Once Upon A Dream

There haven't been too many this year...but here was one at the end of June!

Gabby is taking four weeks of swimming lessons....she is loving every minute of it. She would probably bob around in the pool all day long if they would let her.

Barry and Carol (our neighbors) came over for a BBQ last week. We celebrated Barry's birthday! They are always fun to have over....Barry is a huge Giant's fan...if you couldn't already tell.

We spent some time in PA at Meme and Papa's house during 4th of July weekend. It was a fast trip, but it was great to see everyone. Meme showed us her new garden that she put into her yard. WE thought that she did a great job!

This picture speaks for itself....

Mary G. Crafty is my mom's pseudonym. She had a 4th of July weekend full of fun, games, and fireworks for the young...and young at heart.

First off....two nights of fireworks...

Two days of games and crafts galore....

Relay races and bubbles...

A baseball game...

Sidewalk chalk and water balloon relay....

Wooden masks....Can you guess who is who?

Water balloon popping contest!...

There was even a special appearance made by Uncle Chris and his girlfriend, Leslie! xoxo
We don't know who these other guys are that showed up at the party....????

Hope you all had a fun and happy 4th of July!

Uncle Louie took the girls on a big fishing expedition....We saw a ton of wildlife...we even saw a fish jump in the air from the water and make bubbles, but we never came close to catching anything. It was fun anyway.

While we observe the future backstrokers of America in training.....we are very often delighted by this very funny side show which is Miss Gilli and Mr. Caleb. Gillian says that Caleb is a prince...and she is going to marry him.

We know how much Meme loves roses....and gardens, so we took her over to see the rose garden in Schenectady's Central Park. They really are gorgeous. We think Meme and Papa were impressed.

Gabby was practicing the monkey bars at the playground early this morning. She said that she was practicing so long and hard that her hands got sweaty and she slipped. She didn't land on her feet. She landed on her arm. She jumped up and said, "I'm ok", but she wasn't. It looked like she had a second elbow between her left wrist and elbow. Dave drove her to the ER. I met them over there. She had x-rays. She had two breaks. One break in each of the bones in her lower left arm. She was sedated so that the doctors could set her bones. They gave her a temporary cast until she sees the orthopedic doctor on Monday. We are really hoping that it doesn't have to be set again! She was so brave the whole time.

This first video was taken minutes before the accident.....

Gillian went to Tyler's birthday party last week. He is her little neighborhood friend. They did some crafts and played in the yard.

Gabby lost her third tooth last week. The tooth really had no choice because there was a big permanent tooth pushing up underneath it. She has now lost three on the bottom and none on the top.

Meme and Papa brought some 3-D chalk over when they came to sign Gabby's cast. Here was the first creation.

Uncle Tony, Grammy, and Dave all have July birthdays. We celebrated last weekend when we were all together. Happy Birthday July babies!

While we were in Staten Island, Bella took us to her library, and we got to see Big Jeff do a little concert for all the kids. He was so nice, funny, and entertaining. You can visit him at http://www.BigJeffMusic.com

Milena introduced us to this beautiful New Jersey beach last weekend. The weather was gorgeous...and the kids enjoyed the sun, sand, and waves. We can't wait to go back again. It was so close to our old Staten Island home.

We stopped at our favorite Carousel last Sunday. The girls all took turns picking their favorite animals to ride...here are a few....

We invited some friends from Gabby's kindergarten class over for lunch during the week. We made our own pizza's and played a lot of indoor games...

The Warner family came up to visit the Saratoga area, and we took them over to Hoffman's. The favorite ride of the day....monster trucks! Ha!

We visited a local nail salon...something that I do....not even annually (Ha)... and we all got our nails painted. Mine were just your average summer coral...but beautiful to me. Gab got some funky blue with white flowers. Gillian chose a pale pink with hot pink flowers. The excitement level for those two was off the charts.

Gianna stopped over to say goodbye before she went back home to NYC after a nice long vacation in the capital district! See you again soon!

Dear people who protect children....

How many times does one family have to go to the ER before you get a red flag? Just wondering because we seem to have hit an injury prone rough spot....all coincidental. Is it odd that a child could twist her leg in a bouncy house and end up in the ER?...A week later her sibling breaks both bones in her lower left arm at the playground, and two weeks after that, the first little girl sticks her hand down into the wheel of her moving wagon while sitting in it...sustaining a deep ugly cut to the hand and wrist...and do you find it strange that the very same child gets stung by a bee less than 24 hours later. Help!

Gabby had a classmate named Ananya who moved to India during the kindergarten year. We recently re-connected with Ananya's family via email. Gabby and Ananya are going to be pen pals. First grade already started for Ananya in India, and she sent a picture of herself in her school uniform. Gabby wrote the first letter for her friend, Ananya....and sent it today.

Something funky was going down with the 6 and under crowd here today. Grand Master Kirin and the other funky three were really entertaining us this afternoon. Get down ladies!

.....38 Years Young!

Gabby had an appointment today to have her cast changed. She was able to get a waterproof cast so that she can swim on vacation. She was also able to pick the color...light blue. She was a little afraid to have the cast switched, but it turned out to be fine. She said that her arm felt really strange and numb when they took the first cast off. The new cast is really cute...and much smaller than the first one. She can actually bend her elbow now, but she was a little stiff at first...She reminded me of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz mumbling "oil can".