Karate Kid

Cole had his first karate lesson this past week.  They do two private lessons first to basically show them how to enter the school, what to say, and some basic stances.  After they have memorized their creed, they can get their white belt and join the regular classes.  Cole will be getting his white belt tonight.  Cole has been asking to do karate for quite some time now and we figured the start of the school year was a good time to begin.  I was a little worried that he would be shy and wouldn’t like it but he did GREAT!  Better than great!  He liked his teacher and answered questions.  They talked about the importance of being healthy, being respectful, and having a disciplined life.  Before you enter the room, you must bow and say, “Do my best.”  He is also required to look him in the eye while speaking, no whining-ever, and to learn something new every week.  The instructor told him that he didn’t care what he learned as long as it was something and even said a new way of picking your nose was great.  Cole thought that was very very funny.  He was a little quiet at first when he was doing the punches and saying, “Kia!” but he eventually got louder as he got more comfortable.  I asked him if he liked it when he left and he said. “ I LOVE karate.  I want to do Karate forever.  If I do karate forever, I can be a karate teacher!”  I think we’ll stick with this for a while.

Go Dad Go!!!

We were finally able to take both Cole and Alli to one of Jim’s hockey games.  He plays very late at night during the regular season but gets to play at 8:30 during the summer.  We put Avery to bed, hired a sitter and went to watch Daddy play goalie.  Cole had been before with PeePaw but Alli had no idea what to expect.  She was actually scared of Jim when he first came out with all of his pads on.  They had a great time cheering.  Alli stood up and started doing her ballet moves on the sidelines.  They got really excited whenever Jim waved to them.

Enjoying Boston

I have to interrupt my trip journaling to write about all of the exciting things we have been doing in Boston (otherwise I’ll forget.)  The past few weeks here have been so fun!  We decided when we got back to take a few day trips to explore and enjoy this great weather.  We have gone to the Children’s Museum (of course) to see the space exhibit, the aquarium which is probably one of the best I have ever been to, and toured Fenway Park.

These pictures are from the construction room.  The kids could build, race cars, and sit in trucks.

They have added a new section called “Peep’s World.”  There are shadow rooms, climbing trees, and water play.  Water is Avery’s absolute favorite.

Catching and throwing the balls. Avery was so confused.

Cole teaching Alli how to us the tools.

After the museum, we walked around in Quincy Market and got some ice cream.  Two female street vendors got into a very heated argument and the kids learned all kinds of new words!

Alli likes to let her ice cream melt and then eat it slowly one spoonful at a time.  This can seriously take an hour,  Jim showed her how to drink her ice cream which she thought was very silly.

We did the Fenway Park tour the following week.  Actually I should say some of us did the tour.  Right as we started waking through the gates (all tickets already purchased) Avery just started crying.  And crying and crying and crying.  It was clear that the other patrons were already sick of our crew before we even started so Avery and I opted to leave and wait for the rest of them outside.  I didn’t see the tour but they tell me it was great.  As soon as we got outside she stopped crying.  Maybe she’s a Yankees fan?  We walked around Boston to kill time for an hour and stumbled upon a Starbucks.  What better time than now to get baby’s first Starbucks?  I got her a smoothie, me a high calorie iced drink, and we sat on the steps at Fenway having the time of our lives with our frozen treats.

Cole took his spider on the tour.

From there we headed to the aquarium.  We all enjoyed this for a while but once we were about halfway done, both girls fell asleep.  Cole played only child and got ALL the attention.  He had a great time  and especially liked learning about the frogs.

Avery watching the sea turtles.

They had a children’s learning section where a woman from the museum did a frog puppet show and taught the kids all about frogs.

Week 2 of Our Texas Tour

We packed up all of our stuff and went to stay at my Mom’s house during the second week of vacation.  I should add that I don’t think we ever stayed in one place for more than 4 days so we became really good at packing and unpacking.  Mom had hound Chrissy’s old ballet costumes recently and set them aside for Alli.  Alli was in costume/dress up heaven.  She was so so excited.  Her favorite was the duck costume because she wanted to pretend to be on the Duck Boats from Boston.  Chrissy was nice enough to let her keep that one. 

My mom and I threw a bridal shower for a very dear friend.  It was such a fun party and so great to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

The next day, Jim, Cole and I got up and met my Dad, Amy, and her son Ryan out at Texas Motor Speedway to drive actual Nascars.  I was a nervous wreck all morning.  I was surrounded by a group made up almost entirely of men who were all itching to get behind the wheel of the car and just tear things up.  I have anxiety about cars anyways so putting myself behind the wheel of a tiny car that goes that fast was terrifying.  Jim couldn’t wait and Cole thought it wsa so cool to see everything up close.  I was deemed to “Tortuga” or turtle of the race track.  Jim, Dad, and Amy lapped me several times.  It was definitely an experience!!

This is Cole watching Daddy’s car.

Just a few days after we went to my mom’s, we packed up the kids and sent them back over to Grandmother and PeePaw’s house so that Jim and I could go with some friends and my mom to the Aerosmith concert.  It was so so fun.  The timing worked out perfectly.  Jim and I rarely get to do things like this when we aren’t in Dallas with so many people willing to babysit.  It would have been nice to see Dave Matthews too but I’ll take what I can get.

We met up with my Mom and Jimmy at the concert. 

The next night was the first night of the Boston Red Sox vs. Texas Rangers series.  Jim and I went with a bunch of friends fully dressed in all of our Red Sox attire. Boston lost.  We enjoyed the company but didn’t care much for the score of the game.  It was also at this point that our camera battery died so we don’t have any pictures to document this night. 

BUT, we went back to the Red Sox/Rangers game two nights later with Dad and Amy.  We also took Cole and Alli with us this time.  Alli was VERY excited to be big enough to go to a real baseball game.  The kids had a blast.  It’s amazing how much they can eat.  They also loved cheering for YUKE!! and Big Poppy but once again, the Red Sox lost. 

Dad and I before the game.  They had a little birthday party before me before we left.

This is as close to cheerleading as I EVER want her to get.

We spent my 29th birthday at the water park.  We had tried to go the week before but got rained out so this was the perfect time to use our rain checks.

The kids LOVE birthdays because it also comes with cake.  They got trick candles and I really think we were pretty close to setting the smoke alarm off with all of my candles.