Summering On

First grade is right around the corner, along with Thursday School for Max, but right now, it’s still summer time!  Things around here are continuing on filled with another two week session of swimming lessons and much time outside. 

Zane has made a big transition into a toddler bed.  The three other children have all been in twin beds no later than 16 months I believe.  Zane is 21 months and since the crib is not needed for another little one, we’ll keep him in it as long as possible.  He was excited for the conversion and says, “my big boy bed!”.  It hasn’t helped with his bad habit of getting up at night, now he knocks on his bedroom door crying out, “I want you Mommy!”.  I slowly open the door, sleep still in my eyes, but there he stands with both his night-nights (blankets) in hand and an irresistible smile spreads across his face and he always says, “Hi Mommy”.  The smile turns into the most lovely sideways smirk.  Of course I scoop him up and nurse him while snuggling and enjoying it.  After the third or so time, his smirk is not as appealing!  I keep telling myself to cherish our nighttime feedings because they will be gone soon.

The county fair drew us in and we had to go see the animals and walk around.  All children enjoyed petting and exploring the different animals.  The tractors were the biggest fun, as their immense wheels and ladders had to be climbed. 

Noelle lost another tooth (number 9), Zane’s vocabulary continues to grow at an alarming rate, Violette is completely blond, and Max has found a maturity (finally.  Life goes on, but it’s a life filled with smiles, love, and joy!

Great Grandpa

Max stood, in Great Grandpa’s house, admiring a beautiful large painting, we had just arrived, after way too long of an absence, in St. Clair at Great Grandpa’s condo.  Max continued to stare at the painting then turned to Tom and stated in a matter-of-fact tone, “Great Grandma painted that.  She is in heaven.  I really wish she was here because I want to give her a BIG hug!”.  He smiled and walked away.  Tom made his way over to me and repeated this story.  Tears welled up in my ears and I smirked.  There has always been something between Max and Great Grandma.  He has this connection to her, acknowledging her death and stating on many occasions how he misses her and wants to give her a hug.

The river beckoned and the children played and played.  The water was crisp and cool, with waves that rolled in when large boats passed.  Noelle, Max, and Violette practiced tossing rocks while Zane sank his toes in the sand.  The water washed quickly away and he was a bit surprised by his sinking feet, yelling out frequently, “I stuck!”

We took breaks and headed up to the hot tub to warm up and spend time with Great Grandpa.  He spoiled the kids with unhealthy, but delicious and fun snacks.  The kids ate cookies and chips galore while the boats passed.  They were content sitting back and watching, a rarity at their ages.

When the freighters started coming down, Max was in heaven.  He ran down to the water and was in awe of the large boat slowly coming down the river.  The immense size and sheer awesomeness captivated my curious four year old boy. 

After about four hours we loaded up, gave big hugs and kisses (Zane is all about kisses these days and was happy to get one from Great Grandpa) goodbye.  Within minutes of driving away the three younger children were fast asleep, dreaming of boats, waves, sand, and Great Grandpa. 

It was a great Saturday!

Bohn Pool Swimming Lessons

Two weeks ago my little head strong peanut said to me, “I don’t care what my teacher says, I’m not going to put my head under the water.”  This is how our session of swimming lessons started.  Violette would be in the youngest class (Seahorse), Max one step up from her (Otters), and Noelle up one more step (Starfish).  So three kids in three different classes.  They all were excited, as Bohn pool is an awesome venue for lessons.  Despite Violette’s declaration I knew she would have a good time.  It was still up in the air if she was actually going to put her head under. 

The heat was unbearable during these past two weeks.  With a forecasted temperature of over 100 a few days, I dreaded getting up and going, but we did.  The children always got out of the pool chilled, unable to dress themselves due to shivering (dude, it was 100 degrees and my kids would be wearing sweatshirts when leaving the pool!!) so these were a lot of work for me.  Zane wanted to go swimming with his siblings SO bad.  I chased him around, fed him food and tried to keep him entertained will keeping my eye on the three classes spread out around the pool.  It was tiring.  I loved how the session was Monday thru Friday for two weeks, but by day three I was ready for them to be over! 

On the third day Little Miss Stubborn was fully submerging her body in class and at home in our little pool.  She was very proud of herself, begging me to watch her, at home, over and over again.  Go Violette!  She perfected jumping off the side of the pool and will move onto the next class, Otters, when we do lessons again. 

