New England Ice Cream

I debated on whether to include this post in my food blog (since it is about food), but decided to include it in the family blog since it is heavy on photos and talks about our Maine vacation.

I miss real, good ice cream. I grew up in a home that valued good ice cream. When our family lived in Massachusetts my parents regularly took the whole family for a drive on a summer night to a local ice cream stand, or if we were on the road they'd take us to the best looking ice cream shop in town. To be honest, it didn't have to be at night - ice cream is good anytime. Just ask my dad! He knows where the nearest ice cream places are no matter where he goes. Or, ask my mom! She always made sure to have a variety of ice creams in the freezer.

When we moved down South we noticed the ice cream difference. For starters, the grocery stores only had about five basic flavors to choose from. Fortunately, times have changed, and you can get a wide variety of flavors in even the store-brand ice creams. Secondly, there were no ice cream stands around--certainly none which offered offered really good ice cream for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, times have not changed so much that real, old-fashioned ice cream stands are anywhere close to us. Sure, we have the big-named (expensive) ice cream places where you request add-ins and create your own flavor combos. But, they're just not the same.

Going out to eat ice cream while I was in New England was a priority for me. Unfortunately, the days kept slipping by and I kept missing my post-dinner ice cream opportunities. A solution occurred to me: on my last night in Maine I proposed ice cream instead of dinner. It was a plan that was agreed upon unanimously by the family! Remember, ice cream is good anytime. So, we had a big, late lunch and went out for our dinner ice cream at Lago's: big servings, good prices, and best of all: great ice cream!

Ryan with his "baby" ice cream cone

(chocolate chip maybe? I can't remember). Todd with Rocky Road ice cream.
Ryan (who already finished his ice cream) goes in for a bite of Emily's sherbet. Uncle Dave looks like he's having a hard time figuring out how to best manage the ice cream drips.Afton enjoys ice cream, too!

Two happy siblings, one sticky face

(Adam's--appears to be chocolate...).
Most of the gang made it. We were even able to have Uncle Larry, and Uncle Tim and Aunt Kathy join us. (L-R: Mom, Dad, Laura, Larry, Adam, Dave, Emily, D.C., Kerry, Tim, Kathy)
(L-R: Kerry, Amy, Afton, Todd, Ben)

Cousins! (L-R: Adam, D.C., Kate, Emily, Ryan, Ben, Todd)

Did I mention that I miss real, good ice cream--and summer nights like this? Next time I go back I may even upgrade from the "Kiddie" size cup to a "Small"!
(And, in case you were wondering--which you probably weren't--I got one of the special flavors: Black Raspberry Cookies and Cream . . . yum!)

Boat Ride With Daddy

When I came back from Maine, one of the things that I told Brett about was how much Todd loved going out on the little boat my dad rented for the week. Brett reminded me that we have a little boat of our own that we can cruise around in. Unfortunately, the timing never seems right-there are always things to be done at home or the weather doesn't quite cooperate. You need calm waters to make it a fun ride on Daddy's floundering boat.

I had been planning on working on the rental house yesterday afternoon, but Brett came home early and suggested a family boat ride. He said that as he was driving home over the Bridge that he noticed that the water was really calm. I was concerned that the gray clouds might produce more rain while we were out, but aside from that it was an easy decision: work--boat ride--work--boat ride. . . . I think I'll go with boat ride! [It was a good decision. As it turns out, the weather cooperated beautifully.]

The boys take advantage of the No Wake zone and lay out on the bow of the boat, looking ahead to the bridge we will be going under. Yeah! a bridge! There's even a barge and a crane right beside it! No tugboat though. Sorry, Ryan.
We did go just outside of the pass and into the Gulf. The swells were more than what we felt comfortable with in the little boat so we only stayed long enough to watch some schools of little Shoemakers (I think that's what Brett called them...) jump out of the water around us. That was one of the highlights for the boys. I just loved hearing them (the boys) laugh and laugh as they watched the fish.

Of course I tried to capture the fish on camera. . . naturally, it didn't turn out. Likewise, I tried to capture the dolphin that we saw in the bay on camera. . . naturally, those didn't turn out either. That is always one of the highlights for me - seeing how graceful the dolphin are as they swim nearby.

A surprisingly decent self-portrait.

"Surfing" on the bow in the No Wake zone. (I would have included Todd in this picture if I could actually see what I was taking a picture of. Evidently, my aim was a little off. I broke the display on my camera, and since my camera has no view finder all of my photos from July 19th on have been done by guesswork.)Pictures can be deceiving. One might assume from the following photo that Ryan enjoyed the outing far more than Todd did. Quite the contrary. Ryan tired of it and was is in no hurry to prolong the ride or make plans for another immediate boat outing. I think it is too limiting for him. You can't get out and play (or at least we didn't, since the out-going tide water wasn't the prettiest, and the jellyfish are in now). And, I think he just got kind of bored with the scenery.

