Sam's Fall

Almost 2 weeks ago, the kids were playing on the playground after school. Sam climbed up the outside of a tube shaped slide all the way to the top and then fell to the ground. He landed on his arm and hit his head. He cried a little and seemed a little dazed, like he got the wind knocked out of him or something, but was otherwise OK. We seemed pretty shook up so we all went home. His arm didn't swell up and he was able to move it in every direction without much discomfort so I assumed it was just sprained or something. I was mostly concerned about a mild concussion because Sam asked me if he had passed out. I said no, I don't think so, and then he told me this long story about how he fell and then we were all standing around him, and he had a moment with a little gap of time, etc., etc. This, itself is not what concerned me. BUT 3-4 minutes later, he asked me again if he had passed out. I'd say no, I don't think so and then he told me the story all over again. After like the 10th time I realized that he was not just 'making conversation'. I looked at him and said, "Sam, you've asked me if you passed out like 10 times now. You've told me this story over and over again." He said, "I did? I don't remember that." And that's when I started watching for concussion warning signs. All in a days work (for a mom), right? After I informed him that he was repeating himself, he seemed to snap out of it and wasn't so spacey. He didn't have any other concussion symproms so I stopped worrying about him. He still kind of favored his left arm all week, but never really complained about it until...
Four days later, I was returning to the school with Caleb following an orthodontist appt. As I was pulling up to the school office to sign Caleb in, I saw Sam walking into the office with an aide and he was holding his left arm and looked like he'd been crying. He was on his way to the nurse's office because he had fallen on his arm in gym class and it hurt a lot. I looked at it while we were waiting for the nurse and it appeared to already be swelling. The nurse examined it and said it wasn't clearly broken, but she couldn't be sure. I took him in for x-rays and sure enough, he has a greenstick fracture of the radius. Luckily, it's not a really bad break and he only has to wear a cast for 3 weeks. He told me on the day that we got the x-rays, etc., that he'd always thought having a broken arm would be a lot more exciting. I told him it's not so exciting when it hurts really bad, huh? I think he enjoyed having a little extra attention from the kids at school, signing his cast, etc. In the above picture, by the way, he's rolling his eyes at me. He does this all the time, you know...because I'm SUCH an annoying mom.

Caleb's Birthday!

Caleb turned nine on the ninth of September. Since we had been busy going out of town and with the whole first week of school, we didn't have his party 'til the 15th, which was fine with him since he then sort-of had 2 parties. On the 9th, we gave him his presents and had a cake for him. He got lots of $$ and cards from far away relatives, and we gave him a David Beckham (soccer) shirt and 3 Reader's Digest kid's books: rocks and minerals, space, and sea creatures. I didn't think the books would be such a big hit, but Caleb loved them and the shirt, of course, and he said it was the best birthday ever. He says David Beckham is his "hero" but I don't think he actually knows anything about him except he's a soccer star.
Thankfully, not all nine of the kids he invited to his party were able to make it as we seemed to have our hands full with just five plus our three! The funny thing about birthday parties here in New Jersey is that they are never at someone's house. They are always at the skating rink, or the private movie theater, or the sportsdome, etc. So I think it might've been unusual for these kids to go to someone's house to have just a regular old birthday party. Plus, Caleb insisted on making homemade invitations that he made completely on his own (with plain white paper and pencil). And I must admit, they were awfully cute but I was worried that other parents would think that we couldn't afford to buy printed invitations! (In addition to having the party at home)! Anyway, all the kids had a great time, mainly because Dave quickly came up with a spectacular treasure hunt for them complete with secret codes, riddles, and so on.
We also had a pinata, which is a big deal for these Jersey kids since they never are at a party that has one; they were really excited about it! We let Caleb go first. As Dave lowered the pinata getting it ready to be hit, the whole thing crashed to the ground. Luckily it appeared unscathed and Dave was able to quickly rig it back up. I blindfolded Caleb, he stepped forward, swung, and barely tapped the thing. The bottom dropped right out of the pinata like a trap door and all the candy spilled to the ground! The kids dove in and collected the candy but I felt so bad for them all lined up waiting their turn and no one got one. They didn't seem to mind too much though!
Dave and I were exhausted afterwards, and it was only an hour and a half! Sam's birthday is next and we are SO trying to talk him out of a party! Here's some pictures if you want to see them.
p.s. The picture above is a candid, unstaged picture of Caleb during the party...

