Inman Park Festival - Face Painting

And what is a Festival without face painting? Colin and Nathan got theirs done. Colin got a scary one with a skull and fire on it. Nathan got a shark that was a salmon color. Very scary indeed! Danni even got a arm painting too!

Inman Park Festival - Butterfly Ball

Friday evening is the infamous Butterfly Ball where the grown-ups go to party! The Ball is held in the middle of Euclid Avenue in the main tent and truly kicks off the weekend. Bob and I went to a pre-party with our N. Highland neighbors at EJ and Mark's house who have a son in Nathan's class.

The mode of dress is anything goes, there are lots of butterflies. I saw butterfly hats, butterflies on shoes (as shown) and I had butterfly tattoos for the occasion (temporary, of course).


The events of the evening include the arrival of the Feed and Seed Marching Abominable and the Joel Award Announcements. Last year I received one of these esteemed awards for the neighborhood yahoo group that I kicked off. This year, Bob was awarded a Joel for all of his work on the Security Patrol. All of the Awardees have a little poem written for them, so this is Bob's:

Joel Award
He was bumping in the 'burbs,
And not liking it one bit.
So when Number Two was born,
He knew it was time to get.

The family moved into town,
But how to pick a 'hood?
Crash a porch party to tell,
That Inman Park is good.

The beer man was welcomed,
Especially his home brew.
But ale's not his only passion,
He runs marathons too.

Now crime was on the rise,
"Help!" called Mr. Hagan.
Public Safety needs more money,
Fundraising became his occupation.

Document and record every address,
Money for 24/7 patrols,
Street captains for better communication,
Are only some of his lofty goals.

Is it possible to do more,
Without losing his sanity,
Take a position on the board ...
And be our next Safety VP?

But let's not delay anymore,
His generosity has no shortage,
You know who I talking about, it's ...

BOB (THE BEER MAN) SANDAGE

Inman Park Festival - Caterpillar Ball

The Inman Park Festival begins with the Caterpillar Ball for the youngsters and young at heart. There are hotdogs, cupcakes, games and the highlight is a hayride!

Colin actually found a caterpillar at the ball -- how appropiate!

'merica flag

Nathan loves our country's flag and points it out every time he sees it.

Silly words

Some of the words that the kids find incredibly funny ... and I really don't know why. They will just say the word over and over, cracking up the whole time.

vaccuum cleaner
gooey gyser (this one is from Dora)
kookey spider

I would cringe everytime "kookey spider" got started because it would escalate until things got completely out of control.

Nathan-ism

When Nathan wants to know what something is called he says,

"What is that called like?"

Grand Cayman - Last Day

Our last day and we spent it at the beach. Bob and I swam around the man-made pods in the ocean while Colin and Nathan held on to our backs. We got to see the fish under the water while the boys got a ride in the water. Of course Nathan was a little freaked out about the fish in the water and ended up on my shoulders for a while. Colin refused to look at the fish through the googles because that meant putting his face in the water.

Some pics from the beach:
A rare picture of Nathan smiling.


Nathan and the Dad-fish.


Nathan climbing on Dad's back.


Colin and Dad going snorkeling.


Time to go home.


Some of the things that the kids said on the trip:
On the plane on the way to Grand Cayman - "There are so many clouds, I can't see the world."

At the airport in Grand Cayman right after we landed - "Do they have taxi's in the other world." (In Nathan's terms, "the other world" is Grand Cayman.)

Upon seeing the first lizard - "Dinosaur!"

Colin said that he wished Grandma and Grandpa GG were at Grand Cayman with us.

On the other hand, Nathan was fixated on when we were going home. (He did this on the last couple trips too.)

On the plane trip home after some turbulance - "Airplanes do strange things to my body."

Also on the way back - "Are we going back to our world?"

Colin's favorite part: the pirate cave
Nathan's favorite part: eating all the jelly beans

Grand Cayman - Pirate Cave

Today we had breakfast in the turtle lagoon again. The kids love the turtle lagoon. There are paths all around the turtles in the pond. I think it's a great place too.

Then the hotel put on an Easter egg hunt on the beach where the kids could take two plastic eggs and all the candy that they wanted. It was pretty cool.




