An ideal Bay Ridge weekend ... and some slow motion videos

This weekend started with pizza and ice cream on Friday, a costume parade on Saturday, and the annual 3rd Ave. Fest on Sunday. Oh, and the weather was in the 70s and Baba and Pop-pop were with us all weekend too. We made and ate cookies, had bagels, donuts, and rice pudding throughout the weekend, and had fun playing with magnets and slow-motion videos (see video, below). It's difficult to concoct a more ideal weekend.

Here is proof of this weekend's festivities:

The annual Ragamuffin Parade

H as Fireman Sam

H trying to woo the ladies with his 'smolder' look. 

To go along with the 'fire' theme, Miss E was a Firefly Fairy

The Million Munchkin March 

Sunday morning on the stoop

Da Family

The Third Ave. Fest

Apparently I'm the only one who is aware that I'm taking a photo

H noting the cadential progressions of the harmonic minor allowed by the capo  

A blue iguana and a purple swan. (We don't encourage gender stereotypes; they occur naturally. Like's the difference in the kids' skin color)

Video time!:


  

Another occasional post about pictures that were stuck on our camera

Hello, all you adoring fans,
Faithful blog followers eager for an update,
Friends and family,
Who am I kidding … Dear, Kathryn,

As happens from time to time, Kate told me that I haven't been doing a good job of doing something. In this case, it was keeping the blog updated. She cited the fact that we went to see Edward and Stephanie on Labor Day Weekend and we still didn't have anything posted online about that. I then said I took all the pictures off the camera and I didn't see any pictures from that trip ... to which she replied, "Look again." So, from a relatively obscure folder on our camera (seriously, they were in a separate folder from the rest of the pictures) to you, here are the best shots from that trip. 

Air & Space Museum. Don't go on Labor Day Weekend. It was filled with lots of small humanoid-like creatures that I sometimes wished were on a different planet. 

Native American Museum. Very big, very nice, and very empty.

National Botanic Garden. E really liked the 'backyard garden' part of this.

The crew minus Edward (driving to pick up Stephanie) and Little Miss E (photographer)

Other photos that were on the camera when I pulled our Labor Day Weekend shot included some from a recent weekend when we had Aunt Meg, Jim, and Gigi come to visit. Unfortunately, a combination of a short weekend and leaving the cameras tucked safely away in purses led to little evidence of this weekend having even existed. Here are Kate and H on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Then there's this beauty.

And, while you're here, you may as well check out these photos of E's first day of school. (Yes, more photos! These weren't stuck on the camera, though. They were taken with our other camera, which doesn't come out to play very often.)

E's first day of school - and early September at home

We were at the passport office in Brooklyn recently filling out forms to renew Elizabeth's passport and there was a line to fill out that asked for E's "occupation." I had put child and the woman working at the office crossed it out and put in "student." Well, it wasn't true then ... but it's true now. We have a Kindergarten'er in our home!

Kindergarten has apparently been going well so far. While others in E's class have cried, vomited, or had their younger siblings take off their pants in the classroom (long story), E has managed to stay pretty calm and happy about the whole ordeal. The days are a little longer than she's used to, she has homework now (a little), and she's already brought home her first cold, but in general we believe her when she says she likes school and is having fun. 

Here are a few photos from earlier in September, including .... 

Going to Roosevelt Island (in DC) with Opa and Grandma:

Hanging out at Krispy Kreme (this was actually after gorging ourselves on pizza and games at Chuck E. Cheese ... which I highly discourage) 

Saying goodbye to some good friends who are going back to Turkey

Enjoying the Renaissance Fest with Queen Elizabeth and her merry minstrels (Kween and the Gang?)

This is a ferry ... instead of speaking, she trills her tongue in a high pitch

E was in a performance ... something about being out of pencils and the big bad wolf gives her wood for her pencils

Clearly this is science

September Cookie of the Month: Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip walnut kitchen sink cookies

This month the kids baked for the grandpas the favorite cookie of Barbara "Baba" McCracken: Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip walnut kitchen sink cookies

Like last month, I posted the photos below, but also made a short video using the pictures via a site called animoto.