Dustin's Visit

One of the few good things about a husband who travels all the time is that he certainly wracks up the frequent flyer miles. As a result we have been offering to fly in relatives for a visit for quite a while now, and finally they have started to take us up on the offer! Ryan's sister Missy has tickets to come out for Christmas, and about two weeks ago Dustin called and asked if we still had those frequent flyer miles. He has been staying with us for the last week and sadly leaves tomorrow morning.

It has been a really wonderful visit. Than was super excited before he got here, which we thought was pretty funny as the only time Than had ever seen Dustin was when he was 8 months old. Turns out one of the kids at preschool has a favorite Uncle who is one of his primary care givers, so he talks about his Uncle all the time. Therefore Than had grasped the concept that Uncles were awesome and he wanted one! Thankfully Uncle Dustin lived up to the hype. They have had a blast together. Though I do feel a little sorry for Dustin as he has had no peace since his arrival as Than will not leave him alone. The first thing he hears in the morning is "Uncle Dustin, Uncle Dustin! Wanna play toys?" and that is repeated all day. As usual this is great for us as Than leaves us alone to get other things done because we are nowhere near as fun as the newly imported relative.

The week is slightly a blurr but we were trying to find a balance between relaxing family time and actually going out to do a few fun or touristy things. We were determined not to overschedule the week so that it actually felt like a vacation for Dustin.

He arrived Friday night. On Saturday we mostly took it easy except for a brief excursion to the local farmer's market and grocery store.On Sunday our little family was scheduled to get our family photos done. We had been rained out more times than I can count so we were thrilled to finally get it done. We met the photographer at a local sugarhouse/ pumpkin patch/ corn maze. So we had an excuse to take Dustin to drive through the fall colors and get a bit of a taste of New England. It was a beautiful and surprisingly warm day that felt more like summer than fall.
I was also happy that I would be able to get her to take a few pictures of Dustin and I together and some of him with Than. We should get the photos soon and that will be a seperate post. Than was a little uncooperative so it will be interesting to see the pictures and how they turned out.

On Monday we went to Newport and did the Cliff walk. We all really enjoyed it and Dustin loved seeing the water, cliffs, and mansions. Than enjoyed the fact that except for when he was climbing the rocks I don't think he walked more than 10 steps total. He managed to sucker Dad and Dustin into carry him the whole time.

Second only to the sight of him playing with Than, this is how we most frequently saw Dustin. On the phone talking to his girlfriend. At least he had the chance to do it somewhere with a pretty view...

My incredibly tall brother, slouching.

After we finished up with the walk we went down to the main drag in Newport for a nice lunch. Which included a bonus of a parade going past where we were eating that we had no idea would be happening. Than was thrilled.

Tuesday night I had an appointment in the evening and Dustin went with me so we could go out to dinner afterwards. It was great. We went for sushi, had yummy food and continued to catch up.

On Thursday we went to the Aquarium. As always Than wanted to show off his buddy Juno the whale. Which actually led to one of the funniest things I have ever seen. God I wish I had it on video. Juno was in rare form. He is usually fun because unlike the other whales he seems to be fascinated by and genuinely interested in interacting with people. But he seems to have learned a new trick. On the day we went he was hanging out right by the glass and making silly slightly aggressive faces at people (children in particular) like this:

Juno saying "Boo!"

Now Than watched Juno do this several times, like to this little girl and then he swam away. So Than went up to the glass to watch Juno swim back around. I'm not sure exactly what happened next but I think he looked back toward Dustin and I. When he turned to look back in the tank Juno was right up against the glass next to Than, making that "Boo!" face at him. Than screamed and flipped out running towards me until he was hiding behind my legs. Now I know Than was intentionally hamming it up like we do when we pretend scare each other at home, but it was still hysterically funny. Everyone there started laughing.













Dustin and Than in the "Alvin"


After that we took Dustin to the shops at Mystic Village for him to find a gift for his girlfriend. We also had to make a stop at the duck pond, Than insisted. Also hysterical, watching Than try to sneak up on a duck.






Than was very easily distracted by ducks so I was demonstrating, and then planned to back away. Dustin thought this was funnier.

On Friday we just stayed at home on a very rainy day and enjoyed the last day of his visit. Dustin spent much of it on the floor playing with Than's cars and construction equipment all of which now turn into Devastator since Than saw part of the Transformers movie. I think Dustin will be very happy to not hear about Devastator for a long time.

