Summer lax

Luke's been busy with his Flyer's travel lacrosse team, which means we've all been busy with Luke's Flyers lacrosse team.  Every spare minute we have outside of summer camps and trips to the lake has been going to lacrosse.   Luke's very lucky that his practice location and times provide for an excellent opportunity for numerous parent happy hours or we might not make such an effort to attend. But when mom and dad can socialize and have a few beverages at the same time, eh, it's not so bad.   We just returned from the Niagara Lacrosse Classic Tournament in Niagara Falls where we spent many hours at the fields (and many dollars) in the sun over the two-day tourney.  Luke played well and his team came in 2nd place!  This a a big deal for a team that struggled so much in the  beginning of the season.   In the only game his team lost, Luke made some highlight reel worthy saves - if only someone, like his mom, had been videoing.  We didn't leave enough time to see the actual falls so instead, I had to entertain everyone with the history of the power plant and its cancerous effect on the areas surrounding it including the love canal.  Next time, I'll just stick to the beauty of the falls.

Although we were there for the lacrosse, the main attraction of the weekend was the hotel pool, obviously.  What's not to love about a small pool filled with 40 children under the age of 10 all trying to drown each other?  And the 2nd highly rated attraction was the private Italian restaurant dining experience with the same 40 children and their parents.   While this was fun for both parents and children, it was a good thing it was in the basement of the restaurant and out of sight to the public. Cause' we'd all have been judged.  Children dragging each other on the parquet dance floor circa 1970, dads bring back multiple bottles of wine from the upstairs bar, a podium being used for stand up comedy complete with 10 year old boy humor.  And the moms.  The moms were scuttling around the joint making sure kids ate more than just gold foil butter packets.   The kids loved it.  And so while we were there for the lacrosse, we brought back some really great memories.   And now that I think about it, these are the same types of memories I have of all the travel gymnastics my team and I did when I was young.

Summer is finally here

Listening to the morning camp instructions

Schools out and the kids have 10 full weeks of summer.   This week Adrienne attended the Nazareth College girls lacrosse camp, which she loved, naturally. She did the full-day camp instead of half-day camp this year.  It didn't even faze her that she didn't know anyone going to this camp.  She's so outgoing that she made a little group a friends that she looks forward to seeing everyday.  Ade seems to most enjoy the different games they play, the dining hall, the movies, and the counselors.

This lax picture is actually from the end of her season in the parents vs. kids game

Luke "warming her up" at camp

ready for a pass

Luke went to Mimi's from Sunday to Wednesday.  He got to drive the golf cart, swim, go up to the cabin, play miniature golf, get ice cream, and wait in the waiting room for his new baby cousin to arrive.  Matt and I discovered that having 2 children at home is way easier than the "organized" chaos of three.  Not that it's necessarily easier with Luke not being there, just that 2 is a lot different than three.  I think it's because the 1:1 ratio provides enough attention for each kid that they are not having to vie for attention.

And for her part, Coco still went to "school" as normal but since it is the last week she's in this class, they got to do a lot of extra fun things.  She particularly like the indoor picnic.  It was very exciting to eat lunch on a blanket on the floor.

family golf cart ride before we leave Luke at Mimi's

At the park waiting for new baby cousin to arrive

Baby Alexandria is finally here!  

What a week!

June.  The busiest month ever.    The month of little sleep.  I had no idea what I was in for on June 1st even though my lovely, but ugly calendar told me it was going to be a doozie. Every class, activity, hobby, sport, or organized grouping had something "special" going on to "close-out" the academic year.  This past week alone, we had 5 lacrosse games, 3 lacrosse practices, 2 annual physicals, one band concert, 2 piano recitals, 2 gymnastics performances, 1 large party, 2 Father's Day celebrations, 1 field trip, and 1 birthday party.  And I know I have forgotten about something. All good things but why all in the same week?  They are testing my sanity.  The whole house went to bed at 7:30 pm on Sunday night...the litmus test for our energy levels after all that. Sheesh!  We have some more activities this week but the forecast looks much better for next week when school in out for the summer and our schedules can relax.

