Cousins

This weekend Skip's sister and her family visited from Atlanta, which means that the trio got to have some cousin time.  After a quick stop at our library (AR tests/competitions are in full swing), we picked up my mom Saturday morning and drove over to join the group. The fellas (above) were pretty tight all weekend.  Will may be happy to have some personal space again, but William George misses his running buddy.

Everyone enjoyed breaking in Ralph and Sally's new swing.  I posted an early photo of the structure on Instagram, but they have finished the project by adding mulch and a flagstone path. They have some solar lights to string up, and once that is completed, they will be ready for many fall nights around the fire pit.

Gracie in full swing

He starts off a little slow, but manages to get himself going in no time.

Lauren was having a good time with Will, but obviously was not happy about being photographed.

And Riley claimed a nice place to relax.

We had a wonderful visit, and look forward to next time.

PS: Happy 52nd anniversary to Ralph & Sally!

Fun Friday

William George goes to preschool a few hours each day, Monday through Thursday. We have declared Fridays "Fun Friday" for the remainder of the school year.

Last week we deconstructed the various versions of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World". We started with the original, of course, although it was a little too inaccessible for George. He preferred Nirvana's version, but we both agreed that an honorable mention goes to Simple Minds for their very well executed cover.



"Mommy, the man with the microphone... his clothes are hairy."  

Also, Dave Grohl is his favorite band member.

This week we went to the library where George had an informal playdate with some friends, and we checked out a stack of books that we came home and read.

Also, George and Pixie chased each other through the house for about an hour.

And now we are about to pick up the duo and go for ice cream.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Extracurriculars

We are wrapping up the third full week of school, and some of our favorite activities have resumed as well. Lauren and Grace started their sixth year of dance, and William George is registered for gymnastics at his preschool which will begin in mid-September. We decided to put his monkey-like maneuvers into a compatible sport.

Guest Post: My Summer Vacation

During our recent vacation, we experience some periodic rain. During times of inclement weather, Lauren turned to her iPad to capture her thoughts. She gave permission for her thoughts to be posted here.

It was a rainy day in Marco island when my family and I were in the master bedroom our vacation was going to be a rainy vacation. Well we are going to the pool when the storm clears up. This time I'm going to sleep in the twin beds with George and Grace is going to sleep in the king bed. We went to Mango's dockside bistro. It was a long drive to Marco island we drives saturday and then stopped saturday and stayed at a hotel and woke up sunday morning and finished driving. We figured out except we made a change grace wanted a turn in the king bed so i slept in the twin bed room. In the morning we ate outside on the porch intiil it started to rain so we inside and ate then a thunderstorm began and then we came to the king bed where we are now.

the next day we were at the pool most of the day. we had a water war and we met some people named Mr. seth and Mr. Bryan. We also met some people from england named Elenor and olivor. ooh la la! on Wednesday my family and I took a walk on the beach that afternoon. Then we went to the pool for a goodnight swim. We met a few other friends their names are Triston, Cole, Iana and Adeison. Then we went to bed for the night. Thursday we went to Alvin's island and bought new floats! Isn't that amazing! Grace's float was named Kate. Kate is a killer whale so it is Kate the killer whale! George's float was he just called it Dolphin! Dolphin was a Dolphin so it is Dolphin the Dolphin! My float is named Lydia. Lydia was a baby Blue whale so it is Lydia the baby Blue whale! Then we went to the cheese cake factory. It was so good. Then we bought some doughnuts from Dunkin Doughnuts. Then we went home and ate our doughnuts and then we blew up the floats. After that we went to the pool for a afternoon swim and then we came back to the condo for a shower. Then since there were buitiful music that night we changed into our clothes instead of our pjs because we went outside to look and there were a lot of people at cj's on the bay we didn't want them to see our pjs. Then we went down there to take a walk and then went to Coldstone creamery. We went back to the condo and went to bed.

Friday morning we swam all morning. Then we went back to swim that afternoon. That very surprise all of our friends were there! So we had a great Friday afternoon. Then we went to bed for the night. There was a big thunderstorm that night it was big. It you don't know a secret it's a good time to hear it. I can't sleep during big storms like that.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and guess what my family and I are going to Starbucks! That's cool If I do say myself. Well right now we're letting the weather pass by after the big storm friday night. Well we might go to the pool later today if the weather clears off. Well this has been a great vacation and I hope yours has been great too. I hope I have a great school start in third grade.

Today was sunday the day I drove away from Marco island and went home and now my's future for third grade. I can't wait for third grade I will be a little shy the first five days but also a lot excited! So I picked out and pink and green geo backpack Grace picked out hot pink and lavender geo backpack lunchbox's are the same as backpacks George is just same old same old same old except It's super still! Anyway My mom is so cool she got all my school suplice in time! I love mommy and daddy 100% much!

Lauren Lindsey

[Lauren, we love you 100% much, too!] 

First Day of 4K

William George started 4K a couple of days after the girls returned to school. He had mixed emotions about resuming his regular routine. At the start of summer, he asked daily, "Am I going to school today?" After a solid week of explaining that school is "out," he embraced summer break fully, and he was very saddened to see it come to an end.

William George woke promptly every single morning this summer at 6:00am -- including weekends and vacation. He would climb into our bed with cars and trucks and enthusiastically shout, "You be the road!" while he drove cars across our still-asleep bodies.  On August 10th, the first day of school, we had to pry him out of the bed at 7:00am, and we have had to awaken him on each subsequent day. Since Gracie had a similar pattern (i.e., she was a total morning person, right up until she began school), we weren't completely shocked... but still... 6:00am... every morning.

