Beaching

We took a quick trip to the beach over the weekend to get some summer ocean in.  I am definitely a beach baby.  That's my happy place.  Tom claims the mountains, but once he gets his toes into the sand he's a pretty happy fellow.  The kids, on the other hand, have not been to the ocean in about 5 years.  This is how tiny they were.  Jeff has no memory of it aside from pictures that he's seen.

We arrived at the beach Friday afternoon after leaving early in the morning.  We chose Chincoteague for the weekend since I've never been there, and Tom had only visited once as a child.  As soon as we set foot on the beach, tossed our bag onto the sand Jeff ran straight into the waves.  It was pretty cold, but that didn't bother him a bit.  In 2 minutes he was out past the breakers swimming and splashing and trying to ride the waves back in.  Erin was a little more cautious, but got herself out into the waves catching the surf with her daddy.

The first of the waves

Castle construction

He looks so tiny, and had so much fun

They were posing for the picture when a huge wave crashed on them!

We left the beach just about sunset, drove back over the barrier island and found some dinner.  We hit up a local BBQ hangout.  Order your food, hang out and play "beach" games while you wait.  Find either a giant checker board to sit and eat at or stand at the tiki bar.  Just make sure to bring your bug spray.  Apparently the Chincoteague mosquitoes are nothing less than blood thirsty.

Saturday morning we crashed the beach again.  Tom led us up the shore a bit to get away from the crowds.  Of course both kids whined and complained that we were walking to the moon and they just wanted to get into the water.  This only makes dad walk a little longer.  The day was spent building sand castles, riding the waves, walking for shells etc...  The shelling was definitely my highlight.  I took Erin with me, and that is for it's very own blog post.  After 40 minutes wandering up the shore I had to make her turn back for the boys.

Erin catching a wave

Showing off a small portion of her sea shells

We were rushed off the beach late afternoon by an incoming storm.  We stopped at the island visitor center to wait out the storm.  Afterwards we discussed walking to the lighthouse.  We coated up in Off and started for the lighthouse.  We missed the parking lot for the path to the lighthouse but found another island path.  We made it about 1/4 mile before turning back.  Swarms of mosquitoes had some of us choking on bugs.  We headed to an all you can eat seafood place where Erin put away 3 full snow crab clusters, doing all the work on her own.  Jeff enjoyed his own crab AND shrimp.  We finished our evening with some miniature golf.

Sunday morning we found our way to the beach again.  We took a few minutes before checking out from our Inn to do a little photo shoot of the kids on the dock of the channel.  Sunday was the best beach day by far.  We were a little later arriving and had to sit back further from the surf but still had a fantastic spot.  Jeff quickly made friends with a young girl his age.  They built a huge sand castle, rode some waves (she let Jeff use one of their extra boogie boards) and splashed around.  You would have thought they had known each other forever.  It was so wonderful to watch the kids just relax and enjoy themselves.  No one wanted to leave, but work was calling and a long drive back home was in the way.

A moment on the dock

Toes wet, bottom not.

I got this!

No parking bird!

Awesome sculpture made by the family next to us

Jeff and Erin with their new friend

Collecting rocks and shells

We loaded up and headed off the island back to the mountains.  About 6 hours later we pulled into the driveway 6 miles from the base of the mountains.  And no one can wait until next year to go back.

Bye Bye

Fluffy

This is Fluffy. Fluffy joined our family last Tuesday on Jeffrey's big visit to King's Dominion.  He, of course, won him in one of those games that I have spent my days explaining to Jeffrey "No one ever wins that game."  And Jeff wins with a lucky softball toss into the basket on his second try -- ugh.

Anyway, Fluffy spent the rest of the day playing with us at the park, which was to be expected.  But since then, Fluffy has been everywhere Jeff has gone.  Remember this post from last year? The one where J took a piece of foam and turned it into a hat for a week?  So in the past several days he has needed to take Fluffy on several walks around the neighborhood using an old doll stroller (or even an old kid umbrella stroller).  Fluffy has been to church and Black Box rehearsals.  He went to see After Earth (which frightened him a good bit, so he was very glad Jeffrey was there to hold him tightly) and visited the library to pick out some new books.

The ability this boy has to tune out the looks of others.  To close his eyes to their snickers and glares.  To block from his ears their teasing laughter.  All he sees is an amazingly cute and adorable buddy.  One who will play whatever game J wants to play.  One that likes to take walks and watch movies, and loves to be read to.  I can only pray that he keeps this ability to be who he is, strong and confident at he grows up.  Too often our chides and teases break down that confidence.  Hold onto it buddy.  And hold onto Fluffy.

