Little Gym Show Day #2

B's second gymnastics "show day" was June 9th. The kids ran in individually to the theme song from Rocky, and did a mini-vault off a spring board onto a mat. (Why don't I video these things!? Dangit!)
The line-up:

The beam routine (including walking on tip-toes, and an arabesque at the end.) Flawlessy executed.




Breaktime between the routines, on the bars with buddy Owen.

Bar routine. (the green stick is used to give the kids something to straddle jump over back and forth, helping them to learn to change their hand grip.)



He fell on me right after the shutter closed.

Medal of achievement!

Columbus Zoo

Monday, June 8th, I decided to be very, very brave and head down to Columbus, Ohio with Bennett and two friends, Gabe and Clara. (Xavier stayed behind with Gma and Gpa P.) A new baby elephant there instigated the trip; I guess that's rare in the zoo-world. SO, there we were...driving 2 hours in a terrible rain storm to see him and all the other animals. Probably three separate times, while driving in the kind of rain that windshield wipers just can't keep up with, I shouted out, "Oh! Seriously!!! What are we doing?!?!" And I'd hear:
Gabe: "I brought 3 leaf clovers for luck! (waving a little bunch of green over his head) It will stop raining, Aunt K, I just know it!"
Clara: "That's so dumb, Gabe. Those are just WEEDS!"
Ben: (in his quiet, innocent little voice that I can barely hear sometimes)"I thought we were going to the zoo, Mom. Isn't that what we're doing?"

Sigh.

Soooo, we drove on, and the sun even decided to come out at times. The day was pretty perfect weather-wise... 80*, a drizzle now and then, and overcast. Kept us cool and the crowds away. Not bad.

Okay, there are A LOT of pics in this post. You've been warned. Also, please note that I was forced to stop at EVERY single animal statue we went by, where photos were creatively arranged by the 3 amigos. I did not ask them to pose in any certain way, ever, so this was all their doing...I was just the photographer for the day.

First animal statue picture: Gabe and Bennett on BECO! the baby elephant:

Ben watching the elephants

Love the fuzz all over baby Beco. (I also just like saying "baby Beco". hehe)


Waiting for me to catch up to them to enter the pheasant enclosure. We met two of my friends from work there (Denise and Pat) so we were kind of trailing behind the kids, who were tightly wound from the 2 hours in the car.

Watching a soda bottle explode on my friend Pat:

Here's what was behind the fence that they should have been looking at (the soda explosion was probably more interesting ;-):

This tiger was really cool - he just paced in front of the glass endlessly.

Not the best moment of the day ("AUNT K! Gabe messed up my hair! You CANNOT take my picture!!"...oooh! but I just did! HA!)

Gabe generously donated lots of coins at the "save the animals" collection points (love how the zoo is very crafty, and makes the coin dropping fun, enticing kids in...)


Watching the lions

I have to say, I've never seen zoo animals actually do much but sleep (unless they're monkeys or the like - those things are crazy)...anyway, the lions were really active, and surprisingly, a bit scary. At one point, the male lion and one of the females chased another female about 50 yards up a hill right next to us. The male roared (loudly!), and we felt like we were on a safari. Well, not really. (hehe) But, I felt like, for a minute there, we were going to witness something National Geographic worthy.





Starfish touch tank:




Clara. Ever the actress.









Anticipating the carosel ride:

Don't let this photo fool you - he's actually really happy. Honest!

(Oh, darn. The LAST animal statue photo op of the day?!)

Bennett gleefully skipping through the tunnel on our way out.

We still had to make it through the gift shop. It was 4:15, and anticipating the 2 hour car ride ahead of us, I was a smidgeon worried about leaving in a timely manner. On the way to the gift shop, I had the kids repeat after me a couple of times : "gift shop, bathrooms, home." (say it with me, children...) Well, drama ensued at the gift shop (too many selections) for an insane 25 minutes. When we finally made it out of there, it was followed by - not one! not two! but THREE trips to the bathrooms. (Someone might have to go multiple times within a timeframe of 5 minutes? Who knew?!) We FINALLY left at 5pm. And guess what! - NO ONE fell asleep on the way home! lol.

It was a fun day, but I left feeling a bit dizzy. I'm not used to having 3 mobile children on my own. The vertigo was worth it though - we did have a lot of fun :-)

Xavier is excited!

Can you tell? And he has good reason...Nick and I FINALLY made a decision that Xavier will attend Hazel Harvery Elementary School in Doylestown for Kindergarten. The choice was not made lightly -- we had many options that were whittled down to two elementary schools: one with a dedicated special needs program but in a different town, and our hometown elementary. When it came down to it, it was way more important to have Xavier close to home, in his own community, with people who are interested in and excited about working with him.
He's a bit of a pioneer in our district schools, as there hasn't been someone of his developmental disability level there in a long time. But, there are several teachers, therapists and interventional specialists there that are willing to learn about Xavier and how to help him learn and interact. And be a part of our little boy's mission here on earth - to help others grow in knowledge and spirit.

We met a few of those people today on a visit to register Xavier for kindergarten at the school. It was such a pleasure to meet his new interventional specialists, Mrs. Fox and Mrs. Kerr. We can already tell that they are lovable ladies and Xavier took to them right away.

I can't tell you how stressed I've been about this decision. I've run the gamut of emotions - frustrated, irritated, sad, confused...but now, I feel like I can rest easy and enjoy the summer. We have kindergarten to look forward to - and we're now confident we made the right choice for Xavier - his hometown school :-)

Memorial Day 2009

Last Monday, we had a rather inpromptu cookout with Nick's parents, my dad, and Nick's brother Eric's family (Vicki, Kathryn, and Alyssa). The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and it was fun to hang out with everyone.



Ben has been CRAZY about bubbles lately. He gets going, and can occupy himself forever with it.
Showing cousin Kathryn a bubble he caught:


His latest trick is blowing a bubble on a surface over a small object to make it a "bubble house". He's actually really good at it, and can make the house have one big "room", or several small "rooms". He'll blow an array of bubbles, and then pop the ones that aren't to his liking to make his "house" perfect. He's elevated it to an art form. :-)

(Look at him beaming with pride, showing off this new-found skill! -)


Xavier, of course, was delighted with the company and the food. Baked beans, burgers, and potato & fruit salads are right up his alley. Here he is, enjoying attention from Grandma, whom I think he would rather be with more often than not. Hehehe - he LOVES his Grandma and Papa!!


There was swinging, catch, basketball at the little hoop, and after all that action, Ben dragged both his Grandpas inside to watch Spiderman, a new favorite. (He's growing up. Sigh.) Even though he's been wearing his Spiderman Halloween costume nearly every day for the last 6 months (HA!), he'd never seen the movie until last week. It's decidedly too violent for him to watch...but luckily, he's only interested in the parts where Spidey is swinging from building to building, and the rest of the time, he busies himself drawing and coloring. He somehow has a built in censor. It appears I'm at least momentarily set as far as that goes, although,I'm sure it won't last long... ;-)

Now that's tired.

As I got ready for work on Sunday afternoon, I looked out the window, and thought this was hilarious.

Here's what Nick and Ben were doing:

(its a pressure washer, so its LOUD.)


And here's what Xavier was doing, 20 feet away.