Here is a little tidbit about my life that I'm sure will come as a complete shock to the majority of you. Last week I joined a women's soccer league. That's right. Me. The person who avoids all organized sports like the plague. But it is not my fault. Sara convinced me that it was going to be a light-hearted group of old fogies getting together for some friendly kick-ball. Yeah, right. It was quite a different experience than I had in mind...
Let me preface this by telling you the night before my first soccer experience since third grade I had another rare experience. It was Ari's last night here and she had periodically gone running by herself throughout the week. As she was getting ready I was overcome by stupidity fueled by her passing comments that she 'mostly walked' during her nightly ritual and I offered to go with her. Her 'mostly walking' was actually just a heart-beat away from running and she only did that about 1/2 of the time. The rest was actually running (with a cruel sprint at the end to finish me off.) After running/walking through our entire development I was excited to know the end was near...that is, until she took off for the next development...and then the next. Needless to say, after I crawled back to our doorsteps, all of my muscles decided to revolt against me and stopped working for the night. By the next night I was barely getting them back into working condition when I drove off to my first light-hearted game of soccer.
As soon as we got there, I knew I was in trouble. The women were off in their various positions, charging up and down the field. I had borrowed some old cleats from Sara as well as her old shinguard and was ready to go. As soon as I arrived on the field with my blank look, asking "what's a fullback?" the girl in charge sent someone over to show me the ropes. That girl let me shadow her and gave me advice the entire time. She was really patient with me and it wasn't too long until I found myself in the middle of things. At one point I saw a ball coming straight at my head. I froze in fear and before I knew it I had headed the ball. It went straight up and I went up to kick it but my leg wasn't fast enough and I kneed it. It all came as a huge shock to me...but apparently it looked like I had meant to do it. And so it went accident after accident paired with dumb luck and it looked like I knew what I was doing. And except for a huge tumble I took on the turf without anyone near me and no ball in sight, I managed to do alright.
There was one thing that was bothering me, though. My feet began to kill about halfway through the match. By the time I came off the field I was convinced that they were a half-size too small because my toes were feeling pretty beat-up. I took the shoes off and gave them back to Sara telling her that my feet must be bigger than I thought when she burst out in laughter. She turned the shoes over and this is what we saw:


That's right...the top half of the cleats had come right off. And those tinker toys are showing right where my toes where poking out. No wonder my feet were sore. Well, Sara did tell me that her shoes where really old and really well used. :)
The next day I honestly could hardly move. I don't think I've ever been so sore. All of my muscles just refused to do what my head was tell them to do. The next day I wasn't any better. The third day was a little better but still very painful. In fact, it wasn't until 4 days later that I didn't cringe every time I moved. I guess I'm ready for game 2! (and I just bought some new shoes:)

We just said goodbye to a week-long visit with Arianna & Alyssa. I was so sad when they left. Seriously. But we did manage to have a fantastic time while she was here. We went to Fiesta Plaza to play on the slides. We went to the pool, park, lake, children's museum and downtown library. Robert was out of town for half of the trip which was pretty sad. One of those nights Ari and I got our babysitter to come and we went out dancing. I don't even want to tell you how long it has been since I've done that. It was so much fun to have a girls' night out. We also managed to find this crazy French Pastry shop where we succeeded in gorging ourselves with all sorts of delicious chocolates and pastries. I can't tell you how wonderful it tasted or how sick we felt after we shoved it all down. :)

We also managed to go on a weekend trip to Charleston which was a blast. There was a big storm coming up from Florida but we were lucky to miss most of it. We got there Sat. afternoon. For lunch we had a real southern meal, with everything deep-fried, complete with fried green tomatoes (which were fabulous.) We then went straight to Folly Beach where the water was about 84 degrees. Nice. Robert introduced the boys to body-surfing by throwing them out on incoming waves. Their life-jackets kept them from drinking too much sea water. The first thunderclap came right around dinnertime, so we were able to pack up the kids right before the rain came pouring down.

The next morning we went to Magnolia Plantation which was absolutely gorgeous. We took a tram around and it was more than a little disconcerting to find out that there was an average of 200 alligators on the property at all times. They seemed to stay over in the marsh area but we saw them hanging out on their perches sunbathing. Yikes.

