The Second Annual...

...blog trip to the Festival of Nations! After a half-rotten day at work I ran home to collect my fam and head out the door towards Deering Oaks so we could enjoy the awesome weather and a fun spirited festival. Jimmy and I went last year but this year we were happy to have Daddy tag along, and to have a camera.

We arrive!


Soon after arrival we do a lot of following-Jimmy-around.

There were crafts,


and music,

Eric Bettencourt


and where did Daddy go with that fooooood!

We were only there a short while since Hubby had to go to work, but a great time was had by all! Happy Festival of Nations Day!

The Family Omelet

We used to always make omelets, but not so much recently. This morning [er, ahem, 4:36 in the afternoon] Wally asked me if I was hungry, after a long walk with Jimmy I was, and he suggested a Family Omelet (which is really just a Marriage Omelet) and it was pretty rockin'.



Eggs, avocados, brie, and smoked salmon.



It was so rich I had to wash it down with bag of Sun Chips!

Lately Liking

What we're liking lately.

The Original No-Spill® Bubble Tumbler® by Little Kids

Jimmy got a less girly one of these for his birthday, and the packaging is true, it's No-Spill and Works Like Magic! We all love bubbles, but I've always gotten stressed out by the mess. Here the folks at Little Kids really have it figured out and the tumbler has gone with us on walks and car rides and Target visits with no tears or slippery puddles anywhere. I just love being greeted by bubbles coming from the back seat, yay for the No-Spill Bubble Tumbler!!!

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

You know your little guy is still little when he squeals and dances and grins ear-to-ear for songs with lyrics like "And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down, and the flood rose up, up, upper." I'm not sure why I never noticed what a genius A. A. Milne is, the voice acting in this short film is ridiculously spot-on and the animation doesn't suck either! Hip-Hip-Hoooray!!!

SunButter

It was called to my non-PC attention that I can't send Jimmy to school with peanut butter, the school suggested Sunbutter and told me they had given Jimmy some and that he loved it. It's peanut butter made out of sunflower seeds and it is mmmmmmm. We bought our first jar at Target, for SEVEN DOLLARS. A bit steep for something I normally pay 1/7th the price for so since pb is such a big commodity around here we are going to flip out full tilt and go for the big bucket.

Super Why!

I'm probably speaking out of term here, but imho (of course) this show is theeee best learning/reading skills program EVER. It's cute, it's not saccharine-y or annoying, it kicks Sesame Street's short-attention spanning's A-S-S, Jimmy loves it to pieces, and it filled in the holes of his alphabetian comprehension (Hi, Q! Hi, I! Welcome to Jimmy's alphabet!) Yes, it's a liiiiittle weird that they rewrite literature, and I think I caught an omnipotent Hidden Mickey, but I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I sort of think the rewriting/readjusting thing is good, any nerds ever hear of Fan Fiction? Gregory Maguire? Star Trek paperbacks? I figure that Super Why's methods encourage brainstorming, it has the patience for my little guy, it has a way of supporting early readers without overwhelming them with the later-stuff like rhyming, and their website games aren't half bad either. Love it! Super readers, to the rescue!

Oh gawd, I'm pretty sure I had a fifth item, but it's escaping me! Hopefully I'll remember, but probably not until after tonight's episode of Big Brother. Great season!

The long way

It was impossible to stay indoors today, the weather was perfect, we decided to head to the Audubon Society and jumped into the Cabrio.


Saying good-bye to Portland

We went the long way and ended up at


The Desert of Maine

We didn't stay, we just took the long way back to Falmouth to enjoy the Audubon.















A perfect day!

Scenes from...

...Thursday's Alive at 5 outdoor concert.


Preshow Daddy pride


Uncle Mark showed up on his bike


Taking it in


Backstage "I'm with the Band" shot


Checking sound before being announced by Robin Ivy


What's Daddy doing up there?


No more cheap seats, this view is fantastic!


