Katie's first sleepover

Katie had 4 little friends over for pizza and movie. Two stayed the night. Asleep by 10, not bad. No big fights or problems. This was to mark her half bday. She wanted this on her birthday but it was just too early and it's so much easier in the summer.

Camping

3 nights at Waterest Campground in Woodstock NH. Playing in the rocky stream, creating fish hatcheries and schools. Lots of rock throwing and wading in the water, looking for creatures. The other side of the campground has a fish pond, all kids like to try but Caleb is really into it. No catches yet. Katie, Adam and Mommy love the river walks. We put on boots and walk up or down the river, sometimes knee deep. We saw ducks, frogs, beautiful rocks. It's hard work!

A drive across Kangamancus and a day at Storyland ended the weekend.

Summer update, swimmin' and bikin'

All three are cruising along on bikes now. OK, Caleb is still shakey. But he's on his own and looks great, just wants someone nearby. Katie is swimming solo in the deeper end of the pool. She had to pass a swim test which made her nervous. After the test she was flying, though! Adam had figured out how to make stop action movies, I hope I can post one here...

Adam 8 yr appt and visit to North Bridge

Adam saw his pediatrician for a well visit, all is well. He is 52.5 inches and 58 pounds. From there we headed down to Lexington MA to the Minute Man National Park. It's a long stretch of a park documenting the battle rd of April 19, 1775, the night after Paul Reveres ride. We stopped at three major sites, the visitor center had a great reenactment, a muscat firing demo and last was the famous North Bridge. The kids loved it! We decided next year to bring bikes and ride the 5 mile park path. Caleb had tons of questions for the rangers like "the redcoats were on the red team but what color was our team?". And "are there still redcoats in the woods?".

Katie and Adam are official bike riders!

And Caleb is on the way! I got tough after a visit from the Macgilivreys and got some tips. We took the training wheels off and they were solo within about two hours and exactly one Popsicle as a bribe. Not bad! They are all do happy with themselves. We couldn't wait to show off to Dad the next morning.

Last day of swim class

All three did a six session class and did great. The boys are still a little hesitant to swim under much but Katie is on her way to strokes. The UNH outdoor pool passes have been well used this summer. I hope the rumor of closing this pool is false! We just came from the UNH mini carnival and and we'll probably eat at UNH then watch a free kids movie tonight. Katie says "mom, best day EV-AH!". (ever). :).

Adam receives Black Belt

Last karate practice for Adam

Piano Recital

Adam and Katie had their recital today at SpruceWood nursing home. Adam played Amazing Grace and demonstrated his 8-note scale. Katie did Mary Had a Little Lamb and Indian Dance. They both did great! There was about 10 kids performing including their good friends Laura and Andrew Kelly.

Visit with Judy and Max

The kids and Beth spent 7 days with J and M in Las Vegas, Tuck has a different spring break so he had to stay home. Since Sox is still so new to us it worked out well.

Lots of fun adventures, the week really flew. Sunday was the Leid Discovery Center with the Curious George exhibit. Mass in the evening. On Monday Caleb, Max and Beth perished the local huge nursery and bought some flowers while Judy and A and K baked cookies. We all went to a friends house, Mr. Mike, and looked at his enormous model train set and took him to ice cream for a thank you. Then we got to see J and M's new townhouse and swim in their pool. Tuesday we spent a long time at a great park called Springs Preserve. Science museum with a live raptor show and a Natural History Museum, fantastic playground with fake mammoth bones to climb on and much more. On the way home we took the kids to an indoor, glow on the dark mini golf, amazing! Thursday and Friday we hiked and camped at Valley of Fire State Park. Camping went well, two tents (Adam and Max in one the rest in another) s'mores and no major injuries! On the way home Friday we toured the Hoover Dam. Saturday morning was a quick trip to Red Rock Canyon, more scrambling on boulders.

The kids' favorites were, of course, mini golf and children's museum! Adam spent much of his down time reading satirical fact books about Great Britain! Katie loves getting into Grandma's treasures. Caleb was lots of motion, flying his new helicopter all over with realistic sound effects.

Adam starts swim class

He will do 6 weeks of swimming with Miss Nancy, OT and specialty swim coach. It's at the works and Caleb will happily stay with Nate and Katie will happily get off the bus with Maggie! The goal is for him to listen enough and feel comfortable enough to take group lessons at UNH this summer.

Sox joins the team

Yesterday we lucked out and got puppy from Stratham SPCA. 20 pound b.c. terrier mix who is 4 months old. She doesn't bark much, calm, careful temperament, likes to be around people but so far is not jumpy at all. She doesn't know whether to protect us from Biscuit or play with her. Biscuit has already shown great courage and even forgiveness at this intrusion. Sox came with the name Winona and we briefly considered Sweet Muffin before she actually told us she was a Red Sox fan and with her 4 white socks, we knew what to call her.

Adam Brown Belt

Adam achieved Brown Belt this morning at Karate. Good job!

Family Day in Boston

Tuck has spring break and the kids have the day off for a teacher conference so we went to a slew of Boston museums. New England Aquarium, Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archeology. The last hour was a lot of feet dragging (Peabody) but the Nat His was fantastic. Caleb's favorite was the gift shop. Katie's was the preserved butterflies. Adam's was computer animation of asteroid collision with Caleb. Beth's was the skeletons of the giant sloth and Kronosarous. Tucks favorite was the New England flora and fauna exhibit but a close second was when Adam read the sign "paleontology exhibit" and excitedly pulled Tuck in.

Quote of the day.
Adam: Hey Caleb let's play on the tub when we get we get home. (Caleb bought a toy sub that dives and resurfaces)
Katie: Yeah, then we can see if the facts on box are true!
Adam: Yeah, they might be opinions.

Caleb Mommy Date

Bowling! Caleb bowled for both of us so that's...60 throws in about 20 minutes! This was our first date, very fun!

Brothers Day, Walk in the woods, End of winter break

The first Sunday of March is Brothers Day in our house and today Adam and Caleb got royal treatment this morning. Adam was served waffles and strawberries on a tray in bed. Caleb politely declined this offer despite recounting this tradition to a friend the day before. :-). Then we sang to both and Mommy read him a chapter from his favorite book, Humphrey's Adventure.

We all got dressed for the deep snow and headed out to Moharimet Woods where Adam's class lined a beautiful trail with facts about animals in winter. Each child wrote a poem and made artwork about the animal they researched.

This is the last day of the kids winter break. We had a great week relaxing, but did plenty as well. There was a trip to the neurologist for Adam, a karaoke dance party with aunt Nicole, a ski trip with Daddy to King Pine, bowling with the Starks, playing in the snow... I think we need a vacation from our vacation!

Disney on Ice

We are at Verizon Arena to see Disney on Ice for Katie's birthday. We brought Addie and Erin along with the whole family. We tried to get seats with the Jordans but we are a few rows away. So far the drive here was so fun it can only get better!

Basketball starts for Katie and Caleb

Katie and Caleb are in the same age group for basketball on Saturday mornings for 8 weeks.  One of the coaches is their good friend's father, Richard Weichert.  The head coach has two daughters that are 10 and 12 who will act as assistant coaches.  This adds instant value to the practice for Katie!  They both did great, dribbling away and moving through the fun stations.  There will be no games but instead focus on simple drills and learning the language.  The only drawback is the 8AM START TIME.  Beth couldn't handle it so Tuck took them and She took Adam to 9am indoor soccer, ahhhhh.  

Beth's new phone

Beth broke her Droid too many times. iPhone 4 is the new one and so far so good. Kids loved helping her get it up and running.