Hedge Maze, Pumpkins and Patriots

This year Jason and I did not feel like picking apples.  It is expensive and it takes all of ten minutes to pick the amount of apples we want.  The kids don't want to leave after ten minutes so the "fun" times quickly can turn into whining.  We decided we would still go to the orchard and enjoy the fall activities but instead of picking apples we went to an orchard that also had a hedge maze.  The maze was1.5 miles in length, consist of 3,000 arborvitae, 6 bridges and a lookout gazebo.  It was fun to walk around the maze.  At first we tried it without using the map but as you can imagine we didn't get very far without ending back at where we started.  Once we did that I started to lead the way by using the map.  I then gave the map over to Sofia so she could figure out where we should go.  It was nice little map reading skill session and she didn't even know it!  Ali really wasn't interested in reading the map.  She wanted to lead the way with me telling her which direction to go in.  That was fine with me.  It was suppose to be fun after all.  After finding all six bridges we worked our way out of the maze.  The orchard also sold pumpkins so the girls took their time deciding on the perfect pumpkin.  We bought two big pumpkins and a small pumpkin that Ali has to take to school.  After eating all six apple cider donuts we had purchased before entering the maze the girls wanted more donuts.  We decided against that but did go back to the farm store for some delicious cider and we bought a bag of apples.  Nice fresh picked apples without the whining. :) 



It was a beautiful fall afternoon so once we were finished at the orchard we wanted to sit outside for lunch.  Since it was the middle of the Patriots game and they were playing at the Jets we decided to head over to Patriot Place.  We sat outside at CBS Scene and had lunch while watching the game on the big screen.  It was a lot of fun except, of course, the game was not a good game.  We headed home and listened to the game on the radio and then caught the end of the game on TV at home. 

Once the game was over it was pumpkin carving time.  Jason got everything prepped for carving and cut the tops off the pumpkins and then let the girls have at it.  This was the first year they really did not require our assistance.  The designed their pumpkins themselves and then cut them out with little pumpkin carving saws.  They did a great job!

I Am A Student

I went to Sofia's All School Meeting last week.  It was her first All School Meeting at her new school so I was looking forward to see how it changes from the 2/3 grade school to the 4/5 grade school.  It is hard to pinpoint the differences but there are differences.  It seems the change from 2/3 to 4/5 is more in the child interaction.  It is less grabby/squealy and more heads bent towards each other whispering.  Maybe they are finally learning the art of the whisper.  For this first meeting Sofia's class was performing a song.  One of the kids in Sofia's class had taken the Katy Perry song "Roar" and changed the lyrics.  The teacher heard it and thought it was a great idea so then the rest of the class joined in to rewrite all the lyrics from the song.  They did a great job.  Here is the video.

Ali's gymnastics

Ali has been working hard at the gym.  She is working on the floor routine and the beam routine.  She is getting stronger every day.  Her handstands are improving and her flexibility is getting better.  She needed her flexibility to get better in order to do her back handsprings properly.  I couldn't believe it when I saw her do a back walkover on the beam (with a spot).  She has worked hard to bring her arms in to her ears and it shows how much she has worked because she has them close enough to do it on the beam. Here is a video of her practicing it at home.

Skype and Ali's BFF

When we left Prague Ali had to say good-bye to her best friend, Cianna.  Fortunately, Cianna was moving to Australia which made the separation easier but it was quite sad because they were so close.  I assumed though that as with most young friendships time and space wither away memories and friends continue on their separate ways.  Ali and Cianna have not do so however.  They both continue to write letters to each other and as a bad mother I sometimes don't mail them.  I kind of assumed that Cianna would have moved on to other friends.  I emailed with my friend Elizabeth, Cianna's mom, only to find out that Cianna had written about eight letters to Ali that Elizabeth hadn't sent. So while they have both made new friends and have new BFFs they have maintained their bond.  We both felt pretty bad and set up a time for the girls to Skype.  Again I thought it would be a quick call because what do two little girls have to say to each other when their daily lives don't intersect??  I was wrong..they stayed on Skype for TWO hours and only ended it because I had to put Ali to bed.  We ended the call with a promise that they would talk the next day and sure enough another two hour Skype call!  It is a challenge to find the time for them to talk because Perth, Australia is a 12 hour time difference from here but I will have to make sure I give Ali the time to talk with her BFF!

