Videos

I think I promised to upload a video from Rebecca's last dance recital, which was the morning we left for the beach - here is her tap routine, which she clearly enjoyed performing ;)

And here is another one of her recent home performances - costume entirely of her choice ;)

Coming Soon: 33% More Blog Material, Absolutely Free

Free to you, the reader, that is; not free to me, the parent who will be paying for an extra 4 years of college education. But first, a lot of diapers.

That's right, Ben and Becca will be welcoming a new baby brother or sister in mid-December. So I have six months to think of a name for this baby, and a new name for this blog. For the baby, Rebecca has already suggested Rufus, regardless of gender. I'll have to give that one some thought.

Rebecca took the news of impending big-sisterhood very happily (and blissfully clueless as to all potential ramifications, as befits her age). Ben was rather more guarded, announcing that he'd only be happy about it if it were a boy, and "How soon can you have this baby so Rebecca will start bothering it instead of me?"

Summer Camp

The kids started summer camp yesterday at the JCC. Ben is in the combined 2/3 group (rising second and third graders) at Camp Mindy and Rebecca is in the 3 year old group at Camp Katan (preschool camp). Camp goes from 9am - 4pm, so our summer schedule is adjusted accordingly... the kids get to sleep in a bit later than they do during the school year (and so do I which is good). Slightly more of a pain is that I have to pick them both up by 4, then return to my desk to finish up my day's work. I don't think it's going to be too difficult though because camp is packed with activities including swimming lessons and sports for both kids, and yesterday at least they were quite content to sit and play Wii when they got home and didn't bother me a bit while I finished up my work.

It's hard for me to believe that this is Ben's 5th summer of camp at the J!! He started camp the week after we moved to Charlotte, in the 3 year old group that Rebecca's now in. Yesterday I walked both kids in to meet their counselors, but today I laid down the law and said we were doing car pool drop-off. As expected, Rebecca handled this news very serenely, and Ben was the one who griped and grumbled. Rebecca hopped out of the car and waved goodbye nonchalantly, and then I drove around to the other side of the campus to Ben's car pool line, having to listen to him complain and stress the whole way about how he didn't want to be walked to his group by a counselor he didn't know. I assured him that since he was one of the older kids and already knew where he was going, that he could walk by himself. He still did not quit grumbling, and exited the car with a very sour expression. Despite the fact that he did know the counselor who came to greet him he waved off the offer of assistance and hesitantly wandered off alone to join his group.

I am hoping that he's realized that being dropped off at the curb at a place he's been to about a thousand times is really not that stressful, and that he'll be fine with doing carpool from now on, as it's much easier for me than having to park and walk him!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Yesterday was Ben's birthday -- can't believe my little man is 7!!! (And still has not lost any baby teeth yet but that's a different story).

We gave him a Wii for his birthday, which he spent pretty much all day playing, except for when grudgingly giving Rebecca a turn at her Dora game or letting Joel try Tiger Woods Golf. His favorite game seems to be Lego Batman. (Mine is Wii Tennis).

Anyway, happy birthday Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hilton Head Highlights

After our somewhat eventful arrival in Hilton Head on Saturday (getting locked out, broken a/c) things quieted down a bit. We spent a large part of our vacation relaxing either poolside or at the beach. The beach was about a 10 minute walk/5 minute bike ride away, so we rented bikes (which seems to be the thing to do in Hilton Head) and rode to the beach every day. Rebecca rode in a cart attached to the back of Joel's bike, and we piled up our beach supplies in the cart next to her so that we could travel with all our necessities.

Besides the beach and pool we did a dolphin watching cruise, visited the coastal discovery museum (though our timing was bad and there was nothing interesting going on), saw the Shannon Tanner show/fireworks display (both kids hated the fireworks and we had to make a hasty exit), spent an evening at an arcade, and visited the original Salty Dog Cafe. Joel took Ben to the golf course one afternoon, where he got to drive the golf cart much to his delight -- he'll probably say driving the golf cart was his favorite part of the vacation ;)

The wildlife in Hilton Head was really quite amazing -- the island is covered in huge trees and there are lagoons everywhere, so there are tons of birds and reptiles and yes, alligators. There was a lagoon behind our house, and it was teeming with turtles and birds. The resident alligator did make a couple of appearances, though the one time I saw him up close I didn't have a camera handy. At the beach we saw dolphins, flying fish, jellyfish, crabs, starfish, and birds-- I saw a couple of big fat brown pelicans, in addition to osprey, herons, ibis, and all kinds of other birds. It was nice to be able to show the kids all kinds of interesting wildlife, and the kids enjoyed getting to see so many different creatures.

Ben ate awesomely (no other word to describe it) and the kids both slept late almost every day, usually getting up around 8:30 or so. All in all, it was a great vacation!!!

Pictures From Hilton Head

We arrived home from Hilton Head yesterday afternoon, and have been busy with unpacking, grocery shopping, Ben's birthday (today) and getting ready for the first day of camp (and going back to work) tomorrow. So here are some pictures from our trip, with more details coming soon!

The Beach!

Ben wrapped up his last day of 1st grade on Friday - his report card said that he is "a great student" and some supplemental materials sent home listed his reading level (for summer reading) as 4th grade level. Way to go Ben!

To start off our summer vacation we packed up and headed to the beach, where we're staying for a week at a house rented by my parents, who will be joining us here on Monday. We arrived on the island at around 3:30 pm, checked in at the rental office, found the house, found the beach, and everything seemed to be going quite nicely.

