Sarah and Adam: The Next Generation

Greece, part 1

24 hours of traveling, with 4 separate flights (to Boston, Munich, Athens, Santorini) was a bear, but the kids did relatively well.

Santorini was the perfect decompression. Cliffside hotel room with the perfect caldera view, right on the pedestrian walk in Oià. Terrific food (first at Scala, then Nectar): feta, yogurt with amazing honey, cheese tyrokroketes, eggplant, sesame & honey pasteli crunch bars.

2nd day we went to the pool twice, and Gus learned how to swim--like *really* swim. He began leaping into the pool with wild abandon, and his dog paddling became efficient enough to create forward momentum. Jasper is, as always, more cautious about his leaping, but as long as you're there to catch him he'll jump in and swim most of the width of the pool. Those swim lessons all spring are finally paying off big.

We took the high-speed ferry the next day to Naxos. Even the combination of Dramamine and Sea-Bands was no match for the awesome power of Jasper's motion sickness, so it was a miserable 3-hour crossing, but we had plenty of room since every time he threw up people would bolt from our row.

Naxos is a place people live, not just a tourist destination (though our beach town is naturally touristy, mostly other Europeans). We're staying here for a week, in a new hotel with a pool, kids pool, and the beach across the street. The food here is just ok so far, but we're hoping to find better food a bit further afield from our town. Jasper thinks Greece is the best place in the world because they have Nutella here. Please don't tell him it's available back home!

Sunset on Naxos: (currently visible on the upper right of this blog page)
http://flickr.com/photos/sarahandadam/5871798023/

Gus's letter

Gus dictated the following letter to Grandma and Grandpa, as he's very excited about visiting them next week:

This came from Gus. I’m coming to New Haven for my birthday. I love you. I want to make the car cake. I want to make a pink car cake. Grandma I would LIKE to play with that car carrier. I like tofu and bean-and-cheese quesadillas and pizza. Maybe we could go to a waterpark with you?

I want to tell you about the movie Cars. We got to watch the whole thing and emBarrass chick hicks since he lost. (please note, capital B is upon request)

I love Emerson, and she is my friend, and if you like her she could be your friend. Why I like Emerson: Because I got to have a play date with her. I work with her and have lunch with her at school.

Please write back, Grandma and Grandpa.

Gus loves Emerson.

Gus loves Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Butt

Gus's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle (our bedtime song) goes like this (he sings along while I sing the regular version):

Twinkle, Twinkle, little butt
How I wonder what you butt
Like a diamond in the butt
Up above the world so butt

Normally at the end I sing, "Night night, Gus, I love you!"

Today he sings back, "Night night, Mom, I love butt!"

What's more than a million?

At bedtime:

Sarah to Gus: "I love you so much, Iove you hundreds of hugs and kisses!"

Gus: "I love you...ummm...what's more than a million?"

Sarah: "A billion?"

Gus: "I love you MORE than a billion hugs and kisses!"

True or False

Our kids are currently 5 years and 3.75 years in age. Recently I've been feeling some remorse over the fact that we've deprived our kids of some of the secular aspects of holidays that I so enjoyed as a child.

Anyways, tonight at dinner, while Adam was away, we were talking about upcoming events. I mentioned that Easter was coming up (we've made Easter eggs in the past), and that Easter is a celebration of spring, in which the Easter Bunny brings you a basket filled with chocolate eggs.

Both of my children glared at me immediately upon hearing this. Jasper scowled: "Is that true? Or false?"

Me: "Ummm...true!"

Jasper: "Well, WHAT bunny?"

Me: "What? I thought you'd be happy to get chocolate eggs!"

Gus: "That's not true, is it!"

Jasper: "How does he do that? It's not a real bunny is it? It's just a guy dressed in a bunny costume!"

Me: "It's a magic bunny!"

Jasper: "Magic is NOT REAL. I learned that in the true or false book."

Me: (Kind of amazed at this point) "Where did you read that book? What is that book?"

Jasper: "Me and Grandma read it. Magic is NOT real."

The  discussion went on in this vein for a while. At the end of the conversation, Gus had decided that he would pretend the Easter Bunny was real if it would get him a candy basket. Jasper's pronouncement?

"The Easter Bunny is FAKE."

(Which he pronounces loudly and slowly, lest his ignorant mother misunderstand!)

Bedtime for Gus

Putting Gus to sleep tonight - end of the Twinkles...He reaches up and says, "hug" and hugs me. Then "Kiss." Then he hugs me again and says, "Double hug" and hugs me twice. Then "Double kiss!" and kisses me twice. Then he grins, "Double Eskimo Kiss!" which we do twice. Then, finally, another hug and  kiss. I am laughing by this point. He says, very earnestly, "I LOVE giving hugs!"

I know he's just trying to postpone bedtime, but he is so hard to resist...

Videos from Jasper's 5th birthday

(Tip: if you have normal-to-good Internet speed, start playing a video, then click the number "240p" in the bottom bar of that video, and click "480p" to view a better quality version.)

The actual birthday party, singing and all:

 

Exciting moments from the days leading up to his birthday: playing with the slot  cars, a "bouncy house dance party," and practicing hopping and skipping.

 

Finally, Justin and Marc came and stayed with the boys last week. Before Marc arrived, Justin wrote a one-act play with the boys where a pair of superheroes, "Invisible" and "Dark Pink SkippyJon Jones," go to the sun to get more electricity and save the earth.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfC2DZijFoU

The many faces of Gus

I have a very expressive child. He likes to scrunch and mash his faces into all sorts of shapes. He also really likes to express his emotions. This is just a one minute clip of him making all of his favorite kinds of faces- happy, angry, sad, mean, scary, and, my favorite, 'crazy face'!

 

Jasper's Story: A planet named The Kid

(The following is a story that Jasper composed at school. They wrote it down and sent it home with him):

My planet's name is The Kid. It once had dinosaurs on it.

The the planet started to grow.

Then a mean witch sucked all the mud off the planet, and cast spells on the people who lived there. 

There were lots of lucky things on this planet, and all the gold and leprechauns had lots of luck.

But the people who did not have luck found gold in the tunnels!

New pictures! New video!

New photos up on flickr from our Mexico vacation (sneak preview below), and, at last, video (3 new videos up on YouTube)!