Boys of Summer- Pictures

Point Pleasant Beach

With friends in Avon. 

Oliver, Trenton, Harrison, Jonathan, Kevin, and Jeremy

Busy In the Kitchen

 I LOVE COOKING. Especially in the summer.
Look at that dish, above. Fresh tomatoes & basil from our garden, red onions from the CSA... yum.
I also made Eggplant con Queso (to which I added lotsa onions and corn kernels). No pic, but so good that I made it two nights in a row.
And check out these beauties, below.

 Oliver absolutely loved the banana pudding inside ;)

I cooked & prepped & baked all afternoon, because my dad and brother were coming for dinner... Check out what Dad built! Our garbage can had been positioned in front of that bush and it always bothered me... now I have a walkway to get to the side of the house and a nice area to park the can! HA!
Thanks so much, Dad. Here's hoping you enjoyed the meal!

Jim's Trip Out West

Jim flew out West to spend almost two weeks travelling with his parents, and running two 50K Ultra-Marathons. His first race, in Idaho, went really well!  As Jim's mom reported, "Jim ran 35 miles in 8 hours 40 minutes in Idaho today! He came in 15th out of 30!! It was 40 degrees at the 6 am start and 90 degrees when he finished!"

Trenton's Pics/Dorbrook Trip

Trenton asked if he could use my camera. Here are some of his best shots.

Now, bonus points if you can tell me what THIS is a picture of:

That's right! Oliver's rear end! In Thomas the Tank Engine boxer briefs!
Cute tush, for sure. But photographable? Blogable? I guess so. Just look at that sweet face.

Big man, now. He's wicked heavy to carry, too. But oh, so suave...

He's very into reading and writing. I almost fell over when I walked in on them reading bedtime stories tonight and Oliver was reading Henry and Mudge. Now, it was not the first time he's heard that particular story... but I hadn't read it to him in awhile. And there he was, reading sight word after sight word, sounding out other words, and using the pictures to help clue him in. Trenton helped him with a few tricky words.
HENRY AND MUDGE, guys. That's like a second-grade reading level. The kid is three and a half.
(I will boast about my kid here. It is my baby-book blog, after all!)
Below, he spells out "Happy Birthday"... follow it around the smiley face ;)

OH and we have an ant farm. A friend (smartly) got Trenton this kit for his birthday... I had wanted to save it for the summer, when we'd need something to keep us entertained. The ants are busily doing their thing... although half of them died in the first day or so. I like this ant farm in particular, because of the side-tubes and the bottom wells (they are supposed to be for food and water, but the ants have decided to make one place a burial grounds/extra sand area). We feed them crumbs and water. They are easy pets.

We went out the other afternoon to Dorbrook Park... hadn't been there in a long time. Packed a picnic dinner, played at the sprayground, and also had fun at the wonderful playground. Colts Neck is a beautiful place. And we had a very, very nice summer night.

 

BlogHer 2012

Dontcha just gotta love a post that begins with me hugging a giant banana?

You KNOW I'm talking about BlogHer 2012!

Two years ago, I answered a call for volunteers to help work this conference. I had a BLAST meeting new people, listening to fantastic women speak and share their stories, and eating & swagging my way through New York City. (You can see that post here.)

Anyway, I did not see the Pillsbury DoughBoy or Mrs. Potato Head this time around... I did run into the Jimmy Dean sunshine guy (Me: "Hey! You look the same as when I saw you here two years ago!" Him: "So do you!")... and got my picture with THE LORAX!!!

(I ended up giving The Lorax two Advil later on, as she was quite hot and exhausted from all that standing around)

Below: cough drop guys? That I haven't heard of? But hey-- let's pose!

I took quite a few pictures (and even more freebie-swag) in the Expo Center rooms, where the sponsors (hundreds of them) had their tables set up, samples ready to go, and scanners prepared to zap your name tag and get all of your information. (I've since had to take my name off of two email subscription lists... ugggh).

 

Dole actually had some great smoothie samples, losta fresh fruit being carved into strange objects (a boat, above... but what fruit is it comprised of?)... and these adorable reusable bags, that zip up into the shape of a banana and a strawberry (the boys loved those).

Yes, that is me in the Ticket Blaster, above. I should have gone in with a strategy... I ended up just shoving them into my shirt, which was not tucked in... but later in the day, I won a very nice give-away: an iPod Shuffle, iTunes card, and other Chuck E Cheese paraphernalia. I plan to put music on it for the kids & deliver it at Christmas.  They have a new Kidz Bop 22 CD to keep them entertained now ;)

 

SO. My assignment this time was to work the registration desk. It was actually really fun! I got to be one of the first people to welcome the bloggers to the conference, totally checked in my favorite blogger, and met a real sweetheart that I hung out with quite a bit the rest of the weekend.  And a fab cloth diaper momma who became my walking buddy, as her hotel was close to my subway stop, and dang, this city never sleeps.

By day, I checked people in...watched as crowds of THOUSANDS listened to Martha Stewart, or Katie Couric, or Christy Turlington, or Soledad O'Brien speak...

 

 Or this guy, above, who gave the welcome speech to over 5,000 attendees. Best part of the 10 minute Skype talk? When he said "I'm concerned about women's issues, for sure! 80% of my household (if you count my MIL) is made up of women!"

I attended a few workshop sessions where I listened to some very, very smart international ladies speak about how they blog for social justice and change that they'd like to see happen in their home countries. I'm totally on board for the new Oogieloves movie, after meeting the writers and producers and participating in a Q&A.  And my absolute favorite part of the conference is listening to the Voices of the Year. Hearing writers read from their stand-out blog posts is always so enjoyable, emotional, and thought-provoking. 

And then there was THIS. BIG UNICORN CAKE.
Also known as Sparklecorn party.
Janice and I had a blast (thanks, free drink tickets ;)

I stayed with my friends, Kevin and Joel, in Queens for the weekend. They were so sweet to let me come over wicked late and leave wicked early, with a shower in between ;) In waiting for the train ride home, I found this little guy and decided to take a picture for the kids, because, you know... pigeon in Penn Station.

Aaaand that's just ONE bag of swag. Perhaps one year I will NOT bring home so much of it?
Naaahhh.
Thanks, BlogHer, for a great weekend!