Camping and the Fryeburg Fair

We headed up to Fryeburg to go to the Fryeburg Fair.  The kids really enjoy the fair and it is fun to see them enjoy all the rides, games, animals etc.  They love going in the little red school house as well.  I have probably blogged about the school house in previous years but it was the school that Jason's grandmother attended and it was on their land.  His grandmother donated the school house to the fair so now everybody can enjoy that piece of history.  I think it is a good way to keep the girls connected to their history and their great grandmother. 
Grammie (as I call her) was an awesome lady.  Always kind and always genuinely seemed to be interested in what we had to say.  The girls think it is fun to sit at the desks in the school house and write on the mini chalkboards at each seat.  We looked again for Clementine the draft horse but we didn't see her this year and we walked through four draft horse barns looking for her.  We took the kids on Monday so we could see some of the woodsman day activities but we misjudged the excitement.  The start of the day was pretty boring and all the seats in the grandstand were filled by 8:30AM so it was hard for the kids to see unless they were on our shoulders.  At 48lbs Ali gets to be heavy after a while!  Next year if we attend on woodsman's day we will  have to see if there is a list of events so we could see only the ones we wanted to watch rather than trying to randomly guess when they might be doing something exciting.  We also messed up our days for the pig scramble and the sheep dog trials.  We thought they were on the same day as the Woodman's day but they weren't so next year we will have to try to get that right.  I think the kids would really enjoy watching the sheepdog trials.

In addition to the fair Jason and the girls camped out.  Given my hip and the fact that I had the implant done only a couple days before I decided it probably wasn't a good idea for me to sleep in the tent but the kids had a blast.  I went out to the tent to get them settled in and we played a few hands of cards before I said good night.  Jason says they played a little more and then it was lights out.  Some animal must have come in front of the barns because it turned on the motion sensor light.  That made Ali a little nervous because it sent a lot of shadows over the tent.  Then they had the excitement of hearing the deer come out of the woods and start eating apples right next to the tent.  After all that excitement the girls fell to sleep and slept through the night.  Jason in is advanced years woke up every couple hours with a sore shoulder...sore back...etc.  Camping is definitely much easier when you are young!  In the morning they woke up to a thick fog which made the kids feel like they were in the middle of nowhere and they loved that.  Jason started the backpacking/camping stove to heat up water and they enjoyed oatmeal and hot chocolate while sitting on a rock.  It was a good time had by all.

Family Game Night

When the girls started school this year our lives got VERY busy.  They have activities every night of the week except Thursday night.  It is important for us to have family time though so we have adjusted our schedule to accommodate all the activities.  I make a full breakfast every morning so we can be together as a family.  Jason and the girls eat while I get lunches and backpacks prepared.  They eat at the kitchen island though so even though I am not having breakfast I am part of the conversations.  Mondays and Tuesdays the girls usually eat dinner separately.  Sofia eats her dinner on the road between soccer and swimming and Ali when she gets home from the gym.  Tuesday is also a split dinner with Sofia before practice and Ali after practice.  Wednesday we generally eat as a family but it is a late dinner at 8pm so there isn't a long relaxing chit chatty meal.  Thursday however is family game night.  There are no activities to go to and the kids can take the bus home from school.  They complete any homework and then play with each other until Jason comes home.  We order pizza and play a game.  Each week we take turns on who gets to choose the game.  So far we have played, Sorry!, Parcheesi, Monopoly and Scattergories.  It is really a lot of fun.  The girls are at an age now that they can play the games on their own once the directions have been explained.  We knew they could play Sorry! and Parcheesi (just a more complicated version of Sorry!) but we weren't sure how Monopoly or Scattergories would turn out.  They absolutely loved Monopoly.  It was great because they have to think about what to buy and how much money they have.  They have to figure out how to pay people rent and count the rent they collect and give correct change.  It is really great for their math skills.  We played Scattergories last night and we thought they would bag it after two turns but we ended up playing 9 rounds.  They had a lot of blank spaces but it didn't seem to bother them.  The fun part of the game is seeing what people come up with and I was surprised at some of the answers the girls had because they were words that had never crossed my mind.  At times they were in categories in which I didn't have an answer.  Next week it is back to Ali's choice....last I heard she was going to choose Monopoly again but we will have to wait and see.

