Blueberries, Butterflies, Buddies, Bumper, Basement, and More!

See how I did that? It's hard to come up with a title for a blog post when we've had an action-packed 10 days. Life with these kiddos is just busy, especially in the summer! But I'll do my best to hit the highlights.

In the past 10 days, we've gone blueberry picking twice. When the berries are only $2 per POUND, and the kids will easily eat a pound (or more) a day, then it would be silly not to! And we will likely go at least once more. They are too delicious, so healthy, and this is the only time of the year where we can get them so cheaply. Anyway, here are pictures from both trips! The first was with Caryn and her kids, and the second was just the four of us (Gus' first time! awwww).

The blueberry farm is small-- it's on less than 5 acres, and it's in an elderly couple's yard. But they do this every year, and are such nice people to deal with! And the long winter and late summer have led to a bumper crop of berries, and they are ripening slowly. So we really lucked out, with a nice, long window for picking this year. Yay!! At least something good came out of that miserable winter!

And then the butterflies... I got the kids a butterfly kit for Christmas in 2011, but it had lived in a closet until recently. I finally pulled out the certificate inside and ordered the caterpillars, which arrived last Monday (the 21st). It's been eight days, and they have already formed their chrysalides and have been moved to their mesh enclosure. Now, we wait! I've taken tons of pictures, but here are the highlights. I'm pretty sure I'm more interested than anyone else, but that's okay. I know they will be super excited when the butterflies emerge!

And then, the buddies. We've played with friends plenty, of course. But on Friday, Niko was invited over to his friend Kam's house for the first time. And it was a DROP OFF thing. Like, that's never happened before! Yes, I've left him with Caryn and Miranda, but those are people he knows well, and we had played with them tons of times before. And I know Kam's mom really well, so I knew Niko was in good hands, but I think he and I both were a little nervous. But it ended up being great!! He had a complete blast, and Maya and I had girl time together. Kam's mom texted me a few pictures. Niko certainly got over his nervousness quickly!

Fast forward to this weekend... I don't know where it came from, but I suddenly felt motivated to work on our screenless screened-in porch. I'm STILL motivated, because now I can actually see how nice it will be when it's done. I can't wait!! I've actually installed 1x1 wood strips around the inside of each window frame, and now I am making the individual screens with wire frame screen kits. Two down, 10 to go! Then we just need a door, a good cleaning, and some fresh trim paint. Voila! If I can keep my momentum, I can probably finish in a week or two, yay!! (and no, "porch" doesn't start with a b. So I just skipped that in the title, haha!)

Then, yesterday, Gus took my car to work, since he planned to meet Ramzi for dinner and that meant more driving than usual (my car gets better mileage than the truck). And it was raining. So he left, and called me like 15 minutes later-- he'd been rear-ended at a red light. Argh!! Both he and the other driver were fine, but both cars had significant damage. My car is still driveable, but the bumper is totally banged up and sticking out on one end. And my exhaust pipe is bent. Thank goodness for insurance! Gus is taking my car in on Thursday, and we will be getting a rental. I'm curious to see how much damage was actually done-- I bet it's a lot more than it seems. sigh.

And that brings us to the basement! We had just baked blueberry muffins yesterday when my cell phone made that horrible emergency alert noise. And a message popped up saying, "SEVERE WEATHER ALERT: TORNADO WARNING IN THE AREA UNTIL 5:15 EDT. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT WAIT TO SEE FUNNEL CLOUDS." Well, okay then! Commence freak out! We'd had tornado warnings before, but never anything quite so imminent! So I grabbed some of our camping chairs and the kids and I went to hang out in the basement. They were thrilled:

At one point, the warning was lifted, so we headed upstairs. I started to get blueberry muffins for the kids (just because of the trauma of the potential tornado. It was right before dinner! ha!). Then my phone went off AGAIN, and back down we went. We were down there for about half an hour total. Really, it wasn't as bad as the kids make it look in that picture. They played Simon Says, and Niko discovered a wiffle ball in the corner that we was very excited about. And, in the end, there was no tornado. But there WAS one in Revere yesterday morning (outside of Boston). We emerged from the basement to see beautiful blue skies and white, puffy clouds... a sharp contrast to the Black Clouds of Doom we'd seen when we went down! It was a crazy weather day, indeed.

