Merry May-cember

Have you heard the term May-cember? It's used because May is reminiscent of the stress that we give ourselves around the holidays, what with end of school projects and parties, field trips, teacher appreciation week, Mother's Day, standardized tests, extra-curriculars (swim winding up, soccer and gymnastics winding down) and other end of year recitals, programs, and awards. This year actually wasn't too hectic for us, so Hadley decided to ramp it up with a visit from the Tooth Fairy! We think this tooth was wiggling for about two months, so we were glad to see it finally come out.

Then the kids kicked off the last week of school with a practice swim meet. It started at 6pm and went on into the dark hours of the night. At least Hadley was done and in bed close to her regular time, but Owen had to stay way past bedtime for breaststroke and butterfly heats. They have done so well, considering that neither had ever swam 25m continuously or considered timing or racing before, and Owen even picked up two new strokes this year! They are amazing and dedicated to go to practice and improve daily.

They did well for their first swim meet ever, but they left a lot of room for improvement through the rest of the season. For example, Owen started doing freestyle during his breaststroke race; there is so much to remember! Owen is eager to practice his diving and improve his breaststroke form - he asks to go to the pool every day after practice. Hadley is working on side breathing and keeping straight during the backstroke - she has snuck into a couple of 7/8 classes, even though she's technically still 6 and under. Both have found motivation and real meets start soon!

Granna and Grandad got to witness the practice meet in person! They also stayed the night so that they could attend the kids' Celebration of Learning the next day. We were so glad that they could join us!

Hadley was honored with the Super Reader award because she was always asking to read when she finished her classwork. She loved her class and teacher and thrived at school with nearly perfect marks.

Owen's classmates voted for him to receive the Thomas Edison award. He wasn't sure what that meant, and he was disappointed because he really wanted the Future Scientist award. With daily science instruction (lacking in Idaho), he has discovered that he loves science! What a wonderful thing to discover! He rose to the challenge of longer school days and also finished with straight As.

Here's the last day of school picture. The kids loved riding their bikes independently every day to and from school and made sure to leave the house by 7:30am, so that they would be the first ones in the classroom twenty minutes before the official start of school. It was definitely an adjustment to do half a school year each in two different states, but adjust they did. One wished school would last a few more weeks, and one has been counting down the days until summer!

Skeeter-rific

We had a great time at a Sugar Land Skeeters game the other night! We got front row seats, just off Third Base, and the weather was miraculously pleasant.

The kids still can't last much past the third inning without treats. So once we got pretzels and watched a little more baseball while we ate them, we decided to walk around the field. After we passed a patio area and a covered pool, we found some pretty awesome playgrounds.

And next to that, a splash pad! Now this is a ball park with families in mind! (Overlooking the splash pad and playgrounds was a bar, too.) 

We didn't make it around to the bouncy houses before they were deflated at 8pm, but we did find some fun cut-out pictures on our way back to our seats.

Another couple of innings and the Skeeters won! Then they opened the gates and let the fans on the grass. Woohoo! So soft!

Finally, Cory Morrow took the stage for a free concert. All in all, I'd say it was the best baseball experience we've had. Yea!

In the Blink of an Eye

They say life can change fast, and it is so very true. In the span of a few hours, I had a new decade to celebrate, a near-tragedy, and a new perspective on life. It was my turn for a milestone birthday, which coincided with the school districts cancelling school because of some flooding from heavy storms. So we got a bonus three-day weekend, and we were celebrating my birthday with presents, flowers, and cake on Friday. That afternoon, we headed to Galveston for the weekend to celebrate and relax.

The next pictures on my camera roll were this! My poor car. We were executing a U-turn very near our rental condo, and two seconds later we were slammed into with a violent force. Hadley burst into tears as John brought the car safely off the road. We were all stunned, as we exited the car. The kids' doors would not open, so they crawled out the front doors. While we were surveying the damage, cars began to collect along the roadside, and witnesses poured over us, checking us for injuries and giving us their account of the accident. Apparently, the other driver was in a big truck/SUV and had been pretty reckless, speeding past several of the witnesses. Another car had pulled out on the other side from our U-turn at the same time, and we think the speeding driver had to pick a lane and did not slow down much before he rear-ended us. The impact seemed to stop his car almost immediately, but we came to a stop 50 yards or so away, so we didn't get to interact with him at all.

We were so thankful that we were all okay (just a few bruises, scratches, and one minor case of whiplash for me). It could have been so much worse! Our cargo area was pretty full with a cooler, suitcases, etc., and I think that helped to absorb some of the impact before it reached the seats. (I could not find my phone for quite a while, so my pictures were after we made a first attempt at emptying the car, but John got one of it still fully loaded right after the crash.) 

