Math-a-Thon

Okay, I don't usually solicit things on the blog. But since this is something that one of our family members is getting involved in, here goes... Some of you may be getting a separate email from us, soliciting donations for this activity, but in case you don't-- and you'd like to donate to a good cause, then read on...

Yep, we're asking for money. But it's not for us, of course! Owen is participating in a Math-a-Thon at his school over the next few weeks. Basically, he completes a booklet of math problems, in exchange for donations to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. I assume most of you already know what St. Jude's is, but if not... It's the largest childhood cancer research and treatment center in the world. The best part is that no family ever pays St. Jude for medical treatment; anything not covered by insurance is paid for by the hospital with donations they receive. 85% of every dollar donated goes directly to research and treatment at the hospital.

So, back to the whole Math-a-Thon thing: Owen has to complete the math problems on his own time at home, in addition to any regular school homework he already has. It's a voluntary participation thing, but Owen wanted to do it. When I asked him why he wanted to participate (doing math voluntarily?? I have a hard time relating...) he said, "Because Math is my favorite subject. And I like that I can help the kids in the hospital with it."

Soooo.... If you'd like to sponsor Owen, it would be much appreciated. You can choose to donate a flat amount or you can sponsor him a certain amount (1c or 20c/per problem, for example) for each problem he completes. There are about 250 math problems, so a donation of 20c/per problem would be a donation of $50, if Owen completes all of the math problems. If you'd like to sponsor per problem, then you'll probably want to donate via check or cash. Online donations have no way (that I can see) to donate per problem- only flat amounts.

If you have our home address you can send a check or money order straight to us- but made payable to: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. If you'd like to sponsor Owen online, CLICK HERE. That should take you to the Primary School's participant-find area. Just enter "owen" (no last name) in the first field, hit "enter" and follow the online instructions from there.

As always when we do this kind of fundraising thing, there is absolutely no pressure to donate. We certainly don't expect it, but if you want to and it won't hurt your pocket too much, then we truly appreciate it.

THANK YOU.

(We'll resume regularly-scheduled programming in the next post! Apologies for the interruption.)

xoxo k.

April Vacation in Gotham City

Getting Goofy in Central Park

(that's the Plaza Hotel behind them)
*************************************************

I can't help but laugh as I sit to type this... Let's just say our little vacation started out a little rocky. But somehow we had a blast anyway! Here's the play-by-play:

Last weekend we headed to NYC with the boys for the first half of school vacation week... I even got new tires put on the minivan about three weeks ago so we'd be smooth-sailing for the trip. (The run-flats that came on the van had worn down so we needed new ones anyway. I replaced the run-flats with regular tires this time. The run-flats weren't a very smooth ride and they are expensive, to boot!) So, the new tires were all set and the van was vacuumed out to ensure a clean, comfy ride.

Skip & I had planned to leave Saturday morning around 5am to avoid the bulk of city traffic down in New York. (Although, NYC has weird busy hours for traffic anyway... One time a few years ago, we thought we'd beat a lot of the rush hour traffic by arriving in the city late on a Friday night... we ended up sitting in bumper-to-bumper bridge traffic with tons of tractor trailers for a couple hours! So it's anybody's guess down there, really.)

Well, we didn't make our 5am departure. Either the alarm didn't go off (maybe) or I shut it off without realizing it (probably) so when we woke up it was already starting to get light outside. Oops. But we were driving and not flying, so it really wasn't something we were going to stress about. By the time we got everyone all loaded and had made a quick stop at the ALR office for Skip to check on something, we weren't finally headed out of South Portland until around almost 8am. But we were all happy and excited, so no worries!

Photo (left): Check out the blue & white lights through the back window!

We cruised along until about halfway through the drive, when we were politely informed by a police officer somewhere in Massachusetts that Skip was driving well over the posted limit. Despite the fact that Skip told him that he slowed down "as soon as I saw you..." the officer still fined us. Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmm?? Now, I'm just a silly girl, but it never would have occurred to me to use that kind of statement when being pulled over for speeding... Can you believe that such a witty remark didn't get us out of a ticket?! hahahaha I really had to try not to laugh when Skip actually said that out loud! Maybe it was shock from the sheer audacity of that statement that caused the officer to only write a ticket for the minimum fine... Whatever his reason, it was extremely kind of him and we did keep an eye on the speedometer after that!

