Laurie-Anne's Blog

Camp Splish Splash

2005-08-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

I dropped Maya off at camp today. This is her first time away from home alone. Sure she has stayed at Nonna's and at the next door neighbor's, but this is the big time. 3 days, 2 nights away from home. No parents, just camp counselors. She's with Sara a friend from Brownies and when she got there there is another girl from Saline Schools there, who Maya danced with a few years ago.

I know that Maya will have a great time at Camp. She and Sara were put in a cabin with two girls from Canton. In all the first day commotion, we got them all to pose for a quick picture in front of their cabin (Kayla, Samantha, Sara, Maya).

The house is so empty without Maya. I miss my girl!

The big guys get hair cuts

2005-07-30T21:12:00.000-04:00

The boys got a hair cut today. I have to admit that I have not personally taken them for a haircut in a year because Frankie, the babysitter, usually takes them. Today we were out and had 30 minutes to kill before we picked up Maya from her birthday party. So I took the boys to Fantastic Sam's in Saline and they took them right away.

Kyle went right with the lady and sat there all by himself. The last time I went with him, he had to sit in my lap and he cried the whole time. He sat still and quietly answered all her questions. He is getting so big!

Matthew was also awesome. He sat quietly, with a very serious look on his face. He didn't fidget when the shaved the back of his neck.

The best thing was when we left Matthew looked at me and said, "Well thank goodness hse didn't shave me bald!" I laughted so hard. What a cutie.

It's SOOOO HOT!

2005-07-13T21:10:00.000-04:00

I was having a decent day today. Drank an iced mocha for breakfast and was buzzing on the caffine all day. Then around 3pm crash - not cause of the caffine, but because Dave called to say that the AC is not working! Of course it's in the 90s today and HUMID.

The guys say they're coming tomorrow with a new unit. I am skeptical. Dave called a bunch of people and only the one guy is available, everyone else is on a 2 week wait. Why in the dead of summer, is this ONE GUY available? I repeat, I am skeptical. Hopefully by the time I get home from work tomorrow all will be cool.

It was so hot that I packed up the gang and we headed for Damon's for dinner. Luckily it was kids night - they put Nickelodean and Cartoon Network on the big screens, they have a clown who does face painting and balloon animals. I played NTN Trivia and we were cool Then, it was back to the house.

It is so hot inside that I am blogging from the deck. I LOVE wireless networks!

Family Visit

2005-06-29T22:49:00.001-04:00

Tonight we had a visit from our dear friends the Michauds. We have know each other since we were toddlers, and have kept in touch all these years. Now we all have kids of our own.

Here they are:

Anita, Olivia, Maya, Matthew, Otto, Michael Min. Missing: Kyle and Amelia

All the kids got along great! The girls played dressup and hid from the boys.

Anita, Olivia, Maya

The boys played trucks and hid from the Mommy Monsters and of course chased the girls. This is a great shot I got of them:

Otto, Kyle, Minnie, Matthew

Here are the two that started it all - the dads.

Lorenzo and Roger

When ever Kyle sees a photo of Otto he says "that's me!" They do have a lot of the same features. Both are very fair - here they are together.

Otto and Kyle

Baby Craig (updated)

2005-06-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

Tonight Dave and I went to visit friends that just had their first baby. Zara Finn Craig is the most beautiful little girl! It was great to hold a teeny tiny one again. She is so precious. Congratulations Wes and Jojo! We love you guys.

Zara Finn

Vacation 2005 - Day 9 - Washington DC

2005-06-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

When you're getting you picture taken in front of the White House, it's no time to be serious. Matthew insisted that we take our picture while we are quacking.

We got Kyle to do it too, but no such luck with Dave.

After we say the White House (and the kids were very disappointed that George W. Bush didn't come out to see them) the rest of DC was a let down. They did not care to see the Mall or the Capital building or Washington Monument. Dave humored me and drove around so that I could get some good photographs:

Next stop: Philadelphia/Langhorne PA, Sesame Place

Vacation 2005 - Day 8 - National Zoo, Washington DC

2005-06-19T16:45:00.000-04:00

We had PERFECT weather for our trip to the National Zoo and a great way to spend Father's Day.

the monsters

entrance

female panda

male panda

dave and kyle

baby elephant nursing

the elephant

orange animal

leopard

Vacation 2005 - Day 6-7 VA Beach Putt Putt and Motor World

2005-06-17T23:57:00.000-04:00

In the evening we went to play Putt Putt and found a great place that had Putt Putt, Go Karts, and kid rides. We all had a great time.

rollercoaster riders

puttputt

jump1

jump2

kyle go kart

mm go karts

Vacation 2005 - Day 6-7 part deux - Virginia Beach

2005-06-17T17:41:00.000-04:00

Virginia Beach is beautiful!

vabeach 1

We grabbed some lunch at Pocahontas Pancake House and walked along the beach. It was 100 degrees and wonderful (the boys hated the heat, but Maya and I loved it). While the boys went to get the car, Maya and I sauntered through the VA Beach Art Fair. I bought a silver/fresh water pearl necklace.

The kids got a their first taste of an Italian Ice too.

Out hotel left a lot to be desired. I think it doubled as an old folks home. If we ever go there again, we're staying Oceanside instead of Bayside.

vabeach - kyle

vabeach - matthew

vabeach - maya

Vacation 2005 - Day 6-7

2005-06-16T22:49:00.000-04:00

Day 6
Destination: Virginia Beach, VA
I think it took us longer to pack, fill the car and unpack than it did to drive to Virginia Beach. It only took one hour to get there.

