Lazy summer

We are preparing for yet another road trip around these parts. The in between trips part of our summer has been a long stretch of unscheduled, uncoordinated free time. Andrew, Lily, and Michael have been playing beautifully together. Not at the same time. But 2 will pair off and go play. So we kind of have just done that. Our house is trashed every day. But it is because they are playing with our toys...all. day. long. It is kind of wonderful to see them. Terribly boring for me ;) since I'm stuck playing with the odd man out all the time. But I'm so glad that they have each other.

I fluctuate between feeling really pleased and really guilty. Really pleased that my children have learned how to entertain themselves for hours on end. Imagination and creativity are such important tools to have. Then I swing over and feel guilty that Andrew really isn't interacting with his own age group much, we aren't doing any cool science experiments or tree journals or independent studies like I had planned. I make sure the kids do their "homework" every day, so we don't fall completely off track with writing and reading...but that's about all the structure we have. Will Andrew go back to school stunted socially? What will he write about when they ask him "What did you do this summer?"

But whatever. We have all year to be scheduled. We're just going with it.

It is fall activity scheduling time. There is much pressure around these parts (maybe everywhere?) that your child be introduced and exposed to many many activites. I get asked all the time...Is Andrew doing...? Piano lessons. Sports. Swim lessons. Scouts. Religious education. Foreign language classes. And that is just for Andrew. It is...overwhelming. Financially. Time wise. Overwhelming. I want to introduce my kids to all these things...who knows what they will like! But I do not wish to live my life running from one thing to the next. I don't want Lily and Michael's childhood spent waiting in fields and cafeterias and car seats. I want my kids to play in the backyard and go to bed at a decent time and to have family dinners around the table. I think these wishes will be impossible when Andrew AND Lily AND Michael have activities on different nights. So I should just embrace it now, right? Except for the whole cost of everything. I don't know how we would even fund all those activities for all those even if we wanted to. Swim lessons, $50/month. Dance, $55/month. Gymnastics, $60/month. Piano, $100/month. Soccer, $200/season. Spanish, $45/month. Not including equipment costs. Ugh. Everyone else seems to do it, but I can't think too hard on why we can't.


I know I just need to be confident in what we're doing now. What works for THIS family. Doing activities that the children request and show interest in and not worry about exposing them to everything. Andrew's doing a Lacrosse camp this week because it is the one thing he wanted to do this summer. Lily will do dance in the fall, because it is something she really wants. Do I wish they would play piano? Yes. But no one is interested. Yet.

If I signed them up for everything, they would complain as adults that they were too busy and stretched thin. If I follow my current path, they will complain that they missed out on all the good scholarships because I never put them in golf or whatever. I think as a parent you can't win. So I'll do what I'm comfortable with, I guess. So at least one of us is happy in the end ;)

Here's some photos of us bumming around...

Covering all your bases

The strangest thing just happened.

My doorbell rang and there was a young man holding pamphlets waiting to be attacked by my 12 pound guard dog. He smiled nicely, joked about the size of my dog, and said, "Good morning! I am from -name of synogoge- Temple and we are raising money to rebuild Israel. Do you happen to be of Jewish heritage?"

Whew. I thought. I'm going to get out of this one easily.

"No, sorry, I'm not." Immediately I regret saying this. Why am I sorry my ancestors didn't happen to be Jewish? And, hey, wait a minute, technically they WERE, right? I mean before Jesus came and all.

He nodded and pulled out another hidden stash of pamphlets from beneath the Israel ones. Here's where it got weird.

"Okay, well then you may be interested in this. We are teaming up with -name of church- Baptist Church. They are only 15 minutes from here if you would like to try church on Sunday. And you may be especially interested in this here, " he opens the pamphlet and points to the bottom of the 2nd page, "This lets you know how to get into heaven."

I smiled and thanked him and told him to stay cool. And then I closed the door and wondered about how strange that was. Born-again Baptists sending Jewish boys out to try and get people saved. What is his motivation to try and point out to me what in his eyes is a bogus way to get to heaven?

Huh. I guess they're just being uber-efficient with their missionaries.

Kiawah...Michael style

Michael...sweet, adventurous, fearless, funny Michael. He is the only one of my kids who didn't remember going to Kiawah. His delight in rediscovering it was tear-inducing, it was so joyful. Here he is jumping into the waves for the first time:

We were actually nervous that first night. He was unstoppable. Waves knocked him over, crashed into his face...and he just wiped his eyes and kept going out. Luckily, we had many many adults with us, so he was always closely monitored. But whatever anyone else did, Mike wanted to do. If he saw Pepere going out to ride waves with a boogie board, he went up and retrieved a boogie board and chased down Pepere to join him (he was not allowed...which also led to many a tantrum on the beach). He also loved chasing birds, digging holes, driving his trucks in the sand, picking up gross things that washed up, and eating. Michael took more snack breaks on the beach than anyone. In one morning he would easily have 4 snacks and several waters/ juices. He just didn't want to miss a thing...so if someone was having a snack? Michael did too.

