Carlabria

Pumpkin Picking 2009 @ Hanks in Watermill

2009-10-14T16:17:00.006-04:00

The girls were really excited to get pumpkins - here's Catie running after her sister and Peyton.

Ahhh....

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of two antsy four-year olds??? Here's a good one!

Isn't she pretty?

Hi Peyton!

Charlotte and Catie driving.

Me and Charlee with a not so hot Johnny.

Elmhurst College is where Auntie Becky graduated in Illinois. We decked out in our geer so everyone would know we were together.

Ring, ring goes the bell....

While a picture of kids conversing isn't the most exciting, it is tremendously amazing to us how well Charlotte is speaking.

Catie has the gears working smoothly!

The End.

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-08T16:53:00.000-04:00

My little goofball wouldn't stand nice for the camera -

and had left fingerprints on my camera lens.
Obviously a picture together was not happening.

There's a pretty smile!

OMG! How many more pictures are we taking!!

Perfection.

The other silly goose.

Bye, have fun at school!

Tomato Tasting at Biophilila

2009-08-30T17:05:00.000-04:00

Our CSA hosted a tomato and garlic tasting to try the different varieties of produce we were receiving in our shares. We also had an extra tomato tasting from the Cornell Coop, which is here in Yaphank - we were asked to try over 40 varieties of tomato!!

Tomatoes, garlic, bread and cookies - why wouldn't they be happy?!?
Catie's faves ranked #1 and #2 with the whole group.
At least we know she has good taste!

Angela's grandfather, John Polcyn, passes away

2009-08-11T09:15:00.006-04:00

Angela's grandfather, John Polcyn, passed away on Sunday. He was a strong, yet sensitive man who doted over his children and grandchildren, and shared a enviable love with his wife Dorothy.

Here's his obituary in the Chicago Tribune.

Charlotte gets her ears pierced!

2009-08-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

She didn't flinch, she didn't cry and look how pretty she is!
Oops, I spoke too soon.

Toke this: Teens weigh in on smoking

2009-07-31T10:19:00.007-04:00

My bud Dominick did interviews with teens about smoking. What would it take to get some to stop? Try $1 million.

Olivia's 2nd birthay

2009-07-19T11:59:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday Olivia

Happy 4th birthday Charlotte!

2009-07-15T07:03:00.005-04:00

Catie, Charlotte and Rachel playing on the swings.

Charlotte's attempt to break the pinata.

Carl got a bit frustrated with how long it was taking to open the pinata, so he stepped in and helped the girls swing. Here he is helping Caterina.

Charlotte too!

Charlotte and Amelia hanging out.

What a pretty birthday girl!

Charlotte and Daddy. Yes, she's looking more and more like him.

Today is actually Charlotte's 4th birthday, but we got an early start on Saturday with a party with family and friends.

Valley Stream Fireworks Get Up Close and Personal

2009-07-05T20:05:00.003-04:00

The Valley Stream Fire Department arrived after embers from the fireworks display -- part of the annual Miserandino 4th of July barbecue -- landed on nearby houses.

Dominick and I investigated.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T16:56:00.000-04:00

Madison, Christopher and Charlotte played really well together.
Charlotte in motion.

Pop doing lessons with the kids.

Uncle Dom trying to look tough - or grumpy.

Me and Margherita - finally a good picture!

Miss Janet taking pictures too.

She just looks sweet and innocent.

Catie will drum on anything, with anything! And no, she can't have any!!

Catie and Caterina insisted on taking a picture together, then wouldn't sit still.

Charlotte took this one of Olivia and Frank.

Kaboom!

Charlotte's ears were double covered...

while Caterina only needed a single layer...

and Olivia fell asleep during the finale!

Kiddie Pool in Yard - Priceless!

2009-06-28T14:27:00.002-04:00

Two tired parents + sunshine + excited kids = kiddie pool in backyard!
Catie got right into the spray, while Charlee avoided it.

Until she decided to use it as a water fountain!

Not to be outdone Catie joins in.

They may hate me for this picture when they get older, but are they cute or what!?!

Moments after this, Catie started breaking out in hives. Our day ended with a trip to the ER. So much for summertime fun.

Charlee's Last Day of School - Year One!

2009-06-25T14:15:00.000-04:00

Peyton couldn't wait to get Charlee off the bus for the last time.

We promised them the beach and the beach they got!

It was cool and overcast, but the girls had a blast in the water and playing in the sand.

Charlotte was the first to brave the icy waters.