   

In our pool at home Max was going under very well and trying to swim.  After a few weeks of instruction he was swimming for long distances on his own!  I would look up and seek his green goggles only to find a little boy swimming so well.  I would ask other parents if that was really my son out there!  To be honest I figured he would be in the Otter class for at least two sessions of lessons.  I had no idea he would excel as much as he did.  On the last day of class he had an opportunity to go down the big water slide, something he had been talking about since day one.  He had no problem, without hesitation, going on then swimming over to the nearby ladder.  I watched him believing he was four and a half, almost five years old, of all brave and strong boy! 

Noelle continued to improve on her front and back stroke.  Her class was a little hidden from my view and I was only able to get a few moments of her lessons per day.  She glided through the water very well and upon exiting the pool always had a big smile on her face.  The last day she, too, went down the big slide.  Having done it last year too, she had no fear.  Her class was small and she went down multiple times.  Each entry at the top of the slide had me anxiously waiting for her to pop out at the bottom.  No matter the age I’m still going to be nervous for my babies!

We’ll take a two week break, then attend the last week session offered.  I love watching their excitement and improvement for and in the water. 

At home we continue to enjoy being outside as much as possible.  Noelle and Violette have turned into very bronzed children, shocking Tom and I when they get undressed.  Thankfully they have their Daddy’s skin and none of them have suffered any sunburns.  The boys, if possible, have turned even blonder.  Zane’s fine hair is basically white and he gets these rosy cheeks after being out in the sun.  He loves any time he can get in the little pool, saying “swimming wit dada!” whenever he wants in.  Our days are enjoyable, albeit long.  I see the end of July in sight and I know the end of summer is rounding the corner so I should enjoy these days before chaos of the school year begins!

The Fourth in TC

The Great Lakes in the summer rock.  Seriously, they are crisp, cool, and are beautifully clear.  You can glide across them seeing down the depths into a magical world.  Fish dart in and out of drift wood sanctuaries, ship wrecks decorate the bottom and jump out as you motor by.  A dip in them is remarkably refreshing as the midday sun light beats down on you while dancing on the water.  Spending the day on the Lake (growing up it was Lake Huron and now it is Lake Michigan) is pure luxury and we soaked ourselves in this luxury over the Holiday week.

My need for my four to coordinate just a little lead me to the idea of tie dying patriotic t-shirts.  Completed a few days before the 4th, the kids excitedly dressed for the occasion as we packed up and headed out. 

                    

We made little miss Maizey a celebration t-shirt too.  I tried to get a picture of all the grandchildren, but Zane was not cooperating.  This was the best I got.

The drive was smooth with little traffic and children that behaved pretty well.  A new DVD player with larger screens helped to ease the long drive.  The anticipation of our stay in Traverse City was palpable in the confines of our vehicle.  We giggled and laughed, cried and whined.  The drive was exactly what we expected.  

The children survived the traveling in one piece, went out to the beach, and then we all headed to a baseball game.  The Traverse City Beach Bums have a beautiful park and with lawn seating the kids ran around and enjoyed the freedom, caring very little for the game of baseball.  Their energy kept going and the made it through the fireworks at the end.  We were impressed! 

Thursday and Friday were days filled with gorgeous sun.  The days beckoned for us to spend them on the boat.  The children loved it.  Speeding around in the water, falling asleep to the rhythmic sounds of the engine, anchoring at a beach, collecting drift wood on shore, and much swimming were how we spent the days.  Not bad at all for our vacation!  The following pictures tell the stories of our days:

The above wood was hauled all by Strong Man Max.  He was on a mission to collect and haul to his own pile, as much wood as possible.  We were impressed by the sheer size of the pile and his determination to keep going!

I asked my Dad to stop by the near shipwreck so I could jump off and snokel for a bit.  It was beautiful and in the those few minutes just my Mom and I stared down at a beautiful piece of history. 

On last stop at the Horse Shows By The Bay, as we headed out of town was a nice ending to a perfect July visit.  The horse show is one of the biggest, lasting a month.  The horses are gorgeous and we watched some jumping events.  Horses were everywhere, literally the grounds had four show arenas, plus practice arenas.  Left, right, behind, in front of us, it was truly an incredible sight.  Noelle and I could have spent the entire day there, but for a little over an hour we enjoyed it.  Next year we’ll plan our visit so we can spend the day there. 

As we drove South the comfortable 77 degrees of  TC surrendered to the heat of Southern Michigan and upon arriving in our driveway the vehicle thermometer read 102.  We quickly jumped out and trips unloading were done in record time.  It was nice to be home, but we all missed Traverse City and Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Alex.  We’ll be back, soon!