Patek Philippe company party on Sept. 8th

Patek Philippe (Dave's company--well, it's not HIS company, we can only dream) has an annual family picnic. This year it was in Connecticut on Sept. 8th. It was only an hour drive for us and the scenery through CT is beautiful. It turned out to be a really hot day which was a shame since we hadn't brought our swimsuits and there was a private pool available to us. Oh well, we had a huge pavilion, sand volleyball, inflatables for the kids (you'll see them in the pics), miniature golf, face painting for the kids and some organized games for the kids and adults: sack races, water balloon toss, tug-of-war, etc. We were there for like 4 hours and we all had a nice time.
The best part may have been the food, though. They had the traditional grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, but there was also lasagna, fried chicken, tacos, ribs, sausages, a salad bar, drink bar with bartender, and then a whole seafood extravaganza with fresh lobster, mussels, clams. Caleb honors all sea life, apparently, and was opposed to Dave's barbaric partaking of the lobster. (Don't worry, we have pictures and video).
For dessert, they brought out trays of fresh fruit and cookies and brownies. The cookies and brownies looked store-bought but tasted heavenly. I swear they must've injected them with horrible amounts of trans fat for them to be that good. I'm sure the fresh fruit was good too, if you're one of those people. Also, much to the pleasure of our children, they had a Good Humor ice-cream case stocked full of ice-cream cones, sandwiches, etc. It was like having their own personal ice-cream truck that they could help themselves to all day, as much as they wanted. At one point, Peter actually said that he was in heaven. Since we stayed 'til the very end, we got to take lots of leftovers home. YEA!
Oh yeah, besides the food fest, it was also nice to meet and get to know some of Dave's co-workers, blah blah blah. If you want to see pictures, click here.

Vacation part 4 of 4

Really need to finish blogging about our August vacation! OK, so we spent a whole day at King's Dominion; see post below. That night, Caleb sat me down to have a heart to heart. The conversation went a little something like this:
Caleb: "Ummm, can we sit down and talk for a minute about our vacation?"
Me: "Sure, babe, what do you want to talk about?"
Caleb: "Well...no offense, but I'm not really liking the educational parts. I mean, when we were in Washington D.C., sometimes I felt like I was being tortured."
Me: "I see. Well, you seemed to enjoy most of it: the Air and Space Museum, the National Zoo, going to the top of the Washington Monument..."
Caleb: "Yeah, I guess some of that was ok, but some of it was so boring. I mean, who wants to look at monuments anyway? Could we maybe just talk about what we're going to do for our last two days of vacation? I mean, I'd really like to do something fun and exciting and not-educational."
Me: With sarcasm, "You mean like spend a whole day at an amusement/water park?"
Caleb: A bit chagrined...
Me: "OK, why don't you tell me some ideas of what YOU would like to do and we'll see if maybe we can work something out."
Caleb: "Well, I've always wanted to go bungee jumping. Can we do that?"
Me: Trying to be polite but firmly, "NO."
Caleb: "What about rock climbing? Could we go rock climbing?"
Me: "Ummm, yeah, rock climbing? Also not going to happen this weekend, buddy."
He finally settled on fishing which we were planning to do anyway, so luckily that worked out. I told him that I appreciated him sitting down and talking with me about it instead of whining and complaining like some kids might. I didn't have the heart to tell him at the time that we were planning on spending the whole next day at Thomas Jefferson's home: Monticello!

Monticello was so cool. We learned so much about Jefferson, whom I really knew almost nothing about. He was a very important person! wink, wink The home itself was very interesting and very beautiful, but even more stunning was the grounds and the view. One interesting point: when you look at a picture of Monticello, for example on the back of a nickel, that is actually the back of the house. The front of the house is less remarkable but offers an amazing view. Also, what you don't see when you look at the house is that there are many rooms and a long corridor running the length of the house, underneath it. These rooms were called "necessary" rooms and included stables, kitchens, wine cellars, etc. where the daily runnings of the home were done out of sight of visitors, etc. Also, contrary to popular belief, Jefferson only had one invention which was a lap desk or something. He did recreate many other inventions, like the swivel chair, that he had seen in Europe and then was able to design and recreate from memory. He was also, amongst many other things, an avid gardener. He would bring seeds home from everywhere and plant them...he would also trade seeds with other people to have as many varieties of plants, trees, and flowers as possible. Who knew the one of our founding fathers was really into flower gardening?! Anyway, it was a fun day and alas, educational. If you want to see pictures from this day click here.