Todd, on the other hand, always found things to look at. He wanted to keep going, and was disappointed when Brett turned in to the dock. What you are seeing in these photos is someone who is captivated by his surroundings. Plus, I have noticed that Todd's smile is sometimes a little slower in coming out, especially if he is too busy to pose for the camera.

Look how calm the water is!

This is kind of a goofy photo of me (I am often guilty of over-smiling), but look what Todd got when he took this photo. . . a smiling Daddy. The second one in a month!

Another highlight for the boys. When Brett saw this old sailboat he said, "Aye! I think I see an abandoned ship for us to pillage and plunder!" Although we didn't really do any pillaging and plundering, the boys (all three of them) had fun talking pirate-ese while we circled around the boat checking it out and looking at the little black snappers swimming around it.

How appropriate that this is how the boys were dressed this morning during their "imaginative play" (a.k.a. dress-up) with nary a clue what the afternoon had in store for them.

Silly Sentences

My oldest loves to play games. He is also starting to blend sounds and do other pre-reading skills. I picked up a game called Silly Sentences a few months ago. It has cardboard pieces that you use to build a sentence. There are a number of nouns, some adjectives, two prepositions (on, over), four verbs, the articles (a, the), and a bunch of periods.

Todd set it up on the dining room table yesterday afternoon and all three of us (Todd, Ryan and I) played it together. Todd was able to put together his own sentences. I put together sentences for Todd to read, and I helped Ryan choose words for his sentences. He had just made the sentence: "The scary dinosaur ate a crocodile." Then he wanted the dinosaur to do something different. So I told him about his choice of verbs: climbed, jumped, ate, and saw.

Ryan: Oh yeah. Saw, I want saw
Becca: The scary dinosaur saw a crocodile.
Ryan: No, not "saw"--"sawed."
Becca: Saw.
Ryan: No--"sawed." The scary dinosaur sawed a crocodile.
Becca: You mean "saw" like "cut with a saw"?
Ryan: [using hand motions] Yes, "sawed."

Sorry, Ryan, this game is rated G!

No More Baby Shampoo

My youngest is almost four years old, and I finally decided to stop using baby shampoo. What has taken me so long? Honestly, I don't know, except for the fact that I still wanted something tear-free for my boys' eyes, and I didn't take the time to see what else was out there. I was tired of using the baby shampoo. I wasn't really happy that their hair seemed so dry right after I washed it. I finally looked for something else about a month ago and found Suave for Kids. I bought the Orange Mango Outburst Smoothers 2-in-1 shampoo. I love it. I love the way it smells; I love the way their hair feels. I wish that I had looked for something like this sooner!

Mourning a Loss of . . . Hair

About a month ago Ryan asked Daddy if Daddy would cut Ryan's hair short like Daddy's. Daddy thought this was a great idea. Mommy didn't. Mommy outlawed any cutting of the hair before our trip to Maine for our family reunion. That was agreed and complied with.

However, after we got back from Maine I immediately left for Girls Camp. When I got back from camp my sister-in-law said that almost every day Ryan asked if she would cut his hair because "it's too long." She would snip off a little around the neck or ears, but nothing more. Ryan was not satisfied.

On Sunday Ryan asked Daddy again to cut his hair, reminding him that we had returned from Maine. Daddy told Ryan that he had just taken a shower and didn't want to do it when he was still clean. So, as soon as Daddy came home from work last night Ryan popped the question again. "Daddy, can you cut my hair short? You're still dirty now." How could Daddy argue with that? Ryan had patiently been waiting a month to get his hair cut. Mommy was hoping that the idea would just be a passing fancy, but it was not to be.

Daddy got the clippers and went to work. Ryan was thrilled. Daddy was having a great time. Mommy was not. Brett reminded me that they kept it long for the family reunion and I had no reason to complain. I told him that I still had the right to mourn the loss of my baby (again). He has such soft hair that is so nice to run your fingers through. He ages three years when his hair is cut so short. Plus, he looks like a redneck.
Daddy told Ryan about all of the advantages of short hair. The two had a great time. Even though Ryan knew that Mommy wasn't excited about it, it did not curb his (or Daddy's) enthusiasm. [Daddy was having so much fun he didn't even mind me snapping these photos.]

One reason Ryan was excited about having his hair cut short is because now he can be like not only Daddy, but like his beloved cousin Adam as well as Ben.

Last night as I was putting Ryan to bed he tried to offer me a little comfort. "Mommy, I'm still your baby. . . . Am I still your baby?" Yes, Ryan, you are. With that I sang three lullabies of my choosing: "Sleep My Darling, Good Night" ("Brahms' Lullaby"), "Rock-a-Bye Baby", "All the Pretty Little Horses".

It'll grow back quickly, right? Right??