The reason for the delay in posts is because I am down in Newport News at CNU for Setting Sail, their freshman orientation program. It's my last official act as a CNU employee on my extended contract. It's been really great to be back on campus, working with some incredible staff and students and feeling back "at home" in the office. It's not that I don't miss my co-workers and the students when I'm in New Jersey (because I do) but being here really drives home how many great relationships I was able to form in the five years that I worked here. I always say that I love that I can walk into almost any office on campus and have a "friend" there. It's been nice to see a lot of those people again.
The days are long but it's so much fun to see everyone coming together to put out a great orientation program and to see the incoming students start to really get excited about coming to CNU in the fall.
This orientation has been the easiest for me by far because I was doing behind the scenes works (mainly on our online registration and information system) and just got to show up and do a small part of a big picture. I commented to my boss that this year is also much easier than last year because I'm not 7 months pregnant!
Right now I'm up in the office using the internet since I don't pick it up in the residence hall room where I am staying. There is a social event in the building tonight for the students so currently the Cupid Shuffle is blasting and there are a bunch of students dancing downstairs.
Henry has been hanging out with my parents while I am here on campus. I got to go home for dinner on Tuesday so I could see him a little bit. He had a big smile when I walked in and was in a good mood so it was a nice way to spend a little part of the day. I will get to head home tomorrow afternoon for the night. Eddie flies in on Friday so it will be nice to have us all together again before I have to head back for week 2 of orientation sessions.
I'm going to head off now but just wanted to check in so that my readers could know that I was okay and the blog wasn't dead (since you know it's two days past when I usually post...haha).
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Cape Cod and New Tricks
Eddie, Henry and I packed ourselves up and headed up to Cape Cod on Friday. (This is the 7th summer that Eddie and I have gone up!) Thursday night's weather forecast said that it would be sunny and 70 while we were there....however, it was overcast and much cooler than 70 on Friday and then all cloudy and some sprinkles/rain and cold on Saturday. But as I said, a rainy day on the Cape is better than a sunny day many other places! Even with the yucky weather we made the most out of it.
We checked into our hotel on Friday afternoon after an easy drive that was a little over four hours. We had stayed at this one a few years ago and remembered that our room had had a great view. Our room this year had the same view and Henry enjoyed looking out the window at all of the swans, ducks, geese and other birds.
We got back in the car to head to the first Chatham A's game of the season. It was an away game but we went anyways to cheer on our team. Henry was so excited to be at the game on Friday that he showed off a new trick!
We left after the 7th inning stretch so that we could get Henry back to the hotel and to bed at a reasonable hour. That night Henry was very upset to be in his pack and play for bed. Eddie and I let him cry for a while to see if he would calm himself down. All of a sudden Eddie said "Oh my gosh....look!" I looked over and there was sad Henry's little face poking up from the pack and play wall...he had pulled himself up to stand in it! He's gotten mobile in the last few days. I snapped this video this morning so you can see how good he's getting at this.
Don't worry we've already started the "TV Is a No-No" policy. We are clearly entering a new world of fun with Henry. :-)
Back to Cape Cod... Saturday was cloudy, cool and sprinkled on and off. We did, however, manage to check out the Cape Cod Maritime History festival in Hyannis, which included some roving pirates, a bagpiper and a neat craft/arts tent. After we did that we walked around downtown a little and then went to the Cape Cod Beer Brewery tour. It wasn't so much a tour as a "stand in the small warehouse where their whole operation is". There were a lot of people there but we learned some fun facts about their operation and got to same some really fresh beer. It was tasty and a nice indoor activity on a less than great weather day.
Later that day we headed into Chatham to walk around downtown, eat at our favorite restaurant and catch the home opener for the As. We ended up doing two of those three things.....when we drove past our favorite restaurant (Nick's Pizza) on the way downtown it had a closed sign on the door. We double-backed and sure enough...empty! The outside had been updated on the building and it looked like the inside was being redone. Since the sign is still up out front we are really hoping that maybe the owners are just updating and will reopen. I'm not going to lie...I got a little choked up when we saw it was closed. We've been going there each summer before As games and love it. It would be so sad if Henry never got to eat there!