About twenty-five minutes later, we felt the dreaded kathunkety-thunk of... a flat tire. Yep. (You saw that coming a mile away, didn't you? Back when I told you I just put new tires on the van and the new ones were not run-flats? Yeah, you knew this was coming...) Luckily, last month in a random, online shopping spree after a glass of wine- or maybe three- I decided to buy AAA after about having gone five years without it. Considering the fact that the minivan didn't come with a spare tire (or a spot to even put a spare tire,) this late-night impulse buy of mine turned out to be a pretty good thing!

So, we sat there in our nice, clean minivan on the side of the Mass Pike- waiting for the tow truck. It arrived after only about twenty minutes or so... But there are five of us, so we couldn't all fit into the tow truck's cab. Luckily, a service worker who was out picking up trash on the highway sent a Mass Pike service truck with a crew cab to pick up the kids and I- while Skip rode with the tow truck driver. After the excitement of swapping all the car seats into a truck by the side of a busy highway (thanks to Joe from Mass Pike for all his help!) we were on our way to a local Sears auto shop to get a new tire! It was a Saturday around lunch time by now, so it was busy... But they did a pretty good job getting us in and out. The shop was next to a mall, so we took the kids in there for lunch at the food court while we waited for the tire. When all was said and done, the tire incident set us back another 2-1/2 hours or so. Could have been worse!

Sullivan Guys in Times Square
**************************************

We ended up pulling up to our hotel in Manhattan around 5pm... We stayed at one of the W's on E. 39th St. The staff there was amazing! We've stayed at the W before, but not that particular one. They got us quickly unloaded and-- after overhearing Skip check in with the ALR office and tell them about the speeding ticket/flat tire/etc-- our bellhop/doorman sent up a complimentary bottle of wine for Skip and I. They said it sounded like we'd had quite a journey and that it was now time for us to just relax! They sent a fruit plate, too, and some sodas and a cookie plate for the kids! We thought that was incredibly cool. (Shout out to Michael at W- The Court!! He totally rocks!! He always remembered us by name, too... We felt like VIP's!)

After that, the trip was pretty great. The service was impeccable at our hotel... We went to lots of cool places and the kids were pretty well-behaved. Who could ask for more?! Saturday evening we took the kids to Times Square to eat at Mars 2112. It's a restaurant designed to look like you're on Mars. You actually get on a simulation spaceship ride to get into the restaurant. The boys LOVED it. We actually heard Owen saying it was the best day of his life. haha Once on Mars, everything is kind of dark and red (which makes is hard to take a good picture... and/or actually see what you are eating. It's kind of a leap of faith there!) The servers are dressed in space suits... Aliens are walking around and sporadically break into choreographed song & dance. It's pretty fun. You don't exactly go there for the food or- on this trip, anyway- the service, but the atmosphere is wicked cool!

Oscar, Koren & Owen
in the 30th St. train station in Philadelphia
*********************************************

On Sunday, we took the train to Philadelphia to see the traveling Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute of Science. The train ride was just over an hour and it was very relaxing! The exhibit was cool- even though it was uber-crowded. The kids got to see lots of models and costumes from the making of the Star Wars movies; they experimented with building their own landspeeders out of Legos and magnets and then were able to race them on a magnetic track where their vehicles actually floated! After we bored of the crowds at the museum, we took a walk to the Hard Rock Cafe in Philly for dinner. We had a super-nice cabbie on the way back to the train station where we hopped a train back to NYC. As we were boarding, we realized that Seth Green was right in front of us getting on the train! After I imdb'd him, I discovered that he grew up in Philly, so that makes sense. We were seated in business class and Owen kept bumping into him as we were walking on. I was psyched to see him in person, because one of my favorite movies is Can't Hardly Wait- it's this teen, romantic comedy and he is too funny in it. He has this bathroom scene that cracks me up! You may know him better as Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers movies or as the voice of Chris on Family Guy... Anyway, that was a little bit of excitement for Skip & I!

Owen on the Darth Vader steps
at the Franklin Institute of Science
*****************************************

Oscar & Owen in Philadelphia
(Franklin Institute in the background)
************************************************

Oscar & Owen playing in a fountain in Philly
*********************************************

Skipper in Philadelphia
*******************************************

Monday we spent just kicking around New York City... We went to FAO Schwarz and walked about half of Central Park. We walked a LOT! We had dinner at Benihana's, which was really fun. Owen & Rocco LOVED the food and watching the Japanese chef and his quick knife skills at our table. Oscar couldn't have cared less. Oh well. It was dee-lish anyway!

