Water Water water

The best thing about summer I think is water. Water that falls from the sky, water in a pool, water off the beach. Water. It has been much needed the past few days. All the plants have been drying out and the humidity almost unbearable (though I enjoy the heat others don't). So it was great when we received much thunderstorms over the weekend and yesterday. But with water comes choices. Choices on what to do with the kids. Summer is wonderful to be outside, moving, and discovering new things. Hardly any clothing is required and you can just spontaneous go for a bike ride or a walk. But on those days that rain you have to be more creative as a parent. So on Saturday we took the kids to the Delaware Children Museum. We really enjoy this place. Then off to Champps for a free meal, and afternoon naps. Karl took Carlita to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D which they told me was awesome. I can't wait to go.

On Sunday we traveled to Killen's Pond State Park in Felton, DE. Roughly over a hour from our place, this state park has a water park. It was so neat! What a hidden treasure right in middle Delaware. The water park had two main sections with several components: the toddler area and the big pool. For the toddler area there was two pools for little ones to slide and play in water. Luke was really enjoying himself on the slides, doing it over and over. Carlita has become quite a fish in water, jumping around and working hard to learn how to swim. My favorite was two frog slides. The big pool had several components. First it's handicap accessible and has a beach-entry (which means you walk into it). There were water umbella and spinning devices shooting out water. That whole section is under three feet which allowed Carlita to splash all around. The next section was a deeper section for us adults. We went in there once with the kids but with me being short and the kids hanging on to me we left quickly. The next section was so cool - 6 "lily pads" that kids can walk around while holding onto a rope. I didn't think that Carlita could do this but she did (see the video). I am always amazed by her abilities. The last section was two BIG slides that anyone over 48 inches could go on. So that meant Dad and Mom took turns going down them which was so much fun. We did a little picnic outside the park and then played more in the water. Luke fell off the picnic table and got a bad bruise on the back of his head. These kids I tell you. Luke after a while was getting cranky so we left and he passed out in the carseat in two seconds. We know how to wear these kids down. Then we drove back home, but did a ice cream stop n Dover at Vitelli's shaved ice. Google maps on mobile devices is great but sometimes directions can be challenging. We got a bit lost but we found it evidently which was worth it.

I love weekends with my family and the little adventures we take. It's hard to believe summer is almost over for us. The next weekends will be spent with family and then August training begins which means no life for me until after opening.

Tribute to Carol

Too many and too fast we lose a loved one. Today we received news that Karl's great aunt, Carol, has passed away from a mean fight with stomach cancer. She was a wonderful woman. Many in the family say Lulu reminds them of her. Carol always had a smile on her face. We were lucky enough to visit her and Jiggs three times, which was never enough time. Every visit she engaged us in laughter, sharing great stories of the past, and took care of us. She and Jiggs introduced us to Tripology, adding to our gaming addiction. She ignited our interest in genealogy, always bringing out her and Jiggs family tree project (which was several pages long). She gave Lulu an aloe plant and a "corn" plant owned by Grandma Kaliher, as well as a jean skirt. Those plants love on through generations due to love and care. She loved our children and she loved cheese and chocolate. She would always comment about the "Kalihers of Virginia" and "us Kaliher women". Once every tw-three months we would receive a "love" note from Carol and Jiggs, passing on some recipes, stories, or a memory. We treasure her humor and take on life. We never saw a time when she wasn't smiling. Even when Jiggs and her were arguing there was always a smile on her face. We are completely heart-broken she is gone. We hope you enjoy the video tribute below for her as we remember a wonderful woman, mother, and friend.

Click here to see the video. The music represented just how joyful she was. Carol, you live on in our hearts forever:
Tribute to Carol

The funny things Kids say

I have been meaning to write down daily what the kids say. With Carlita I barely remember all her anedotes the past four years so hopefully I can do this in this space.

Carlita: we were driving on a road and came to a part when you had to choose left or right to do. Karl said " O we're at a fork in the road". Carlita responded: "where's the fork?" Priceless.

Other Carlita sayings:

• Can I ask you something? (and she goes on telling you a story and not a question)
• Mommy you know what......
• Mommy when are we going to....
• What the heck-e?
• Mommy, when we get home can I watch a show (we do almost everyday)
• I'm thirsty

Luke's vocabulary has been increasing too. Anything with a "ch" or "sh" sound he emphasizes. Too cute! He says the following:

• Cheese
• Flower
• Blanket
• Momma
• Ba ba (for his pacificer)
• Dadda
• Titi 
• Ita (for Carlita)
• Food
• Juice
• Shoes
• Thank you

Anedotes are hiilarious too.
Carlita:

• She likes to watch TV upside down. 
• She likes to dance and hit her "buttie"
• She's flapping and flipping everywhere. Most of the time her legs are moving up and down in the air.
• the kids were taking a bath yesterday together. As they are playing Carlita says "Mommy there's play-doh in the tub". Honey that's not play-doh.  You've never seen a kid move so fast out of the tub. Parents spent the next ten minutes cleaning and sanitizing the tub of the "play-doh"

Luke:

• He loves his baba and pillie (this small pillow I made in graduate school). Every morning he gives me his items and at night he runs to his crib and points at them with gruntling sounds
• He spins himself around to dance
• He picks up his shirt to show off his belly when he thinks we're going for a bath
• He loves shoes and runs to the entrance door to get his and everyone else's.
• When he comes home he runs to the refrigerator and begs for "CHEESE". 

I'll keep these coming as they happen. Here's a movie of the kids with their cousin showing off their moves.

