Chase-Salerno Family Events

We were away this week for a few days for Gumpa’s memorial service in Little Falls. Erica broke down during her reading at the service, George played trumpet beautifully, and Declan, Quinn, and cousin Kai brought merriment to the event by just being there. Kai has grown and developed leaps and bounds since we last saw her in February, and not sure how it’s possible, but she’s even cuter!

Quinny and Kai embrace after the service

Grandpa teaches Declan the fine art of popping leaves

This weekend, cousin Anna and her vivacious six-month old daughter Elizabeth stopped by for dinner en route to Whitefield.

Quinny says, “That’s my cuz!”

What a great week this was! Declan got to have a “big brother” around, Quinny finally warmed up to Kyle (she literally jumped into his lap on Friday!), and we are going to miss him!

Quinn suddenly jumped into Kyle’s lap when he came over the other night, and that was it! She cuddled right up to him!

Happy times!

Fun at the annual Italian Festa!

Kyle won a cool inflatable dolphin for Declan at this game – now one of Declan’s prized possessions!

Helping D make the shot

I took Kyle and the kids to Fun Central today, a large arcade along with batting cages, mini-golf, and a snack bar. Kyle has gone there with Sal and Olga since he was probably Declan’s age, and this was Declan’s first visit there. We had a great time!

Quinn loves “driving”!

Here they are, playing a round of mini-golf. Quinn ran after all of the balls trying to catch them before they went in the hole, Declan and Kyle ran trying to get to them first while avoiding stepping on Quinn…..all of it giving a feeling of “X-treme” Mini-Golf.

Quinn is a little more comfortable with Kyle, especially if he has something she wants! She kept stealing his golf ball and golf club at every hole, but Kyle was kind enough to let her “borrow” them every few steps.

Back home at Gemma and Papa’s all cuddled up in Kyle’s lap, playing games on his X-box.

Kyle is game for anything! Energy for endless preschool games, patience while Quinn warms up to him s-l-o-w-l-y, and even willing to carry chickens around!

Here are some shots of Kyle helping us to put the chicks away in the coop. Yes, “put away.” It’s a little ridiculous. The two adult hens are making it tough for the chicks to roost in the coop, they keep flapping their feathers or something, anyway there’s lots of commotion around bedtime, so the chicks have now taken to roosting on our front porch every evening! When they get sleepy, we lift each one up and carry them to the coop where they all work it out until the morning. (Chickens are very mellow at night.)

Moving the chickens to the coop

Quinn gets more comfortable being near Kyle, AND she gets to pet a chick, which she can’t do anymore because they always run away.

Quinn is obsessed with all vehicles, wants to pretend to drive them, ride in them, climb around in them. She tried getting into the van as Sal, Olga, and Kyle headed back home last night, but Kyle was in the way since he was in the backseat. She had to override her anxiety about him to get in the car, and she did! She let him hold her while she tried to get in the car. Too cute!

Yesterday, we met Gemma, Papa, and Kyle and some friends for lunch at Blockheads (the Tex-Mex restaurant where Ariel Booksellers used to be). Then Declan, Quinn, and I took in a neat musical presentation at our local library featuring a “theramin.” As Wikipedia says, “this instrument is unique in that it requires no physical contact in order to produce music and was, in fact, the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched!” It works using magnetic fields. Very cool, and we all got to try it.

Here are some pictures from playtime last night at Gemma and Papa’s house!

Quinn loves playing with dollhouses!

A new use for that yoga mat!

Blowing on hot food like Gemma does.

Kyle helping Declan load up his disc shooter.

Declan loves hanging out with Kyle and is having a great time wrestling, playing, and eating with him. Quinn likes being around the action, but she’s still getting to know Kyle from afar.

Declan can’t get enough of Kyle!

“Surfing”

I just loved Kyle’s smile in this one!

This is a new summer dress from some friends. I love it, and I had to include it for you here. (See how Quinn’s sort of near Kyle without interacting with him? That’s kind of how it is right now. He keeps being nice to her, she keeps being near him, but not really “near” him.)