Oscar & Owen hanging with the life-size dinos
at FAO Schwarz
**********************************************

With our chef at Benihana's
**************************************************

Tuesday we saw the Empire State Building- it was a beautiful day for it! Nice and clear, very sunny. We took pictures from the 86th floor observatory and then journeyed up to the indoors, 102nd floor observatory, which the kids loved. Skip & I hadn't been up in the Empire State Building in almost twenty years, so that was nice to do it again, with our kids this time! We had lunch at The Jekyll & Hyde Club, a spooky place where our host, Dr. Ichabod Brain, hooked us up with a table in The Grand Salon. We had a pretty good view of the house band, The Fleshtones (they decompose their own music!) While we were there, we saw Dr. Brain bring his monster creation to life... and Zeus, the talking statue made us laugh. Dr. Brain visited our table- fascinated by Owen's missing front teeth... He also commented on how he felt that Rocco's burly-sounding name is ill-fitted. He suggested that perhaps Sidney, Wallace or Clarence would be better-suited to "a midget with flowing golden locks." (Not the first time we've heard that sentiment... haha) We had a lot of fun eating there- never a dull moment. And afterwards we went upstairs to the attic where Skip tested out the Shock Chair. (It really shocks you, we found out!)

View from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building
****************************************************

Owen in front of The Jekyll & Hyde Club
****************************************

After our scary lunch at Jekyll & Hyde, we had a very un-scary horse-drawn carriage ride around Central Park. We chose a white carriage with a beautiful black mare named Sylvia. It was very cool and the boys loved it when she picked up to merge with traffic! In all the years Skip and I have been going to NYC we'd never done a carriage ride before, so that was really cool. After that, it was dinner at one of our favorites- Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. Not a kid kind of place (no kids' menu and nice, white, linen tablecloths,) but they were so accommodating to our small chill'uns! They suggested what appetizers might be more kid-friendly (we chose the goat cheese fondue with blue corn tortilla chips- the kids LOVED it...) And the chef whipped up some meals for the boys that weren't on the menu. It was really yummy and the service was awesome.

Central Park carriage ride
***********************************

Tuesday night we went back to the hotel, packed our suitcases, hopped into the big bed together and watched Alvin & the Chipmunks on pay-per-view. We let the kids share some jellybeans from the mini bar and we all had fun... cozied up together for the movie. Even Rocco watched the whole thing! Luckily, the drive home went much smoother than the ride there... We were home again by about 1pm yesterday.

Koren & Boys resting in Central Park
***************************************

All said and done, it was an awesome vacation! We had a blast! And I couldn't help but feel blessed all week... Everywhere we went, people were so kind to us. For lack of a better way to describe it, we just felt so taken care of.... It was such a warm-and-fuzzy, feel-good kind of trip! We're home now, with no more big trips planned until summer... so we're settling in, starting to do lawn work and enjoy the great outdoors here in beautiful Maine. Hope the sun is shining where you are!

Oscar with his BFF: Lego SpongeBob
at FAO Schwarz
**************************************************

Rocco at FAO
************************************

Oscar & Owen in
the city of brotherly love... Philadelphia
(city hall is behind them)
*******************************************

above and below: Rocco in our hotel room in NYC

Call of the Loon

They're back! I'm doing a happy dance here this morning! While waiting for Owen's bus this morning I heard it loud and clear- a loon's cry! That is, without a doubt, my absolute favorite sound of summer. Many a summer night Skip and I have laid in bed and battled over whether to get hot and sticky by leaving the windows open to hear the loons on the lake (me) or to stay nice and cool when we shut the windows and let the A/C crank (Skip.) Usually, we settle somewhere around the middle... Or, I wait until Skip falls asleep and then turn off the A/C and crack open the windows... *evil laugh*

**Photo(above): Owen's injury several days later- already looking pretty good! Oscar says that Owen took a bunch of pictures of his eye right after the incident, so when those are developed maybe I'll have something gorier (is that a word?) to put up here for you to see...

Anyway, I'm super excited to hear that the loons are flitting about once again. We also have robins galore in our sad, mud pit of a back yard (a result of last fall's deck construction) and the wild turkeys are still roaming free back there as well. They've gotten so big, too! Our darlings! I feel very maternal towards the turkeys... They were born last year and we've watched them grow (and survive turkey-hunting season!) When we first saw them they were little babies... Now they are quite big and have really pretty feathers. I used to think of turkeys as ugly birds, but they've really grown on me. (I do still eat turkey at Thanksgiving, however...)

It's already about 60 degrees here today and it's not even noon yet... so I'm a little hyper. Spring fever! I'm heading out to buy new rope for my clothesline so I can start drying laundry outside again. Exciting! (Doesn't take much these days, I guess.)

