I Pledge Allegiance

In honor of our upcoming election, we thought that this would be a good time to share with you Alex's love of our country...

 

Day Out with Thomas

Ok, I think that this will officially be my last "catch-up" post.  I do believe that we have finally made it to the present day, so be expecting more timely posts from here on out.  Or at least more fall-like posts. 

Back in August, Thomas the Train made his grand appearance in Newport, so I took the day off and took both kids (I'm a self-less mother like that).  I'll admit - other than the actual Thomas the Train, which I thought was pretty good, the event itself was somewhat cheesy.  Of course, the kids didn't notice as they were too consumed with the way over-priced Thomas paraphernalia that was for sale.  It was at this point that I had to remind Avery that we don't just buy something to buy something.  I mean, really?  There was no other reason that she wanted a fleece blanket with Thomas all over it - for $25!  The child could care less about Thomas, but for whatever reason, she felt the need to just BUY.  I have NO idea where she gets this from...

 

 

Anyway - it was pretty cool.  They turned the Newport Dinner Train into Thomas and when it was our turn, we hopped on board and rode on him 15 mins down and then 15 mins back - perfect amount of time for a 5 and a 3-year-old.

While on the train, a guy came down the aisle and passed out a ton of stuff to keep the kids busy - crayons, legos, coloring books, etc.  I believe that Avery's comment was, "Mom, we get so much stuff on this trip!" I was hoping that this would take care of the need to buy something, but I soon realized I was wrong as we were walking by the Alex and Ani store later and she exclaimed that she wanted a bracelet!  Mind you - these are not bracelets worn by kids.  They are worn by adults and adults only.  Again, not sure where she gets this from...

 Back to Thomas - both kids loved riding on the train.  However, Alex was a bit confused as to why Thomas wasn't talking to us.  I explained that he was clearly shy around all of these people.  From there, each kid got a balloon.  A dog for Avery and a butterfly for Alex. 

It was a gorgeous day, so we decided to take a walk through Newport and then have lunch on the deck of a restaurant right on the water.  It was great.  The kids got lunch.  I got lunch and a glass of wine.  It was the perfect setting. 

Afterwards, much to my dismay, they spotted the arcade.  Oh my god.  I will NEVER again enter one of these places.  So, first of all, we go in and of course, they have the case with all of the prizes that you can win with the tickets that you get from the games.  And, of course, they have the biggest prizes that require like a gazillion tickets right in the front and of course, half of them were balls.  So, as you can imagine, Alex was going nuts and didn't quite understand that there was no way in hell we were going to play enough games that would get us enough tickets for one of the balls.  So, once we got him distracted enough to leave the case of balls, we all played a couple of games until I nearly had a panic attack. All of a sudden, I realized that here we were in this nasty, germ infested, dark arcade while it was gorgeous and sunny outside.  I couldn't deal. So, we left and ended up with (after MUCH discussion and near meltdowns) a bracelet, a ring, a plastic snake and a car that was broken, so it wasn't even in the case to be sold.  However, the girl gave it to us for free after witnessing Alex nearly having a meltdown and me having a panic attack.  I may try this approach more often now that I think about it...

Overall, it was a really nice day with the kids. The only downside is that I now go around the house singing the theme song to Thomas..."They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight..." in a very loud, obnoxious operatic voice and the kids (and Josh and probably Deacon) want to kill me.  I love it...

   

"You'll have to ask your father..."

Alex (who mind you, isn't even in Catholic school yet), while driving to school today:

"Mommy, does the Body of Christ poop and pee?"

Swim Lessons

Not to brag, but I'm pretty certain that Josh and I definitely do it right when it comes to the kids learning how to swim.  I mean, first of all, well, we have them in swimming lessons which will ultimately lead to them not drowning, so that is clearly a good thing.  But, more importantly?  We are NOT the ones who are forced to get into the pool with them to teach them.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing things with them and teaching them things.  However, being forced to get into a cold pool at 8 AM and to attempt to be all "YAY, Avery!  Good job!  Move those arms!  Kick, Kick, Kick!" is really not high on my list of things to. 