Moose, Alpaca, Moose, Moose Aplaca

 Apparently at 4-H camp there are a lot of songs.  One song specifically endearing to my recently returned daughter goes something like

Moose Alpaca, Moose Moose Alpaca, Unicorn etc...

So, Erin returned from her first week-long sleep away camp this morning.  She had the time of her life it seems.  She has been talking about wanting to go to 4H camp since mid-winter.  In 4th grade the 4H agent comes to school once a month or so and talks to the kids about 4H-y stuffs.  They introduce camp, encourage the students to make a class presentation etc...  She signed up to go without knowing if any of her friends were going along.  Turns out she had a few friends there, but no close ones, and still was able to have an amazing time.

She signed up for 4 different sessions and had each session for an hour a day the 3 middle days of camp.  Her favorite was canoeing (making Daddy W. very happy).  She was most excited about it because at the end of camp all the kids were taught how to tip their canoe so they would know how to get back inside.  She also did a low ropes course where each day they had a team building activity (cross the swamp with logs, fill a bucket that has holes in it), a kitchen science class (they made glow-in-the-dark Jello and homemade ice cream).  Her final course was a game called Gau Gau, played in a small arena with a large tennis ball.  She's played it before and really loves it.

E spent her week in a 10 girl cabin and made several new friends.  Each night they had a campfire where they sang songs, told stories and did skits.  When she got off the bus this morning, her little voice was completely hoarse from singing and shouting all the way back home.  And throughout the rest of today she's continued to share her songs (especially Moose, Moose).

It is sometimes difficult to get her to tell me about what she's been up to, how her day at school was etc.. so I didn't have high hopes that she'd share a lot about camp with me.  I was pleasantly surprised at her willingness and excitement about sharing some of her stories.  She had an amazing time, and can't wait to go back next year.

Cousin Week

Last week Cousin Will spent the week with us.  We actually spent the whole first half of July with Will.  Several days in his hometown (were the in-laws also live), then a few days with his whole family here at Wallace South.  Finally his folks and younger sister returned home leaving W with us for a week.  I decided that we'd just pack the week with as many things as possible.  We wanted to introduce him to our household traditions and activities.  Honestly I'm surprised any of us were still walking by the end of the week we packed so much stuff in.

We started the week with a visit to our favorite summer place -- King's Dominion.  He's a thrill seeker, all 44" of him.  He absolutely loved everything we got to ride, which included 2 full fledged roller coasters.  I'm pretty certain he would've ridden the most extreme of them all if he'd had another 12" tacked onto him.  E & J had a great time showing him all their favorite rides and taking turns sitting with him.

Tuesday was one of our slower days in which we went to a movie (Despicable Me 2) and spent the afternoon splashing in the lake.  W is a true water baby and I'm pretty sure he would've spent the whole week splashing at the lake if we'd had the time.

Wednesday the morning was spent building houses for Despicable Me toys (thanks McD's) our of paper, ribbon, cardboard, legos, you name it.  You think OK, an hour or so of this...nope this took about 3 hours.  That allowed them to save up for an afternoon of bouncing at our of our local favorite bouncy places.

That evening provided another chance to indoctrinate W to a Wallace South tradition.   We have Kids' Cook night every couple of weeks.  W LOVED it.  He invented his own blended drink (frozen raspberries, blueberries a sliced apple and cranberry juice).  And it was awesome.  He helped Uncle T. prepare dinner.  He measured and smelled spices and other ingredients.  When T hollered for help he was the first one in the room.  Now W is a pretty picky eater and he did a great job trying the soup we made, even though it wasn't something he'd normally try at all.

Thursday brought us to a park with a super cool wooden playground.  It was a little warm, but the kids ran and played for several hours.  They we took W to find his first Geocache.  We explained that we were looking for a treasure and he was hooked.  The one we were able to find wasn't very large and didn't have any swag, but he thought it was just the coolest thing.

Friday brought rain and another movie, but it also brought Grandma from home.  Saturday we finally got our planned trip to the peach orchard and one more Geocache.

What I notice when I look back at the things we did last week is not only how much we did, but that it's really things we've always loved to do.  I let the kids complain me into sedation sometimes.  I don't want to go.  It's too hot.  I'm really busy with my game.  I'm too tired.  Do we need to do all of these things in one week -- nope.  Not sure we could handle that again (I'm still recovering from last week).  But should we geocache more -- definitely.  It it worth the hour to drive to the super cool playground -- yep.  Are fresh picked peaches amazing -- certainly.

So thanks W, for coming down and visiting.  We had an awesome time.  And thanks for reminding me that there's so much more to do out there.  It doesn't have to be expensive and bells and whistles.  Just time together.  

