A Visit From Aunt Lucy

The weekend started out with a visit from Aunt Lucy from Amherst. She arrived Friday night on the train when Mom and Maurice were over for dinner. Cassius and I made flatbread pizza--one with a white sauce and pancetta and one with pesto and potatoes--and I also made stuffed peppers. Maceo and Maurice spent an inordinate amount of time throwing the football in the front yard while we waited for dinner and then for Aunt Lucy. Cassius told Mamy knock knock jokes that don't quiiiiitttteee make sense.

On Saturday, Maceo had a soccer game. Aunt Lucy tagged along, and I spent an inordinate amount of time throwing the football with Cassius and his friend Dominic. Maceo's team won, 2-0, and the two goals were scored by Christopher (with an assist from Maceo) and Maceo (with an assist from Christopher)! We went home for lunch and quiet time, and then the boys walked over to Grandpa's and Grandma Sue's while I prepared another dinner party (I know!). They all trooped back over from the other house for burgers, asparagus, and dulce de leche cookies that Aunt Lucy and the boys prepared!

"So to make the leche dulce, you need to add some sweet, sweet amor!"

Dad and Susan referee the baking and keep an eye on the wine.

Cassius and Maceo are perhaps overly focused on cars and license plates recently, so I bought them a couple of used books to feed their mania. Here, Cassius and Mace show Grandpa their book of vanity plates that they have to decode.

The dentist's license plate "NODK4U" was ambiguous
and gave the adults pause.

On Sunday, the boys and I let Aunt Lucy go off and do her own thing while we went to a fall festival at a nearby farm. Most of the day was spent with me sitting in the shade while the boys spent an inordinate amount of time pedalling around a track in these little child powered tractors. There were plenty of other activities (In fact, Cassius told me his favorite activity of the whole weekend was the corn maze!) including an air bounce, bowling, basketball, water pump competitions, feeding goats, and more. But most of the day was spent pedalling small tractors.

Old style fun with rubber duckies and hand pumps.

Maceo was strong enough to pedal his freeloading passenger around the track several times.

Reminiscing about pedalling tractors.

We came home and I fell asleep HARD. When I woke up, we all went over to Mamy's and Maurice's for another dinner party, made our way home, took baths, and fell right asleep. Weekends are exhausting!

Science Expo

We decided to go to a free science expo in downtown Silver Spring. I had mentioned a county fair, but luckily, the boys forgot about that one (It costed money!), and we were off with little fanfare. We stopped, of course, for sustenance.

Maceo was stunned when Cassius ordered the same donut as he did.

From there, we drove on to downtown. There was a lot to do. At first, both boys were reticent to take part in anything and preferred to hide behind my skirt, as it were. We finally sat down and had a talk about it, as I was frustrated. From there, they were more involved. It helped that the next thing we went to was a fun making activity.

Building with Smart Blocks

We met some impressive Middle Schoolers who made their own robots for competitions.

And inside, we learned about a Japanese train that runs on supercooled magnets so it levitates 4 inches above the ground. That might have been the boys' favorite demonstration. It involved liquid nitrogen and actual levitating magnets! And a toy train to push around.

They also got a chance to make their own cars and run them down race tracks, marking mistakes and redesigning to try to complete the run.

Designing the cars. Eventually, they both had multiple successful runs.

There were other hands-on exhibits, too. Cassius made a pinwheel (though it blew out the window on North Capitol Street on the way home, sniff), and they also got to try to Virtual Reality headsets to explore under the sea.

Cassius makes photosensitive wheels spin with just a flashlight!

And then, surprisingly, another favorite was the hall of rainbows which was just multi-colored strips of plastic hanging down in a 10 foot by 10 foot shed. Maceo made a video of going through it.

Once we got home, we did a lot of football in the field across the street from our house, came in for dinner, and bathed and got ready for bed. As I came into the bathroom to brush Cassius's hair, he told me seriously, "Don't touch the hair!"

Ahh, my little fashion-conscious monster!

Genetics

Maceo has the genes from the Italian and Greek side of the family, and he turns a delicious golden color during the summer. Cassius, on the other hand...
The other day, while he was pooping, Cassius asked me, "Daddy, does your face turn red when you do stuff?"
Yes, son. Yes, it does.

Biscuits and Big Cats

Mom and Maurice treated Maceo, Cassius, and me to a program at the zoo where we got to have breakfast at the Lion and Tiger Hill and then got early entrance to some of the exhibits to see feedings and to meet animals. It was quite lovely and the muggy summer weather of earlier in the week dissipated, so Maceo in fact asked me to switch shirts with him so he'd be warmer. I did not switch shirts with him.

Here are the first two animals we met.

A typical mammal display of aggression.

Maceo, unfortunately, almost stole a vehicle, but we talked him into coming to see the prairie dogs get fed.

Quick! It's the coppers!

Lions are known for their roars of "Is it time for Dippin' Dots yet?"
Also, lions whine and can be a little annoying about Dippin' Dots.

Here, we met Sherman the Screaming Hairy Armadillo, distant relation to Screamin' Jay Hawkins. But cuter.