Mornings - A Guest Post by Dad

As the 4^th grade school year comes to an end for Luke, one would be remiss to not document his signature antics in the mornings.  Now I’m not referring to Luke’s antics during the lovely 2-hour window from when he wakes up at 6 a.m to when we leave for school at 8 am.  Any documentation of happenings during that 2-hour window would unduly prejudice the reader of this post into thinking that Luke’s sole purpose in life is to annoy his sisters, drink lesbi-vegan smoothies and bug his mom about where his black sweatpants are.  I’m more interested in documenting the 35 minutes of time from 8 a.m. to 835 a.m., which is when I give Luke a ride to school and we sit and chill in the drop-off circle at French Road Elementary School.  This alone time with Luke is equal parts special and startling, along with a dose of Groundhog's Day.  Every single morning, before we pull out of the driveway, Luke tries to pack the car with as many lacrosse sticks as possible.  I normally end up yelling at him because his “d-pole” is bumping into my neck while I’m driving.  I can see the headline in the local paper "Man gets into accident due to son’s lacrosse stick knocking him out while driving."  Once into the car, next comes Luke’s routine request for me to put on Right Hand Man from the Hamilton Soundtrack.  Luke is wise beyond his years, as he knows that his Dad loves this soundtrack and that I won’t say no to this request.  I’ve gotten wiser and no longer hand Luke my phone when he requests this music.  I do all the DJ’ing from the front seat so that Luke doesn’t end up making any unauthorized “one-click” Amazon orders from the back seat (those fidget cubes are so hard to resist).   Back to the morning music, what Luke is REALLY interested in is the next song after Right Hand Man.  In his mind, getting me to listen to Right Hand Man will soften me up for his second request, which is almost always one of the following songs:  (1) Til’ I Collapse, by Eminem; or (2) I Spy, by Lil Yachty  (clean versions only).  Now, you may be wondering what’s so startling about this whole situation.  Well, the kid knows all the lyrics to these songs….every.single.one.  And we have no idea where he is able to listen to this kind of music because it doesn't happen on our watch.   I could go on and on about Luke’s ridiculousness in the morning but I'll spare you.  In all seriousness, as Luke gets older, I’ll miss taking him school and belting out Right Hand Man with him (oh, and I Spy too!).   

Adrienne's First Lacrosse Goal

Let it be known that assertive and athletic, Ade, scored her very first lacrosse goal against Penfield on May 31, 2017.  Adrienne controlled the ball (at least on Brighton's side) for the majority of the game. This is not particularly hard to do if you are able to just keep the ball in your stick.  At the first grade level, not many defenders will even attempt to stop you.  Thus, she had the ball for approximately 3 whole minutes right in front of the goal and took her time choosing her most favorite spot in the back of the net.  The entire parent group (both teams) sort of held their breath the entire time, awaiting the inevitable, yet slow to materialize, goal.  And she was thrilled.  And we were all thrilled for her.  Way to go, Adrienne!  The the first, of hopefully, many, goals!

Ten

Ahhh!  TEN!  Unbelievable!  There have been 10 May 4ths since the only one that ever really mattered.  We've been through an entire decade together.     I can hardly remember myself before him but I can remember so vividly life the day he was born.  From going into labor to the moment Luke was born and my first sight of him as he was rolled by my bedside in an incubator on the way to the NICU - life has never been the same.   Just like that day, Luke still leads his life (and ours) with flare and fanfare.  He does things on his own time, in his own way; a unique and sizable personality for sure.  That tiny little NICU baby who used to fit in the length of my own small forearm has almost outgrown me.   We actually  fit in each other's sandals.  To this day, he continues his hallmark sign of fatigue by pressing his lips to the back of his wrist, something he's done since the beginning.  He still likes someone to lay down with him when he goes to sleep and still sits really close to people when he eats. Many things have changed and many things will continue to change but at this point, he's still a boy and we hope it stays that way for a while.  I would keep him as he is today, if only I could. 

We did his birthday right!  We started with the opening of a new pair of super fancy sneakers from Mimi, then out to breakfast at Charbroil with Gma and Gpa before school.  For lunch, I picked up his favorite sandwich from Subway (his choice, not mine) and joined him for lunch in the school cafeteria.  (Side bar: I always enjoy watching all the kids in the cafeteria, it's sort of like seeing wild animals in their natural habitat.)  Luke took "Zebra cakes" into his class for a birthday treat - which at least broke up the monotony hours of NYS testing for math.  He had lacrosse practice in the evening and then he and Matt went to Chipotle for dinner.  Again, his choice.
The day after his birthday, he had a kid party at Breaking Free Skatepark and then a family party the day after that.  We tend to celebrate Luke's birthday multiple times every year.   He and all his friends loved the skate park and even Ade and Coco joined in.  His big birthday gift was a BMX bike but he was also spoiled with many other generous gifts from family.