After the Easter egg hunt we rented a Jeep Wrangler to explore the island a little. Our main destination was the Pirate Caves that we were talking to Colin about. At first he was very excited about it, then out of no where Colin changed his mind and didn't want to go. Turns out that he was afraid of the caves, but I talked him into it and told him that it wasn't going to be scary.


Six year old, David gave us a tour of the caves and took Colin into a little passageway. Nathan wanted to go so I climbed in the passageway and went with Nathan. There was a mini-zoo at the Cave too, that we checked out.



Afterward we drove to the North side of the island, saw a fire and ate lunch at On the Edge, a restaurant on the water. We took the long way back around the eastern edge of the island. Nathan fell asleep just before we got back to the hotel. He would've slept more but Jeeps are just too windy and booster seats aren't good for taking naps.

Then the kids watched a little bit of kid's show. This was something that we did everyday, the kids liked the break and we got a little nap.

Time to hit the beach where Bob and I took turns going snorkeling with a face mask and no snorkel. I saw so many kinds of fish in the man-made pods that provided shelter for the fish. I think I even saw a small shark lurking in the middle of the pods, but probably not. I saw a blow fish and a little orange and purple fish that I remembered from Hanama Bay in Hawaii.

Dinner was at Yoshi Sushi and dessert at Hammerhead a brew pub that didn't have very much of their own beer. Sushi was an excellent choice, we really need to take the kids to more sushi places.

Grand Cayman - Good Friday

Day two of our little get-away, Friday, April 10, also known as Good Friday. First breakfast in the turtle lagoon in the hotel. Then we took a taxi to the turtle farm, but being Good Friday, it was closed. So came back and went to the beach.

Turtle lagoon in the hotel.

Bob watched the kids while I went running. I ran to this purple hotel/condo called The Avalon about 2 miles away. Nature called and I spent 20 minutes trying to find a bathroom. Eventually found a very yucky porta-potty, uggghh! And ran back.


Before lunch, Nathan had the worst meltdown -- note to self, don't miss snacks! We went to a little place across the road for lunch that someone recommended, then we went to a butterfly farm which was surprisingly open (being Good Friday, everything else was closed). Cool guided tour where our guide described the life cycle of a butterfly. It was pretty interesting. The females are bigger and stronger and the males are used for sex, get kick out and spend the rest of their short life getting drunk!


After the butterflies, we went back to the hotel room for kids shows while Bob went running. Oh yeah, on my run, I saw a bright green lizard, a whole field of big iguanas, and a snake. Bob said the snake was dead because he saw it twice, in the same position. Dinner was at Pizza Hut. With two kids, sometimes it's easier to stick to the basics.

Spring Break - Grand Cayman

Spring Break for Colin and Nathan and with the big Averna/DAQTron deal, we needed it! Unfortunately with everything going on, we couldn't leave town until Thursday of Spring Break and ended up taking just a quick, long, weekend trip to Grand Cayman. Bob wanted to go somewhere where the weather would be guarenteed to be warm.

We got to the hotel Thursday, April 9 before check-in and the room wasn't ready so we changed into our swim suits and hit the beach. Colin and Nathan loved the water and ocean and sand. Had to drag them away to go to lunch at the hotel restaurant. Bob and I had the local beer, Caybrew and it really hit the spot after being in the sun. Better than the other carribean beers like Red Stripe too.


Then we went swimming in the pool. While I was getting towels, Colin went out too deep in the water and got really scared. Bob was more scared and jumped into the pool to rescue Colin. Fortunately Colin was okay, unfortunately Bob's cell phone was sacrificed during the rescue.

As a result, I tried working with Colin on getting him to swim and put his face in the water. I think it's going to take a professional and private swim lessons for him to get over his fear of water. Which is crazy becasue the kid LOVES water. By me working all last summer and not doing any swim lessons with the kids, I think we really missed the boat with Colin. I just wasn't comfortable sending them to swim lessons with a babysitter. No offense to the babysitter, it's just my job.

Nathan on the other hand was loving going underneath the water. Bob would say 1, 2, 3 and dunk him under. Nathan just laughed and laughed. I think he was laughing under the water too. Then he would say, "Do it again!" Group swim lessons for Nathan.

Dinner was at a place across the street that was like a beach bar with picnic tables and outside seating. Very cool ambiance.