Kite Flying

Easter has never been my favorite holiday. As a kid, I didn't like chocolate, and I most definitely did not like wearing tights, dresses or itchy Easter hats. Needless to say, I didn't look forward to a holiday filled with milk chocolate rabbits and posing for pictures in that uncomfortable attire. As I've gotten older, Easter hasn't really grown on me, either. It seems to be the most low-key of the holidays, and at least Barnes and Noble was open, so I suppose it isn't a terrible holiday. 

This year, I tagged along to an egg hunt with Aiden. Or as he'd more accurately call it, an egg scramble - there's no hunting to do when eggs are just thrown across the grass, or cleverly placed on a picnic table top, just out of reach. Aiden seems to take after me with things like egg hunts - logically deciding where to run first, then spending all that time to gather just a few eggs and at the end, to accidentally dump the few he had from his basket. As the family next to us said, it was just so nice of him to share.

On Sunday, I wasn't home for the grand opening of the Easter basket but I was told that there wasn't much excitement about the whole thing. And hours later, I had to beg Aiden to even come outside to play. We tried catch, frisbee, hula hooping, jump roping. Most of which were unsuccessful.. as I said, he definitely takes after me when it comes to coordination.

Ultimately, the winning toy turned out to be a $2 kite we chose as a last minute addition. I had been craving to fly a kite since my trip to the beach and it turned out to be just as fabulous as I had envisioned it. Yes, it would have been better on the sand, next to the ocean, with no telephone wires to beware of but it was fabulous none the less.

And Aiden seemed to enjoy it, too.

Snapshots: Seven.

It's hard to believe that my baby brother turned seven today. A year ago, I wrote him his first birthday blog post - appropriately entitled "Six." I wrote about how he loved the Backstreet Boys & the Beatles, how he could fit into my t-shirts, how he was obsessed with his perfectly combed hair style, how he learned to read road signs. Most of those things have remained - except for his hair care routine. But the most important thing from that blog post was when I said "happy birthday to my favorite little boy in the world." Those words still hold true except perhaps, he's my favorite boy, not little boy, in the world.

This year... Aiden fell in love with Ninjago, finally stopped wearing all camouflage, let us buy him toys other than army men, learned to play xbox, began first grade, started reading kid's chapter books, didn't stop eating Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, lost his first teeth, wore his hair with a rat-tail, became obsessed with legos, learned to love sleepovers at his sister's apartment and did all the other things that smelly, sticky, six year olds boys do.

But now he's seven.

(And we hope that means an end to being smelly and sticky.)

The Off Season

I think I've fallen in love with the off season and even more in love with driving to the beach late at night, checking into the hotel at four a.m., getting an affordable, and gorgeous, room with an oceanfront view, sleeping in late, napping as often as possible, having ice cream everyday, eating breakfast at Layton's, drinking lots of hot tea, enjoying fresh fish at Blue Coast with candied nuts & maple syrup on sundaes, visiting the quiet boardwalk, drinking, mimosas in the morning, sleeping with the balcony door open, seeing dogs on the beach and having three days away with my boyfriend.

Sometimes, it feels good to come home.

This isn't one of those times.