Off the Wall

Those boat jumping pix reminded me of some folks we saw in Maine jumping off the Blue Hill Falls bridge. Most of the kids took off from the roadway level, but a few of the more adventurous thought it would be more exciting to climb to the top.

FYI - those power lines were less than 6 feet from the bridge. I swear they must have missed them by inches






We also created some ephemeral rock art on the beach - one stiff breeze and the delicately balanced rocks would be history.

Bedwell, Here We Come....

Not such a fun morning yesterday at the Infusino's. Andrew was a nervous wreck and cried from the moment he woke up. I had to carry the poor guy onto the bus and he begged me to come with him, sobbing.
Our third grader was excited to see his friends. A couple of times, when he saw how sad and scared his brother was, he got all teary eyed. Lo and behold, Andrew had a great day and came off the bus smiling. Got on his second day with a smile, too. Big sigh of relief by mom.

Can't leave the girls out. The three of us had a great, long day. We missed the boys a ton, though. Mom had to hold in her tears all day. Noelle spent the whole day without being teased by Andrew. Usually she cries the whole day b/c he teases her constantly. We had no tears!!!! Made up for it as soon as they got off the bus....

Summer Vacations

Upon Amy's request, I thought I'd share some Infusino summer memories.

The first three are at the Jersey Shore, boat jumping.

The rest are from the Outer Banks, NC. We spent a ton of time at the beach, boogie boarding and kite flying. Didn't do much else.

Elizabeth Simpson: Photojournalist

Elizabeth took these photos yesterday with a Canon Powershot SD600. She primarily shot on Auto for spontaneity and gaiety. On the first shot, however, she used a slow shutter speed and a tight aperture to capture both the indoor and outdoor light.

Her framing is a bit off but I believe she will be shooting for the Inquirer by age six.

Ain't Nothin' Cuter Than Piglets

Old Gertie is once again a proud mom, though she only had 6 piglets this year. She delivered at least a dozen in '07!

Following Mom around the barnyard

One loud squeal is all it takes to learn

to stay away from the electric fence

Piglet high jinks

Feeding time causes some excitement

There's one in every crowd

Mmmmm, that's good pig chow

Batty, batty, bat!!!!

For all you Sesame Street devotees out there...we had a batty, batty, bat in our house last night!!! Ugh!!!! I went up to bed at 11 pm and after checking on the kids headed into our bathroom. All of a sudden I noticed some shadows moving in the hallway. When I took a closer look I realized it was a bat and screamed - which caused the bat to head toward me in the bathroom. I ran out the door as he flew in. I had the presence of mind (not quite sure how!!!) to slam the door shut behind me. We deliberated quite a while in front of that door about how handle this. I wish I had taken a picture of Pat suited up in his jumpsuit for work at dangerous plants and holding one of our All Clad sauce pans (why couldn't he have grabbed the farberware)!! We weren't quite sure how to get Pat in the bathroom without the bat getting out and I wasn't sure I would be a good second line of defense...so we called the PG Police. When I told them "we have a bat in our bathroom - can you help us with that?" The officer's response was, "Boy, I hate that." Sums it up for us too! So, Officer Owen Duff came over and was a HUGE help. After, more deliberation and Officer Duff suiting up in his fighting gear too... Pat and he finally entered the bathroom. After about 10 mins they found the bat hanging upside down off of my conditioner bottle. Needless to say, the bat is no longer with us (well, he is double bagged in our fridge but no longer of this world). Animal rights for cute furry animals - not bats that come into my house! Today he'll head to Bernardsville Health Department for rabies testing. And, I'll probably never sleep well again!

Summer Travels

Our blog has been a bit... empty. Maybe everyone is taking a break for the summer? Why not post some photos from all the amazing trips I've heard about - Maine, Adirondacks, Vermont, the beach??

Here are some photos from our August trip to Nantucket. Great family vacation spot. On cloudy days we hit the museums and shops; sunny days we biked to the beach (Elliot is now turned on to the boogie board!). And sometimes we just hung out at the house. Nice way to get away from the normal routine.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Future major leaguers

and their popcorn, cracker-jack, nacho eating; beer and coke swilling parents

italian pork sausage fried chicken steak burrito anyone?

The Birds and the Bees

School is out.

Vacations are in full swing.

About the only inhabitants left in PG are the critters!