Jimmy finds some dance partners


Some people watched from the rooftops


A return to backstage


Jimmy tries to entertain the handicapped accessible row

Meteors and Ology

The day started out great, Jimmy and I logged into a newish website for us, Starfall, which is an early childhood learning site and it was the first time we were really going somewhere with it. Jimmy's been showing a lot of interest in the alphabet lately and Starfall really incorporates more interactivity with the whole on-my-lap-with-the-computer-games thing, it's wonderful! Lots of Starfall love from us in the coming months, I'm sure.

I can't log into Starfall.com without the Muse song Starlight coming to mind and cementing itself there, which is always a transformative and ethereal event, not at all like when the "Gimme a break of that Kit Kat bar" jingle gets lodged in there. By the afternoon my little digits led me to an online discussion about the song, I learned so much about people's interpretations, I really felt grounded and alive, ever through the Blackholes and Revelations.

By evening all the local stations became obsessed with reporting tornado warnings with all their maps and graphics and radar predictions and tense deliveries and refusals to break to commercials or regular programming. They kept telling us to go to our basements and to wear helmets and oxygenia and I was freaking out, not everyone has a tv in their basements! They tell me to get into my basement and air phone calls from viewers who survived a tornado which gave no warning, but then keep broadcasting in their cushy studios, what's a panicky mom to trust? It's amazing how light 41 lbs feels when you're sweaty and determined to keep your child in your arms, and thankfully Jimmy was in for the ride and not squirming to get back on the ground. Yes, we did end up in the basement (haven't been there since the laundryroom moved upstairs 4.75 years ago) and thankfully we could still hear the tv from there and could hear that the Tornado Warning was near over, but jeez! Are they going to give me those 3 years shaved off my life back? Doubt it. Why do I always fall for tv fear scams? It's like they scare the shit out of us to earn awards ("we won't leave the air until the danger to life is gone!!!" Thanks, WGME, pssssht!) Wally called right at 8pm to make sure we were alright, he was safely and securely blissed in his studio the whole time and didn't know of the warnings, what a right way to live! Now that Jimmy's in bed I'm back to submersing myself in Muse, cul8r!

Points of Interest...

...from the 24-hour visit with my old college roomie Jeremy.

The Great Lost Bear The restaurant Jeremy and I patronized for lunch soon after his arrival. We shared a plate of nachos (he's no longer vegan), some Shipyards, and evil yet all-too-savory opinions. An enjoyable meal at a fun Portland establishment, check out their Bear Cam!

My floor. Where I disco-napped before our big night out.

Blackstones. One of Portland's rougher, seedier gay bars. Fun and entertaining, but also full of drama of the lascivious intoxicated gay male variety, which is fine if you're into that sort of thing.

Joe's Smoke Shop. Where I shouldn't have purchased a pack of American Spirits, bad mommy!

My couch. Where I ended up spending the night.

The Brea Lu. Where Jeremy took me out for breakfy, boy were we in need for something greasy!

I owe a big THANK YOU to Daddy for taking over Jimmyduty this whole time, what a wonderful time with my BFF Jeremy and now that he's left to finish his month-long visit home from Hungary, this homebody mumma is glad to be back to life as I know it. I missed my boy!

Miracles of Modern Technology

Wow, this morning I dropped Jimmy off at school to come home to find hubby's band's tv performance to already be uploaded to the station's website, so excited!






As of right now, Wally's not even home yet so I have no reports on how it went behind the scenes but I thought the vids came out pretty good!

Recording

Yesterday Jimmy and I paid Wally a visit at his recording studio where he was working on a record for the band Bass Box, it sounds great! And Jimmy just looooves getting his hands on all those buttons and keys and strings and sticks and slidey-thingies.














I swear, fiddling around with this guitar he sounded just like Paul Simon.♥



If the space looks familiar (haha) it might be because it's the same location of our kickass wedding reception. Nowadays it's hubby's dream to raise his son up in the business, and judging by Jimmy's interest (and my exhaustion) I think there's a good shot!