Day 2: USAF Museum, Cod in Cleveland

In the morning, Steve and the tots headed over to the USAF Museum nice and early, when the doors opened, and I stayed behind to pack up.

I arranged to meet them in the Hall of Missiles at 10... When I got there, 10 minutes early for the rendezvous, the museum workers were still dusting the missiles.

We and Daddy split up, with him touring the rest of the hangars and me and the kids hitting the gift shop and playground.





Then, it was time to hit the road and head for Cleveland, known to some as the Mistake by the Lake. I don't know about that... The lakefront is awesome, it's so easy to find your way around, and downtown is great!

We had no trouble, for instance, finding the USS Cod, a World War II submarine. It's in excellent shape, and we got a lot of great pictures.



For more shots of Day 2, click here.

Day 1: Haulin' tail to Dayton

Time for our two-week summer vacation recap. On our first day out, we basically hauled butt to get to Dayton.

We had reservations at the new Comfort Suites, right across from the USAF Museum. A great spot to stay, within walking distance. We ate some great dinner, at the Amber Rose, where we had pierogies, bier cheese, sauerkraut, you name it!

And we saw some new stuff, like Huffman Prairie, where the Wright brothers practiced flying their plane.

Allen took his customary forever to fall asleep, and we renewed our vow to always get a place with a dividing door!!!

For more shots from Day 1, click here.

The fountains at Vlasis Park

Another great summertime treat is the fountains at Vlasis Park. Now they keep regular hours, too, which is really good. They're on from 11 to 6 every day, Memorial Day through Labor Day. It's just much better to be able to tell a 2-year-old: "They'll be on soon..."



Daddy was riding again today, so we went for breakfast at IHOP (no more carrot cake pancakes, sigh) and then to the park. I didn't have my camera, but Emilyn brought hers, so I borrowed it and just snapped away at the fun. They got as wet as wet can be, and had a ball doing it.

If you want to see all the pictures, click here. (And check the post below this one for more from Emilyn's camera!)

Through Emilyn's Eyes: New stuff!

Wait! What's this? Allen's looking at the camera and smiling...? It can mean only one thing: Emilyn took the picture!

Yes, she took this one, and more. Check out what's new on her DropShots page.

And the rockets' red glare...

Couldn't have asked for more freakishly beautiful weather tonight for the Manchester fireworks...

These guys were ready! And Daddy came, too!



A beautiful night... snuggled on a blanket.... we Crabbes really enjoyed the sky show. Hope you do, too! Happy Independence Day, everyone! (For the rest of the pictures, click here.)

We conquered the trail at Creve Coeur Lake!

WHOO-HOO! YEAAAAAAHHH!



Normally, I wouldn't be so triumphant about walking 3.7 miles around Creve Coeur Lake. But, when we started out, I thought it would be a mile, maybe a mile and a half. When we found out how loooong it was really going to be, it was too late to turn around and forget it, because Emilyn was already far ahead of me on her scooter. Then, when she came back to check on slowpokes Allen and me, it was too late to turn around, because we'd already come halfway anyway!

By 2.5 miles, we were ready to pack it in. By 3, we were feeling determined to get this the heck over with! Then we came back in sight of the beach, and we felt pretty darn proud of ourselves.

Before we set out, we stopped at the picnic area to eat Pop-Tarts and some fresh fruit we bought at nearby Thies Farm. We met a nice couple who were engaged in Bible study at the picnic shelter. I mean, they were studying. They had three colors of highlighters and everything!

The Bible study-ers were very nice, and we chatted for a while about the Crabbes' upcoming vacation, other trips we'd taken, the serendipitous way you meet people and find out all that you have in common... The woman had a daughter who lives in Vermont, and she had flown into the Albany airport several times, as have I. We talked about funny regional dialects, and baseball... They invited the kids to their Vacation Bible School, before they found out we'd be out of town.

It occurred to me, later, that -- sitting outside on a balmy summer day with my two precious children, cutting up fruit with a tiny pocketknife, by the shores of a beautiful lake, and soaking up every moment -- I was engaged in a little study of the meaning of life myself. Add a little sweat and struggle as we trudged around the lake, and it was a pretty good day in all.

"I love you in the garage in the shade"

Allen and I have been playing a sweet game for the past couple days...

It all started the other day, outside, when I called to him from my chair: "Hey! I love you over there!" He was in the driveway, and he smiled and darted over to the porch, then turned back to me, grinning big, waiting. "I love you over there, too!" I called. He had a jolly time, laughing and flitting back and forth to various locations in the front yard, turning back to me with a smile and waiting for my response... "I love you in the driveway in the sun!" "I love you in the garage in the shade!"

The game works inside, too... "I love you riding on your garbage truck with seven screwdrivers inside!" was one we ended up with. What fun! A sweet time with a sweet boy, and I do love him, in whatever spot he picks.