 

Technology tools - my addiction increases

As many of you know I love technology tools. I can spend all day playing with new tools that people have shown me. I will try to share these with anyone who will listen. So today I found new tools to make your life easy with my reviews on them.

lastpass.com : Do you hate remembering every password to the different sites you subscribe to? No more. lastpass.com will remember for you. all you have to do is install it on your computer and everytime you open a browser log into the account. It remembers all your logins and passwords so if you visit multiple sites like I do, it will auto fill in your information. You can set the settings to do so or for you to be prompted. and this is not only on your computer. Go to any computer. log in and puff you have all your passwords/logins. Just remember to log off if you're not at your own computer.

xmarks.com: a bookmark management system. Delicious is great as a resource sharing application for items /sites you want to tag. But if you want to remember all your bookmarks and are nervous of losing them or you are changing computers, anything xmarks.com will forever store your bookmarks. So if you are at another computer you log into your xmarks.com account and there's your bookmarks. I love this one!

tungle.me: an easy way to schedule your life with others. Similar to meetingwizard.com but more fun. Can't wait to start using this.

thinkfinity.com: A great resource for teachers and those who just love learning. I'm looking forward to using some of the Pre-K and k programs with Carlita.

Any favorite tools you use - share here!

Happy 4th of July

Happy Birthday! Yes' America it's your birthday and how do we celebrate it? By the pool, eating, and giving you the biggest candle ever (aka fireworks). So how did the Luka family celebrated your birthday? By going to Dutch Wonderland and visiting family.

Dutch Wonderland is a amusement park just for kids. Almost all the rides every kid can go on and did we. We got up to the park by opening and were there all day long. Luke and Carlita really enjoyed themselves (and the parents too). Though the theme was a bit much for me (all about princesses and princes), it was a great park that we'll go back again. When it was time to leave, the Rosa car wasn't doing so well. It was shaking and couldn't accelerate. We called our handy man, Mike (my B-I-L)  who directed us to the closest Pep Boys off his satellite program. Three hours later, and more in debt, our car was fixed and we had tired children on hand. We spent that time at 5 Guys (a burger joint) and K-Mart (not the most happening place to be at).

After that adventure, we were up for another - to go see my sister's in Maryland. We were in for a big surprise when we got there. A boat fairy had delivered a beautiful Sea-doo speedster just in time for the holidays. On the 4th we went riding on the Potomac River, and the kids couldn't get enough of it. We were so exhausted! the kids at night had a hard time going down and I fell asleep with them at 9pm, missing out on any fireworks :(

The rest of the weekend was spent recovering from our trips, and playing with the kids. Happy Birthday America! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

A start of a new addiction - Baseball

It's baseball season in case you didn't know. Yes it starts in April and ends in October but it's really a summer sport. If I don't get a response from Karl after calling his name several times, it's usually because he's keeping up on all the drama with the Chicago Cubs on his blackberry or online. Poor Cubs - this season isn't turning out to be a good one for them. I didn't really grow up as a sports fan but I have no problem cheering on the Cubs. In May I took Karl to a game in Philly. They lost but it was fun but nothing I could do all the time. I have no patience for the slowness of the game and to understand everything that is going on. That's why I like my swimming/diving/running and drum corps. But I do get excited when the playoffs comes, and I'm enjoying all the drama with the World Cup.

So it's not too surprising that we went to a Blue Rocks game on Wednesday, July 1st with a group of ResLifers from UD. First we went out to dinner at Champps (staying with the sports theme for the night) and then off to the game. The last time we went to a game was when Carlita was roughly 2 years old, and now I remember why we haven't gone back. Did we see the game? No. Did we bother other people? Yes. Did we have fun? Yes. My friend, Gina, and I chatted as we kept the kids from running onto the field. Carlita got a chance to jump on an inflatable and Luke ate food. We lasted a hour and half at the game which was good with kids. No clue what the score was or how the players were doing. On the drive home, Karl informed me that two men behind us were commenting underneath their breath at how rude our kids were and how they couldn't enjoy the game. It's a division I team!!!! There was hardly anyone at the game. Empty seats were all around us. You could have moved. I wished I had heard them because there would have been some fireworks going off at the game. So needless to say, going to another game in the near future won't be happening for the Luka family for a few years.

But still we want the kids to have that baseball fever so Carlita is doing t-ball at the Y on Thursday and Karl is coaching her team (if you can call it coaching). The kids are hilarious - they can't catch a ball, their attention span is VERY short but they are so cute in their hats and gloves and running around the field. But these are great memories that Carlita will have with her father.

 

Weekends of Adventures

Summer time which means trips trips and more trips. We've been having lots of adventures the past two weeks. First over the June 25th weekend my sister and her family came for a visit. They wanted to go to Chesapeake City Canal Days. Off we went to this new adventure. I'm always amazed at how close to the Chesapeake Bay. Only 30 minutes away was this fun town. Now one of the things of this day is that it's rally mardi gras on water. That being said.. .there were beads and flashing and drinking on water vehicles all over the place but there was a small block of crafts/arts, and some fun. Oo.. yes I did get flashed but my brother-in-law missed it.

We did a half hour ferry ride on the water which was nice and some arts/crafts for the kids. But then the truth came out why my sister came.. they were looking for a boat. Yes a boat for the family. How exciting! they've been looking high and low for one that would be perfect for our family but no luck. However we did stop at a marina and found one that was put up on sale that same day. What the luck! So now it's a waiting game to hear back from the seller.

After the day at canal day, we relaxed at home and blew up the pool and had a pool party in the back of our home. The kids had a blast and the moms watched on. We also went blue berry picking around the UD campus. 

On Sunday we woke up and discovered that our pool was stolen - :( . We were so upset. How can people be like that to steal little kids' pools? Must be desperate. Anyways we took the kids to the Delaware Children Museum and then to Joe's Crab House for lunch. That was a blast as you can see from this video. And then the fun was over and Sandra, Mike, and Sofia left with no boat in tow but great memories.