Danny Swimming

Danny swam with the 8 and under team all year. We are fortunate that our local swim team does get to practice three times a week year-round, which gives Danny some focus and exercise.

The meets began the day after school got out and were every Saturday (and a couple of Sundays) for 5 weeks. He also got to swim in the Divisionals meet which meant six Saturdays in a row! It was hot, hot, hot, but Randy, Annelise and I figured out how to cope with the 5+ hours in the heat. Practices were also every weekday morning from 7:45-8:45... no biggie since both Danny and I are early risers!

Here are a bunch of pictures (the first four were taken by the fantastic team photographer, Andy Smith).




The reminders for his first race (Event 11, Heat 2, Lane 2, Freestyle)

Listening to the coach.

Some games in between events.

Danny with his coach.

And who can forget the RIBBONS... wow, the ribbons (I had no idea this was the currency of swimming!).

Swim Season

We had the craziest 6 weeks to the start of our summer EVER! BUT it was so much fun, and I am so proud of the swimming both Danny and Annelise did. They are thrilled with the thought of more swim team in their futures!


I'll post a few more individual pictures of them, too!

Circus Camp

Danny got to go to circus camp for the first time in July. It was two glorious weeks of tightrope-walking, unicycle-riding, trapeze-hanging, balancing, juggling fun. The children also learn some gags and stage presence required to entertain their audience! At the end of the session family and friends are invited to watch a show put on by the kids. Wonderful!


This is Danny being resuscitated by all of the kids coming out of the jam box (a 4ftx4ftx3ft box they stuff anywhere from 15-20 kids in!).

Danny with his fearless leader, Greg May (former Ringling Bros. circus performer).

Summer Fun Part 2 (The Projects Edition)

Screen time is limited to 1 1/2 hours per day during summer, so although we are home most days, the kids aren't hooked up to the screens very much! The kids LOVE projects that we can do together. Here are a couple of projects that have kept us busy in the last two weeks.

1. We made bubble gum (with the help from this kit, purchased at A.C. Moore with coupon). Annelise made mint and Danny made sour watermelon. We have enough to make another two or three batches!



2. We assembled a cardboard treehouse and painted it with watercolor paints. (Here is the kit. I got a Family Finds deal at this store last spring and ended up getting significant $$$ marked off!) The kids use their playmobil and lego figures to play in it. LOTS of fun!




That is enough for one post, but there are a lot more projects we've done in the last couple of weeks! I'll share more later.

Summer Fun Part 1

School is out, and I've known for several months that THIS summer would look different than most.

The usual summer involves us catching a plane for some exotic location (Hawaii, California and Oregon are the normal) the day after school gets out. We vacate Maryland for four to five weeks and then come home in time for the kids to participate in the last two weeks of summer camp. And then it is back to school and work for me and the kids!

This year Danny is on the swim team (more on that in another post). The season lasts from June 18th to July 23rd, and I knew that Danny would want to participate to the fullest. So travel gets switched to the last 3 weeks of summer and the children and I are faced with 6 weeks of summer vacation at home (the kids will be attending one two-week session of summer camp in that time).

Extra planning is required for me to be prepared to offer the kids summer entertainment, much needed downtime and a mother who isn't going bonkers! Because I am usually at work and the kids are at school, we are not used to spending a lot of time together during the days.

The day after school got out the kids and I did some work that would help guide us through the next six weeks: the lists and the snack tubs!

We made two lists: "Summer Plans" (a wishlist of summer fun, big and small ideas welcome!) and "What to do When Bored" list.

I notice that on weekends when the kids are home, they tend to graze and want me to prepare snacks and food for them ALL THE TIME. To avoid their constant "Can I have a .....?" we put these tubs together. Each tub contains 14 packaged treats, something they normally don't get in school lunches (it IS summer after all, and I want them to have some fun!). There are things like granola bars and fruit rolls, plus some special things like chips and candy. The snacks can be eaten in one day (neither have attempted that, thank goodness!) or over the course of the week. When they are gone, they will have to wait until a new batch on Sunday! The children ALWAYS have fresh fruit and carrot sticks available to them as well.


The first two weeks of summer have been great, and both of these things have given us some direction!

Dance

Annelise's little dance studio emphasizes creative movement, balance and control at her age level (4-5 year-olds)... NOT recitals with fancy costumes (YAY!). They have two observation days each session. Here are a handful of pictures I snapped this year.

Sprint Triathlon... done!

I completed my first sprint triathlon in September. When I committed to friends that I would do this, it was October (or November?) of 2009. Took a lot of work to get there, but I made it. In case anyone is wondering, the triathlon I completed was 1/2 mile OCEAN swim, 7.2 mile bike ride (short for a sprint triathlon), 3.5 mile run (a little bit more than a typical sprint tri).

The ocean swim was definitely the most intimidating. Last January I took an adult intermediate swim class to brush up on my skills. And I spent lots of time in the pool. I found out this summer that I get motion sick when I swim in the ocean, so I found some remedies for that. When it came down to the race, though, once I got out past the first buoy I ended up relying on my back stroke because the water was pretty rough.

As for the biking, I hadn't been on a bike in YEARS!!! I trained on the bike in the gym until August. Then with some birthday money from my parents and mother-in-law I bought an awesome bike. The running just required me to get out there. I jogged (and walked a little bit too).

My goal was to finish and not make a fool of myself. I reached my goal! Now I'm thinking about the next one!

Maui

This past July we spent some time in Maui with the kids and their grandparents. A few pictures:


The kids with their candy leis . . .



Meema, Papa, Danny and Annelise on the Sugarcane Train . . .



Me and Jen under the Banyan Tree in Lahaina . . .



Miss A at "the pirate pool"



Danny on the waterslide . . .

BrickFair 2010

A week or so ago Jen and I took the kids to the BrickFair, which is the largest Lego "fan festival" in the US. The crowd was huge, but the exhibits were amazing! Definitely worth seeing if you're in the area.

The second picture below is a recreation of the famous climax in the movie Ghostbusters!

Annelise's Recital

Some pictures of Annelise's recent beach-themed dance recital:

Easter

On Easter Jennifer and I went with her parents and Danny and Annelise to a friend's house for Easter Dinner.

Here's a picture of Miss A in her spring dress looking for Easter eggs:


And here's a picture of the kids parading to the neighborhood park:




Danny is off in the distance on his scooter (just to the right of the 25 MPH sign), and you can see Annelise in the foreground on her scooter. The whole afternoon was wonderful!

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum

Today we went with the kids and Jen's parents to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in (can you guess?) Baltimore. The B&O Railroad was America's first train system, running between Baltimore and the Ohio River Valley. The museum is s a gem of a place with full-size trains that kids can go in, historical exhibits, model trains, and more. Here are a couple of pics:

Above is a picture of Jen's parents and the kids talking to one of the museum volunteers.


And in the second picture the kids are in the back of a tiny horse-drawn wagon.....the kind that trains quickly replaced in the middle of the 1800!

Cupcakes

Here's a picture of the cupcakes that Jen made for Annelise's birthday. Great, aren't they? (Those are mini-marshmallows and some type of cake decoration on the top.)