Instead of Nick's we ate at the Red Nun, which is the restaurant/bar right next to the ball field. Henry got to color on the paper table covering with crayons while we had a beer and chicken fingers.
The weather was terrible for an opening day baseball game and the crowd (or lack thereof) showed for it. It was cold and sprinkled/rained the whole game. We stuck it out until about the 4th or 5th inning and then got in the car. The outfield goes out into a hill that meets up with a road in town so we drove up to the road and parked to watch the rest of the game. Henry had a bottle and zonked out while we watched the game. The neatest part for me was hearing the Monomoy Theater's rehearsal for their first summer show "Man of La Mancha" from the outfield. They must have been really belting it out because I could hear a lot of it.
Chatham ended up losing the game sadly but I just read on Facebook that they won tonight so things are looking up!
We headed back to the hotel after the game, got Henry settled in bed and hit the hay ourselves. The next morning Henry decided that 5:30 would be a good time to get up and be very talkative and cute. He played in bed with us and we finally got him to go back to sleep for a little bit. When he got back up around 8:15 we packed up the car and headed out. We had a quick stop for gas and Dunkin Donuts (which are the Starbucks of New England....on every corner!) and made it back to Ridgewood in time for a delicious veal parmesan Sunday afternoon dinner.
I am very glad that we are heading back up to the Cape in July for a little bit longer. I'm looking forward to better weather (fingers crossed) and more exploring with Henry.
Stay tuned for a big update later this week... :-) (No...not baby #2...think 4bd/2bth!)
We checked into our hotel on Friday afternoon after an easy drive that was a little over four hours. We had stayed at this one a few years ago and remembered that our room had had a great view. Our room this year had the same view and Henry enjoyed looking out the window at all of the swans, ducks, geese and other birds.
We got back in the car to head to the first Chatham A's game of the season. It was an away game but we went anyways to cheer on our team. Henry was so excited to be at the game on Friday that he showed off a new trick!
We left after the 7th inning stretch so that we could get Henry back to the hotel and to bed at a reasonable hour. That night Henry was very upset to be in his pack and play for bed. Eddie and I let him cry for a while to see if he would calm himself down. All of a sudden Eddie said "Oh my gosh....look!" I looked over and there was sad Henry's little face poking up from the pack and play wall...he had pulled himself up to stand in it! He's gotten mobile in the last few days. I snapped this video this morning so you can see how good he's getting at this.
Don't worry we've already started the "TV Is a No-No" policy. We are clearly entering a new world of fun with Henry. :-)
Back to Cape Cod... Saturday was cloudy, cool and sprinkled on and off. We did, however, manage to check out the Cape Cod Maritime History festival in Hyannis, which included some roving pirates, a bagpiper and a neat craft/arts tent. After we did that we walked around downtown a little and then went to the Cape Cod Beer Brewery tour. It wasn't so much a tour as a "stand in the small warehouse where their whole operation is". There were a lot of people there but we learned some fun facts about their operation and got to same some really fresh beer. It was tasty and a nice indoor activity on a less than great weather day.
Later that day we headed into Chatham to walk around downtown, eat at our favorite restaurant and catch the home opener for the As. We ended up doing two of those three things.....when we drove past our favorite restaurant (Nick's Pizza) on the way downtown it had a closed sign on the door. We double-backed and sure enough...empty! The outside had been updated on the building and it looked like the inside was being redone. Since the sign is still up out front we are really hoping that maybe the owners are just updating and will reopen. I'm not going to lie...I got a little choked up when we saw it was closed. We've been going there each summer before As games and love it. It would be so sad if Henry never got to eat there!
Instead of Nick's we ate at the Red Nun, which is the restaurant/bar right next to the ball field. Henry got to color on the paper table covering with crayons while we had a beer and chicken fingers.
The weather was terrible for an opening day baseball game and the crowd (or lack thereof) showed for it. It was cold and sprinkled/rained the whole game. We stuck it out until about the 4th or 5th inning and then got in the car. The outfield goes out into a hill that meets up with a road in town so we drove up to the road and parked to watch the rest of the game. Henry had a bottle and zonked out while we watched the game. The neatest part for me was hearing the Monomoy Theater's rehearsal for their first summer show "Man of La Mancha" from the outfield. They must have been really belting it out because I could hear a lot of it.