The next day was spent entirely at Lake Anna, Virginia, with Nichole and her in-laws who very graciously opened their huge, gorgeous lake house to us. Their house is situated perfectly right on the lake, with a big shady lawn, a boat dock and everything anyone could possibly want. The boys loved swimming in the lake, boating, canoing, jet-skiing, playing fetch with 2 golden retrievers, and yes, Caleb finally got to go fishing, if only for a moment as it was getting dark when he finally remembered! This was probably the funnest day for them on the whole trip. It was nice to relax...and eat the chocolate chip cookies that Nichole made! Thanks Nichole! For pics and teeny videos of this day, click here.

Zumba anyone? part 2

Here is a longer clip of one of my classes...Feel free to not watch the whole thing. I think it is like 12 min. long! I don't know, yet, how to edit videos. If I did, then I would edit this so you would just watch a small sample of each. ANYWAY, the first song is a salsa, 2nd song is just for fun, and the third song is a bellydance-ish song. All three of these are low to mid-intensity. In Zumba, we normally interval the songs so you alternate between high intensity songs/dances and low intensity ones. High intensity would be merengue, samba, or calypso. For some reason none of those made it onto the video! Maybe next time...

P.S. I don't know if it is even possible, but please don't share this video (e-mail, embedding, etc.) in any way as Zumba has copyright on these songs and I am technically not supposed to put any of their stuff on the internet. Since it's a 'private' blog then I assume it's safe to share with you guys!

Zumba anyone?

So...here's a video of me teaching a Zumba class. Usually this particular class is very full...I'm not sure where everyone was tonight since I only had 5 people. Also, most of those people are hiding on the other side of the room because they didn't want to be video'd! This particular song is in a style called Cumbia. Cumbia is a dance from Columbia, particularly of the slaves working the sugar cane fields (which are now probably cocaine fields). Anyway, they had their legs either shackled together or had a ball and chain so they, in general, could only dance with one leg at a time. It's one of my favorite styles of Latin dance. This particular song is low intensity (in case you want to exercise with me at home). wink, wink

Dave's lunch break

Dave called me during his lunch break today and told me there was a taxi exploding near him. I know you can't see him in this picture but he is in that group of people on the far right in the distance. He heard several "booms" and eventually the smoke was so thick and stinky like burned rubber and he was coughing as we were talking on the phone. They are not saying what the cause was, yet, if they even know...It was a lot more exciting than MY lunch today.

Peter the Patriot

Peter has just learned the pledge of allegiance at school and then also a song about the flag. I was impressed that he memorized the pledge so quickly. Of course, I think he's adorable. Here's a video:

Vacation part 3, King's Dominion

After probably overstaying our welcome in D.C., we went to stay at my friend, Nichole's house. They live outside Richmond, VA. They also have a dog that the boys fell in love with. There were 2 cats that they found intriguing, but not nearly as much fun as the dog! It was wonderful to finally see where Nichole lived and get to know her family a little better. They have a kinda mother-in-law suite on their top floor. I doubt it was originally designed (by Nichole's handy husband, Terry) for a family of five, but we actually fit quite nicely up there and were very comfortable! In fact, I've often daydreamed since then of moving in there myself...just need to run it by Nichole...

Anyway, we spent a whole day at a place called King's Dominion. It is an amusement/theme park and also a water park. They advertise that you get 2 parks for the price of 1! I was skeptical, but it indeed, was like two great parks for one price. It was a really nice place and the kids had a blast.

The only drawback was that, of course, we had to split up. Peter would only ride things in the kiddie area and Sam wants to ride EVERYTHING and Caleb is in-between. He doesn't want to ride the kid stuff but isn't quite ready to ride all the big stuff. I am so amazed at Sam. He isn't afraid to ride anything. He even rode, by himself, things that Dave and I were too chicken to go on! He went on something called TombRaider, I think, and I was screaming just watching him ride it. Before it started, I even badgered the attendant to "please go double check that kid in the tie-dye shirt and make sure he's buckled in real good"...as Sam rolled his eyes at me. Hey, I read the news. I know what terrible things can go wrong on those rides...(!)

Anyhoo, it was a really fun day. I don't have many pictures and when we split up, I was with Peter most of the time so most all the pictures are of him! Here's the web album if you want to see it; just make sure you check out the picture of Peter on the swinging boat ride. He was really nervous about this ride but I talked him into going on it and I snapped a picture as he was waiting for it to start:

King's Dominion Aug.2007

Vacation part 2, Washington D.C.

I'm going to try to finish up our vacation blogs this week since we are going to BOSTON this weekend and then I'll have yet another trip to blog about!?!