While the boys rested, the girls hit the pool and the beach. The pool is an indoor/outdoor deal with a little channel to swim between the two. Looks like it was built in the 70's. We are right on the beach and the water is calm. We are on the Chesapeake Bay side which is less crowded and peaceful. A nice family place.

We also went on a sunset cruise to try to see the Dolphins. This was really fun for all of us.

Sunset Cruise 6/16/06

Kyle had never been on a boat before. While we were sitting there, he looked up and saw the captain steering from the bridge, and said "Is that our Pirate?" (I think he meant pilot, but is was really funny!) Everyone laughed and daddy joked that with the prices we all paid, he probably was a pirate. Pirate Roger was his name, and the first mate was Liz. She was great. She talked to the children and even opened up the hatch to the cargo hold so that Matthew could see what was down there.

Maya loved being on the water, she and Matthew were so observant about all the things that they saw, from the birds to the battleships and freighters in the bay. It was very exciting for all of them.

mm cruise

sunset

Oh yeah, and we did manage to see a few dolphins but we didn't get any photos of them, they're quick little buggers....

Vacation 2005 - Day 2 - 5

2005-06-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

Day 2 - 5
Desintation: Great Wolf Lodge, Williamsburg, VA (http://williamsburg.greatwolflodge.com/)
Another 5 hour drive. We were smarter about start time and pit stops, but it still took us over 5 hours to get to our destination.

GWL

Once we arrived, we got into our rooms, changed into our swimsuits and hit the waterpark.
Ahhhh, what a relaxing time. This GWF has 3 giant water slides you ride in tubes, 2 hot tubs, a wave pool, toddler pool, Ft. McKenzie, with 2 body slides and the signature 100 gallon bucket of water that dumps every 15 minutes or so.

We got smart about the food, we went shopping and got cereal and and PB&J fixin's which helped us eat in the room more. We went to the dining room one night and the kids had total melt downs. I didn't think that Maya would end up with any dinner that night, but Dave managed to calm her down and they did finally return to eat a meal with us.

We ended up eating in our room a lot, which let the monsters watch TV while they ate, so they were happy and peaceful, for the most part.

We wandered into Williamsburg proper one night to visit President's Park (http://www.presidentspark.org/) and have some supper. Maya wanted to have her picture taken with her Favorite President, George W. Bush. Where on earth does she get that? I hope none of my Model UN friends are looking at this. How embarassing, I have a little republican on my hands!

Maya - W

k - pp

And we went to Newport News one afternoon to see a movie. The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D. The story was weak and the acting was horrible, but hey, the kids liked it and the popcorn was wonderful.

k - popcorn

mm - popcorn

The hotel had lots of fun stuff to do, besides the water park we got airbrushed tattoos. (Maya got a mermaid, Matthew got a skull, and I got a fairy), we watched the clock tower show everyday, listened to story time one night, colored t-shirts for each of the kids and saw a presentation on the True Story of Pocahantis and we all got new Indian names.

Maya's favorite thing was the wave pool, Matthew's was the waterslide and Kyle's was the hot tub and the outdoor pool.

The weather was great - low to high 90's.

Vacation 2005

2005-06-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

For our vacation this year, we've decided to take a driving tour of the east coast.

Day 1 - 6/11/05
Destination: Somerset, PA
We got a late start, of course. I must admit that Frankie, the world's greatest nanny helped a lot. She got all the kids gear together, washed and filled the car, got the oil changed and basically had the kids stuff ready to go on Friday, so all we had to do was pack up ourselves and the car and get going.

Dave was in San Francisco and arrived at 5:30 am, so he needed to do laundry and rest up a little before we could head out. Packing up my stuff and all the miscellaneous stuff was hard. I didn't quite have my brain wrapped around what I needed to have. Needless to say, half way to Toledo we realized that we forgot our camera. Sigh.....

Our mission was to drive 5 and a half hours, from Ann Arbor, to Somerset, PA. We had to stop in Toledo to eat, then on the turnpike to use the bathrooms and have a snack, then another potty break somewhere in Western PA. We watched too many kids movies (Scooby-Doo, Little Mermaid II, School House Rock to name a few), and I heard are we almost there, way too many times to count. Where do kids learn to ask that question??

We finally made it to destination #1 - the Holiday Inn at Somerset, PA. The hotel was fine, but dinner was a disaster. They didn't like the applesause (ok, it was cherry flavored applesause, and who can really blame them...), they ordered their dinners of which half ended up on the floor or their clothing, they were LOUD and whiny. They are clearly not restaurant trained yet.

The accomodations were nice, we had two adjoining rooms, 4 double beds in all. The kids slept in one room, Dave and I in the other. We kept the doors opened and it was quite pleasant.

Hello Blog World

2005-05-24T23:55:00.000-04:00

So this blog thing.... I am curious what all the hype is about. I sort of think that blogs are stupid, I mean who on earth would want to read stuff about ME? I'm boring. Not boring in the "people don't think I'm fun sort of way," but I'm boring as in I'm married, I work and I have 3 kids, how exciting could that be? Maybe it's not super interesting to the world, but I think that this might be a fun place to communicate with friends around the world. And who knows, I might meet a few new friends along the way.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Laurie-Anne, my friends call me LA (like the musical note). I'm married to a great guy, Dave. We have three children, Maya, Matthew and Kyle. I'm sure that they will be frequent topics of this blog. We also have two cats, Cookie and Nibbles. I REALLY want a dog, but alas the husband says that if a dog enters our home, he's leaving. I'm sure we'll talk about that at some point too.

So Hello Blog World.