Invasion of the British Soccer Hooligans!

Gavin had his soccer camp today. I signed him up for a Challenger soccer camp months ago, where all the coaches are Brits and its all pretty well organized.  The only day he wasn't feeling it was Wednesday, when I was home. But he did really well and held his own against kids who were a year older.  He's already excited for next year.  He's been busy in swimming lessons as well, and has been paddling around and dunking in the water like a fish.  

Annah enjoyed soccer too.  It was apparently a little difficult for Ryan to hold her back.  She went up to the coaches once and started dribbling the ball.  

Gavin continues to impress me with his memory and insight.  He asked Ryan why we bought the sandwich cheese that we always get.  "it's gross" was the assessment.  When Ry asked why it was gross, Gavin recounted an incident a year ago when Ani was spitting up everything that went into her mouth, which included that cheese, which led to a reflex vomiting episode for Gavin.  Apparently he was also eating that cheese.  Funny how she loves it now....

He's also a pretty sensitive guy.  Lucky is the lady he will someday marry.  We were talking before bed one night, and he asked when he was going to get older than me.  Which led to a conversation about how you always stay older than someone, and I was going to get older.  Tears came to his eyes as he told me he didn't want me to get old, I should stay exactly the same.  Oh ache, my heart.  He was comforted when I told him that his Baba was my age when I was Gavin's age.  Apparently his Baba is not as old as the hills.

Annah continues her Reign of Chaos in our house.  She has discovered the fun of opening up kitchen drawers, taking things out of those drawers, and crawling inside.  She also likes to do a little dance after she opens them.  If you'd like to try the Ani Dance, just squat down, clench your fists, and twist your upper half back and forth.  It'll be sweeping the nation soon.

There was a decisive lack of non soccer hooligan pics this week.  So here is the only other pic I've got of the kids in a combine at our local farm.  They both know what a combine is.  I'm not sure how that makes me feel...

Status post camping

We survived our camping weekend.  It actually went pretty well, and we slept at least 6 hours, which is pretty commendable.  We got a new sleeping situation for Annah, which is a little zip-up tent for babies, not unlike a soft dog crate.  Ani was a little wild.  Camping with a 20 month old child is not unlike camping with an inebriated monkey, which, at least for me, paints a pretty vivid picture....

This is a picture of Annah after s'mores. Or maybe the thing that ate Ani.

"Ani's not here right now!"

We went on a hike.  Gavin spotted a pheasant, or as he called it, a chicken.  It actually looked a lot like a chicken.  I probably would have said the same thing.  And we swam in a crystal clear lake and managed a 10 minute canoe ride. It would have been longer, but my daughter was trying to throw herself over the bow.

Speaking of, both the kids are doing great with swimming.  Gavin has been really starting to swim independently.  He actually does better with his head under the water.  Ani jumps off the dock and prefers if you let her fall under the water before catching her.  

Not a Loch Ness sighting.  This is Gavin.

Gavin starts soccer this week.  First exposure.  Should be interesting.  I'll be sure to update next week.  Gavin's favorite quotes to me this week have been: "Mommy, why are you so furry?" and "Mommy, your belly looks big today."  we are gong to work on his gentleman communication skills.

Go Daddy-O!

There has been an exciting new development in our house.  Ryan has changed careers.  He is now going to be vice principal of FOUR schools in Richmond, Maine.  He will be covering two very tiny elementary schools, and a junior high-high school combo.  We are really excited.  I will be hopefully decreasing my clinical hours by four a week to get home earlier with the kids since he'll be a bit busier.  The district he is working in is rather innovative, and their learning system is one that he is very interested in.  

We have been doing a to of visiting lately.  This past weekend, we drove down to Andover, MA to visit my cousin and his family.  The kids had a great time playing in the pool, and my cousin's in-laws worked with Gav on his swimming.  He made a bit of a breakthrough, which was very nice, especially since the last time in the pool he was crying and screaming hysterically.  It was a refreshing change of heart on his part with regards to the water.  This is a picture of Gav and his cousin Lavi:

My grandmother on my Mother's side also came to visit.  This I also find impressive, since she is 86 and traveling independently, let alone at all, is not something everyone her age does.  She survived the Children's Museum, and I captured this little gem as we left the pizza place:

Ani has been getting cuter daily, which is rather disgusting and cliche of me to say, but it is, unfortunately for us, true.  I caught her feeling her cracker to her stuffed kitty the other day.  Then on the way home from a late night out the other day, she was Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Chooing the whole way home.  She and Gav have also been playing together a lot, and he likes to play the big brother and hold her hand.  For those of you who have not read it, this is the first rule outlined in How to Make Your Mommy Cry (In a Good Way): Guaranteed Results.  

We went to fireworks at our neighbor's house the other night.  That was the first time either one has experienced fireworks, and both were a little scared at first, but I think they enjoyed it.  Gav said as too loud, and a "little scary." That child has become rather philosophical.  He asked tonight what made it different when people got married.  I'm not sure exactly what spurred that question, but it came right after we were discussing how I had portrayed myself as "outdoorsy" before we got married, which Ryan felt was misleading.  Gavin also asked about the debate regarding the health care law, and why people wanted it or didn't want it.  I'm grooming my child to be an NPR dork.  That way he won't need to worry about dating until he is 30.

Below are some other random photos from our very random life.  We are going camping way "up north" tomorrow, so the next blog post should be interesting.  Be sure to check! Now that I've built it up, hopefully the bears won't eat us, which would prevent a post submission...

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

We are currently headed back from our family beach vacation on the Delaware Beach.  We had a fabulous time staying at a beach house and playing in the sand.  We saw many dolphins, a few stingrays, tons of beach crabs, a horseshoe crab, and the wild horses on Assateague Island.  It was a great trip.  The surf was impressive, and Annah Showed the ocean who was boss by plopping herself right down in the waves and howling with delight every time she got bowled over.  She even started to make off toward the sea with a boogie board, but we stopped her before she could hit the open ocean.  We stayed with friends who have a little boy a year younger than Gavin and a little girl 6 months younger than Ani, do they had playmates, though there were a few rough patches.  But overall, it was really smooth.  

Ani has a few new phrases.  Her favorite one is "Don't want it", which can be applied to just about any situation.  It actually sounds more like "Don WAH nit!" but the meaning comes across quite clearly.  She also has another "no" phrase, and we are not really sure what she is saying but it sounds like "no money", which, coming from her mouth, sounds like the matron of a Chinese gambling den.  "No Ma-NEE!" 

Gavin has had a great time on our trip.  His favorite thing was a water park which was geared toward younger kids. He asked to go back before we physically left the water park. He has been pretty sleep deprived, but his explanation as to why this is okay is that he has been eating spinach.  So there, mom.  he spent the last night sleeping out under the stars on a deck on a reclining chair.  It was a putty nice way to top off the trip, while listening to the surf.  

They both start at their new "school" (daycare) on Monday, and Gavin is pretty excited.  He has told me that he is going to learn lots of new things.  He told me that the YMCA taught him how to play, but now he is going to learn.  I hope he stys like that.  He is currently going through a "why" phase.  There's lots of "why do I like this?", and "Why is my toy this color?", "Why is it plastic?", and "Why is plastic strong and why is everything plastic?" I never realized how much I don't think about things and our conversations tend to be a bit philosophical.  

I'm including some pictures of our trip today, hope you enjoy them.  The other kids in the pictures belong to our friends.  Not us.