Athlete

It would seem that the smallest of us all has a natural talent for just about anything athletic.  It becomes clearer every day how much of a natural athlete Erin is.  The only organized sport that she plays is soccer, and we only do that on a purely Parks & Rec level.  This is largely due to time constraints.  You see, this natural athlete also loves anything music or drama as well as Girl Scouts, church activities....you name it.

Erin's abilities at soccer are quite natural, yet she over thinks much of the game.  She knows when to be where, but tries to remember so hard that Coach Daddy says, "Pass The Ball" to everyone else that she tends to pass the ball a little too quickly.  She's played wing for several seasons, but when placed on defense a few times this season, she quickly took to that position as well.  Knowing how to keep the opponent to the outside, when to challenge for the ball, what angle to take to cut him off.  Did we teach her any of that?  Nope, she just figured it out.

Last summer Erin and I trained for the 4-Miler here in the 'ville.  Well, we started training again this morning. I have continued to run throughout the year on and off.  I trained for a 5K back in April.  I made Erin go on 2 training runs with me.  We ran together and she beat me in that race.  She even finished 2nd in her age group.  At school at the end of the year she got a "fastest dragon award" for completing a mile in 9:16.  Today we headed out with a group of ladies for a 2.5 mile run.  Erin took off, and I reminded her (since she hasn't run since April) that she shouldn't go too fast.  That was the last I saw of her.  She was gone and clocked her 2.5 miles in under 24 minutes.  I was proud of my 26 minutes (keeping myself under a 10 min pace!!).

Erin apparently also has a gift for about any sport she tries.  Basketball?  When she asks to shoot around at the gym she typically makes 6 of 10 shots she takes.  Does she know any rules of the game?  Not really, but she can shoot the ball.  Gymnastics?  We haven't done any tumbling since she was 6.  Still some friends were doing round-offs at recess one day and she wanted to try.  She now excels at them (and can still do her back bends from a stand) enough that her friend's sister keeps asking if Erin wants to do Cheer with them (no, we don't have time).

There are times I think we should take more advantage of her athletic abilities, but also I know that when she gets pushed, Erin tends to push back.  Clearly these things are nothing more than fun for her.  I don't want to make it less fun.  We need to keep more fun in our lives.  We are so busy with all the other activities that she's not willing (nor should she want) to give up to focus on athletics.  So we will keep running, playing soccer, shooting baskets and tumbling as well as singing, dancing, acting, playing piano etc...

I'll make sure to let you know how badly she beats me in the 4-Miler late this August!!

Biking and Growing...

Jeffrey has recently been complaining that we don't live in a neighborhood with friends nearby.  I think he wants a cul-de-sac type neighborhood.  One where he can ride across the street or two houses down and hang out with a friend.

This spring, even before he got his bike for his birthday, Jeff and Erin had been riding their bikes near the house.  I love that they are enjoying riding their bikes, but understand Jeff's desire to want friends other than his sister to ride around with.

There are other kids in the development.  Not many, and not the exact same age as E and J, but close enough.  A few weeks ago there was a knock on the door, and 2 boys (who had been walking up the street with their bikes a few nights earlier) wanted to know if Jeff and Erin were able to 'come out and play.'  Specifically they wanted kids to come out and ride bikes.  I hesitated a minute and then realized that I needed to let them go a little bit.  Jeffrey ran up and got his cheap watch from Easter and we agreed on 30 minutes as a check-in time.  And 30 minutes later, they were right back on the doorstep.

We did set up some ground rules.
1:  They must make each check-in time or that's the end of the biking for the day.
2:  They must stay together.
3:  They may not go into the house of a new friend if we do not know the parents.
4:  They cannot leave the neighborhood.
5:  They can't swim at the beach without us.

This has continued almost every day since then.  The kids will ride up to a friend's house see if he wants to ride around (or often go play at the beach).  So far we've only had a few infractions.  They tried with just one of them checking in (breaking rule 2).  They've also missed one or two check-ins, but never by more than 10 minutes.

It's a big step for me to let them out and about.  I'm praying that they make good decisions.  I'm reassured that one of the other moms will occasionally call to see if "so-and-so" is here (so I know there are other moms looking out for them too).

So kids, keep making good decisions.  Keep having fun.  Keep making new friends.  And I guess....keep growing up (there's nothing I can do to stop it anyway).

Behind

Oh I got behind again.  I never even posted pictures from Erin's birthday.  Or her school play where she was Ka the snake.  May seems to have gotten away from with me, and here we are almost half way through June.