Anyway... I think we are mostly caught up now! Maya's been doing swim lessons for the past two weeks, and will finish on Thursday. She still can't swim without a floatie, but I think we are getting there. And she still has two more lessons, so we'll see! Gus is also taking all of next week off, and we are surprising the kids with a quick trip up to Storyland in New Hampshire. I really hope they like it. I know Maya will, but Niko has always been a wild card with that kind of thing. Fingers crossed!

And now, I sleep. :)

Swimming, Biking, Etc.

First, swimming! Both kids did great in their swim lessons over the past two weeks (8 lessons total). Niko will remain at level 3, and is a little bummed about that, but his accomplishments were amazing! I watched the kid do laps across the pool: front crawl, back crawl, breast stroke, and kickboard-with-dolphin-kick (butterfly without arms, basically). And he did AWESOME! He just needs to work on his dolphin kick (which is hard! and a lot of work!) and synchronizing his arms and legs in his breaststroke. But seriously? He did so, so well. I was absolutely impressed with his growth, and level 3 is the hardest level to pass, I've been told!

Meanwhile... Maya passed level 1 and is ready for level 2! A fact which Niko was less than thrilled about, but it's honestly like comparing apples and oranges. Maya did great getting comfortable in the water without me. She will swim with just a noodle for support, blow bubbles, and jump to her instructors. All of these may sound like little things, but they mark HUGE progress for our girl! She is all signed up for level 2, starting next week. I'm crossing my fingers that she will be swimming without a floatie in two weeks!

Because the first session of swim lessons ended this week, the town pool hosted a little pizza-and-pool party for all the kids after closing last night. I didn't really want to go... I'd spent a second day in a row pulling weeds outside, and my body was screaming with the pain and fatigue. But the kids really wanted to go, so I took them. And they had so much fun! Niko spent the entire time diving for rings, jumping into the deep end, doing somersaults and headstands, etc. Maya, for her part, got right into the water on her own, without so much as a backward glance. Such a huge change!

And now is the part where I tell you about how Maya is becoming an excellent bike rider. I wish I could post that! The truth is, she is COMPLETELY capable. But, much like her brother, she has (for some reason) decided that she can't do it. She wants her training wheels back, and she wants me to hold onto her forever. It's insane. I took her to the track yesterday, and she can easily ride on her own for about 30 feet before she freaks out. And that's it-- she just freaks out, slams on the brakes, and gets mad at me for having her try in the first place! But if she just kept pedaling, she'd be zipping right along! It is endlessly frustrating, since I can SEE that she knows how to do it. Part of the issue is that she doesn't really care if she can ride a bike or not-- she isn't particularly motivated to learn. SIGH. Like I said, it's frustrating. I'm hoping that I can get her riding her bike before this winter. At least Niko gets good practice while we are there, since he just does laps on the track while I work with her. I'd post a video, except it includes a lot of me yelling "KEEP PEDALING!!!" and "WHY DID YOU STOP??" I repeat: sigh.

Anyway... Today was a great day. Niko was invited to his friend, Noah's, birthday party, and I dropped him off there. For the first time ever, I DROPPED HIM OFF! He had insisted that I needed to stay, but changed his tune when he saw that he knew so many kids there. He had a great time, and I got stuff done at home! Happy day! I finished up some projects in our master bedroom, and also pulled all the weeds in the driveway cracks. Gus weed-whacked, and ripped up all the grass around our blueberry bushes so that we have a planter now. And then he mowed. And then he grilled us some ribeye steaks for dinner. Yes, it was a great day indeed! (and only 70 degrees and cloudy-- perfect for yardwork!)

We have another birthday party tomorrow, which I have to stay at. But both kids are invited, and it's at a gymnastics place, so it should be a lot of fun! Stay tuned! :)

They Tie Their Shoes!!!

