Summer 2012

We're hanging out right now watching Karate Kid 2 (the one from the 80s) on Netflix because it's a rainy day and we can't go out on the boat. Rough life, huh!

Conner had his last baseball game today - they lost 5-4, which was disappointing, but it was nice to go out with a good game. He had a great year and we're really proud of how hard te played every time he got on that field. Conner acquired a love for playing catcher and did an amazing job (if I do say so myself!).

Audrey played softball for the first time and got the hang of it by the end of the season. While she still doesn't run from one base to another (it's more of a slow jog), she did a great job of stopping the ball and throwing it to first base. She also had some nice hits (off of the coach pitched balls) and hardly had to use the tee by the end of the season.

We bought a ski boat late spring and have spent many a weekend afternoon on the river with our friends. Conner's tried skiing a couple of times (got up once!), the kids have done a lot of tubing, and we had fun with a friend's kneeboard last weekend, too.

Audrey's really excited about being a kindergartner this fall. We went out this week and got all of her school supplies; she's been carrying around her new bag (didn't want a backpack and got a messenger bag instead) ever since. I'm afraid we'll have to get new supplies again before school starts next month because she's worn these out! Conner's not as excited but does enjoy school once he's there. He had a good 2nd grade year, especially after we consulted with a doctor and made some adjustments for him in the spring. He's been a much nicer, more mature kid since then!

We've had a great summer so far; aside from the boat we've spent a lot of time at Coney Island with friends and this week hung out at Kings Island a couple of days. Audrey is about an inch and a half away from being able to ride the big stuff (Vortex, Racers, Beast!). They're growing up so quickly!

Our Florida trip

We had a really nice trip to visit Eric's folks (aside from the loooong drive!).  It took about 13 hours to get there; we ended up leaving Sunday (Christmas) around 6:45 and got to their place at 8:00 am Monday morning. Eric drove most of the way - he gets a little crazy like that! The kids are awesome travelers. They both slept most of the way there and were watching movies on their little dvd players the rest of the time. On the way back we broke it up into two days and stopped just north of Atlanta at a hotel. Still, even with 6 - 7 hours in the car both days, we only had to make one stop per trip to go potty and get food and gas for the car.

The weather wasn't awesome, but it was still warmer than at home!  We made it to see some manatees, some crocodiles, went to a beach called Siesta Key which is so nice (the kids got in the water even though they were wearing their shorts... luckily I actually thought ahead for once and brought them both a change of clothes!).  We also spent a day at Legoland, which Conner adored.  There were some really neat Lego creations; one area, called Miniland, had lots of different cities represented.  Some of the recreations of the Washington DC buildings were amazing! They also had Las Vegas, Miami, NASA, Hollywood.  That was Eric's favorite part.  My favorite was the fireworks in the evening. They gave out free (!) 3-d glasses so that when you looked at the fireworks you could see legos coming out of them!  So cool. It's a small amusement park really geared towards 3 - 9 year olds, so the kids had a ball. Audrey rode all of the roller coasters (and there were some good size ones!) with her hands up in the air the whole time; she's not scared of a thing!  (Unless it's a little puppy like we saw last night at a friend's house!)

Eric's folks really live in a nice area. There are 3 golf courses, 3 outdoor pools (and 2 indoor) and 2 big clubhouses with all kinds of activities. They bought a golf cart to ride around in - they can even take them out of the neighborhood to get to some of the stores and restaurants that are close.  It's going to be awesome for them to be there but hard for us to have them so far away.

Exams are next week at school - I can't believe we're halfway through the year already!  And yet I'm ready for summer!  My classes are all going well; it's so nice to not have a "bad" one this year. Of course I have those students that I could really do without, but they haven't been able to ruin a class like they can.  I always like exam week because of an altered schedule and not much to do on my part. Two of my exams are ready to go and the other I just need to edit a bit.  I'm hoping to take advantage of the free time and get my next book club book read - we chose Eragon (by Christopher Paolini) which is a young adult book but everyone's seemed to like.  Next month is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (by Ransom Riggs) and I've got that ready should I get through Eragon.  I've been reading a lot of Lee Child lately, who writes mystery/crime novels. Definitely a change for my normal!

Conner's got a basketball game tonight - it's been quite an experience with the boys!  I'm coaching (because no one else stepped up) and it's really shown me why I wouldn't want to be an elementary teacher. The noise! The energy! The fighting/hitting!  Oh my goodness.  They are fun, though, and Conner's liked having me as coach. I'm just hoping that I haven't committed myself to doing this every year!

I'm going to attach some pictures from our day at Legoland - they really make me wish it was summer!  Although with beautiful blue skies and temps in the 50s today I really can't complain.

Merry Christmas!

We've had a nice day so far.  We were at Mom and Dad's yesterday (drove up there on Friday afternoon) and made it back just in time for church last night, then went to Outback for dinner afterwards.  By the time we got home the kids were super tired and ready for bed and went to sleep pretty quickly. Eric and I made sure that everything was ready for today (which included him fixing our dryer; we'd discovered on Friday just before leaving for Pickerington that it wasn't working) and headed to bed relatively early. I figured the kids would wake us up at the crack of dawn wanting to open presents!

You can imagine my surprise when it wasn't until 8:30 that they came in... Conner is typically a super early bird (up between 6 and 7) but he slept until after 7, then went into Aud's room to wake her up and read her some books. She also told me that they were having a tea party, too - it's so nice to see them playing well together (especially when at times they pick over the littlest things!).  We headed downstairs to see if Santa had come and despite some of their previous bad behavior, he made it!  Eric had broken a handle on the door of our fireplace last night and I left a note from Santa apologizing - the kids really got a kick out of that!  

The only thing Audrey had asked Santa for was some "princess chapstick" (she was so easy to buy for this year!) and Conner had gotten his special present from Mom yesterday (a remote control helicopter) so Santa didn't bring all that much... then under our tree were some other little things (Legos for Conner, which he adores, a music player and speaker for Audrey, amongst other things). They each had a "Santa Shop" at school where they could do some shopping of their own. Aud bought me some of the ugliest earrings I've ever seen and it looks like I'll have to wear them out at some point!  Later she said that her "second favorite" thing from this morning was seeing me open the earrings.  Guess we have to teach this girl some fashion sense!  Her first favorite was the Panda Pillow Pet that Uncle Andy sent from California - he really does a nice job with presents for the kids.  Although they usually involve some sort of noise (like the little electronic drum thing he just sent for Conner).

After we'd finished unwrapping I pulled out an envelope for each of the kids. Last night I put together 5 clues for each of them to lead them around in search of their last present.  Both kids were upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen, and then outside to reach the final thing.  Audrey found her new princess bike in the little playhouse outside and Conner found a 4-wheeler (!) out back under the deck.  He and Eric (who I think is actually more excited about the purchase than Conner is!) have already been out for a long ride.  It's so nice to have the land that we do and generous neighbors who don't mind the boys playing on their land, too!  We're getting ready now to pack the kids' bikes over to a park nearby so that Audrey can try hers out. Because of the hills it's tough to find a good place to ride around here, especially when you're not the strongest rider yet (Aud).

Later on this afternoon/evening we're heading out for the week. Eric's parents bought a house down in Sun City Center, Florida (close to Tampa) and have moved there permanently (which really kills my back-up babysitter options!). The plan is to drive through the night to get down there tomorrow and then stay for several days. We'll probably start back on Saturday and make a stop on the way home at a hotel.  We don't have any big plans while we're down there - we thought about checking out Busch Gardens but it's just so expensive and we'll probably save that for a trip this summer.

Going to try and make my next update in < 6 months. :)