Tooth Implant

So I thought having the hip surgery wasn't enough so I signed on for a tooth implant!  Just kidding!  I would not have done it if I didn't have to.  My previous bridge which was done by a total hack had decay under one of the crowns and had to come off.  It didn't make sense to do a new bridge so I had the implant done.  It was a much larger process than I had anticipated but the swelling and pain have reduced a lot.  I did wake up this morning with my mouth a bloody mess so I went to the dentist.  The dentist said it was fine but that I have managed to dislodge the clot in my sleep.  Who know....I was just glad it wasn't some horrible problem. I go back in next week to have the stitches taken out.

Now, we are up to date and I will try to post more regularly going forward.

Activities

With the start of school comes the start of all the after school activities.  The girls are once again chock full.  Ali is at the gym 4 nights a week and Sofia has swimming 4 times a week and will occassionaly by 5 times a week.  Sofia also has soccer practice twice a week and a game on the weekend.  She also has piano lesson once a week.  Fitting everything in is a bit of a struggle but I have managed to make a schedule that works.  It isn't ideal but I can't complain.  Due to the kids bus schedules and the fact that they get out of school at different times I have to pick the kids up from school four days a week.  In a way this is good becuase it means Ali gets her homework done in the car while we wait for Sofia to get out of school.  Being in the car means she has nothing to distract her from her work so she gets it done quicker than she would if she were doing it at home in the kitchen.  It gives her quiet time to read her book as well so I make sure she gets in her twenty minutes of required reading a day.  Once we pick Sofia up from school I drive Ali over to the gym which gives Sofia time to do her homework before I drive her to her practices.  The only times she has to wait to do her homework is when she has homework that has to be done on the computer.  So while it is a lot of work for me and leaves me in my car from 2:15 until about 7 - 7: 45, it gives the kids a very structured way to get all their responsibilities taken care of.

Now that the kids are in school and I have been cleared by my doctor to start riding the stationary bike and using the elliptical runner I have joined a gym.  I hate going to the gym as I would rather just put on my running sneakers and go for a run I know I can't do that yet.  The exciting news is that the doctor said he will probably start me running at the eight month mark.  My hip wasn't as bad as he thought it was so he expects me to tart running.  In order to get ot the that point I need to put in the work at thy gym.  I started at 5 minutes and have built up to 15 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the elliptical.  Slow and steady I will get back to where I want to be.  I just keep telling myself that this is rehab so I don't push it too hard.

1st Day of School

It is hard to believe another school year is upon us.  Sofia entered forth grade this year which meant she changed schools and now has a LOCKER!!  This is a big step and a locker is soooooo exciting.  Of course they can't lock their lockers and the only thing in the locker is their backpack and jacket but it is still very exciting.  I bought Sofia a mirror and a pencil holder for her locker along with a couple magnets.  This year Sofia moved up with one girl from her class and knew a couple of the other girls from her switch class last year as well as from soccer so at least she wasn't starting with completely unknown kids.  She was disappointed to not be with her friends though.  Once she started everything was great.  She likes the kids in her class and she LOVES her teacher.  I went to curriculum night and I have to say I have never seen a teacher so pumped to be a teacher.  She is the type of person who should be a teacher.  She clearly has a passion for teaching and for kids and this isn't just a job that gets summers off.  From everything I hear from other parents her teacher is probably one of the best in the school system.

Ali entered third grade and moved up with two girls from her previous class.  She knew some other kids in the class as well so while her best friend wasn't in her class she was comfortable.  Her teacher seems nice and from what Ali tells me she is a good mix of hard work and nice.  If you work hard and do what you are suppose to do then she is nice.  I like that.  So far Ali has had consistent homework which is a relief since she didn't get that last year.  She knows she needs to complete it because her teacher expects her to and her teacher expects her to be responsible for maintaining her workload.  I do like that this teacher is teaching the kids personal responsibility.  Hopefully the year continues to go well.

Summer Re-cap: August

August was another month full of activities.  I was still on crutches but finally decided to use one of the old people ride on carts at Target.  It was hysterical.  It was so slow that Sofia was laughing becuase she had to slow her walk pace to stay with me.  The reverse beeping was so loud I did everything to not go in reverse.  Sofia and I had a good time with it.  It did make life much easier and I probably should have taken advantage of it sooner.  Oh well!

