At Last We Meet

The last time we saw the cottage was September. Since then, it has been knocked down, carted away, and rebuilt.

We've watched all of this progress via photos and movies from Papa Art, but today we got to meet the new cottage in person.

We headed out from Natick early in the morning with a blizzard nipping at our heels. The plan was to make the trip up to Maine and back before the blizzard hit Massachusetts. Snow was already falling as we headed north in Goldie for her maiden voyage to Old Orchard.

We made good time and at around 11:30 we got our first glimpse of the new cottage. We pulled into the snow-filled driveway and scampered out of the car to inspect the construction. We inspected everything inside and out (the furthest we could get inside was the basement). The girls gave the cottage two thumbs up as they played with various bits of dangerous construction materials.

Once Stella and Marni completed their inspection of the cottage, they headed down to the beach. Not surprisingly, the beach was empty (given that it was 21 degrees outside). Instead of people, there were quite a lot of washed up lobster traps and a bizarrely enormous amount of gigantic clam shells.

We snapped some photos and then jumped back into Goldie to warm up. Then... we were off. Heading for home after the shortest visit to Maine in history. We stopped for some lunch and we stopped for some booze, and we didn't hit the blizzard until we were well into Massachusetts again.

It was nice to finally meet the new cottage, in person. "She" looks good. And I don't think it's going to take a lot of time to get use to our new summer home.

Eclipse

I did not take this picture.

Stella's nightly migration from her bed to our bed is not a rare thing. But what is rare is a total lunar eclipse coinciding with the winter solstice.

Last night, just such an eclipse coincided with Stella's migration.

As she was making her way up to our bed at around 3:15 am, I took a look out the patio door and saw the wanning eclipse. I called Stella and Lisa down to see it. Lisa was interested. Stella was a little interested. I told her that it would be 84 years before an eclipse would happen at the same time as the solstice again.

I explained to her that she would be 90 years old then, and that she could watch it with her kids and grandkids. And I asked her to remember her dad when she watched the next eclipse. She said she would.

Tears.

Mortality. Ain't it a bitch.

A Play Date

Stella's first grade buddy, Sasha, came by for a play date on Monday. I have nothing clever to say about this. But I do have two very cute videos. Enjoy.





(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

Introducing Goldie

Goldie at Nathan's

Last week our first family car, a 2001 Honda Odyssey, died.

I remember buying the car when Stella was only 4 months old. During the test drive she was screaming her head off in the back seat right next to the poor salesman. This has been the only car that Stella and Marni have known. Their little movie theater and restaurant on wheels.

So yesterday, Papa Art and I went on a mission to find our new family car. Before we left to go shopping, I asked the girls if they had a favorite color for the new car. Stella and Marni agreed on gold as the color of choice.

After a grueling day dealing with sleazy car salesman, a replacement was found.

Last night we introduced the girls to "Goldie", our new 2007 Honda Odyssey. Guess what color Goldie is!

The girls gleefully climbed all over Goldie in the parking lot. The verdict? Two thumbs up!

Today we all climbed into Goldie for our first family ride. After gassing up, we headed for our favorite family destination in Brooklyn... Nathan's in Coney Island.

So welcome to our family Goldie. We hope to spend many, many happy years and miles together. And thank you to Nana Bev and Papa Art for all their help this weekend with the new car hunt.

Priceless

Over Thanksgiving weekend, while at my parents' house, Marni came up to me holding a Bed, Bath & Beyond circular. "Daddy, can I show you something?"

She proceeded to open up to a particular page and pointed out a little pink musical jewelry box that she "really, really wanted". You know... the kind with the wind-up, spinning ballerina that plays Swan Lake.

"Please", she said. And then she shot me the sweetest smile.

I told her I would think about it (stock answer) and she went about her business. Her request was so sweet that I tore out the page and brought it home with me.

That next week I located the nearest Bed, Bath & Beyond. It was Beyond where I wanted to walk, but I was on a mission. So down to 19th Street I went. In the rain. Torn out page in hand.

They were sold out.

But the display box looked in perfect shape, so I bought it.

Last night was the sixth night of Hanukkah and time to hand out the jewelry box.

I gave Marni the package and watched as she ripped open the wrapping. Silence. A stunned, good kind of silence. Not a "what is this crap" kind of silence. Eventually she grasped what she was looking at and her excitement started to bubble over.

She and Stella took the box into their room and proceeded to cram it full of their best jewelry. As they were doing this, I jokingly told Marni how I had to trek all the way down to 19th Street to get it. With lots of drama! She smiled.

The girls continued to play with the box. Stella wanted to make up a list of all of Marni's friends who would want to touch the box. And then Marni could look at the list and decide who could touch it. Teamwork!

Eventually, Marni decided that she wanted to sleep with the box under her pillow. Mom put a stop to that and they found a special shelf to put it where Marni could reach it whenever she wanted.

As bed time approached, Marni mentioned to Lisa... "Daddy walked all the way down the street to get this. I love daddy!"

And that was well worth the $9.95 I paid for it.