Ocean Grove

Lori had a planning retreat in Ocean Grove, NJ last weekend with all the steering committee members of Greater NY HRC. Very fortunate since Maria's family lives like 10-15 minutes south of Ocean Grove. We were able to go out for dinner with the group every night, and Cooper got to hang out with his grandparents.

Cooper did make an appearance at the Ocean Plaza Inn for breakfast, and he became quite the fan of the mini scones. Brian and Cory's new puppy Carter, a beautiful 16 week old golden retriever, became a huge fan of licking Cooper's face!

After an amazing wine and cheese spread by the inn on Friday night, we walked over to Asbury Park through the "casino" and went to dinner at Stella Marina. We had a reservation for the 12 of us at 9pm, and the restaurant was absolutely packed. Great food. Lots of wine. Would love to go back and explore a little more of the menu when the weather gets warmer.

Lori was in meetings all day on Saturday. Maria got some errands done, and Cooper got a haircut. It is a very unfortunate haircut. This is his third cut in his 15 months, and we have now realized that a unimpressive barbershop absolutely does the best job by far! Don't know where these 'kid's cuts' people get their training, but these "professionals" certainly do a sucky job. Yes. we know it will grow back. For now? Way to short bangs and weirdly shaped cut in the back. Poor poor Cooper.

Saturday night. Dinner at Seagrass in Ocean Grove. GO TO THIS RESTAURANT. It was amazing - great food and great service. We all loved what we ordered, and all coveted what our neighbors were eating as well. So happy that our group decided to eat at this women/gay-owned place, and we are thinking that we need to take Maria's parents here next time we are down to visit. Best thing about the place? The warm cheese fondue and homemade potato chips appetizer. The worst thing? It is BYOB. Not their fault though. Ocean Grove is very very Methodist, and the recently unconstitutionally-deemed 'Blue Laws' are still trying to hold on a bit by not allowing alcohol to be purchased anywhere in the town. Having to drive the 2 minutes to the next town to buy a beer is worth it when you are sitting inside The Great Auditorium.

Right across from our inn was the site of a horrible fire that occurred in Ocean Grove on March 13th. The flames took out the oldest hotel, The Manchester Inn, and several other neighboring houses.

The porch is the only thing close to being intact.
This house was "lucky" enough to survive.

Pope Or Satan?

When the current pope was a cardinal, his main job was to cover up the sex abuse that was happening in the church. Not that an isolated incident would have been any better, but he spent YEARS and YEARS covering up crimes against children.

Is this where everyone's offering money is going?

NY Times:

Vatican Declined to Defrock Priest

Times Online:

Pope Accused of Ignoring Pleas to Stop Priest

Pope Benedict XVI is taking that popemobile straight to hell....

Have Snacks - Will Travel

Always nice to take a little time out and enjoy some nice, refreshing, cold water. Cooper has mastered the whole 'straw' concept. He is very proud he can do it all by himself.

Equally as nice.... A warm, gooey, cheese quesadilla!

Day In The Life

Spent one of the sunny days last week enjoying the city like a tourist and headed Downtown. Cooper had wonderful time running around the expanse of Pier 17. He was oblivious to the boats and water, but enjoyed the running around aspect of the experience.

The new sneakers proved to be an overcome'able challenge.

Grandpa! A cone! Do you need it for your trailer?

I am keeping an eye on it for you. Drive the truck around.

Yep, They Should

School House Rock

Jersey Boy

We tried. We sheltered. We avoided.

But somehow.... Some way.....

A little bit of Jersey'ness snuck its way into our son's life.

Pork roll.

Taylor ham.

The pride of all New Jersey.

(it is NOT fried bologna)

The kid was a little wary at first.

Didn't quite believe that this was an actual foodstuff.

Cooper tasted it, and he LOVED it.

Hey, take this quiz: How New Jersey Are You?

(maria is 81% jersey) (not bad, she hasn't lived there in over 20 years)

Cooper is going to stake out The Stone Pony because he heard a rumor Bruce was going to show. Badda Bing Badda Boom. Exit 98 baby.

The Many Faces Of Cooper

What an amazingly beautiful day it was on Saturday! The three of us took advantage of the weather and headed outside.

We walked around the Village, Meatpacking District, into Chelsea - it was great! Cooper enjoyed running around Washington Square Park and walked up to kids and guitar players to say HEY.

"What can I check out next?"
"Go ahead, make my day."
"But this isn't an oreo!"
"I thought I saw Rush Limbaugh!"
"Whew, it wasn't him."

Brown Eyed Boy IV

Big Bathtub

Another day, another new stride.

Cooper has now abandoned the baby tub for the wide wonderful world of the full-on bathtub experience.

And he thought it was the coolest thing. Ever.

He splashed and sputtered and enjoyed his newfound space.

His favorite place is sitting in front of his bookshelf and flipping through his books. And this is the embarrassing picture we submit for his high school yearbook in June '27.

Be Very Afraid

Mostly Mozart

Happy B'day Elaine

Elaine's birthday! And a special birthday dinner made by Lori!

Lori is a phenom. A rockstar. Maria interpreted all day at a conference out at the Helen Keller National Center and arrived home after all the guests had already arrived. Lori handled the food delivery, prepped the entire meal, set a beautiful table with the nice china, and dealt with Cooper's needs (meals, playing, naps, et all) as a total one-woman show.

Van, Sarah, Michele, Kim, and Georgie were all at the apartment when Elaine made her grand entrance. Lori had the meat and cheese platter out and the wine opened, and a hot appetizer followed within a few minutes. Cooper fell right into comfort with the group and "participated" in the discussion. He certainly had a lot to say!

The meal. FABULOUS. Mixed green salad (balsamic, pine nuts, crumbled bleu cheese), roasted fingerling potatoes, steamed haricot vert, garlic bread, Chateaubriand, and chocolate souffles with french vanilla ice cream. Retired to the living room after dinner for more wine, port, and a cheese plate. Off the hook.

Lori, because she is SO Lori, tied bundles of haricot vert and a thin sliver of red pepper with chives. There were 12 beans in each cluster. Van only got 11. It was rough on her. She got through it.

A fancy dinner such as this requires the utmost taste, decorum, and maturity.

Happy Birthday Elaine!!!

Twine

Perfect meal?

Not Quite.

Twine.

On the meat.

Twine.

(Oh, hey C - was that too much of a rant?)

Twine. LoL

Ride 'Em Cowboy

This little cowboy boot lives on one of the shelves in the living room. It serves both as a memento of Lori's Cheley Camp days and as a holder-upper of some of our books. Adorable and productive.Cooper was inspired by the cowboy in The Village People.

Wrestlemania

Arlene and Suzanne brought Cooper a fantastic and huge stuffed dog that they won at an event being held at Carnival down in The Village. We are impressed they out-skilled the other opponents in the game, but what is more inspiring is the fact they dragged this animal home via the subway. Our heros.


The first round went to the pooch.

Cooper decided to fight back.
Bopped him in the nose.
Got him in a headlock.
One. Two. Three. PIN!

All in a day's work.

No More Snow

Let's hope that the snowfall accumulation of 56" is quite enough for 2010. I don't think anyone wants to see another shovel or puddle of slush or a big snowplow for a long long while.

The town where Maria's family lives did a great job getting out there and clearing the streets. Of course, no one is perfect, and from time to time a snowplowing trucks may have a misstep of sorts.

Evidence of one such casualty.

Several mailboxes on the block suffered a similar demise. The town used the milk-crating technique to triage the damage, and then came back days later to make the repairs.