This has meant that the girls and I are going on more walks together. It doesn’t hurt that there are actually places to go here, as opposed to where we lived before! I was very grateful to have had a whole weekend’s worth of walks. We actually started our walking weekend on Thursday, but I didn’t bring my camera on that hike. You can just imagine 6 kids walking for 2 hours in the woods. It was a green and muddy walk near a pond and a swamp.

Friday we took a walk with some friends to a local park. The girls’ Vóvó (grandfather in Portuguese) had told them that one rock was very popular for sliding. So they grabbed some cardboard boxes, and walked/ran to the rock. Once we got there, though, the kids decided that the sliding rock was steeper than they were expecting. Only one kiddo tried it, and it wasn’t a big success. However, we still enjoyed the park and the great views of the harbor. Certain children enjoyed hanging out by the railing and freaking out the moms until we looked beyond the railing and saw that they weren’t just hanging over a cliff. Phew! It was a great walk and a fun time - these 5 kids really enjoyed the rocks and water!

On Saturday the girls were with their dad, and I was in Boston. I ended up going for a lovely walk around the Chestnut Hill reservoir. It’s a beautiful area, and it has walking/jogging paths. It’s sunny, but it has some nice benches in the shade, too. A lovely walk, and a great idea for a warm sunny day in the Boston area! Being an over-prepared mom-type-person, I had water, snacks, camera, and phone. I highly recommend bringing water and the camera, as the reservoir has some gorgeous views. I’m glad I saw this huge gaggle of fearless geese, it was a great reminder of the girls! The geese were quieter than the girls usually are, though.

On Sunday LG and I took a walk to a nearby fort. A group of revolutionary war re-enactors had an encampment there for the weekend, and we got there just as they were starting to pack up. It was still really cool to see the tents and everyone in period costume, including the kids whose parents are part of the regiment. As a bonus, LG got to be put behind bars, one of her favorite things about the walk! We also got some wonderful pictures of the harbor and the island where BG and MG will go to camp.

All in all, we’ve been having a wonderful walk each day. Today’s was just to the store to get MG more tofu pups, but we still enjoyed it.

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Gazpacho is the perfect summer food, it’s fresh and delicious, and will never heat up the kitchen! As a bonus, it can include cilantro and avocado, two of summer’s best foods.

Summer is for deciding one day you are going to do something (like catch a squirrel), and then devote several days to accomplishing that thing. My older girls spent 2 days trying to catch a squirrel. That time included researching squirrels, figuring out the best way to build a trap, determining the best bait, and sitting quietly waiting for a squirrel.

Eating lobster rolls out on the deck. Lobster rolls are an integral part of summer for me, and while it’s wonderful, it hasn’t been quite the same with lobster salad. So the most recent time I bought lobster salad, I put it on top of toasted gluten-free, dairy-free english muffins from Trader Joe’s. Yum! It worked beautifully. And yes, lobster rolls (like lobster itself) should be eaten outside whenever possible.

Part of summer is the local Arts Festival. Some of that means looking at amazing sculpture, crafts, “mixed media”, photography, painting, etc. But some of it means the Street Festival, which includes waiting in long lines for balloon animals. I have to say that this time it was worth it - this guy was great! Check out LG’s “hot dog dog” that even has a “hot dog” part on top of the blue wiener dog!

What’s a summer festival without face paint? Of course BG got a butterfly across her face (her theme lately has been butterflies), MG got a little rainbow on her cheek, and LG got a puppy dog face, which ended up looking a lot like freckles. The great thing about the Arts Festival’s Street Festival is that all this stuff was free! So not only did we have a ton of fun and get a bunch of exercise wandering around town for a few hours, but we also did it all without spending a penny!

Summer is also for being silly. Which means that it’s ok to be the Mama Dragon, and be running around in a people-as-puppets play in the middle of the street! In the summer you can’t take yourself too seriously - it’s vital to get your wiggles out and get your sillies out too.

I don’t have pictures of the Fireworks or the amazing lobster on the boat picnic before fireworks, but I count those as must-have summer events too. Along with beach days. And if the weather would just cooperate, we could have some more beach days to make even more summer memories!

