The Actor

"Poppy, do you know that Christmas is the best day of the year?"
Rudy then went to get his stool and sat on it saying, "I'm sad because today's not Christmas."
What a drama king! :)

Batman

Rudy's drawing skills have improved so much lately. Here is a picture of Batman. Those are his ears at the top!

Karate and Earth Day

On Saturday Rudy went to a karate birthday party. Rudy really enjoyed practicing his karate and all he really wanted to do was break a board. The party was for his former teacher's daughter and she arranged for the kids to 'break' a board with their foot since he asked for it. Thanks, Jah-neen. Rudy really loved it!

Here he is jumping over a pad.

Getting ready to break the board.

Success!

Rudy also got to hang out with his friend, Jade, who later told her parents when she gets married and has kids, she's going to name them Rudy and Jade. :)

On Sunday, Rudy and Paul went to an Earth Day festival.

Rudy enjoyedthe moon bounce.

And the big slide.

He got to ride horse.

And he fed a turtle a blueberry.

In Case of Emergency

Last night when I got home from work, Paul told me not to be alarmed if I saw a piece of paper stuck to the back door. Rudy taped a sign to it. He wanted to make sure if there was a fire, we would know how to get out.

Tonight we went to a Campfire sing-a-long at the Wildlife Refuge. We brought a picnic dinner and ate first, then a guy played the guitar and sang some songs. We split up into two groups and took a walk and then we came back and popped popcorn over the fire. It was fun and we can't wait to do it again - especially on a nice summer evening.

Sitting and waiting for the fun to start.

Very intently watching a fire getting started.

Heading out for the walk. In the back is the soon to be opened new visitor's center that is an entirely green building (and no, I don't mean green in color!).

Paul and Rudy after the walk. Check out Rudy's cool fashion statement of socks tucked into pants for the walk. Tick season has begun. Of course, Paul and I (and most of the adults) didn't d it for ourselves but at least our kids were safe!

The guy who was building the fire found a little toad hopping around. He showed it to the kids and then put it back among the trees. Rudy and another girl decided they needed to follow the toad for a while.

The fire starting.

Making popcorn.

Apparently they do this every few weeks, so we will definitely be going gain. We also got a good trip from one of the volunteers to come into the refuge early evening and go all the way to the back to watch the sunset. I can't wait to do that. She also said that during the summer, it's when you see the most animals because it is too hot during the day.

Twins?

Today we took the 3 cousins to get their pictures taken. Patti and I had coordinated and Rudy and max had the same shirt, with Lucy in a coordinating dress. After the picture fun (haha), we went to the food court for lunch. While at lunch, a man sitting at nearby table commented on the fact that Max and Rudy were wearing the same shirt and then followed it up with, "Are they twins?". Paul was able to calmly answer that they were cousins but we had a good laugh once the man left. As Paul said (sarcastically), "Yes, they are just different heights, have different hair color, different eye color and different skin color. "

Here are the 'twins' on the train at the mall.

Me and my favorite girl riding the train.

Playing around before taking pictures.

A Familiar Sight

Spring 2008 - Rudy at almost 2 1/2 using his lawn mower.

June 2009 - Rudy at 3 1/2 following Paul around and imitating everything he does with his lawn mower.

Yesterday - Rudy 4 (almost and 1/2). Paul just bought a new lawn mower and he and Rudy were very excited to mow the lawn once again. Rudy imitated everything Paul did - if Paul checked out the tire, Rudy did too. if Paul started his lawn mower, so did Rudy. It was very sweet.

A Great Week Off

It was just a stroke of luck that I ended up having all of this last week off. My (previous ) school had used so many snow days that school ended up being open on Thursday and Friday. Friday was supposed to be my last day, since I had given notice two weeks prior. But instead I was informed the week before Easter that Thursday (the 1st) would be my last day.

