1st day of school 2017

And we have structure again - as always, it has its pros and cons. Mainly pros.  The 2017 school year is off to a great start with all 3 kids really loving their teachers.  All of them have really, really, kind and warm fuzzy sort of teachers this year.  Luke is in his last year of elementary school which is really hard to fathom.  I have memories of feeling very grown up in 5th grade which in hindsight is quite ridiculous, but nonetheless, authentic at the time.  I'm not sure Luke has those same thoughts though, or at least, he shouldn't - ha!  His teacher has his class practicing yoga and meditation and she diffuses essential oils in the classroom - you get the idea.  I asked Luke about this and his only comment was that he doesn't really care for yoga.  He's a boy with ants in his pants with his eyes on the playground.  Adrienne has the same teacher she had for first grade since they loop with their teacher into 2nd grade.  They are currently working on the age old project of hatching monarch butterflies. And coco, well, my tiny girl has started pre-school.  She's following in Ade's footsteps and is at Trinity Montessori.  The school where everything is beautiful, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, peaceful, loving, and nurturing.  She has found a best friend already.  They are apparently attached at the hip.  She's loving school but does not like circle time.  She lines her stuffed animals up in her room at home and pretends she doing circle time to them.   I think its her coping mechanism at work...turning the tables and being the one in charge.

Bluesy Voice

If ever I thought one of my kids might magically turn out to be a blues singer or the next Janis Joplin, it would definitely be Coco.  Because I'm with her all of the time, her unique little voice doesn't necessarily standout to me.  But the number of comments I've received about it lately would indicate that every single person who does not live with her notices her raspy voice right away.  I've heard so many people say that they "just love" her voice.  I've had people tell me that I need to make sure I have her voice on video.  Others have said that they notice her voice so much because it doesn't match her sweet look. And fortunately, for one of my acquaintances, I have a sense of humor.  He remarked to me that Coco "ought to lay off her pack a day habit."

The deep raspy voice just makes me giggle sometimes.  Especially when she's being especially dramatic and it drops even lower or gets even raspier.  And this child is a talker.  I have no idea where she gets it from, wink, wink. So now, thanks to my friend, I follow her with my iphone video camera on like my life depends on it.   I will always be able to pick that voice out of a crowd and I hope it doesn't change as she gets older. It is so uniquely, her.

Ithaca

We spent one of our last "summer" weekends exploring our own area - a novel idea for us.   It seems we are always seeking our adventures in far off locations but this time, we chose to go just a short day trip away, to Ithaca.  And I am a little embarrassed that we hadn't visited this picturesque little haven with the kids before now.  I've been Ithaca many times before but never stopped to hike the gorges - at least not in recent memory.  It kind of felt like we were in some hidden secret spot that you see in National Geographic.  Now, it was a bit scary at times considering we have 3 active kids who sometimes ignore their basic self preservation instincts.  There are no safety nets or caution signs.  There are a lot of cliffs and uneven terrain. The kids thought the rock formations and the streams were pretty cool.  I  was in awe of the waterfalls. We all agreed that we needed to come back at hike the other two parks that we haven't been to yet. And then of course, we had to finish off the day with some good ol' mexican fare in town.  We are sure to be back next summer to check out the swimming holes. 

Dewey Beach 2017

Year #5 is in the books!  Our routine is firmly in place but we try to mix it up just a little bit each year.  We visited all of our old haunts - even added a new one of in the form of the "Big Chill."  We also had a new experience with tidal pools on the beach.  They were the result of a really high, high tide that kept us busy digging trenches.  The kids could not get enough of the tidal pools. I liked the tidal pools because there are no sharks in them.  This year we got to see a dolphin come really close to shore while it was playing in the waves...also a sign that sharks were not nearby.  Can you tell I have a shark phobia?  It's not really a phobia, just a healthy sense of self-preservation that the rest of the family seems to be lacking.

Adrienne spent hours jumping waves, Luke spent hours on skim boards and Coco spent hours topless in the sand.  Don't judge.  She doesn't like the way sand feels on her body.  She also doesn't like the bathing-suit-crotch-sand-trap.  Go figure.

We played many games.  We drank many beverages.  We made many memories.  And until next year, we'll settle for the smiles that the everlasting discoveries of sand in all of our possessions bring.

Lake Life

We Zappias live for those dreamy 8 weeks of summer every year.  Some will argue it's really 12 but I will tell you 4 of those 12 end up being "late spring" weather and that does not count!   And of those 8 weeks, many have been busy and rainy this year which means our boat time has taken a severe hit. I like to calculate our ROI on the boat in memories and experiences and not use/dollars or we'd have to come to terms with the reality that we are very sub par investors.  This year, we welcomed into our lake life, the very beautiful, and not so inconspicuous, pegasus.  Hours of fun have been spent on her. We became the proud owners of her when Coco and Adrienne wouldn't agree to choose the swan.  I think in the end, they made the better choice anyway.   As usual we spent a lot of hours parked up at Kershaw park, eating, drinking, reading, swimming, napping, diving, arguing, competing, and basking in the sun. The boat has been put away and naturally, the weather has turned from 65/70 to 80/85 just in time for her long winter's slumber in the boat garage.  On to summer in September...