Monday, June 29, 2009

I didn't know they were available without the high drama feature

K has always had a strong personality, I think I've probably mentioned that constantly in previous posts. She's a really good kid, but she has a penchant for high drama that sometimes makes parenting her a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, she spends most of her time happy, smiling and somewhat calm (of course, most kids seem pretty calm when compared to her older brother C and his overflowing exuberance for life.)




I love her to pieces and I get a kick watching her in action. She always has a plan for what she wants to do next. She is quite a bossy, stubborn determined little girl. While I think this will serve her really well in life, it can be a bit trying at times from a parental point of view.

She's got a great sense of humor and a killer imagination, but I never forget that lurking under that (sometimes) calm and happy exterior, beats the heart of a true drama queen. You can see it in those beautiful hazel eyes, can't you? Something is brewing...


I know that K is not the only young girl prone to theatrics. Most of the girls we've met and played with over the past year or so also seem to express some degree of melodrama when things don't go precisely their way. Although K can at times be a little more dramatic than most, I figured that all young girls were prone to histrionics and that it was simply a manner of degree.

Imagine my surprise to note last week, that not all pre-school/toddler girls have this inner diva. Case in point, my two year old niece M. Here she is eating a snack right across the table from K (at the exact same time that K was shooting me the look in the picture above). Notice please the fact that there appears to be no mischief brewing behind those brown eyes - Just contentment with her peanut butter cracker and grapes. Hmm....



Perhaps it's no wonder then that I found myself taking so many pictures of sweet, peaceful M.




She always seems to be smiling or at the very least content with her surroundings.





It was truly fascinating.
She seemed to move at a slower pace (most of the time) than the other kids, probably because of her age. That's another reason why I was able to get more pictures of her than the other hooligans while we were on vacation. I swear most of the pictures I took of the two boys were blurry. They were in a state of perpetual motion.



But not M. Sweet, serene M.

At least not yet...



I mean really, just look at that face. I could kiss those cute cheeks forever!



Seriously M, you're killing me here.

M and her older brother A will be visiting at my parents house for a whole week pretty soon. I plan to make sure K spends a lot of quality time with M. I am hoping some of that serenity will rub off on my own sweet drama queen.

Not that I would trade my own daughter in for a new one mind you. But, I'm telling you that I had no idea a model like this existed. I thought they all came with the high drama feature standard.


Jump on in, the water's fine

Last week the Cracker family joined my parents & my sister's family for a week of sun and fun on Hilton Head Island, S.C. My parents rented a 6 bedroom house for us to share in one of the plantations near the beach. The house was huge and beautifully (& most likely professionally) decorated.

If asked to vote on it though, I think the whole family would agree that the amenity that was enjoyed most was the pool. At least twice every day, most of the family could be found playing and splashing around in the cool waters of the pool.

Jumping into the water became something of an obsession for the kids.

K started out jumping into the pool a little tentatively.


But after just a little while she got a little more adventurous...


Until at last she was flinging herself into the water with total joy and abandon.


Not to be outdone, my son C also spent most of his time jumping into the pool over and over and over again.

My nephew A could really get some hang time going on his jumps too.

When jumping into the pool started to get a little old, Grandpa & Mr. Crackers were happy to toss the kids into the air.

Glad I wasn't asked to throw anyone. I don't think my arm muscles would've given the boys the thrill they were looking for.

Not everyone had to jump or be tossed around to have a good time though. My two year old niece M had a ball just swimming around the pool all on her own (with the assistance of a couple flotation devices ).


We're back home now, but already this morning K asked the question, "When can we go back to the vacation house again?" No doubt about it, fun was had by all. Thanks again Mom & Dad!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Family Vacation: A retrospective

I was looking through old vacation photos & thought I'd post some family pictures from our travels in years past. One picture per year. I thought it would be interesting to see all the pictures together to see how much the family has changed over the past 13 years (I just want to warn you that this is most likely only going to be interesting to me. Please feel free to quickly navigate away to a more interesting blog before you are forced to unwillingly look at my old vacation pictures!)





Ahh...our first "grown up" family vacation in Michigan (1996). Here you see my parents on the left, my sister Linda & her husband Fred on the right & of course my cousin Drey front and center. Drey has become somewhat ubiquitous on this site in the past couple of days. I am taking the photo, which thankfully means I am not in it. Mr. Crackers & I had just started dating. He had no idea that he was in for 12 years of vacations with these people.




The houseboat vacation on Lake Cumberland in KY (1998). I know Mr. Crackers was on this vacation - I remember him being there. We had been married for a little less than a year when we went on this trip. Perhaps he is off somewhere hiding. He can't believe he's in for a lifetime of vacations with these crazy people. This is also the first vacation where my Uncle George (aka Drey's Dad) made an appearance.