Rudy and I enjoyed our week off together - possibly a little too much - he's been VERY attached to me over the last few days. I blogged about much of the beginning of the week and all the time we got to spend outside. Paul was off with us on Thursday and Friday. However, he was also sick. Thursday he took his mom to the doctor's and went himself. So Rudy and I played at the park with friends instead. Friday ended up being the worst day, weather-wise, but Paul was feeling better, so he agreed to take Rudy out for a few hours and let me finish cleaning (I have to say, I never thought this was something I would enjoy or bargain for - time at home to clean!). Then Friday night my dad came over to watch Rudy and Paul and I went out to dinner, seafood - yum, and spent time at a bookstore and a coffee shop. It was a nice relaxing night out.

On Saturday we took the train into Philadelphia to see a Pirate play.

Rudy loves riding the train. (Excuse the way I look, I think Paul snapped the picture as I was eating.)

Rudy really enjoyed the play. Then we stopped at our favorite Philly restaurant - Marathon Grill- for lunch. As we waited for lunch we heard many Pirate phrases - "matey" and "Ahoy" especially. The play was based on the book "How I Became a Pirate" about a little boy who wants to join the pirates but then realizes that they won't tuck him in or sing him songs and he wants to go home. It was funny and Rudy was paying close attention. He keeps reciting parts of the dialogue still today.

On the way home we stopped by to see Bill & Renee for a little while. A tired little boy fell asleep in the car when we headed home - a VERY rare event any more. Even more surprising because we weren't expecting it (because he was very tired or cranky)or hoping for it (because he was very tired or cranky), he was just talking quietly in the back seat and then all of a sudden he was asleep.

Today, Sunday, our last day off, we went to church, took a short walk in the woods after (there's small chapel in the woods behind the church), and then came home and relaxed. I went out and did a little shopping and when I came home, the boys were outside playing baseball, so I joined the fun.

It was a great week - even more so because I didn't plan too much to do. Plans either never materialized, got canceled because of illness or work schedules, or happened spontaneously. And I don't feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation- a nice change of pace.

Fun in the Sun

The weather this week has been warm and sunny and gorgeous so we have taken full advantage of it. Yesterday we went to a playground we haven't been to before. Rudy was the only one there so he had the run of it. He played in the lower part of the castle...

... and climbed to the top of the wall.

After about 30 minutes he started to get bored and wanted to leave. I had seen 2 women walking through what looked like a wooded area, but they had been gone a while and I wondered what was down there. So I convinced Rudy we should go on an adventure. We walked almost to the ed of the tree line and then saw a shell covered road. When we followed the road, we came out to the bay among the marshes.
The view over the bay.

The view back toward the playground.

You could see across the bay to the nearby city. Tide was low and there were lots of small crabs at the edge of the water. We're definitely going to come back here and explore some more.
Walking back to the car Rudy wanted to take a break. I told him when we got back to the playground he could sit on one of the benches. He replied, "It's not wet here. Why can't I just sit here?" So he did.

Today we had a playdate at another playground with Rudy's friend, Tommy. We ate lunch at the park and stayed for almost three hours.
Here they are being silly.

We took a walk around the pond. It looks like they are plotting something but I think Rudy was saying how they were going to be the leaders and not us.

Chasing the ducks - always fun.

A beautiful tree in bloom just made this picture perfect.

We saw a lot of turtles sunning themselves. The water in the pond is still very high from all the snow and rain we've had. There are areas of the park where trees that are usually about 3 feet or more from the water's edge, have their roots and part of their trunk still completely under water.

Buddies posing for a picture.

After walking around the park and coming back to the playground, the boys needed a rest. But a few seconds later they got up and ran around for another hour or so.

Spring Fun

We have been very lucky so far with the weather on our spring break. It has gotten warmer each day and is quite a tease for summer, since I am sure it will soon get colder. Rudy still has a bit of a cold and has moments of being pretty whiny, but we are able to get outside and do something each day.

Rudy has really been trying to climb trees lately. We don't have any trees in our yard that are good for climbing, but we found this rhododendron bush in the back with very thick limbs he can sit on.

Anytime we are in the backyard, all Rudy wants to do is play baseball. I'm not sure how he's going to do in organized sports since he likes to make up his own rules of play.

After playing outside, we came in and made one of our favorite summer traditions - smoothies. And Rudy decided to ham it up for the camera.