Long overdue post.

I am not even sure where to start this post, so much has happened since my last post in February. The kids have been busy with school activities and Zoe recently finished the play "Once Upon a Mattress" The rehearsal schedule was insane for the month of March. She had to be there on Saturdays all day and most afternoons during the week. The final week before opening she was there every night, often until 10pm. I am so glad that it is over and that the performance turned out excellent. I worked on the Cast party and I think(hope)everyone really enjoyed themselves. CCD is almost done for the year and Zoe will be competing in a foreign language poem contest (hers will be in Polish) at the end of the month. Warning big mommy brag! Zoe got all A's on her report card and received high honors again so we are very proud of her and hope that trend continues. Today we will be celebrating Dziadzia's (DJ's Dads) 80th Birthday. It has been planned as a surprise party and there will be a band so I am sure I will be seeing a lot of polka dancing tonight!!! Then right around the corner we have Violet's first Communion at the beginning of May. I can't believe that she is old enough already. Spring sports have begun and all in all things are still hectic despite my efforts to simplify. I am looking forward to a much needed get away with my girlfriends for some whitewater rafting in May and hopefully DJ and I can join our friends in Block Island again in June. We had 5 couples last year and this year a few more have decided to go so I am sure it should prove to be even more interesting. Hopefully the weather will be better because biking in the rain, while fun, did get old quickly. I have had a difficult winter myself and the stress of DJ working long hours and all the things that needed to get done have taken there toll on me. I shouldn't complain though because some of my friends are going through harder times and it makes my problems feel frivolous. I am still trying to clean the house out and organize it more, which is a completely tedious task that has gotten old but there is still much to be done. I went through all my old maternity/nursing and infant clothes the other day and bagged them up and dropped them off at the donation center. It was very bittersweet and the funny part is that I realized that my pregnancy wardrobe was much nicer than my current one. :-) I am so thankful that tax season is over and even though I have committed myself to several spring and summer projects, I am looking forward to them all! The Horseshoe crab study is evolving and I am pleased to see all the local interest. I have several school groups scheduled that I will be visiting so far as well as other community outreach events. The surveys and tagging will begin in May and that is always enjoyable. I am also continuing this year as an Island Docent and we have some great projects scheduled. Last year they converted the guest house into a classroom and added a large deck area off it. This year we will be constructing a covering for it to essentially make it into a covered pavilion outdoor classroom. It is set to be delivered in pieces next month and will be tinker toy style I am told. I will do my best to help but I think I will be the unskilled labor during the raising of this structure (anyone need lemonade?). The Island will officially open in early June but studies will start prior to that. I really look forward to spending some time out there again. I have yet to spend an overnight and am not planning to do so this season but perhaps next year with the family. I have heard it is wonderful experience to have the whole island to yourself at night. I hope to be able to make the time to be involved in the tagging of the Juvenile Osprey this spring and I have one other project in the wings that it is still too early to discuss. I hope to involve the children as much as possible and am really looking forward to summer break and the freedom from our regimented schedules. We will be spending a few weeks in Maine and the two older kids will be signed up for Ocean camp again in August. They had such an awesome time last year, I wish I could sign myself up too. :-)
Wow, this became such a long and boring post. Below are some pictures from Easter, Gavin's very first dentist appointment (which he loved!) and some pictures of harbor seals. I had gone out in hopes of documenting some on Commander Rocks for the BLT but unfortunately there where none to be seen there that day. We did find some out further near Faulkner's Island and a few in the waters closer to the Thimbles. The last picture shows how high the tide was during that recent flooding that we had. The beach is totally covered and the wall is almost submerged.