School Days

Well, today was Maria's first day of school - yep, my little girl is a Kindergartener! It's hard to believe - I can remember bringing her home from the hospital and thinking how weird it was that I was actually a "Mom". Today I felt like one more than ever...

Here she is - in her brand-new-first-day-of-school-outfit!

Here we are in front of Meachum school. Check out Maria's hot new Hello Kitty lunch box!

And there she goes...

I felt my eyes tear up a couple of times during the whole ordeal, but I held it together - I didn't want to traumatize Maria! It wasn't until the walk home that I totally started crying! I don't know why it felt like such an emotional thing - it just did. And I have to say, I missed her during the day - I really, really did. Josephine seemed pretty unphased by the whole thing, luckily. Anyhow, the first day is over, and I think that is probably the hardest part...

One last trip to the beach...

Okay, here's my plug about swinging - IT'S GREAT!! Seriously - it is a very underrated cheap thrill for adults. For years I have just pushed my kids on the swings - it never occurred to me to take a turn! Well, this summer I decided that it was high time that I revisit the old childhood favorite, and boy, what a rush! And I don't mean the whole sitting-on-the-swing-and-lazily-swinging-six-inches-back-and-forth-thing...I mean swinging, really high! If haven't swung since you were a kid, I highly recommend that you go and do it sometime soon. It's only September - you've still got time!!

I mean, look how happy I look - aren't you jealous...

So, how good are your eyes - can you find Josephine in the background here?

Aaaaa, one last day at the beach, and boy did we revel in it. We hated to leave...

Is it me, or does Josephine look like Godzilla trying to terrorize a small city in this picture?

What a cool tree - started out as one, and grew into four separate trunks. Look at Maria - she looks so carefree...enjoy it sucker, you start school in three days!

Oh summer, we will miss you!

Just the three of us...

I am painfully aware that I have only one week left before my baby goes off to Kindergarten, and I must say - I am dreading it. I just know that I'm going to be that Mother who cries the whole way home after dropping her child off for her first day. I just feel like I'm not ready to give Maria up for the whole day, everyday - I'm going to miss her too much! And, is it me, or is she a little too young to go all day every day without her Mommy?! She's only five, for crying out loud!!

On that note, I've been trying to squeeze in all these end of the summer special things with the girls. I just don't want to feel like I wasted my last week of the three of us being together all day. In that spirit, I took the girls to Willow Bay (a part of Onondaga Lake Park) for the afternoon yesterday. It was a gorgeous sunny day, the perfect chance for us to get out and enjoy the last days of summer freedom...

Vroom Vroom - We are READY to go! Maria on her bike and Josephine taking her baby for a walk in the stroller.

I don't know why, but this picture reminds me of the ones that you see taken by the paparazzi in those gossip magazines (not that I would EVER look at one of those things). Of course, it's my totally unbiased opinion that she's cuter than any of those celebrity babies!

This was my attempt at taking some pictures to possibly use in our Christmas card. Too bad I can never get them both to look at me AND smile at the same time!

We biked, pushed strollers, and walked all over the place. We just took our time and explored until the girls got tired. We found a cute little creek that fascinated them for a good long time (don't you love how excited kids get about the little things?).

The girls were pretty tuckered out by the end of the day, but of course there is always energy for the playground! We played there for a good bit (yes, WE - I played on the playground, too - my kids don't ever let me get away with just watching them play, which is good - it keeps me young!) and then headed back home. I decided that the perfect end would be a trip to Gannon's Isle for some ice cream, and the girls agreed! A fun day, indeed...

Off to the fair!

The New York State Fair is regarded in this area as the unofficial end of summer, so the feeling is always a little bittersweet when we go - I'm not ready for summer to end yet!


There was a really cute little petting zoo there - no Fort Rickey, of course, but fun for the girls nonetheless.

Gotta love the cute little donkeys - always makes me think of the Christmas Story (the real one, not the TV movie with the big pink nightmare)

"Mooooo!" I was kind of wondering what this guy was doing here - these horns could disembowel someone!

And onto the rides..

Doesn't she look so tiny on this big huge blow-up slide?

Ah, what a lovely day for a ride in our cart (or is it a chariot -hmmmm...).

Oh, how we love the rides!

Yay! More rides! But not too many more, because we ran out of funds - bummer.

"Weeeee!"

"DOUBLE weeee!"

The firetruck ride - everybody say CHEESE!

"Up, up and awaaayyyyy!"

Hey, what's this cow doing here?

Of course, of course, during every fair trip...

we MUST touch at least one cow. Don't ask me why. There are no explanations for these sorts of things...


...and then we must ride in big plastic cows around in a circle, going all of about .25 mph.

"Child, how many times have I told you NOT to mess with a cow's tale?!"

I don't know why people feel the need to get their pictures taken in these things - I mean, they really are stupid. But, it's just that they're there, and at the the time, it just seems like the right thing to do...

Aha! THIS is why we do it! To make our husbands look like idiots! Oh, but what a cute idiot he is - don't you agree?

Anyways, so that sums up our fair trip. The rest of the details are boring - eating fair food (thank goodness it comes only once a year!), children getting tired, parents getting tired, the smell of greasy food, dirty farm animals and sweaty people becoming all too much for everyone...ahhh, such is the great New York State Fair - what a great day.

This one is for Rachel (but will be enjoyed by all...)

"Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo, here comes the sun, and I say - it's all right..."
For those of you who are not Beatles fans, that is the opening line from one of my favorite songs of theirs.

Check out these sunflowers that Lou grew in our backyard! He has a talent for growing things, and these things are freakishly tall (yes Rachel, even taller than your monstrous weed). As per Rachel's request, I am posting pictures as proof. Now, I know this is not a weed like the one in her backyard, but it is a plant other than a tree in our backyard that reaches over 10 feet tall, and I therefore think it merits mention in this blog.

See the pictures below to see how truly huge they are.

This first picture gives you a pretty good idea of their immensity, but the next one really shows you.

When you see that they tower over my 6'1" husband, even with his arm stretched up, you can really see that they truly are HUGE! Yay Lou! Good job, honey.