Kings Island



We went to Kings Island for the first time yesterday. The weather was perfect, much cooler than it has been. We had so much fun! There were several rides that we could go on as a family, including Justin, and some more that Justin could do with Luke or Michael. There weren't as many that Luke and Michael could do together. Michael generally had to ride with someone and Luke was tall enough for a couple of the scarier kiddie coasters, but he also had to ride with an adult. Still, the juggling wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated.

Justin wore this ride and both of his brothers out!



 Matt took this picture of Luke and I on this coaster. See! I am cool roller coaster mom! I still have headache.

 Matt did this one twice. His stomach wasn't happy about it.

The big attraction for Kings Island was the new Dinosaurs Alive exhibit. There were about 30 life-sized animotronic dinosaurs. It was really cool.

The boys also liked this excavation area.

We stayed until almost 10pm and watched the nightly fireworks from the car. Luke and Michael were great all day and Justin was such a trooper. They all fell asleep on the way home. We didn't get home until almost midnight, but Matt and decided that a late night at our own house was preferable to a crappy night in a hotel. Plus, Matt actually had to go into work today. We loved Kings Island and may go back again in the fall for their Halloween celebration.



So I was wrong.

There MUST be a Last Day of Kindergarten post and just because I wasn't there doesn't mean I can't cobble together some sort of post. Matt sent me some pictures on the phone, so I'm just going to use those. It was Field Day and the Kindergarteners were supposed to wear orange. Luke wore his Halloween shirt. Too funny.

Luke's classmate Taylor hosted a pool party. I was expecting a typical midwestern above ground pool. It's Clintonville, the lots are pretty small. So I was pretty surprised when Matt sent me this picture.

Luke is on the yellow noodle. Taylor's family appears to be doing pretty well. Remind me to encourage Luke to hang out with her more!

Meanwhile, Michael and Justin went to go play with Joseph and Cheryl took this picture of them. Joseph and Michael have been playing at our house every Monday for the whole school year. It's been my favorite day of the week! I'm going to miss it so much this summer and next year when Joseph starts preschool! I love this picture, by the way. I love the little boy legs.

And finally, apparently, Matt and the kids weren't worn out yet because they went to the ODU picnic after that! Yet another thing I missed. They always have a balloon person there and Luke had her make me this flower.

I still wish I had been there, but this isn't a half bad post after all! Thanks for taking the phone pictures, sweetheart! And thanks for letting me raid your blog, Cheryl!



No Mommy, No Blog.

Hard to blog from a thousand miles away. I'm here in Colorado grading World History AP exams. I'm not allowed to blog about the process or the questions, but I can say that I've been reading hundreds of essays that have something to do with Aztecs and Mongols. I think I need reading glasses. And there's a reason why I've never had an office job.

I admit that I was looking forward to having a few days away with no one to take care of except myself, but I was totally over that by Day 3. At least I got to see my mom and stepdad, which was nice. We had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant with good margaritas, so that was really good. But now I'm just missing Matt and the boys and feeling guilty about what I've missed and everything that Matt has had to juggle by himself this week. I hate that we need this crappy paycheck so bad, but we just spent on the minivan pretty much exactly what I will make here. The good news is that tomorrow is the last day of grading and I will be home on Thursday.

I will try to get over the fact that there won't be a Last Day of Kindergarten post because I wasn't there. It may take a while.

The Rest of Memorial Day Weekend

When we weren't throwing a birthday party or attending the Asian Festival twice, we played outside. I finally caved and got the boys swim shirts this year and I'm glad I did. Actually, Justin's came in a bag of hand-me-downs.

This morning, we decided to go to the Worthington Memorial Day parade. It was HOT!! We ran into a family from IC and they let us share their spot. Luke was super excited to watch the parade with his friend Max.

And this afternoon, we went swimming at the New Albany Pool. It was great, but we realized that taking the kids swimming is definitely going to be a two parent experience all summer. And that was finally the end of the weekend!!