Today was one of those parenting milestones you don't hear a lot about. It falls into the same category as kids being able to open car doors and buckle themselves in, or making their own breakfast in the morning (a recent development here as well!). But tying shoes... Oh boy. I actually bought Niko a pair of lace-up shoes a couple months ago, thinking that they would give him the motivation he needed to learn to tie them. And he WAS very interested, but he also got frustrated. And I got frustrated. I tried a few different ways of explaining it, all of which seemed to just confuse him more (and me, too, to be honest). I mean, I was a teacher for almost 12 years, but teaching kids to tie shoes was never something I had to do!

Today, though, we went out shopping for school stuff. Yes, in July. And yes, we're pretty much done. I even found the kids awesome soccer cleats for $6/pair! I am officially in love with the local kids consignment store. Seriously. The stuff is used, but you wouldn't know it-- they don't accept anything that's not in like-new condition. And I walked away with probably over $100 worth of stuff for $40. So I call that a win! And look how cute they are, practicing for soccer! :)

After that, we went to another store to pick up a few other things. While we were there, we looked at shoes. I grabbed a pair of velcro sneakers for Niko, since they were the style I liked and were the right size. And I unknowingly started World War 3, because Niko apparently ONLY wants shoes with laces now. So, I told him that I wouldn't get him any shoes today, and that if he learned to tie laces, we'd come back and get the ones he wanted. I even picked up a pair of cheap blue laces to help teach him (I'd seen something on Pinterest that I thought might work).

I guess that was all it took! We got home, I put everything away, and Niko instantly started begging me to teach him. I went out to the garage, cut two equal-sized pieces off of a cardboard box, punch holes in them with scissors, threaded the laces through, and copied down the little poem I'd seen on the internet. And really, the poem didn't help much. What DID help was sitting him in my lap and having him put his hands right over my own. My little kinesthetic learner! It took a few minutes, and then bam! He started doing this! And he just got faster and faster! At that point, Maya was sitting on the couch, trying to tie laces on her own, and was begging me to teach her, too. So I did. It took like a few minutes longer, but then she was doing this!!! (Yes, we made both videos to show Gus, in case you couldn't tell!)

Anyway, I was shocked at how quickly it went! As it's always been with Niko, he WILL NOT learn something until he is completely ready to do it... and then he picks it up like it's nothing. And, as always, Maya is full of surprises. She may not be as vocal or opinionated as her brother, but she is just as smart! I was so proud of both my babies today-- and they were so proud of themselves!

Next up? Telling time, I guess. Why not? We're on a roll! haha!! :)

Camping in New Hampshire!

So... we made it! We camped out of state, on our own, and lived to tell the tale! :) Actually, we did more than just survive-- we had a really good time. Gus was saying the other night how he's enjoyed our camping trips so much more this summer. I think it's partly due to the fact that we have our routine down now, but it's also because the kids are older. They keep themselves occupied pretty well, and it's more fun for everyone!

Anyway... We left on Friday morning to make the three-hour drive up into central New Hampshire. We were staying in the heart of White Mountain National Forest, at a "primitive" campground called Covered Bridge, nestled along the Swift River (a tributary of the Saco River) just off the scenic Kancamagus Highway. We made it there with no problems (well, unless you count two messed-up lunch orders at a fast food place along the way!). Our campsite was awesome! I made a little video of it, because that's what I do. :-P And a still photo of our home-away-from-home for the weekend... Please be sure to admire our new screened-in canopy over the table. We decided that this was a must after being eaten alive by mosquitos on our last trip, and it made this trip so much nicer!

Once we were all set up (which really didn't take too long-- we're getting good at this!), we headed out to explore our surroundings a bit...

That's the Albany Covered Bridge over the Swift River, which is where the campground gets its name (duh). As it passes under the bridge, the river actually widens out a little bit and there are some more sheltered spots with good swimming. We vowed to come back with our suits on. Until then, this was as far out as we'd let the kids go (Niko wanted to go much farther, but I had to remind him that he was wearing regular clothing!)

Back at camp, we enjoyed a gourmet dinner consisting of campfire-roasted hot dogs, Nacho Cheese Doritos, and grapes (see, there was one healthy thing!). And instead of making s'mores this time, we made Jiffy Pop over the fire, which was a big hit (and a huge success, despite all the warnings on the package to NOT cook it over a campfire, haha! We live dangerously...)