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On Wednesday we had a lovely visit with my two grandmothers. My maternal Nana (Nana M) turned 87, and we joined her for lunch at the assisted living place. Both of my grandmothers live in the same assisted living place, so despite it being a 2 1/2 hour trip, it’s quite easy to visit both of them. (The picture at right is from a few months ago, the camera needed batteries and the pics of the Nanas didn’t come out)

It turns out that Wednesdays are “Chef’s Choice” for lunch, and because we had reserved the private dining room, the chef called my mother to ask what we would like to have served for lunch. This chef had been wonderful about accommodating food allergies and celiac disease, but we didn’t want to make things too difficult for him.
”
My mom replied, “what my mother would like best, you couldn’t do.”
The chef answered, “try me.”
My mom said, “lobster.”
And the chef surprised us all by saying, “ok, lobster rolls, lobster salad for the folks with allergies, and grilled vegetables on the side!”

Let me tell you, when I’m older, I hope I can live in a place as wonderful as this one! This lobster salad was warmed, with no mayo, and was incredibly divine, with huge chunks of lobster. And as an extra bonus, there were seconds and thirds offered!

My Nana M’s uncle, Izzy, and his sister Flo also live in the same assisted living place, so after lunch they joined us for dessert and birthday wishes.

For dessert, we tried the new Betty Crocker Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix (which is made in a gluten-free facility) - review here. We topped it with a “chocolate syrup frosting” my mother made, and then set out some lovely candied violets. The cake was moist and delicious, and we made room. Though MG had eaten 4ths on lobster and couldn’t finish her cake. I had only had 2 1/2 servings, so I could help LG finish off MG’s piece. Perhaps BG was the smart one, she had seconds on soup rather than lobster and saved her appetite for cake, and ate two pieces!

When dessert was finished, Nana M went to a doctor’s appointment with my mom, while we met up with Nana R (my paternal Nana, seen here in a picture from her 91st birthday last September). She was enroute to High Stakes Bingo, where you have to pony up a nickle to play. BG and LG helped her out (though she wins well enough without them!), and MG was invited to play by another resident. Nana R was so happy to show off her great-granddaughters! And I’m always happy to be called a “young girl” by someone! Luckily for BG, in the 3rd game she got a card, too.

Watching the residents and the girls play bingo was wonderful. There’s such spunk, such individuality, and such fun among the residents, and the employees are wonderful. I get teary when I think of the devotion and openness of the folks employed there - they clearly know the residents so very well, and they recognize how wonderful they all are, including my two Nanas! The gentle combination of teasing and politeness really shows how genuine they are about caring for every individual.

It was a long and exhausting day, but one that built more great memories. I am very lucky to have so many wonderful memories of time with my Nanas!

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Our family has been living gluten-free due to Celiac Disease for over 6 years. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and very similar to the protein found in outs. This means that any food needs to be made specially - bread, pasta, cake, pizza crust, pretzels, cookies, etc. Finding the Betty Crocker gluten-free mixes was a wonderful surprise!

Over the past 6 years there has been a huge increase in availability of gluten-free products, but most of the GF products have been found in the health food aisle of the grocery store or in a specialty store.

However, gluten-free products are becoming more mainstream as the number of people diagnosed with celiac disease rises, as well as the number of people living gluten-free for other reasons. Last summer, General Mills introduced a new, gluten-free formulation of Rice Chex (they changed the sweetener from barley malt to another sweetener). In addition to becoming more mainstream, gluten-free products are becoming much more commonly available and found in most grocery stores.
Read the rest of the review

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The weather in New England has not been particularly summer-like. So, any day that it isn’t raining should be celebrated! On Friday morning, we took a walk through the local conservation land, and around a pond, and then had lunch at home while it rained for a little bit.

However, the rain stopped again after lunch, and it continued to be warmer than it had been for ages, so we packed up our swim bag, put on our swim suits, packed up some shovels and buckets, put everything into a wagon, and walked off to a new-to-us nearby beach. I couldn’t believe that there was a beach just a few blocks from where we live that we had never explored! It’s a lovely, quiet, and protected beach, too - just right for taking a few kids and a picnic.

We had some trouble at first pulling the wagon, as the only one who was the right size to pull it was LG, and it was a bit heavy for LG to pull. So, the girls worked out the best way to pull the wagon. This turned into a roller-coaster style ride for MG as she sat on the wagon and was pulled by a sister on either side.

