Our "parenting retreat" to Twin Trees went well; illnesses and fear of precipitation reduced our numbers, but we still had four families join us. And given how hard it was to get into the kitchen, especially after the roof started leaking, I think I'm glad we didn't have the eight that had planned to come! The kids ran wild inside on Saturday, but Sunday dawned beautifully- sunny, warm, no humidity- so they were able to get out before driving us insane. So maybe we'll do it next year- but it is soooo much work to go up there for just one day!!!

I recently discovered a local radio station with the tag line, "We play anything." I thought that this was a rather dubious distinction, but given the other options out there (106.5, which exclusively airs George Thoroughgood and the Marshall Tucker Band, and 99.5, which limits itself to "Benny and the Jets" and Matchbox 20), I kept listening. I immediately learned that they would, indeed, play anything; the song that endlessly repeats "Amadeus" was followed by the theme song to the TV show in which Tom Hanks and some other guy had to dress as women in order to keep their apartment (were sit-coms already DRAGging so hard by 1981 that they needed to invent a gimmick like that?), which segued into "Smokin' in the Boys' Room." This was followed by the president of Siena College, who enlightened listeners with a biography of the "Saint of the Day." I thought it was a funny way to advertise a school, but since obscure martyrs are much more interesting than the other stations' morning shows, I found myself tuning in more and more. (Beware sneaky Franciscan conversion techniques.) Other advertising was rare, and despite the hit-or-miss quality of the music, it was indeed MUSIC rather than babble (except of course for those pesky saints).

Last night, I mentioned the station to Dan, who'd also heard and been amused by their proud proclamation of unselectiveness, and he wondered if they were mostly-request and if they were run by Siena. I poo-pooed both these ideas; other than the informational interjections, they made no mention of a college affiliation, and they never had callers on the air to dedicate songs, which is fairly standard when requests are played. But it turns out that he was right, which explains the lack of advertising and the random play list. It does NOT explain why the DJs never acknowledge their connection to Siena, unlike WRPI which points out its affiliation every seven minutes; must be another subtle conversion/ marketing tactic. And the lack of on-air callers still seemed pretty strange, until I read a little more about it. Turns out they banned airing call-ins because they feared they were being used for gang communications. Why the thugs don't use cell phones like everyone else is beyond me, but all-righty.

Enjoying his moon pinata 

Oma and A decorating for C's birthday party

C's stellar cake thanks to Sarah

I made the Coop Scoop!

http://www.hwfc.com/CoopScoop/Jul06/staffprofile.html
(The print version has a picture, too.)

 

 

 

walking in the water, a new favorite activity 

wild strawberies 

Weekend adventures at Twin Trees 

July 4th- in a pinch, A can still nap in the sling, but she hangs out a lot more now

So a fluke of a late night, a traumatizing fireworks-watching experience, and mere luck led A to sleep something like 5 hours straight last night, giving Dan and I more deep sleep than we've experienced for month. And did my body take advantage of this rare experience by sinking into a much-needed oblivion, or dreaming of kittens and rainbows? Noooo. I had a dream about the guy on the left in this picture. Everyone gets two guesses of who he is; if you get it right, I'll make you a t-shirt.

 

A's crib mutterings at bedtime tonight

Feed da birds, tuppence tuppence tuppence a bag

eight nine ten eleven

Nana play toys. E-I-E-I-O.

No kick Mommy. Hurt Mommy.

Noisy roofers. Roofers go home. Roofers sleeping. Woofie sleeping. Daddy sleeping. Daddy sleeping right now.

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Daddy soooo wished he had been sleeping. Instead, he was cleaning out the mudroom so the contractors could work on it, now that they've FINALLY finished our roof. Meanwhile, as soon as A fell asleep, I opened up the bottom of the dishwasher and ran it to see if I could figure out why water was pouring into our basement. Luckily, I didn't have to spend too long lying on the tile floor with a flashlight to see that the leak is related to the float. Now we need to figure out whether we can fix it with a gasket of some kind or if it's going to be an even more painful replacement.

More evidence that A is a Day girl

Sign of the times (C's started making birthday presents for Sarah already)

Trying to make a Lego land rover for Tristan's birthday (since Lego doesn't bother :) 

C's wonderful wrapping paper for my birthday presents last week