Maya regaled us with her campfire stories, which are seriously the cutest things ever. I recorded a little snippet of one story, just because. Her facial expressions are the BEST! The next morning, Niko was up at 6 needing to use the bathroom. Thankfully, I had thought to set up the little travel potty so that we could avoid such an early morning bathroom trip (go me!). After he went and cleaned his hands, he climbed into bed with us... and we all slept until nearly 8:30!!! That is some kind of miracle, I tell you! Even at home, they NEVER sleep that late. EVER. It was fantastic! We got up, ate a leisurely breakfast of eggs, bacon, grapes, and blueberry muffins, and then we decided to go for a hike. Niko was prepared! He had found that walking stick at our campsite, and we'd brought the compass from home. He declared he was our leader.

But anyhow... let me tell you a little bit about this hike. The trailhead was right down by the covered bridge, so we'd seen it the day before. The sign said that it was called the Boulder Loop Trail, and was a total of about 3 miles long: .2 miles to the loop junction, and 1.5 miles beyond that to "ledges," whatever that was. We had no idea where the trail went, but 3 miles sounded doable! What the sign did NOT say was that there was a 950-foot elevation gain in the first 1.5 miles, and then the same amount of drop on the return trip. So we basically climbed a (small) mountain. I found this after we got home yesterday. We might have known this if we'd had any sort of phone service out there, but we didn't. And it's a good thing, because we probably would have missed out on this experience because it would have been too intimidating, especially with the kids!

So, not knowing where we were headed, we climbed and climbed and climbed. It was very steep at parts, and the trail was covered with thick tree roots and large rocks. But it was shady and relatively cool in the woods, and we just kept going...

Finally, the trees opened up, and we found ourselves on what could clearly fit the definition of a ledge! We'd made it! We took pictures (an older couple that was there offered to take one of all four of us):

EXCEPT... another group of hikers showed up while we were there, and their leader was telling them how this wasn't really the top... there was still another 15 minutes of hiking, including some of the steepest trail yet. Well... yay. We were exhausted. But we took a nice long break, and then steeled ourselves for the final ascent. And... we made it! This ledge was definitely quite a bit higher, and the drop-off was a lot scarier. This was as close as we'd let the kids get:

We explored for a few minutes, and Maya and I discovered that there were wild blueberries growing all over the place! I was positive that that was what they were, but was still a little hesitant to try them. Gus wasn't-- he ate one. They were definitely blueberries. We all tried some. Nobody got sick. :-P

And then it was time to go down. Downhill was much faster, but it was also brutal because it was so steep. Plus, the trail was still covered with large rocks and tree roots, so we had to pay constant attention to where we were stepping. Our legs were jelly by the time we made it back to the trailhead. And even then, we still had to walk another half mile or so back to our campsite. At least it was flat!

Back at camp, we ate a very late lunch (it was 1:30). The hike had taken us around 3 hours! The kids were a little tired, but not nearly as wiped out as Gus and I were. After we ate, I went and rested in the tent, and Gus apparently fell asleep on picnic table bench. The kids played in and around the tent.

After our cat naps, we decided to take the kids swimming in the river. But we didn't want to walk there, haha! We sucked it up and paid $3 for a day-use parking pass, and parked right next to the covered bridge. The kids had a great time in the cool water, climbing on all the boulders, and having their first "river swimming" experience! I sat on the small beach, in the shade of the bridge. It was lovely.

After that, we had a semi-disastrous dinner... I had brought some homemade spaghetti sauce in a mason jar. After contemplating different ways to cook it, I decided I could just heat the glass jar directly on the camp stove. And it was working out just fine until seconds before it was time to serve dinner... and the jar broke! The bottom of the jar broke cleanly off from the rest, and spaghetti sauce went oozing EVERYWHERE! Gus grabbed a plate, and I spooned as much of it as I could onto there. It was a huge mess. But we managed to salvage enough for dinner, and then we cleaned the stove up as best we could (I actually need to work on it some more today). It was quite an adventure!

Fast forward to yesterday... the kids slept until around 7:30 (not bad), we ate breakfast, packed up, and drove home. We showered, unpacked, and slept in our own bed. Another successful camping trip on the books! :)

Our REAL 4th of July Celebrations

Which took place on the 5th and 6th of July, of course, since it poured alllllllll daaaaaay on the 4th! Fortunately, the weather that followed the hurricane was much cooler and drier, making for some really pleasant celebrations! It was so much nicer than usual!

