The Baptism, Part 5: Tourists in Port

As usual, it took forever to get out of the house this morning. We decided to go to Port Jefferson (or simply "Port," as the locals say) to look at the boats, play in the playground, and do a little souvenir shopping. That last item on the list is so not what Barb and Andy used to do, or ever in the past would have done, that it gives me pause to even write it. But souvenir shop we did, and with some success, scoring a t-shirt for Lily (with a matching one for Elizabeth, of course) and a couple of post cards for Lily and Riley. Daddy also got himself a board game to play with the adults up in the Adirondacks. (Settlers of Catan, if you're curious. I really wanted Arkham Horror, but it was 80 bucks and the guy at the store said it takes an hour just to set up.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We couldn't find a normal-type store (e.g., CVS or Rite Aid) where we could buy a stroller. It was warm and humid, which makes carrying a three-year old less than ideal. Not to Elizabeth. "Daddy is kind of like a stroller," she mused. I whipped out the trusty Droid X to activate its smartphone powers to find us a drug store and as soon as I fired up Maps it crashed. Plus, Elizabeth didn't want me looking at my phone, she wanted me holding and talking to her. These smart phones are awesome... in theory.

We gave up on the quest for the labor saving device and dove into a Starbucks. Barb was utterly baffled by the Frappucion menu. Last time she ordered a Frappucino, it was just, "I'd like a Frappucino, please." Now there is an entire menu of flavors, "coffee" being only one of the many options.

Refreshed, we headed down to the docks, saw a ferry (Elizabeth was puzzled by the homonym of "fairy"), played in a park with a cooling fountain (Elizabeth had to strip down to her undies, as we had no swim suit and no change of clothes), then went to a tiny beach where we sheltered from a brief shower under the pier, then collected and buried seashells. After a quick snack of fried seafood, we did some souvenir shopping (as detailed above), and spent thirty minutes or so playing in the playground.

Good times.


Here's Andrew talking to Uncle Mark while holding Suzanne.






Oregonian in Long Island.


Sheltering from the rain.


The Spirit of Freedom. Or something. She sure is photogenic.

The Baptism, Part 4: The Lost City

Yesterday, our big event of the day was a trip to an aquarium called Atlantis. We've been there before with Elizabeth, but she was too young to remember. Elizabeth enjoyed it, but she was in no mood to linger, moving swiftly from exhibit to exhibit. Even the snow monkeys (yeah, snow monkeys at an aquarium) held her attention for only a little while. This short attention span worked to our advantage, as we got to see most of the exhibits in a reasonable amount of time.

In the picture above, Elizabeth is chilling near the reptile bones. She likes bones.

Below, you can see the family attempting to touch the skates or rays (I think they're skates). These fish are incredibly friendly! They swim up to you and poke their... snouts, or faces, or fronts, or whatever out of the water in order to get a pat. They really seem to enjoy being touched by countless kids and a handful of adults. Elizabeth kept making excuses for why she hadn't touched one yet ("It was too fast," "It was too deep," etc.) but eventually by accident one swam against her timidly outstretched hand and she shrieked in horror and delight and, of course, was very proud of the fact that she had touched one. Her verdict? "It was slimy!"

Indeed.

After Atlantis, the whole family, including Frank and Bev, went out to dinner at J&R's, a favorite. Grandpa continued his losing streak with drink orders by asking for a Dewar's and soda (regular enough) and receiving a Dewar's and 7-Up (huh?), which he promptly sent back.

The Baptism, Part 3: The Big Day

The baptism ceremony went really well. Elizabeth was a champ, Suzanne didn't cry when the Holy Water bathed her head, and we were surrounded by family. Godfather Michael even got Suzanne a beautiful white-gold cross on a fine chain.

Afterward, we had a part at Hilltop Court with Barb's uncles and aunts, cousins, and their kids. Elizabeth particularly enjoyed seeing Nicholas again. He's more than a year older than her, but they liked playing when last they saw each other in March, and again this time.

We also enjoyed seeing Addison as a big girl (19 months!) walking and talking, and Bella, who looks like a Renaissance painting of an angel, curly haired and cherubic. Just beautiful.

Elizabeth was a bit clingy to Daddy, recognizing, I think, that all the hub-bub was about her little sister. She was well-behaved though. Unfortunately, having awoken (with Daddy) at 10:00am local time, she wasn't asleep until 11:00pm. D'oh!

The funniest part of the party was the cake which, if you look carefully at the photo, says, "God Bless Susan."


Here's Nicholas and Elizabeth playing in the side yard.

We got an unexpected visit from Cathy Crisci, our old friend who now lives in the city!

Addison is a bubble-blowing prodigy!

The Toolbox Robot Lives!

 

Uncle Mark gave Elizabeth the rather bizarre robot toy pictured here a couple of years ago. We though that the Braccos had thrown out the robot, but such was not the case. And today, after Suzanne's baptism, the robot was a big hit with the older kids (Elizabeth, three, and Nick, four-going-on-five).

Grandpa

This morning when Elizabeth got up, and consequently I got up, Uncle Frank was the only one around. Mommy and Suzanne were still sleeping. Grandpa was out shopping for the big party. Aunt Beverly was not yet up and about.