The kids loved the ocean (even Becca whose last beach experience 2 years ago did not go well) and even Ben (who insisted all week that he wouldn't go in the water because he is afraid of jellyfish). What was meant to just be a walk to check out the beach turned into an hour and a half of playing in the water, and by the time we dragged them back to the house and cleaned up, it was nearly 7.

By this point we were hungry and had just registered that one of the two central air units in the house was not working. So Joel called maintenance, who promised to send someone out, and we headed out to dinner, where it was 8pm before we finally got our food, and the kids were about ready to implode from being hungry/tired.

We got home around 9, just as the a/c repair guy pulled up. A problem immediately arose, which was that none of us could get into the house. The lock is a keypad with a code that changes every week, and apparently they had given us the code that was about to expire, instead of the new code. It took about a half hour of phone calls and sitting on the front steps with tired whiny children before we finally got the correct number to open the door. The a/c guy fixed the unit that wasn't working -- some problem with the circuit breaker. But as of this writing I am not convinced that the other unit is working properly, now.

Anyway, so begins our beach vacation! More updates (and better pictures) to follow.

Little Gym Graduation

Our first stop yesterday before heading to Hilton Head was Rebecca's dance/gymnastics recital, finishing out the spring semester of her class. When I have more time I will post videos of some of her performances. Here she is posing with her medal and proud big brother after the show.

Overpacked

The trunk of the minivan shortly before setting off for a week on Hilton Head Island, SC. Very glad for the minivan these days, I must say.

Becca Collage

Friday was Rebecca's last day in Miss Kelly and Mr. Alex's class, before moving on to summer camp when we get back to vacation. Miss Kelly made her this AWESOME collage featuring Angelina Ballerina and some fabulous pictures of Rebecca taken throughout the school year. This photograph of the collage certainly does not do it justice - we will treasure it always! Thank you Kelly!!!

Beware of Falling Oil Prices

I've mentioned before that Rebecca has started to pay attention to the news in the car on the way to/from preschool. It's hard to predict which stories might get her attention and which she will remain oblivious to. This morning it was a story about falling oil prices that got her interest--

BECCA: "Prices are falling, Mom! They said prices are falling! Prices are bad, right?"

ME: "Falling oil prices are good. It means it won't cost so much money when I put gas in my car."

BECCA: "And then our car will explode, right?"

I assured her that no, our car will not explode, but she didn't seem to believe me, choosing instead to believe her own interpretation of the news, which appears to be that falling oil prices will hit our car and make it explode. Sometimes I wonder if I ought to turn off the news...

Early Birthday Celebration

We had a busy weekend, which included an early birthday party for Ben, since we wanted to do his party before school ended and everyone split for vacation (as we're doing next week). The party was very easy/low key, 10 of his friends playing laser tag at Sports Connection followed by birthday cake. It was the first year he specifically requested NO GIRLS! at his party.

After the party we went out for a pizza lunch with Nanny and Papa, and then home to open presents. Last year Ben's gifts consisted entirely of Lego products; this year I am pleased to report that the Lego products were balanced out by Pokemon cards, a super soaker, r/c car, r/c helicopter, video games, etc. So, a decent haul. Ben's presents from the family will be given to him on his real birthday (June 19).

Joel and I also got to go out to dinner Saturday night thanks to some much appreciated babysitting by Nanny and Papa - we went to Blue Taj, and then to Pinkberry. Nanny and Papa took the kids to Stonecrest for noodles, ice cream, and music. Joel and I arrived home shortly after 9pm from our dinner, and the kids were still not home from theirs -- "God that's lame" I said, and Joel said, "We should leave again." But they arrived home a couple minutes later.

Yesterday we spent several hours at the pool, then came home and showered and headed back to the JCC for the annual CJP picnic... after about an hour of standing around in the heat/humidity and upon discovering that they were serving Papa John's pizza, we decided, along with 2 other families, to ditch the picnic and go out for Chinese food. So the 12 of us - 6 adults and 6 kids - descended upon a small (and up until then quiet) Chinese restaurant for a loud and slightly chaotic dinner. We had fun, and Rebecca didn't seem to notice that this was a departure from the original plans. Ben said, "Thank GOD - I hate eating outside!" That's my boy.

Birthday Party

Partying a little early this year for Ben's birthday before everyone including us leaves on vacation...

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Heat Wave

It's been in the high 90s for the last few days -- hot for this time of year even here. At preschool Rebecca's been bringing her bathingsuit every day and playing in the sprinklers (the splash park has been out of order but supposedly opens up again today). Ben's class seems to be winding down for the last couple weeks of school, and aside from having a book report due, he hasn't had much work. His grade's Field Day was Tuesday, which thankfully seemed to involve all water-related activities such as throwing water balloons, running around with wet sponges, shooting water pistols, etc. So he stayed cool despite the heat which I think almost hit a record high for Tuesday's date.

At home our upstairs central a/c unit is acting very tired-- it acts very tired every summer and is 14 years old which probably explains that. I changed all the filters, sprayed off the outside of the unit, and coerced Joel into moving my "office" (my desk) downstairs to the dining area. (For the last 3 days the thermostat has hit a high of 83 degrees even with the a/c constantly running and sitting in front of a computer makes it feel even hotter). We've never used our dining area for eating, only for the kid's play area, so we moved all the kids toys upstairs to the corner of the bonus room previously occupied by my desk.

Next call is going to be to the a/c repairman, if the new filters/cleaned off unit doesn't help anything. The downstairs, fortunately for me because it's where I sleep as well as work now, is blissfully chilly. I do feel kind of sorry for the kids when it's bedtime and its 83 degrees upstairs though.