Fresh Beat Band

Well, we have found a show that Jase cannot get enough of...Fresh Beat Band on Nickelodeon. The show is cute and geared towards preschoolers. Jase loves listening and dancing to music and this show definitely fulfills that!

He pretends to be Kiki on the show because she plays the guitar. I have tried to talk him into being Twist or Shout since they are boys, but no luck. Lol!

Here is a clip of him dancing to one of their songs. He is mimicking all of their moves. Watch him at the very end...funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoeIHHulLf0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Chick-fil-a playtime

In celebration of Jase's first day of pre-K I took the kiddos to Chick-fil-a for lunch and playtime. 

They both had a great time, Ally in particular! We were the only ones in the play area so I let her run wild!! She was climbing up the slide like a big girl. I had to go get her 3 times. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdR3heyKQQY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

No tears...

For Jase this morning. (Mommy shed a few as we drove off.) I took him to preschool for the first time this morning and what a big boy he was. He was super excited when I woke him up!! Jase is sporting Mickey Mouse...of course! No socks because he has out grown his old ones and the new ones I bought are still too big. Just threw them in the washer so hopefully they will shrink. Lol!

Last Thursday at Meet the Teacher we were given his first homework assignment. He had to decorate a guitar and put one word to describe him along with a picture. We went with FUNNY. I thought it suited him.

On the back we had to answer a few questions. Here are the Q's & A's:

Fav food: fruit snacks

Fav toy: playing sports, tools

Fav show/movie: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Fav color: orange & red

Pets: 2 dogs: Hankie & Jet

He gave me all of the answers...too funny! He also helped pick out and glue the paper and pictures for his guitar.

Allyson was all smiles this morning, as usual. Less than a week away she will be 1!! I can't believe it. So much has changed since this time last year. We now have a precious little girl, Mommy is staying at home, and Jase has started school. Thank you Jesus for an awesome year!!

Future Pitcher?

Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and playtime tonight. When you come and visit there is no way you will get out of the door without playing some type of sport. Tonight it was baseball!

Jase and Grandpa played a couple of innings after dinner. Jase has the cutest windup I've seen, so I had to catch it on video. Oh and when Grandpa left I was called up from the minors (or couch!) to play! Lol!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZxqvUPrJ0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

At the Yankee's game you could pay $3 to throw 3 balls and they would clock your speed. Jase wanted to do it, so we waited in line. He was the youngest participant by 3 years or so. The game was just ending so a small crowd was building around as people cleared the stands. Jase did the same windup as he threw the three balls. Shawn and I were not prepared with our cameras so we were unable to record it. I captured a photo or two, but there is nothing like watching him. Everyone around got a KICK out of it.

Ally's foot action

Ally is approaching a year next week (wow!) and we have been working on taking steps.

My mom (aka Nanny) was over on Monday and she was helping Ally push Jase's firetruck. We still have a ways to go, but she is making progress. Catch her on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etJ7hUZgnls&feature=youtube_gdata_player

La Pescado...

With work and family priorities I have not been able to fish near home as much as I used to, but I got a call from John Snyder and he said that he caught about 60 or so trout and reds in the surf, so it was time to go fishing! It just happened that this week was my Friday off from work so I was able to go Friday and Saturday for a few hours each morning. Friday started off nice with a SW wind at about 5 mph and calm surf. We waded out picking up a trout here and there but many were just under the 15" min. At about 0700 it went nuts with hook-ups or blow-ups every cast until about 9:30, but still many of the fish were just under 15". One good school came through, and we picked up some good trout up to 25" and a few reds up to 26.5". Final tally for the day was 13 trout and 3 reds.

Saturday we arrived about an hour earlier and I had caught 3 trout and strung one before the light had even broke the horizon. I thought it was going to be unbelievable, but when the sun got up I could see the water was gin clear, and the bait and fish just were not in there like the day before. Nate managed 3 good keepers and I only had the one from early in the morning, but it was still a great day on the water.

Friday morning in the surf...get ready we are gonna get em'.

Thomas with one of the many trout of the day.

The best trout of the day at 25".

The best red of the day at 26.5"

Saturday morning sunrise, the colors were amazing!

