February Break: The First Few Days and New Friends

We are off from school this week (being school staff, I actually have to work a couple days but Phil, being a teacher does not) and we've been having some fun...and some not so fun.  

Found in my Kindergartner's backpack:

"When I am 100, I will be OLD.  I'll probably eat lots of SALAD.  When I'm home in THE TOY ROOM, I'll spend my time SITTING.  When I go out with my friends, we will READ BOOKS.  Finally let me tell you what I might look like: WRINKLY."  

By his description, I already act like I'm 100 :)

We had a few of the cousins sleep over, and we tried mochi after Declan told us his class watched Waffles and Mochi in school and then ate mochi.  I would describe them as weird and not that great, but I heard the mango ones are better (I didn't get one of those to try).  We found them at Aldi's.

Brendan (age 5) has been talking about two things non-stop recently.  

His loose tooth and his half birthday.  

He was really hoping to lose his first tooth on his half birthday, but I told him it was no way ready.  He made me feel it's wiggliness every day for the past few weeks and it never seemed to get any looser, though he swore it did.  And trust me, I looooove to pull out teeth and have been known to try too soon, so if I say it's not ready, it's not ready.  

Brendan decided to take matters into his own hand and on the morning of his half birthday, he ate an apple, hoping to get the tooth out AND IT WORKED!

This 5andahalf-year-old is now the proud owner of a toothless smile and a $1 bill from the tooth fairy, who didn't forget!

The sleepover girls used imPRESS nails which were super easy and fun.  Mine are still looking good after four days :)

Phil and I headed out to a boot camp class the next morning, and when we were taking a right turn into our driveway to come back home, a car tried to pass us on the right and crashed into us, hopped the curb, then crashed into the street sign and sped away.  A hit and run!  I remembered the license plate and wrote it down, and my nephew saw that it was a BMW (the kids had heard the crash and looked out the window).  Luckily we were in Vanna White or else I may have gotten hurt. 

 I ran over to our neighbor who is a cop, and he came out and called into the station for us.  They caught the guy based on the plate (always get the plate!) and he was driving on a suspended license and using a car without authorization.  Now he faces criminal charges.  Yikes!  We are still waiting for an appraiser to come to our house to assess the damage so that we can get it fixed.  What a hassle, but luckily nobody was hurt.  I know they say most accidents happen close to home, but that is like too close for comfort.

Later that day, Phil and I escaped to the Cape for an overnight.  Haley, our babysitter since she was 16 and reads this blog (hi Haley!) was offended to read that she was too old to babysit for us anymore and offered to sleepover while we frolicked around beautiful Chatham.  I couldn't get over the lobby bathroom at the inn...real towels and separate rooms instead of stalls...fancy!

The outside view wasn't too bad either ;)

We walked around and played some fancy! checkers while waiting for our room to be ready.

That night we went to a seafood restaurant for dinner, and I paid $15 for this scallop roll.  What a ripoff!  No sides, and just 3 scallops.  That's a bad kind of fancy!

The next morning, we went for a run and found the Chatham Coast Guard.  If you've ever seen The Finest Hours, you'd appreciate this, as well as the sandbar across the street.  If you haven't seen The Finest Hours, you must!  It's a great film.

No, I don't run in jeans and a sweater.  We went back later to get the photos :)

We put on our bathing suits and robes and headed over to the spa for a quick soak in the outdoor hot tub.  Fancy!

As we checked out, they gave us fancy! water too.  Or perhaps boxed water is not fancy! but just not common in my day-to-day. 

 I could get used to this kinda lifestyle, but since it's so far from our reality, it makes it very special when we can indulge.  You know what we realized after spending this quality time together?  We really still love and like each other.  A lot.  That's something money can't buy.

The kids survived our 24 hour getaway and then Andrew (17) Eamon (15) and Maggie (14) packed up to go skiing in North Conway, NH with my youngest sister and her three kids.  How nice is she?!?!  And brave!  And pretty!  And smart!  ( I would like to make this an annual thing, so you know, just buttering her up).

We have been entertaining the little kids with trips to the YMCA pool, ice cream, the library and remembering how much we miss having big kids around.  Seriously, only little guys is exhausting without teenage energy buffers.

Say hi to the big kids (and cousins):

My kids are numbers 1, 3, and 6

Here's a video of Maggie (in all black) skiing for the first time - go girl!  At the end she says she fell twice, which is to be expected and that's why you should start teaching your kids to ski when they are four and not fourteen :)

I'm excited/nervous to see what the rest of the week has in store for us.  It's always an adventure here!

P.S. Ally Bean posted a blogroll and it's full of interesting reads, please do visit :)

P.P.S. Suzanne is one of those new-to-me bloggers who shares a birthday with me, please go wish her a Happy Bday this week :)