Elizabeth was, frankly (no pun, I swear!), kind of disappointed. She had to settle for yet more of the Daddy & Joey Show. "Where is everybody?" she asked, after Uncle Frank took off to run some errands.

I told her it was pretty early, and there would be plenty of visiting later on. But it was nice to see how eager Elizabeth is to have fun with her Rocky Point family. Especially Grandpa. So when Daddy and Grandpa went out for more party supplies this morning, Elizabeth came with. When we discovered that the bag of peanuts had been left in the shopping cart, Elizabeth insisted on helping Grandpa search the grounds for them. And this evening when we were playing in the yard, every once in a while she would run in the house to "check on Grandpa."

Suzanne had her second meeting of her life with Grandpa Frank, and definitely enjoyed it.

The Baptism, Pt. 2: Beach Day

Elizabeth sure didn't sleep long, so Mommy and Daddy were pretty tuckered out Saturday. We made the most of it, though, highlighted by a trip to the beach. Elizabeth and Suzanne had a good time, and the adults got our first taste of something that might reasonably be called "vacation."

For Suzanne, it was her very first beach trip.

The Baptism, Pt. I: Plane Trip

We flew from Portland to Houston to LaGuardia for Suzanne's baptism. It was a long couple of plane rides: seven hours in the air, plus a panicky scramble through the Houston terminal to get to our connecting flights just as they were announcing final boarding, and finally a hellish, near two hour wait for Budget to get us a car. Finally, after the brief satisfaction of firing the smooth 8-cylinder engine of our pimpin' Grand Marquis, a long 2 a.m. drive through bumper-to-bumper traffic, pea soup fog, and deer-haunted woods to an exhausted arrival at 12 Hilltop Ct.

It was a tough day, but I'm proud of how well my family held up. The girls stayed good-natured and well-behaved, and Barb and I managed not to freak out in frustration and anger and fatigue.

So: good job, Larrison family!

Fairy Garden

Unky Dave has done a ton of work on his backyard these last few years transforming it from your standard urban yard to a sort of fairy garden complete with hidden pathways, pond, and dangers to the unsuspecting little girl.

The other day we barbecued there with Aaron and Wendy and Lily. Summer has truly begun.

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Mother's Day

 

This picture isn't from Mother's Day (it's from April 30, 2011), but it reminded me of something that happened on Mother's Day.

Barb was out to a movie. I was playing with Elizabeth and trying to put Suzanne to sleep -- an iffy proposition, at best. But Elizabeth came over to help soothe the baby. She leaned over the Moses basket in which Suzanne lay and she (baby Suzanne) instantly stopped crying. After a moment or two, Elizabeth tired of the babycare and walked away, and Baby S started crying again. Elizabeth came back, and then: silence and a smiling baby sister. This went on for a while until Elizabeth finally got bored and went off to play. I got Suzanne to sleep. But when Suzanne awoke, and wanted her bottle, Elizabeth insisted on feeding her "like an adult" -- which is to say, without the Boppy nursing pillow.

Despite the fact that it clearly wasn't very comfortable for Suzanne (Elizabeth isn't strong enough yet to hold up the baby's cannonball head), both girls clearly loved the interaction.

I almost feel sorry for Elizabeth, because I think she is aware that Suzanne worships her, and that's a lot of responsibility for a three year old.

Instant Nostalgia

 

It's not that I'm nostalgic for the 18-month old Elizabeth Rose pictured above, it's just that our modern world of digital photography, and weblogging (i.e., "blogging"), creates the ability to call back instantly to even a year or two ago. And when you have young children, a year might as well be a lifetime for all the changes that ensue.

Every year we take a hike (so to speak) at Latourell Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. Here is Elizabeth at two:



And here we are this year. Elizabeth, age 3; Daddy, age 41.

The Fairy Books

 

For some reason, Elizabeth grabbed a huge handful of these Rainbow Fairy books (by the suspiciously named Daisy Meadows) and insisted on bringing them home even though they're clearly aimed at girls at least twice her age -- probably three times her age.

She is crazy for them!

One book takes 20-30 minutes to read, consists of five or six chapters of 10-12 pages each, and has illustrations, but not many compared to the books to which Elizabeth is used.

It's quite a franchise. There are seven color fairies (for the famous ROY G BIV colors), sports fairies (not including softball, which makes me wonder if these aren't British), ocean fairies (dolphin, et al.), pet fairies, ad infinitum.

Barb thinks the books are pretty shallow (e.g., there are seven party fairies, including a Fashion Fairy and a Glitter Fairy), but I love them because they are a lot more interesting to read than, say, the ten thousandth reading of Goodnight Moon.


By the way, the above picture was taken by Miss Elizabeth.

Egg Crafter

 

Behold the Easter Egg artist, giving serious consideration to her work.

We had a great time Easter weekend making Easter eggs with the Long-Loughrans and other friends. Egg coloring was followed by a delicious meal and some nice wine.

Holidays are great.

Easter Treats

 

Better late than never, here's a picture of the girls on Easter. Elizabeth is enjoying a monumental piece of chocolate. Suzanne is enjoying interaction with her sister.