Once we got to the beach, everything was dropped on the sand, and the girls hurtled themselves into the water. It was surprisingly cold, but BG and MG quickly ducked under and started swimming. After realizing the intense cold of the water, LG didn’t get more than her feet wet, and worked on making sandcastles rather than swimming.

It was fun watching the older girls swim and play in the water, they looked like seals when their heads popped up out of the water, bobbing as they swam around. I don’t know how they can stand the cold, they definitely don’t have a layer of blubber to keep them warm, like seals do!

After swimming and digging, the girls climbed the rocks on the side of the beach, a trick they seem to do at every beach - who knows what they would do if they were at a beach without rocks! This habit proves that climbing the rock wall at the YMCA like little monkeys can come in handy at other times, too. I’m always amazed that they have the energy and coordination to climb rocks after swimming in that cold water for so long! While LG can’t climb quite as high as her sisters can, she still has pretty impressive rock climbing skills, and she’s so proud of what she can do!

At the end of our time at the beach, the girls picked some wildflowers to bring home, and of course MG had to put a couple flowers in her braids. They looked so cute, and I remember doing things like that when I was little - I’m sure I looked a lot like her, too!

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It wasn’t raining this morning, so the girls and I took a lovely walk in the woods near a pond close to the house. There are a lot of trails, some lovely views of the pond, and some beautiful flowers that had grown in the rain. Of course, the whole area was very, very, very green after 3 weeks of rain!

When we approached a creek, LG said, “This the dangerous part! Dun, dun, dun!” We walked across the creek on some well-positioned stepping stones, and accomplished a walk without any injuries! (knock on wood)

Other high points were trying to figure out why there is a sewer manhole cover in the middle of the woods, having some lovely dogs come up to be petted, eating some Backyard Bbq Chips and Sea Salt & Vinegar chips in the middle of the “horse circle” and on a big rock, playing with walking sticks, walking on a beach, seeing several teepees/lean-tos made out of sticks, watching the ducks at another pond, and then finally looking in at a boatyard and spying Lapstrake and Edge-Joined wooden boats being repaired.

Some days are lovely, even when they aren’t perfect! (Even when I forget the camera and I’m left with blurry cell phone shots!)

And then when we were two blocks away from home, it started to rain again. Ugh! I’m hoping for at least some sun this weekend!

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We walked to a local pond and visited the white goose, and then started back, with a lot of puddle jumping by the folks in rain boots. When we got close to home, there was a huge puddle, and I was feeling jealous of the puddle jumpers. Since we were close to home, I held hands with MG and we jumped into the puddle. Then we kept jumping over and over! Great fun was had by all, and we were all quite wet by the end of it.

As we started walking away from the puddle, LG’s boots had water in them, and they made wonderful “squelch, squerch, squelch, squerch” noises, just like the ones made in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt as they walk through the mud.

This inspired me, and the rest of our walk had We’re Going on a Bear Hunt as a spoken word accompaniment.

“We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re gonna catch a big one! What a beautiful day, we’re not scared!”

Going through the river, the mud, the long grass of the meadow, etc - then bumping into the bear and running all the way home back through the meadow, mud, river, etc.

I highly recommend reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt if you haven’t already (such cute pictures! what a catchy refrain!), but more than that, go re-enact it and take your kids for a walk (whatever the weather), and incorporate the obstacles on your walk into the retelling of story.

Now, what other books would work well for re-enacting on a walk?

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Ugh! I’ve been avoiding any political discussions lately. (Though President Obama’s Miyagi-like mad fly-killing skillz were very impressive!)

Anyhow, I just received a forward about the evils of Bill S909 - the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. According to the email, it will protect people who commit incest, pedophiles, and other creepy folks, and make it impossible for people to speak freely and quote the Bible, pray, or express contrary opinions on homosexuality (plus many other free speech topics). First off, I now identify myself as a Christian. However, I still think that these accusations are confused, so I wanted to read the original text of the Bill before making a decision to talk to my representatives (always a good idea - read the fine print!)

Do these people ever actually read the text of Bills before they send these emails? The one I received said (in part):

On the other hand, guess what WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will be considered a hate crime and YOU WILL GO TO JAIL…..

