Thanksgiving Tap Dance

Chronologically, this is quite a leap.  You'll just have to suffer, because it's totally worth it.  

Pat has been hanging on to the box of gold lame and tap shoes since 1987 when we all put on a show for the family.  The resulting photograph ended up on national TV the following year as Granny chatted up Chuck Woolery on the Scrabble game show. This was before I really understood that not everyone got together with their families at holidays and dressed in full costume to dance and sing.  

And for all the things in the world to be thankful for, my own children will get to have that same awkward realization at some point. 

Granny shared the stage with her newest back-up dancers as the rest of us mumbled through songs and snapped pictures.   

How happy this makes me.

Take Two

Victory is Ours!

We have been meaning to get the girls out to Twins Days every summer so far, but this was the first year we were in town for the celebration. It's a crazy gathering with its own culture that we just barely understand. We are clearly on the outskirts, only just the serfs in a bizarre kingdom where the people are the show.  If you're around the Cleveland area the first weekend if August and enjoy a bit of the surreal, I highly recommend it. 

Twins of all ages dress in identical outfits, some in themed regalia; this year was "Twice Upon a Time." Pairs of Snow Whites and pairs of Harry Potters wandered amongst the small town carnival set up, taking in the sights or participating in the talent show. I was originally confused by the audience's wild appreciation for the one-man clogging show. One guy in his 60s or 70s dancing onstage in a loud, patriotic shirt and the whole audience was clapping and stomping along like it was Elvis. Later, I read in the program that he had been doing this clogging performance with his twin brother for nearly 50 years and this was his first Twins Days performance after the passing of his twin.  I cried for a bit then. And felt like those overly enthusiastic audience members were kind of my heroes. 

The rest of the day was not so fraught with emotion.  We ate some fair food, rode some tiny carnival rides and played a good long time on the playground. 

Except for the part were we became pageant patents. 

There are contests for every permutation of twindom.  Twins with the longest running attendance, twins from farthest away (Japan), most alike male, least alike male/female.  And so on.

I'll tell you here that we crushed the competition for least alike girl twins under 4.  

I could temper our bragging by mentioning that there were only three sets of competitors in the category at all ,but where's the fun in that?

Watching while the judges "interviewed" the contestants was my favorite part. The girls played their roles perfectly, Naomi sitting quietly on the bleachers or in William's lap while Lillian was dancing around and chatting up the judge. 

The girls were awarded the gold medal and seemed very pleased by it, even though they had no idea what it was about.  Naomi was a bit heartbroken that she didn't get to say her name into the microphone. I think she'd been psyching herself up for it. 

If we are in town next year, look out all you fraternal girl twins, ages 4-8.  We have a streak to build. 

Little Miss Fix It

 

Naomi likes to help.  All the time.  She is pretty much in charge of making her own smoothies now, except for the part where I have to use the loud machine.  She likes to help set and clear the table, get Kleenex for anyone who might need it.  She is pretty good at unloading the dishwasher,but I can't get anywhere with putting away laundry. Here she is this summer helping with the car repairs. 

Apple day!

Carolina On My Mind?

Once we unpacked from Duxbury and finished the laundry, it was time to head out again.  This time to South Carolina, to spend a week with Myla and Bryan and Rowen and little Greta. We stayed with Myla's dad and stepmom at their beautiful house that's halfway between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, Georgia.  We spent a full day in each place and in between, we lounged in the pool on the lanai (a new vocabulary word for me) and cooked great dinners and played.

Here are the girls in downtown Savannah, trying out a new role model.  Lillian needs to work on her hip action.

We visited a candy shop on the river street as soon as we got off the ferry.  Here they are hypnotized by a 99 year old taffy machine. They got to taste some hot off the press. 

A reflection of our carriage tour through the squares of Savannah.  It was a highlight of the day, seeing the beautiful architecture and gorgeous live oak trees.  Naomi and Lillian were especially excited when one of the horses peed at a stop sign. It was splashy.

Savannah really is gorgeous and I could totally spend more time there.

We did a dolphin tour out of Hilton Head, and, while I found it underwhelming, the girls were super excited about the one dolphin we spotted.  If you are Lillian, you saw five dolphins.  I don't suppose we have any scientific proof that the far off fin we saw breach the water five times in a row was definitely the same dolphin. I had visions of pods of dolphins leaping alongside the boat, chattering and flipping and possibly signing autographs. Here is the closest we got.

A day at the beach on HHI was a treasure. Lillian pretty much headed straight for the water while Naomi spent about 45 minutes burying her feet I this pile of sand. 

The girls were great in the water all week. They got very brave in the pool at home, as long as they were wearing the chest wing floatations thing we pilfered from baby Greta. They got to the point were they were willing to leap into the water and deal with the splashing. Lillian was a little fish at the beach, begging William to take her out into the waves, gamely taking saltwater to the face and going back for more.

A trip to Fort Pulaski and Bonaventure Cemetery capped our time with the Goldcraigs.  While it was grossly hot and sticky, the sights were still marvelous.  

Bonaventure is the cemetery that figures prominently in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and has some  amazing statuary.

