Disney

It's not possible to post all 300 pictures that we took - but here are some highlights.



Kids and the castle. I think that was actually one of our last days.


Here we are with Goofy in our Goofy t-shirts. There was also a picture from the back to see the "I'm with Goofy," but I was wearing the backpack and had backpack sweat lines. It was hot most of the time we were there - but only a few days were super hot.



Jacob at the Star Wars ride at Hollywood Studios. Jacob loved the roller coasters. Allison loved the carousel and many of the "dark" rides (It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, Nemo).


Here are the kids at Hollywood Studios.


Spaceship Earth! Epcot was actually a little disappointing, especially since we were looking forward to it. The lines were long and the attractions were so-so. The food was good, though.



Meeting Mickey Mouse!


Jacob loved the Nemo fish sculpture.


Allison loved the princess breakfast at Cinderella's castle. We went the first morning. The breakfast was huge. Allison loved meeting all the princesses.



Brian and the kids in one of the 3D movies. We saw several, some much better than others. Jacob loved them, Allison had mixed feelings.

Bye-bye Tuesday

I think of all the parts of summer, I will miss Tuesdays. Since June, the kids and I have had the same Tuesday morning routine - swimming lessons, coffee/snack downtown, followed by a trip to the library. Sometimes we'll top it off with lunch at Bela's infinite cereal bar, and on really great days we have to swing by the bank which lands the kids a dumdum sucker.

I remember when Allison was a baby I used to scoff at routines. Perhaps it was the barrage of parenting magazine articles about parent-directed scheduling and baby routines which seemed destined to turn you into one of those cookie-cutter, dull, "my Susie is already playing Chopin" parents. Even now, though the YMCA program guide looks so appealing, I hesitate to enroll the kids in more than swimming + one other weekly commitment.

But I think perhaps I was confusing 'routines' with 'schedules.' 'Schedules' are full of stress and now require the computing power of google for me to keep track of what they all entail. Routines, on the other hand, are the neat little predictable things that you learn when you repeat something on a regular basis. For example, my former student works at Brewed Awakenings every other Tuesday. The guy who works every Tuesday now gives the kids a little extra gelato because one day I bought coffee for a women who forgot her wallet. There is a group of older women who have also made Tuesday mornings a coffee/snack time. We run into school friends at the library, and we relish the opportunity to refill the "quiet time" DVD coffers for the week. The kids know what's coming and instantly head off to the "yellow sign" when we come out of the Y. The kids are also usually on good behavior because they know treats, books, and computer time comes when things go well.

When Mom visited in June, she called our Tuesday "very busy." Perhaps it is. Perhaps it's even "scheduled." But I love our Tuesdays. I love our routine. And I will miss it until next summer.

Paddling around

Had a great day today - took the boats over to Hartman Creek for some kayaking. We paddled back to Marl Lake and went swimming with the kids and packed a picnic lunch. The promised 94 degree heat didn't quite show up - which was ok except that the spring-fed lake seemed kindof cold.

Jacob tried out his remote control fishin buddy boat. He launched it for a while from the dock and later he and Allison were running it from the kayaks. He liked it - but we did not tie the fishing hooks to it so I don't know what'll happen if/when it catches a fish.

Two kids were sleeping in the car on the way home. We decided to keep the boats down out of the rafters in the hopes that we'll get in again later this week. It's so nice to paddle along and listen to birds and watch the turtles, geese, fish, and dragonflies.

Back to School, Already?

We went school supply shopping yesterday. I think Allison was excited, and the kids were notably well-behaved in Target. We still need to get gym shoes (which must be left at school) and black expo markers and a 12x18 inch drawing pad. I found 12x16 inch and wondered if that was acceptable - but figured I could try another store before going "non-standard." Last year, the big search was for "bingo-dobbers."

It's weird that next year I'll be buying supplies for two. Fortunately, we don't need to do a lot of clothes shopping this year. I will probably look for some clothes for Allison, but Jacob moved up a size late winter / early spring, most of which still fit.

It still seems early to be school shopping, but next Friday we leave for Disney and then when we come back, Jacob and I go back to school.

Maine

Brian and I managed a get-away sans kids (thanks to Grandma Sue) to Bar Harbor / Acadia National Park in Maine. We packed a lot into our few days there. We had a great time, and maybe in a few years we'll return and bring the kids with us.

We rented bikes one day and rode along the carriage trails in the park to a place called Jordon Pond, which is famous for it's pop-overs. They had very good and exceptionally fresh food - as I got a free meal due to the caterpillar that I found wandering through my salad.

Here's us at the pond with the mountains in the background:


That night we also made reservations to take a sunset sea kayak tour of the harbor. Unfortunately, it rained, so we were very wet.



The next day we explored the some parts of the island recommended by the B&B innkeepers. We found this "you may enter cautiously at low tide" sea cave, which we entered at low tide and both managed to slip and fall in.



Then, not realizing we were choosing the "adventure" parts of the recommended stops, we climbed the Beehive. Here it is from the bottom:


Here it is mid-way up. This was a "ladder" climb, which meant they had graciously anchored metal rungs and ladders along parts of the trail. We still found ourselves clinging to the side in a few places - as you can see the "ladder" in the image. (Erica - I do not know how you rock climb).



Here is us celebrating at the top - where we dined on wild blueberries. Yum.

Reunion

I'm switching between recent and past activities. A few weekends ago, we went to our 15-yr high school reunion. We took the kids to IMSA in the afternoon and they had fun exploring the campus. It seemed to us that fewer things had changed since the last time we were there. The building itself had some fresh paint, but was starting to look like the 25-yr old high school that it was.

Here are the kids:


In the "hamster wheel"


The reunion itself was nice, but not well attended. We got to see some people we were excited to see - but all in all there were only about 40 people there (including spouses). The kids hung out with grandma and grandpa for the night - and had lots of fun doing that. Jacob, in particular, liked the view of the harbor.

Sleep minus 2

Last night we had a BBQ for some of Brian's coworkers. The kids were up late. Do they sleep in? No, of course not (6am). So this was our day with minus two hours of sleep.

First - pottery. The kids are taking a pottery class at the Y. It's for 4-6 year olds, which is perfect because then they can both take it and it fulfills my requirements that Allison be at the older end of the spectrum for age ranges. Last week went pretty well. This week there were more kids and it did not go so well. So I've been requested to stay for the pottery class and help. Bye-bye 45 minutes of quiet book reading time.

Then today was riddled with impulsive behavior from Allison. Like drenching a doll's head in orange juice, throwing a hat and whacking Jacob in the head, and playing a game of Sorry that involved rolling around on the ground in between every turn. What I wish more people understood was that we (as parents) cannot predict nor control behavior on days like this. (trust us - we've tried). There are consequences for her actions that seem appropriate to me - loss of doll and OJ for the day, timeout for 15 minutes in room for hitting, and - well - the last was just a game that went VERY slowly. But not much is really a deterrent. It's more fires and fewer tools in the arsenal.

Today, it wasn't just Allison. Jacob was out of gas by the end of the day, which is his parent/child sports class at the Y. I had to stand in for Brian because I forgot to bring his shoes along. Jacob spent the better part of the class pretending to be a frog. The sport tonight was football. When the teacher asked his favorite football team he said "the blue one." At least he didn't say Packers. He was not as excited about football as he was soccer because he kept trying to kick the football rather than throw it. European football. But it was fun, when it wasn't kindof embarrassing.