Kwik-E-Mart

Last weekend, Alison (and Nicholas) went to Staunton, VA for a mini-reunion with some of Ali's friends from college. David and Sarah stayed in Bowie - and on Saturday we visited the Kwik-E-Mart!

A handful of 7-11 stores transformed themselves into a Kwik-E-Mart from "The Simpsons" in honor of "The Simpsons Movie" being released. We were lucky enough that one such store is in Bladensburg, MD - about 20 minutes away. They were selling Buzz Cola, Krusty-O's, pink donuts, and Squishees. We bought some donuts and shared a vanilla squishee. No pictures, but you can watch a video of the store here.

Backyard landscaping

Last week, we had the backyard re-landscaped. The most important (but not visible) installation was a French drain to deal with the standing water at the bottom of the hill. A trench was dug from the center-bottom of our yard, around the left side of the house, to a pile of small rocks - and a pipe was put in the trench which will carry any excess water out of the backyard. Then we had dirt put in to cover the trench and re-grade the yard, sod was put down over much of the yard, and seed over the rest. Finally, the overgrowth in the back along the fence was removed, and new plantings and mulch was put in. With all the growth removed, we were shocked to see how big our backyard really is!

I've put some before-and-after pictures up for everyone to see.

Drought

Well, another line of storms passed right through Bowie with little more than a trace of rain. I've recorded less than a tenth of an inch for the entire month so far. What's different about this summer is that, instead of a large high-pressure system stifling any rain and resulting in oppressive heat and humidity, there has been storm potential in the area. But it has been so dry that when the storms get to this area, they weaken and dry right up. Many small trees are already turning brown and losing their leaves.

UPDATE: Whoops, I should check my records before posting. I've gotten about a half-inch of rain so far this month; nearly all of it in the first week of July.

4-month birthday

Today is Nicholas's 4-month old birthday. To celebrate, we fed him some rice cereal. He just let it sit in his mouth for a while before deciding to try to swallow it. He ate what little we made, but urped a bit back up, of course, 5 minutes later.

Sarah is having swim lessons at our pool this week. Since the lessons are at 10:00am, we've given Sarah the week "off" from school. She can float on her back and swim a little freestyle, even if she does swim a bit like a Muppet.

Last weekend, we went to NJ for Sarah's cousin Maddie's birthday party and for Mom-Mom's birthday. It was a lovely weekend, and the kids had a great time playing in Steven and Jenne's backyard, especially on the inflatable water slide. The traffic was a real nightmare both going up and coming back, but the kids were very good along the way.

Rollover

Nicholas rolled over for the 1st time on Monday. He had to do it the difficult way - from back to front. He also break dances on his back in his crib.

Last weekend, we went to family fun night at the pool. Sarah went on the bounce slide and enjoyed a clown magic show, but mostly she was swimming in the pool.

My softball team, the Sundogs, won again - now we're 4-0 in the 2nd half. We scored the winning run in the bottom of the 7th inning with a play at the plate. I went 2-4 with the game-tying RBI in the bottom of the 6th.

Some new pictures are posted on the kids' page, including what they would look like if they were on "The Simpsons".

4th of July weekend

....and we're back!

The blog for Nicholas has evolved - now it's the Mocko family blog. We'll be updating when we have free time. Ha!

Over the weekend after July 4th, we visited Grandma and Papa Bob in Ocean Pines MD. Ocean Pines is on the mainland side of the bay near Ocean City MD. Bob has a boat docked very close to his place, and on Saturday we all went out on the bay. Nicholas spent nearly the whole time sleeping in his car seat; we think the little waves rocked him to sleep. We headed south, under the Route 50 bridge, and saw some wild ponies on Assateague Island. Sarah had a great time, but even she took a nap by the end of the ride. That night, we tried to head into Ocean City, but the drawbridge seemed like it was up forever for the boats to pass through, so we just headed back and went out to dinner instead.

On Sunday, we went swimming on the beach at Assateague. The beach had plenty of people on it, but we were able to get a good spot not too far from the water. Sarah mostly played in the sand; we tried to get her into the water, but either it was still too cold for her or the waves were making too much noise. Nicholas stood in the sand for a little, but screamed when his toes touched the water. After that, we went to Ocean City and walked the boardwalk. The boardwalk is really far from the ocean - the sand is so wide that you can't see the shoreline. We bought some "famous" Thrasher's french fries; they don't provide ketchup because they claim the fries are so good. Eh...

We left late on Sunday night for Bowie to avoid the traffic. We cruised home with no problems, and all slept late the next morning. Pictures are posted on the kids picture page.