We have certainly been busy.  We had 2 long and wonderful weekends of Annie.  Weekends packed with soccer tournaments, festivals, races, trips to King's Dominion.  Erin had a spa sleepover birthday party.  We spent a day in Winchester doing some Geocaching.  We've been a busy bunch, and enjoyed it.  

We've hit summer break.  Today was our first day of summer vacation and it rained most of the day.  We headed to the gym at a reasonable hour.  Met Tom for lunch at a local sushi place (where Jeff inhaled his California and cucumber rolls).  Then we took in a movie at the local dollar theater.  I've been promising to take Erin to see Oz the Great and Powerful.  The kids really enjoyed it although Jeffrey tried to snuggle on my lap when he got frightened.  He's getting a little big for that and doesn't really fit on my lap any more.
So here are a few pictures to tide you over until I get my act together to post again.

Erin and her BFF Sierra at the Spa Sleepover

Jeff leading us to the next Geocache

With one of the Peanuts gang at King's Dominion

Erin and mommy at King's Dominion

Last day of school treat from mom and dad

Sushi lunch with dad on first weekday of vacation

Packing it all in...

We tend to be one busy family.  The kids both love their activities, and are often disappointed that we can't fit in more than we do.  But, yesterday was an example of why we don't try to do even one more thing.  Just for a point of reference the kids activities include:

Black Box community theater (rehearsal 2 nights a week - 4 shows a year)
Scouting -- both Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts
Soccer
Piano Lessons -- Erin
Church
After school church program -- Erin
School and school drama club

So yesterday was one of those days where everyone must have had their scheduling calendar highlighted as "let's plan this for today".

We are in the closing weekend of Annie with Black Box Players.  The whole family is involved in this and we are in 3 shows a weekend for 2 weekends.  Grandma and Grandpa W came down to visit for a late birthday celebration and to see Annie.  Friday night was a wonderful show but a late night.  Jeff fell asleep in the car on the ride home, but the excitement of hanging with Grandma and Grandpa was too much for Erin who didn't fall asleep before 11:30.

Saturday morning we awoke to rain and mist.  There was a soccer tournament scheduled for the morning and we wondered for a bit if it would be canceled, but the rain never really picked up and by 10:30 we were headed to the soccer fields.  In true tournament style our team rallied and played hard, winning our first 2 games!  That put us in the final of the tournament, scheduled to begin at 2:20.  Stage 2 of the day (piano recital) was slated to start at 3:40 about 50 minutes away.  The final began a few minutes early, and unfortunately our Gold Dragons were pretty spent and lost to a rested and well organized Red team.  Still, both Wallace Dragons played hard.  Jeff's goal saves in the first half were fantastic and Erin stepped into a defensive role (away from her usual wing position) in second half and created some havoc in the backfield.  By the end of the game both kids were completely spent and covered in mud from head to toe.

Taking a corner kick!

We quickly piled into the van and headed south to Erin's piano recital.  I'd thought ahead enough to pack her music and recital dress as well as a damp washcloth and towel so she could clean up in the car while we headed south.  We got to the recital right on time, and rushed downstairs to the bathroom to get changed and fix up her soccer hair.  (I did forget to pack other clothing for Tom, Jeff or I though so Jeff had to sit in his wet, muddy soccer clothes through the recital).  Erin played beautifully and confidently.  We were so proud of her at her first recital.

With her close friends after her recital!

Recital ended and we had just enough time to ask Siri for the location of the nearest restaurant to find a bite to eat.  Turned out to be a little Mexican joint with decent food and good service as well as good margaritas.   We wolfed down some food and rushed to call time for Annie.  As usual the 90 minutes before a show are hectic.  There are lots of people running around, little changes to be made, costumes to get into, pictures to take, etc...

Using her makeup kit to do her own stage makeup

My Apple seller.

Annie has been an awesome show, and Saturday night was no different.  The house was packed and the energy on stage was fabulous.  Afterwards we decided to head out for some pizza with some friends.  The poor kids were excited to go hang with friends, but crashed quickly.  It was after midnight when we left, and Erin was asleep




 in the car before we got 5 miles down the road.

It was a long, crazy and hectic day.  But I would trade a second of it for anything else.

Double Digits!

My beautiful,

10.  How is it already 10 years?  It feels like just yesterday I was snuggling my baby girl.  Looking at that dark brown hair and beautiful dark eyes.  And now you’re 10 years old.  I don’t think I’m ready for this.
 

You are a beautiful, sensitive, caring, loving young woman.   You asked me in the car the other night if someone can have too many friends.  As long as you treat them with respect and caring, you certainly can’t have too many friends.  And you treat everyone you meet with that respect.  So you have an abundance of friends. 