Nate with a solid trout.

The infamous Brown Pelican.

A smile only a mother could love...or a trout fisherman!

Sister loves her some strawberries!!

Officially gave Allyson some strawberries for the first time this morning and she loves them!!! When she finished what she had on her tray, she would sit there and grunt until she got more!

NYC...from Shawn's camera

A match made in heaven.

New York, New York!!

Andy's first pitch!

Yankee stadium, we had great seats!

This was in the big foyer in the front of the stadium. One side of the banner had a black and white picture of the old time greats, Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle...

...and the other side had the players from the 70's and 80's, Jackson, Mattingly, etc...

Behind home plate.

They forgot to let us know they were using our name for their building...lol!

Ally enjoying here time at F.A.O. Schwarz!

The big piano, from the movie Big.

Chewy...UDDUUUDDDUUDDD!!!!

My girl in Central Park.

Jase and Dad in the ferris wheel in the Toys R' Us.

LEGO built NYC structures...these are pretty cool and it is amazing how real they look.

M&M Elvis Baby!

The city from the ferry.

Staten Island Ferry.

The view from Hoboken, NJ looking back towards Manhatten.

While Jess was waiting in line for the Cake Boss, the kiddos and I got to play at a really cool park.

Jase loves to swing!!

Ally modeling for the camera!

All smiles on starting Pre-K

I took Jase to meet his teacher this morning and he is really excited. I can't believe that he is starting pre-school!! His teacher was very nice and I look forward to her working with Jase. Now I just need to start working with Jase on wiping his hiney!!

Dance Star Mickey

While in Toys R Us yesterday Jase found Dance Star Mickey. I think he does up to six dances (including the moonwalk) and talks too. Reminds me of the Elmo he got for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Anyhow, they have a little computer screen showing a demo and he must have pressed it more than 10 times. I finally had to get it on video!! I asked him to press it and he is dancing along with Mickey in the aisle of Toys R Us...I love it. Go to YouTube and watch it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8vOiyrEwCE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Also, check out the old school Nokia phone he is holding onto. It is one of his latest treasures!!

A few funnies for the day

I took the kids out today for some shopping...trying to get ready for Ally's birthday party.  Jase never ceases to amaze me with his words.  Here are a few things that cracked me up.

Background...we were given a Strawberry Shortcake DVD and Jase loves it.  I mean can sing all of the songs and now has an imaginary friend from the cast...Coco Calipso.  She lives on Seaberry Island (LOL)!  Anyhow, Coco went with us today to run errands and I hear Jase talking to her in Hobby Lobby, which is normal for him if he's playing by himself at home.  I am listening and the next thing I hear is "Coco, Coco Calipso you do not do that."  That is totally from me!!  I started laughing out loud on that one because I can hear myself saying "Jase, Jase Aubrey..."

Then in the parking lot I am changing Ally's diaper in the passenger seat and Jase is standing next to me looking underneath the seat.  He pulls something out and says "look Mom a football"!  I have no idea how long that has been under there.  Then I say something like "what else is under there?" Of course...he pulls out a diaper...size 2!!!  Ally is currently in size 3, but has been in them for over 6 months now.  So if you have rode in my car over the past 6 months and wondered what that smell was...well, now you know!!

We went inside Whataburger for lunch and while we were waiting on our food we were getting ready for lunch and he was looking around.  He is pretty observant these days.  Three young hispanic/mexican guys come in and are ordering and Jase starts saying "look, they are boys like me and Daddy, and you're a girl..."  I answer back with "yes, you are right."  Then he says "that one looks like Jose, is that Jose, is his name Jose?" (He has a cousin Jose that is the same age and build to that boy that was in line.)  His voice was not a whisper and I'm sure everyone could hear him.  LOL!  I explained that it wasn't Jose, but he did look like Jose.

Keuka...from Shawn's camera

Sunset on the first night…

Well after a 3 day trip from Deer Park to New York that included 3 hours of sitting on the interstate we finally made it to Keuka Lake. Jessica saw the lake first which is an old family tradition where as we get close to the lake, the first person to see it yells out, “I saw the Lake first!”

