An apple a day

Absofreakin-breathtaking! The sun, the breeze, the sky. What a lovely day it is today. I’d like to put in an order for at least two more months of this please. Thanks.

So yeah – drinking with pals on Friday was divine. And best yet is that we hung at the bar for a few hours but then they were happy to join me at home so that I could put the boy to bed and then we could continue socializing – with Mark too. Lovely. Saturday at my cousin’s place was good too. Even though on the way there we realized we not only left behind the snack I was to bring but also the gift that I had painstakingly wrapped in super cool paper. We had to stop at Target and buy a new gift (luckily Noah was already coveting the shirt and hoodie I had gotten for Evan) and trail mix. Tammy had the kids decorate pumpkins with an adhesive foamie face kit – which really meant that Mark and I made a kick ass jackolantern. I don't think he's all too capable or interested in art at the moment - except for scribbling. My cousin however is way into the crafty stuff and she had made Noah a puffy-painted party favor bag with assorted novelty items that went over like gangbusters. I haven't yet eaten his pumpkin peeps, but it's just a matter of time. That is after I open them and allow them to get stale - like all good peeps should be.

Yesterday morning we were about to cancel our plans to go to the Arboretum because the weather still looked glum, but Mark’s Dad said the weather satellite said the clouds were on their way out. And it was a good thing we listened to him too. The day was picturesque and fun. Noah enjoyed the railway, the fountain, the sculpture garden and the highly annoying but educationally charged musical stylings of Flumpa the Frog. He thought that dancing frog kicked ass. All afternoon Noah kept asking “Mama, what Frog doing?” It was like he imagined Flumpa off singing and dancing somewhere else and he was heartsick about it. But oddly enough my favorite moment of the day was when he picked a flower. I explained to him that we shouldn’t pick the flowers because then everyone else wouldn’t get to see how pretty they were and though we had already started walking away he turned around and walked back to the spot he had taken the flower from so he could put it back. He’s such a sweet little soul.

And when we came home we were treated with a flying spectacular. They'd been filming "Shooter" in our neighborhood all weekend and on Sunday night we got to watch multiple takes of helicopter manuvering. One copter would get really low while the filming copter would be right behind it - flying over our heads again and again and again. We didn't spy Danny Glover or Mark Wahlberg however. And is Wahlberg's character really named Bobby Lee Swagger? COME ON.

I also bought a bunch of apples at festival. I’m suddenly obsessed with tasting every available apple variety. There are over 25 kinds available right now. My current loves are the Honeycrisps and the Jonagolds. Which ones do you like? I’m also now obsessing about the fact that we certainly do not eat 5-9 different fruits and vegetables a day – and that is what’s recommended. HOW? I mean occasionally I might fill that quota – but DAILY? Sheesh. What fruits and veggies do you normally buy at the store? Any suggestions for increasing our intake? I have to admit that my biggest problems are eating things before they go bad and more shamefully being too damn lazy to peel and chop every damn thing. HELP.