On the 5th, our big activity was the town bike and doll carriage parade. The overall theme for this year was "Christmas in July," which I personally found to be pretty annoying. But we played along! Niko's bike was wrapped in candy-striped paper and blue paper, and he had gold Christmas bows on his helmet. He also had a sign on his helmet that said "The Gift of Freedom," but he declared that it was "soooo embarrassing" and took it off. sigh... Maya's bike was covered in aluminum foil, then we made snowflakes out of coffee filters and sprayed them with red and blue water (food coloring). They came out really pale, but whatever. We attached them to her bike and called it a day. The had fun, and got to visit with their friends... that's all that matters! :)

That afternoon, we stayed at home and relaxed. And then we went out to dinner to celebrate Gus' birthday. Really, we had celebrated at home on the actual day (July 1st), but we always like to go out to dinner. So we went to the Old Mill, which is always a hit with the kids!

Sunday was a super busy day for us. First, we took the canoe out for the first time this year. Best part? A bald eagle swooped down and snatched a fish out of the lake right in front of us! We had passed a kayaker who told us he'd seen the bird, so we were on the lookout. I was mostly scanning the shoreline and the tippy-tops of the trees, though. And Maya was the one who noticed him first! It was so cool! I only managed to get this one picture, though. I had my camera in my lap, was was too awe-struck to take a picture, haha!

We also saw tons and tons of beautiful water lilies! Maya was very happy. Niko was paranoid that we were going to capsize. I may or may not have shook the canoe on purpose (he was being a butt!)...

If you don't believe that the 6th of July can be cool and comfortable in Central Massachusetts, here is your proof! Both kids got cold out on the lake and asked for sweatshirts!

We got home just in time to eat a quick lunch, clean up, and head over to the town parade. It was in the low 80s at this point, and it wasn't as humid as it usually is, but sitting in direct sunlight for an hour was still pretty toasty. HOWEVER... the kids didn't sit in our laps this year! They were perfectly happy to stand at the edge of the road and run after all the candy thrown by people on the floats. And they weren't too bothered by the loud sirens! PROGRESS!!!

After that, we went home to try and rest for a few hours. We'd already set out our blanket to watch the fireworks later on, so we just needed to pace ourselves so the kids would actually make it! We headed back at around 7:30, and the kids had fun playing and visiting with friends for a few hours.

And then the fireworks started! They were great, as always. And Niko realized, for the first time ever, that they actually weren't *that* loud. He just sat back and enjoyed them-- no covered ears! Woohoo!

We made it home just after 10pm, and the kids went to bed right away. Niko even slept until after 7am this morning, which is sort of a miracle! Maya slept until nearly 8!

We did have to get moving, though, because today marked the first day of swim lessons for both kids! Niko went first at 10am, and was very excited about it. His buddy, Kam, is in the class, which helped... but the kid just loves swimming these days! Maya went next, at 10:30. She had been begging me to cancel her lessons, and she did NOT want to do them. But she ended up knowing a few kids in her class, and she had fun! She is excited to go again tomorrow! :)

It also ended up being a lot of fun for me, since there were lots of moms that I knew! I foresee some post-swim-lesson picnics in the park in the very near future! :)

Happy Fourth of July!

I say that, though it really doesn't feel like it! Thanks to Hurricane Arthur, we have had huge storms the past few days. Yesterday's thunderstorms were the most spectacular, though today's rain has been epic in its duration and continued strength. Of course, this meant that our Fourth of July plans were all messed up! Last night's fireworks (and all related events) got moved to Sunday night. And then this morning, the parade got moved to Sunday as well. We still have the kids' bike parade tomorrow, which we will most likely participate in (just need to decorate the bikes...). But yeah-- no fireworks and parades for us today! We did, however, go to a cookout with Gus' coworker's family that lives about a block from us. Their two-year-old very excitedly refers to Gus as "Neighbor Gus," haha! The actual cooking portion looked like this:

Yes, we ate inside. haha!

