Austen & Gage

On Saturday, Mama found a nearby carnival in Middlesex where Austen enjoyed going on most of the rides, including some that she was a little reluctant to ride on just a few months ago. Live music helped set the playful mood, fresh made mini pizzas kept energy up, and Austen enjoyed the company of other kids until it was time to leave and go home to bed.

Then, on Sunday, we popped in to the last 30 minutes of a local Metuchen street fair held on Main Street where Austen took full advantage of the remaining time by going on a huge jumpy castle, petting all the animals in a petting zoo and riding a pony!

This is how Austen warms up for her playdates.

Austen entertained her friends at home with the jumpie castle and numerous other toys. Although started in the front yard, the party relocated to the backyard to escape the heat.

Austen rarely gets weighed at the Ped’s but while accompanying Mama for her doctor’s visit, Austen was more than happy to stand on the scale while Dada adjusted the sliders to confirm her current weight: ~29.5 lbs

Continuing to build on our new found tradition, we went to Metuchen’s Memorial Day Parade, held on Main Street. This year, Grandma & Grandpa joined Austen in the activities. Afterwards, to help beat the heat, we stopped at What’s The Scoop to get some ice cream.

Austen confirmed the contents of a robin’s nest, built on the underside of our deck: 4 little blue eggs. A week later, the eggs were replaced by little baby birds. It’s hard to count them but we’ve made out 3. It takes them about 15 days to leave the nest and then the mama bird lays her second clutch.

Whenever we go to see the nest, even if it’s just peering down through the slots from the deck (as the video shows), the mama bird seems to yell at us from a near by fence or tree branch, followed by Austen’s explanation: “the mama bird got upset.”

Austen may be the first in the family to have a green thumb.

Austen had a frog painted on her cheek during an outdoor concert with Mr. Ray. Even though we didn’t know who he was beforehand, everyone enjoyed the concert, food and fun atmosphere.

Austen continued with the jumping even after we got home.

So much for our non-commercial kid. She watches Barney and Toy Story II everyday now. Also Nemo, Curious George and Super Why.

Hillary Clinton did incredibly well despite a flawed campaign and misogynistic critics, but Austen likes being the boss (she’s been called the baby dictator) so maybe she’ll be the first female president … with 1/2 European (French, English, Welsh and German) and 1/2 Asian Indian background.

Go Obama! And, commentators, please stop asking him why he doesn’t have a strategy for appealing to racist working class whites. It’s like asking a robbery victim to stop owning things. It’s blaming the victim, racism-style.

-Lucinda Lynnet Famous Rodey