Remember to put candy out of this kid's reach

Pepe comes in our bedroom this morning
P: Mommy, mommy, I ate all of these...
(shows me an empty box of tic tacs; i remember leaving it on my nighttable last night)
AM: When did you eat these?
P: Last night, you were downstairs, didn't you hear bang, bang, clunk, clunk????
If he tells me he has a tunny ache today, I might actually believe him....

Cape Code long weekend

Our next door neighbours, K, Z, and their lovely daughters H and P invoted us over for a long weekend on the Cape. We fought the traffic on Friday and managed to get there around 2pm. After a yummy lunch we went to the "bay", where the ocean was calm with warm water, and I managed to take a swim while the kids played. Awesome. Yummy dinner, icecream, kids asleep, a game of Quidler - perfect evening! Saturday I was up early for my long run, and met everyone later for another day at the beach, this time at a site with huge waves. The kids and I had a ball, jumping in the water, running away from the waves, splashing and making a big tunnel. Pepe refused to wear his suit, and so the girls took their off, which made for some cute naked kids playing on the beach. No pics though:) Since we had such a great time, we decided to stay another night, and left Sunday after breakfast. Such a great trip.

Pepe was in his element during the trip. He had a hard time falling asleep alone in a new room, but once I told him that we would see lighthouses when he wakes up, if he sleeps well, he immediately obliged. He was up for a brief moment at 6am stating "I had the best sleep, now can we go see lighthouses?", and thankfuly fell asleep again. We did go see 2 lighthouses though, which was v nice. It was interesting to see Pepe playing with the girls. He adopted some of their playing style (since all his trains, tracks, etc were at home), and played doctor, and dentist - v cute.

I forgot to mention that on thursday we visited uncle Radu to celebrate his 72nd birthday! So good to see him and enjoy his company and a great meal. We also saw cousin Bianca who grew up so much!. Here is a picture of the cousins:

Pepe's first camping trip

Friday broke New England's rain streak. And so, we were off camping. I think Chris was secretly hoping that it would rain, and I would back out, as he was a bit "worried" (I hear from Papi that it's a Sofio gene) about how Pepe would handle the excitement. Sonia and Charlie, kidless kind souls joined us in this adventure. We were so lucky to have them. They took care of all the logistics: they rented the camp site, got directions, started the fire, cooked all the food, and cleaned up. Pepe did very well. He had tons of energy running around with some new friends, digging on the beach and even going into the water up to his neck along with a couple of kids. Yay! On Saturday we went into town and hit the dollar store where Pepe scored a gold set, some markers and paper, and bubbles, which was money well spent given that they bought us a couple of hours of guiltless kid ignoring time reading/napping on the beach. Pepe refused to go to bed at his usual time and everyone ended up going to bed at 9:30, both nights. Pepe slept v well in between Chris and I. Chris noted some difficulty turning from a side to another, for fear of disturbing Pepe. Not me! Fun was had by all. And for the $15 a night price, you bet will do it again. But next time we'll get some kiddos for Pepe to play with!

Here are some pics

randomness

Last night...we found Pepe reading his catalogues in our bed at around 10pm.
AM: Pepe, you need to go to your bed.
P: But, why? I am here to keep you company. We are a family!

Later on...playing with his penis...
AM: Pepe, you can do that in your own bed, when you are alone, not in public.
P: But, but, ....show me yours and I'll show you mine...
AM: ???????
(This conversation prompted Chris to ask lots of questions about where Pepe might have heard that sentenced.....no relevant answers, though).

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AM: Pepe, how can you be so cute, what's your secret?
P: Well, I smile a lot...

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AM: Pepe, this makes me feel sad..
P: Oh, don't worry mommy, I will draw you a picture when we get home.

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P: No, you can't tell me what to do. You are not the teacher!