Chatham ended up losing the game sadly but I just read on Facebook that they won tonight so things are looking up!
We headed back to the hotel after the game, got Henry settled in bed and hit the hay ourselves. The next morning Henry decided that 5:30 would be a good time to get up and be very talkative and cute. He played in bed with us and we finally got him to go back to sleep for a little bit. When he got back up around 8:15 we packed up the car and headed out. We had a quick stop for gas and Dunkin Donuts (which are the Starbucks of New England....on every corner!) and made it back to Ridgewood in time for a delicious veal parmesan Sunday afternoon dinner.
I am very glad that we are heading back up to the Cape in July for a little bit longer. I'm looking forward to better weather (fingers crossed) and more exploring with Henry.
Stay tuned for a big update later this week... :-) (No...not baby #2...think 4bd/2bth!)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Take Out The Trash Day
Ellen, Kevin and I had a great adventure last night on the eastside of Ridgewood. We had our first experience with "picking"....checking out what people had left out for curbside bulk refuse collection. We never dreamed we would have the kind of success that we did.
Here is a photo of what we picked up...
Manly kitchen (complete with grill) and picnic table:
Awesome push-along (for now) tricycle by Radio Flyer:
Four construction truck toys, including a battery-operated excavator (far left) that has a scoop and arm controlled by levers:
Lawn Mower:
Art easel with white board on one side and chalkboard on the other:
Wooden dresser:
Kevin also picked up a three drawer dresser for his girlfriend. It is already loaded in his car, which makes it difficult for photos. But it's pretty nice!
(The toys and table were in need of some cleaning, which I did this afternoon. I'll probably get new knobs/drawer pulls for the dresser to update it a little. A little elbow grease and time is a small price to pay for the items!)
Besides being a success in terms of getting quality items, we had a good time (probably laughed way more than we should have) doing it. I'm looking forward to heading out the west-side of town next week!
Here is a photo of what we picked up...
Manly kitchen (complete with grill) and picnic table:
Awesome push-along (for now) tricycle by Radio Flyer:
Four construction truck toys, including a battery-operated excavator (far left) that has a scoop and arm controlled by levers:
Lawn Mower:
Art easel with white board on one side and chalkboard on the other:
Wooden dresser:
Kevin also picked up a three drawer dresser for his girlfriend. It is already loaded in his car, which makes it difficult for photos. But it's pretty nice!
(The toys and table were in need of some cleaning, which I did this afternoon. I'll probably get new knobs/drawer pulls for the dresser to update it a little. A little elbow grease and time is a small price to pay for the items!)
Besides being a success in terms of getting quality items, we had a good time (probably laughed way more than we should have) doing it. I'm looking forward to heading out the west-side of town next week!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Bebe
Eddie, Henry and I traveled to Easton, PA on Saturday for the baby shower for Sean and Andrea. They are my fraternity brothers (Andrea is my little brother!) and friends from JMU. They are incredibly cute with each other and are expecting their little Bebe (nickname for fetus) at the end of August. Andrea asked that we come down a little early to take some photos of them to document the "bump".
The drive to Easton was very easy and very pretty. (I think we'll be going back when Henry's a little bit older to visit the Crayola Factory, which is located there.) The weather was warm and cloudy. This actually worked out well for photos to diffuse the noon sun. We went to the Delaware Canal State Park, which was a great place for photos. I am really pleased with how they turned out and am thrilled for the two of them to welcome their little bundle of joy!
Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:
The drive to Easton was very easy and very pretty. (I think we'll be going back when Henry's a little bit older to visit the Crayola Factory, which is located there.) The weather was warm and cloudy. This actually worked out well for photos to diffuse the noon sun. We went to the Delaware Canal State Park, which was a great place for photos. I am really pleased with how they turned out and am thrilled for the two of them to welcome their little bundle of joy!
Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:
Monday, May 30, 2011
We Did It!
