1. May 2010 photos — these have been available, but no link. How did I miss that?
2. June 2010 photos — Joshua’s graduation to kindergarten (and the kids’ Spring Sing concert), and my sister Julie’s surprise 30th birthday party.
3. July 2010 photos — July 4th BBQ party at our house, and Ashley & Liza’s wedding reception.

Joshua's graduation

Saturday night, we drove to Philadelphia for my sister’s surprise 30th birthday party. First we dropped off the kids to my sister-in-laws’ for the evening, then we went to pick up the delicious (and lactose-free) cake, and then drove to Philly. The plan was for everyone to meet up at The Mexican Post restaurant at 6:30pm, decorate and get ready. Robbie would bring Julie to meet with Nums and myself for a birthday/anniversary dinner. Julie kinda knew something was going on, but I think she was still surprised when 35 family and friends jumped out screaming at her.

It was a nice venue, and good dinner too. Robbie and his sister Kitty organized a trivia game around Julie’s favorite shows, movies, book series, candy bars, and there were prizes for each winning team. Each prize was related to one my sister’s favorites like Wawa coffee and stuff. My sister and I both like Star TrekGeneration, so I grabbed a tiny replica of the NCC-1701 Enterprise (refit of course!). The Enterprise is currently adorning my cubicle with my Capt. James Kirk figure.

The Enterprise now adorns my lowly cubicle.

Nerds! I’m behind on publishing photos, but I’ll post the pictures in the next few days.

In Lily’s class, it was some sort of sports players and cheerleaders thing where the kids either danced or jumped up and down in costumes to music. Hey, what do you expect from a classroom of two-year olds? In Josh’s class, they showcased dancing from the 50′s through the present day, and Josh did some 50′s dancing. At the end, the kids “graduating” walked down the aisle and on stage in red caps and gowns to receive their “diplomas.” It was all very cute.

Afterwards, we all went back to our house for dinner and drinks, and the kids ran around playing and screaming. My sister took photographs and I took video, but neither is actually available to be posted. Check back later.

Joshua's new eyeglasses

Joshua has succumbed to his DNA. At his annual checkup this year, he had trouble with the vision test. I watched it happen, and I was unnerved. The doctor recommended we take him to see an opthamologist. That doctor also confirmed that Joshua would need corrective lenses. Sigh. I had this small hope that he would always be the happy little young boy who didn’t have to wear eyeglasses growing up. I started wearing eyeglasses in 2nd grade back in 1985, and I still don’t like them much.

We found some decent eyeglasses from Pearle Vision, and he seems to like them enough. We can’t be sure how well they’ve improved his vision, but he says so. I’ll post a picture here when I can. On the first Monday back to school, all the teachers told me that he now looks just like me. What, he didn’t look like me before?

Julie & I

Sometime in the afternoon, I had a change of heart. It was my birthday, and the diner wasn’t feeling very celebratory. On second thought, I changed my mind that a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse would be a better place. I thought it was my idea, but then I found out my wife had somehow used the Jedi mind trick on me.

While we’re waiting to be seated at Outback, my sister and her husband showed up. Turns out, surprise! My wife had decided on a birthday dinner at Outback days earlier and invited my sister and BIL too. I was very surprised. How did my wife pull the ol’ Jedi mind trick on me?

In regards to dinner, it was nice. Factoid: Thursday marked five years to the day that my wife and I had been to an Outback Steakhouse. The last time she and I had gone was to celebrate my 29th birthday in 2005 a month after Joshua was born [see the April 24 2005 entry.] I remember because our friend Lesh was nice enough to volunteer to watch Joshua for the evening, so that we could go have a nice dinner. Five years later, we celebrate my 34th birthday. Funny, I say. Funny.

Josh was happy to eat popcorn and watch a movie with me

Early Thursday morning, I took Lily at 7am to Quest Diagnostics for some bloodwork. She did fairly well – she didn’t cry initially when the needle went in, but it was a slow boil until she really started crying. She calmed down quickly afterwards.

