Big Lady
Today we took a ferry…
Via the Ellis Island Immigration Station…
To get to Liberty Island to see the big Lady! She was beautiful.
Lachie and Eli insistantly yetimpressively climbed over 300 stairs on their own. How did we end up with two such independant children?
Eli even found a giant replica tiara on her way up.
Due to age restrictions we were only allowed to climb to the top of the pedestal, but even that had pretty magical views…
We’ll be back in a few years to climb all the way to the top!
Balloon Fest
Today we went for a drive and then on a school bus:
To get to the NJ Balloon Festival. Lachie and Eli found the perfect spot to watch from.
It was magical…there were balloons of all types. Strawberries, rainbows, a dinosaurs, a pepsi can, American flags, a Spider-Pig, a Butterfly, a Shark…
The photos just don’t do it justice! It was beautiful 🙂
Mum and dad even let us stay up really late so that we could enjoy the balloons launching. It did make for a fun trip home though…
Bandaid Watches
Not quite sure (think it has something to do with a trip to Mudgee when we were wee tucks) but the best thing to use for bribery in our house are bandaids. You can buy cool Tinkerbell, Wiggles, Cars, Barbie, Dora, etc etc ones.
One of the things we love to do is make watch bandaids….
We will do almost anything for a bandaid. Mum & Dad still don’t quite understand why they are such hot property but are willing to go with the flow.
Love Eli & Lachie xx
We’ve lost them already!
A common *fun* game in our house…
Dad to Lachie: Who’s that?
Lachie: Mommy.
Dad: No it’s Muuuuummy.
Lachie: Who?
Lachie’s “Mommy” is as bad as Eli’s lessons on how to say Ketchup (cat-sup). Apparently we just can’t say it right. Ahhhhh her parents are frustrating her already! Our work is done 🙂
The leg went ROAR!
Eli has a sore knee and so we took her to the doctor today.
Doctor: what is wrong Elimena?
Eli: I have a sore knee.
Doctor: What happened?
Eli: I was sitting on the floor, I went to get up and I heard a noise. Then my leg was sore and I couldn’t stand on it.
Doctor: Can you describe the noise?
Eli: It was a ROAR!!!
Doctor to Mum: What happened?
Needless to say we are not 100% sure what happened but the knee is almost better!
Of course
In this heat wave our lawn started to look a litte bit sad. So after swimming lessons this morning , we went to the hardware shop and bought a sprinkler.
Poor dad diligently monitored it and moved it from patch to patch throughout the day. Then the lawn started to spring back in glee.
So this evening… what happened….???
IT RAINED OF COURSE!
what a waste of a day!
Perhaps we should have bought in the middle of the week when the temperature was 110 F (43C)?
Escaping the Heat
The week is turning into a bit of a heat wave and so we decided to go to the pool after work. On a Wednesday night our local pool has live music so that you can swim in time to the music…? It is a fun way too cool down 🙂
Here is a video posted on a local website.
Lachie and Eli let loose with some funky moves drawn from many places – but definitely not mum or dad! It was lots of fun but made for some very tired tigers when we got home…
P.S. We’re quite impressed with the community spirit.
Maplewood sent Bianca an email advising where she could go to get out of the heat (e.g. the library and what hours they were open). Very thoughtful.
NYC council put on extra bubblers to help people hydrate. Portable bubblers were around the city connected to fire hydrants. Very clever!
All very thoughtful really!
P.P.S: The herald has some good photos from the heat wave too.
Squirrels
One of the best things to do in our yard is watching the squirrels! They seem happy to play whether it is boiling hot (110 degrees) or covered with snow. They are so cute – and there is lots of them!
The locals think they’re pests. So we’re not true Maplewoodians yet…we love them!
Maplewoodstock
This weekend Maplewood had their version of Woodstock – Maplewoodstock! Complete with live music, dancing, food stalls, hair braiding, tattoos, tie dyed clothing stalls – all the things you think of from the era 🙂
It drew the crowds for the annual event as they put their own spin on it. We did note that the longest queue was for the beer tent, with the loo queue being a close second!
I’m not sure the original event had the big kids area on the side with inflatable slides, face painting and fairy floss?
Even the duckies seemed to enjoy it 🙂
Fireworks!!!
We’d heard the fourth of July in Maplewood could be quite conjested.
The crowds during the day hadn’t been too bad. In fact looking through out pictures, at times you could imagine we were the only ones there!
However after we put the kids to bed we started to realise that the streets around our house were filling up…
I graciously offered to stay home with the kids while Nathan whipped down to have a look but he was happy to stay home. He had afterall pushed two kids in a stroller up the hill from the park three times today! So I wandered down for a look….lo and behold – half of New Jersey were in Maplewood. There was standing room only!
As for the fireworks – they are the part the crowds turn out for. For good reason too! They were great 🙂
I attempted some pictures with my digital camera – but it was not worthy. The pictures don’t to the scene justice and so use your imagination 🙂
<<video to come once converted>>
They were excellent. They went on and on and on for quite some time 🙂 Well worth a fourth trip down to the park!
Fireworks – the smells, the oohs and aaahs, the bangs, the bright lights – what’s not to love!
Wallamble 