Catie was the only one to intentionally get wet all the way.

It took about 6 shots to get them both smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, but it seems persistence paid off!

Batter up!

2009-06-15T06:19:00.002-04:00

Charlotte and Rachel in a quick pose.

Here's Catie trying to be like her cousin.

Rachel at bat.

And out in the field.

We all had a great time at Rachel's softball game this weekend.

Dom's big night

2009-06-07T22:29:00.004-04:00

Dominick got his big night in the spot light last week. He was honored for his exceptional work over the past year in helping to boost the efforts of the Press Club of Long Island. Dom and I both serve on the board. Here's his speech, and my introduction of him.

'Catie's going to have whiplash'

2009-06-01T15:33:00.001-04:00

We took off the training wheels. There used to be a screw that prevented the little Mustang from going fast, but I couldn't help myself. I had to see how fast it would go. As you'll see, fast!

Commencement address at Stony Brook

2009-05-22T21:41:00.000-04:00

I was given the honor to deliver the commencement address to the Multidisciplinary Studies Class of 2009 at Stony Brook University.

Trip to Washington DC - Arlington Cemetery

2009-05-15T16:14:00.001-04:00

After a 6-hour car ride we started our trip to Washington DC with the Arlington National Cemetery.

It was my first time visiting, the rows and rows of gravestones amazed me.

This etching on Taft's gravestone was one I thoroughly loved.

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"Ultra proud parents of 7 children who are our only accomplishments of real significance; The world of each is better because of him or her; Each has always been our very special favorite"

At the eternal flame for John F Kennedy we had some competition viewing the site - there was a school tour group who refused to observe the silence requested of them.

The view of DC was phenomenal from the Eternal Flame.

We got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

And the changing of the guard.

The ceremony of the changing of the guard was a beautiful thing to see. The honor and respect that resounds from it are overwhelming.

From the museum across the tomb, in honor of Memorial Day.

On top of being spectacular, it was blissfully cool.

The area of the cemetery for the nurses was one of the places we spent the most time. It gets so ingrained, the idea of the men who gave their lives during the wars, that it's easy to forget the women on the battlefields with them.

Since Becky and I both had issues walking across the grass, through the headstones this was the best shot we were getting of the Nurses Monument.

We found the Battle of the Bulge monument.

We did our best to find some of the more prominent gravestones, between us we did pretty well!

The Spanish American War Memorial.

The Rough Riders - Teddy Roosevelt's comrades.

This is another monument we didn't get very close to, this time in respect of a funeral taking place. But oh, the number of men in uniform....

"An angel visited the green earth and took a flower away."

The area of the Civil War was flooded with unknown headstones. There is actually a mass grave, with over 2,000 confederate soldiers bodies that were recovered from shallow graves on site, the same monument the president sends a wreathe to for Memorial Day. (above)

Of all the Unknown sites, this one again from the Civil War, for me, was profound. There is no standard decor as you can see, which makes me wonder if nothing was known about this man, or if it had just been a long, horrible day for the engraver that this was all that he had left to give.

Just a couple of the older headstones we came across, Civil War era.

One of the oldest graves we came across, a gentleman who served in the American Revolution.

It takes a moment sometimes to grasp you're standing in front of memorials dedicated to people who died while helping create our country.

This tombstone was particularly interesting, since it lists battles Major General Baird was in.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/williamo.htm

NYC Mayor (1946-50)

Another politician who got away with corruption.

There was an imminent threat of thundershowers all weekend, fortunately we got rained on just once! Basically, the meteorologists were wrong - but that's not news!

Neither of us can read a map well, so after a few wrong turns, many uphill, we managed to find the Iwo Jima Marines Memorial.

Becky did great with getting pictures, while I read the commentary.

This was at the very, very end of our journey, one of those that looks pretty pauses. We were both eyeing the water, till I noticed there was an actual museum inside. I dragged Becky right in despite her protests.

Aside from the glorious air conditioning, the fact they sold bottled water and had restrooms, this museum dedicated to the fly girls was amazing.

One thing that struck me looking at the exhibits, was the handwriting - a woman's log from WWII showed script just like my grandmother's. Where it is now acceptable to have illegible writing, the idea that school masters were really that strict with penmanship was interesting, to me at least.