Our first tropical vacation - Jamaica (1999). Notice that after 1 and a half years of marriage Mr. Crackers is still smiling. Perhaps he's decided that vacationing with us isn't so bad after all. My brother-in-law Fred though seems to have lost his vacation spirit in this photo.
In 2000 we headed out west for a trip to the Oregon coast. Since my Uncle George & Drey had spent so many years heading East, we thought we'd return the favor and head out to the pacific time zone.


Barbados (2001) - the scene of the Dramamine Incident mentioned in an earlier post. Drey is smiling in this picture because he has no idea his cousins are going to later pump him full of Dramamine before a beautiful Caribbean catamaran ride. A ride that he slept through completely and missed thanks to the drowsiness side effect of the drug.

Puerto Rico in 2002 - our last vacation sans children. It was so relaxing, so peaceful... I was about 3 months pregnant on this trip and as a consequence I have forgotten almost all of the details about it. All I remember was the stupid roosters crowing right outside my bedroom window at dawn every morning. Darn chickens!

Bocce anyone? When it came time for our vacation in 2003 my sister was very pregnant with her first child. In fact, she was about 8 months along, so we vacationed in Maryland. It was about a 1 hour drive from her doctor, so she got the green light to come along for the fun. This was also our first vacation with children & all of the stuff that comes along with them when they travel - geez. C was the first baby thrown into the mix of our annual vacation. I am happy to say he had a great time.

OK, I'm cheating. This is another picture from the Maryland vacation. This was C's first vacation ever. He's 6 months old in this shot & as his mother I am obligated to include the photo in this montage.

Our first Hilton Head vacation was back in 2004. My sister is holding her son A who is just under a year old. Mr. Crackers is holding a very precocious C who is peaking over my shoulder. Notice that now Drey is now taller than me. I was once again the shortest member of the family (over 2 years old).

We had so much fun in 2004 that we went back to Hilton Head in 2005. Here Uncle George tries his hand at fishing with C. Looks like they both have one on the line.

Another cheat...this is that same Hilton Head vacation in 2005. As you can see, I've already got baby K cooking in the oven. Nothing like being pasty white, freckly and pregnant to improve your outlook about wearing swimwear!

A request went out for a new venue for our 2006 vacation, so we tried St. George's Island in Florida. We spent the whole vacation on this screened-in porch. Apparently that summer they experienced the worst mosquito problem in over 20 years. You risked bleeding to death by leaving screened in areas, so we stayed well within protected areas. C was traumatized by the sheer number of the blood suckers in the air. To this day he refers to this locale as the "Mosquito Place".




Look! 2 more kiddos have joined the party. Linda is holding baby M and of course I've got a lap full of baby K. We vacationed in northern Ohio (Sandusky) in 2007 so that Linda & Fred wouldn't have to travel too far with their 9 month old daughter. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a car for hours with a screaming child (something we had vivid memories of after taking 8 month old baby K to the Mosquito Place the year before). Look - Drey finally gets to move to the back row! He rested easy on this trip because with 2 kids each, he knew that his cousins would finally (mostly) stop teasing him so much.



Last summer we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Now that the hooligans were older, it was really fun to watch all them play with each other (and occasionally fight with each other. We do after all live 1 house together for a week). That summer we were joined by Uncle George's girlfriend Kyle. Much fun was had by all.

This year we'll be returning to our favorite vacation spot: Hilton Head. We will be short 2 of our happy traveling band as George & Kyle are unable to make it East this year. We'll definitely miss them. Of course, with 4 kids sometimes running in 4 different directions we probably will still manage to have a great (if not entirely relaxing) time.


Seriously, sometimes I can't believe he keeps coming to visit us.

I mentioned in my last post that we have a tendency to tease my cousin Drey whenever we see him. I found this picture in a book of vacation photos & I think it brings my point home. The picture was taken near a lighthouse we visited on our family vacation in Michigan back in 1996. (I have no idea why there was a stock & pillory at the lighthouse...) The two goofballs with the big grins are my parents. The kid in the stocks is my cousin Drey.

It's a miracle he still comes East to spend time with us. Can't wait to see him again on vacation this year (neither can my two hooligans).

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Dramamine Incident

As this year's family vacation draws near, I have started to reminisce about the vacations we've taken in years past. My family has gone on vacation together every summer for about the past 13 years. Every summer my parents (very generously) rent a house somewhere and we all get together for a week of fun.

Our first vacation was to the UP in Michigan (that's Upper Peninsula for those of you not familiar with the Midwest - not the newest feature from the team at Disney/Pixar) It took place in the summer of 2006 right after I met Mr. Crackers. We talked on the phone a few times that week. My Mom told me she knew the relationship was getting serious because my feet were doing a happy dance the whole time I was talking to him. She was right, since that year Mr. Crackers has bravely been on every family vacation.