Another enigmatic conversation with Allen

Our first conversation of the day today:

Allen (on the changing table as I'm getting him dressed): "Something is wrong with me."
Mommy: "Oh, yeah? What's the matter, buddy?"
Allen (sounding like he has a lot to get off his chest): "I never sleep, and sleeping is bad. And I get hungry, and I don't want green beans."

Okaaaayyyy... Daddy and Emilyn say they can't point to anything that happened last night to precipitate this outpouring. And, of course, the child sleeps about 16 hours a day, so... Chalk it up as just another one of those weird exchanges! But one to remember.

Uber-mom

My friend Stacy lives in Germany, with her husband, Terry, and son Trevor. Trevor just turned 2, and he's a big fan of Thomas, too. (We can relate!)

Every mom wants their boy's second birthday to be special... not every mom would go to these lengths: She sent away for a Thomas cake kit -- a Herculean effort, to be sure! Here's how Stacy tells it on her website...

"I decided to make home made chocolate pound cake -- yum, right? The recipe was easy enough... just time consuming. The first cake took me an hour to mix up. Another 80 minutes in the oven. The first 13x9 cake was made on Wednesday night. The second 13x9 was made yesterday at nap time. After dinner, when working on what my pieces need to be, I realized I needed a third 13x9. OMG! So, three cakes later, two batches of icing -- colored as specified -- and I am now on a roll. I've been taking my sweet time with this, knowing myself well enough that if I tried to do in an afternoon, I'd be all kinds of stressed out. It's Frankenstein-ish progress...and I am holding my thumbs that the end product will be anything but.......we'll see."

Well, as you can see, it turned out amazing... Trevor can hardly wait to get his hands on it! The things moms will do! Especially for kids who will have no memory of these events! Well, there will be plenty of pictures... and Stacy proved that she is a Really Useful Engine, ummm, I mean, Mommy. Sir Topham Hatt would be pleased.

Meet me at the fair

Yesterday was amazing weather for almost-July in St. Louis... Cloudy, chilly and breezy. Daddy headed off for an early morning bike ride, so the tots and I went to IHOP for breakfast (get there for Kansas carrot cake pancakes NOW!) and then to Ballwin Days for the fair.

We were plenty early... so we played on the playground for a little while.

And hung out by the pond and waterfall...



Then it was time for the fair to open... All Allen could talk about was the Ferris wheel. Well, that was a disaster. It was much too fast for him, and he had a horrible time. Oh, well.

He did like the little train that we rode last year. And this year, a milestone: Emilyn rode the bumper cars all by herself. Three times.



We dodged a few rain showers... Played some midway games... and then called it a day. If you want to see the rest of the fun, click here.

Ballwin Days parade

Yesterday, we got up and out early to take in the Ballwin Days parade, right down Manchester Road.

It's an interesting event... It's got your standard parade fare:


Firetrucks. Pompom girls.


Beauty queens. Ummm... Falun Gong groups?


Huge yellow pythons? Giant shopping carts?


Guys dressed up as printer cartridges?

Yes, there was all that, and more. Cheerful people walked along and handed the kids candy. And political stickers. And leis. And coupons for electrical work. And free samples of shampoo.

And, strangely enough, they only closed the westbound lanes of Manchester Road. Meaning the eastbound traffic whizzed right along on the other side of the street. I was sure one of the Shriners in the little cars was going to swerve into the path of an oncoming SUV! Disaster! But, it never happened.

If you want to see the rest of the parade, click here.

Odds 'n ends from the train museum

When Grandma was here last, she got us a family membership to the Museum of Transportation, so we try to pop in there every once in a while... Friday seemed like a good day, because Steve got a surprise day off, and Emilyn was spending her last day at summer school, so off we went.

It was a little hot. And muggy. And generally uncomfortable.

Allen was not in the best mood. He reached critical mass while we were taking a tour through the old coaches and he said -- GASP! -- "I'm done. I don't like trains."

Yikes. We knew we had to get out of there right away. He bounced back in the station building (air-conditioned!), where he could play at the Thomas tables.



And outside, Daddy found this cool tanker, which he recognized right away... A replica, apparently, of Kris Kristofferson's truck in "Convoy." Or maybe it's the real thing! We just don't know.

To see all the photos from the train museum, click here.

Still here!

Haven't posted in a while... Kind of settling into a summer thing.

Emilyn just finished summer school -- Navigating the World Through Technology. She did a nice report on the Philippines. With maps and graphs and everything. It's nice to see her learning her way around the Internet and computers -- in a safe and useful way!

Allen is getting a little rambunctious. He went straight from uber-picky to the backtalk and whining. He likes to run. Daddy, while trying to sleep downstairs, calls him "the thundering herd." We try to play outside as much as possible. Today, he used mud to "wash" my car. Interesting concept!

We are going to send Allen, one day a week, to pre-preschool, starting in September. Probably Thursdays, 9 to 11. It's a special class for almost-3's who didn't make the age cutoff for preschool. It's at the Parkway Early Childhood Center, where Emilyn is a preschool alum. I just know he'll love it there. And, of course, he could stand to learn how to play with kids who aren't 9!

