The Maine Event - 2014

Heading to Maine in Goldie

So the ladies spent the month of August in Maine. What a surprise!

As usual, the car was packed to the gills on Thursday night as we traveled up to Natick for the stopover at Nana and Papa's.

We made it to OOB by lunch time on Saturday and headed straight to Ken's to begin our vacation right. To the delight of Stella and Marni, cousins Lily and Becca were at the beach when we arrived. We were also joined for the first few days by Nana and Papa, and Karen, Glenn and the hounds.

The kids were kept busy at a Raging Tides baseball game, Palace Playland, various seafood restaurants, and on the beach.

One afternoon we took a bicycle ride on the Eastern Trail. And, while taking a break to play in the nearby marsh, the girls both fell into the water. Totally wet. A little scraped up. Totally shocked. This is now known as "the incident" by Stella.

Eventually we transitioned into "bed and breakfast mode" with the arrival of Nana Audrey, Carol and Norman, and the Leimans.

The Tent.

On our third week at the beach we added a new attraction to The Cottage... a tent. The 4-person tent arrived by FedEx and was quickly set up in the side yard. There were two very excited girls. The original plan was for all 3 of us to sleep in the tent. But by nightfall, Stella chickened out.

Marni and I packed the tent with the bare necessities of camping... lots of comforters and pillows, snacks, water, stuffed animals, electricity from the cottage, a wifi hotspot, cell phone, and my Surface to watch TV.

Although a little cold, Marni had a great time sleeping outdoors (I survived too).

The next day we had some very special guests... cousins Julie, Ted, Ella, Sara, Jack and Mable. This was the first visit to the cottage for the Schwartz/Glovin family in... forever. The five kids quickly got past the shyness, and fun ensued.

This was also night 2 of The Tent. Stella saw how much fun Marni had on the first night and decided to join us. So we packed more comforters, pillows and stuffed animals into the tent and camped out again. Note to self... don't camp outside in Old Orchard on a Saturday night. Too much noise from drunks and parties.

Lot of cousins, digging holes.

The next day the Hoffmans flew in from New Jersey, and the fun shifted into overdrive.

Somewhere in all this awesomeness, we made a radical shift in our summer rituals. The girls and I had been noticing that our usual amusement park, Palace Playland, was feeling a bit small. Palace Playland (or, as we call it, "downtown") has been our go-to amusement park for 10 years (and for 57 years for me). And, it's only a mile down the street.

But this year we bought season passes for Funtown/Splashtown USA. On our first visit, we spent a day in the amusement park section. Loved it! The next day we spent all day in the water park section. Loved it! And the girls returned again when Tyler and Delia came to visit.

So a new tradition is born.

2014 was also the year of the giant amusement park prizes. Stella figured out how to trade in smaller stuffed animals, that she won at various carnival games, for super-gigantic stuffed animals. By the end of the summer, we ended up with 5 big, fluffy, garish visitors to the cottage.

Labor Day weekend brought the end of our time at OOB. We packed everything back into the car (leaving the 5 stuffed animals behind) and headed back to Natick on our way back to Brooklyn.

Lily and Becca.

At the Raging Tides game.

And then this happened.

There was a lot of running around with a cape.

Before falling into the marsh.

After falling into the marsh.

Big winners.

Preparing to do the ice bucket challenge.

Lunch with (most of) the Leimans.

Sassy readers.

Annual measurement time.

Dancing for the super moon.

My biggest fan.

In the tent.

3rd cousins.

Guess who.

 

Rock star cousins.

The Lobster T-Shirt

It started off innocently enough in 2008 as just a photo of the four cousins wearing identical t-shirts. Then we did the same thing in 2009, and 2010 and so on and so on.

Eight years later we're still doing the same thing. Same t-shirts. Same kids. Same location (although in 2011 the cottage was all new).

The t-shirts range in size from 18 months to 4T.

We're 7!

Last week marked The Daddy Diary's 7th birthday.

July

The girls had coast-to-coast fun in July.

It started with 4th of July weekend in Albany and a visit to Howe Caverns. Pretty cool place. The next day we headed off to Jacob's Pillow to watch some awesome dance performances.

At the end of the weekend we rushed back to Brooklyn to pack the kids up for camp. That evening we were all out in New Jersey, getting ready for the kids' first day at Oak Crest Day Camp.

Fingers were crossed the next morning as we waited to see if Stella was going to melt down (as she's done in previous years). When the bus pulled up, super-camper Marni flew into the bus. But Stella still had butterflies in her stomach and had to be encouraged to head off to camp.