Asian Festival

After Luke's birthday party on Saturday, we had to head down to the Asian Festival, so that Luke could perform with the Black Tigers. We were all exhausted before we even got there. But the performance was amazing! The team looked really, really good and the audience was totally into it. We had to do it again on Sunday morning. It was hotter on Sunday, but we were more rested and enjoyed the festival more. The Sunday performance was great, too. It really helps to have an audience that wants to watch martial arts! I only had the camera with me on Sunday, so these videos are from then. On a side note, Master Circle really wants the kids in either black or red pants until their uniforms comes in, so he gave me a pair for Luke. They were two sizes too big. I think I did a pretty good job hemming them, but he is definitely rocking the MC Hammer look! He also has his demo belt now, which he loves because it looks like he's a black belt.

This first part is from the Special Kicking section of the performance.I have no idea why the YouTube frame is so large in this entry.



Luke's partner Will was there on Saturday, but not on Sunday, so Luke performed his part solo! The other team members were so supportive and helped him know when to go on. They're just such great kids.

So what did sons #2 and #3 think of all this Luke stuff? Justin seemed pretty impressed.

Michael, not so much.

Six Years of Luke

I can't believe yesterday was Luke's 6th birthday. What an awesome kid he's become. Luke has two great loves: dinosaurs and martial arts, although he still loves knights and dragons, too. He's capable of incredible seriousness and asks profound questions about God and Jesus and his Catholic faith. Luke reads and writes at about the same level as the other boys his age, but he has an amazing kinetic memory. He can remember dozens of martial arts combinations and routines. When Matt and I watch him perform on his demo team with kids more than twice his age, we are just awestruck. He has stage presence and loves to perform. Luke is a great big brother to Justin and is becoming a good big brother to Michael, too. He's just a good kid and we love him. Happy Birthday, Luke!

 

 



Dinosaur Party

So this isn't the official "Luke's 6th Birthday" post. I'll do that one this evening when I've got some more time. These are just the pathetic few shots I got at Luke's Dinosaur Party yesterday. My friend Ali took more, so hopefully, I'll be able to post them soon. Luke invited every boy in his class, a couple of boys from the other class, two girls from his class, some neighbors and a couple of EBC friends. Popular kid. We ended up with about 20 kids at the party. Add to that a very needy 4-year-old and a very clingy 1-year-old and there wasn't much time for pictures.

I thought the party went really well, though. The weather was perfect. The kids were mostly good. And Matt and I got crafty and created this awesome dino dig activity. We embedded plastic dinosaur skeletons in a mixture of sand and plaster and let the kids chisel and dig them out. It took most of the party for them to do it.

 Michael and his friend Jeremy were very serious, but the craft was pretty challenging for 4-year-olds. Much thanks to Jeremy's parents for basically excavating the dinosaurs for them!

 These are the two girls he invited, Josie and Evie. They were so cute and added some much needed spunk to the party.



Here is Luke with his special hat and birthday ribbon, washing skeletons.



Trickle Down

Trickle Down Economics, Ponesse Style! Luke got his birthday gifts from Matt and I today. A new helmet and a skateboard. Being the lame, overprotective parents that we are, we insisted on buying him the skateboard with a handle on it. Then Matt painstakingly assembled it with the handle. Then Luke rode it scooter-style with the handle for 10 minutes before declaring that he needed it taken off. So we did, although we were concerned because we hadn't bought knee and elbow pads. He looked very brave and cool. . .

 . . .or not so cool.

Michael immediately laid claim to the flame-helmet and Luke's razor scooter and endowed his 3-wheeled Cars scooter and Thomas the Train helmet to Justin, which would be great . . .

. . . .except that Justin is still mastering walking and doesn't need a scooter quite yet. But he may wear the helmet in the bike trailer this summer!

 



Houston, we have a toddler!

Black Tigers video

The full Black Tigers demostration is about 30 minutes long, broken into different parts. This is a quick snippet of Luke's "solo" which is actually a "duo" with his mentor Will. Will made up the routine himself. I think it looks pretty good considering this is their first performance. In hindsight, I should have been at a different angle, but oh well, we have 2 more performances next weekend. Hopefully, I'll get some of the other parts on video, too.

Founders Day

We spent the whole day in New Albany today for the Founders Day Parade and Festival. Luke was marching with Koguryo. Justin and I took Luke to line up while Matt and Michael were at t-ball. Then, we moved up the road to watch the parade.

Luke seemed hot and out-of-sorts during the parade.

 

His friend Daniela was marching, too. She also seemed totally shellshocked by all the noise and heat.

