Lake with Friends

This weekend was one of only two weekends this entire summer that the kiddos will get to have friends up - and it was a big one - Joel's future wife, Laurel and her family.  And it was awesome and time to focus on friends for the little guys - but also fun time for parents too as we love Laurel's whole fam!  This was the first weekend with kiddos because I was late in the game in inviting people up, and we had a lot going on with my job being so July-focused, so this is the best we could do for the little guys.  They have not seemed to mind usually though and are really excited for just general lake and family time.

However, it was nice to have a change and to have friends up for the weekend.  Two things we have yet to figure out though - no matter how much fun we have during the day, and it is a ton… - is how to get the bigger kids to include James as well as how to get everyone to go to bed, when it is time to go to bed.

The first thing, super sad for the little guy.  We had friends up for the day a few weeks ago and noticed the same thing.  The older kids, generally 5-8, would completely ignore James, and then when he got annoying they started to be mean.  Like really mean, like running away from him and calling him a monster.  And Joel Andrew would participate!  Horrible!  The little guy James, poor guy, would then run after them screaming: "I am not a monster guys, play with me."  So cute and so sad.  What probably didn't make it better was me soothing James to no end.  Poor Kid.  We are all pretty sure that in a few years he will run the show, but until them it breaks my heart!

The second thing wears on me.  Some people seem to think it is funny when the kids do not go to bed when it is bedtime.  They think this is part of youth, and it is fun that the buddies hang out.  I HATE it. I have freaked out about it with company before.  I don't really get it actually…  They (all the kids) have had a huge full day of fun, tubing, swimming, laking, walking, frogging, hot tubbing, eating, boating, more and more.  Shouldn't they be tired?  Shouldn't they pass out?  NO THEY DON'T.  And why?  Because we let them gab and talk and come downstairs to tell us they were fighting over something small and then they are immediately over tired and then they cannot go to bed.  Namely, my husband is the one that likes to play this game over and over while I just want to separate them and they go to sleep and we have adult time and that is that.  Hopefully we have all learned our lesson for the last weekend, and for next year too!

So it was a good time for all, and we love, love our guests who also happen to be our neighbors (and future inlaws)!  But, I am looking forward to some time this weekend sans kiddos…  Nana and Pa, are you excited to take them for the day on Friday?

Joel Andrew, 5

He did it, he is 5!  A huge number!  The big 5!

We tell everyone it is his birthday and the first thing they say is: "Oh, you must be going to school soon."  He proudly beams - "Yes, yes I am, Kindergarten!!!"

Joel Andrew is a delight.  He is smart, happy, kind and compassionate.  He generally is a wonderful big brother and looks out for James, though he can get frustrated when James does not help clean up.  The Joel Andrew way of yelling the name: "James!" is seared on my mind forever.

Joel Andrew loves the color purple, the Octonauts, and quesadilla.  He is also partial to a good steak.  I guess Moo-Cows are still his friends, but he is a bit more lenient on the eating of them this time.  He is a great eater, a great sleeper, a great listener, and a fast learner.  Really, the best kid ever.

Sometimes he maybe a little over confident (how can you blame him, he is so good at so many things?!) - and I hope this will not be shattered but rather out into some small check when he is in Kindergarten in a few short weeks.

He is willing to try new things, and he is not scared of the horrible movies his father makes him watch.  He gets super excited to do things like kayak, or ski, or catch frogs, or rally anything that Pa or Mommy or Daddy are doing.

He helps.  He will happily and excitedly set the table, and now he has fully absorbed the role of feeding Angus.  He understands that helping is important.

I can't believe he is 5.  Pretty soon he will be 10, and then 30!  I hope I am around to see him have littles of his own, because I can tell already he is just going to be great at whatever he does.  I love this guy, and am lucky to have him here with me!

Ogunquit

Today on our drive home from Maine we stopped in Ogunquit.  This is something I have wanted to do for a while, and in an attempt to get all of these day trips that we need to do out of our system before Joel Andrew goes to kindergarten I insisted we do this trip today.  The ironic thing was that Joel Andrew wasn't feeling well so he stayed back and laid on the couch while Joel Husband worked from the lake, and James and Mommy and Ama and Grumpy went for an adventure by ourselves.