Here's how we all looked before the run:
And after:
Eddie and Ellen finished at 27:42! Karen and I finished at 34:43! We (Karen and I) ran the first 1.76, walked for three minutes and then ran the rest of the way. This is much more running than we had done in our training but we were feeling good and it worked for us.
I placed 43 of 58 females in my age range. I'm pleased with how we ran and proud of our accomplishment. We are already looking at running a 5K at the Teterboro Airport on July 16th. Anyone want to join?
Some highlights of our race:
-Getting to run through water from hoses that kids had pulled from their front yards to spray hot runners.
-The squished, dead squirrel in the middle of the road that we had to pass twice on the race route.
-Right around Mile 2 a man with a bagpiper and a kid with a snare drum were playing patriotic music. For some reason this got me really pumped up...so much so that Karen had to motion for us to slow down because we had moved our pace up a little too much!
-Coming around the last corner "9 to 5" came on my iPod and I saw Meredith (my 9 to 5 friend). This was a big boost for me for the last push.
-My sweaty thumb wasn't working on the iPod controls for the last two minutes so I had to fight with it to change to a final push song and get the volume right. (Apparently the new iPod nano has a wrist-band holder and a program that allows you to change songs simply by giving your hand a shake. I think this may be on my birthday list...)
-Coming across the finish line was a lot of fun...mostly because it was over!
After the race we met up with Ellen and Eddie and enjoyed some free fruit, drinks and Ben and Jerry's ice cream (which we brought home and put in the freezer...the perk of living literally across the street from the finish line).
Eddie had successfully completed the 10K prior to the 5K but wasn't quite done yet. He and Henry took part in the Fun Run, which was a mass of humanity. Lots of little kids running, two dogs and some adults. Eddie had Henry in the stroller but took him out so he could "walk" across the finish line.
Here are some other fun pics from the race.
I'm looking like a crazy person because I was calling out and waving to Henry:
Daddy and Henry after they completed the Fun Run:
5K: Pre-Thoughts
I woke up this morning around 6am after hearing a few claps of thunder. Rain was not on the forecast that we had seen so a thunderstorm and rain was a little bit of a surprise. However, the rain didn't last long so race is on! Eddie took off on his 10K at 8:45. Henry and I headed up to the corner to cheer him on about 20 minutes in. People weren't too good about making way for a stroller so we were a half a block away when we saw him go through the intersection. LAME!
I am eating some cereal and having some water now. We'll be heading out in a little bit for the 5K. Eddie and Ellen will be running it together. Karen and I will be run/walking it together. (Turns out there is a whole method of run/walking called the Fartlek method. Because I'm 12 this name makes me laugh.)
My iPod is charged and a new running playlist has been loaded. Music really motivates me during runs and can make or break how I am feeling. Here is what is on today's playlist:
-Jock Jams Opening (Dickie V to start things off!)
-Show People from the musical Curtains
-Holiday by Green Day
-What Is This Feeling? from Wicked
-The 1997 Cadet's show "Celebration" (music of Philip Sparke)
-Basket Case by Green Day (usually not a fan of doubling up on an artist but I made an exception)
-Slava! (ah, band goodness)
-Here I Am from the musical Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels
-Butterfly (so I can imagine Katie and I doing the dance from Orange County)
-9 to 5 from the musical 9 to 5
-One of the Boys from 9 to 5
-Norwegian Wood, version by Buddy Rich
-Angry Young Man by Billy Joel
-Oh What A Beautiful Morning, version by Ray Charles with Count Basie
-All I Do Is Win with Luda!
-Around Here from 9 to 5 (yeah, I know there are 3 from this musical but I love it!)
-Devils' Dance Floor by Flogging Molly
-Forget You by Cee-Lo Green
-Let's Get It Started by Black Eyed Peas
-Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus (in honor of the Crew Leaders)
-Tik Tok by Ke$hsa
No particular order except for the opening Jock Jams.
Allrighty. Time to get changed and stretched! I'll be back with some post-race thoughts.
I am eating some cereal and having some water now. We'll be heading out in a little bit for the 5K. Eddie and Ellen will be running it together. Karen and I will be run/walking it together. (Turns out there is a whole method of run/walking called the Fartlek method. Because I'm 12 this name makes me laugh.)
