Here we are, in the place that I love

Dex and I are visiting the Burg this weekend, doing much of this:

Awesome company, great horse, town that I love, mountains that I miss.

Tomorrow we might actually go IN to town, go on campus, etc.  We'll see.  This is pretty nice, right here, just like this.

We'll Bring Longwood to You. You're Welcome.

I know it's not quite the same as being there, but really - being there is crowded and a little bit annoying some times (unless you're like us and go at the crack of dawn 9AM, and then the place is EMPTY).  So enjoy a little taste of Longwood from the comfort of your own couch.  Besides, when you go, you won't have the benefit of my cute small child being in your pictures.  He totally adds to the whole experience.

The new conservatory

Small child, tree, lights, ornaments, etc.

I do believe I have created a complete photo ham.  Video is even worse.

Gingerbread trees.  As was the theme at Longwood this year.  Very cool, and also impressive to think of the amount of time people spent on all the gingerbread that was made.  And how much did they consume while creating?  How do pastry chefs not weigh three billion pounds?

Acres of poinsettia on display.  As an aside, I asked Dex yesterday what they did for a craft at school.  He said they made flowers.  Actually they made poinsettia, somehow.  But hey, he was close.

We spent a long time looking at the fountains.  Mesmerizing, as the fountains came out of LIGHTS.  And there was another faucet of water that sprayed out REALLY FAST.

Eight million hours spent here, doing exactly this.  If he were allowed under the rope and could lay down with his eyeballs right at track level, he'd have stayed there all day.

Main conservatory exhibit

Gingerbread trees up close and personal

Working it for the camera.  John taught him this.  And when I stop asking him to "work it" he says "Want to work it some more."  Well go right ahead, child.  Work it.  Who am I to stop you?

For Aunt Jeanne.  Cute ornaments made by local kids.

Conservatory

Conservatory is filled with these kind of flowers.  Lily?  I dunno.  They are very fragrant, and I liked this candy cane striped one.

Explained below

Waterfalls.  Aside - Dex and I were both wearing black shoes.  He said as we were walking - I have black shoes.  Mama has black shoes.  WE MATCH!  Love this child.

Totally the look of a child doing something he's not supposed to be doing...

Watching trains.  Again.  Some more.  Dear lord kill me now.

JAMES!

So there you go.  We saved you a trip, eighteen dollars, and much claustrophobia from the crowds when you went in the evening because you wanted to see the lights.  Lights, schmights.  We saw all the cool stuff.  We even saw the fountain show.  Sans lights.  Because, you know, it was noon and we were on our way out to the car.  I love Longwood in the morning.

Trees and Leaves

Our leaves have finally almost finished changing colors and falling off.  Since we have like six of these bad boys in our front yard:

We did what any family would do on a nice sunny Saturday.  We put the boys to work.

Which turned in to, like most things the boys do together, a whole lot more play than work.

Buddy got in to the "run through the leaves" action

He might have gotten a little TOO in to it, really.  Here he is running over Dexter.

Always fun to have Daddy help you jump really high in the leaves!

After nap we went back outside to help Daddy blow leaves.  Dexter is pretending his penguin is a leaf blower, so he can blow leaves just like Daddy.  Ear muffs and all.

Cutest leaf blower in town

We had one hell of a big pile

Dexter pretending the leaves were a bed.  He even pretended to eat his yellow and brown M&M's when his pretend clock turned yellow.

Today was another gorgeous 60 degree day, so we took advantage of the warmth to go tag a Christmas tree and reserve it for pick-up later in December.  We went to a lovely little farm not too far from here in Maryland.  Their trees were great, prices were good, and we had fun tromping around the trees looking for just the right one.

Small child is NOT small any more

Hitching a ride with Mama

And with Daddy

7-8-9

We were listening to a Barenaked Ladies CD on Saturday morning and John heard the first song and broke out laughing.  That's awesome, he said.  And then he proceeded to sing it eight billion times to Dexter.  Who doesn't get the joke at all, and has no idea why Daddy thinks this is so funny, but will repeat it ad nauseum every day, just to make me insane, I think.

