A Day at the Beach

Clam Pass is the beach that Melissa and I always used to come to before Sylvie arrived - it takes a bit of effort to get there (longish walk down a really neat boardwalk through a mangrove forest). Really worth it. This is the first time Sylvie has embraced the beach experience - she barely stopped giggling the whole time we were there.

The shot of Grampy chatting up two teenaged girls is my favorite. He was just sitting there, minding s own business, and suddenly there they were. Apparently they were conducting some kind of survey or something, but none of the rest of us knew that at the time.

By the time we got back to the house the rest of us were pooped - Sylvie just wanted to get in the pool... Back to the beach tomorrow. My uncle Jeff is taking us in his boat to a little beach island just off the coast.

 

Made it!

And directly into the pool.

 

Look out Florida

Here she comes.

 

... and made the Boston Herald this morning.

In fairness, this is more a continuation of the TV interview than a separate press hit - the columnist is the same guy who interviewed me Friday on NECN. Still, fun stuff.
Expect patronage probe to stop short of Beacon Hill

Surprise TV appearance

Didn't expect this one - had to stop on the way to the studio to shave! For once I didn't have to argue with anyone...

One of those little milestones

Came home this evening to find Sylvie's first successful venture into pigtails - and braids. Seems one of the aides at daycare got it into her head to do Sylvie's hair. At long last she has enough of it to pull it off!

I thought this was pretty cool

Yesterday morning Sylvie broke out a new package of Wikistiks. Wikistiks, for those who may not know, are these sticky, twisty things... think pipe cleaners that stick to each other.

The package, of course, has all sorts of illustrations of complex things that could, theoretically, be built with Wikistiks - assuming infinite patience and an engineering degree. Sylvie announced that she was going to build something special and I left her to it, expecting to come back to some kind of multi-colored blob.

While I was upstairs on the computer Syl labored away in the kitchen. Occasionally I heard a frustrated exclamation - "This is HARD! Ugh!" Then, "Dad! I'm done!"

This is what I found. I didn't lend even the tiniest bit of assistance. I think this is pretty cool on a whole number of levels.

Later she added this field of Tim Burton-esque flowers...

All the Mexico photos fit to print

Here they are.

If some of them make you wonder, "how did you do that without getting the camera wet?" the answer is we didn't. Those come courtesy of Dudley's waterproof camera - a handy little gadget.



Anyone inclined to peruse the pics at a more leisurely pace is welcomed to do so at this link.

Proud of Aunt Willow

Sylvie is real proud of her Aunt Willow, whose first exhibit of original photos just went up at the Intercontinental Hotel on St. Charles in New Orleans!

Congratulations Aunt Willow!

Que Viaje! (what a trip!)

After a seamless trip home Melissa and I arrived this evening to a very excited little girl and a couple of happy, if tired, grandparents.  Sylvie had a wonderful time with Gram and Gramp and she'll miss them when they head home tomorrow, but we're gratified to know we were missed too.

So of course despite the travel fatigue, I had to stay up late tonight going through photos. I finished, but I cannot post them all yet. Made a deal with Melissa: I could take as many as I wanted of whatever I wanted, but she gets veto authority over bathing suit photos before I put 'em up. So all of them are coming shortly, but if I had to pick just ten out of the majority of them that aren't subject to possible veto, these would be the ones...

Huge thanks to Dudley and Jen for inviting us to tag along on their vacation. We look forward to doing it again next year!

This is Frank

Frank is from Belgium. Last year he participated in the resort's "American Idol" competition, and won a free return trip this year.
This year he is the runner up. And Melissa and I are coming back next year.
Surreal doesn't come close to describing the final night of our Mexican getaway...

Vacationing

I call this first one: Dudley in the Rough.

There are some cheesy elements to this place.

Mexico

We left Syl in good hands for a couple if days. Mexico? Es bueno.

Another Fun Weekend in the Books

Apparently the marketing for The Lorax movie hit Sylvie's sweet spot, because she was dead set on seeing it on opening weekend. The Cocchiarellas we up for it, so we all went yesterday afternoon. The movie was a hit with the kids - as animated features go it wasn't my favorite. Too preachy / not enough subtle adult humor. Try as they might, nobody beats Pixar.

Afterwards we had dinner at John Harvard's where 7 year old Sophia was extraordinarily patient with the attentions of our 4 year old Sylvie.

Then today we had Zachary Green's 6th Birthday Party, at Planet Gymnastics. That place put all of the other like-themed facilities we've seen to shame. Sylvie had a BLAST. A few photos below - tons more by clicking here.

There's more than one way into a massive pit of foam blocks...

Block fights can be hairy...

She's little - but she's scrappy.

Who knew Zachary could fly?

Syl gave it her best shot too. It's harder without the harness.

Now that's a cake!

As always, when Syl gets tuckered out she isn't subtle about it.

Avery: Cute as ever.