Michael also loved the bike riding. On one path, you pass by the fire station, and he was thrilled. Imagine his delight when we went to the little shopping center to get ice cream and the fire trucks were all lined up and on display! He was a little nervous too, as you can see here:

Here's another bike ride...to the marshes. We unfortunately didn't get the littles into the bike carrier until late in the week. They loved it and we wish we'd been taking them out all week. Ah, well. In this picture, Michael is pointing the way. He always points with his hand right at his face.

Michael did a lot of bonding with his cousin. Colin was just the coolest big kid around. Unfortunately for Colin, he was very good at amping Michael up, but then he got the brunt of hyper Michael's flailing, throwing madness. Michael just wanted to do everything that Colin did. Here they are goofing around on the back porch/mosquito diner.

You put a chair in the water? I think I will too!

Michael and Uncle Greg bonded a lot. Greg was like putty when Mikey was around. He loved to make Michael laugh and Michael was happy to oblige. Here is Greg "falling asleep" on Michael while watching tv.

We don't have enough pictures of it, but playing in the sand was a big part of the day. Michael managed to get some of the big kids involved as well. He's so cute, all of us are willing to do his bidding.

One day on the beach next to us, a family was driving a remote control car around. Michael wandered over and the next thing you know, he was helping drive it! This child is charming, I'll say. Everyone is powerless against those big blue eyes. A few days later he recognized the family (even though the tide was too high to drive the car) and bolted right over. He said, "I wan roun and roun." and then started running in a circle moving his hands like an imaginary steering wheel. They were ready to adopt him.

He went on the boys day to Patriot's Point and was...energetic. From what I hear, he was super excited about each new plane/room/whatever, enjoyed it for approximately 2.5 seconds, and then ran to the next thing. A bit nerveracking when you are way up on an aircraft carrier and it is a looooong way down to the water.

Oh, Michael. It was fun to see Kiawah for the first time through your eyes. I'm sure you won't forget it anymore! You already keep pointing to South Carolina on our US placemat and say, "Dat's the beach. Let's go again!"

Kiawah...Lily style

Lily...sweet Lily. She is my beach kid. Michael also loves the beach, but Lily's transformation at the beach makes it truly remarkable. No tantrums. No whining. Just pure and utter joy.

My favorite picture of the year comes from Uncle Greg. He and my sister took Lily and Michael for a night walk on the beach and captured Lily's joy in a beautiful shot. (I might also add they brought them down in their clothes and told them to not get in the water. Shall we all have a chuckle at their expense and then thank them for the lovely picture?)


Lily never takes a break. Well, she does if you force her. But she spent hours, literally hours, lying in the surf, jumping over waves, digging in the sand. She was a mermaid and a mommy sea gull and a million other imaginary things. If the boys would play pretend with her, she was in heaven. If they wouldn't, she just happily made up her own game. She was a delight.

On one night, we got to visit with my Aunt Jeannette. Here you can see the 3 Jeannettes, Giselle Jeannette, Lillian Jeannette, and one of the original Jeannette's. Lily was instantly in love with Jeannette, and I'm pretty sure she never shut up the whole night. Jeannette was patient and loving, and it was easy to see why Lily warmed up so quick to her namesake.

Here she is taking an imposed snack break. She was amazing. No one enjoys the beach as much as this girl. Except maybe for the occasional labrador we saw walking the beach. They seemed pretty stoked as well.

We did occasionally drag Lily away from the beach. Here she is all dressed up for a hike near the marsh.

We did take her there in style, though. With snacks.

On the day the boys all went to Patriot's Point, Lily came with Memere, Grandma, and me for a "Girl's Day in Charleston." Lily had a blast. She was spoiled rotten, first of all. But she was such a little shopper, fingering all the wares in the open air market and showing us all sorts of treasures she found with enthusiasm. She was even fun in the restaurant. And she ate a piece of calamari (I'm pretty sure she thought it was a french fry) and tried a hush puppy. Sometimes it's good to be the only granddaughter.

She also handled down time at the house well. She ate poorly, but it didn't seem to affect her mood much. She watched a lot of tv, played games, played more pretend, and fit in a few book readings as well.

