We went to the Reynolds Company Celebration this evening at Tanglewood for some hot dogs, bubbles, balloons and fireworks. Caroline absolutely loved the fireworks.

Caroline, Aaron and Paige at our house this evening. This bed had its springs tested.

This is Cheryl - Caroline informed me that she was repeatedly tackled and then choked by a rather rowdy Aaron today. I'm considering teaching her how to knee him in the jimmies if he keeps it up.

It's Ben's 30th birthday today. We joined them at Moe's to celebrate. Happy birthday Ben!

We went to Miller Park this morning for another meeting of the rapidly shrinking playgroup. Although we were an hour and a half later, we were the first ones there - Caroline spent the first half hour dodging older (non-playgroup) kids on the equipment.

The bench in front of 6th and Vine. Caroline danced a lot while we sat and enjoyed the music.

(still Cheryl, here) OK - so we arrived at the festival about an hour early. The beer/wine tent wasn't open yet, so we headed over to 6th and Vine for some Pinot Grigio. By "we", I mean "Cheryl". Caroline and Jay stuck with apple juice.

This is Cheryl - Caroline, Jay, and I headed down to Summer on Trade this evening. Although the website CLEARLY suggests the event is from 6-9, it is actually from 7-10. Caroline and Mommy hung out by a mobile hand-washing station for a bit. We were waiting for the food trucks to open.

Caroline was beaming the whole time we let her hold 10-month old Ava on her lap. She'd be a great big sister. Sadly for her, her mom isn't quite up for that just yet. If ever.

We had a delightful cookout tonight - A bunch of couples and their kids came over for food, drinks, and play (both outside and on our Wii). Everyone seemed to enjoy him or herself, and Caroline even loaned Aaron her prized bug-catcher toy to take home. A banner evening!

The pool got Poppa Steve!

The snake got Poppa Steve!

This is another snake on the other side of the patio. We know it's not the same one from Thursday because that one is currently sunning itself by its snakehole. Apparently, he or she has been living under the house. That won't do.

After Science Story Time at SciWorks, we went to the Environmental Park on the museum grounds to check out barn animals, deer, and otters. Caroline remains terrified of slow moving cows and donkeys, yet was not afraid of the vicious, dangerously quick deer.

The flimsy fence lulls Caroline into a false sense of security as she confronts the cute, seemingly docile deer.

Science Story Time focused on my sworn enemy, the caterpillar. Luckily, no live specimens were shown. After a book, the kids made butterfly masks. After Caroline removed hers, I "accidentally" lost it.

This is Cheryl - I took the day off today to take Caroline to the Baa Moo Farm with her playgroup (and to give Jay some downtime after his 4 full days alone with our girl last week). Although Caroline and Emma were initially terrified of the animals, they both eventually screwed their courage to the sticking place and fed some chickens and goats and helped out with feeding some 4-week old calves. Baa Moo is really cool, and even though I tend to despise anything related to hanging out around animals, I had a great time. The staff was very friendly and informative, and even I, a jaded, cynical slicker of cities, learned stuff about livestock, farming, and that sometimes, ducks are mean and peck at chickens. Here are last year's pics.

This is Cheryl. Caroline had a rather eventful day. She woke around 7am, completed some Sponge Bob puzzles, and then downed her customary two waffles smothered in butter and syrup. We then scored Daddy a bagel with cream cheese, lox, capers, onions, and tomatoes and stocked up on new bagels for the week. Next we went to see Surf's Up. I thought it was absolutely fantastic, even though Caroline seemed to miss the finer points. Perhaps the documentary style wasn't really aimed at the toddler audience.

This afternoon, we managed to actually find my lost suitcase at GSO, which was pretty freakin' sweet, and then we hit the park for some bike time. Caroline declared that she "rides awesome" (sic), and I have to agree. She's now watching some BC (that's Blue's Clues for the uninitiated) and getting ready for bed.

I'm getting ready for the last-ever episode of the brilliant HBO series The Sopranos. Over dinner and drinks on Friday night, I discussed with my similarly stranded co-workers* paying homage to Tony by wearing a bathrobe and slippers and carrying a Star Ledger through DTW. On Saturday am, cooler heads prevailed. I will instead pay homage to Tony tonight by thinking about raw meat and having a panic attack and then taking the cash register at the Bing and beating the f*^&#*^ing dickens out of the bouncer when he looks at me funny. Caroline does not approve of this course of action, but it just feels right.

*I was supposed to come home from my Detroit trip on Friday afternoon, but our flight was cancelled. We all had separate flights back home to various North Carolina airports through various other cities on Saturday. Mine was the latest. The thought of walking through security in a robe and slippers looking completely dissheveled was hilariousafter a couple glasses of wine. It wasn't quite that funny on Saturday when I faced 8 hours of stand-by attempts and renting a car and driving all the way back to Winston. It's funny again now, though. Still, glad I played it straight.

Caroline insisted that we bring a boat home.

Alec had a time and a half.

Ben didn't even know I was taking this picture - this is him acting like he normally does. Regal.

The girls, post-wine.

Caroline and Emma went to the NC Wine Festival with us this afternoon. Luckily they were free, because they did not drink nearly enough to make an entrance fee worthwhile.

Because of weather and FAA issues, Cheryl got stuck for at least an extra night in Detroit. Caroline, meanwhile, has grown really tired of me.

It was the end of semester class at Little Gym this morning. On Tuesday, Caroline starts the classes without the parents.