Hilton Head 2012

We just returned from our 5th annual Hilton Head beach week, a trip that has become a wonderful tradition for us. We picked up Molly from her dance recital Saturday afternoon and headed for the beach

Thankfully the initial weather forecast of rain every day didn't hold up, and we enjoyed some mild weather and lots of sun toward the end of the week. We spent a substantial amount of money playing putt-putt golf and arcade games! This golf course had nets stationed along the course to use to fish your ball out of the water, which the kids used a lot.

Josh, Abbey, Molly

Molly takes a new approach to swimming every year, and this year she became some kind of ocean maniac. After her first swim at the beach, which appeared to be enough to get her acclimated to the waves, she wanted to swim on her own (with a life vest). I had to pull her kicking and screaming out of some rough surf on the last day because she didn't want to leave. 

Rare photo with everyone looking at the camera

Thankfully this year we did not have any issues with bikes running into cars or cars running into trees. I provided all of the calamity, falling over twice on my road bike, once on the edge of a busy intersection. I have a giant bruise on my backside to show for it. I'm sure I gave all of the drivers stopped at the light something to laugh about on their way to work that morning.

Emily, 16 months, and Mom

Molly, Elizabeth, Abbey

Molly is very serious about posing with Emily,
while Josh looks like someone just popped him on the rear end!

Celebrating summer family birthdays on our last night

Cub Reporters

I used to try and get babysitters or pawn the kids off on a friend when I had to work, but lately I've just decided to take the kids with me. People don't seem to mind the kids around, so in the spirit of trying new things, they are now my official assistants. It actually helps to have extra hands to hold notebooks, pens and my camera.

The kids and I have had some very interesting experiences in the past month! There are two trips I unfortunately don't have pictures of, the most notable a pet healthcare event in a questionable neighborhood where people were lined up around a parking lot with their dogs, primarily pit bulls. Josh and I almost got in the middle of a fight between two dogs that got off their leashes, and he got to see a bit of the perilous side of reporting!

This week we've already made a visit to an artist's studio, where Josh (and I) got to learn about encaustic painting, and have taken a tour a library. In the picture above, we were stationed on the course of a 5K for elementary school boys that ended in a baseball stadium. I was a bit horrified when Molly decided to use the dugout's bathroom, but the kids seemed to enjoy the afternoon. Josh even decided he'd like to try running a 5K himself after seeing some kids from his school in the race.

The best part about our library visit today was that after our tour, Josh agreed to sign up for the library's summer reading program and learned how to use the electronic check-out system himself.

Next week, the whole family is going with me to cover a bluegrass church. Hopefully it will be the first of many adventures on the job this summer!

End of the school year

 

The school year came to a quick end this year! Molly finished preschool in late May, and what I thought would be a bittersweet ending to preschool for our family was not bittersweet at all! We're excited about her going to kindergarten next year, and I am very happy that my days will no longer be fragmented into dropping off and picking up kids every few hours. Molly had a great year at her new preschool, and now we are heading into a loooong summer.

 

Her preschool ended with a program for parents, and here Molly is giving me the "stop taking my picture, Mom" as she walks to the front of the church. The kids sang a few songs, and then all of the families had a picnic outside the church.

Josh finished second grade two weeks later, and we made sure to check that the "promoted to third grade" box was checked on his report card he brought home on the last day of school! Second grade is a bit of a wasteland as his school -- all second grade classroom are in trailers outside the main school building, so we're looking forward to Josh and his peers rejoining the rest of the school next year. He made a lot of progress in second grade, most notably learning to be a good sport in kickball and writing in cursive. 

Next up was Molly's dance recital, which brought an end to an excruciating year of dance lessons. Molly decided around Christmas that she no longer wanted to take dance, but because the dance school cleverly charges you $120 for the recital costume and "fee" in early December, we were committed to finishing out the year. I have employed many forms of bribery to get her to go to class without crying, and I will be relieved not to have to endure dance class drama every week anymore! 

Molly is fifth from the left in the line of girls below. She did fine in the recital -- I'm not sure what bothers her so much about dancing, but she's definitely made her opinions clear.

 

Josh and I attended the dress rehearsal and Chris attended the recital. I was thrilled to run into an old college friend as Josh and I were waiting to pick Chris and Molly up after the recital, then a bit mortified when Josh told immediately told my friend (who I haven't seen in at least 10 years) that he "came out of my mom's belly in September 2003." A simple "hi" would have sufficed!

A less miserable Cub Scout campout

I reluctantly agreed to attend the spring Cub Scout family campout, primarily because the weather would be more humane and the campground seemed pretty nice. I admittedly started the trip with a very bad attitude, but thanks to perfect weather and a great state park, I ended up having a lot of fun! And, I got some sleep! 

The park where we stayed had many things for kids to do, including mini golf and paddle boats. The kids were in heaven. Molly turns out to be a pretty good putter -- maybe there's a future for her there.

 

 At this point we had not seen a mirror or a hairbrush in quite a while.

Because it wouldn't be a true campout without the Metzl family providing some entertainment, Josh obliged by getting stuck in the Port-A-Potty while everyone was gathered around the campfire about 20 feet away. We were all treated to his panicked yelling and beating on the walls. Here, the cub master is walking over (he was followed by a pack of kids wanting in on the action) to assist Chris in the rescue. It turns out that only the door was stuck and the "potty" part of the Port-A-Potty was not at issue, and Josh was quickly freed.

Annual $90 Tutu

 

It may be a good thing that Molly has decided she hates dance class, as we hate having to pay $90 each spring for a tutu. Last week was the ceremonial unveiling of the recital dresses, and this year Molly's class got bright yellow. She likes the tutu, but she tells me that some of the dance moves are too complicated for her and she'd rather just take gymnastics next year. My pocketbook thanks her!

 

I also attended Parents Day at the gymnastics center last week, and I got to watch both kids' classes. We should signed these kids up for gymnastics as soon as they could walk! It's a great way to tire them out each week. Here they are with trophies they earned for... attending class this semester.

 

Happy Mother's Day?

I was treated to some very interesting events at the kids' school this year for Mother's Day. The week began with a "Mom's Salon" at Molly's preschool, where we got our nails painted... by 5 year olds. As you'll notice, I have blue glitter nail polish on my right hand and (thankfully) a lighter shade on my other hand. I removed the polish that night, and Molly couldn't understand why!

Josh's class held a "Poetry Breakfast," where all of the kids read aloud poems they had written for their moms. I was a ball of nerves waiting for Josh's turn. Creativity is not really his thing, and I could only imagine what kind of crazy stuff he might have said about me in a poem! Thankfully, his poem was pretty tame and didn't contain lines like "You're my mother/I'm glad you're not my brother" like some other poems did!

The poetry reading was following by a smorgasbord of donuts and cookies. I'm sure the teacher enjoyed herding a bunch of sugared-up kids for the rest of the day!

A visit from Ethan

 

Chris' parents came to visit this weekend and brought Ethan, which was a huge treat for the kids. They played non-stop, and Saturday afternoon we took them to the U.S. National Whitewater Center to watch the Olympic trials in canoeing. Josh was desperate to try to zipline there, but it had a 70 pound minimum weight limit. Instead, he and Ethan tried a smaller zipline that involved a long climb up a net to the start of the line.

Unfortunately for Molly, you have to weigh 45 pounds to do the small zipline. She was quite unhappy about it.

I let her take pictures while we were waiting for Ethan and Josh's turns on the zipline, which cheered her up some. I had to delete a lot of pictures of people's posteriors, since that is about eye level for her. She did get some okay pictures of Josh and Ethan.