At lunch time, I picked up Josh from school and we drove to Princeton to meet up with Nums for lunch. There’s a decent Indian restaurant across the street from her office, so we sat on the rooftop patio, and enjoyed an Indian buffet. Beautiful weather today.

After lunch, we drove to Hamilton, NJ, to get me a quick haircut, and then see a 2pm showing of How to Train Your Dragon, a Dreamworks animated film available in 2D and 3D. I initially wanted to take Josh for the 3D version of the film, but given that the next 3D movie showing was a few hours away, I didn’t want to waste too much daylight. In hindsight, the 2D version was just as enjoyable. I think Josh especially loves the popcorn. Even after enjoying hearty Indian buffet, he still had room in his 5-year old belly for a small bag of popcorn. Oh, and the bottle of water I snuck in. Yeah, I snuck in outside food. Why should I pay $4 for a bottle of water?

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Every preview shown before the movie was another upcoming 3D movie. Looks like there will be many 3D movies released this year. However, how do you get around the cost? The two tickets for an adult and child-under-12 on a quiet Thursday afternoon cost $16.50. I asked how much would be an adult 3D ticket, and it was $13.50. Waiting for the 3D showing would have cost me an extra $10. That’s a lot of money, IMHO.

As I mentioned, the movie itself was enjoyable. The story was good, not as predictable as I thought, and the animation was very nice. I liked the characters, and the star dragon (“Toothless”) was very catlike. I liked it.

To wrap up the day, we had time for Joshua to catch a make-up gym class at 6:30pm. We had leftovers for dinner, and the kids were off to an early bed. We parents were so tired, we went to bed around 10pm. I’m not a fan of going to bed early, but when you are that tired, you just gotta let it go.

On Saturday, we visited the Bicycle Rack, our local bicycle shop in the area. We briefly considered choosing a simple children’s bicycle from one of the major retailers (e.g. Target, Toys R’ Us), but I prefer the smaller shops. You get more personalized service, and it supports our local small business owners. We originally intended to do some price comparison shopping, but we found a nice 16″ Schwinn for a decent price. After a short test ride around the parking lot, we bought the bike and a helmet.

I was fairly excited, as I was about to introduce my son to my love of riding. For the sake of disclosure, he didn’t seem to be very enamored by the time we got home. Possibly, he wasn’t quite gripping the basics of pedaling and steering, so he was become frustrated. After we got home, he just wanted to watch tv, so I was a little upset. By Sunday, he was more excited, and getting a better handle on riding. I also did a lot of brainwashing about how fun it is, so I hope he believed me! In the evening, the girls next door were riding their own bicycles in the parking lot, so I raced Joshua outside so he could ride with them. I figure that the more he sees other children riding, he’ll feel more comfortable doing it.

Josh's first bicycle

On Saturday, we celebrated Lily’s second birthday with a party at Josh’s gym, which was the same place we celebrated his 3rd birthday (March 2008.) We invited her classmates from her class, and kids from among our circle of family and friends. As usual, a lot of the parents were very late with the RSVPs. What I found ironic was that we received an RSVP for a child we didn’t remember inviting, but we figured the more the merrier.

Lily's 2nd birthday party

The party went well. As usual, my sister and my BIL showed up early to (again) help us with running errands before a party, which included picking up the birthday cake and balloons today. If they didn’t keep swooping in to help us, I think we’d be even later for every major Ipe event. We arrived about 10 mins late to our own party, but since it was at a fully-staffed gym, parents and children were occupied with activities.

Everything went well, and Lily had a very good time. We had Papa John’s (again), because hey, you can’t beat that “$10 per pie with any toppings you want” deal. Nope, you can’t beat it. I think we’re officially done with parties for another year, which is a relief. I’m not a fan of throwing lavish birthday parties any more. Especially with young children, going overboard is pointless. The children themselves enjoy running around, eating their pizza, and drinking from their juice box. They don’t need much more than that.

So to bring this story to a close, remember that family that we didn’t invite, but left a voicemail that they would attend the party? Yeah, they didn’t show up to the party after all. We’re still confused about that one.