We highly recommend this trip.  We drove to the Perkins Cove area, and went right to Barnacle Billy's - which is a delicious seafood restaurant, albeit overpriced, but hey - you pay for the view and the history, etc.  We were delighted to find out that the restaurant had free valet parking, so we took advantage of that right away (other parking was $12-$15, I hear there might be a trolley system too - don't know how expensive that is).  So, our expensive kids meal was made up by the free parking for both Ama's and My's cars.

After lunch wen went for a walk on Marginal Way which is awesome.  Little kiddos can easily walk this path, slightly hilly but completely paved with lots of benches for breaks and scenic look-outs.  Unfortunately James is in a funny age.  He is too big to be strolled or carried, but he is too little to climb the rocks.  He saw all of the other ages doing both and wanted to do both…  The big kids on the rocks was really intriguing to him, but he was able to sometime get over it and enjoy the scenery with us anyway.

After our short work - and it wasn't very long because who knows when James would be done, and then we would have to walk the whole distance back - we got some ice cream which James proceeded to make a huge mess out of.  Grumpy almost had an attack, but it was awesome.  James loved every minute.

We walked the footbridge, we strolled around the shops in town and I bought a card of the footbridge to write a note for James' baby book.  All in all, a really nice day.  If we were to do it again I would look into the parking situation at the end of Marginal Way and make it so that we walked from the end to the restaurant and shopping, were able to have some fun and eat, and then walk back.  Looks like Ogunquit has lots of fun stuff including the Playhouse and a nice Art museum as well - I want to go more and more!

Sebago Lake Solo

It's hardly any weekend that we are at Sebago solo.  We had sad news on Friday and learned that Joel Husband's Grandmother, who had been suffering from an illness for a few years now, passed away.  Nana and Pa needed to go be with family, and Husband and I decided to continue with the kids in Maine - my parents were already there with the kids for the long weekend that would be Joel Andrew's Maine Birthday.  So, we had the lake to ourself.

It was quiet and by the end I was getting a little flustered with the laundry and the extra food and the stuff everywhere - I feel for Nana now!  But it was nice to have some quiet time up there.  Joel Husband had a hard time moving to our (Hall) speed which required lots of snacking, lots of drinking and lots of napping.  James fit right in.  Joel Andrew did too - but only because he ended up with a slight fever at the end of his birthday day.

We went for a kayak ride, we ate.  We went for a swim and ate some more.  There were some naps, and there was one epic long ride down the river with lunch at Rick's and a swim in the pond on the way back (which also all included drinking, snacking and napping).  Joel Andrew was missing his Nana and Pa on his birthday for sure and was a bit blue but he understood about what happened to Biachi and he is excited to see everyone in Pittsfield on Wednesday and to give Papa Red a big hug.  He is a good boy.  How did I raise such a good boy?

And then there is James, who also had an awesome weekend but he is exhausting.  His favorite thing in the whole world to say is Mommy.  It is nice, but if I had $1 for every time he said it, I would have a billion dollars.  Seriously.  Millions and Millions.  In the time it has taken me to write this blog post he has said Mommy 35 times, and he is just playing quietly at the dollhouse.  This weekend he said Mommy a ton, required lots of cuddle time and was kinda a challenge.  Well, he was a challenge.  If he doesn't want to do something, full on tantrum.  Joel Andrew never did this…  I guess guys are just different.

We had a nice time with Ama and Grumpy, and the boys really enjoyed spending all that time with them.  It is sad this this is the only weekend they will be up this summer!  Maybe we can change that?

Camp

Joel Andrew and James are doing a day camp which is kinda far from the house this summer. It works out because the camp has both swimming lessons as well as gymnastics lessons - so I call it a twofer, and a chance for the boys to try something different for a change.  They have only gone to the same daycare, and with Kindergarten around the corner for Joel Andrew I figured this would be the time.

