last day with the sweeties

today is the last day; this afternoon i will drive them to cambridge, and tomorrow on to new york state, where we'll return them to their other grandmother. the sun came out yesterday, so we went to fort williams. i lined all the cousins up and told them to look serious.

 jonah was meditative.























 zoë was glamorous.























 oona found a rock that curiously resembled a letter B, which inspired us to create a font from rocks.























 some letters were more challenging than others.























 we went to otto for lunch. jonah and oona gave their pizza two thumbs up, though oona thought the sauce was a little too "bunchy."























 and then, bubble maineia! jonah, isaac, zoë and i had bubble teas, and oona had some ice cream. we walked all over town and all the way home.























 buddies.























 aspiring farmer with a farmer's tan.























 last night we had another little bonfire and made s'mores. mama d came over briefly and commented that this is what life would be like if mark and i had had five children. if that's true, i wouldn't mind it one bit.

a couple of sweeties

day one with two of my very favorite sweeties, robot and pink (or should i unmask them, too? oh, okay: they are really jonah and oona, my bruddie's kids). mom and dad picked them up in vermont, where they were spending a couple of days with their other grandmother, and mark, isaac, and i met them in portsmouth for a sweetie hand-off at the friendly toast.

we ate some delicious cheesy fries and other treats, but jeeze their prices have gotten so high. granted, their portions are humongous, but still. i'm becoming more of a silly's fan all the time.






















jonah and oona said their goodbyes to mana, pop, and lulu, and then we drove (via a very long, scenic coastal route) home to portland.






















mark and oona made a perfect fire in the fire pit.






















 yay, lighting things on fire!






















all day today it's either been rainy or that strange hot-cold-humid that makes you want to go see a movie. i took the sweeties to see toy story three, which was awesome. it was really really funny, until the end when it was incredibly sad. i can't remember the last time i didn't cry at a pixar movie (oona kept me company and cried a little too).






















 tomorrow, i'm hoping for a little sun, so we can take long walks and maybe take a picnic to the beach!

sweeties

my california sweeties, robot and pink, came to visit us for a few days this week. it was so wonderful to see them - they fit very comfortably into our routines around here, and they are funny, smart, sweet kids. on sunday robot dressed up like a zombie with boo and they played kickball in the pouring rain at zombie kickball IV:
























two of pink's favorite things are dogs and rain, and we were able to provide her with plenty of both (lulu was here, too, with my mom and dad):
























on monday we had some hot chocolate at arabica, and then pink and i took a long, wet walk in the rain together:
























now we've sent them back to cambridge for a day of boston fun (boo went too), and then my dad will deliver them to their other grandmother in new jersey.

also, have you noticed that it's july? the month in which we get our girl back??! TEN days.

happy happy day!

happy TENTH birthday, robot boy!

sweeties

here's another girl i miss:

















i'm not tortured by recent photos and videos of her, though (no offense to her parents' blogging skillz, but...). i miss her and her sweet, sweet bruddy.

thursday with the sweeties

m was home yesterday, which resulted in a day full of fabulous fun! boo, robot, and pink got to go sledding at the golf course:



















































and then my mom took us all out to dinner at flatbread. we were surprised at how long the wait was for a table on a thursday night in february (most of us huddled in front of the brick oven while we waited), and then there was another long, hungry wait for our pizzas to arrive.

a hungry m and an even hungrier robot:

























a hungry pink and a hungry boo:



















when it finally arrived, our pizza was delicious, and we ate every last bite.


our original plan was to drive to cambridge with kids and dogs and nintendo gadgets and snacks this morning, but we got a bit of a snowstorm and decided to wait until tomorrow morning. pop took the bus up to portland so he could spend most of today with us. bean had a special adventure this afternoon (more on that soon!) and mom and i cooked up a huge batch of curried veggies and tofu and rice for dinner. there were a lot of electronic toys and games being played with today as everyone hibernated somewhat. we are loving every second with the sweeties, and don't want to send them back to california on sunday!!

today just got better and better as it went along

we've been catching up on some movie-watching lately, and the devil and daniel johnston is our latest favorite. we're kind of obsessed with him now, en famile. bean and boo both want this t-shirt:














today m bought yip/jump music (notably #35 on kurt cobain's top 100 albums). it is so weirdly fascinating -- painful and raw, with a bizarre little kernel of brilliance at its crazy center... kind of like the film, which is so hard to watch on some level, but absolutely enthralling on another.

also in the dvd roster: breakfast at tiffany's (we watched the first half last night, up until the part where we learn that holly's real name is lula mae, and her husband doc comes to take her home); art school confidential (TERRIBLE: we watched about 20 minutes. BAD BAD BAD.); this is spinal tap (with and without commentary); and the devil wears prada.

oh, and in playstation 2 news, our copy of DDRMAX2 arrived today! thanks, adam!! boo and i have already broken it in quite well, and a couple of the songs make me think so specifically of the robot boy -- i even find that if i just picture him dancing, and kind of imitate his style, i do much much better. i even think i'm ready to graduate from "beginner" to "light."