The beginning of the month meant it was time to head to Beach Week!  The kids LOVE beach week.  They love being at the beach and the love playing with their cousins.  Unfortunately a lot of the family just stay at the pool at the rental but as Sofia said, "It isn't pool week!" so we head to the beach.  Half of the kids cousins are at the beach though so they have a blast building sand castles and playing in the water.  We enjoyed all the things the beach has to offer...swimming in the ocean, dough boys, Del's, dinner with family, and seafood dinners sitting by the ocean.  The kids were finally at an age that the adults (my brothers and spouses and Jason and I) were able to go out for a nice dinner together.  It was fun to have an adults only (no kids no parent) dinner.  I think that is the first time we have ever done that.  It is also nice that the kids are old enough to stand in line at the clam shack for 45 minutes and not whine so we tried out a new clam shack and sat on the pier for dinner...fish and chips, fried clams and chowder.  We had one day when the weather was not perfect beach weather and it happen to be the day we all (my mom, my brother and his family and us) went to Mystic Aquarium with Auntie Carlene.  The girls love the aquarium and so do I.  The animals are so fun to watch.  We went into the bird exhibit and fed the birds too which everyone enjoyed and noone got pooped on which made it even better!  The kids were sad to have beach week come to an end.

Following beach week the girls got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend because Jason and I headed up to Vermont.  Jason was scheduled to run the Tough Mudder.  I was also scheduled to run it but the whole hip surgery thing got int he way!  We drove up and met up with my friend Aaron from high school along with his wife, Carley, and another couple.  Carley was signed up to run with Jason as was Carley's friend.  It had come about at my high school reunion when I met Carley for the first time.  She was excited to run that kind of race so I encouraged her to join our team.  She did and then our team dwindled to Jason and two women.  Jason and Carley did great.  Carley's friend ended up bailing on the race after the first obstacle but Jason and Carley stuck with it and completed the 11 mile race in just over four hours.  It was a tough race up and down Mount Snow 4 or 5 times.  It was good course for spectators if you weren't all gimped out like me.  Aaron walked up and down the mountain seeing Jason and Carley at multiple obstacles.  I however laid on a picnic table at the base seeing how long it took for clouds to pass overhead.  Needless to say I was VERY bored.  I eventually made my way over the finish and watch people finish for 2 hours.  At least it gave me something to do.  We hung around the base area for a little bit and then headed back to the Condo.  It was a fun weekend.  Maybe in a couple years I will sign up again and actually get to run it.

Ali continued going to the gym three hours a day four days a week throughout August.  I find it amazing that she loves gymnastics so much that she wants to be there for so long.  She says it doesn't feel that long so I guess she really is enjoying it.  She has improved drastically since joining this gym.  The coaching is top notch and they expect a lot from the girls.  They don't want sloppy work.  They want perfection and expect every girl to strive for that goal.  They would rather the girls perfect 4 skills than have 10 sloppy skills.  The conditioning work they have the girls do is awesome.  The gym recognizes if you are going to do all these skills you need the muscle strength and stamina to complete them.  They make sure the girls are strong in every area of their bodies.  The coaches do it with out being mean and nasty too.  Don't get me wrong, there are days when coaches can be grumpy but overall Ali loves the coaches.  They push you and expect you to work hard but if you are giving 100% then the coaches are funny and nice. They don't put the girls down either.  One day I say to Ali, "oh that is your bad leg right?" to which she responded, "no, its my good leg."  I said, "oh I thought the other one was your good leg." 