The morning was pretty muggy but we were again lucky with the weather. The first rain drops came right when we were getting the kids over to the car.
After that we drove through the rainstorm and out the other side in time to drive by some of the million dollar homes in Charleston. We stopped at Battery Park and got out to walk around a bit. We wanted to walk down Meeting street where so many famous southern homes are located but as we looked down the street we saw a wall of rain headed our way. We turned and bolted towards the gazebo in the park. Before we knew it, the same rain storm that we had driven through was pounding around us. People from all over the park joined us in the gazebo where we all waited for the worst to pass. We finally sent Robert and Ethan out into the rain to bring the car around since there seemed to be no let-up in sight. Oddly enough, the moment they pulled up in the car, soaked to the bones, the rain stopped. So sad for my boys. Regardless, it was a wonderful trip and it was the first time Robert had been to Charleston too.
Alyssa and Alaina became inseparable, spending most of their time with their heads together, hatching their secret plans to take-over the earth in hushed whispers. They made a funny duo - one tall and skinny and the other short and chubby. Even though there is only one year between them, it looked as if there were at least three. Ethan fell instantly in love with Alyssa, however their two personalities are so different that they could hardly ever stay in the same room without a fight. In fact, the only place they did get along was in the back of the car because, as Ethan put it, "she can't get away from me in the car." We called it 'back-seat magic' because as soon as they were there they would chatter non-stop and giggle about the silliest things. At one point they were showing each other where they were ticklish on their arms and legs and then proceeded to tickle each other. I've never seen either one laugh so hard.
But all good things come to an end and we all sadly said our goodbyes on Thursday. Hopefully it won't be another three years until our next visit!

Saturday proved to be an unexpectedly wonderful day. We started the day with a stake primary day which the kiddies really enjoyed and I did a lot of work at. (How did I get the group of 16 11-year olds?) The moment we got home Robert informed me that his friend had invited us, last-minute, to his house on the lake, for the afternoon and dinner. We raced through lunch and threw the kiddies into swimsuits and set off. Bob's house is set up a slope just one minute walk from the lake. From his porch you have the most wonderful view of the lake surrounded by lush green foliage. There is a stone path that leads down to the dock. It is all very beautiful.
On our drive there we talked to the kids a lot about how we might talk for a while before we go on the boat. We talked about being patient and how it was important to let our friend tell us when we were going to go and not to pester him. As soon as we got there the kiddies burst out with, "Mr. Bob. Where is the boat? Can we go see it?" Ah well. He was a good sport and a very gracious host so we talked for a few minutes and then headed down.On the boat each of the kids went on a huge tube with Robert. One at a time, of course. Then Robert showed off on the wake board and I proved to be a disgrace on skis (they really aren't just like riding a bike, I found.) Today Robert and I can hardly move. Pathetic, really.

Rob and Laina.
Rob and Austin.
Rob and Ethan.
Rob showing off. I am so sad I didn't get him jumping or doing his spins. No proof.
Here I am. Full of hope and confidence. You can see in my eyes that I actually believe that this whole skiing thing is not going to be a problem. I am woman...hear me roar.
And here is my best shot of the day. I had actually made it up for about 3 seconds before I hit the water. Look hard...you can see one of my skis poking out...I'm a few more feet down, still attached to my other ski, drinking lake water. :)
After every crash Ethan would yell out, "Mama...you let go. Just don't let go next time!" Thanks buddy.

When we docked the boat, Bob went and put everything on the grill and had us stay down at the lake to swim for a while. I was a little worried about how they would do swimming, but before I could say a thing, Ethan screamed, "This is how you do it!" as he ran off the deck and jumped into the air in a backwards dive. OK. I guess the kids didn't need any prompting and thank goodness they had life-jackets on. It was fun to watch them jumping off the deck and "swimming" around the water. It was a very Noman Rockwellish moment for me.
After swimming we came up, changed the kiddies and ate a delicious meal on the deck. The sun was setting and it was really breathtaking. After dinner we went on another short ride in the boat. Bob was very sweet and extremely brave to let each of the kiddies have a turn driving the boat. I thought we might get picked up for drunk driving with all of the swearing we did. With the sun setting on the lake and cool breeze coming up off the water, it was really something.
You would think that our night would be over at this point. Oh no. Not us party-animals! We took the sleeping kids straight to Sara's house, put them down to sleep and played a rather competitive game of pictionary with Sara, Aaron, Aunt Cindy and her friend Lou. I am really sad to say that the boys won. (Barely) But, they had some crazy luck on their side because you should have seen the bizarre pictures that Robert drew and they still got them. (We played it on little Preston's easel instead of drawing on paper.) We finally got home around mid-night. We all had so much fun, but I really feel old today with all my sore muscles. Robert is even worse since he did all those fancy jumps and 360's. That what you get, show-off!