SO, after our day in Philly, we headed to D.C. LUCKY for us, we were able to stay (free!) with the parents of one of my best friends from TX. Nichole and I grew up together and she now lives near Richmond, VA with her husband and 2 girls. Her mom works in D.C. and lives in a suburb SW of D.C. It was so convenient for us and very comfortable, etc. They have a dog named Dutchess that the boys just adored, of course! It was so fun to stay with them and catch up on everybody.
Anyway, we spent 3 FULL days in D.C.! We drove and parked there (once we found out how cheap it is to part in D.C.). $17 to park in a garage ALL day!? We thought that was a great bargain and fear we may have become tainted by NYC?!?

Our first day was at the National Air and Space Museum. We figured of all the museums, this would be the one the boys would dig the most. They enjoyed it and couldn't get over that it was free. Peter begged and begged all day to ride the escalators and this, I fear, was the most exciting part for him. They got to participate in a paper airplane contest which was actually a lesson on flight in disguise. It was pretty fun. The American History museum is temporarily closed so they have some items on display in the Space museum and the kids actually really liked those, too. After we left the Space museum, we happened by the National Archives which, I admit, Dave dragged us into. Surprisingly, it was really neat! Sam, especially, really enjoyed seeing the original documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. Before we went in, I joked, "What do they have in there? Like, the Magna Carta or something?" Well, yes, actually they did have THE Magna Carta. They had another cool exhibit called the Public Vaults which would take me forever to explain. Just take my word for it, it was really pretty cool. I'm glad Dave dragged us in there and Sam seemed to enjoy it so much we had to drag him out of there as it was closing! Hmmm, a 10 yr. old that loves to read, argue, and pour over documents...sounds like a future lawyer maybe?

The next day we spent entirely at the National Zoo. You know, 'cause my kids SO love going to the zoo. (Not!) I have to say, though, they seemed to really enjoy this zoo, and so did Dave and I. The weather was perfect (for our WHOLE trip, actually) and it wasn't crowded at all. We finished up this day by getting lost and then dining in fashionable Georgetown.

Our last day in D.C. was spent monument hopping. This was the hottest day we were there so we paid $$ to ride one of those tourist things around. This allowed us to get on and off where we wanted and told us a little bit of history of stuff we passed. We hit all the big ones: the Capitol, the Jefferson memorial, the Lincoln memorial, Vietnam memorial (where Sam whispered to me that it didn't really look like that many names to him), the White House visitor's center, and a trip through Arlington National Cemetery. We explained the whole Tomb of the Unknown Soldier(s) thing and watched the changing of the guard. As usual, our kids were unimpressed.

They were impressed, however, with the last thing on our list: a trip to the top of the Washington Monument. I, personally, hate heights but I figured this would be something the kids would really like and would always remember. And now whenever they see the Washington Monument in a picture, movie, etc., they will say that they went inside and up to the top. When you walk up to the windows, they have pictures above each window of what the view looked like at a certain year and you can look out and see the changes and growth that has occurred since then. It was really cool. On the way down, they slow down the elevator and let you see the inside of the monument a little better. There are carvings of the inside of the stones to commemorate each of the 50 states, and so on. Also really cool; I'm just glad I was on the elevator and not on the stairs!
So that, folks, was our trip to D.C. If you want to see pictures from this trip, you can click on the web album:

D.C.2007

Speaking of hair...

Speaking of hair through the ages...I got my hair cut last week. It was getting really long. I asked for shoulder length and even brought in a few pictures of myself with shoulder length hair for guidance. Unfortunately, my hair dresser underestimated the power of my curls and my hair (as it dried) slowly shrunk up into chin length hair. OK, I may be exaggerating a tiny bit...it's not chin length but it's definitely not shoulder length, either. Oh well, I think it looks fine and the important thing is that I can still get it into a decent ponytail! I'm just a little bit paranoid that I look like someone famous. Not sure who it is? Try again. I know my brother, Greg, will get it on the first try.

In case you're wondering...

In case you're wondering why I'm so slow in posting stuff lately...here's a picture of my September calendar. I didn't even write in everything on it; just the stuff that I absolutely can't forget. I can't wait to add the many, many upcoming orthodontist appointments for Caleb. Please note some days when I work from 6-8pm, Sam has soccer practice 4-6pm, Caleb 6:15-7:30pm, and Peter 6-7:15pm...all at DIFFERENT locations. Thank goodness our ghetto van still runs and that we still have it. I just KNEW we would need it to get us through soccer season!
If anyone wants to come visit, I'll let you stay with us for free if you'll CLEAN MY HOUSE! It's a disaster. I barely have time to get to the grocery store. I just run in and frantically buy milk, eggs, and bread so we can eat something.
I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, wink wink. I know it's a blessing to be so busy(?) I just wanted to let everyone know why I'm not spending lots of time on the computer at the moment! I'll post again soon! I hope!(?)

