Dewey Beach 2016

Another successful beach trip is in the books and hopefully in the memories, too.  This year we ventured to a new house and I think the consensus is that everyone liked the old house better but the location of this one was better.  It was nice to be able to just walk out the door, over a dune and be right in the action.  We had perfect, if not a little hot, weather and more sunshine than we could take.   Of course, we did quite amount of relaxing on the beach with beverage in hand and many "planet ices" to take the edge off the heat.

As usual, the kids found many friends to play with at the beach.  They made friends with the kids of the professional lifeguards...this allowed them to use the huge rescue boards at paddle boards and had special access to the "life guard" house.  Luke made a friend whose parents even took him to the boardwalk for an extra visit.  Adrienne made friends with a few little girls who were collecting jelly fish.  I'm confident that Luke was the better judge of character on this trip.  For her part, Coco enjoyed the beach in small amounts but also enjoyed watching Dora and Diego in the comforts of air conditioning back at the house.  Violet also enjoyed the beach, particularly playing in the transport sled turned baby pool and eating sand.

We took our normal excursions to places like Dogfishhead and Jungle Jim's water park.  We took a few different turns at Dogfishhead so that no one had to take their kids :-)  Coco really loved the water park and keeps asking to go back.  "Shall we go back to the water park today?"  I think we went to the boardwalk twice.  I know that Fun Land is every kid's dream but I just really don't enjoy it!  Luke is now into the phase where he likes to ride to most ridiculously scary rides and I hold my breath while he's on them, hoping his body doesn't go flying out of the contraption.  Adrienne, thank God, isn't quite tall enough for the crazy rides but she already wants to do them.

As for other activities, the weather was so nice that it prevented us from taking too many trips to the outlets but Luke and Ade made out as usual with some school shopping with Gma and Gpa.  The kids got to learn the fun of a shopping spree!  We also had family craft night this year with a tie dye project.  We now all have coordinating Dewey Beach t-shirts thanks to Mimi.

The week always goes too quickly but the memories made last forever.

And then there was a boat

2016 will go down as the year that we ventured into the world of boating.  Inspired by a lifelong dream and the sight of an empty boat slip, the adoption of a vintage 1984 Sea Ray was destined to be.  We've all but abandoned our home and have exchanged yard work and laundry for as many jaunts on the lake as the kids can handle.  This unusually hot and dry upstate summer has worked out well for us and we'll be sad to see it go. Until then, we'll bask in the sun, swim in the lake, and eat and drink more than we should.  


As with any new hobby, every time we go out in the boat we learn more about its' quirks and even more about ours.

We've learned:

• Luke's vehicle obsession extends to the nautical and may have been kicked up a notch
• Adrienne is our true water child as she earns the water bug award at the end of every boat trip (bestowed upon those who spend the most time in the water and not in the boat)
• the boat is a great place to take a nap
• no matter how recently we've eaten or how many snacks we bring on the boat, it's never enough.
• that the food boat sells really crappy hot dogs wrapped in a piece of sliced bread but that their burgers aren't really too bad
• dry towels are a hot commodity and you can never bring enough
• that koozies are a necessity
• feeding the seagulls is the fastest way to get yelled at the by the captain
• it is not beyond the realm of possibility to walk from the water on the sand bar, to the shore, across the street, and into the Hess station to either use the bathroom or replenish supplies

Ladies who Lunch

I knew there was something redeeming about the fact that Brighton is still one of the only districts in the country with half day Kindergarten: lunch plans.  I could care less about the loss of instructional time.  Almost every Friday (and some Wednesdays) of Adrienne's Kindergarten year, she, Coco and I would go out to lunch.  Nothing fancy, usually Wegman's, but we always enjoyed the ritual.  Ade would come skipping off the bus; we would meet her at the front door (unless I forgot about her and then she'd ring the door bell incessantly), turn right back around and head out the back door to get in the car.  My to do list for my days off is continually full of reproach anyway so why not just ignore it and go out to lunch?

I mentioned this was a ritual right?  Right.  Right down to the menu selections and table location every time (kiddie table, naturally)

.

Ade: a "4-tray" that included macaroni and cheese, a hard boiled egg, blueberries&strawberries and a single chicken tender.

Coco: just macaroni and cheese

Me: Veggie sushi pack

We usually do a little shopping after lunch and then head home for the day's next activity whatever it may be!

Ade at 6

Sweet, sassy and six! 

My little cherub girl is six now.  It's been six years since I sat in the front yard of our condo building in Chicago, not so patiently awaiting a call that my schedule induction that was bumped was going to be on again.  Six years since I had a break down on the phone with my OB who told me that I was going to have to wait 2 more days to have a baby who was essentially hanging between my knees.   Six years since the above mentioned break down convinced that same OB that, "you know what, why don't you just come in now and we'll just go ahead with the induction today."  And poof, just like that, six years ago, I had to most painless and peaceful birth of my first sweet baby girl.    And I'm convinced that her effortless way into this world helped to shape her placid, gentle, and loving personality. 