She also bonded with her cousin Colin. Last summer...they didn't get along. Let's just leave it at that. This summer? They really liked each other. My favorite conversation between them was this:

Lily: When we get to the beach we should play sea gulls. I'll be the mommy and you can be the daddy and we'll get food and things for our babies.

Colin: Or we could just run in and out of the water.

Lily: Okay.

Lily is also showing signs of following in her mother's footsteps:

My beach girl! I'd go on vacation with her any day!

Kiawah...Andrew style

Andrew had a blast at Kiawah this year. It is the first year that he just dove into all the beach fun with no adjustment period at all. It is also the first year that he could ride a bike, and although he still isn't very good at riding bikes, he will tell you it was his favorite part of vacation this year.

Andrew was really a mess physically. He had two green, healing goose eggs on his forehead (one from slipping while dancing in front of the bathroom mirror and the other from falling out of bed). He fell just before we left for Kiawah and skinned his elbow and left knee...pretty terribly, actually. He got a boogie board wrapped around his neck and got a welt and scrape. He fell off his bike and skinned his right knee and elbow. He ran into a pole while bike riding and scraped a huge chunk out of the palm of his right hand. I'm amazed no one called social services, honestly. But he just picked himself back up and kept having fun. He's such a cool kid.

We went on a walk to the point with just Andrew. We saw sea stars and 3 types of crabs and not much else. It was my mom and dad, Jeff and I, and Andrew. A very special morning with just our boy. And it was a really long walk...Andrew never complained. Here are my 2 peas in a pod.

Of my 3 kids, Andre w enjoys the beach the least. If we've spent the morning there and come home for lunch, Andrew is done for the day. Everyone else wants to go back in the afternoon, but he'd rather do something else. Of course, he is a good boy, and came with us when we wanted and didn't complain. He was patient with his siblings and cousin and ever patient with the disorganization and frenzy that comes with vacation.

He just seemed so OLD this vacation. He was so fun to be with and play in the waves with and hang out in the house with. He's really growing up, and I just like him more and more. I mean, I'll always LOVE him, but I just really LIKE him right now.

The last day, Jeff, his dad, Andrew, and I went on a kayak tour. It was Andrew's first time in any kind of row boat. He took the training very seriously:

And even though it poured down rain on us, and we didn't really see any wildlife, he just beamed from ear to ear the whole time. He had a blast!

Oh! These pictures are totally not in order...thank you blogger. Jeff and the 2 grandpas took all the boys to Patriot's Point...and this is the only picture I have of Andrew on it. -sigh- Paul took a million shots that I'm sure are beautiful...I fully plan on stealing them when we visit Ohio next.

Andrew also got lots of bonding time with his cousin. His only first cousin is just 13 months younger than him, and they don't get to see enough of each other.

As mature and wonderful as Andrew is, he still got to have lots of time being a kid. He had crying fits, fell asleep on the couch during one of them, had squirt gun fights and rode boogie boards and noodles, threw balls on the beach, played card games, video games, etc etc.

All in all, I think he had a pretty good week. We sure loved being there with him!

Kiawah

Ah, Kiawah. Every year as we pack up and contemplate the looooooong drive, we wonder why we do it. We have a beach 90 minutes away. Okay, so it is the Jersey shore, but it is technically a beach.

And every year we get there and Jeff is instantly looking at real estate and talking about quitting his job and becoming the engineer at Kiawah's sanitation plant or something so we can live there. We just love it. The kids love it. This year was even more special because we got to share it with my in-laws. Although we were very sad Andrea and Dave couldn't make it, it was really fun to show off Kiawah to people who have heard so much about it.

The drive was okay. We hate D.C. What could be an 11 hour drive was stretched into a 13.5 hour drive. Ugh. No one slept. But they happily watched movies and opened their state line gifts with as much delight and enthusiasm as Christmas morning. Honestly.

And we had a fabulous week. We saw this big guy almost every day on our short walk to the beach:


My father-in-law and Andrew watched a different gator come in our own backyard and try to snatch a bird. We also saw lots of deer in our housing area.


Generally, with the kids getting older, Kiawah was just easier this year. Jeff and I even found some time to get in a squirt gun fight:
And of course we have the obligatory, "How many chins does Giselle have THIS year?" picture. I was holding that board up to hide the underarm/back fat...apparently I should have pulled it up just a shade higher ;)

When we went on a walk to the point (where the Kiawah River meets the sea), Jeff took this picture. Kiawah Island, on July 4th. Seriously. He wanted to have photographic proof why we don't just go to the "the shore"

Swimming at the pool

I know, I know. Kiawah. I'll get there.