You make those friends with all your activities.  You are one busy lady.  Between school, Black Box, Girl Scouts, soccer and church you have ample opportunity to make new friends.  And you love all of your activities.  You are a great student and love school (although tests stress you out).  Your Black Box folks are more like family than friends.  In soccer you are growing stronger and more confident with each season - -last week you scored 2 goals!!  And in church you love to serve as acolyte or sing with us in the choir.

And you want to do more.  You started piano lessons, and some of my favorite times of day are when I get to listen to you practice.  You hear music in such an amazing way and make that flow from your voice and fingers it seems with ease.  You want to try out for travel soccer, you do plays at school as well as Black Box, and you go on runs with mommy (and on a regular basis beat her in whatever race we are running together).  You have a passion in you for just about everything you attempt.  And that passion is beautiful. 

You are growing up so quickly.  You want your hair long, and like to do it on your own.  You asked for your very own makeup kit for Christmas.  You would rather go on a sleepover with a friend than hang for a movie night with mom and dad.  You paint your nails and listen to pop music on your iPod.  You are no longer my baby girl. 

Just don’t grow up too fast.  Don’t forget how much I love you.  Don’t lose your passion for life (even though it can sometimes get in the way when things don’t go quite exactly as planned).  And remember, you are beautiful inside and out.

Things You Do on Your 8th Birthday

Sitting with his presents

We had a great family day on Sunday for Jeffrey's Birthday.  On Saturday, Tom took him and a friend to a local indoor water park.  This is a pretty awesome place with several large slides, a lazy river, a climbing structure, and even a "surfing" station.  Erin and I would normally go along, but we'd have to donate a kidney each to get us all in for the afternoon (that type of fun don't come cheap) so we spent Saturday finishing the birthday preparations.

We woke to one Jeff home with his friend still here, and Erin at a sleepover.  Jeff ordered a "meat" breakfast so we had bacon, sausage and eggs.  My arteries are just now starting to open back up. We switched kids back at church, and then after church came home to prepare for the gift giving.

Here it is in photo -- the rest of Jeffrey's day.

Good Morning Birthday Boy!

Morning Legos from Aunt Robyn and Uncle Jeff!

Woah, Presents!

Help From Dad with New REAL Bow

Bow and Arrows!!

Sweet!  New Bike from Grandma & Grandpa and Mom & Dad

This Looks So Cool!!

Mom made cupcakes

Sundae for dessert at Red Robin!

Finishing the night taking care of "Sandy" at Annie rehearsal!!

And finally, here is the updated slideshow with new music.  I promise, this one is more interesting -- same pictures but more fun with music.

My Baby Boy is 8!!

Happy Birthday baby boy.  Oh, how you’re growing up.  Much too fast.  So much faster than mommy wants you to.

There is so much about you to love.  The silly things you do.  That fact that you will walk around for days with a homemade hat on your head, or with red footie pajamas wrapped around your head calling them your Thneed.  And you are so confident in yourself that no one even gives you a second look – as if you have red pajamas wrapped around your head.

You are still so caring and sympathetic for your friends.  You want them to have good days and to be happy.  It makes you sad when your friends are down.   You spend recess sitting on a bench with a friend who needs to talk.  You make little notes and presents for your sister when she has had a long day. 

Your creativity is endless.  There are Lego vehicles all over the house.  A Lego guys with mix-matched outfits but are perfect if your eyes.  Your Star Wars guys have elaborate battles with distinct rules.  And even with your electronics you love games that let you build things.

There are so many new things that you have tried this year.  In the fall you decided you wanted to be goalie in soccer.  You were nervous at first, but have developed into a wonderful and confident goalie.  You asked to sing a solo in C’ville Idol and smiled all the way through “Rainbow Connection.”  You love grown up strategy board games.

 In March you auditioned for the high school’s production of Peter Pan, and spent the next 6 weeks making best friends with high school students.  You didn’t need mommy to wait through rehearsal for you and told daddy he could just “leave now, “ because your friends were there.  And you had the time of your life. 

But there are still days when you are my baby boy.  When we snuggle together watching survivor.  When you sneak into bed in the middle of the night.  When I see you in the hall at school and you run up and give me a hug, refusing to let me go.  You dress your teddy bear in your old baby clothes.  And you still give the sweetest “best kisses” ever.

Don’t grow up too fast ok buddy? 

My apologies to those who look forward to the annual birthday slideshow.  I have prepared one for Jeffrey, but all social media is removing the music from it (copyright issues, first time I've had things removed because of it).  I'm sharing the silent version from YouTube and hope that next week I'll find a solution to the problem.