Did I Mention - I Love Food?

Vacation part 1, Philadelphia

We began our 8 day vacation with a trip to Philadelphia. It is about 2 hours away so we can get there and back in one day, ideally. When you leave your house and head to Philly without a map, it takes 31/2 hours. We weren't completely mapless; we printed out directions off the internet; but those don't always work so great, we've recently learned.
After quite some time, we decided to pull over and ask for directions. We were pretty sure we were off course, but we had no idea where we were, really. I went into the toll service plaza to ask for directions. I told them I had no idea even what state I was in anymore (that is a scary thing for a Texan; when you grow up in Texas, you can drive for MANY HOURS in any direction and still be in Texas). Anyway, they informed me I was in Delaware, which I had no idea where that was either. I got back into the van and said to Dave,
"We're in Delaware."
"Delaware!?!", he exclaimed, "isn't that somewhere near Massachusetts?"
"Geez, I sure hope not," I replied.
As you can see, we're still new to this whole New England thing.
We finally made it to Philadelphia, which was a great city. We went to the Constitution Center which is an interactive, hands-on history type museum. The kids seemed to enjoy it as much as possible, for a museum, and Dave and I really liked it. You begin by watching a movie/live narration detailing everything revolving around the Constitution. It really makes you realize how young our nation is and how the founding fathers set up a country/government in a way that had never been done before. They were truly amazing people.
Anyway, we then set out on foot to see the Liberty Bell. That was a big disappointment for Peter as he was expecting them to ring it for him. It was fun to learn a little bit about it, though!
Then we traipsed around Independence Hall where the Constitution and/or Declaration of Independence was written/signed. (I can't remember anymore)! Much of the area looks much like it did back then with cobblestone streets, horse carriages, etc. We walked past Ben Franklin's grave and continued to the Betsy Ross house.
My favorite picture of the day is in front of a flag at the Betsy Ross house. If you go through the pictures from beginning to end, pay attention to Peter. His demeanor changes as the day goes on. He begins quite cheery. By the time we get to the Liberty Bell, things are starting to go sour and then by the time we get to the Ross house, he is completely forlorn and Sam and Caleb are trying to strangle each other. It was great for preparing us for the next few days of dragging him around Washington, D.C.!
My favorite part of visiting Philadelphia was---prepare yourself for a big shocker here---FOOD! We asked the #1 question (where to get the best Philly cheesesteak) and were directed to Sonny's Famous Steaks. Now, I'm not a big meat eater, especially steak so I was a little apprehensive but figured When In Rome...
It was SOOO delicious! I chickened out of the CheezWhiz version and got one with American cheese. But now I know I can handle it and will get the CheezWhiz next time! Dave, Sam, and Caleb loved their cheesesteaks, too, so we were all happy. Peter, as usual, just ate fries. He's on a potato and salt diet, apparently.
It was a great day and I can't wait to go back again and see (and eat) more! If you want to see pictures from this trip, just click on the door:

Philly 2007

Why do I look SO happy?!

It's the first day of school! Why else would I be so excited?!?
Sam is in 5th grade (he was, I think, very embarrassed that I took his picture and gave him a kiss good-bye), Caleb is in 3rd grade, and Peter started Kindergarten. Yea! Peter has been waking up each day this week and counting down the days 'til school started. He is SOOOOOO excited to finally be going to school. It is only half-day Kindergarten, which I just assumed he KNEW, but apparently not. He was shocked this morning as we were going over the schedule and he realized he'd only be there a half day. Needless to say, he was very disappointed but seemed to get over it quickly. As excited as he was, he suddenly turned very shy when it was time to line up and walk in with the other kids. He marched right in, though, and despite my excitement at having all 3 kids in school, I had to try REAL hard to keep the tears held back. I made it all the way to the van before a few seeped out.
I had to chuckle, though, because there were 2 or 3 kindergartners who did NOT want to go in. They had all their appendages wrapped around their mom's bodies and the teacher had to peel them off and drag them into the classroom screaming and crying. I'm so glad that Peter isn't like that! I would've been sobbing, too.
By the way, we just returned from a super vacation. We went to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Monticello, etc. Posts coming soon! I'd like to write more but these 3 hours are precious now and I'm not going to waste it in front of the computer! I'm going to celebrate by going to run errands ALL BY MYSELF!