I took the kids to a free trial at My Gym a couple of weeks ago. They sat down and going around the circle introducing themselves. "My name is Olivia. My favorite song is Rock-a-bye Baby." "My name is Ian, my favorite song is Twinkle little star." Then it got to my kids. "My name is Austin. I love the ABC's" "I'm Ethan. I like the Wheels on the Bus." And when it came to Laina, there was silence. The girl in charge gave her a prompt, "What's your name?" Ethan pipes in, "Her is A Laina!" "And what is your favorite song, Alaina?" After a dramatic pause she takes a deep breath and belts out, completely off-key, "Hit the Road, Jack!" Bet they weren't expecting that! :)

Alaina dressed herself today. Crown, "pack-pack," shoes....everything. Just like her favorite book, "Pinkalicious." (I think her undies were even pink. If you are going to go pink....)
While I was driving I started flipping through the radio stations. Every song seemed to be a slow love song. As I continued down the row of buttons I heard Austin muttering behind me. "no. no. no." Finally frustrated I just settled on the least annoying song when Austin called out. "No mama. I only like the Rock......and.......ROLL!" Not bad tasted for a 4 year old.

I took the kids to Ethan's OT visit the other day. While in the waiting room we see several people there for physical therapy; people who have lost limbs or who are in wheelchairs. They have talked about the wheelchairs before but just small comments here and there. Each time I talked to them about how the wheelchairs or walkers help people walk, move or just keep their balance. However, when we were leaving after our last visit all three started pointing and talking about one particular guy in a wheelchair. Instead of just talking to me, they went right up to the guy's legs and started pointing and laughing. "I can't believe it! Look at that guy!" "Mama....look at that man's legs!" "That is SO funny! Can you see him?" A little surprised and starting to get a little embarrassed at their outbursts I just said the same things I always say. "Isn't it great he has a wheelchair to help him out?" Instead of moving on, they persisted with their pointing (one inch away from the poor man) and talking excitedly to each other while pinning the guy into a corner. He was actually pretty gracious with my kids and showed them his foot saying, "yeah, this bum foot isn't working anymore." But the kids apparently felt we weren't 'getting' just how different and amazing this particular guy was and finally Ethan shouted, "No mama. LOOK!" pointing to the guy's feet, "He's wearing Daddy's shoes!" Oh. So that is what the fuss was about. Not the wheelchair, or the fact the guy couldn't walk. It was the shoes. We all just looked at each other and started laughing at how innocent and pure minded little kids can be. That really should have been the first thing I noticed as well.

Here are my kiddies pretending to go camping. I wasn't able to catch them in the act but just before the twinnies were on the blanket and Ethan was sitting in front of them driving the car. Every now and then he'd yell something back like, "You better have your seatbelts on or you will be dangerous!" The twins would then go, "click click" and wait for the next order. It was pretty funny to watch.
Austin held up his cookie today at dinner, slowly turning it around while he examined it. "Is a cookie fruit?" No. A cookie is not a fruit. He accepts this as fact and tries again. "It is a bet-chable?" No. It is not a vegetable either. Clearly puzzled now he asks, "What it is then?" Hmmm. It's a treat...now eat up.

I'm still behind in my posts.

While we were in California we spent a few days with Gina and her family and a day in San Francisco (without kids...thanks again, Gina) with Jen & Bradley. With Gina we were able to go to a couple parks, go to a children's museum in Sausalito and help celebrate Thatcher's birthday. On our day in the City on the Bay we were able to explore Golden Gate Park and eat in a fabulous, tiny Cuban restaurant and overindulge in chocolates, cupcakes & carrot cakes from a chocolatier. Yum. We managed to stay too late playing rock band and our car was locked up in the parking garage for the night. Bradley was kind enough to put us up for the night at his house. (Thanks again :)
On our way home in the morning, we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge where Robert proposed to me 11 years ago. Can you believe it? And the most amazing thing is that we still like each other. I guess we'll give it another decade or two.

And finally...our 4th of July photos. I can't believe I got so far behind but there you have it. Our neighbor's mother from Delhi spent the evening with us, watching Robert run back and forth lighting up our fire-crackers. She happened to be outside when we got the kids out, so we invited her to stay. She has only basic English skills and her accent is pretty strong, so the only thing I really got from her was that she wanted to take Lainy back to Delhi with her. I'm pretty sure she was joking. But not positive.
Ethan was really worried when he first held the sparklers. It took him awhile to understand that it wasn't going to hurt him. He was almost as worried about Austin and Alaina as he was about himself. The noises were also a bit hard for him to take, but he finally got into the spirit of it after he saw the first few go off.
In South Carolina you can buy fireworks year-round. We were able to get what we thought was a huge ol' package of fireworks but honestly, it would have been simple to get three times as much.

And that is it. I'm officially caught up with the blog. Yeah for me. :)