In Which We Recap Some Excitement!

Katie and Gail and I went to Maine! To see the puffins, round two! We traded Colleen for Gail this year. I wanted to have them both, but the Stones keep telling me I can't always get what I want.


There it is. The great puffin. We learned that it is called "the clown of the sea." Gail was laughing while she recited that fact, but after she saw one she said, "Hey, it really is the clown of the sea!" True story.

On the boat, you stop sort of by this island with a lighthouse and a regular house on it. Then, you see the puffins far far away. Scientists reintroduced the puffins to Maine. They borrowed some from Canada, and then brought them here to mate. Next, they waited for the babies to come. Then all the puffins left, because that's what they do. But they come back to where they've mated or where they were born. Then the scientists left some kind of dummy puffins (fake, not stupid). And when the puffins came back, they thought it was safe, because the dummy puffins were there and having a safe time!

After you see the puffins, you leave to look for whales.
And guess what? We saw a mama and a baby whale and they were HUGE!

We saw them for a long time. Then we went back to shore.

Of course we wore some funny headgear...because why would you go on vacation without funny headgear?

and we ate at cool Bar Harbor places! (BA - Hah -Ba)

And saw Iron Man 2 at the Criterion!

And I got this awesome vintage Florn clock!

And this very cool orange tea tin!
Katie got some Gone With The Wind stuff. I also scored some birthday presents, which is always super awesome.
After we got home, I met Luke Healy!

Who was very suspect of me the whole time. I must say that he has a very nice round head.

Then it was July 3rd and Gail and Joe's Big Bash for Birthdays and Anniversarys and Of Course Our Nation's Independence. It's a long title for a party, for sure.

Our chocolate faced friend!

And we had a great time!

And Gail and Joe danced!

And Ed brought an island! (RIP the swan)
And I'll put together a cute kid montage for the next post! But I'm running out of daylight! And gas in my brain tank!

In Which I get a New Nickname


Went to Fire Island with Cat and Shannon and Alicia and Missy on Memorial Day weekend. Was fun and hot and beverage-filled. Note: If someone offers you Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier, take it! Take it and drink it and be thank me later.
I also walked around the beach with my spray on sunscreen approaching fellow pale-ys with the superhero words of "Are you wearing enough sunscreen? You are burning! Let me spray you!" I was like the Pope Of Sunscreen - "Close Your Mouth. Let Us (S)Pray."


The next day, Andy and me went to visit some of his friends and then went to visit some of my friends.

In Far Rockaway

In East Rockaway

With this guy

And this guy

And Miss Christine!
And then it was Ed's 40th surprise party...which I missed the surprise of!

But it happened and it was fun and I'll tell you more about it when I have time...but I'll leave you with this exciting new portrait:

smiles!

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James and my pops. Memorial Day. Jamie was running around and being a crazy person, but as soon as my dad picked him up he was all chummy and huggy and smiley.
Oh, boys.

Sometimes

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it gets a little messy.
We do like to take pictures of ourselves when it's windy and Gail smooches the bebe. The hair starts blowing and...well, we still look good.

It's hard being soooo adorable.

In Which there is a Haircut

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Gail cut the boy's hair, and I think it looks great...and I think he looks like a big boy. Crazy.

Feather's New Toy

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I recently acquired the Fuji Instax Instant Camera. I love love love it!
I want to take a gabillion pictures with it and wallpaper my life. If only the film wasn't a billion dollars.
On a side note, look at James William in his short pants. He's awesome.

Easter mowing

IMG_2669, originally uploaded by feathermar.

I have been awfully sick and in a terrible way. But picture this: a few weeks ago, it was Easter! And we went to Gail's house! and there was ham! And it was delicious! And we took James outside and he mowed everything and then we went down to the schoolyard and he mowed everything else. And this is my favorite picture of that day!

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John and Bean and Loch and Seanie and Rich and Carter came up for Roly's suprise 40th birthday! (Happy Birthday, Rol!) Because they were here anyway, Gail and Joe threw a little 1st birthday for James - more on that later. James is having TWO first birthday parties...mostly because they have a tiny house. This weekend is Jamie's real birthday! But it was great to spend time with our little friends...even if I had the stomach typhoid and thought I was going to die on Thursday and Friday! Even if I played freeze tag and thought that was the end of me for sure! Even if I was so tired at the end of the day that the mind-numbing "Barbie and the Island Princess" wasn't the worst possible thing to watch. Even if I couldn't eat the cool baseball cupcakes.