1. Praying In Jesus’ Name in ANY PUBLIC VENUE–that includes church buildings

2. Preaching against SIN in general that could in some way be considered hateful by those who don’t want to be told they sin or their behavior is sinful
3. Quoting the Bible in church as that is offensive and considered hateful speech by some

I’m not a lawyer (nor have I ever played one on TV…), but my father is, and I have done a lot of paralegal-type work for him, so I have read a lot of bills and other legal documents. In reading Bill S909, I don’t see anything that would indicate the above is accurate. In fact, there is even a section which says:

Section 10: RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
For purposes of construing this Act and the amendments made by this Act the following shall apply:
…
(4) FREE EXPRESSION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual’s expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual’s membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs.

So, you can express your beliefs all you want. What you can’t do if this Bill is passed is hurt/kill someone or incite others to hurt/kill someone. Saying “straight white men are evil, and sex outside procreation is sinful” would be OK. Saying “we all know straight white men are evil sex outside procreation is sinful, so we must kill all straight white men who have sex outside of procreation - here is how we should accomplish this…” would not be OK, especially if you or your followers then follow through on it.

However, the Bill only is in effect if someone is actually injured:

‘(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-
‘(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person–

Emotional or psychological injury doesn’t count:

‘(1) the term ‘bodily injury’ has the meaning given such term in section 1365(h)(4) of this title, but does not include solely emotional or psychological harm to the victim;

I, personally, think the bill sounds like a good idea. But, if you disagree with me, please at least read the Bill and offer a reasonable, educated argument. And please don’t send me any more emails that aren’t well researched, and rely only on biased media reports! Thanks in advance!

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Life has been busy here lately, and the girls keep growing. Lots to celebrate, lots to remember.

In May, BG turned 11, with much fanfare, and a trip to CoCo Key indoor water park. The rest of us tried to contain our jealousy with a trip to the local YMCA’s pool. She also got a visit from her t-shirt design hero JadenKale - though I enjoyed her visit at least as much as BG did!

For Memorial Day, there was a big cookout with a bunch of cousins at my father and stepmother’s home, and it was so much fun! 2 grandparents, 8 grandkids, and 4 adults who act like kids made it so much fun to be the photographer! Grampy and Mimi live right next to beach, so there was a lot of running, shouting, treasure burying, castle building, and football when we took over their beach. Many great memories made that day.

This past week MG turned 9, also with much fanfare. We saw MG off on a trip to the Big Apple on Friday, where she and her Nani & Vovo visited with her uncle and his girlfriend. She enjoyed rides on a carousel, a ferris wheel, the Staten Island ferry, and several rides in an amusement park in Central Park. She also had some wonderful meals, a great trip to the American Museum of Natural History where she loved the life-size blue whale, and just a lot of fun in general.

However, on their way home their anticipated visit with Nana M (my maternal grandmother) took a different turn. Nana M is now living in the same assisted living place as Nana R (my paternal grandmother), and her husband was in a rehab facility. Grandpa Bob took a turn for the worse, and was moved to the hospital, then to the hospice wing of the hospital. MG had a short visit with Nana M, then a longer visit with Nana R while Nani and Vovo took Nana M to visit Grandpa Bob for a bit. They were able to visit for over an hour, and he was lucid during some of the time, too. They had been married for over 20 years, and had been living in their own home until a few months ago, so living in different places was very difficult for both of them.

Thank goodness that Nana M was able to visit with him Sunday evening, as early Monday morning, Grandpa Bob died. He was 94 1/2 years old, and a wonderful, gentle man who was always so genuinely pleased to see us, always with a firm handshake and a kiss on the cheek for the ladies. While in the past year he had become forgetful, he had otherwise been doing very well and had been successfully managing his health issues. Nana always made sure meals were on time and healthy so they could best manage his diabetes, and until earlier this year he had been driving them to doctor visits and the grocery store, where he sat in a chair while Nana shopped.

We have many fond memories of Grandpa Bob, and he’ll get his very own post on the day of the funeral (Thursday). The girls are sad, and disappointed - they had wanted to celebrate his 100th birthday with him. However, our Church is giving us comfort that we will see him again, and as much as we miss him, we are comforted knowing that he is now in a place where he isn’t in any pain and his mind is clear. We love you and miss you, Grandpa Bob.

June will continue with celebrations of the girls’ father’s birthday, father’s day, and the beginning of summer. Life continues with more memories to be made.

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