Luckily, Stella's nervousness disappeared the next day and all 4 cousins had an awesome time at camp.

The highlight of camp may have been Marni's first time attending Late Night (where the kids get to stay until evening and swim, sing, dance, eat and play).

And July just wouldn't be July without an invitation to Joel and Adriane Belmont's pool party.

To wrap up the month, Lisa took the girls to California to attend friend Cooper Rapp's bar mitzvah.

Inside Howe Cavern.

Howe Cavern.

Jacob's Pillow.

Cleaning our car in Albany.

Marni's joy of dancing at Jacob's Pillow.

The pool party.

Pool party picnic.

First day of camp.

California girls.

June

So things have been a little stressy lately, and I've neglected my daddy blogging duties. In order to catch up a bit, let's do a recap of June...

The girls became social activists when they joined the protest to save Brooklyn's iconic Kentile Floor sign.

That same weekend the girls and I took a relaxing and educational cruise on The Circle Line.

We joined the Asanovics and Stefanoff/Imhoff gang for our annual Rye Playland get-together.

Stella and I finally broke open our sushi-making kit and made some awesome avocado rolls (Stella's favorite).

And at the end of the month we joined the Stefanoff/Imhoff gang and Kathy for a nature hike in Cold Spring.

Protesting with City Councilman Brad Landers.

On the Circle Line.

Soaking and happy at Rye Playland.

Chowing down after Rye Playland.

Sushi time.

Hiking in Cold Spring.

Cold Spring.

Summer Fun

Just for fun.

Creative Arts Studio Dance Recital 2014

Poor Marni.

She just couldn't keep up the hectic pace necessary when taking two different dance classes at the same time. She's only human after all. So this year Marni chose to focus on ballet.

And on June 15th she performed flawlessly at the Creative Arts Studio dance recital.

Earlier, Marni had announced her retirement from dancing altogether. But after the performance, she had a change of tune and has announced that next year she will be focusing on drama and hip hop ("Ballet is too slow for me.").

(The Curtain Call video runs pretty long. You can see Marni zip off the stage to get flowers at 1:39. She hands her teacher flowers at 5:00. She misbehaves at 10:15.)

Someone is facing the wrong way. Is it Marni, or everyone else?

Marni's Beauty Tips

Marni would like to share her tips on fashion and beauty with you...

Pumpkin Carving (Better late than never)

It was brought to my attention that Marni's pumpkin carving video never saw the light of day. She made it all herself. Take note of her (over)use of the word "perhaps".

Here it is...

PS39 Dance Festival 2014

This is the final year that a Shepard girl will perform in the annual PS39 Dance Festival.

It all started with shy Stella and her awesome solo balloon performance in 2009. Marni joined in on the fun in 2011. But the dance festival is only open to kids up until 2nd grade. So, next year, there won't be a Shepard in the show.

Marni went out in style with another awesome performance as she and her classmates danced to One Republic's "Counting Stars".

Memorial Day 2014

Summer 2014 officially started with our annual Memorial Day visit to Old Orchard Beach.

On Friday morning we made the 5 and a half hour trip straight to Maine in only 9 hours (lots of traffic, peeing, and food shopping). The first thing we did once we got to OOB was to have a delicious dinner at Ken's.

Nana and Papa and Toots and Glenn joined us on Saturday morning. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain, but the day remained dry and we were able to go "downtown" and ride the rides.

Cousin Andy joined us for dinner on Saturday night at The Rising Tide restaurant.

The weather stayed clear again on Sunday and we visited Palace Playland for more rides and lunch at Surf 6. Cousin Janet joined us for a delicious Glenn Kennedy BBQ dinner that night.

Monday was beautiful and sunny as we cleaned up the cottage, packed up the car, and headed back to Brooklyn. The ride home only took 7 hours this time.

A Decade of Stella

In May, Stella hit the double-digit mark with a birthday party at t-shirt design shop, Hiho Batik.

Friends Uma, Hailey, Lucy, cousins Tyler and Delia, and special guest Jasmine Imhoff all joined Stella (and Marni). The kids designed some very cool t-shirts, tote bags and dresses and topped the day off with delicious birthday cupcakes.

The PS39 Marni Show

Okay, it's not "officially" called the Marni Show. It's the PS39 Spring Talent Show. But for the past few years our little Miss Marni Moo Moo has been killing it at the Talent Show.

This year was no exception as Marni joined up with classmates Baila, Amelia, and Tara to perform a dance to Pharrell's hit tune "Happy".

There was a little fumbling with her prop wig, but Marni's performance was otherwise amazing.

(First, as an appetizer, Marni danced front and center in "Everything is Awesome".