However, it appears as though it is HIGH on Grammy and Grampy's list of things to do, so THEY took them!  It was fabulous.  Two men who are retired school teachers and who have also been life guards for years agreed to teach swim lessons to kids at Josh's parents club's pool.  Last year was Avery's first year and this year, we decided to have Alex do it as well.  It really worked out well for everyone.   Not only did both of them get far more comfortable in the water AND Avery legitimately was swimming for a good couple of seconds on her own by the end of the summer, BUT every Wednesday and Friday of this summer?  I didn't have to drop them off at daycare.  Now, again - I enjoy spending time with them and dropping them off.  But, damn!  That reduced my commute time by a good 30 mins, which was definitely a plus. 

 

 And, while it worked out well for everyone, let's be honest - the real reason that it wasn't us in the pool is simply because we aren't members at the club.  So, maybe we are the losers in a sense, but at least I'm a dry, warm loser who got to sleep and extra 30 mins two days a week this summer!

Labor Day Weekend - 2012

This year, we had an extra special visitor come over Labor Day Weekend!  Uncle William had a business trip to Boston planned for the Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day, so he decided to come early and to make the drive all of the way down to LC.  The kids were thrilled to see him, to say the least.  Unfortunately, he got in a bit later than initially planned, so we gave a quick tour of the house (for those of you who have seen the house, you know that this is truly quick - stand in the kitchen, look ahead and there you have it!  The house in its entirety) and then rushed him out the door so that we could get to the beach fast enough to eat dinner before it got dark.  Dinner was a success.  William got to see where we spend all of our weekends and I think that he could understand why.   Alex doing his "Yay!  Uncle Will is here!" dance...

The men eating dinner...

Uncle Will and the kids messing around (clearly I'm still trying to figure out this new camera thing...)

 We actually stayed for a while and were able to take a walk on the beach just as it was getting dark and then, much to our surprise, we got to witness a firework display as we were leaving. 

 These would be the fireworks that I clearly have no idea how to take pictures of...

The next day, we headed down to Newport to show William around.  Josh started us off with a tour of the coast and all of the ridiculous houses/mansions.  The tour was great until my stomach decided that I should have probably really stuck to my guns when telling William "No" to his 5th "come on - just one more top off" request the night before.  But, don't worry - I hung on and cured all resemblances of a hang over with a lovely fish and chips lunch.  My waistline didn't like me afterwards, but my stomach did.  :) 

The rest of the afternoon, we just walked around Newport and then headed back home to chill out for a bit on the deck before William left.

Overall, it was a very nice visit.  It was William's first time in New England and his first time at our house, so now he can at least say that he knows where the LC is - which is more than most people can say...

Future American Idol Stars

Now introducing the Holland children singing Goober Has It (aka, Rumor Has It), Firework and California Girls....

 

Polo

Man - first a post about golf and now one about Polo.  Could I be any more of a yuppie?  Anyway...

There is an awesome polo field right down the road from my office.  We went to a match for the first time last year and had so much fun that it will now become an annual tradition for sure.  The funny thing?  I'm pretty certain I didn't see a minute of the match.  Not even sure who was playing or who won.  Most of it was spent sitting around talking, eating, drinking and trying to make sure we knew where our kids were and that preferably, they weren't about to get trampled by a horse.  We made plans to go with friends of ours who have twins Alex's age and a daughter Avery's age.  We all brought some food and booze and set up camp for the night...

And, as it turns out, half of the kids' school also thought it was a good night for polo - it was like being at daycare. The only thing missing was the teachers to watch our kids while we had fun. We'll have to think about that for next year...

And, of course, the favorite activity of the night - stomping divots at halftime (aka, attempt to keep track of your kids running around the field with 100 other people - all while also attempting to avoid stepping in horse poop).  How cute are these pictures of Alex and David walking out to the field?  This will definitely be used as blackmail in the future...

Once we got to the other end of the field, they had a couple of horses for the kids to pet.  As you can imagine, Alex being our animal lover was thrilled...

It was a perfect night and definitely one to be repeated next summer...