My Uncle and Cousin usually come along on most of our vacations too. Since they live all the way out in California, this gives us another opportunity to see them during the year besides Christmas when everyone is a bit hyped up with holiday stress cheer.


Back in 2001 (before we had to worry about air travel with small children) the whole family took a trip to Barbados. My Mom's family came to America from England via Barbados and she thought it would be fun to vacation somewhere that was both tropical and where we had some familial ties.

That group of trouble is my cousin Drey on the far left, my brother-in-law Fred, my Uncle George, my sister Linda & Mr. Crackers. My Mom was right, we had a great time that week. We played in the ocean, did some crossword puzzles, toured the island, did some crossword puzzles, did a bit of ancestral research, did some crossword puzzles, took a Catamaran ride, did some crossword puzzles... (Seriously this family is addicted to them. You would be shocked if you saw the stack of crossword puzzles that are brought on these trips. My Mom saves them up from the NY Times as well as our local paper for weeks before the trip to ensure the group does not run out of the puzzles while we are vacationing.)

There's my cousin Drey standing with my Dad. Drey is probably about 13 years old in this picture. He's always been a great kid and something of a younger brother to my sister, myself and our 2 husbands. This is a bit novel for all of us since none of the 4 of us ever had a younger brother. We've always had fun teasing him a bit, but mostly we just enjoy his company. Occasionally though our instincts as older siblings (& here I am mostly referring to Mr. Crackers and myself. I think Fred & Linda were pretty free of those instincts) have gotten a little out of hand and we may have become a little bossy overly concerned about his welfare.

I am speaking specifically of the "Dramamine incident" as it is referred to in our family. We had rented a Catamaran and Captain for a 2 or 3 hour boat ride in the Caribbean to watch sea turtles, dolphins and other ocean life. Mr. Crackers and I were a bit worried about Drey since he has a history of motion sickness (I have been traveling with him on more than one occasion when the car has made a sudden maneuver to the shoulder of the road so that Drey could divest himself of the contents of his stomach). Since we wanted him to enjoy the boat ride to it's fullest, Mr. Crackers & I double teamed him and insisted convinced him to take some Dramamine. After all, we pointed out, he wouldn't have any fun on the cruise if he spent the whole time throwing up over the side of the boat. Eventually he got tired of hearing us whine about it relented and took the Dramamine and we set off for our adventure.


The boat was beautiful, the seas were calm and the weather was perfect. We didn't get to see any sea turtles (that I remember), but we all had a wonderful time. Well...almost all of us had a wonderful time.


Some of us just had a really relaxing time. The thing is... Mr. Cracker's and I didn't realize that Dramamine can make you drowsy. Very, very drowsy. The good news is that Drey didn't get sick even once on the cruise. The bad news is that he didn't get to really enjoy the boat ride after all since he slept through the entire thing. So you know, it's like a glass is half empty/half full situation. Sure he missed all the cool sea creatures, but at least he didn't throw up...right?! Right?! (Since we are on the subject, I'll go ahead here and say it once again: so sorry Drey!)

Despite the teasing and occasional bossy episode he experiences from his cousins, Drey still travels back East once a year to go on vacation with us. It's been 8 years since the dreaded "Dramamine incident" and since then the family has grown to include 4 kids. Most of our trips these days are within driving distance from Ohio so that we can avoid air travel.

Drey's in his early twenties now and this year he's making the journey back East alone since my Uncle isn't able to join us. He's probably happier than anyone else that there are now 4 kids in the family. We expend so much energy watching the kids that much to his pleasure we pretty much leave him alone now.

The kids have the last laugh though. Their favorite vacation activity (besides swimming) is waking him up. Once out of bed the kids start clamoring to make sure Drey doesn't sleep too long. It's hard, but we make them wait until 9:00am before they can raid his room and jump on his bed until he is forced to get up. What can I say? Things can't be too bad - he keeps coming back year after year for more. See you soon Drey - We miss you!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The bunny massacre of 2009 and other news

So obviously I have been neglecting this blog lately... It's just that my whole allergic reaction to Amoxicillin thing lasted almost two weeks. I only took the medication for a day and a half - I'm really glad the reaction started so soon after I took that first dose. Who knows how long I would have been rubbing my palms together to alleviate itching if I had taken more than 3 doses? And I don't even want to think how much worse the joint pain would've been if I had more medicine in my system. Holy cow! I felt like a 96 year old woman for about 4 days there. Every joint hurt...I had to enlist Mr. Cracker's help one morning just to finish getting dressed. My shoulders, wrists & finger joints just would not cooperate enough to allow me to get my bra fastened. This whole experience has given me a new found respect for anyone suffering from arthritis. Seriously, it takes a lot of grit to keep on moving when all of your joints are telling you to kindly sit still for the rest of the day. I'm telling you one thing now, if I get arthritis in my shoulders, I'm spending my golden years bra-less. I just wanted to warn you now, so it will be less shocking later.