A friend of mine lives in a townhome right around the corner from me. Her townhome complex has a little pool that we have been invited to in past years. This year, my friend is in Slovakia for the entire summer, in an attempt to immerse her young children in her husband's native language. (now that her husband has returned to the US for work, she is the lone English speaker for 5 long weeks, might I add, which I believe makes her the clear winner for wife of the year). Anyhoo, she was kind enough to give me a few of her pool tags to use this summer.

We finally went for the first time on Tuesday. I was a little nervous to go with 3 kids all by myself, but I knew this is a small, uncrowded pool...so my best chance of success compared to other summer pool options.

It was...fun! Lovely! We went again yesterday. And it was again wonderful. Andrew is diving after the diving sticks I bought him and wearing himself out re-learning his swimming skills. Lily is nervous and scared, but willing to let me take her out into the water. Her job this summer is to just get comfortable with the water, so swim lessons will go better in the fall. After 2 pool visits, she is already holding on with just hands, blowing bubbles, and kicking off the wall. Huge progress. Michael is being his normal fearless self...but he has surprised me with what a good listener he can be. When I take Lily out in the water with me, he sits obediently on the steps with his trucks. When I needed to take Lily to the bathroom, he got out of the pool and happily sat on a towel in the grass with a bag of pretzels.

Yesterday, he was in rare form. He snagged a someone else's noodle and started walking towards the steps. I told him he needed to ask if he could take it (even though the owner had already smiled and nodded at me that it was okay). Mike looked at the man, hugged the noodle, and said, "I love this!" Not quite the question I was looking for, but it worked!

He took the noodle and floated around with it a bit. But it was much more fun for pretend. It became his elephant trunk, his monkey tail, and his trumpet. Finally, he got the idea that it was a fishing pole. He stuck it in the water and instantly caught a fish...Andrew. Andrew flopped himself up on the side of the pool and wriggled like a fish. Michael announced, "Dis poodle ha dead fish!" (this pool has dead fish). He really was traumatized by that Bald Eagle Lake.

He was also mischievious...squirting me with water from our water shooters. As soon as I'd approach him to tickle him or drag him into the water, he would begin saying, "I love you ma, I love you, I love you." Trying to soften up the attack. He did the same thing to Andrew.


Oh, and Andrew got his quips in too. Lily was telling a joke at the dinner table after swim time. No one was really listening because we were still rushing around getting everyone's plates ready. After she finished her joke and got no response, Andrew said, "Apparently, we are NOT amused."

Ms. Sheehan was right

I will write about Kiawah. I am overwhelmed by the pictures, etc. I must write about this boring running stuff because it is bothering me this morning and it will help me to dump it on here. Kiawah. Tomorrow.



When I was in 4th grade, my gym teacher, Ms. Sheehan, called a conference with my parents. Have you ever heard of a gym teacher needing to conference with a parent? Anyway, her big announcement to my parents was, "Your daughter runs wrong."

Now that I'm struggling to run...I think she may have been right.

Jeff is sailing. He is running 3 miles in 26 minutes. He is ready.

I am struggling. I still feel weak. Every run a fight against pain and the mental message "STOPPPP" that my body sends me. I have run 25 minutes successfully 2 times. That's it. And after driving 9+ hours home on Saturday, my ankles are shot. Driving has set me back. Stupid ankles.

So this morning I had yet another aborted run due to extreme pain in my lower shin/upper ankle. This used to happen every single run when I started, but since I hit the 10 minute running mark it hasn't bothered me. Until driving for 9 hours (I am the driver in our family...Jeff the entertainment director).

I was crying in frustration and desperate to find a stretch or medicine or amputation technique to help me. Why is this so freakin' hard for me?

I went to Dr. Google. And I've come to find out that I run wrong. I under-pronate, also known as supinate. Which means I have a stiff foot, run on the outside of my foot, and basically no shock absorbing capability in my feet. If you are so inclined, you can read more here. Or, since blogger no longer lets me add hyperlinks, http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319-326-435-0,00.html

I have all the symptoms. My shoes are worn severely on the outside of the tread. My toes poke through the top. When I leave wet foot prints, they match the pictures on the web. I have a high arch. I have heel pain. Shin splints.

On one hand, I feel better about my sucky running. It is the way I run that sucks, the shape of my foot that sucks...not poor will power or psychosomatic issues. On the other hand, this is extremely discouraging. Running this 5K is not going to be easy, and possibly won't be good for me.

First remedy...good running shoes. I've been running on my $30 Sacony walking shoes, which are worn completely down. We'll see if new shoes help me at all. That's pretty much all the websites say to do.

-sigh- I just wish there was another form of exercise that was as convenient as running but I wasn't so rotten at.


Also? I hate that the mean old witch from 4th grade was right.