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Rock 'n Roll

***Warning! This post is Video & YouTube - erific!

Be sure to check out the links and Vids!****

Last weekend was all about the music! Friday night there was an impromptu jam session at our friends Jen & Bobby's before their wedding on Sunday. Jen & Bobby have a band - Jennifer Hill & Co - and Jen was recently voted best new female artist in Connecticut!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ3ttAyQokQ

So, musician friends have musician friends....and next thing ya know, the amps and mics are outside and we're rockin out!

Loud music = ear protection for the Trippster!

He's so good - never tried to tear the headphones off and danced until he passed out
Tripp couldn't resist, he HAD to jam too!
When he wasn't jamming, he was sharing high fives with everyone between musical rants

When Bob got a turn, Tripp was quick to sit on Dada's lap and beat on the drums - looks like we have a future musician on our hands!



On Saturday we went to the Woodstock Art & Country Fair to see our friend Kristin and her acapalla group, Red No. 5, perform

Tripp listening intently

Red No. 5

They sang Tripp's favorite - "Crayola" - and dedicated it to him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTWG7doW3Xk

Kristin is a fellow teacher at GHS

An autographed CD!

The Ladies gave Tripp a private serenade of "If your Happy and ya know it...."

To wrap it up, on Sunday, we went to Jen & Bobby's wedding at Rocky Neck State Park.

He's such a ladies man

Right about now is when Tripp yelled "WOW! Pretty!"

Jen's daughter, Scarlet (8), was included in the ceremony too.

Bobby also pledged his love to her - so sweet!

Mr & Mrs. Schwecherl

Tripp made time for ALL the ladies - here he is chatting it up with baby Sarah

Cha Cha Slide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCEu_dFfw6I

Let's go crazy!

The smooth jazz band time was over and the DJ started playing some tunes

Nascar

The Big E!

This past weekend, Grands Capano came to visit and we all went to the Big E!
Yummy - Fair food!

Future NASCAR lover?
"I just wanna go fast!"

Arkansas Bob is rubbing off on the New Yorkers - we all got cowboy hats! Yee-Haw!

The Big E is an agricultural fair

Llama, Llama Red Pajama

The guys plot our course

Guys & Gars

Tripp loves caramel apples - w/ sprinkles!

Pa-Ray!

Showing off his Mardi-Gra Parade loot

Even the police get into the spirit of things.

Love those Mickey Mouse gloves!

It was a long, fun filled day.

My tuckered out men

Don't worry about the eye patch - he's okay. Tripp has a weak eye, we were lovingly calling it his "stink eye". It ends up he has a common childhood ailment called Strabismus ( a weak tendent in his eye that allows it to wander when he becomes tired - and gives him double vision.)

He is going to wear an eye patch for 2 - 4 hours a day for the next 2 months to strengthen his eye. He is doing great and doesn't seem to mind the patch at all - we call it "Pirate Time!"

Tripp sporting his pirate patch & booty. The guys went golfing and Mom & I went shopping.

At the mall we hung out at the playscape - a popular kiddie hang out.

And then we treated ourselves to some Friendly's for lunch.

No highchair for Tripp, he gets a booster seat!

Pirate CaCa and Pirate Tripp

Jam packed weekend!

It's been a long time since our last post....camera broke and a replacement had to be researched and purchased. I'm glad to announce that we decided on a beautiful, orange, Olympus Tough 6000. It's waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof; Tripp-proof!

To break in our new camera, we had a full weekend of fun & friends!

1st stop - Matteo's 2 year birthday party!

Lots of kids, Lots of bikes.

Who needs a big wheels? Tripp goes straight for the big boy bike!

It was a Curious Creatures party!

Curious Creatures is a company that brings critters to your house for a touch and feel show.

The kids and big kids loved it!

He was such a good boy!

He waited patiently for each animal to come his way for a gentle touch.

SNAKE!

watching the show with friends Becky and Thomas

getting ready to hold the Big Boa!

WOW!

SNAKE!

Matteo gets a souvenir shirt

Yummy! Ice Age cake

friends Oliver (top) & Thomas (bottom)

Matteo's grandpa made him a special donut hole & cool whip cake

Hugs for friends

The next day started with a trip to Brownstone park.

I took my Outdoors Club kids there in the morning....no Tripp was not with me, but I did get to test out the waterproof feature of my new camera - too cool!!

Zip Lining

Some Outdoors Club Kids

This is me getting "launched" by my fellow club advisor, Doug

Later that day, I met Bob & Tripp at our friends

Bobby & Jen's Jack & Jill backyard bash!