So in summary, it was a wonderful visit and we won't let it be as long before his next visit. It was so nice to be able to just sit and talk for hours, something we haven't been able to do in years.

Hurricane Irene

For those who are wondering about how we fared during (and after) Hurricane Irene...the short answer is that we got very very lucky.

From past experience with hurricanes (from growing up in Florida and going through many of different strengths) I knew that with the Category 1 & 2 storms your major worries are the wind picking up objects and throwing them at your house, prolonged power loss, and flooding. So in preparation I brought all the outdoor furniture, planters, toys, etc. inside. I didn't go crazy stocking up, but I did chose not to buy the perishable items I usually would in case we lost power. As to flooding, thankfully we are on a hill and figured out last year during the worst flooding in 100 years in RI that our property doesn't flood, so that wasn't a huge worry for us.

The storm dropped in strength and picked up speed right before it got to us which helped. That meant it dropped less water and the winds were significant but not too bad. We ended up with quite a bit of tree damage. A few small ones came down and lots of very large branches did as well. Thankfully none of the trees are very close to the house, so it just kept Ryan busy with a chainsaw after the storm passed.

The main way we got very lucky was that we only lost power for about a minute. However 64% of RI lost power. Many homes and businesses are still without it, and many aren't expected to get it back for 3-4 more days. Ryan was unable to go to work on Monday (though he tried and was turned away at the gate) due to all of Newport being without power. Our neighborhood had very little damage compared to everywhere else. Many roads elsewhere were blocked by large fallen trees.

I am very happy with National Grid (our power company). After a very rough winter with nasty ice storms resulting in many downed trees and branches, they were very busy over the last few months clearing trees and branches that could take out power lines. It would have been much worse if not for that. All the power lines I've seen taken out around here were by whole large healthy trees that no one could have predicted which would fall and which wouldn't.

So our hurricane experience was quite a bit different than most. We spent the day watching the wind and rain and steam cleaning our carpets because they have needed it for awhile and we could. Then once the storm passed we put some things back outside and Ryan went to work with the chainsaw. Then yesterday I went shopping for the perishable items we needed. As I said...we got very lucky.

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Leapfest

This is going to be a very quick post with LOTS of pictures of where I took Than yesterday. It was absolute heaven for a three year old boy totally obsessed with helicopters. I am only going to give the most basic description of what was going on, so I recommend going to http://www.leapfest.com/ to get a better description of the whole thing and how the contest really works. We will definitely be going again next year. Than wants to go everyday...so I'm having a hard time getting him to understand that it will be a while before we can go again.

So basic overview: Leapfest is an annual international competition that just happens to be held right around the corner from us. The drop zone and target were behind West Kingston Elementary and Pickup (Landing and Take off for the helicopters) was at URI. Teams of 4 are dropped from the helicopters and have to try to get to a target as quickly as possible. They make several jumps and the lowest combined total time wins.

A team that has just been dropped.

Where the contestants can go to get their gear ready for the next jump and get checked by a medic if need be.

Trying to remove a parachute from a tree. Getting close to the target wasn't easy.

Best shot of a landing and the target. The target is the bit of orange to the right. He was one of the few to land fairly close (and gently). Most landed much further away and had to run as fast as they could to the target to stop the time, dragging their parachute the whole way.

Dragging his gear back to get ready for the next jump.

The unfortunate ones had to race to the target against the wind, struggling against the parachute.

Being at the drop zone was way more fun for Than than I expected. I knew he would love the helicopters and like seeing the parachutes, but thought his favorite part would be going over to the landing zone where he could see the helicopters much closer. However the drop zone was at the elementary school which had a very nice playground. From the playground you couldn't see the target or landing area, but for much of the time we were there the helicopters were dropping them right over the playground. So the little kids were thrilled! They could play and watch the helicopters.

I was so happy to get a shot of them actually jumping out the back.

After about an hour we left and went over the the pick up zone at URI. It was easy to find, with plenty of parking and yet no one was there other than the people competing. We were able to get fairly close, so it was a really good view of the helicopters.

We stayed for 45 minutes or so. Long enough to see 4 or 5 helicopters take off and land, plus the ones that were dropping teams circled above constantly. I was slightly surprised to see exactly how many of them were loaded onto each helicopter.

