat for the summer.

mornings

so, nell has gotten too big and busy for zaven to hold her like he used to.
but now they like to put their star blankets on the ground (she has a pink blanket with different color stars, he has a blue blanket with yellow stars) and sit together.
here they are, enjoying each other this morning.

a rant

okay, i am the first to admit that i am not the perfect parent. far from it. but i do try to do a good job and be informed.
so anyway, i ran into a woman who has a little girl zaven's age and younger child, who i had never met. today she had the little boy with her and i said " oh i have never met your little boy" and she said "oh this is xxx" okay well...she was holding him in the "bucket style" car seat. his feet were hanging way over the end. so i said, " i can't believe you can still carry him in that thing" and she said "well, he won't be one for another 6 weeks"



okay so just to help those of you who are not familiar with the ways of infant carseats/carriers...nell grew out of hers 2 months ago. at 4 months old, she was too big. this kid is 11 months old! they are only suitable for children under 27" and under 20 lbs. (now, to be fair, some of the new ones can be used up to 32" and 30 lbs, but this was not one of those)
how could this woman be so clueless? she is a college graduate, i assume literate. i don't know, i was baffled. maybe i am being too hard on her. but, wouldn't the fact that the kids legs are 6 or more inches over the edge be a clue. this information is widely available. nell's dr even asks me what kind of seat she is in.
i see people misusing car seats all the time driving down the road, but i expect more from people that i know. and yes, i get that people used to not use car seats at all and lived to tell about it. but i believe that you do the best you can with the current information.

so anyway that is it for me today.

more fun

on monday we enjoyed a day off. we visited a beautiful place here called "wetstone". we were lucky enough to receive an open invitation to go back, we hope to often. there is a great swimming hole, no sand!




here is a cute pic of nell as she waited for her first taste of rice cereal. she is still not a fan.


and here is zaven preparing to play on his hoppy ball that lexie sent him for his birthday. he had a blast.
he is doing great playing in the backyard. swinging, riding his bike, etc.



zaven's dr's appointment went well. he got four shots. and then we had to go to the lab for some blood work. that put him over the edge. he was hysterical. the nurses were so nice. we made it through it. the doctor was nice and checked if he knew his colors, how to draw a straight line, a circle, his eyesight. he seems to be doing great. he is 38.5 lbs (70%) and 3 ft 6 in (85%).

today i played tennis and that was nice. felt pretty good, only a few shots that looked more like i was playing baseball, hitting for the fences.
then zaven, nell and i ran some errands while chris hit the gym. then chris had a wedding rehearsal and it was scallops for dinner.
chris and i watched "the queen" on dvd tonight. it was good.