It was definitely great to get back to the place where I have made so many wonderful childhood memories. As soon as we got there we said our hello’s to all the family and I decided, unknown to anyone else, that I was going for a swim, in the clothes I had on. So I walked out on the dock and in the words of David Norman, “He just never stopped, when he got to the end of the dock, he just jumped right in!” I had to jump in, it had been so long since I had been there and the water felt great…AHHH

Ally is somewhat shy when she meets new people, heck when I got back from 31 days in Abu Dhabi, she cried when I went to get her out of her car seat! Well after a time or two she warmed up to Aunt Ann. It was really amazing to see Aunt Ann together with Jase and Ally. Aunt Ann was born in 1913 and Ally in 2009, 96 years apart! I wonder when Aunt Ann was born if her parents thought about what her future was going to be like, I bet they had no idea what the 1900’s would bring, and here we are almost 100 years later, wondering what the future holds for Jase and Ally…anyways...I wanted to get a pic of them together.

This picture says it all...Having fun is hard work!!

A shot of some of the waterfowl that spends the summer at the lake raising babies. We keep a healthy supply of white bread on hand for all the mallard ducks, which will just about eat it out of your hand. These are Canadian Geese and they were a little more wild or they must like wheat bread.
  Well besides being at the Lake, another place of many great memories is the Glen.
 

The Glen is basically a creek that is about 1.5 miles long and at the end of it is a 100 foot waterfall. There are various “water slides” where the water has smoothed out the slate that is present throughout the creek. It makes short, but fun, little slides that are great for the little kids. The creekwater is about 60 degrees so it is refreshing as well! The pictures below show some of the slides and the waterfall, enjoy!

 

Mom and Dad!!

Jase, Jess, and Ally at the Blueberry Farm!

This day we went to the Blueberry Farm. It was a lot of fun and great for the tastebuds! The countryside is dotted with many small farms and throughout the summer you can pick all the fruit you want as it comes in season. My favorite fruit to pick up here are strawberries, so we can have strawberry shortcake, but the blueberries are running a close second. If you have never done this give it a try, they taste a lot different than store-bought.

  
Here is Ally just outside of the NY state Fish Hatchery, what a cutie! Jase and Coby had a blast feeding fish pellets to all the fingerling fish being raised. If I can ever figure out how to get video on this blog, I will have to post it.

A summertime tradition!

The smallmouth bass…this has got to be one of the most exciting fish there is to catch. Even a small one like this one will put up a great fight. The fishing this year was great even though were were limited to the docks and kayaks.


Below are a few of the pics of various days of fish catching. Everone got in on the action and we had a great time. It was really cool to take Jase and Coby out into the woods and dig for worms, then take those worms and catch fish, then have those fish for dinner…a country boy can survive!

A giant of a rock bass!

Jase got his share of smallies!

Kimberly and Seth with some smallie action!

Who said you cannot fish in PJ's...

 

  So they are not all giants!!

The girls showing off their catch!

Kimberly really fished a lot this trip. She lost a big bass on the first or second night she was there and from then on she was hooked, pun intended. This same night Seth went down to the point near our house and caught himself a nice smallie as well. Seth also loved taking the kayaks out and paddling around with Grandpa!

I went for a swim.  0.5 miles one way...

Dad followed me in the kayak

This was the last morning of fishing for me at the Lake so I had to paddle to Marlena point (the little one on the left) and try my luck. We have caught numerous big bass from this area, and I was really excited to get there and start fishing.

Once at Marlena point I had to stop and take a pic of the Bluff and the sunrise, it was just too beautiful.

Unfortunately this was the only fish I caught this morning, but it was great to get over to this part of the lake and fish. The thing I love about fishing is the anticipation, the anticipation of the next bite, the next cast, the next spot to fish and the night before your next trip. You are able to play it all over in your mind how it is going to go, and dream of the next monster that is going to hit your lure. Then it usually all changes and it plays out a totally different way, and another memory is made.

It was truly a wonderful week spent at Keuka Lake with all our family. I will always cherish the memories I have made there and hope to make a few more in the coming years.

And finally...this is probably one of my favorite pictures of all...the lake is calm, the sun is shining, and we are fishing...not to many things I can think of that beat that...