My iPod is charged and a new running playlist has been loaded. Music really motivates me during runs and can make or break how I am feeling. Here is what is on today's playlist:
-Jock Jams Opening (Dickie V to start things off!)
-Show People from the musical Curtains
-Holiday by Green Day
-What Is This Feeling? from Wicked
-The 1997 Cadet's show "Celebration" (music of Philip Sparke)
-Basket Case by Green Day (usually not a fan of doubling up on an artist but I made an exception)
-Slava! (ah, band goodness)
-Here I Am from the musical Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels
-Butterfly (so I can imagine Katie and I doing the dance from Orange County)
-9 to 5 from the musical 9 to 5
-One of the Boys from 9 to 5
-Norwegian Wood, version by Buddy Rich
-Angry Young Man by Billy Joel
-Oh What A Beautiful Morning, version by Ray Charles with Count Basie
-All I Do Is Win with Luda!
-Around Here from 9 to 5 (yeah, I know there are 3 from this musical but I love it!)
-Devils' Dance Floor by Flogging Molly
-Forget You by Cee-Lo Green
-Let's Get It Started by Black Eyed Peas
-Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus (in honor of the Crew Leaders)
-Tik Tok by Ke$hsa
No particular order except for the opening Jock Jams.
Allrighty. Time to get changed and stretched! I'll be back with some post-race thoughts.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Big Boy
Henry's hair was starting to get long around the ears and in the back thanks to the fact that that was the only hair that didn't fall out when he was a few weeks old. (We had a bit of time where he looked like Figure VII on this chart.)
We probably could have trimmed it ourselves but decided that it would be fun to have a "special" first haircut. Since Eddie had today off of work we too him to Rita's Snips for Pips in downtown Ridgewood. We wanted to go to a place that had a fun chair for him and that was used to cutting little kid hair.
We debated whether or not to take him this afternoon because he didn't have his normal nap in the morning. He seemed happy enough so we took him over for a trim. He sat in the taxi chair (other options were a red sports car which was occupied or a plane). They popped in an Elmo DVD about music for him and got to work. He was an extremely good little boy until the nice lady used the electric trimmer around his ears. He was NOT a fan of it. He didn't cry at all, just squirmed around. They called another worker over to blow bubbles to distract him and they got it done. (Its occurs to me now that this was about the time in the DVD that Keith Lockhart appeared to talk about instruments.....coicidence? I think not!)
After the cut was over, they put some of his hair in a little bag and attached it to a certificate for his first haircut. Very cute.
His hair looks very good and it was a fun experience. We certainly will not do this for every hair cut...we can do them ourselves....but it was a neat way to commemorate another "first" for Henry.
Here are some photographs from the adventure:
Getting ready for the snip snips!
First cut!
Being a really good boy during the haircut:
Done with the scissor portion...waiting for the electric trimmer to clean things up:
All done!
We probably could have trimmed it ourselves but decided that it would be fun to have a "special" first haircut. Since Eddie had today off of work we too him to Rita's Snips for Pips in downtown Ridgewood. We wanted to go to a place that had a fun chair for him and that was used to cutting little kid hair.
We debated whether or not to take him this afternoon because he didn't have his normal nap in the morning. He seemed happy enough so we took him over for a trim. He sat in the taxi chair (other options were a red sports car which was occupied or a plane). They popped in an Elmo DVD about music for him and got to work. He was an extremely good little boy until the nice lady used the electric trimmer around his ears. He was NOT a fan of it. He didn't cry at all, just squirmed around. They called another worker over to blow bubbles to distract him and they got it done. (Its occurs to me now that this was about the time in the DVD that Keith Lockhart appeared to talk about instruments.....coicidence? I think not!)
After the cut was over, they put some of his hair in a little bag and attached it to a certificate for his first haircut. Very cute.
His hair looks very good and it was a fun experience. We certainly will not do this for every hair cut...we can do them ourselves....but it was a neat way to commemorate another "first" for Henry.
Here are some photographs from the adventure:
Getting ready for the snip snips!
First cut!
Being a really good boy during the haircut:
Done with the scissor portion...waiting for the electric trimmer to clean things up:
All done!
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