She said, "No, This is my better leg."  So even in the words the coaches use with the kids they are encouraging.
You don't have a "bad" leg you only have a good leg and a better leg.  In truth it is the reality.  If you took these girls' "good" leg and compared it to kids outside the gym it would be amazing.
Ali has also made good friends with the girls on the team especially her friend Paigie.  She loves seeing Paigie at the gym and fortunately Paigie and Ali have the same recess at school
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In addition to gymnastics Ali also went to golf camp this summer for a week along with Sofia.  Ali only stayed at golf for a half day but Sofia loved it the first day and begged to stay full days.  I was happy she was enjoying golf so even though they were full the coach seemed to enjoy Sofia and allowed her to stay full days.  Sofia made friends with two other girls in her group her were thirteen years old.  They were very nice to her and Sofia loves being with the older kids.  One day I picked Ali up at lunch time and one of the kids yelled out to me that Sofia fell off the cart.  I of course came to immediate attention and got concerned and got to Sofia.  The two thirteen year olds jumped up quickly to assure me that Sofia didn't do anything wrong and that she was fine.  It made me smile that these two girls felt they needed to protect Sofia.  Apparently when the cart was being driven around a corner going downhill Sofia saw that her club was going to fall out of the cart and went to reach for it.  Of course that was a horrible idea and she quickly went tumbling out of the cart.  She landed half on the grass and half on pavement.  Her fingers, arms and knees were scraped up and she had a bump on her head from where her head hit the pavement.  She assured me she was fine and she wanted to stay for the rest of the day.  She seemed ok so I left her and came back to pick her up at the end of the day.  When I arrived I made a joke to the coach about keeping her out of harms way only to find out that Sofia had been hit in the head by a driver.  This was totally Sofia's fault as she walked behind another player during their back swing but she had a huge welt on her head.  She managed to be ok with it and learned a lesson the hard way.  I asked her if she had fun even with of all her mishaps that day and I couldn't help but laugh out loud when she responds, "oh yeah totes mom".  I guess the thirteen year olds were rubbing off on Sofia!  She is hoping to join a league next year so she can start playing more often.

The final item on the to do list for August were haircuts.  The girls love going to the salon.  They like how Brianna cuts their hair and they love they she always straightens their hair for them.  I can't blame them. Curly hair blown straight is always so soft and smooth and feels so nice.  It didn't last long in the humidity of August but it was fun while it lasted!

Summer Re-cap: July

Ok, so the blog has been getting less attention as of late....ok it has been getting no attention.  Life has been hurtling by at the speed of light and the blog has not been my top priority.  We shall see if I can manage to keep it going this year now that we have settled back into school routines.

My last post left you at my two week post-op recovery so we will move ahead from there.  I started driving and life started to return to normal.  Normal meaning I drive the kids everywhere they need to be.  I still had to have Sofia with me at the grocery store to push the cart (have you tried pushing a cart while on crutches??), I still had to have Jason and the girls carry things for me and I will still slow, sore and tired.  Life moves on though and we still made the best of it.

The girls participated in their first triathlon at MIT.  It included a 100 yard swim, 3 mile bike, and a 1/2 mile run.  It was such a well run event and the girls had a fabulous time.  Oddly the place where they both could have greatly improved was the bike portion of the race.  I would think this is the easiest portion for most kids however the girls don't ride their bikes all that much.  This year in particular since I wasn't running it meant they weren't riding their bikes.  Last year I would have them ride on the bike path while I ran but this year they only got in one bike ride before the race.  Here are there stats for the junior division (age 6-10):









Sofia                                            Place       Swim Rank      Bike Rank      Run Rank
Overall                                          100              23                    217               82
Age group (66 - 9 year old girls)     13                 2                      28               12

Ali                                                Place       Swim Rank      Bike Rank      Run Rank
Overall                                          270              344                    291               112
Age group (41 - 8 year old girls)     17                 26                      19                  5

They had such a fun time that the first thing Sofia said after crossing the finish line was she wanted to do another one!.  We are very proud of the girls for trying something new and for putting their best effort out there.

We finished up July with going to my cousin's wedding.  The girls love weddings.  What is more awesome than a beautiful bride??  The wedding that the girls remember though is the wedding we went to in Slovakia which was so far beyond what would be considered a normal wedding here.  We toned down their expectations of the wedding but in the end all that mattered was the beautiful bride :).  I had to laugh during the ceremony though (not out loud) because I could see that the girls were perplexed by the mass.  While I can still mouth the words along with the priest our girls have not been brought up Catholic and they are used to a Presbyterian church service.  They didn't really get the sit,stand, kneel approach and when the alter boy rang the bell they were completely baffled. It was strange for me to see something that seemed so normal because it was all I ever knew as a child seen through the eyes of someone else.  Why do they ring the bell?? I don't know. I just accepted it as part of the the service and never questioned it.  So I gave them the perfectly acceptable parental answer, "I don't know.  It's just the way they do it."  Fortunately the kids accept that reasoning and just continued to take it all in.  The reception was fun and the kids had fun playing with their cousin Bella.  They were sad to leave the reception but my hip had had enough and we headed home.  Since the kids did not love the cake though we stopped for dunkin donuts on the way home.  I have to agree that a donut is often better than wedding cake. :)