He's a lucky guy and we're lucky to have him be ours.

First Hair Cut

Coco's first haircut was a success. She loved the attention as well as the hair cut cloak.  I took her to my stylist and she stood very still while we essentially cut off a 4 inch ponytail.  She looks so cute but I'll miss the ragged little mane she had growing. She is exponentially better at getting her hair brushed and done than Adrienne.  Sometimes I'm afraid that the neighbors are going to call CPS when I'm brushing Ade's hair.  Let's hope this trend of Coco's coop

eration continues!

First Grade Bliss

First grade seems to be a pretty decent grade.  Kids are still nice to each other for the most part, books can still evoke lots of excitement and the stuff that comes home from school is still cute and not frustrating.  Ade is still into her beanie book key chains, often dangling 5 pounds worth from her backpack that is used to cart single pieces of paper back and forth to school.  She's highly social and always looking for play dates.  She's now into earrings as part of a larger style scheme and I have to say that I love that!  The current toy fad is "putty".  Really expensive putty that seems to keep showing up in packages from Amazon. I'm not sure why that keeps happening.  The putty also seems to keep appearing in hard to clean parts of our house - smeared on the fireplace glass, hanging from heating grates, and my favorite, in our shag rug.

Adrienne will be starting her 2nd season of lacrosse soon and then onto soccer for the summer.  She's also still in gymnastics and taking swimming lessons.  We're thinking her size will preclude her from any serious gymnastics and will come in handy for lacrosse. We shall see...but for now, we'll enjoy the first grade bliss and hope it continues into 2nd grade!

Growing and Speaking

  

Coco keeps telling people she's going to be as big as daddy.  God, I hope not, for her sake. It gives people a good chuckle though.  A previous teacher at the JCC told her the other day that she's getting so big and she responds with "that's because I'm growing up." Duh!  Where I see the most growth with her is her assertiveness and her use of phrases that actually make sense.  She tells people they are annoying her, that they can't talk to her, and "ugggg, that's not what I said!"  Of course she also still speaks broken toddler English.  She likes shows on Neck-flix, doesn't like the car to go through the "wash cloth," and likes to shop at Lemmings (Wegmans).  Things are still "fings" and the yogurt shop, Yotality, is "Nutality" since she likes Nutella.  She has lovingly changed some animal names: raccoon to taccoon and at one time a skunk was a snuck.  And sometimes her phrases are a little off.  She says "You gotta be freakin' me" instead of kidding me.  In the future, when she speaks correctly, I will miss all of her Cocoisms.   And in that not so distant future, she'll climb aboard the yellow school bus with her "packpack" on her back and head off to Kindergarten.

Hair, or not

What they say is true, eerily quiet time in a house full of children is not something to bask in...it's a time to investigate.  Example: Luke had his very first band concert last night.  He was supposed to be up in his room getting his dress clothes on.  He was taking a long time. When he finally came down, he had no dress clothes on.  Queue the confusion bells going off in my head.  He proceeds to tell me that I made a rather large mistake when I was trimming his hair that morning.  Knowing that I had actually done a really fantastic job of it, alarms and adrenaline start racing through my mind. He then shows me a section of his head where a lawn mower must have gone through his hair.  At this stage of the game, we are t-minus 10 minutes from leaving for the inaugural band concert. Of course, after fierce interrogation, he admits he took his dad's clippers in an attempt to give himself a new slick hair style.  Except it wasn't slick.  As the heated conversation continues, Matt arrives home from work.  I'm absolutely positive I saw real steam coming out of his ears and nose.  With very little further conversation beyond explanation, Matt whisks Luke off to SuperCuts. Adrienne and I head to the concert to get seats while Luke is taken to receive his "hair correction."  This is a code name for buzz cut.

I first lay eyes on Luke as the big blue velvet curtains are drawn to expose the 4th grade French Road Elementary band.  And if it weren't for G-ma being there with us and pointing him out, I'm not sure I would have recognized Luke, minus hair.  Let's just say that this is Luke's first and ONLY buzz cut.    We don't really encourage the skinhead look in our family for obvious reasons (actually, in today's political environment, I shouldn't say anything is obvious but you know what I mean).

In conclusion, while Luke thinks his new do feels good to rub his hands on, he asked multiple times if he could wear a hat to school today.  We are going to go with natural consequences on this episode.