So we spent the entire drive (THE ENTIRE DRIVE) home from Philly on Sunday afternoon with Dexter repeating the following:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10......
WAIT!  What about NINE?
7-8-9
(insert forced laugh from Mama and Daddy)

Sometimes he'd forget the 7-8-9 part and just go on counting again.  Sometimes he'd continue counting to 20, and purposely leave out 16, with an evil little grin on his face.  Like there's some joke about 16 that only he knows.

We had a little overnight family vacation in Philly this past weekend.  Saturday afternoon at the Please Touch Museum.  Dinner at a cute little pizza place that wasn't used to having children diners, but nevertheless bent over backwards for us.  Sleepover at a hotel that nicely switched us to a room with a king sized bed and a long hallway leading to the room, that was a perfect place for Dexter's tent.  Sick child with a stuffy nose who woke up screaming like five times Saturday night.  Huge benefit 5K run and walk on Sunday morning for Alex's Lemonade Stand, where we met up with our friends and walked to help cure childhood cancer.  Small child who repeatedly asked to return to the Please Touch Museum, and would not believe us when we told him it still wasn't open.  Again.  Still.  Just like when you asked 30 seconds ago.  Even though you say it WANTS to be open, it still isn't.  Sorry.  Lunch at beep-beep-beep all done french fries.  Consumption of about half of Daddy's milk shake.  Naps for everyone Sunday afternoon.

It was a good weekend.

FIT

The class is called FIT 60, but it could more accurately be called DIE 60 or VOMIT 60.  I've been going for about 10 weeks now, twice a week, as it very conveniently falls on the same days and times as Dexter's school at the YMCA.  And at the end of every class I haul my ass out of the gym and drag my red face up the stairs to Dexter's class room and he sees me and smiles and runs over for a hug and touches my shirt dripping wet with sweat and suddenly he doesn't want to hug me any more.

Every evening, after I've had class and I get up off the sofa with a series of "ouch-ouch-ouches" I tell John what we did today.  50 sit-ups, followed by 50 tuck jumps, then 40 of each, then 30, then 20, then 10.  And then follow that with 21 push ups and 21 more sit-ups, with some walking lunges, and do six rounds of that.  He hasn't had the pleasure of listening to me bitch about today's workout where we ran a mile, then did 20 push ups and 20 squats, then ran a half a mile, then push ups and squats, then ran a quarter mile, then push ups and squats, then ran an eighth of a mile, then push ups and squats, then ran ANOTHER F-ING MILE.  Oh my dear sweet jesus.  I do not enjoy running.

And yet every Tuesday and every Friday I am there.  On time.  Water bottle full.  Ready to go.  Hopeful that maybe this time we won't have to run a lot.  Wondering if I'll be able to do whatever is asked.

Why?  Why go through the torture?

I kind of love it, really.  Yes, I groan and roll my eyes and tell Geoff that this shit is worse than basketball practice.  Yes, I bitch when I get home, and yes I am still sore almost every time.  But I LIKE the sore.  I like knowing that I am making my muscles do some work.  I like looking back at my work-out and saying "Yeah.  I did that.  I totally did all that crap and I lived to tell about it."  And I like feeling, after ten weeks, that it's easier to do 20 push ups.  I like knowing that I can now do 50 sit-ups when ten weeks ago there's just no way in hell I could have.  And I like feeling, finally, that I just might be able to run without dying.

In short, I enjoy being FIT.  Vomit and all.

Naming Cars

The other day we pulled out a book from the movie CARS, complete with some tiny cars and a big "new rug" as Dexter calls it - ie, just a big-ass poster with pictures of roads and buildings.  I think it's supposed to be the town in the movie, but you know me and movies - I don't really watch them nor do I remember anything about them.  ALTHOUGH last night John and I were talking about Joepa getting fired from Penn State and I likened it to "The 'You can't handle the truth' movie with Jack Nickelson.  You know, the one with Tom Cruise in it."  John looked at me like I was crazy for a minute, then finally caught on to whatever that movie's name is.  So, hey, I don't always remember movie names, but sometimes I can remember stories.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with naming cars.  Sorry.  I digress.

