Soccer Break

This spring we decided to take a break from travelling soccer.  And by we I mean (Johan and I).  The boys kind of just went along with it...  The plan was to for go soccer and all the crazy driving around the state in order to try some individual sports with less strenuous travel schedules. 

Since December the boys have been doing Tae Kwon Do again.  But they have decided that there was a reason that they stopped doing it a couple years ago.  They just don't enjoy it...  C has been participating in track with the local middle school.  He is starting to enjoy it, and he has a great deal of talent.

For their birthdays we got the boys new BMX bikes.  The racing season began here two weeks ago.
 

The first day was a lot of fun.  C and K loved it!  That is C on the far left in the starting block.  K is the second racer from the left.  This is a warm up round.  They had an opportunity to practice for about an hour before the actual racing began.

C and K's biggest fan.

The races are held at a rough time for us.  They start at noon on Sunday.  Noon is little K's naptime.  So we left church and little K fell asleep.

I thought it was going to be perfect because we could get the boys registered and little K could sleep in the car.  Nope!  A is not so good at doing anything quietly and when we arrived at the track she was excited and bopping around the van.  Her excitement was contagious.  Little K could feel the energy... 

The first day of racing was a success.  The boys had a great time, and A enjoyed making friends at the track. 

This weekend, I was in SF so Johan was on his own.  He did great!  So did the boys.  C and K both brought home a first place one of these:

I think we will be going back to soccer in the fall.  But for now, BMX is pretty fun!

Getting Ready for PPP!

I am so excited for the Pole Pedal Paddle this year.  I participated in this event two years ago as part of a team with Nikki, Maureen, and Jill.  It is an awesome relay race in bend.  There are six legs:

1. Downhill ski
2. 8K cross-country ski
3. 22 mile bike
4. 5 mile run
5. Kayak
6. Half-mile sprint

Last year little K was just a few months old so we skipped it, but this year the boys have a team.  C and K are going to do the Pole Pedal Paddle with their friends J and J this year.  J and J's mom, Jill, and I are going to do the relay as a two-person team.

Two weekends ago we went up to Bend for a crash course in skate skiing.  None of the boys has ever done it, and one of them will have to do it for the cross-country leg.

I am so bummed that I didn't take any pictures during our practice.  But here are the happy skiers in the parking lot at the end of a very hard day.

We signed up for a group lesson.  Our instructor was kind of Debby Downer...  but we did get the gist of how to ski.  The boys had nothing to associate cross-country skiing with other than downhill skiing which they love.  About five minutes after we started skate-skiing they all began to wonder why it is called skiing.  Cross-country/skate skiing is A LOT of work.  It is super physical, a really great workout.  So I loved it!

K actually really got into and C, who really didn't like it, is way too competitive to let K do anything without him.  When I asked C if he wanted to head back to the lodge for a snack he took one look at K and said, "No, I can do it!"  And he could.  He was much faster than me.  C and K both insisted that we take the hardest, longest trail.  I had already left my phone and my jacket in the snow about a kilometer back.  The trail was a loop so I decided to press on.

I should have brought water, and food...  We were so thirsty and so hungry.  The boys are so totally amazing though.  They didn't whine or complain.  They just kept going!  I love that they are such good sports almost all the time.  They came to skate ski and that is just what they did. 

Bat Mitzvah in SF

This weekend I went down to San Francisco for my cousin's bat mitzvah.  Johan stayed home with the kids.  It was good to see the extended family that I rarely see, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, etc.  My half sister, Caitlin joined me and we shared a hotel room.  Caitlin and I didn't really grow up together and have only recently started to be in touch.  She is 7 years younger than I am, but it is crazy how much we have in common, and how much we look alike.  Several times at the bat mitzvah people asked us if we were twins or sisters.  The first time I said, no.  I have been around her so infrequently, it took me a minute to recover and realize, yep we are sisters.

Caitlin is on the left (my right), my cousin Michael is on my left, he is a freshman at the University of San Francisco, and next to him is my cousin Molly.  I should add that there was a "glamour station" at the bat mitzvah.  There was a lady applying false eye lashes and there was a photo booth with lots of costumes and props.  I think somebody put the fun pink bandana on Michael, he didn't come with that.  Pics from later in the night were much more fun.  Everybody had costumes. I had a rainbow Mohawk.  But it isn't on my phone...so I don't have to share.

 

Is that a sandwich?

K still loves to put whatever she can into her mouth.  I usually respond by saying in a silly voice, "Oh K, that _________ is not a sandwich."  Then I attempt to remove whatever is in her mouth.  The other day K and A were coloring, I think I was busy talking to somebody...  A looked over and announced, "Oh K, that marker is not a sandwich!"

I love the blue marker residue on her face.  I feel like she is looking at me in defense, "What...I am just sitting here coloring, I wouldn't put marker in my mouth!?!"

Happiness is...

A doggie bag full of dandelions (a.k.a. beautiful flowers).

I think it is fair to say that spring has finally sprung here in the Klamath Basin.  There are beautiful flowers sprouting up everywhere.  But A is not allowed to pick the beautiful flowers that people work hard to put in their yard.  She is however allowed to pick as many dandelions as she likes.  I love children's perceptions because for A the abundant dandelions are as wonderful as the tulips and petunias that are starting to appear.

At one of C's most recent track meets A filled a doggie bag with dandelions.  She explained that she was going to bring them home to their mommy and daddy.  We didn't think much of this, but allowed the bag of now dead weeds to be loaded into the car.  When A got home it was time for bath and bed, but she pleaded, "Just one second I will be really quick."  She saw that a negative response was on my lips and then with a hip sway and a tilted head and all the cuteness she could muster, "Really quick, my flowers need their mommy and daddy."  This time she didn't wait for a response.  She was off. 

A few minutes later I wandered down the driveway to find her.  She was hard at work planting her flowers.  But it was getting dark, and suddenly the train whistle blew.  She leaped up into the air, "I don't like that sound!"  And she dashed up the stairs and into the house.  Bath time!

The next morning she had not forgotten her flower duty.  Before breakfast she ran off to plant her flowers.

The big dandelion on the left is growing in our planter box.  All the tiny ones on the ground have been meticulously placed there by A.  She was totally thrilled with herself. 

A quickly noted that she was putting the "beautiful flowers" with their mommy (dandelion at the bottom on the left) and daddy (big yellow flower toward the top of the image).  So unfair that the daddy's are always bigger and more beautiful than the mommies.

I love that she planned this whole thing at a track meet in White City.  She knew these two mommy and daddy flowers were growing in our planter box and really wanted to bring their babies to them.

Happiness is...

A favorite outfit!!!

A insists on wearing this outfit whenever it is clean (and sometimes when it isn't).  The panda hat isn't always part of it, but it is quite fulfilling for her to pair her sparkles with a hat.  She has very low tolerance for clothing that does not sparkle or twirl.