Down By the Stream

We had a beautiful day last Sunday and decided to take the kids for a walk around the lake. It's a bit of a long walk, maybe a couple of miles. Generally the kids are hyper for the first half and then beat for the last 3/4 mile or so. And they always complain when we bring up the idea. "No, I don't waaaannna go for a long walk." So we decided this time not to tell them we were going to walk the lake, and started with, "Let's play outside." Then moved to, "Want to go down to the bridge?" And finally, "Let's walk for a bit. We'll come back."

Since it was so pretty I brought the camera along for the walk. The kids enjoyed 'fishing' in the stream, and Tom gave them a stone skipping lesson at the lake. There was the usual amount of whining about how Loooooong the walk was, but also a good amount of picking up pine cones, pretty stones, wild flowers and spotting geese, doggies, birds etc..

A little vent

OK, time for a little vent. Not really one about the kids though. More about a game.

You see I took Christmas as a time to give Tom family oriented gifts. The kids got him a board game. I got him a new game for the Wii. Since we all like to play the Wii together I picked out a Mini Golf game that looked fun. And it is. It's tons of fun. We all really like it, the kids can play on their own, and I'd say we've already gotten my $40 out of it.

So here's my beef. The game is rated "E" for "everyone". Family game right? Yeah it is. It's quite cute. If you get a par or better on the hole your character does a little dance. The daddy character does these silly things, and generally falls down. The mommy character is somewhat flirty and has cute little dances. The daughter character will twirl her club like a baton, or spin around and fall down. The little boy turns his fingers into 6-shooters and "pows" you. That's my issue. Really? That's all we can find for the little boy? He "pows" me.

I know, I know little boys will be boys. Still, does a mini golf game have to encourage it?

Cool thing about the game is you can earn different clubs to do new tricks. Yesterday the kids were playing and each wanted to get a new club. So Erin got the Dinosaur club, and Jeffrey got the Knight club. It's a golf club that looks like a knight on his horse with his jousting spear out. I figured the trick would be something "knightly". No. Upon achieving a great score on the hole, the young boy wields his knight club like an automatic rifle and "pow pow pows" the competition. He then sheathes his club like a sword. What on earth does that have to do with knights? It really bothers me. More than the 6-shooters with the hands does.

My guy is hyper, and crazy, and refuses to listen but he's also loving, and sweet, and influenced by the things he sees on TV. So today he's taking all his toys and wielding them like automatic weapons. I've explained to him that kind of behavior is not acceptable. We don't "pow" our friends. I expect in a day or two it will wear off. I'll change the club back into the train one that Choo-Choos around the screen, or maybe the fairyland one that makes a silly troll plop down on the screen.

But in a game that's rated "E", and is advertised as "A Hole in Fun", I'm a little disappointed that they couldn't come up with other ways for a little boy to celebrate a good putt than to "pow" the competition.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

We're all in our green today. Even though Erin's been sick the past few days we had to get outside a few minutes and take a couple of pictures wearing our greens. Now to see if they'll eat the corned beef at dinner.

Hello Eleanor

Last weekend (the frozen one, not the warm one) we headed to Baltimore to meet "Uncle" Gary and "Aunt" Suzie's sweet little girl Eleanor. Erin and Jeffrey were very excited about the trip and mom and dad were so happy to finally meet Eleanor. And, she is just so gorgeous. We are all totally in love with her.

Our trip ended up a bit more eventful that we had planned though. About 10 miles from Baltimore, our 'new' van broke down. Tom was able to drive it to Gary's and on Saturday morning they made sure it got to a Kia dealership for whatever work would be needed. Unfortunately they couldn't look at it on Saturday, so we were there until Monday....and then Tuesday...and then Wednesday. Well, not quite. We left on Tuesday in a rental car and I drove back to pick up the Kia on the warm weekend.

What it did give us was some wonderful time with Gary, Suzie and Eleanor. We went to Port Discovery together (one looooong walk but worth it), went out to dinner and of course oogled over the baby. Erin drew countless monkeys for Eleanor and insisted that Gary and Suzie put them in her room and on the fridge. Jeffrey also did his best to draw some pictures of everyone. When Eleanor's daycare closed on Monday due to the snow, we got to spend the day taking care of her while Suzie and Gary got some work done.

So guys, thanks so much for letting us crash a few extra days, and even more thanks for sharing your beautiful daughter.

Here's the picture overload.

Rid'em Cowboy!!

Best Kisses

Snuggle Buddies

Hanging on the mat

Mr. Fish

Last summer it became clear that Jeffrey's "thing" was going to be swimming. Aside from the infant class we took, he's been in love with anything water since he was tiny. Last summer I signed him up for a class and he loved it. So we gave him the option of doing swimming this spring or doing a gymnastics/tumbling class. He jumped all over swimming.

We're taking classes through my gym since it's a little more convenient. It's also a smaller class size. He really loves it, but he does give the instructor a bit of a hard time. He just gets so excited, and wants to sink to the bottom of the pool as often as possible. He still has absolutely no fear. At his last class he was monkey walking along the side of the pool, while holding onto the edge. He decided that wasn't enough fun and simply pushed away from the side.....into 4 feet of water with no instructor within immediate reach. She and I both were able to grab him quick enough and swing him back to the edge, but he only wanted to do it again. So clearly, swimming is essential for him as he has NO FEAR with the water.

Here are a few pictures and a short video of Mr. Fish enjoying swim class.

New York Family Visit

Bad blogging mommy. Things have been nuts, and I just haven't had the time to blog about Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Cousin Will's visit. We had a lot of fun time together. It was nice to just hang out together. We did take off for an afternoon of bowling, a morning walk to the beach and dinner at the German restaurant.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with baby Will. As always Erin loves to help Katie take care of him, especially feeding him. Jeffrey loved helping push his stroller on our walk.

We're so glad that they got the chance to come down and visit for a few days.

Hanging with Cousin Will

Together with Aunt Katie

Snuggles from Grandma

Giving Baby Will a Ride

Our Local Wildlife