Where We Go To The Zoo!

Gail and Joe and James offered to take me to the Central Park Zoo to see the puffins for my birthday! That was in August, and with my terrible summer schedule and their school starting...well, March is when our trip came to fruition.
Wednesday we took the train in to the city and went to the zoo! After many subway elevators that smelled delightfully of urine, we were strolling around the city with a curious baby.

We got there just in time to see the Sea Lions feeding, where they put on a little show.

James was not so interested in the sea lions, but he did like watching all of the big kids running around.

These are the tufted puffins, which look different than I thought they would. James has this stuffed Noah's arc that has tufted puffins and I thought they were crazy looking fake birds from some crackhead toy designer. Turns out I was wrong.

James liked the sheep in the petting zoo.

Joe liked the giant cow...or bull...I'm not sure - I didn't look!

At FAO Schwarz, James found a toy he liked

a little rubber ball! He didn't even look at the jungle of stuffed animals in the front! He crawled around chasing his rubber ball, looking at the outlets they have in the floor and checking out the wheels on his stroller. He wasn't really interested in the rest...
While we were running around checking out how crazy awesome everything is...


James fell asleep.
We made our way back to the LIRR, and James eventually woke up.

He pretty much entertained himself

by staring

at all the crazy people on the train.

And we had a great time! Thanks for my birthday trip, Gail and Joe and James! It was superfun!

He walks a lot

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Originally uploaded by feathermar

My friend James is a walker now. With shoes and everything.

Bangs

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I know. I know. You cannot look away from my spectacular bangs. It's okay. I can't either.

They are delightful.

Chubs

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This is my friend James's wrist and hand. It is very very chubby and it makes me laugh.
This particular day he was happy to be outside, but he wanted to eat the grass and leaves that he picked up. And his mama wouldn't let him. And he is walking up a storm - across the grass with his giant feet and his (did i mention) chubby chubby wrists.

Happy St. Pat's

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Of course, of course! My nephew James, in all his finery wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Of course, being in a bagpipe band is not all glamour and fun...we had to wait two hours to step off. We arrived an hour early to boot, so it was three hours of just waiting. Oh, boy. It was a nice day, and James was SuperBaby again. He often behaves as the coolest baby in the world and goes with the flow. My Pops came, too and we rode the subway and carried a gabillion pounds of drums and baby stuff and then waited the aforementioned period of time and then we marched for two miles whilst twirling our sticks and banging our drums and waving to people and then we drove home and then we had McDonalds and went to bed.
Remember the days when St. Patrick's Day was all about drinking at packed bars?

Yeah, me neither.

Where We Go To Albany!

Shannon and I went to Albany for Library Lobby Day, where lots of library people go to the state capitol to ask for money. Well, actually, library people go to say "Please stop taking away the measely amount of money you give us." Libraries get very little money to begin with, and we stretch one dollar into ten, and it's crazy. But everybody's in the same darn boat, I guess.
Anyway, Shannon and I got up super early and got on the bus in Uniondale.

Rule Number one for Lobby Day - Don't say "Good morning, Library People!" at 6:30. To explain the reaction of our fellow busees, Shannon said "Whoa, what's with the death glare?"

Rule Number Two -
If it's called a rally, you gotta chant! And I was pretty excited about it. Shannon thought it would get testy and violent, so we made sure to pick up some Swedish fish for the show. It turned out, we chanted, "No more cuts" and we were disappointed in the lack of tomatoes thrown.

Behind us is the table of library swag. Surprisingly, we didn't buy anything.

Also, Shannon meets Olesh, her formally "Facebook-only" friend.


Rule Number Three - We got shunned like we were Amish.


Standing room only! Except at our table.

Rule Number Four - don't talk about touching a certain Senator's hair, because when you get to sit next to him, it's all you can think about...until you notice how white his teeth are.

Rule Number Five- Take some time out to have some fun! If you are every in the NY State Capitol Building, you can go to the State Museum (Ansel Adams photos!) and the State Library (there wasn't time for manuscripts!) and...on the top floor...The Carousel!


Yahoo!