Also, nifty trees.

And spare bits of Spanish moss.

But, so soon, it was time to say goodbye.

After the wonderful week, we broke up the drive home with a stop in North Carolina to visit Mark and Jennifer.  They have a pinball game in their living room which is tied for coolness with a pool in the lanai, I think. Naomi wasn't half bad.

We explored the great children's museum in town.  Even the bike racks were cool. 

Naomi tried her hand at driving a tractor.

All in all, an amazing trip. The girls checked three new states of their list and we all got to visit with wonderful friends.  Maybe best of all? It only took three and a half showings of The Little Mermaid to get us home.

At Long Last...

I certainly hope it's worth the wait.

We'll Come Back for the Trombone.

As people, several people, have been asking why I haven't updated the blog in over a month, I've been floundering for excuses. The one that seems most valid is that I'm trying to do it in chronological order and there's a video of some trombone playing in Duxbury that I need to get from mom's machine into mine. Flimsy, as excuses go, I know. We've all heard that one about the trombone. 

And now sadly, I don't even remember what comes next. It was a marvelous summer, full of adventures and vacations and ice cream and sunshine. I vaguely remember it being really hot when we got home. Especially since there are pictures of my children in the sprinkler.

And then there was this.  Naked bubble painting. This went great until both girls tried to drink the painty bubble solution. Now we know: Poke a few tiny holes in the top of the straw before they begin. The more you know....

 We spent a few wonderful days with Aunt Diana and the cousins.  We went to the lake and puttered on the beach. It was lovely.  The girls idolized their older cousins and let the take them out into the water and wanted to show off their toys.  They are generally enthralled with older children and want to be included in the games and playtime, even if they don't quite know what to do with Barbies, as was the case with the seven year old girls down the street. Here is Lillian, soaking up time with Matthew and a portable game system. 

After this, we left on another adventure, so I'll make that a new entry.

The Fourth in Duxbury

Nana and I drove the girls out to Massachusetts for the 4th of July festivities. On the way, we overnighted in Rochester, New York, home to The National Museum of Play. Also known as paradise for children. We were there for about four hours and hardly scratched the surface of it. We played with the detective house, romped through Reading Adventureland, prepared a plastic lunch in the Berenstain Bears restaurant and spent a good long while in this 1890's house. Lillian played some lovely music while Naomi prepared some fairy muffins in the cast iron oven.  

Duxbury awaited us with a bounce house, bubbles, a beach, a parade and a dozen adoring family members. Paradise revisited. 

We visited the New England Aquarium in Boston and loved it. The girls were thrilled by the touch tank full of bull-nosed rays and the penguins. Lillian was also obsessed with the computer touch pads by the big central tank that fills the whole three stories of the building. We had to cover them up in order to get her to look at the giant sea turtle swimming right in front of us.  

 Here we are modeling the superhero capes that Pat whipped up while we were petting sea creatures. 

Where did I leave off?

There is no excuse, just a summer full of adventurous days and sunshine and travel. I think, rather than try and rewind and sort memories, I'll just post random photos for the next few days and pretend it's one of those montages from an eighties movie where the whole house gets renovated in the length of one peppy pop song.  Okay? Let's go!

Even the playground is a superhero adventure! (Photo credit to Nat. )

  

William left for Canadian Boundary Waters way back in June so the girls and I packed our schedule to keep busy enough to not miss him too badly. This picture is from the Reading Riot on the Medina Square. Lots of folks came out to celebrate and read books together.  We were even quoted in the local paper! Afterwards, we visited Miss Molly's Teahouse again where the girls poured their own milk this time and Naomi reminded me to use the handle on my teacup and not grab it like a barbarian. Not in those exact words, but close enough. 

 

We took in another lovely evening at Wade Oval Wednesday and tried to create volume three of Little Girls on Striped Blanket. They are generally more squirmy than they were three years ago.

But also cute.

Next comes Duxbury so I'll make that its own entry. 

All Summer In a Day

We smashed all of summer's wonderful things into one beautiful day yesterday. A quiet early morning followed by lunch picnic at the pool. The girlsn dove right back into the water this year with little hesitation. Naomi was pretty insistent about being able to doggie paddle the whole length of the pool by herself, just using one of the barbell floats Lillian wanted a little more hands on support but happily lapped at the water as she trundled around. After lunch , we spent an hour at the kiddie pool where the girls were on their own, lounging and splashing and approaching other kids to ask to share toys.  Here is Naomi the supermodel, lounging on daddy. 

Lillian the water baby

We took a quick nap at home and then left for Memphis kiddie Park, The most magical parking lot in the universe.  The magic hasn't worn off since last year and both girls dashed into the park cackling with excitement. They rode the roller coaster by themselves this year and had fun with Jack and Ivy. They rode each ride in the park happily handing their tickets to the attendant even buckling themselves in.

Lillian and Ivy.  They kind of like each other. 

Our brave little daredevils, all with their hands In the air. 

And, as if there hadn't been enough excitement ,we stopped on the way home for ice cream. 

 

On the ride home Naomi said "We haven't even been to the zoo yet!"