It was a fantastic day for Than. Of course he would have enjoyed it more if Daddy was there to tell him all about what kind of helicopters they were and all the details Mom doesn't know, but hopefully next year. The only disappointment for Than was that he desperately wanted to go on the helicopters, and thought the jumping out looked pretty fun too. I had to tell him he would have to wait until he was much bigger.

4th of July

As Than's birthday is the day before, the 4th of July celebrations always end up as part of it (in his mind at least). I think he will be very disappointed when he finally figures out that the fireworks have nothing to do with him.
Last year we didn't take him. At that point he was actually going to bed at 7pm. We didn't want to screw up his schedule and we had no idea where to go where it wouldn't be a horrible zoo.

This year keeping him awake wasn't a concern as the 4th of July fell during the time when Than wasn't sleeping well and was usually up until truly ridiculous hours. Plus this year I have friends that grew up in Rhode Island and could tell us the best spot to go.

My friend Missy said that her family was going to watch the fireworks at the North Kingstown Town Beach. She told me it was a good location and it had the beach and a playground to keep the kids busy until the fireworks started.

Than's 3rd Birthday- Oh the gifts...

As always Than was spoiled rotten by his extended family. He adores everything he got and we loved it too. At least this year Ryan isn't spending all his time wandering around mumbling about how Than has "too much stuff".

My Dad (Grandpa Brad) and his parents went in together and got Than this fantastic all terrain red flyer wagon. It is not only fun but useful. As you can see from the pictures he loves it!

We spread out the giving of presents over several days so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed and would get to really enjoy and appreciate all of them. As a result several of them aren't pictured. While Grandpa Rich was here he opened the gift from them, which was a set of magnetic tile blocks. Hard to explain but very cool. A toy that will grow with him. The older he gets the more complex things he can build with them. He loved playing with them for hours while Rich was here, and still does.

My Mom sent a lot of really fun stuff, but the helicoper with working rotors and a rescue winch has been a huge hit. Than is truly obsessed with airplanes and helicopters but helicopters are his favorite. He had also recently decided that he loves cameras and always wanted to use my very expensive camera, so our gift was a kid tough digital camera that he loves. You can tell how much he loves something by how many pictures of it he takes. In the first few days he took 50+ pictures of that helicopter.

I know I haven't mentioned a few wonderful gifts, but I don't have photos and Than is losing patience with Mom on the computer and I must run. Thank you all so much! Than knows exactly how much he is loved and just how lucky he is.

Than's 3rd Birthday- Dinosaur Park

The best part of Than's birthday was unexpected and wonderful. A few weeks before his birthday we found out that Ryan's dad had a business meeting interestingly enough at Ryan's work. Not with his specific group but in the same building. Luckily he was able to extend his stay so we got a real visit with him out of his trip. Ryan also took several days off so Than got lots of fun time with Dad and Grandpa for his birthday. It was such a lovely visit.

I have a friend who has a great plan for celebrating birthdays that I have stolen. She alternates years, one year she has a small birthday party and the next they pick somewhere fun to go just the family. So this year was the go somewhere year. We decided to take him to the Dinosaur Place in CT. Ryan hadn't been before and Than loved it last year. However last year he wasn't in his dinosaur phase yet, so he loved it even more this year.

Dinosaur Maze. While I took it easy Ryan and Grandpa Rich took Than on the very long walk on the paths with all the life sized dinosaurs. There is also a giant maze with a big dinosaur slide in the middle (I think, wasn't there...and Than was too little for it last year).

Only a few pictures from the long paths with tons of life sized dinosaur replicas.

The Splash Park. Last year this was all Than wanted to do. This year he was all excited about it and dying to get in there right until the water hit him. Then he wasn't thrilled. Admittedly it was a much cooler day this time so the water was a bit chilly instead of refreshing.

Only a few of the pictures from the fantastic playground. Than is now a climbing fiend. He climbs places that much older kids won't dare or can't manage, but he loves it!

The all important but missing photo... The best part about our birthday trip to the Dinosaur Place was that Grandpa Rich was able to go with us, but he somehow managed to avoid being in any of the photos (largely because he took a lot of them). So this photo of the Dropek boys is from later in the week. But I love that I have at least one anyway.