The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me

As I pulled our Radio Flyer ATW loaded up with Blake, cooler, towels, beach toys, etc from the lake the other day I exclaimed, “This wagon is the best thing that ever happened to me!”  Then on second thought I turned to a combo Keith/Blake and said, “No offense.”  Keith laughed because, truthfully, I think he realized that he was not singlehandedly carrying as much as our wagon can.  Wagon wins.  I love that wagon.  If there is one thing you need for the beach with a baby…that wagon is it.  Forget the beach cart.  You can’t put your one year old in it.

We’ve been pretty busy since we’ve been back, but time hasn’t gone too quickly.  I finally got around to doing one of the things I’ve been saying I was going to do for a while.  I asked my dad to help me make Blake a growth chart which resulted in my dad making Blake a growth chart.  I did contribute slightly.  I lined the inch and half inch marks with paint marker.  It’s so beautiful though.  I love it and it’s exactly what I wanted.  We’ve already gotten comments about our “wishful thinking” with the height going past 6 feet.  The wood was leftover from the wood I purchased for our wedding signs a few years ago.  It’s 100 years old so it has some character.  The numbers are stainless steel house numbers and I used an oil paint pen to make the inch and half inch marks.  I can’t wait to keep adding to the chart, but at the same time I want Blake to stay tiny forever!

We spent the last week having fun every day.  I can’t believe we’ve only been home just over a week.  I know I’m really behind so here’s a quick recap of our week.  I need to be better about keeping current because I fear I’m falling into old habits of procrastination.  Our week consisted of the zoo, carousel, lake, visiting our friends Justin and Kellie and their adorable son, River, peach picking and the petting zoo at Demarest farms.

Last Tuesday we decided at the last minute to drive into the city and go to the Lobster Boat – The North River Lobster Company.   I almost regretted suggesting we go there when parking garages in the area were quoting me $60 for TWO HOURS.  Even for NYC, that’s insane.  Fortunately when I was about to give up we scored a spot on the street ONE BLOCK away from the boat.  It was SO empty on a Tuesday and we got there for the first sailing.  If you’ve never been there, it’s a bar/restaurant on a boat.  You walk on for free and they have scheduled 45 minute sails every day on the Hudson.  The views are beautiful. We had a drink, went for a sail, and headed back home.  Blake LOVED the boat.  It was a perfect amount of time for Blake and it was something very different for him as well.  On the way home we stopped at Van Saun Park and hopped on the train since it was closed on Monday because, why not!?

Last night 4 of my former students came over and hung out with us before they leave for college.  I loved having them over and I’m so lucky to have students I’ve gotten to know so well throughout the past 5 years who WANT to see me still!  As much as I loved having them here, Blake loved them more.  He had so much fun with them.  I let Blake stay up later than usual and they tired him out so much that he fell asleep in 10 minutes as opposed to his normal hour.  Girls, come back and tire Blake out whenever you want! 

We have so many fun plans with friends this week.  I don’t care what anyone says – the summer is far from over!