London and Maddie had a blast yesterday during their Halloween Week make-up class at Randolph Gymnastics… I was going to wear my pirate costume to try to sneak onto the giant inflatable slide, but my girls told me the staff would realize that I didn’t fit in as soon as they saw my attempt at a cartwheel.  Everyone loves the special tricks and treats the have at Randolph Gymnastics for Halloween Week, and it was sooo funny to see London climbing the rope and doing roundoffs with he... Read Full Story

We’ve just enjoyed the annual Halloween parade at Mendham Township Elementary School, and London and Maddie are still posing around the house as their all girl band, the Butter Bites. It’s Halloween Week at Randolph Gymnastics, and the girls missed a class earlier this week in favor of pumpkin carving with the Brownies, so we are on our way over in our costumes for a make up class with Coach Jordan. I’ll be back in the next day or so to report on a lot of upcoming events at... Read Full Story

We took a lot of photos of London and Maddie as the Butter Bites, as well as the competing Scariest, Prettiest, and other costumes…. as I sort through them, I’ll share the best ones with you. On the left, we’ll start out with London and Maddie as the Butter Bites and Rex and Roxy as the Pirate Parents. And, for those of us who forgot to pack the right video camera when we headed down to our beach house, here’s a link to the Ocean Star official video of Bay Head Hallowe... Read Full Story

Actually, I’ve got six (6) golden tickets… to the Hexagon Players’ Sunday, November 15th matinee performance of Willy Wonka at Delbarton Preparatory School in Mendham, New Jersey. Back in June, I told you all about London’s audition for a part in the Hexagon Players Fall production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. After waiting among hundreds of wannabe Oompa Loompas until way past her bedtime, London bravely belted out “The Climb” and danced the Oompa Lo... Read Full Story

We’ve just received the following H1N1 Influenza Update via London and Maddie’s “Backpack Mail,” so I thought I would share it with any of you who are seeking information about swine flu shots in the Mendham, Bernardsville, and Morris and  Somerset County NJ area.  The first part of the letter outlines basic healthy and hygiene practices, but farther down you’ll find details on who “qualifies” for the first round of H1N1 vaccines, and when and where ... Read Full Story

An invitation to the December 6th performance of Handel’s Messiah at Hilltop Church just arrived in the mail, reminding me that this time last year, a few days before Halloween, we had about two inches of snow on the ground here in the Roxiticus Valley!  Thankfully, a repeat of last year’s freak snowstorm is not in the forecast, and it may even be sunny and almost 70 degrees for trick or treating on Saturday. Even though we don’t have wintry weather in October to get us in t... Read Full Story

For the past few years, it feels like the annual Bay Head Halloween Parade has involved a grim weather forecast of hell and high water.  Yesterday we drove down to our beach house in the pouring rain, which flooded Lake Avenue and didn’t let up as we made our way to the Crab Shack to pick up 100 clams for dinner. All week long, our little Weather Girl, Maddie, has been watching Weather.com, where just like last year, they forecast rain, rain, rain on Saturday, but sunny and 60 degrees o... Read Full Story

Turns out the forecast calls for rain, rain, rain… starting tomorrow (Thursday) and continuing right through the Far Hills Races on Saturday, October 17th. Our family was on the verge of making “the Hunt” an annual tradition… we went two years running: in October 2007, when the sun was shining, the horses were running, the beer was flowing, the kids were playing in the mud; and in October 2008, when the weathergirl delivered more clouds than sun, with highs in the upp... Read Full Story

Hi Roxy, I was browsing your site (it is terrific!) and wanted to let you know that we are hosting a fall festival and benefit with a horse and farm life theme on October 17th from 1 to 4pm at Center Line Farm in Tewksbury, NJ. The festival will benefit two very worthy local organizations. The first is Animeals which helps seniors on the Meals on Wheels program to maintain their pets at home by providing food and litter to them. They found that the seniors were feeding their pets before feedi... Read Full Story

Our family just received an invitation from the Ralston Engine Company (Mendham Township Fire Department) to meet our neighbors and our volunteer firefighters at a pancake breakfast, coming up on Sunday, October 11th from 8am to 11am.  As long as the weather is nice, we’ll be away at our beach house in Bay Head, NJ, celebrating my birthday over the long Columbus Day weekend.  If you’re here in the Roxiticus Valley next weekend, I’d encourage you to head out for all you can e... Read Full Story