All The Days of My Life
January 8, 2009 at 5:15 pm | In Miscellaneous | Leave a CommentTags: love, Miscellaneous, photos
My friend who blogs as NOLA Notes recently wrote how we tend not to photograph the times when our kids are cranky, crying, hurt, etc. This leads us to look back on our year as if it was ALL smiles and sunshine. I commented that I had pictures of Oliver crying and grumpy that I would post.
It seems I remember taking pictures of many more tantrums than I actually did. Here’s what I’ve got:
Click on the thumbnails below to see the full sized photo on Flickr.
Now that I’ve noticed that I really do not capture all of the moments, I am going to try harder to tell the whole story. Not just the happy days or special events, but ALL the days of our lives.
Different Strokes For Different Folks
September 15, 2008 at 12:25 am | In East Coast, Miscellaneous | 4 CommentsTags: Add new tag, beach, jersey shore
It always amazes me how different people can be. How many ways there are to be a family. How many ways to take a trip, go on vacation, spend your spare time.
This was especially apparent today when we took a trip to the beach. I compared and contrasted how we did things today to the way they were when I was a kid. In other words, how I do thing differently from my parents. For example:
Then: We would never get to the beach early enough to get a spot on Ocean Ave., so we would have to walk three or four blocks in the hot sun before hitting the beach.
Now: We either get to the beach real early, or we don’t go until after 4, when the people who got the good parking spot are ready to leave. Almost always park less then one block from beach, and temp is still below the hottest of the day.
Then: All three kids and both parents were loaded down like pack mules for the multi-block walk: Cooler, lunch bag, chairs, blanket, towels, change of clothes, castle building toys and water toys.
Now: One towel apiece, enough cash for snacks, point-and-shoot camera. We still bring the castle building toys and bucket; we’re not philistines.
Then: Play in the sun all day, eat a sandy peanut butter sandwich and a warm Shasta cola.
Now: Go inside for lunch, re-apply waterproof sunscreen.
Then: Completely shower off, change into clean dry clothes for the ride home. Apply Solarcaine when you get home and realize you have turned the color of a cooked lobster.
Now: Rinse off your feet, play on the swings or sit at a cafe until you are dry enough to get in the car, vacuum up later. No sunburn.
The beach, which was a major event, taking planning and a whole day to recover when I was a kid, is a no fuss, “do it at the drop of a hat” thing for us now. That’s better, to me – but I’ll bet the wet sandy butts in the car would be no good as far as my parents are concerned!
Hurricane Harbor
August 15, 2008 at 10:47 pm | In Amusement Parks, East Coast, Music | Leave a CommentTags: disabilities, summer, Travel, water, water park
Our nine year old niece is visiting this weekend, so this morning we set out to Hurricane Harbor, the Six Flags water park nearby. The greatest thing about living 15 minutes from a theme park is that you get to go even when the day is overcast, you slept late, and you know you may not have more than a few hours anyway. All the pressure is off. We’ve had season passes to this park ever since we moved here 5 years ago. They make it impossible not to – if you go to the park twice all year, it’s cheaper to buy the season pass. The way I think of it, every visit after the first two is free. So, you actually go more, because who cares if its raining, or a little chilly, it’s not like you are losing any money on it.
Unless, of course, you become hungry or thirsty during your visit. In that case, lose hope for your pocketbooks all ye who enter. I got a kid’s size Sprite and a medium Diet Coke, and it set me back almost eight bucks.
I am also going out on a limb to say this is not the ideal destination for a traveler with disabilities. Seriously, I do not know how they are not breaking the law by having not one of their waterslides accessible to people who can’t climb stairs. Just because you use a wheelchair doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to strap on a life vest and careen down a waterslide.
The park is clean, and the music has been carefully chosen to make you feel like you are on a beach vacation. They’ve got some calypso tunes, lots of Jimmy Buffet and Beach Boys. If your favorite artist ever recorded a song with “beach,” “surf,” or “island” in it, odds are it’s on the playlist.
They have phtographers through ought the park, and they will give you a wrist band if they take your picture, so you can look at it on the way out. It’s all digital now, so you look on the computer monitor, rather than at a printed copy, like some other places (cough..disney boat..cough) do. It makes so much more sense this way. Today, the photographer pictures were no better than ones I’ve taken myslef at the park, so we passed. I rarely buy these pictures anyway, but have once or twice at other places. I’ll post them when I write about those trips. One in particular was taken with a – gasp – Polaroid. And not the good kind. And we PAID for it. But hey, we were young and in love, and how many times do you get a change to get your picture taken inside a shark?
What’s you favorite photo taken by one of these resort photographers?
Introduction
July 16, 2008 at 12:01 am | In Miscellaneous | Leave a CommentTags: Miscellaneous
We like to travel and we’ve been bringing our son along with us since he was three months old. Visit us to see where we are going, where we’ve been, and how much Oliver has grown along the way.
Contributers include: me (the Mom), with my interests in photography and scrapbooking; Kevin (the Dad), who plays darts and is learning his second type of Karate; and Oliver, our son, who enjoys the typical favorite pursuits of a six year old, such as riding his bike, not eating his vegetables, learing karate, and battleing his Pokemon.
This Year’s First Trip to Great Adventure
April 8, 2007 at 12:00 am | In Amusement Parks, Animals, Holidays | Leave a CommentTags: Easter, Great Adventure
![[oliver+great+adventure.JPG]](http://bp1.blogger.com/_Xwxj-6NvSRQ/Rhjvs5XUv_I/AAAAAAAAABQ/QQDx5TzDLJs/s1600/oliver%2Bgreat%2Badventure.JPG)
Oliver’s Travel Plans
March 24, 2007 at 8:49 pm | In Miscellaneous | Leave a CommentTags: Travel
by Oliver
The Great Wolf Lodge
March 12, 2007 at 8:55 pm | In Amusement Parks, East Coast, Snow, Travels | Leave a CommentTags: Snow, water
Footprints
March 10, 2007 at 12:58 pm | In Snow | 1 CommentTags: love, Snow
By Margaret
Even after five years, it is a wonder to me how something so simple, and made by him unconsciously, can tug at my heartstrings. Heck, before I had him, I didn’t even know I had heartstrings.
The ending of this story is that when I climbed into the jeep and warmed it up, I looked down at the hood, and a perfect heart shape was scribed into the snow frosting it. What a gift from my boys!
Daddy and Oliver’s Fun Day
October 26, 2006 at 12:00 am | In Festivals, Music | Leave a CommentTags: Music, pirates
by Daddy
Now with all that fun, guess what his favorite part was? Rolling down the grassy hill! Well that’s a four year old for you.
Photo by Chris Owen
My Coney Island Adventure
October 15, 2006 at 9:04 pm | In Amusement Parks, East Coast | Leave a Commentby Oliver
Coney Island is cool. They have a beach and I dug in the sand. The waves came and got my legs wet. The water was cold!
They also have a big ferris wheel called the Wonder Wheel. I rode on the rocket ships with Matt and Michael. After that we went to a bakery in Brooklyn that had yummy cookies that had chocolate on them.
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