It's Grandparent's Day In The Bayport Bubble!

Grandparent's Day - who invented that holiday? Actually it was not The Hallmark Card Company, although they probably profit from it. It was Marian McQuade and she wanted to a way to remember the elderly in nursing homes. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day would be Grandparent's Day. This year it is celebrated on Sunday, September 13th.

You do not have spend a fortune on Grandparent's Day. What do all Grandparents want? They want to spend time with their Grandkids - that will make them the happiest. And with all these other holidays that we go overboard on, keeping this one low key will make it extra special.

Long distance Grandparents would love a phone call or an email note to say hi. Why not post on your Grandpa's Facebook page "I Love You!". Send a card - homemade cards are extra special. For young kids just take a piece of paper out of the printer, give them a crayon and make a card. Grandparents will treasure this.

For Grandparents that live around the corner - go by with bagels and homemade cards. Go for walk by The Bay with them. Invite them over for dinner. Just spend some extra special time with them, they will cherish it.

If you or your children no longer have Grandparents, you can still celebrate the day. Do something nice for an older neighbor - bake cookies and pick her some flowers. Or spend some time remembering a Grandparent that has passed away by bringing out the family photo album. Children love looking at old pictures and hearing old family stories. It's a nice way to remember them.

We celebrate Grandparents Day in our house by inviting all Grandparents and Great Grandparents over for an early dinner. Our traditional Grandparent's Day dinner is pesto - it is a simple and delicious meal. Pesto is great this time of year. Right now on Long Island everyone's basil and parsley plants are huge. Then the kids help make some cookies for dessert and along with their homemade cards - it is a great afternoon that will make Grandparents feel terrific!

Pesto Recipe

* 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, no stems, washed and dried

* Small handful parsley leaves

* 2 cloves chopped garlic

* 2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional because they are expensive)

* 1/4 cup olive oil

* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Combine basil, parsley, garlic, pine nuts and 1/4 cup olive oil in food processor. Pulse and add more oil if mixture seems dry. Add grated cheese and mix with freshly cook pasta. Makes about 1 cup of pasta.

Who's Your Teacher?

Breaking news from Bayport. If you have been hunting your mailperson down this week to find out what teacher your child has - wait no more. The school district's mail machine is broken, so there will be no letters sent out. Just call your school and the main office will tell you the teacher and what room number to report to next week.

Bayport Blue Point Library in the future

The Bayport-Blue Point Library is zooming into the future. It may be good and may be bad. For their children's programs registration is on September 12th at 10am, but instead of parents lining up outside of the library at 9am to get into a class - it is going to be done on-line from the comfort of your home.

Each child that you are registering must have their own library card to get into the classes. You cannot register them under your own card. This creates the problem of - what if you are registering two or more children? Who do you want to get the first choice of classes? But I guess everyone else registering is in the same boat. Also with all these people registering at the same time is the system going to crash?

At the library, in the children's department, there are instructions you can pick up on how to register for the children's classes. There are 13 steps to register - too much to list here, but here's a start. Go to the library homepage. On the left side click onto Children's Programs and select the classes you want. Hopefully it is easy to do.

This little inconvenience is well worth getting all these programs for your children at no cost. It is a waste not to take advantage of the Bayport-Blue Point Library. Get your children a library card today, go on-line and set up their password, so you can register for classes on the morning of September 12th.

One other note - the Bayport-Blue Point Library is starting to issue in October photo id library cards with a key chain option. This will be a good thing because your library card will be on your key chain.

The Bubble Is In The Battle On The Bay

Power boaters with families, this weekend in Patchogue is The Battle On The Bay Miss Geico Triple Crown. It is a huge boat race on The Bay just off Patchogue and it's free. The events start on Friday, August 21st on land in Patchogue. There is music, food, vendors and you can view the race boats. On Saturday there are the time trials in the water and more fun on land. Sunday is race day. There are three separate races, starting at noon.

There is a viewing area in the Sandspits of Shorefront Park in Patchogue. If you have a boat, there is a viewing area just off Shorefront Park in Patchogue in The Bay. It is sort of tailgating with your boat in the water! Check out more detailed info at The Battle of The Bay website http://greatsouthbayracing.com/index.html

Even if you do not make it to the races - living in The Bayport Bubble - you will hear the boats!
=)

Don't Buy Birthday Cards - Make Them!

Once your children start school, they are always getting invited to birthday parties. It's not a big deal to buy a gift, but buying all those birthday cards gets so expensive. Mostly because they just get thrown away.

Try this - get some construction paper or pull some paper out of your printer. With crayons or markers, have them make a birthday card for their pal. Let their imagination flow - you will be amazed at what they draw for their friend. Keep it simple or get really fancy with glue, cutouts and stickers.

Always make a note on the card of what the drawing is and have them sign their name too. The kids feel like they made something special for a buddy and you save money. If the card does get tossed in the trash, it will not be a waste of $3. Who knows, maybe the friend will keep the special card and bring it out again in high school for a laugh!
=)

Free By The Sea

The National Park Service has free Seaside Stories and Crafts at Talisman on Fire Island. I plan on doing it with my kids, since most Saturdays we are at Talisman anyway. You meet at Talisman Picnic Area at 2pm and it is geared for children ages 5-7, but all are welcome. They also hold free kid events at Watch Hill too. Call 631-687-4750 or check it out at http://www.nps.gov/fiis/upload/FireIslandNationalSeashore_SpecialProgramsThisMonth_August-2009.pdf

* August 8th Whale Day - listen to stories about the seashore and learn about the environment of Fire Island
* August 22nd Catch of the Day - discover marine life in The Great South Bay as you use seine nets and dip nets. You must wear water shoes.

=)

Scream For Your Own Ice Cream

I got this recipe from a library class for making fast and fun vanilla ice cream with the kids. You will amaze them!

1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
6 tablespoons of salt
1 pint size zip plastic bag
1 gallon size zip plastic bag
ice

Fill the large bag half full of ice. Add the salt and seal the bag. In the small bag put milk, vanilla and sugar. Seal this bag and put inside large bag and seal it too. Shake bags until mixture is ice cream - about 5 minutes. Wipe off top of small bag really good and then open. You will have enough ice cream for a small bowl.

Just make sure you really clean off the small bag - if you don't your ice cream may be a bit salty, but still good. Make some now - you know you have all the ingredients! =)