Zoe's Summery Adventures

Happy Summer, Fans of Zoe!  Nikki and I are glad that we all got to see most of you out there this summer.  Our vacation on the Cape was great -- we haven't taken 11 days from work since our honeymoon -- and hanging with the Al-Qasimis stateside was a nice treat for Zoe.  July and August have been one big family party for her. 

Since Cape Cod, Zoe has continued her summery adventures mostly around Jersey.  The first thing she did when she came home from the Cape was teach Yiayia how to sword fight like a pirate!  Guess who won that battle? 

We also had tons of fun at Field Station Dinosaurs nearby in Secaucus.  This is a Jurassic Park-like 'Zoo' that has dozens of life-like dinosaurs spread around a huge forest.  Zoe loved feeding the dinos the pebbles on the ground and pretending to fly like a bird dino.  We even went back a second time with our Godfamily, the Caporales, to show off the dinos to Jake, Zack and Luke. 

From Summer 2013

Late July was Mommy's birthday and our Anniversary.  We took the day off and spent the day as tourists hanging around downtown NYC.  You have to bring your A-game when you take a ferry tour around the Statue of Liberty if you want a good photo -- the real tourists will eat you alive!
A couple weeks later we took Zoe to Central Park and Times Square for the day.  She rode the same carousel in the park that I did when I was a kid.  The music player is so classic that the reel has to rewind for about 5 minutes when it ends.  She loved the M&M Store -- she and the Red M&M are now best buds.


Since we are sans beach house locally this year, we signed up for Summer Swim Club thru the YMCA.  The high school in our town has a full-size indoor swimming pool that's open for parents and kids in the evenings and on weekends, so Zoe and Daddy (and even Amu James) got to swim a lot this summer.  Watch out for Zoe's sharkfin life vest!

September has been fun as we slowly wind down the summer.  None of us want to let go!  We took two half day trips to the Jersey Shore to visit our patch of land and ride some rides, and one full-day trip to long island to visit our other Godfamily, the Lagos.  It's pretty fun to get the kids together, especially in an outdoor setting.  Zoe had fun playing with rocks and sand on the shore with her Godsister.


As far as growing, Zoe's hair has been a highlight :)  She's even had a few haircuts and she loves them.  Ironically she doesn't like pinning her hair out of her eyes.  She can't speak long-worded full sentences now, and recall a lot of things about her day and what she likes.  It's amazing what a little sponge she is lately.  She even says 'no' with Situ's accent (kinda with a little 'are you crazy?' behind it).  The best part of the day is night time chats with Zoe about her day and her thoughts.  Sometimes we sleep 'on the pink bunny' in her room next to her and she'll say, 'remember when we say the dinos yesterday...' and we'll go from there.  It's super fun.  She's also skipping naps a lot lately, which is exhausting!

That's it for now -- bring on the Fall!