Lots of kids and fun.....but, not too many pics. :-(

My battery died, guess water fun and videos = battery drainage

Bonny & Jen are musicians (Jennifer Hill & Company)

so of course we HAD to Jam!

But first Tripp got to try his hand at the drums & vocals

Beach!

I grew up with the Long Island Sound practically in my backyard.....and I took it for granted. I was never a sun bather, so unlike my sun worshipper friends I did not feel the need to lay out on the beach....and unfortunately, the Long Island beach (Sunken Meadow) has many, many rocks - lots of them being sharp! Combined with murky-ish water and my fear of not being able to see my feet and what I'm swimming with - like sharks!....my love affair with the beach was limited to evening bonfire parties, senior skip days and people watching.

My Landlocked Southern Husband has no pressing passion for the beach - he thinks the water is too cold......unless we're in the Caribbean, then we both LOVE the beach! So after living away from the ocean for so long (3+ years), when I returned to the East Coast my closest desire to returning to the beach was in the form of attending concerts at Jones Beach....until my Colorado based gal pal Aubrey said, "hey! let's take the kids to the beach!"

So I caved, we packed up and drove down to the shoreline to explore the CT side of the Long Island Sound. (Some people might question why we didn't go to the OCEAN. The answer in simple, we didn't want the kids to have any reason to fear the water due to large waves, the Sound is closer and a middle point from our homes.

......we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the beach! The sand is smooth, the water is refreshing, the people are nice and I can see my toes! Tripp can't get enough - he loves the sand and surf!


Thanks Aubrey & Penelope!

I also rediscovered the activity of sandcastle building. Tripp of course demanded sand Snake! One day it was a snake, then a snake eating a fish, then many many small castles so Tripp could play Godzilla and smash them all.

Sand Fish decorated with rocks, seaweed and matchbox cars :) And of course they needed to be car friendly - Vroom, Vroom!

Look Mama, Boat!

Tripp, king of all wild things, said "I'll eat you up!"

Tripp & Penny model their "Mermaid Seaweed"

We dug a hole and the kids took turns standing in it and pouring water onto their feet

Ella & Tripp buried in the sand

little piggies

Napping on the beach

You can see the quality of picture has been slowly declining throughout these pictures....sadly, my camera died this day. RIP my little Cannon Power Shot. You did me right for 3 jam packed years.

Unfortunately this means that there are no more good beach pictures to accompany our many, many glorious days of beach lovin :(

Not to worry! I have done my research and will be buying a new camera very, very soon!

But, as you know...I HAVE to take pictures! We went to the beach several more times before I knew I had to find a quick temporary fix. So I went to Walgreen's and bought a $10 kid's digi camera - terrible quality. I guess that's why it was $10!

While we waited for our friends Beth, Evan & Nora to join us, Tripp made quick friends with a near by toddler. He yelled "hey, kid!" as he ran down to the water to introduce himself

Friends Beth, Nora & Evan join us

Evan (5)

Evan (5), Nora (2)

The beach was crowded that day. Tripp loved it, a bigger audience, more kids to play with and more big kids! (Tripp loves big kids)

Us swimming.

Tripp wears a life vest and loves his independence, he swims along side of me.

We're pretty far out, I'm treading water!


Nudie beach booty!

Tripp was cold, cold. So I stripped him of his wet clothes and swimmie diaper and wrapped him in a towel for snack time. When he was dry and re-fueled he jumped off my lap and started playing in the sand before I could get a diaper on him! In this pic, I've told him that I'm coming to get him and diaper him - he's up and running! Yup, I had to chase that little nudie booty baby around the beach! Good thing everyone taught it was wildly entertaining :)

I finally got that diaper on him!

Aquarium

We just returned from a visit with Grands Capano & Uncle Brian.

While we were there we went to Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead.







This is cool:

they have a seal habitat in front of the entrance. This way the kids can check out some marine life while the parents wait in line. During this visit, we were treated to some newborn seals!

As soon as we walked in there was a sting ray petting tank. They had food, so you could feed the string ray and they practically jumped out of the tank!

Bob & Tripp in their Dinosaur shirts!

Piranhas.

The sign says they are misunderstood....I'm not biting

People tank diving with the sharks

Tripp & Uncle Brian, getting a closer look at the Penguins!

Tripp checks out the map

Silly Uncle Brian!

They had a touch & feel Salt Marsh

Grands Capano

(about to celebrate 35 years together!)

AAARRRR, there were pirates at the aquarium

Kisses from Gamma

That's just cool

They also had a archeology site for the kids to discover.......

Dinosaur bones

Gems

and an underwater view of the snorkel pond

Capano Clan w/ Happy Feet

SNAKE!

What a great day! Our tired munchkin slept the whole way home

Time to play with the pups!