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One of the things we saw, which was heart-wrenching, was the number of infants buried at Arlington. Spring of 1958 was a really bad time for infant girls, we saw about 15 sites in just one section at one point in our journey. Wondering what was going on, I did some research. From what I have found so far, SIDS was higher than ever at this time 2.2 deaths per 1000 births. The other issue that seems to have caused these deaths was jaundice and the practice of blood exchange transfusion (BET) to cure it, killed infants because of incompatible blood-types between mom and baby. Mortality within 6-hours of treatment was between 3-4:1000 before 1970. Pre-term birth and "congenital malformation" were also cited. CDC statistics back this, with additional high mortality causes from influenza and pneumonia.

HAPPY MOTHER'SDAY 2009

2009-05-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

We didn't get many pictures, but this one was ok.

"Tomorrow," by Catie

2009-04-29T17:54:00.001-04:00

Catie's become quite the singer. Please forgive the hair-do.

Happy Birthday to Me.

2009-04-29T17:30:00.000-04:00

I escaped pictures the night before by my mom, but couldn't escape them the day of.

The best part of the day was both girls singing happy birthday to me. This is the first year they both can do it.
Charlotte doesn't miss a single drop of ice cream. Ever.

Catie is now equating birthdays with ice cream.

Her comment was it's mommy's birthday, we have ice cream.

They were playing with the tissue paper from my gift, so Grandma Mary made a veil out of it.

Our visit to Philadelphia

2009-04-26T17:03:00.000-04:00

After a long car ride we took a dip in the hotel pool to relax and cool off.

My sunburn is from sitting in traffic on the Belt with the sunroof open. Seriously.

Uncle Dom and Caterina came in with us.
Carl and Margherita were taking the pictures from the sidelines.

Charlotte didn't want to come in all the way and stayed on the steps for the most part.

Catie and I got her in with us and we did "laps" back and forth across the pool.

We got the girls cleaned up and dressed pretty for our 6:30 dinner reservation. At 6:10 we got a call saying they were cancelling our reservation because of a problem in the kitchen. With some help from the concierge we got into a great restaurant just a little later and everyone was happy.

What better way to end the night than the hotel sending up milk and cookies for the girls.

The next morning we got an early start and took the trolley ride towards the zoo.

It was cool on top, but not for long!

I found it quite sad that I could tell you what animal this is from watching Diego...

and these from the Lion King - remember Timone?

We stopped to hear a band on the grounds - this is about as long as the girls stood still.

We got to see giant turtles...

And for all the zoos we've been to, this is the first hippo sighting we've had!

We abandoned the zoo after lunch seeing barely any of it. 85 degrees hot, lines to get into un-air-conditioned animal houses and cranky kids didn't make for much fun. We had some wonderful help getting the double stroller on the trolley, which turned out to be the wrong red trolley. We got back to the zoo again and caught the right one back to the hotel where we cleaned the girls up. After a brief walk outside we were summoned to the conference site to get the guys. The trip home was... let's just say it was at least peaceful with the girls sleeping!

Peyton's 4th Birthday Party

2009-04-19T18:05:00.000-04:00

We had fun at the gymnastics center - this was Catie's first time on a trampoline.
Charlotte is an old pro at it.

Yup, that's as high as Catie got. Charlee got halfway up the wall.

Finally, something slowed them down!

It looked like a great place to snuggle to me too!

Birthday girl Peyton joined in!

Easter by Grandma Mary

2009-04-19T12:13:00.000-04:00

After visiting Grandma Anna, we went by Grandma Mary for dinner.

The girls with Taylor.
Could they fake smile any more??

They weren't very cooperative today either taking pictures.

Catie let me help her open her basket.

Is there more??

Easter by Grandma Rose

2009-04-12T12:01:00.000-04:00

After diving into Hor'devres the girls got to open their Easter Baskets.

Charlotte had help from Auntie Nicole...

while Uncle Phil helped Catie.

Getting a picture of these two is worse than pulling teeth, but finally a good one!

We took special care to get pictures with Auntie Becky where she's not at the sink!

This one with Charlee is great!

We did our best to get some group shots...

not all of them worked so well!

Is it broken, Grandma?

Catie and Grandma Rose during the annual egg fight. Yes, Carl, we know you won.

To keep the girls occupied during cleanup, Uncle Phil helped them set up the race car track.

He was soon dumped to play with Sage.

Step one to getting a flowergirl dress.

2009-04-09T11:57:00.000-04:00

FITTINGS!

To help get the girls in the spirit the dress shop found something in their size to try on. Be assured, these dresses are NOTHING like what they'll actually be wearing. Auntie Nicole picked out truly beautiful gowns for them.