This is the first summer Declan has totally embraced playtime at the pool. Buddy Livi has a lot to do with it! He’s had a blast enjoying playdates in her pool at home, and she came to meet us at the county pool last week. When she arrived, Declan went right into the larger of the two kiddie pools there, and announced, “Mommy, now I’m not afraid anymore!”

So, we have good news and bad news in the poultry department. The good news is that all of our chicks are now free-ranging, and they seem to love exploring the property. The bad news is that the grown hens pick on them, making a big fuss when they come too close to a food source, or trying to roost in the coop at night. You know the expression, “pecking order” or “henpecked”? Well, that’s real stuff among chickens!

We also gave a fond, sad farewell to one of our grown hens. She died rather suddenly and unexpectedly last week. I found her in the coop when I was closing it up for the night. We buried her out in the woods, thanked her for all of the eggs, and said a final good-bye. We aren’t sure what happened, since we couldn’t find any trauma like bite marks from an animal or anything, so we’re wondering if it was a heart attack from the recent heatwave we had. She seemed the healthiest among the birds, so we were surprised she died first.

This week I’ll try to do more blogs than usual, so you Georgia folks (hollah!) can see Kyle in action while he’s here! Declan is thrilled to have him around, Quinny has worked her way up to following him around and throwing a ball to him, but she’s still a little wary to get too close to him.

D and Livi at the county pool

Quinn and Norah racing up the slide in the playground area at the county pool

Liberation for the chicks! Free-ranging started this week for them.

We spent last week at End Hut cottage in Whitefield, NH after a little first-hour-we-got-there-Mike-threw-out-his-shoulder ER drama. Mike’s bursitis felt better each day (he injured himself flying a kite with Declan on Monday morning) and we got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Chase at the Homestead, plus Gemma and Papa who visited them for a few days, along with lots of cousins up there.

We just learned nephew Kyle will be coming up north next week – yippee! We can’t wait to see him!

Our little firecracker

Our annual pilgrimage to Polly’s Pancake Parlor

Another New Hampshire “must” – taking in the tastes at Bishop’s Ice Cream Parlor

The kids had a “blast” at Six Gun City!

Our travels to Cape May, NJ this week marked my first solo overnight trip with the kiddos, and everything went fine. We had a great time relaxing at Gemma and Papa’s cottage down there, playing at the beach, and enjoying the energy and nightlife of the Promenade during our evening arcade excursions.

As I write this, today is Mike’s and my 11th wedding anniversary! That makes 18 years together total, and at 37 years old, I have officially been with him over half of my life! Hard to believe, but it’s only gotten better. I love you, honey!

Next up on the blog, pix from our upcoming trip to New Hampshire, where we’ll see Grandma and Grandpa, Gemma and Papa, and lots of other wonderful relatives, including our newest cousin baby Elizabeth!

Can’t go to Cape May without dining at the Lobster House! Here’s Declan, eating every form of seafood there is….yum!

When you play arcade games nowadays, the machine issues you some number of tickets, depending on your score, which you later redeem for prizes. Declan actually won a jackpot on one of the games, and the machine spit out 1,000 tickets! We didn’t get a picture of that bounty, so he made me promise I’d bring a camera the next time we went to the arcade. Here he is, proudly displaying his winnings from the following night. He couldn’t wait to show Daddy!

Quinny turning heads, and loving it!, on the Promenade.

Beach bunny

Yeah, summer is here! I’m taking the kids to Cape May for a few days, so here is a quick blog entry before I leave.

Hanging out with birthday boy Cianan at his playground party

Declan made this ride lots of fun!

Declan loves visiting the chicks, feeding them, watching them grow, and telling us their names, most of which seem to change daily. He also likes to talk about them to friends, giving them a grand tour of the poultry area when they come to visit.

Quinn is into everything these days, and lately she’s been trying to feed the chickens on her own. Here she is, caught in the act! She enjoys doing “big people” tasks of all types like putting clothes in the dryer or washing the table with a sponge. But she also knows that when the chickens are eating the feed she spreads out for them, they’re less likely to run away when she tries to pet them!