We're gearing up for vacation... July 6-21. Ahhh, that sounds nice. And it looks nice, too, on the calendar. So far, our plans are: Rochester/Geneseo, July 10-12, and Derek's on July 13. After that, it's down to the county for who-knows-what-all.

Coming soon, a post about Ballwin Days, which stepped off today with the annual parade. Lots of photos from that, and we'll be taking in the fair part of the festivities tomorrow. So, check back then!

NiKi at the Missouri Botanical Garden

What fun for anyone with kids... or a camera!

Today, Emilyn ditched summer school and the three of us took off for the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the exhibit of sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle. Because, hey, this nice weather ain't going to hold out forever!

These sturdy constructions of polyester fiber and concrete and mosaic stones and glass are beautiful to look at -- and OK for climbing on! The signs said! (I know, we couldn't believe it either.)

We three had an amazing time. Looking at, and crawling all over, the Nikis. Playing in the Children's Garden. Eating a snack inside an alligator... Feeding the koi fish in the Japanese Garden...



Ummm... I took a few pictures. Ummm... 200. Well, Emilyn took some, too! And we only kept 114!



So, if you want to see them, all, and read about our great day at the Garden, click here.

Daddy's Day, times 2

Steve did the double this year... Father's Day and his birthday, all in one! (They usually come close together, but this was something special...)

We decided to treat him to some new, yummy flavors. Exotic beers, exotic nuts... and gourmet pizza! Plus, his favorite dessert... angel food cake with ice cream and peaches. Delicious!


To see and read more about Daddy's double day, click here.

Whish-BUMP! Whish-BUMP!

At Emilyn's checkup yesterday, her doctor detected a heart murmur.

The patient and I knew something was up, because Dr. Garriga was spending way too much time with the stethoscope phase of her exam. Listen left, listen right. Listen sitting, listen standing. Listen lying down.

A while later, the doctor took off the stethoscope and announced the heart murmur. Emilyn burst into tears. But Dr. Garriga was quick to assure her that she wouldn't even talk about it in front of a little girl unless it was nothing to worry about. "Do you hear me, sweetie?" she said. "It's nothing to worry about."

That's what she was doing with all that listening: Determining that it was not the kind of heart murmur that's serious in children. That kind gets louder when the child is standing. Emilyn's is almost impossible to hear when she's standing, Dr. Garriga said.

She said she heard a "whish-BUMP, whish-BUMP." It could be stress (Emilyn was worried about the visit) or just a sign of a very strong heart. Maybe it's both!

I mentioned that I thought Daddy had had a heart murmur, too, and it turns out that's true. It wasn't even enough to get him disqualified for a pilots license.

So, we wrapped up the visit with a chickenpox booster shot (which didn't hurt much at all, Emilyn reports). Then she and I headed to the movies, to see "Kung Fu Panda." The patient had Milk Duds and a white cherry Icee for her trouble. I know Dr. Garriga wouldn't mind. Dr. Dunagan, our dentist...? Well, that'd be another story!

Another gem from Allen

Allen is, lately, very into exploring his feelings. Today, I was treated to this little nugget:

"I have to have some cereal. I feel like I have to."

Summer vacation rewind: City Museum

About a week after school let out, we headed down to City Museum. Emilyn was dying to go, and Daddy and Allen needed to experience it, too.

There are amazing sights to behold, and some incredible things to do! Everyone who comes to visit us needs to see it!



Even though much of the museum is rusty, dusty, jagged or pointy, Allen still found some things that were just his size.



To check out more photos and video, click here.

Orbiting my son

I guess you could say my life revolves around my 2-year-old...

I've fallen out of my exercise routine, once again. Taking a walk for an hour, or even riding the bike downstairs and watching an hour of TV, just seems like an inconvenience too much of the time. So, now, when I can, I take Allen outside in the front yard and walk around the Asilomar circle, while he plays on the island.

It's the best I can do, for now. And since I've long since stopped caring what other people think, I don't mind at all how silly I must look to the neighbors, huffing and puffing around the island. I'm just orbiting my son.

Get Lilac to the NICU, stat!

My smart, imaginative, yet somewhat disturbing children have a new hobby... They camp out on my bed and pretend to deliver Grammy Shark's babies.

This all stems from Emilyn watching "Deliver Me" on the Discovery Health channel. Now she knows all there is to know about obstetrics, apparently. She and Allen swathe Grammy Shark in blankets, then reach in and pull out her litter of Webkins, one by one. (Yes, on any given day, this shark gives birth to an elephant, a kitty, two puppies and a pig.)

Each baby is "de-gooed," usually by Allen, who uses my pajamas to wipe off the "Mommy goo." Then they evaluate the offspring's health. Does it need oxygen? (Allen says "oxeee-gen.") Does it need to go to the NICU? Does it need to go in the "moni-box" (monitor box)? If all is well, Dr. Allen deems the baby "perfect!"