#Summer

I'm trying to make the best out of every summer day and sometimes that means letting someone else direct.  Today, Coco was our activities director and she picked the zoo...somewhat at random because she's never had interest in visiting the zoo before.  She's not a natural animal lover like me so I jumped on the idea, nevermind the torrential rain forecasted.  We arrived approximately 20 minutes before the skies opened up.  We kept pressing on through the rain and made it all the way to the park to see the elephants.  And elephants are funny in the rain - running out of their enclosure to enjoy a nice natural shower.  Coco, on the other hand, decided she'd had enough of the rain and wanted to head back to the car.  We did get to see quite a few furry, feathery, and scaly friends but not for very long.  Next time we'll mind the weather forecast.  And of course when we got home, the sun came out.

We spent back to back weekends in Maryland during the first half of July.  First we were in Baltimore, which was "meh", as is consistent with how we feel about the area in general.  Then we were at a tournament closer to DC  which was a much better experience.  Luke played great - even was awarded an MVP ball by the opposing team's coaches. His team lost a heartbreaker in overtime of the championship game.  He had some really incredible saves in that game that allowed his team to go into overtime.  He took the loss hard but I think it was only because he wanted to championship hardware, not even just the bragging rights.

Coco and Adrienne stayed in NY with the grandparent crowd while were in DC so we were able to do some sightseeing with friends/teammates.  We hit the biggies in no time flat and followed that up with a big Italian family style dinner late into the evening.  The kids and parents alike, had a memorable time! 

Random Pictures Found on My iPhone

My phone is probably to most wanted item in our household.  And it is rarely in my posession.  It starts out in my possession in the morning but by the end of the day, it has been passed around several times by small hands and comes back sticky with a cloudy screen.   And as an added bonus, it is also returned with random,  and sometimes questionable photos on it.  I get screen shots of games, lovely child selfies, lip syncing videos, pictures of skin, and many landscapes of the our hardwood floors, and of course, many cat pictures.  Oh, the life of a mother's phone...behold:

Gymnastics Spring Fling

Everyone needs a recital/ceremony/picnic/spring fling in June!  Coco's happened to be the culmination of a year long gymnastics class.  She loves gymnastics and her favorite event is the "jumpoline" which is a really fantastic name.   She is the seat drop queen!  She also really loves floor and bars.  Her cartwheel is coming along -  if she could just straighten out those legs, she'd be in good shape.   She's definitely more of a "power" mini gymnast than a "finesse" one.  We are taking a break for the summer but will be back to class in the fall!

Farewell to 5th Grade

Luke said goodbye to 5the grade yesterday with his Moving Up ceremony.  It seemed very official and, well, final.  He loved both Council Rock Primary and French Road Elementary but he's very excited for Twelve Corners Middle School.  I'd be sad if he didn't feel ready but he's really looking forward to it.  He received a nice certificate and a few handshakes yesterday and now we have 3 days left until summer vacation.  He had a great teacher this year, Ms. Giordano, and she did a really fun thing for this class.  She is actually planning to retire when they graduate high school.  Since she'll be leaving Brighton schools with them, she had the class create a time capsule that she'll open with them when they are seniors.  Now the one part that was difficult was the optional assignment she gave to the parents.  She asked us to write them a letter that they will read when the time capsule is opened.  

It was hard to do.  HARD.  How do you write a heartfelt letter to your first born, your boy, when you know he'll be much more like a man when he reads it?  It forced a quick succession of flashbacks of the last 11 years.  I tried to think about all the meaningful things I want to impart to him when he goes off to college (fingers crossed).   I sent the letter to Matt to review at work and he told me I should have put a huge warning on it that it wasn't something to be read while one was at their desk at work.  Hey, if I had to struggle through writing it, the least he could do was struggle through reading and editing it.  It was really very sad - a total tear jerker. I'll be a mess when I read it again in seven years which is way too soon.  

So here he is in all his 5th grade glory:

Creativity

Adrienne came off the school bus yesterday with a clipboard in her hands and a serious look on her face.  She had decided to write a play? (out of the blue) and needed to work on it immediately.  She went to work on living room floor writing  her script.  She wanted to leave the pages right there spread out on the rug but that would have meant preventing curious siblings from traipsing through and proving their own creative flare in the form of rearrangement. 

She definitely has the most creative mind in the family.  It's almost like she has so many ideas in mind that she's constantly searching for ways to get them out and see them to fruition.  Many times, she enters her own little world and you can see her sorting through the thought bubbles in her head.  She has strong visions for her projects and methodically works through them to the end.  It's truly a talent that I wish I had.  But because my talents do not lie in this space, I'll just wait to see what she comes up with!

Coco's First Year at Trinity

Coco has successfully completed her first year at Trinity Montessori.  She has such a great teacher this year, Mrs. Yerger, who she'll have again next year.  Coco is very much loved by her class and she loves them equally in return.  She has a best friend - Jordana and constantly talks about whose birthday it is, who brought in what for snack and who misbehaves in class.  She enjoys the classroom pets, especially the turtle and the butterflies.  This year she even went to her first gala which she raved about.  Her date was none other than dear old dad.  She has even  been asking to go to more galas so that she can get glammed up again.  She is at Trinity for some of the summer by way of their summer camp but she misses her teachers already and it has only been a week since school ended.  

First day of school:

Last day of school:

The gala with daddy:

Spring/Summer Lacrosse 2018

Well, it's official, all Zappia offspring can claim they play "acrosse."  Our gummy bear, Coco hit the recruiting circuit early.  She was asked to play on the pre-school, intro-to-lacrosse, boys team this spring.   She loves playing with her best friend, Jordana and always reports to us how many goals she scores.  Nevermind that the goals she scores are on on unmanned goal during shooting drills.  Her favorite part is playing on the playground after practice and she also really enjoys the water breaks.  

For her part, Adrienne tends to control the field when she's playing in games.  She scores many goals and is Queen of the ground ball.  She towers above many of the other kids at this point, which helps, but she also appears to have some natural ability.  All of the time spent battling her brother in the yard has been phenomenal training for her.  She's headed off to Nazareth Girls Lacrosse camp this summer as well as Brighton's Sharp Shooters camp.  She is very excited to move up the the 3/4 division next year.

Our lacrosse glutton, Luke seems to take advantage of as much time on the playing field as possible.  He plays winter box lacrosse, spring town team lacrosse, Flyers travel team lacrosse, and a 3D travel team lacrosse.  Currently he is schedule to practice or play in games every.single.day of the week including both weekend days.  He plays a different position for each team so that means we travel with a ton of lacrosse equipment.  We'll be headed all over upstate NY as well as Maryland for the current season's games.  

And because of all this, we've turned into "those" people who eat on the run - often in the car, travel with a spare set clothes for every weather condition and are regularly pulling a wagon with folding sports chairs and random other junk.  

Eleven

We celebrated Luke's 11th birthday by taking him and 3 friends to Dave and Busters to play arcade games.  It was an interesting experience for me, a fabulous experience for Luke.  Four, eleven year old boys rocking out to rap music (clean versions, of course) in my car was enough of a party for me but that was just on the way to D & Bs.  We got there, I loaded their cards up and off they went. I opted to sit in the restaurant and people watch.  About an hour and half later they came back with their winnings and were rabid with hunger.  We ate and headed home.  On our way back, I heard lots of whooping cushions, pre-teen humor, and even some singing.  A success on all fronts.

Luke was generously gifted  money, gift cards, and other gifts.  He bought an ipad on which he could finally play fortnight without begging for my phone.  Just one more birthday left without a "teen" in it  - eek!!!!!!!