Sing Sweet Nightingales

This is more sweet than funny, but still worth sharing.

Kid Funnies

I have to write these down before I forget... Boston might come later today.

Yesterday
Lauren (4.5): We don't eat cows, worms...or potato bugs, but we can eat fish. Right Mom?
Rissie (3): NO! We DON'T eat FISHIES!
Lauren: Right Rissie. We don't eat REAL fishies.
Rissie: Not fishies or sharks.

In the car,
Lauren: Dad, will you roll up your window? It's making my hair crooked.

Lauren's breakfast prayer,
"...and please bless that Daddy will come home soon so he can see how cute I look..."
She had done her own hair - a lone thin "braid" in the front with the rest pulled together for a fashionable side ponytail. Check out the sidebar for another of Lauren's creations! ;)

Rissie's favorite lunch: Kinkabutter fanwich
movie: Kinkabell
Christmas song: Kinka Bells
The day she figures out the right way will be TOO SOON!
Oh - and her favorite breakfast these days: snow flakes

This is the third thing I've added since posting, but I keep remembering things...this actually just happened.
Me, referring to her panties: No Lauren, the big Tinkerbell goes in the back.
Lauren: Oh. That's why it hurts?
Chuckle, Me: Yep.

Coming soon - our adventures in the BEAUTIFUL BOSTON.

NEW YORK CITY - WAHOO

Wow! What an exciting day!! We had an absolute blast. We told Lauren we were going to the park where Giselle sang in Enchanted. So, as you all know our little singers, they sang Giselle's songs the rest of the drive into New York.
The Lincoln Tunnel spit us out right into the theater district. Talk about a first impression - it was awesome. Our goal was Central Park and Gray's Papaya for lunch. Both were great and we even found a descent place to park. Jon had to run back after lunch to find a more permanent place for the car. He left it on a side street "neighborhood" that was FREE. I didn't think that was possible in Manhattan.
Central Park was HUGE and we didn't even dent it before we were exhausted - especially Jon who pushed the stroller most of the time. It was beautiful. It's amazing how much you disappear as the crowd gets bigger. It was just us the whole day and yet we were surrounded by people. Does that make any sense? I thought we would stick out like a sore thumb with our stroller group - but nobody sticks out in New York. There were a couple of people who would go off on how cute the girls were. A few of them even took their pictures.
I was SUCH a tourist and took a million pictures. Okay not a million, but I did take 231. It was hard to pick the favorites so rather than use up all of the space I put them into these collages. Some of the architecture was so cool. You really should click on some of these to get the full detail...that is, if your into that kind of thing. In this first collage there is a picture of Lauren by the chic-flick bridge; we ate lunch on the benches four feet inland.






We drove past a couple of "movie makers/film crews" in front of the Rockefeller Center . If it hadn't been the end of long day we probably would have stuck around to see what it was.
Oh yeah. One funny story - the girls and I were getting our picture taken in front of the Enchanted fountain and a couple of feet away were three fancy dressed thespians, or so I assumed. As we walked passed the transvestite spoke to the girls, which totally took me off guard because of his high pitched woman's voice. Out of a natural response to be polite I smiled and even laughed a little. When he didn't break "character" it occurred to me that, "Hello, Becky - we are in New York." This probably wasn't his costume - but who he was trying to BE. sigh. It makes me chuckle to think of it. How sad.

Some comings and goings of New Jersey

The sight seeing pictures are mostly of The Green in Morristown, along with the Ford Mansion where George Washington lived. Morristown was a very cute place. If it weren't so far away from family and no mountains I could totally see us living here, or a place like it. This first picture is just an example of how the city buildings looked. The houses and appearance of Jersey is a whole 'nother post. I've already maxed out your attention span with this post I'm sure!

The Ford Mansion
There was a museum behind where they kept different artifacts from the mansion. The girls were actually more interested than I thought they'd be, especially seeing Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel. Even better, they thought the loose flax was Jesus' hair.

Lauren got tired of our adventurous sightseeing,
so she found her own place in the "family stroller".

We gave them Red Vines to keep 'em happy and enthusiastic.

Our "Home"
On week nights they provide dinner for us in the clubhouse (very nice!), and at lunch there is room for us. BUT, on the weekends when Daddy's here the girls get to eat on the coffee table.

Swimming - their favorite!

Modeling (quite literally) our little dining room and kitchen while painting.

Lauren has taken to posing for the camera.
I asked her about it - she said she likes it.

Disney Princesses with the castle - another favorite.

Anna likes to join in - but right now she destroys more than contributes. Her sisters are good sports.

Some of these shots are more to give you a shot of our living space.

The girls bedroom/living room...you can't see it, but Anna's crib is in the corner opposite the gold chair you see. What does all of this mean?? No kiddies in OUR ROOM! :)

Easterners don't pick up sticks.

We had just finished our mushroom hunt and were heading back to our room when a nice gentleman waited to keep the door open for us. I helped the girls say their "thank you's" and instructed Rissie to leave her stick. I quickly moved it from the entrance to the stick filled garden and got up to see the man with a big smile on his face.

"Are you from the Midwest?" He asked.

"Actually, we're from the west West." I replied.

Then he explained with a friendly smile, "Easterners don't pick up sticks like that."

By this point the girls were on their way up stairs and he was heading his way down the hall, so I didn't get a chance to ask, "For heaven's sake, why not?" Are eastern sticks full of bugs or disease? Is it just too uncivilized? He made quite a distinction by referring to his "Easterners". What made him think there was a difference? What is the difference? Anybody know?? He has peaked my curiosity - how silly. If I run into him again you can bet I'll be asking him! :)

Celebrating the 4th of July at Bear Lake

These entries are a bit out of order...oh well. The extended Jenkins family joins every summer at The Ideal Beach Resort in Bear Lake. This year fell on the 4th and just in time for big hooraw before we left the West. We biked, skied, swam, played tennis, and participated in the resorts activities like, three legged races, sidewalk art, and a great volleyball tournament. Andrea made a darling cake and Ideal Beach even had their own fireworks show. We all loved it, but Rissie was especially thrilled about the show. She would giggle and squeal and clap her hands with excitement after each explosion. She was easily just as entertaining as the actual fireworks.

We missed Great Grandma Jenkins. This is the first year at Bear Lake without her. Grandpa has had a tough seven months, but I think it was good for him to be with the family. He seems to be doing better and better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARISSA JANE 3 yrs old

Here we are in New Jersey with nobody to celebrate her actual birthday with but us. So last night Jon picked up this crown for her and I made the little sign. You can't tell from the picture, but she was just BEAMING when we went down for breakfast. She LOVED holding up her three little fingers when ever somebody asked how old she was. One of the sweet little breakfast helpers even made her a special waffle with whipped cream and strawberries and a candle in the middle that she blew out after the duet/solo of the Happy Birthday song. I so wish I'd brought my camera! I mostly didn't want her special day to go unnoticed and we succeeded. What a great excuse to talk to this adorable little princess! Lauren loved being a part of it too, of course.

We got back to our room and the girls wanted to play dress ups with my swimsuit dresses, which Anna insisted on being a part of too. She is wanting to be a part of the action more and more so I had get a picture, but I couldn't keep Anna still. See how it unfolds.

Maybe you have to be the mom to find the humor in it,
but I had a good laugh...and had to share!