So Dexter was all excited about these cars and the new rug and we pulled them all out and started playing and Dexter asked "What is that car's name?"  Well, dude.  I don't have the slightest idea.  I maybe, MAYBE, could pull the name Mater out of my ass.  But nothing else.  I've got nothing from this movie, even though I have seen it at least twice.

So I put it back on him.  "I dunno, Dex.  What do you want to call that car?"

And he told me the names of all of them.  Which I later repeated to John, while trying not to pee my pants.  Below is my version, not Dexter's.  Dex just named them as he told me where he was putting them on the new rug.

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This one?  This is Green Car-y

This one is Yellow Car-y

This one?  Fire Car-y

Here's Red Car-y

And here's Blue Car-y

Here's Bussy

And here's Another Blue Car-y

This one is Jeep-y

This one?  (Hold on while I laugh until I cry for a little while).  This is......  This is...  TOW TRUCK-Y

And this one is Another Blue Car-y

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And there you have it.  Come play with us.  We're fun.

Conversations With Toddlers

Recent memorable conversations with the little man...

Swinging in the swing looking at the horses:

Dex:  That brown horse with white stockings is looking at you!
Me:  Ummmm.  Yes.  Yes he is.  Who taught you about stockings on horses?

Still swinging in the swing:

Buddy:  (eating grass)
Dex:  Buddy, what is the deal with the grass?

Talking to Daddy:

Dex:  You went swimming in the really really really really really really really really really really really really (breath) really really really really BIG POOL and there was a sun place
John: (who lost interest after the seventh really) Wait, where'd you go?

Leaving the dentist:

Dex:  Your lollipop is just candy (he got a lollipop and a toothbrush at the dentist today.  He's never had a lollipop before, and he was trying to brush his teeth with it.  I had to explain how the whole lollipop thing worked)
Me:  Yes, that's right.  Do you like your lollipop?
Dex:  Yes.  You LIKE your lollipop.  It got littler and littler.
(PS - yes, I find it terribly ironic that Dexter got his very first lollipop FROM THE DENTIST)

Driving down the road:

Dex:  What's THIS road called?
Me:  Mill Road.
Dex:  This is Milburn Road.
Me:  No, not Milburn Road.  MILL Road.
Dex:  When we go to Milburn we will be on Milburn Road.
Me:  OK.  Yes.  When we go to Milburn we drive on Milburn Road. (Thinking:  Dude, are you totally my father's grandson?  I STILL don't know the real names of roads in Ithaca.  But I can damn well find Dentist Street.)

Driving to Wal-Mart:

Dex:  Where are we going?
Me:  We're going to Wal-Mart
Dex:  We are going to WAN-Mart! (he totally says things wrong just to irritate us)
Me:  No, silly.  WAL-Mart. (Thinking:  Your version is pretty appropriate, though, little man, given the vast majority of the clientele there.  Juan-Mart might be a good name for it...)

Other things Dex says wrong on purpose:

Dex:  You are wearing a long SLEE shirt!
(Daddy inevitably chimes in with NOOOOOO!  It's a SLEEVE shirt!)

Dex:  Your Paperizor makes PAPER!

More driving to Wal-Mart:

Dex:  There is a tomato on the Applebee's
Me:  Yes, you're right.  Wait.  A tomato?  Do you think there's a tomato on the Applebee's sign, or an APPLE on the Applebee's sign?
Dex:  An APPLE!
Me:  Right.  We're going to APPLEbee's
Dex:  We are not going to Tomatobee's
Me:  No.  No we're not going to Tomatobee's.  I don't know where Tomatobee's is. (All the while trying not to fall out of my seat with laughter)
Dex:  Tomatobee's is too far away