My budding Valentino

We came home last week and found a package waiting on our doorstep. We love packages, especially since we rarely get any!

This one contained gifts for Michael and Kate.

Really Mom, this is for me?

Kate got this really cool magnetic doll dress up set. I didn't even know these existed, but it is a genius idea. No more ripped dresses or dolls!
Michael was really interested in helping Kate dress the dolls. Perhaps he'll grow up to be a designer. Which would be awesome. Only he will be horrified at how frumptastic his mom dresses. But whatever. Just as long as he remembers that his mom carried him around for 9 long months and dealt with his colic for 6 long months afterwards, and reciprocates by designing amazing custom clothes for his mom. (Yes, I plan on being one of those moms who constantly holds the fact that 'she gave their children life' over their heads).







Michael got an adorable bowling set, with the pins being animals. He's not ready to audition for Kingpin yet, but he's quite good at pulling them out of the bag and putting them back in.






He also loves to give them cuddles.




Thanks Michelle, Dave & Owen! We absolutely love the gifts, and you guys are so sweet to send them all the way across the ocean to us!

How to blow the mind of your 3 year old

During Kate's bedtime prayers the other night, she was rattling off her usual list of people. She likes to throw in random people ("the man with the blue hat on the train today". Maybe she knows they need Divine help) and inanimate objects (Paddington Bear, Tyler & Lesley's stroller).
But on this evening she said "..Aunt Sami, & Aunt Sami's daddy..". I told her that Aunt Sami's daddy was the same person as Grandpa. Her eyes got as big as saucers and I could see the wheels turning in her head. Then when I told her that Aunt Sami's daddy & Grandpa is also her daddy's dad, I think I saw steam coming from her ears. She made me repeat it several times, and I still don't think she believes me.

We also told her that her cousin Aubrie has a new baby brother, named Tyler. She said "Like my Tyler? And Lesley & Baby Alex's Tyler? Does he live with them too?".

Luckily she didn't ask me about the relation of cousin's children, because I still can't figure that one out. First cousin once removed? Or second cousin? Let's just call all kids cousin, and all grown-ups aunt/uncle, m'kay?

London Broil

We took a trip to Malta this past weekend in search of sunshine. And we found it.

When you live in a climate that has nice weather most of the time, you get immune to days of sunshine & warmth. But when you live in a climate that has rain 328 days a year and requires a coat from September-July, you start to really yearn for just one day that does not require long pants, long sleeves, and a jacket. Now I understand why, when Brits go on Holiday, they absolutely broil themselves in the sun. I don't even tan (I'm religious about sunscreen, and see no reason to help Mother Nature along in making me look like an old leather glove) and all I wanted to do was just sit by the pool all day.


Kate has been so excited about going to the beach and the pool, and we were happy that the weather held and she was able to indulge in both. We made the mistake of taking her to the pool first though, and from then on she didn't want to go to the beach. She would say, "Here is the plan. We can go look at the beach, and then we'll go back to the pool, OK?". I'm not sure why she was so anti-beach, since the sea was considerably warmer than the unheated pool at our hotel.

I made a few packing mistakes and somehow forgot sunscreen. We went in search of some, and of course all the bottles were 15euro, which is about $25 for the cheap stuff.


Michael was exhausted from our 4 am wake-up call:



This was the first trip that Danny & I have ever taken where we literally did nothing. We woke up in the morning, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then went to the pool. We stayed there until dinnertime, showered, ventured out for supper and then came home and we were all asleep by 8 every night. We always try to pack in lots of sight seeing and good eating when we travel, but we did none of that this time. Michael did great on this trip. He's been a tougher nut to crack than his sister, in terms of sleeping while away & traveling on planes & trains, but we're determined to make a world traveler of him yet.









Euro baby strikes again! Actually, a lot of the small kids went nekkid into the pools & beaches. I'm no prude, but the thought of all that baby pee in the pool grossed me out.


The olive trees that were all over the place. Olives can not be eaten off the tree (yes, I tried). They have to be cured in brine for several weeks.

Kate shares her popsicle:

In front of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. It was SO blue. And apparently we still have some work to do in teaching Kate to sit like a lady while wearing a skirt.