Well. We know what kind of waitress Annabelle
would be. And we know the type of chiro she'd be
as well. Now, a glimpse of Annabelle the tattoo artist.


We do not hunt, but I used to be married to a
crazy nature photographer.
The kids had a lovely time playing in the "tent".


Watermelon! If all goes well, we'll be eating this
by Halloween.


Half of the cucumber plants got... confused.
They want to be lemons.


As of yesterday, I have about 4.5 inches of the
body done. I'm thinking I will actually pull this off.
Doesn't help that I'm a painfully slow knitter.

Now I know why I was so... desperate to squeeze in the last of summer.

The pool is cold (78), and there are no temps predicted above the high 70s for the next ten days. I'm really glad I snuck in a night swim last weekend.

Annabelle's fifth birthday is next week. I'm attempting to knit her a sweater in 6 days. Possible? I think so. She chose this pattern, which is doable. She also requested a pinata. Other than that, she asked for clothes. I've never met a child who actually asks for clothes for her birthday. We should start saving for RISD now...

Last week, Michele and her crew met us at Look Park. Michele and I used to hang out at look Park back in the day, when we had 3 kids between us. Now there are 6 kids. It made for a crowded train ride.

Enzo got his first real haircut.
It makes him look like a big kid.
I think I'll just let it grow out again...


Not quite sure about the train.


I wish I had bought that "Breeder" shirt
when it was available from HipMama.
I'd wear it all the time.


The tomatoes keep coming.


Northampton Photo Booth
Hannah opted to go in with Eli and Jun.

check, check, check

We had a pretty great weekend. I crossed a few things off of my "before summer ends" list, and added several more.

Saturday was knitting group, take out Chinese food,
backyard fire, and night swimming.


So I may have gone a little tomato hypochondriac.
I spoke with a master gardener at URI, and she concluded
that we do not have the dreaded late blight.
These became salsa on Sunday.


Sunday is my favorite day. Chris and I woke up to
an empty house because the kids had slept at my mom's.
I read the paper, drank my coffee in peace, and we
headed over to my mom's for lunch and swimming.


We had planned a Sunday picnic at the beach, along
with every other Rhode Islander and every surfer
north of Jersey. I've never seen Point Judith so
crowded.


After dinner, we went to Sand Hill Cove in search of
some crowd-free beach time. We stayed until
it was too dark to swim.

sigh

feeling the squeeze

I keep looking at the calendar and freaking out about summer coming to an end. The month of rain in June has made me really appreciate the sunshine- I can't remember ever enjoying hot weather so much.

A few days ago, we picked Chris up at work and went to the beach for a picnic dinner. It was really a great way to end the day- we got sandwiches at Pick Pockets, a (large) Newcastle at the liquor store next door, and headed to Scarborough. We ate in the car, enjoyed the waves, and took a not-so-successful walk in the sand with the kidlets in the double stroller. We arrived home way after dark, took showers, and went to bed.

i shake. my horizons are always crooked.


this is how Enzo feels about waves.


Annabelle got REALLY pissed when this washed away.


Enzo butt.


I have a very informal list of things I would like to do/do more of this summer: driving at night with the windows open, cookout #2, nightswimming, a few days in Maine at Ferry Beach, a jaunt to the Berkshires, more days in my mom's pool, and a few more cloves outside after bedtime... Can I fit that into 3 weeks?

also.
Yesterday, I realized that my license expired on my birthday. In 2008. oops.

Garden Update

Our garden is doing pretty well. Grandpa counted 165 tomatoes before he left on vacation. I feel like I'll be making a LOT of salsa soon. Our cucumbers are stubby and yellow, but they taste fine.

The flowers that Annabelle picked out are gorgeous. I let her choose three trays, but the names have since washed off of the stakes. The only one I can identify is the cosmos.

in desperate need of weeding


Cosmos


Unidentified flowers


Vincenzo has been eating cherry tomatoes
right off of the vine.


Chris and the kiddos at Colt State Park

Summer reading

Last week (on vacation) I managed to plow through nearly 6 books. I get a little library-request crazy right before vacation. This year I started early and everything I requested actually came in (before we left). I pretty much enjoyed all of them, but couldn't get through Young and Revolting: The Continental Journals of Nick Twisp. Too much Nick Twisp? Not the right mood? It bugs me when I can't finish a book.

I ended up re-reading The Widow's War, which was my back-up in-case book. I also enjoyed:

Pages for You
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
The Lace Makers of Glenmara (and)
Landing

And then Chris and I went to Barnes and Noble. I must have looked incredibly silly, balanced on one foot, crutches leaning against the book pile, writing down nearly every title on one display table. My post-vacation request list includes:

Lipstick Jihad
The Delivery Room
Well Enough Alone
Why is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?
Shelf Discovery: Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading
Sleeping Naked is Green
The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death (and)
Honeymoon in Tehran

Completely unrelated: We now have ZERO children who wear diapers. I don't even want to know how many diapers I have changed/washed over the years. The kids have spent a collective 7.8 years in diapers. I feel a big saggy cotton weight lifted.

Home again home again

Well... we're home. I'm sick of even talking about the flea situation. There is still a situation.

It's good and bad to be home. Upon waking, Enzo asked if we could go back to Virginia. Not a bad idea, kid.

Annual family pic... minus C
my dad doesn't usually make that face


past the waist!

Two crutches, no camera

so i have neglected to photographically document the past few days of our vacation, since i've been hopping around on either two crutches (ouch. painful.) or one foot (like a douchebag).

A few days ago we had cleared out of the pool in anticipation of a big storm. Loretta and I were lounging around waiting for the thunder while Enzy rode his trike around the pool. He took a tight corner and wham! into the water. He was, of course, on the other side of the pool, and I moved faster than I've moved in a while. I took a flying leap into the water, and brought him up. He noted that he was "scared", and that he "went underwater". I did not notice that my foot hurt until about an hour later.

I figured it was no biggie, and I did a little hobbling, dropped some Motrin, and iced it at bedtime. The next morning I couldn't walk on it at all, and any weight on it shot my pain level to a 7. My 10 is an 11 pound baby.

So off to the ER for xrays and such, although not without a shower and some coffee, because really... who wants a stinky and un-caffeinated patient? I didn't break anything, but was given the instructions to stay off it, medicate ATC, and I got to take my nifty xrays home.

The only significant things on my xray were a few bone spurs. I have the feet of an old lady, thanks (probably) to the few years i spent en pointe before I painted my toe shoes black and quit ballet.


Anyhow. Vacation is coming to a close. Tomorrow's our last day; it's supposed to rain until the afternoon. Tomorrow night is packing time, and then Chris and I and the two little ones are heading home. Hannah's staying for another 3 weeks or so, and then it's back to the grind.

if I had (more than) a million dollars

I would have a lovely house, on a lake, with a big back porch and a salt-water swimming pool. Until then, however, my dad's will do.

Vacation (so far) has been awesome. Loretta, Hannah, and I have been walking at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens every morning. We've seen the baby eagles twice. This afternoon mama (or papa) Eagle flew right over my dad's house. We've had Starbucks every morning, and spent pretty much every day in the pool. The kids have been crashing at 8:30, and then the Skip-Bo-ing happens.
The weather report for the next 5 days is high 80s/scattered thunderstorms.
This vacation gets an "A", and we haven't even gotten to date night.











I haven't been knitting as much as I thought I would.
Still obsessing about which size to knit.
It will eventually be this.