After the [really loud] concert today, the kids wanted to have one of their own. The afternoon looked like this:
they even swapped out instruments (think drums, foot drums, trumpets, banjos, cellos) and switched off with the "lead vocals". It was quite an entertaining afternoon. (Actually, it was the concert that wouldn't end… 🙂
Zach got to play in a 2nd and 3rd grade tournament this weekend – 3 games of "real" baseball, including keeping score, dugouts, scoreboards, chalked fields, the whole 9 yards. He was in heaven. Or Iowa. Or maybe just SE Minnesota. Didn't matter… it was a dream come true for him. My favorite parts of the weekend:
Zach was in the outfield his first inning of the first game, and I had to wonder if he'd turn around to face the batter in time… he kept staring up at the lit up scoreboard saying, "A real scoreboard! It shows balls and strikes!! This is SO AWESOME!!!"
They played their last game under the lights – which was also super cool. The game was close and the lead kept changing and the coaches and team really got into it. In the bottom of the last inning with 2 outs and runners on second and first and their team down by 2 runs Zach was up… and he got a hit! (The next batter struck out and they lost, but he didn't care.) We all enjoyed ourselves, and I think it was the highlight of Zach's baseball life.
They are always magical! We will sure miss them when we move next summer! I guess we should stay up late more nights trying to catch them…
One of my absolute favorite things about summer here is the Harmony for Mayo concert series… every Monday there is a 50 minute concert at lunchtime in the Peace Plaza downtown, and we take our lunch and listen. When we first started going years ago, it was in a big grassy area where the kids could run and dance, and at first I didn't like the new location. It has grown on me… and we are back to being regulars on Monday afternoons, watching the bands, the clouds pass by the buildings, and the people stare (and mostly smile) at our little section of the audience.
Looks can be deceiving. From the top, this looks like a regular (though dated) Little Tikes table. Crawl underneath, however, and you will find yourself in "Venturer" – one of the space shuttles in NASA's fleet. In its early years it took Zach into space more times than I could count. Emma has also taken many flights over the years, and lately Carter has caught the space bug, and you could often see his little feet poking out of the table in the much-loved astronaut suit.
The table was taking up a lot of space, however, and since we have 3 other tables in the playroom, it was time for one of them to go. The end of NASA's space shuttle program was the perfect opportunity to retire our shuttle as well, and move the dials, knobs, switches and gages into a 3-man spacecraft headed for the moon, Mars, and beyond. (Yep, under another, larger table.)
On the day Atlantis landed for the last time, my little astronauts took one final voyage in Venturer. They went to the ISS, and made spacewalks to repair tiles on the shuttle and to fix things on the space station. They spent all morning in space – and then Venturer flew them back to earth, one by one. (The un-docking from the space station was classic – and very creative.) The tool kit came out and the "innards" were removed and saved for the next spacecraft.
I was sad to say goodbye, both to the real shuttle program and to our little table. There has always been something magical about space to me – so although the vehicle to get to space has changed, I am glad that astronauts big and small will still be exploring!
4 days of the hottest sustained weather Rochester has seen in a decade. Outdoors at the coach's private pool, up theprivate lane (where you had to park at the bottom and then walk, and walk, and walk…) And of course a 30 min. lesson, then a 30 min. wait, and another 30 min. lesson. Carter deserved every Icee he got that week.
Oh yeah, and Zach and Emma are swimming better than ever! So it was worth it.
Garden then: Meg then: (2 months)
garden now: meg now: (almost 4 months!)
If I didn't have the proof right in front of my eyes, it would be hard to believe that the time has gone so fast!
Carter has a little cold. He occasionally coughs. When it is bedtime and he coughs, even once or twice, then he says over and over and over and over, "I can't stop coughing! I can't… stop… coughing!!" (usually he never coughs at all during the tirade.) I usually offer solutions: Try a drink of water." "Close your eyes for a minute and see if that helps." "Why don't you try snuggling up with Woofy?" "Try to get some sleep! Don't you remember… your body heals when it sleeps!"
Finally, tonight I asked him, "What would you like me to do about it?" (only nicer than it sounds… I actually said it in a really nice voice!)
His reply: "Give me a hug."
Absolutely. Why didn't I think of that.
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