Jack: Mama, is “fear” a word?
Mama: “fear” or “sphere”?
Jack: “fear”
Mama: Yes, fear is a word.
Jack: What does it mean?
Mama: Fear is being afraid.
Jack: Oh. I am fear sometimes.
Mama: You are?
Jack: I am fear of dark places.
Mama: Yeah?
Jack: Yeah, and I am fear of bears.
Mama: Dark places and bears.
Jack: I am fear of not getting my way.
Mama: I see.
(I think Mama is fear of that too...)
We gave up gymnastics for swimming this summer and have spent every remotely sunny day at the pool. (From the first photo below you can see that we are sometimes there when no one else thinks that it is a good pool day…Hey, we want our money’s worth!)
Katie, Sarah, and Lisa are our constant companions. On sunny days we go at noon and close the place down at 9PM! We bring stuff to barbecue, and the daddy’s join us when they get off work.
Both monkeys have become amazingly confident in the water. They will easily go underwater and try new things. I have been very pleased with how much they are learning.
Jack loves to go under water and will “swim” with his head down and kick as long as he is in an area where he can touch. He did some jumping in off the side in the deep end, but it really hurt his nose as it was just after his surgery – so he has given up on that for now. His favorite thing to do right now is touch the bottom of the pool with his hands.
Owen loves to swim to someone from the side and swim back. As usual, he takes direction seriously, and has had swim instructions from Lisa, Katie, and Sarah. You can see little steps of improvement each time he swims.
The other day he saw a neighborhood boy, Logan, jump off of the diving board and decided that he wanted to do it too. (This is the same boy that inspired Owen to ride with no training wheels – love this kid!) The next day, Owen took Katie and Sarah, and walked right up to the board, told me to jump in and be by for safety, and then he trotted right down the board and jumped off without a moment’s hesitation at the end. He could swim enough to get to the side and did it over and over again.
They monkeys very favorite is when Daddy comes in to play – he’s the third wild boy!
Sarah
Charlotte and Bridget and parents came with us on one cold day. They kids had fun together, and we all went in, but I later found out that the pool heater had accidently been turned off. Opps – sorry guys.
The kiddos had fun playing games outside the pool anyway…
And parents enjoyed a little vino…
Even Dock and Nana and our little Tyler joined us for one day (unfortunately I was home in bed with Strep Throat – but how cute are they!!??) Daddy even packed the pool bag and all of the dinner for everyone!
We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island yesterday to do something different. We tromped through the rain, had coffee and cookies at our favorite coffee shop, and walked through town a bit. There is a kids museum on the island that we thought might be fun. The museum was small, but really well done. My favorite things was that the walls were incorporated into the activities. Many walls were painted with murals that made the rooms seem alive. 
In other sections, the walls were actually part of the activities. This is Owen letting golf balls drop down a hilly wall path.
We definitely need to go back again!
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This is my thoughtful Owen. I often spot him looking like this, pondering life…
Until he notices that I have a camera…
So I move on to my next subject…
who also notices the camera…
On the Ferry, someone watched Jack for a few minutes then came up to me and said, “That one is going to be in the movies.”
We took a hike up to Twin Falls today with Nana and Dock and Tyler. It was a great place for a family hike. The trail was along the river with a few places to get in close. (What is with children’s facination with water anyway?) There was enough ups and downs to create a little bit of a challenge physically, but not too much that the monkeys wanted to be carried (that much.) Oh, and there was a bench at the mid-way point and the top-point of the hike – super important for snacks!
This little lizard was tiny! I think the who thing could have fit on my pinkie, and still been shorter than my finger. Yeah, I didn’t actually pick it up, and I think I was the one who was most interested in it…
Snack time…
Ah, I remember this age, before my monkeys stuck out their tongues or made other various silly faces at the site of the camera…Tyler, don’t ever change!
The weather was nice until we got to the very end of our trail (and the farthest away from the car…) Just as we sat down to eat our snack (sunflower seeds, dried blueberries, and chocolate chips mixed up “the way Becca does, mom”) it started to rain, continually harder all the way back to the car. Funny thing was – I think that made the hike better. All of the foliage was shiny from being wet, the thunder was exciting (when you knew there was going to be a warm dinner and safe house to come home to) and the monkeys had no complaints going back to the car.
The only complaint was from the adults who thought that my picture-taking skills were on the slow side – considering the pouring rain…
We will definitely be doing a return trip here.
“I am so impressed with myself!” Jack declared near the end of the trail. “ I hiked this whole way like a big boy!”
A few years ago we tried to take the monkeys to fire works, but they were terrified from the first boom announcing that the fireworks had begun.
The Alteio family and our family decided to try the local fireworks to have a fast get-away if the kids got scared, and to see if we really needed to drive into Seattle for a good show.
When we first got to to the area we set our chairs out in a small grassy area away from where the majority of people were sitting. We had been warned that it took a LONG time to get out of the big fields where most people sat. Lisa and I were worried that a building would be in the way of the fireworks and set out to find someone who had been to the show before. When we asked two gentlemen what they thought of the spot, they clearly thought we had several screws loose. They looked at each other with funny looks and one man slowly explained that the fireworks were in the sky. Very helpful. Thank-you gentlemen! And for their INFORMATION, we were slightly blocked from seeing the lower section of the fireworks!!! (ha-rumph!)
They boys were delighted by the fireworks. Jack thought they were a little loud and kept his ears covered with his hands for the entire show, but showed his support by clapping his feet... The three 6-year-olds were initially worried that the fireworks would hit us. Once they were convinced that was not the case, the loved the show too.
PS – it really was dark outside, but I left the shutter open on my camera for a long time and it looks quite light.
Last month, my niece Lauren graduated from High School.