George also had some drama before school resumed. We had requested (and received) our preferred teacher, and we were very excited that most of George's 3K class would simply move up to this teacher's 4K class. George's very best friend is "C," and his mom and I were exchanging texts this summer as we were awaiting the teacher assignments and supply lists. We finally learned that C would be in a different class. The administrator very kindly allowed George to move to C's class (whose teacher is also fantastic), and the next 40 weeks will go so much more smoothly.

At "meet the teacher" George gorged on cookies and caught up with his running buddy.

So far 4K is a huge hit... with several pending field trips, class projects and show-and-tell.  

PS: Remember 3K? And 2K?  And the girls' first day of 4K?

First Day of School, Third Grade

First Day of School, Third Grade

When we got back into town, we attended "Meet the Teacher" at the girls' school. They quickly adjusted, of course, but it was an abrupt transition. Excitement has taken over, and the duo are very excited about the upcoming year, about third grade and all the new privileges they have been given.

Gracie adores her new teacher, whose personality reminds us so much of cousin Sarah. Mrs. R's "way" seems very familiar to Gracie as a result, and she is sure to have an awesome year.

Randomly, Lauren was separated from her usual group of friends, and therefore, her three closest friends are in "the other class," along with Gracie.  She has been a trooper about broadening her circle of friends, and we have committed to play dates so that she can catch up with the old group.   

Third grade is going to be a year of growth and wonderful opportunity. The girls look forward to advancing their reading skills and acquiring new math skills. Also, they are really looking forward to catching up with their friends, having parties and catching up.  

Here's to third grade!

Vacation 2015: Marco Island (Redux)

To wrap up summer (and I want to sob when I think of putting summer of 2015 "in the books"), we had a week of regrouping after our wonderful family visit. The trio played on their swing, enjoyed some unstructured time, and we also organized and packed for a beach trip back to Marco Island.

The beauty of visiting a barrier island is the wonderful, glorious breeze that allowed us to be outside without enduring too much oppressive heat. The monkeys even complained of being cold after getting out of the water! We had a fantastic, laid back time, and we met several local tenants this visit, meaning the trio had friends at the pool each day. William George was very popular at the pool, having befriended two college freshman with whom he had water fights each day. The girls got in on the action as well. George also had an 11 year old friend who taught him the joys of catching lizards and starfish (the latter was quickly returned to safety). Finally, the most adorable of our friends were a boy and girl, whose family is from the Isle of Jersey. Oliver very much wanted to play with George, but he was often distracted by his older friends. Oliver's mom (his "mum"), asked George to name his favorite snack, and Oliver was at the pool the next day with a package of said snack (Fudge Striped Cookies), and a friendship was promptly formed.

We went to the beach a couple of times, but since the water was a little murky this time, we opted for the pool over the ocean. We were incredibly fortunate to locate a property with full, panoramic views of the bay and the yachts... and a sporty, cigarette boat that George and Skip loved -- very "Miami Vice". (It's for sale, if anyone is looking for any Christmas ideas for Skip.) We had three balconies overlooking the bay, and, as with our last visit, we did not want to leave. Normally, although I love to take trips and have some adventure, I am ready to return home by the end of a trip, but we simply do not feel that way. Marco Island feels like home, and we miss our newly made friends from Chicago, Maryland and Jersey (old versus New).

William George and Snoopy spent anytime indoors watching the "boats" come and go. George would often yell, "Here comes a BIG ONE!"

We had several, pool-wide, multi family water wars at the pool. Luckily (since we brought the water guns), we were blessed with good sports, and George immediately bonded with the older kids by being able to deftly handle himself with his weapon. We we approached the gate one morning and were fumbling with our key, we heard the two freshmen yell, "Hey! It's GEORGE! Hey, George!!!"  As a result, he became fearless, learned various dives, and earned the reputation for being fearless.

Aside from the breeze, we had a couple of thunderstorms at the beach. Apparently this area is known for lightning strikes, and we had just told someone at the pool about George's reaction to a VERY LOUD thunderclap the last time we visited, when we had an overnight thunderstorm wherein he repeated the same maneuver. We hear his feet thump to the floor, and then a shuffling sound through the condo until he appears at the bed. All of that occurs in two seconds flat.

The bouts of rain merely provided some cloud coverage and cooled things down a little.

And George says to please not tell anyone he is afraid of thunder. He has a newly formed reputation to protect.

Lauren excelled at swimming. She mastered the backstroke, which had been troubling her, and finished the week by doing backstroke laps, back and forth.  

Gran and Poppa had slipped the trio some spending money, and they wisely invested in some inflatables. George purchased the grey dolphin in the below photo, but he had trouble balancing it while jumping into the water. Our sweet friend, Eleanor, let him borrow her stingray instead, and he probably dove onto that thing 10,000 times.

Gracie went with the killer whale, and this thing was enormous in the pool. (For scale, it took us 45 minutes to deflate the thing when it was time to go.) Currently, Gracie is the strongest swimmer of the group, using her long extremities very capably. She continues to be cautious and careful with diving and jumping in, but once she is in the pool, she torpedoes about.

William George, on the other hand, displayed no qualms about the pool, and continues to work on his swimming.  

Even Skip took a turn on the inflatables.

Summer vacation 2015 was a blast! We indulged in Cold Stone Creamery (a short walk), a couple of our favorite restaurants and Starbucks (the girls' favorite, although they were slightly bitter that Starbucks had relocated from around the corner (walkable) to a couple of blocks up the street).  We miss our vacation schedule dearly and miss our home away from home terribly.