Enough whining.

Both C and K finished up their final days of school last week. Somewhat cruelly, Vacation Bible School at our church is being held this week. So C has spent his first full week of summer vacation right back in his school again. He really doesn't seem to mind though. In fact he was a little disappointed to learn that VBS was only 1 week long. I think he assumed that he was getting an early taste of what first grade would be like. I had to break it to him that this was a special program that only lasted 5 days and that after it was over, we wouldn't be returning to his school for awhile. I'm not sure yet he really understands that he has no school for the next 11 weeks. I'm sure it'll sink in once he's tasted a little more summer freedom.


In other news, I have to report a rather distressing trend around our house in the past couple of weeks. Mr. Crackers & I keep stumbling on small dead critters around our property. About 2 weeks ago I had the misfortune to discover the king of the moles dead in my backyard (I assume he must be king because he was the largest mole I have ever seen and trust me, I've seen a lot of dead moles). I'm not sure if our dog Sadie was responsible for his death, or if he met his end in some kind of mole coup d'etat. The end result is that I had to use my poop shovel (the small spade I use to pick up the remains of Sadie's dinner once it's traveled through her digestive system) to fling what had to be a 4 pound mole into the woods behind our house.

Dead moles, sadly are not too unusual in our back yard. I end up flinging about 4-5 dead moles back into the woods every summer. I'm really at the top of my game by August. If there was an Olympic event in dead mole tossing, I think I'd consider trying out for the U.S. team.

What is unusual (thankfully!) are other dead rodents. So, it came as quite a surprise when I came out into the garage on Friday morning to hear K screaming with delight, "Look Momma it's a baby mouse. Awww...he's sleeping. He's so cute!" I sprinted out to the driveway before she could pick him up. K is not at all squeamish about touching anything. One of her favorite pastimes is to walk down to the neighborhood pond with Mr. Crackers. Our pond is chock-full of frogs and Mr. Crackers uses a net to catch tadpoles and polliwogs for her. K loves to hold them in her hands for a minute or so before flinging them back into the pond. (Like me, C watches the whole tadpole flinging experience with a mixture of reluctant interest and horror. He enjoys watching his dad catch the tadpoles, but he wants nothing to do with returning them back to the pond.)

Sure enough, there was a small mouse in the driveway. Only, instead of being asleep he was clearly dead. Before K had the chance to scoop him up & hold him, I ran to the back yard to retrieve my poop/dead animal shovel to dispose of the remains.

This morning though was the final straw. I looked out my bathroom window as I was about to get in the shower when I saw a bunny in our backyard. We have lived in our house for 5 years & I have never seen a rabbit anywhere near our house. I have always assumed that the hawks and feral cats that live in the woods behind our house kept the population of rabbits very low. I was so excited about seeing the rabbit, I called out to Mr. Crackers so he too could witness the cute furry animal feasting on fallen leaves in the back yard. I think my ooo's and aahh's were too loud for the rabbit though, so he hopped off through the fence and into my neighbor's yard just as I was getting into the shower.

As I got out of the shower I heard Mr. Crackers shout "Sadie! What did you do?!" I peeked out the window to see (much to my dismay) 6 dead baby bunnies strewn around the base of our dogwood tree. Neither Mr. Crackers nor I are exactly sure what happened, but the large bunny I saw earlier was still in my neighbor's yard feasting on leaves. All we know is that Sadie was outside doing her business for a few minutes while Mr. Crackers got her breakfast ready. When he called out to bring her back in, he noticed her sniffing around the tree. Since she was so intent on sniffing, he went out to investigate and found the poor dead bunnies.

While Sadie is the sweetest dog ever, she is still a dog. A dog who loves to bark at and chase all of the small birds and squirrels who dare enter into our yard. It seems clear that she didn't try to eat them or anything. I'm not sure what happened. My guess is that she thought they were stuffed toys and played with them a little too roughly.

Honestly, we'll never know exactly what went down, but I have been trying to come up with alternate reasons for the bunnies death all day...Maybe they ate some bad mushrooms...Perhaps they were innocent victims of the ongoing mole coup d'etat that is raging in our backyard...

No matter what the reason, it's clear that I have to add Sadie to the list of reasons why we haven't seen more rabbits in our backyard for the past 5 years. Oh well. I'm just glad Mr. Crackers was on deck to clean it up. I'm not sure I want to add bunny disposal to the list of things I did on my summer vacation.