At six years old, Adrienne loves swimming, gymnastics, soccer, art projects, books, barbies, shopkins, and most of all, people.  I looked up the word extrovert in the dictionary and lo and behold, there was Adrienne's picture!  No definition needed.  This girl sees the world as one that is full of friends that she just hasn't met yet.  She stops people walking in the neighborhood, whom she has never laid eyes on, and invites them into the house to play with her. It could be another 6 year old girl, it could be a 75 year old grandmother with her grand kids.   She particularly likes the teenage girls in the neighborhood.  Adrienne doesn't discriminate and accepts everyone for who they are.  It can actually be a bit embarrassing at times like when she goes to the park and invites herself into another family's picnic or when she asks complete strangers why they are wearing "that funny shirt?"  She wants to talk to every single person she sees and by "talk", I mean interrogate.

Adrienne is our steady-eddy, intuitively knowing when the other 2 crazies are off their rockers.  She is the calming force of the family and is a constant reminder to slow down and admire all the people, flowers and animals.

Luke - 9

Luke's 9th birthday party

It's getting kind of hard to come up with fun birthday parties so it's a good thing Luke has such amazing parents! Said amazing parents got Luke a giant video game truck to come and park in front of the house (causing all kinds of side-eyes from the neighbors).  2 hours of straight eye bulging and sweaty hands and irrational yelling at a tv later, we called it a success.  We also added in a kickball game in the yard and one parent had to literally drag his child off the "ball field" and away from our house.  Top it off with the most awesome and simultaneously dangerous gift ever (hover board) and we have one super happy 9 year old. 

Another Trip to the Happy Valley

This past weekend we went on a trip to one of our happy places - Happy Valley!  I've mentioned before that we began the college brainwashing process with the kids a long time ago.  We just keep watering that seed every time we visit Penn State.  This time we went for a mini lacrosse reunion and lacrosse game but the kids thought all aspects of the trip were exciting.  The kids had so much fun on our "cation" as Coco likes to call it.  They normally love hotels of all kinds but this one had a pool which elevated it in the ranks.  This hotel also had a hot dog, per Coco.   The rest of us call it a hot tub.  Don't worry, Matt and I have more sense than to allow a 2 year old to get in a hot dog, she only put her fat little feet in.

At the lacrosse game, Luke took advantage of Matt's alumni pass and spent most of the game on the sidelines of the field.  Adrienne and Coco played with the rest of the little critters in our tribe on the side of the hill.  The Nittany Lion was a new friend for Adrienne and a nightmare for Coco. The three of us spent most of the game in transit to and from the concession stand or the bathroom.  After the game, we all enjoyed playing on the field. Luke got an extra special experience when one of the Penn State players literally gave him his back-up long pole.  It was like winning the lottery for Luke and it was just amazing to see his excitement.  We did have to squash his hopes and dreams a little when we wouldn't let him sleep in bed with the stick or take it to school on Monday.    You know, because that would have been easy and wouldn't have caused a distraction at all.

I should also mention that we had the chance to catch up with some old friends we hadn't seen in a while.  Matt's former teammates Chris, RJ, and Marshall and their families were all there and it was nice to finally meet all the littles and to reminisce about the good ol' times.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Gymnastics

It's only natural that a child of mine should start their athletic career in gymnastics.  We skipped right over ballet because if my kids are anything like me, ballet would be too slow, too safe, and wouldn't provide enough action.  I had a very short ballet career myself as it was suggested to my mother that I be removed from the class and enrolled in gymnastics.  Apparently they don't want you doing cartwheels when you are supposed to be doing plies.  It didn't help that I couldn't hear at the time and my dance teacher spoke with an incredibly thick Russian accent.

And thus Adrienne and Coco have been enrolled at Rochester Gymnastics Academy, where they speak with incredibly thing Bulgarian accents.  Luckily, my kids don't have any hearing problems but it is hilarious when they describe certain movements with their won version of the Bulgarian accent.  I've had the "pleasure" (ha!) of attending the "mommy and me" class with Coco every Wednesday morning and then schlepping back to the gym with Adrienne every Wednesday afternoon.

Coco had a rough start to gymnastics because she doesn't like to, you know, listen to instructions or wait her turn.  Sometimes she just takes off and runs as fast as her little stems can take her which is astonishingly fast, across the gym.  Other times, she joins a friend or two on the trampoline when they clearly want to be on by themselves.  They do this little obstacle course and some of the other kids don't move as quickly as Coco so then she tries to pass them.  There have been days where I've sworn off ever bringing her again but then some days, the kid shows off her natural talents. She naturally has the best skills in her class, but taming her wild ways is a challenge. We've finally gotten to the point where she knows the rules and if she doesn't follow them, she doesn't get the magical stamps all over her body when we leave.  And what is it with the stamps, why are they so coveted?  I'd put stamps from their heads to their toes if that worked at home!

Adrienne on the other hand is the perfect little gymnastics student.  She's such a teacher pleaser and she tries so hard.  The poor thing has been blessed with her father's long frame and as such, it's more difficult to control those limbs.  But she's coming right along.  She does flips in the belt on the trampoline and she's working on climbing the rope to the ceiling of the gym.


And with both girls, we've been working on how to pronounce gymnastics.  Coco says "nastics" and Ade says "gin - astics."  Gymnastics with gin would be interesting.

I tried to capture them in action:

It's hard to see but Ade is in the first photo:

Coco doing her butterfly stretches:

Coco on her favorite apparatus - rings: