Heartbreaking Girls

I am in Atlanta. For those of you who know me, I don't travel much for work, so this is really novel. I woke up before the kids were up on Sunday and headed out, and I won't see them until Thursday when they wake up... if they wake up before I leave for work. That's hard, but not impossible.

The day before I left, Abby played in the All-Star softball game. Unfortunately, they lost. Not the end of the world. Abby pitched great, and fielded amazing. And her hitting... Well, that was another story. The first time up she struck out looking. And the second. And the third. The umps at this age have a huge strike zone, but I told her she could never blame the officials. She was so disappointed and, as they put her as clean-up batter, they expected her to do something. She knew they expected her to do something, but she just couldn't do it. I honestly think she gets anxious. She wound up crying and unhappy the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunate, considering she made the All-Star team.

  

Fast forward to tonight. Abby had another game, and of course I'm in Atlanta. She's hit amazing the first have of the season. Doubles, Triples, Homeruns... usually a combination of all every game. Tonight? She struck out. Dave was there and just beside himself. Abby senses he's upset and performs worse. And cries. And tells him, "I wish Mommy were here!" It's truly heartbreaking. I don't know how to handle it. I want her to be good. I want her to try her best. I want her to be a good person, and I want to not care if she plays crappy softball. But when I know she can play better, and she's disappointed in herself, that's where I get caught up. I just want to will her the self-confidence to be able to do it. Someday...

And then there's this girl. I got this picture with a text that she keeps asking, "Where Mommy go?" Heartbreaking in a different way! 

 Then again... maybe not!

A new sport?

As you already know, Alina does a lot of things with the kids. Most of them educational, and fun, and exciting. But this last thing? I'm not sure. I believe Nolan and Max may have been engaging in cock fighting!

 Pick a good one, Max!

 Just kidding! Of course they were at a petting zoo. Notice Abby, who would never dream of getting in the same pen as a barnyard animal. Or her brothers.

 A new puppy, maybe?

 Relaxing in the grass.

 It wouldn't be the same without a pony ride!

 Ummm, Alina? You ok?

 Weeeee!!!

 Not a bunnnyyyy!!!!

So fun!

Howdy!

Pictures

Every now and again, I need to go through all of the pictures that Alina takes. At any given time, I'll notice that she'll add 600 or so pictures to my computer, and while I'll glance at them as thumbnails, it takes me awhile to look through them in any depth. I love it because I never know what I'll get! The highlight this time? This picture of Ava. At least, I think it's Ava...

Or maybe this one of Max?

Silly kids!

You can't make magic

This week, I remembered that last year I sat at the window with Max, just watching fireflies and listening to frogs, and I had the great idea to try that again. I put the girls to bed, and Nolan was watching hockey in the basement, so I told Max I had something super secret just for him. We turned off all the lights and snuck into Nolan's room, opened the window and watched as the fireflies flitted about, and listened to the frogs talking to each other. I was mesmerized. Max, not so much. He told me the frogs were geese. When I whispered, "How many fireflies do you think there are?" he answered, "Eight." Ok then. I guess it just doesn't have the same appeal as last year! Oh well... I guess I'll have to try one of the other kids. One of them, on the right night, I hope will find it as neat as I do.

Pirates and Birdies, same thing

When Nolan was 9 months old, and Abby was just over 2, we took them to Michigan for vacation. We rode the ferry over, stayed in a cabin, and walked the sand dunes. Besides getting in the middle of the dunes and realizing that Abby couldn't walk back so I had to put her in the front carrier (at two! Do you know how heavy that is??) while Dave carried Nolan (no easy feat while hiking through the sand), the one thing I remember is what Abby came back saying. To everyone, neighbor, relative, me, everyone, she told them, "Birdy ate my fry!" When the follow up questions came, "The birdy ate your fry?", she always responded, "Birdy ate my fry!" (We were on the beach eating McDonald's and the seagulls came. She threw them fries. Therefore, Birdy ate my fry!)

