Pbenjay's Blog

From the title of this blog you might not think that things are winding down, but today it does seem like they are.  Of course not having to start the day with the hectic madness of school clothes, hair brushing, breakfast and off to school, does make a difference.   When I went to bed last night which was REALLY early for me, I was looking forward to sleeping in this morning.   First of all , I figured the girls would sleep late because we didn’t return from the Ocean Club till about 9:00pm.

Last night we went to a Friday night buffet and pool party.  The kids had a blast jumping in and out and swimming and jumping off the diving board.  I wish I could have taken a picture of Francesca jumping off the diving board.  Unbelievable!  And this was not one of those diving boards that you step onto, this was one you had to climb up to.  I have never seen a child that small actually jump off a diving board and she didn’t even hold her nose.  Anyway, the party was a throwback in time for me. OMG it was retro to the old GCA; Golf Club of Avon.  Even the characters were the same.  We sat under the stars and brightly lit half moon that just hung in the sky over us all.  The weather was warm, the drinks were cold and the food was plentiful.  So familiar…even Chiara said, “I’m living your life all over again”.

So I didn’t think it was too far-fetched to think that after hours of swimming and eating (a lot of sugar), those kids would sleep late and so would I.  And that Daddy was home so he would entertain them in the morning.  At 7:20am Francesca came into my room.  She climbed up to be with me, but not for long because the purpose of her visit was really to get me out of bed and into the living room where Daddy was laying down on the couch to watch cartoons with them.  I saw that there was little to no chance of me remaining in bed so I got up.  Tom proposed we go out to breakfast and then pick up Tia who was arriving this morning.     I didn’t think we had that much time; Tom thought she was arriving at 10:30 but I knew it was 9:30.  So Tom and girls headed  out to the airport and I stayed behind to make Chiara a really good breakfast, something she has been sort of skimping on this week due to Fletch’s feeding schedule.  I’m going to post the recipe which came from Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond‘s famous blog.

We spent the afternoon at the Ocean Club, hence the SUN and SAND which was plentiful.  Lunch at poolside and once again I was taken back in time to Avon.  The kids spent time in the pool and then we went to the ocean.  The sun was glorious, Tom signed up for a surf board and Finley and two friends spent 2 hours getting up and falling off the board!  Finley did stay up long enough to float into shore – Uncle Joel and Uncle Justin take note!  SURFERS in the making.  We wound up the afternoon at the pool with a SANGRIA Blanco, NICE!

Tonight we are going to have a mini-birthday party for Francesca who turns 3 on Tuesday.  Since I’m leaving tomorrow, Chiara decided we could celebrate with dinner and invited her best friend who has 2 children fairly close in age to Finley and Francesca and so we had 4 kids plus Fletcher and 6 adults (you can get the picture).   The kids had pizza and we had SALMON!  And cake of course! Francesca had a ball opening gifts.  It wasn’t the gift that actually seemed to thrill her but rather the opening of the gift.  We had to hold off the older kids who so desperately wanted to help her.  Several threats of no dessert, a time out and the possibility of going to bed NOW were all invoked to keep the other 3 away from the presents.  Tia came through for them all;  She had assembled Halloween goodie bags for all 4 kids which amused them and held their attention for all of 2 minutes.

Well as you can see, things really have wound down.  There wasn’t any high drama today, there wasn’t anything too unusual going on around here, it was simply SATURDAY!  There was a very funny moment this evening when Chiara was discussing with Tom what Halloween costume would they wear when they went to a party with the theme:  Enchanted Halloween.  Ki has been online searching for appropriate attire and came up with a fairy-like outfit adorned with leaves.  Since they want to match somewhat, what does that leave (no pun intended) Tom to dress as?  The suggestion of stump came up but that was quickly withdrawn.  Chiara found a sort of shawl and hat that looked medieval and after ALL of the laughter died down, we all began firing out suggestions;  Maybe he could be a wizard, or a gnome or The Grim Reaper which put Chiara into hysterics, not to mention Tom who was more hysterical at the thought!  How about a Leprechaun? 

Pasha was quite evident tonight.  Wherever Mommy went or the baby, Pasha was soon to follow. Did you know that in Egypt Siamese cats were used to guard the throne of the King of Siam?  Pasha stands watch over our Prince.

Pasha Guards Fletcher

Mommy, baby Fletch and Pasha

It’s a wrap tomorrow morning!  I’m flying home, Peter will pick me up in Newark and we’ll head down to the shore.  LIfe just won’t be as exciting or as interesting to read about as it has been these past few days!  Oh well….