In the first week of camp so far, James has loved it.  He has not cried at drop off, and he says he likes his new friend "Bastian."  (Which I came to find out was really Sebastian).  Joel Andrew went in day one super excited, but then was deflated when he came home.  I asked him why - and it turns out he is a bit "behind" on swimming.  He needs to wear his "bubble" until he gets better.  Poor guy, but an important lesson, right?  Day two wasn't too much better for him whereas James came home super psyched.

It is strange to think how different places and experiences are for my different boys.  I am glad James is finding a place to be comfortable and happy, but sad for Joel who is struggling to get comfortable and be confident.  Maybe this is a good lesson for him?  8 more days of camp left…!

McAuliffe-Shephard Center

Our first Wednesday of summer (post-Festival, that is) was rainy and thunderstormy and horrible.  Well, at least in the morning.  Quite a bummer for us - as I really want to get to the beach with the boys - but we ventured out on one of my "must get to before Joel Andrew goes to kindergarten" things. - The Science/Space Center in Concord, the McAuliffe-Shephard Center.

It was neat, but I think the rain really impacted all of us as we were a bit tired and difficult to motivate.  We saw a Planetarium movie, we ate astronaut ice cream and we posed with a shuttle.  That's about it.  Because of the storms, their interactive things like the space shuttle and the heat sensors were not working properly.  Many of the other exhibits were for older kids and adults.  The place seemed a big empty to me.  Even the gift shop - which I was looking forward to visiting and buying all sorts of space related t-shirts and books, hardly had a thing in it.  I wonder if this place is a bit of a victim of the Museum expansion - they went big when there was money, and now what do they do with all the space?   I maybe too critical, seeing as it is me…  But I guess coming from space camp and all the other center's I went to I was expecting more.  The boys still had a good time though in the Planetarium movie- which reinforced all Joel Andrew learned about planets in Daycare this past June.

We ate Mexican food before jumping on the highway home.  It occurs to me just how much neither of my boys can sit still when we bring them to a restaurant.  They are always bouncing all over the seats.  I guess that is just par for the course.  Once home, we watched How to Train Your Dragon together, which was welcome rest time.  They started getting rowdy -  but I was way too into the movie and tried to quiet them down!  Bubble time outside, and then before you knew it Daddy was home from work.  A good first day of summer with them but I am looking forward to even a few more! We have 4 more weeks of this - and then a week at Ama and Grumpy's and then…  Kindergarten for Joel Andrew. I can't handle it!

Joel Andrew's Birthday Party

This weekend we had Joel Andrew's Birthday party and it was a blast.  You know it is a good time when the party lasts more than 8 hours.  It began at 11:30am, and this time it was a mix of family, family friends and Joel's friends from school.  One of his friend's from daycare, their Mom is also a teacher.  So, here we were in our backyard with the daycare teacher at 11:30am on a Sunday, offering her a beer while the kids slide down slides.  Epic Williams fashion.

I made it an Octonauts theme.  Went onto their website and stole a few ideas, as well as images.  I then did a google search about it, and found out that a ton of people in the UK have piecemealed together Octonauts parties, as they hardly sell themed items here in the US.  I bought a "pin the eye patch on Kwazii" image, which I printed at Staples pretty large, and created a game where Peso needs help collecting the turtle eggs.  (using old Easter eggs, the kids had to run, grab them and run through an obstacle course).  It went pretty well if I do say so myself.  Though, of course my husband outdid me with the giant water slide that he rented.

That was the BIG hit of the day, that everyone, including most of the adults loved.  You know its good when adults borrow other adults bathing suits to get a turn.  Gross.  No, but really.  It was a fun time and most of all Joel Andrew had the best time.  He loved the Octonauts theme but loved seeing all of his little friends too.

Looking around at everyone there it was hard not to call most of the friends our family by now.  I hope it stays that way, but I know once school starts with all the sporting games it is going to be super difficult.  Not for us, right?

Catch Up

It has been a while since my last post as the boys have been in Maine this whole time, only returning on Saturday for the Festival.  I missed them for a whole week but know they had a great time!  Only now will we get to summer fun, though today was kinda a bust because of more clean up needing to happen for the Festival, Drs appointments and more scheduling.  Maybe summer will start on Wednesday?  It better start before Joel Andrew goes to Kindergarten!