Later, the Black Tigers Demo Team had their first performance. They are still waiting for their uniforms to come in. I think it went pretty well considering how hot it was and that there were people walking right through the demo!

 This is Luke and his mentor Will looking tough, hot and tired. I finally met Will's mom today. I've been thinking he was in high school this whole time. Turns out he's a seventh grader at St. Matthew's and his teacher is our neighbor Miss Jennie from across the street!

 Finally, it was time for Luke to eat a snow cone, ride some rides and be a 5-year-old again!

Michael's Last Day

 Today was Michael's last day of preschool. I think this is the first year that the annual last-day-pic-on-the-big-rock demanded long sleeves! Cold and rainy, so we didn't get to stay and play after like we normally would have. Michael had a great year. He made friends and sang songs and did lots of arts and crafts. When Luke was in the 3s, I feel like he was still working out a lot socialization issues. Michael is just having fun and practicing his talking. He got a memory book from his small group leader, Maureen, who I think will be his teacher again next year. On to the 4/5s we go!!

A Partridge in the Vicinity of a Pear Tree

We had a strange visitor this evening. He(?) was on the side of our house, just hanging out. He eventually wandered off, running in a very quail-like way. But he's not a quail. As far as we can tell, he's a chukar or red partridge. No idea why he's hanging out in Strawberry Farms, but he's welcome back anytime!

Teething . . .or maybe just spoiled.

Are the youngest kids in the family naturally spoiled by their harried and overtired parents? I have a friend who has nicknamed her third child "Birth Control" because of her challenging eating and sleeping habits. Justin is not a great sleeper either. And maybe it's because he's likely my last or maybe it's because I'm leaving town soon or maybe it's because I'm just so thankful my kids are healthy when so many others aren't, but I seem to be failing at letting him cry it out. I keep thinking he's getting his molars and maybe he is . . .or maybe not.

Anglersaurus

The boys' favorite video game involves creating various dinosaurs to battle each other. They also enjoy the live action version of  "upgrading" their toy dinosaurs. Luke created this scary dinosaur from his toy angler fish, some zoobs, some pipecleaners and a lot of packing tape.

Justin's Day

 Eating cheese on the couch. Justin can get off the couch by himself and can almost get on. I think the other boys were almost 2 before they could do that.

 His latest hobby is getting drenched and muddy in the backyard, so he bathes before dinner most nights now.

 Look at that chub! I think the artistic term is "rubenesque."

Then it's time for more eating. Hummus sandwich and strawberries. Mmmmm.

SYC Picnic 2011

I can't believe this was my fourth preschool picnic! But this was the first time at the one for the afternoon classes. Last year, we froze. This year, we boiled. It was HOT!!!

Justin chilled in the stroller most of the time. His favorite part was sharing a popsicle with Daddy and crawling in mulch.

 Michael ate lots of watermelon and pasta salad.

 Then it was singing time. Some kids don't care and keep playing, but Luke always liked singing and Michael loves it. He was right up at the front and was louder than anyone. He was super excited and did all the motions and jumped up and down more than any of the other kids.

Afterwards, one of his teachers came up to us and said she wanted us to know that Michael is like that every day in class at song time. She said how much she loves his enthusiasm and how much joy he brings all of the teachers. I just thought it was so sweet.

Mother's Day Weekend

It has been such a cold and wet spring!  We had a very busy day planned yesterday, but Michael's tee ball game and Luke's martial arts performance were both cancelled because of the rain. So, the only thing we did was go to a First Communion party for the son of one of our ODU colleagues. This is one of many less-than-stellar photos of me and the boys on our way to the party, but at least you can see my new bangs!

I woke up this morning to Michael throwing my Mother's Day gift into my bed. It was a pillow pet to keep me company on my upcoming trip! I also got a new coffee maker and a camp chair. We went to church and the Sunday School classes sang. I can never get decent pictures in the church, but we could hear Michael over all the other kids! Then we went to the zoo where it was finally warm and sunny!

Justin exploring the "bug" playground.

Feeding the lorikeets.

Petting an alligator.

Then we came home and played in the backyard and grilled for dinner. It was a great Mother's Day!

Sand Gnats

 Michael got his tee-ball uniform this week and had his first game. The camera died during the game, but I got these shots out front with Coach Daddy. Everything is so big on him, but he's so darn cute!