This Subaru was such a good car for us. We were sad to say good-bye so abruptly and wanted to take a picture with it before it was towed away. Thanks for saving us "Mommy Car". You were the best!

After we talked to firemen, EMTs, witnesses, and police, we gathered our belongings and put them in the back of a police truck. He was nice to give us a courtesy drive to the condo just a few yards from the accident, and in that short time he let the sirens go a little crazy for the kids' sake.

Our biggest concern, before the car accident, had been the weather. After all, school had been cancelled for flooding and the weekend was supposed to continue with rain, except for maybe Sunday. I kept that in mind as we were in the highway median in the gorgeous sunshine, that at least we weren't also standing there in the rain! And if you have to be stuck without a car somewhere, you can definitely do worse than the beach! After we carried everything into our condo unit and cleaned up obliterated raw egg from everything in the cooler, John was clear-headed enough to contact our insurance company. While he did that, I decided to take the kids to the beach to decompress and take advantage of the unexpected sunshine. The condos had a sturdy, gated ramp over the dunes to a quiet section of beach. The beach was really the best thing for our frayed nerves after our ordeal.

I was too tired to fathom a full beach outing, but the kids were having such a blast and the beach was so calm and convenient that we decided to come back with Dad and the kids' swimsuits after dinner. After reheating some leftovers that we brought with us, we did just that. Stress melting... melting....

Saturday started pretty early for us. After some cereal, it was back to the beach! We discovered some boogie boards in the condo, so the kids tried to figure out how to maneuver those in the surf, which was entertaining. Because of the impending storm, we had the beach nearly to ourselves. Just how we like it!

After a while, the kids got cold and we headed to the complex's pool and hot tub before making sandwiches back at the condo. John secured a rental car (truck!) for us, and we felt a little better about getting around for the weekend and back home the next day! But we voted to have a relaxing movie day when the rain came after lunch, since we were not up to dealing with crowds and weather-affected traffic. However, we did venture out later for some dinner and dessert on the Strand.

A friend had recommended historic LaKing's for dessert, and it was a hit. They had a little bit of everything, including homemade ice cream, a soda fountain, and numerous cases of all kinds of candies and chocolates. The kids went for ice cream!

We also happened to be there for a taffy pulling demonstration. We had front row seats to watch 40 lbs of milk and sugar become pineapple-flavored chewy goodness on traditional, hundred year-old pulling and wrapping machines. As Owen noted, those machines have "lived" through both world wars! And they tossed out free samples!

Sunday morning gave us one last short visit to the beach where the kids created a town on the sand. I'm so glad we got to have a beach vacation with nothing else on the agenda. It actually worked out perfectly, despite having to leave one of our own (our car) behind in Galveston, in that we had time to recuperate, relax, and contemplate the important things in life, before we had to come back to adulting and reality.

Countdown to Summer

Counting down the last few weeks of school for these clowns...

I had to capture Hadley being helpful in the kitchen. She's become a pretty good tortilla flipper, and she's always interested in helping with dinner, even if she doesn't want to eat it later. So much for that theory of if the kids sees how it's made and/or makes the food they'll be more likely to eat it...

The last month of school is always busy, but fun! I accompanied Hadley's class on their field trip to a place called The Oil Ranch. Apparently, someone has figured out how to make their family's ranch a destination for school kids with wide open spaces, picnic pavilions, animals, games, rides, and various farm-related diversions.

Hadley was, I think, most impressed with the opportunity to ride a horse. It was a very short ride, but very memorable for her! Other animals seen included lots of chickens, pigs, goats, geese, sheep, and a peacock. Hadley even got to milk a cow!

Among the many other stops on our exploring walk was a huge corrugated pipe roll on tracks (amazing how much fun the kids had pretending they were little hamsters), giant jumping pillow, feed sack swings, bouncy houses, and a maze. Our little group even took a train ride around the property - that's H's head at the front. It was a warm, but breezy day, but the kids had fun. At least it wasn't raining!

We finally made a family field trip to our local craft brewery, No Label. The kids did not believe me when I told them to bring some entertainment, so we didn't stay long. But we definitely saw the regulars, families that brought camp chairs and ordered pizzas to be delivered there in the shade of a big oak tree. Next time!

And May is the start of swim team season, which is serious business in these parts. The kids each have daily practice (different age groups), and they've already learned how to swim 25m without stopping, proper breathing and form for freestyle and backstroke, and Owen is also learning the breaststroke and butterfly.

It's a lot of work and exercise for them, but I think they are liking it. On Fridays they get to take turns off the diving board, which is a favorite. Hadley's getting really good at the Belly Flop dive, as you can see her Superman form here.

One weekend, they were surprised that they can go to the neighborhood pool pretty much anytime and just swim for fun! Now it's on O's agenda every day. Summer, here we come!