Backing up, though, we had an interesting day yesterday! It was disgustingly hot and humid. I was very productive around the house in the morning, but was anxious to get out and DO something. In hindsight, it was miserable outside. We should've just stayed in! But the kids were eager to get out of the house, too. I loaded their bikes into my car and took them over to the town park, where there's a dirt track they can ride on. I figured Niko would do laps, and I could work with Maya on riding without training wheels. And there is one side of the track that gets SOME shade, so it seemed like an okay plan!

When we got there, Niko was perfectly happy to hop on his bike and zip off. He had a great time, despite the heat! Maya, however, was angry that her training wheels weren't on her bike (despite me telling her a thousand times that we weren't going to use them... sigh). At first, she flat-out refused to get on the bike. I promised her repeatedly that I WOULD NOT let go of her unless she said I could, and I stuck with it. I knew she would tell me when she was ready... and she DID! Shockingly, a few minutes into our runs, she started telling me I could let go of her! I kept thinking, "I wish I could get a video of this!" And that was when Niko came around on one of his loops and announced that he could take the video for me. Of course!!! It didn't even occur to me! But the kid is a natural with electronics... I told him which buttons to press, and we were good to go! I wish *I* wasn't in this video, since I look like a bum AND it's filmed from a very unflattering angle (6.5-year-old-sitting-on-a-bench height, haha), but look! Progress! We will have to go back and practice some more! Once we were all completely dripping with sweat (did I mention the almost-100% humidity??? It was AWFUL!), we packed it in and went home. Both kids took showers, followed by me. It felt so good after being so sticky and dusty (from the track)! And shortly after that, the clouds rolled in and the sky opened up. It was a very intense thunderstorm! Lots of thunder and lightning with torrential rain, interspersed with moments of bright sunlight breaking through the clouds. WEIRD! We all enjoyed the storm in the front room. The kids decided that it was a good time to work in their summer workbooks, which was fine with me! They are both making great progress on all the things I wanted them to work on this summer. Maya already has most of her kindergarten sight words memorized and is focusing on improving her handwriting. Niko continues to be an excellent reader, and is working on maintaining his handwriting and math skills. And, for the most part, they really like to do the work. Yay!

Oh, and I nearly forgot! After our showers but before the rain, Maya and I had picked a bunch of clover blossoms from the yard. I was reminded of when I was in middle school, when my friends and I would make things out of them-- crowns, necklaces, bracelets, whatever. I made Maya a crown, and took a picture just before the rain started. I love this kid!!

Anyway... the storms stopped, the sun came out, and the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees. It felt great! Right around 9pm, though, they picked right back up. Some of my friends in town even had hail in their yards! It was definitely a good decision to postpone the fireworks-- we had our own fireworks, provided by Mother Nature herself! :)

At any rate, this weekend promises to be busy, with all the REAL Fourth of July activities. Stay tuned for lots of pictures from those events!

More Friends with Pools!

I've decided that everyone needs two friends in their lives: one with a truck, and one with a pool. We have a truck. And we are very, VERY fortunate to know lots of people in this area with lovely pools that we can swim in. And when it's 86 degrees and humid outside, nothing feels better than getting into the cool water!!

Today, we went over to Maya's friend Zoe's house. The two girls were in preschool together this year, and Zoe was on my t-ball team, too. And bonus: Zoe is half Greek, just like our kids! So there is definitely some common ground there. Anyway, they have a gorgeous new in-ground pool that they just had put in last fall. It was SO nice! And the best part? Niko finally worked up the nerve to jump off the diving board!!! He sort of set that as a goal for himself after swimming at Connor's house, and has been working up to it ever since. But he did it! And Zoe, who's been afraid of even jumping from the side of the pool, was suddenly following him off the diving board! haha! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. And Maya was especially happy to snuggle with Zoe's 9-year-old black lab, Colby. All in all, it was a ton of fun, and I officially have my first sunburn of the season (oops!).

And, of course, a video of Niko the Brave! Once he jumped the first time, he couldn't get enough! The kid must've jumped a hundred times-- a whole new world has been revealed to him. Love it! We have a tropical storm moving in tomorrow that should change things up a bit-- probably no swimming for a few days, and it may really mess up our Fourth of July plans. But we shall see!