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.

Rudyisms

~~Rudy has a new girl in his class when I asked her name he told me:
"Angelina. Like Angelina Ballerina. Without Ballerina."


~~Rudy wanted to change his shirt because his sleeves were wet. When he came out of his room, his shirt was on backwards. I told him that and he replied, "That is so the guys can see it when the go past if they missed it."


~~"Actually"- a phrase we hear all the time lately. "I am Spiderman, actually." "Actually, I didn't do it."


~~I was telling Rudy to sit on his butt. He told me butt wasn't a nice word because it was a potty word. I said "It is?" He said, "Yeah, you go potty with your butt so it's a potty word!"


~~"I am very talkly today. Talkly means I ask a lot of questions." I told him then he was talkly all the time!


~~"I have to tell you something.It's VERY important."

~~Rudy in the car: "Jesus!" Paul and I reminded him he shouldn't say that and gave other suggestions: "Geez", "Wow". Silence for a few seconds, then: "I was just praying." More silence as Paul and I avoid looking at each other to avoid cracking up.

Happy Easter

We had a busy Easter. This morning Rudy woke us up and we went downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left him. He missed the baskets on the table at first and just looked around the room for a minute trying to figure out where the presents might be. He finally saw the baskets on the table.

This is just the first thing he pulled out - a sheet of Spiderman stickers.

He was so excited and surprised and overwhelmed by them, he didn't know what to do. He went right to Paul and wanted to be picked up for a minute and then got back down to check out what else there was.

He got some Spiderman plates and cups (got to love the dollar bins at Target), a few Superhero books and 2 movies - The Princess and the Frog and Pete's Dragon. He also got a little bit of candy - but not much because I knew he'd be getting more later.

As you can see from the tongue sticking out of his mouth - the books were a big hit.

Here he is reading the books himself after both Paul and I had read them to him. These books went everywhere with him today.

We also went to church - after mass there was an Easter egg hunt. This is the area for the younger kids - as you can see it was less of a 'hunt' and more of a 'gather'. Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately most of the eggs were filled with chocolate - it was a little messy emptying the candy from the eggs.

The Easter bunny also made an appearance at church (a little ironic considering the priest spoke about the "Easter lamb" as opposed to the Easter bunny). After checking out the candy in his eggs, Rudy rushed over to get his picture taken.

After all that fun, we headed out t lunch with my Dad (first we dropped all the chocolate at home and stuck it in the frig). While waiting for our food, Dad had the honor of reading Rudy's new books to him.

After lunch, we went home to change and then headed to the boardwalk (a different one from yesterday) to take advantage of the half price ticket sales. The weather was beautiful but we didn't have much time there. After purchasing our tickets (and some for Max and Lucy to use), we had time to stand in line for one ride. Rudy chose the roller coaster.

We arrived home with 30 minutes to 'relax' before heading out again. This time to go to Paul's aunt's house for dinner. It was fun hanging out with family and relaxing (and eating). And Rudy of course had a blast with Neil and Sean. Here they are snuggled up watching TV.

It has been a busy weekend and Rudy has been fighting a cold for the past week which I think is catching up to him. After Neil got u from the recliner with Rudy, he asked me to come and sit with him. He felt a little warm, but I wasn't sure if it was from sitting in the chair with a blanket on. When we go home and I took his temperature, he did have a slight fever, so we will see what tomorrow brings. We may spend our week off relaxing at home and watching Rudy's new movies.

Two in a Row

Yes, two days of posts in a row. Maybe we'll be busy enough over the next week that I will do a post a day (maybe not!).

Today we had several plans in mind, but since the day was SUPPOSED to be warm and sunny, we decided to take the train into the next town. Paul wanted to visit the Apple store, I wanted to do some outlet shopping and Rudy loves riding the train so it worked out for all of us. It turned out to be colder than we thought but it was still a nice day to be outside.

As we left our house and headed to the train station, we saw 4 fawns in a nearby field.

We rode the train and then walked through the outlet stores. I found some clothes for Rudy, but didn't have the chance to go shopping for me. Guess I'll have to go back another day! Once we arrived at the mall where the Apple store was, Rudy and I went walking around while Paul browsed. There is a fountain show each hour and we arrived just in time to see it.

Here's Rudy waiting for the show, barely paying attention to me and half-heartedly smiling.

The pre-show. I didn't get any really good pictures during the show but the fountain shoots up 2 stories, the lights change colors and it's all set to music.

First Day of Spring Break

Not only is today the first day of our Spring/Easter break. But it is also a week of unemployment for me. I left my job on Thursday and don't start my new one until April 12. I will be teaching adults computer classes at a local career school. I teach there at night, but will now be teaching days too. I will have Fridays off, which I am REALLY looking forward to, since I will continue to work nights for now.
But because of Good Friday, all of us were off today and the weather was gorgeous, so after taking care of a few other things early in the day, we headed out to the park after lunch.


Here is our Guatemalan soccer star hard at work.

After running around chasing and kicking the ball for about 30 minutes, Rudy decided to go to the playground for a while. He went down the slides a few times, but spent most of his time on the swings.

As Paul described him - he looks like he was in a fight between the bandaid on his face (the result of a pimple he scratched and keeps messing with) and the dirty knees (the result of running around on a soccer field).

After dinner, we colored Easter Eggs. Paul took a few pictures and then watched the proceedings (amazing that I would say this about him and not me - but he's a little too much of a control freak to enjoy decorating eggs with Rudy.)

Everything all set up.

Demonstrating how to write on the egg with a candle before coloring it.

Aren't these the neatest things? It's like a pair of tongs or scissors but they are specially made to hold eggs. I know I had a pair or two last year, but I think Rudy played with them and they broke (what do I expect for a dollar or two?), so I had to buy a new one.

Getting creative with the food coloring.

Showing off the finished product (and if you look closely at Rudy's hand, you'll see he's making the sign Spiderman does wen he throws his web - it's not a gang symbol!).