Why am I telling you this story now, you might ask? Because Ava is on a similar kick. Two weekends ago, Alina took Ava to Pirate Fest in Port Washington. Before they went, Alina told me a little about it, so I knew they were going to brunch where the Pirates steal your food. When I saw Ava, I asked if the pirates stole her food, to which she replied, "Pirates stole my food!" (She did say that... I may have been the only one to understand, but I know she was saying that!)  To anyone who asked, she was exasperated at the pirates who stole her food. But it was ok, because she still had pineapple to eat, so all was well. But "The pirates stole my food!" It was amazing, because it was just like Abby seven or more years ago. It's amazing how they can be so much alike, how one memory can elicit another from so many years ago.

Have you seen a cuter pirate? I don't think so!

 Hey, that's mine!

 Getting the pirate some "rum". Clearly she's done this before. Her daddy taught her well.

 Yo ho ho!

Rum runners are DANGEROUS

Last weekend we had the opportunity to head to our friends the Phillips', who just happen to have a pool. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and the rum runners were flowing! The Phillips have two kids, each a year younger than Abby and Nolan. And then there were two other 9 year old girls over as well... everyone had a great time!

Erin, the mom, had a little too much to drink the night before so wasn't partaking in any adult beverages. I had a couple, but Dave and Rob, the dad, were hitting it pretty hard. Rob took a couple of breaks, but Dave, being in the pool the entire time, just kept going. I had to drag him out of the pool, and he turned into a beligerent drunk! I had to give him a hard time the next day, but truth be told, he didn't remember most of it. He felt really quite bad that he behaved so crazy, but fortunately, he wasn't hungover on Sunday, so all's well that ends well!

Change of clothes

Ava would change her clothes 4 times a day or more if we let her. Last weekend, Dave said no. The following ensued:

Please, Daddy? I already took my clothes off, see?

What do you mean "NOOOOOOOOOO?????" (Notice wilting flowers in hand.)

 Fine. I WILL do it by MYSELF and I WILL get my underwear off and I WILL put on another outfit.

For the record, her original clothes went back on. She dealt with it and we felt that we accomplished a minor victory. It's the small stuff.

Unexpected fieldtrip

Early last week, my sister emailed me to let me know she had free passes for Six Flags for last week and this week, and let me know what days would work. After I picked Friday a week, she realized they had something going on, and so it wouldn't work so well. What would work, she said, was this Friday. (Which was last Friday. Confused yet?) So, long story short, I ended up moving all my meetings for last Friday on Thursday, and at 6 pm, told Alina she would have the day (her birthday!) off. Nice of me to give such advance notice, eh?

Despite the short notice, it all worked well, and we had a really great time. All the kids were great, they were all quite adventurous (despite Jen and I being not adventurous at all), they were well-behaved, and I only lost Max once. (Funny side note... I was holding a sleeping Ava when we realized Max was missing, so Jen went to look for him. After not-so-long a time, she located him talking to another woman and a park worker. When she went up to him, they asked if she was his mom, and Max looked at her and said, "No." Uh oh! Jen quickly said, "But I am your Aunt Jen, right?" Oh, right. Fortunately he agreed to that!)
Here's the full crew, lookin' pretty good! Ava, Erin, Kate, Abby, Chad, Max, Cole, Scooby and Nolan.

Nolan was the most adventurous, I think. We went on Superman, just the two of us, right away. I was done for, nearly puking for the next two hours at least. Nolan got off of Superman, went right onto King Chaos, and did anything that spins, twirls or goes upside down. He went on Batman by himself, and wanted to go on the new X Flight, but the wait time was just too long.

Nolan is in the red shirt. I thought he was going to puke on anyone below.

Ava and Max were pretty brave in their Krazy Kups...

And they even braved the Hopper.

And Erin was mighty brave with this Daffy Duck.

The water rides came at just the right time. It was definitely hot out, but really was quite comfortable. And, for whatever reason, there weren't many crowds or lines. Perfect!

The only bad thing was it was a little unfair for Scoopy to bite Ava's arm off. I mean, afterall, according to Rule #1 on every sign for every ride...

You must possess 1 (one!) complete arm and 1 (one!) complete leg to ride!

Another successful, and exhausting, day at Six Flags!