One of several robin nests found in the yard
A hungry mouth to feed
Carpenter bee off to find a tasty facia board
Who knew they were so fuzzy
A bluebird box...
...before Mr. Treefrog moved in
Breakfast at the bird feeder
Resident alien
Still waiting for this year's brood of piglets

Going Postal

(note: sorry this is so long, but sometimes blogs are about getting views out there and off our chest, right?)
I am so lucky to live in Gladstone. Not that Peapack isn’t just as pretty and the people are very nice. But by living in Gladstone I do not need to frequent what I now view as one of the most contentious, unfriendly and miserable places called the US Post Office. Yes. I used to view the post office – and especially the one in our small town – as one of the last pieces of Americana. Just a traditional, friendly little place to pop in, do your business, take a candy and leave with a mutual, “have a nice day” (especially from two very nice women in Gladstone). Maybe today it is the heat and humidity, lunchtime hunger, or maybe it’s that the US Post Office has become a marketing haven where consumers (postal patrons) need to know their ‘flat rate’ from ‘priority’ and ‘certified’ from ‘confirmation’ or risk postal robbery. Yes, the price of stamps keeps rising, but I never took issue. .32, .41 and now I don’t even know what still seems reasonable to take a letter from East to West coast.

But packages, as I experienced today, are a whole other ball of wax. I walked into the Peapack post office today (after camp with a hungry 4 year old in tow) to mail three packages to friends in CO that just had babies. Of course, I didn’t think of the challenge in finding the right size box when I stacked the gifts under ribbon, but there are so many box options, I knew I would find something. Not today. I could either use a flat rate priority box for $8 or buy a box. Nothing in between except flimsy tyvek envelopes. I looked high and low and finally asked about the other boxes. I guess no one else had mailed boxes or just took the flat rate like the high price of gas, but it took searching and a phone call to realize, “we’re out of the other boxes”. Out?? It’s the post office. It’s an option on the menu. This is like walking into McDonalds, looking at the menu on the wall and being told, sorry, no fries today only the McFish. Come on. No boxes? He cited back-order issues, inventory and all other words intended to make me fog over, forget it and turn to the more expensive options. Nope. I packed up the gifts and headed to the Gladstone post office.

Have you ever seen a detour on the highway and thought, “hmmm maybe I’ll cut off here and take a side road that I think will be faster?” Right, the Gladstone P.O. was big mistake. They did have more box options and the one I needed, but I encountered such a strong customer service and personality issue that I, in my own manner, went postal. My first mistake was to mention the lack of boxes in Peapack. Maybe postal workers sign a pact to not throw colleagues under the bus and I wouldn’t expect her to do exactly that, but compassion and solutions are my ideas of great customer service. Maybe she is actually the inventory manager for the P-G offices. I don’t know, but I got a lesson on why I shouldn’t expect to see the boxes that correlate to the wide-range of services offered by the USPS. Still confused, I attempted to ask a few more questions, and provide comment. It was getting hotter inside than out. Then, when one of my packages wouldn’t fit (a baby gift, tied in ribbon, to a good friend but a gesture nonetheless) she suggested I take the package apart and just put all the pieces in a box. It’s a gift! “Whoever gets it will understand,” she said. Yeah, they'll get that I just threw pieces and parts in a box and called it a gift?? Then, I had the panic that I might need to take a bullet for my son who piped up with, “hey mom, you could just put tape over the holes in the plastic bag (the Target bag I carried into the post office) and mail it that way.” At that, I stuffed the oversized package back in the Target bag, paid for the others and left. It was a losing battle. Please, if I’m ever given authority such as an ear phone, uniform or a job behind a counter, don’t ever let the power go to my head. From now on, I will shop online, mail online and maybe even order my stamps online just to save myself from the aggravation of visiting the United States Postal Service.

Summertime!

a tad busy at saturday's picnic/pool party to take many photos, i nevertheless captured a few moments in time. thanks to all for coming and sharing a few yucks.

 a general spattering of the gathered

 ciao, baby!

 girls gone wild

 a few of the reasons why we live

 the fosina girls scare the children

(and who's that really scary dude at the edge of the photo?)

Curb Your Enthusiasm

That's tough to do when the end of the Old Chester Rd. sidewalk/storm drain project is in sight. The final stretches of curbing and landscaping are in progress and hopefully the road will be milled and paved smoothly over.