First Days of School

Both the boys and I are back to school now! Yikes! The first day arrived super quickly, and I am not sure how prepared any of us were. The boys spent the week at art camp before school began. They have gone for several years now, and it's great because the camp is essentially an artist's workshop. The week has a purpose and techniques they focus on, and works they produce. This year, the focus was tessellation.

At the end of the week, the kids have an art show where they explain to you the different projects they worked on and what they were trying to do. It's quite intellectual and interesting, I think, and the boys like it and are proud of their work.

Fresh off their visit to the Burtons and the accompanying Nerf Wars, the boys are infatuated with the idea of buying Nerf guns, too. So, they did some accounting to start thinking about what they can afford. In addition, we are working out the details of beginning to give them allowances. So, this is just to warn you of incoming darts perhaps the next time you see them.

I had a big talk with them about the futility of competing to have the most money,
but I am pretty sure it fell on relatively deaf ears.

Another pre-school beginning activity was the Roundhouse Theater Gala. Maceo decided to go rather than attend a 6 year old's birthday party at the pool. I wondered how he would like it if he were chosen to take part in the acting workshop, and I thought he might be cowed, but it appears otherwise!

Perhaps this is from some weird production of "Harry Potter"?

Getting into character as a travelling wizard guy.

 Then came the day! Maceo is starting 3rd grade and Cassius is ready for 1st! This posed picture was much better than the picture we got at Yu Ying upon drop off.

Look at those unsuspecting happy faces!

Maceo is somewhat a good poser on first days.

With his best friend Dean.

Cassius makes interesting posing choices.

The third day of school, as I drove to pick the boys up, I received a phone call that Maceo, while playing tag in the school lunchroom, had cut his knee on a corner and would need stitches. So, off we went to the ER. He did great, and Cassius was pretty great, too.

"Is that...is that a video game over there?"

"It is! It is a video game over there!"

Cassius was a little joker to help Maceo feel better.

In the end, he received 2 subdural stitches and 9 surface stitches. The next day, he was more embarrassed about the extra attention he was going to receive at school than bothered by the wound, but I sent him off to school anyway. At least he gets to use the elevator, so that should be exciting.

Cassius Turns 6, Continued

One of Cassius's birthday presents was a trip to Dave and Buster's. Both boys have been quite entranced by video games for a while now (I know, what a surprise!), but I am not about to buy them a video console and lose them to the screen! So, on a Sunday, off we went, with Maceo along for the ride. Luckily, they prefer the car games to the shooter games, and so they spent most of their money on those types of things.

Maceo beat me three times in a row on this car racing game. Booo!

Mace and Cassius competed in this weird Olympics game,
but they had a hard time comprehending how to play.

Getting ready for the 100 yard dash!

The place is dark and cave-like, seemingly with only neon lights to illustrate the rooms. On exiting, I felt slightly nauseated. It was hard to know how much time had passed, and the sun was a shock to the system. But the boys loved it, of course. So, undoubtedly, there will be other trips there sometime in my future. Grrr.

The End of the Idyll

Sadly, the week in Vermont drew to a close. We had a few last adventures, and they were also terrific! First, the boys and I went to Battery Park one day to play, look out over the lake, and have lunch.

A little music for the masses at Battery Park.

Then, we went to meet the McMurrers as they finished up their tour of UVM. My boys, Bridget, Seamus, and I went to the legendary UVM Dairy Bar where the ice cream has so much fat in it that it can't be sold on the commercial market!

Maceo is impressively clean after devouring his ice cream.

The boys enjoyed more games of Nerf football on the street throughout the week.

Thursday night, we went to looooong time friend Anemie's house way out in the woods in Charlotte. It was lovely, and Maceo learned that he liked the squash soup and the country rice! And the hearty bread Anemie had made. And we all really liked exploring the amazing post and beam house they've built.

Anemie pulled out some puzzles and games for the two boys.

Deep discussions and homemade bread go well together.

The boys and I had one more outing: to the ECHO Aquarium! Their favorite exhibit was the 50 States room where each state had a fun activity as its signature. So, herer's Maceo in Oregon, I think, kayaking on open water.

Cassius is trying to balance metal balls on the flat as a board map of Kansas.

Cassius played this old timey Coney Island type game for nearly 20 minutes.

Upstairs, they made marine life buttons,, played with sand, and generally really enjoyed themselves.

We wanted to break the drive south in two to make it easier on us, so we went to visit cousins in Chatham, NJ. (We waved as we passed Dover, Nene!) We arrived at the country club where my cousin Allan and his family are members. That night, there was a Nerf gun battle organized for all the little kids, and Allan and Beth had signed Cash and Maceo up! So, they got some free gear, and they happily shot other kids with Nerf bullets all night. We also got a yummy dinner there. Maceo ate three (3!) sliders in addition to a bunch of other food. Cassius, you ask? Hmmmm. I think you know that answer.

These guys are stone cold killers.

Allan and I are about as gray as we used to be, maybe.

In the morning, Johnny, who is 7, and the boys watched some cartoons
and contributed running commentary.

All in all, it was such a lovely trip, and on the way home, as we discussed high points, the boys kept bringing up this activity or that moment of the vacation. I can't wait to get back to Vermont with them, especially if it's summertime! Winter can wait, however.