Okay, now settle down, all of you. Those of you who've commented or emailed, just dying to know what celebrities we saw at our resort in The Bahamas... Here you go: Angie Everhart, Damon Wayans, Chris Berman's sports show co-host (Tom Jackson, I think, is his name?)... and a few others that we knew we recognized, but weren't sure from where. We saw one dude with a bunch of championship rings on and a teeny, little, coiffed chic at his side, but darned if I knew who he was! So, no A-listers like Jennifer Aniston or George Clooney... But maybe next time!

As for our travels, the kids are already telling us that maybe we should postpone the trip to Disney this fall so that we can all go to France instead. (That was Owen's idea... Though I suspect if push came to shove he might reconsider.) And when I had reminded Oscar recently about our (then) upcoming trip to the Bahamas, he gave me the "Why do you guys always go on vacations without us?? Why can't WE go to the Bahamas with you??" Brother! Luckily, we already had a family trip planned to NYC, so we have been able to distract them with that. Should be fun.

Photo: Oscar & Owen in their bicycle finery this weekend with the lovely weather. (Note their Bahamian souvenirs: new shark-tooth necklaces, which they wear daily with great pride!)

Okay, I leave you now, after this completely stream-of-consciousness posting today, with this...

3 Products I Suddenly Cannot Live Without:

1. My Guitar Sweet 'n Low Lucky Brand Jeans. LOVE LOVE LOVE these jeans! If I could wear them everywhere, I would. The rise isn't too low... (I've had 3 C-sections, people. Low rise is not an option.) Love them.
2. My M.A.C. Slimshine Lipstick in "Assertive." I'm more of a gloss gal by nature... But this lipstick is awe-freakin-some. It slides right on and doesn't get all gunky after an hour or so. It's kind of a lipstick-lipgloss hybrid. Did I say it is awesome?!
3. Ocean Moisturizing Body Lotion by red flower. It's got a nice, thick consistency, which I love. It smells yummy (kind of like eucalyptus) AND it seems to be doing a good job at staving off the dry-skin-winter-nasties from my hands and legs. Plus, it's a little reminder of our trip to the Bahamas... It was the freebie lotion in our hotel room.

Photo: One of our turkeys walking past the tennis courts as I left the house. I tried to get him with all his feathers showing, but when he saw that I was taking a picture he got shy and tucked them away...

Bahama Mama

Yeahhh, that's right... You can just call me Bahama Mama! Check me out enjoying the adults-only, infinity pool... (When you're traveling without your own kids, it's nice not to be bugged by those belonging to other people!)
**********************************************************************************

We had a great time with our awesome vacation pals Bruce and Monica. The last time we all went on vacation together was in Key West about 7 years ago. They're the perfect people to vacation with: sometimes you do stuff together or you sometimes split up and do different things... whatever you want to do. You don't worry about them feeling like you ditched them and vice versa, because they don't care at all if you want to go do something different. Which, ironically, makes you want to hang out together even more.

Bruce, Me, Skip & Monica
(after an awesome dinner where I laughed
so hard that I stopped breathing!)
***************************************************

We stayed at Atlantis on Paradise Island... Our rooms were amazing! We were in a section they call The Cove- very cool. We felt like the VIPs that we are... haha The hotel smelled delicious- like exotic flowers. We saw all kinds of celebrities there. Our favorite thing to do was to lay on the pool beds and people-watch all day. Checking out the poolside outfits -or lack thereof- was quite entertaining!

Bruce, Monica & Skip during a lively
discussion in the bar...
**************************************

We mostly just lazed about... with our banana daiquiris (Bruce & I) and blackberry mojitos (Monica & Skip)... slid into the pool when we got too hot... ordered some light lunch salads and a bento box when we were getting hungry... then lazed about some more. That was about the extent of it for two of our days in the sun... I loved every minute of it!

Hanging out with LaShonda-
who took great care of us by the pool all day!

***********************************************

We did some pretty cool big water slides, too. Those were really fun! I was a little petrified of "The Abyss," which is a body slide in a completely dark tube... You enter the tunnel and the drop is so steep that your body actually leaves the slide for a moment! Ack! It was fun once I finally landed in the splash pool and got rid of my resulting ultra-wedgie...

Moni & Bruce after the pool... In this picture
you can kind of see why Bruce so often gets mistaken for Tommy Lee Jones!
(it happened three times- just on this trip alone!)
*******************************************************************

Skip & I had appointments at the fantastic Mandara Spa there one of the mornings... We both had the exotic lime & ginger salt rub followed by a massage and it was... HEAVENLY. And now my skin feels all shiny and new!