For me it was a bit of a shock. I was not shocked that Lauren graduated, but that “real” kids graduate. My sister’s kids are “real” kids. Of course all kids are “real” kids, but somehow her kids make things seem a little more real. If her kids can graduate from high school, that means that mine will too. Scary!
I took the monkeys to her graduation. They were very excited and, of course, wanted to wear “fancy clothes”. Unfortunately, I had let a friend’s son borrow Owen’s dress shirt and tie for a wedding. Neither Owen nor Jack were convinced that wearing a polo was fancy enough…ooops. (I guess I should have responded to their email saying they were done with the clothes.)
I worried about how Jack would do through the long ceremony, but he did great and always wanted to know where Lauren was. (For anyone wondering, she is in the third row from the front – about the 8th from the near edge. She is leaning forward more than anyone in the row)
When Lauren received her diploma, Jack thought Lauren was getting her “memory book” - a book with pictures of Lauren and her classmates the events she did throughout the year. Jack loves the one that he got from his preschool...
Owen later told me that he thought Lauren was receiving her “passport to college.”
At her party afterward, Lauren was such a wonderful guest of honor. She made sure to talk to everyone there, was so happy and friendly, and dignified. I was so proud of her.
We did a little activity where we wrote our wishes for her future on little purple papers, and read them to her. Then we lit the paper and the wishes escaped up into the air.
One of Lauren’s friends read her heartfelt wish to Lauren and had many, I think even Lauren, in tears. 
The best part of the evening is when Lauren made a little speech after she had opened her cards and gifts. Eric yelled “speech! Speech” and everyone caught on. You could tell that Lauren was a bit surprised, but she just smiled and closed her eyes for a minute. Then Lauren thanked everyone for coming and thanked them for all the different kinds of support they had given her up to this part of her life. She then said that she still had a lot to learn in this life and that she hoped everyone would continue to help her grow.
It was so beautiful, and heartfelt, and honest, and I was so proud of her!
We love our Lauren!! Congratulations
Owen came downstairs tonight saying he was scared. He very rarely gets out of bed once he has fallen asleep. Eric and I gave him hugs and kisses and I carried him back up to bed.
Mama: You are in your safe house with your Mama and daddy and your little brother.
Owen: When I am an adult I will have a different family.
Mama: Yes, but Mama’s not ready to talk about that now!
Owen: It’s ok Mama, you will live there too.
Mama: When you are grown up and have your own family, I will come over to visit you (worried look from Owen) and I will sneak candy to your kids when you aren’t looking!
Owen: You will?!
Mama: Yep.
Owen: But, you will be a much more healthy grandma right?
Mama: ???? What do you mean? You have two very healthy grandmas! We are so lucky.
Owen: No, I don’t. Grandma Mary is not very healthy.
Mama: I think I am confused.
Owen: She is not healthy because she gives us a lot of sugar things when we see her.
Mama: (laughing) I see what you mean now. But I think I will probably give your kids unhealthy stuff sometimes. See, something strange happens to people when they go from mamas to grandmas. When Daddy was little, Grandma mostly gave him a lot of healthy stuff to eat.
Owen: (clearly shocked) She did?!?!!
Mama: Yup. But now that she is a grandma… (I smile and shake my head).
Owen: (narrows his eyes and looks at me for a minute): I still think you are going to be a healthy grandma. (he turns over in bed and closes his eyes) Goodnight!
When we joined the swimming club, and the monkeys went swimming a few times, they each got a few blistery marks on their feet from the rough bottom of the pool. I took the monkeys to Target and tried on the pool shoes that they had. Unfortunately my monkeys’ little feet are too “tall” and they can’t seem to get the water shoes on. I know water shoes are supposed to be tight, but not so tight that your children yell, “Ow Mama! That is hurting my foot!” in the isle of Target while you are trying to shove their foot into a shoe. Especially if you are trying the next size up from the size they actually wear. In four different brands of water shoes. And people are peeking over from other isles to see the face of the mama who is torturing her child in the water-toy isle. I gave up before someone called CPS.
After swimming at the pool all day Owens feet are covered in cuts and blisters. It looks terrible and he cannot walk without socks (hmm, is that really a bad thing?? – well, I guess it is in a pool). Jack’s feet were not far behind.
We had another entire day planned at the pool, so I had to find something before that. While the monkeys were at French Camp in the morning, I ran to REI and found two different pair of water shoes. I was hoping that one of them would work even though they were quite expensive. I also ran into Target for a few other items and happened to walk past the shoe section and saw one other pair of water shoes that they monkeys had not tried on - since we had been looking in the swim section where the majority of them are.
I picked the monkeys up from camp and showed them the three pair of shoes and said that Owen should try them on and pick the ones that he thought were the most comfortable (that he could actually get on his feet…) Owen looked at the three pair, and immediately grabbed these.
$35
“I want these!” he exclaimed and put them on (by himself!). “I love these. I’ll keep these.”
To his annoyance, I told Owen that he had to try on the other two pair of shoes. “Just for a comparison.” I said. “You can keep whichever ones you want, but try them all on first.”
The minute Owen took the first pair off, Jack grabbed the shoes and put them on claiming that they were perfect.
$20
Owen got this second pair on with a little help. “Oh, these don’t hurt my feet like the first ones.”
$8
Owen thought the third pair felt good too. After he wore one of each of the last two pair for a few minutes, he finally decided that the last pair was most comfortable.
I was quite pleased. I was relieved that we had found something and surprised that out of a choice of three, Owen decided that the least expensive pair were that best option for him. It certainly doesn’t seem like that happens often.
And I even lucked out that I decided to get two pair of the last kind just in case they worked – that way Jack could have a pair. (Jack also tried on all three and while he first claimed to LOVE the first pair, he admitted that they were really too tight – and greed that the third pair was the best.) Yeah!