Our hotel room at Atlantis-
we slept with the balcony doors open
to hear the crashing surf at night
*************************************************

Things went without a hitch until the last evening of our trip, when we got back from the pool to see that Skip & I both had messages on our cell phones. Well, we just knew immediately that it couldn't be good news! Well, after giving insurance info over the phone to the ER nurse back in Maine for Owen to get treated, everything was back on track. (I'll have a double, please!!)

Seriously, though, his condition could have been worse. He got a cut over his eye- acquired at a friend's birthday party. Someone playing Godzilla up on the play set dropped a plastic chair and Owen had the unfortunate luck of being in the path of the chair's downward trajectory! Luckily, Skip's mom was back here with the kids... awesome mother-in-law that she is! Having raised three boys of her own, she didn't seem fazed at all by the whole experience. I doubt if she even batted a lash!

Anyway, things seemed okay after speaking with Cora and the hospital... Owen was able to have his injury repaired with glue and some steri strips- no stitches necessary. So we were mostly able to enjoy our last night in the Bahamas... Of course we were distracted, but there was not much we could do from down there before we got home the following evening, so we tried to make the best of it. (Which, for me, meant having that extra glass of champagne!) I'll take a picture of Owen later and post it for all to see. He's looking much better now, but when we got home Sunday evening he looked like he'd been in a boxing match! His eye was all swollen and purple. He has handled it all like a champ, though. He actually seems happy that he might have a scar on his face, as Oscar does already. (Gotta love that sibling rivalry... Owen seems determined not to be out-scarred by his brother! hmmm... Something tells me this was not our last ER visit...)

Overall, we had a fabulous time, though! It was great to get away with Bruce & Monica again! We met lots of fun people at the casino tables, too. We all laughed so much and just had an awesome mini-vacation (just three nights.) My only regret is that we forgot to hop in the ocean after dinner on the last night, as Bruce suggested! (There's always next time...) But now it's time for the assorted, random vacation photo array:

Just look at that seductive gaze, would ya?
***********************************************

Skip dipping his toes in the ocean
************************************************

Is it just me... or is he
putting the moves on me in this picture??
**************************************************

Bruce & Moni at the Bahamian Grill...
where we ate the best escargot ever! Soooo good.
***************************************************

The view from our balcony at night
*******************************************

View off the other side of our balcony...
the adult pool areas
******************************************************

The open air walkway
that served as our hotel lobby-
candles everywhere... and cool glowing fountain benches
********************************************

Skip & I
pre-dinner cocktails at Sea Glass
**********************************************

Love, k...
Bahama Mama Extraordinaire-
who is very proud to have played roulette for the very first time.

I am outta here!

Skip & I head off tomorrow to the Bahamas for a long weekend... (Don't we sound like jet-setters!) Just thought I'd post a quick hello/goodbye so you don't think I'm forgetting about you, my loves!

My shriveled skin can't take this wintry weather anymore... My hands are cracking and looking pretty haggy... Even though, yes, we did hit 56 degrees yesterday! Finally! That was the first non-winter weather we've had since November! So, the balmy climate of the Bahamas will do just fine for me right about now, thank you... I'll be sure to do lots of fun things to talk about...

Rocco reading a book
******************************

Life is crazy (as always) but fabulous... Things are good... all the pieces of life are just fitting together lately- you know? We've had so much great stuff going on with friends and family... It's just... ahhh.

Last night Owen sung his little heart out at the 2nd Grade Spring Concert... so cute! Oscar really dug watching Owen up there, too... and Rocco remained quiet! The stars must have been in alignment or something...

Chocolate pudding
*************************************

However, we do have a disturbing new trend occurring in our house... I swear the last time Rocco sucked his thumb was when he was about 8 hours old. Never since then. Suddenly, three days ago, he discovers that he is in love with his thumb... I haven't seen him without the thumb jammed in his mouth for more than 20 minutes (to eat... then the thumb went right back in!) Where on Earth this came from... I have no idea! It looks a little cute, but I am totally annoyed by the sudden need to do it. Hopefully it will pass quickly... I'm leaving the topic alone for now, but when we return I am going to bandage the thing all up and hope that serves as a deterrent!

Rocco and his new habit
**********************************

Got sidetracked there. (If you're keeping score, yes, I know that the photos are all Rocco... but he was the only one who slowed down for a picture last week!) Anyhoodles, I'll take as many pictures as I can manage between sips of frozen daiquiris... Look for a blast of warm weather on the blog early next week!

Lego Star Wars ship that Skip spent building
with the boys last weekend... They're all so proud
****************************************************