Harper's First Soccer Game

Harper had his very first soccer game yesterday morning and man was it a hot day for it! My morning started super early because I had to get up at 6 am so that I could be ready to get Landon to practice by 7 am. It took several times, but I did eventually get him to get his butt out of bed and we made it there just in time. He wasn't too happy when I dropped him off, but as usual, he was fine when I picked him up at 8:30. We zipped home and got the car packed for Harper's 10:15 game. 

Last Tuesday we had back to school night for both little kids (at two different schools at the same time, of course) so Harper didn't make practice and then Thursday the school he practices at had back to school night so our practice was cancelled that night as well. So, after having only 2 practices in his life, he had a game. I was prepared for the worst which would have been his refusal to play and a meltdown. 

I was pleasantly surprised at his amazing attitude about the whole thing though and I had no need to worry after all because he had a great time! 

It was horribly hot out and even sitting in the shade we were all sweating so you can only imagine how hot those little kids were playing out there. Nonetheless, they kept playing, even my Harps. They play four 12 minute quarters and after the first quarter the coach put Harper in as goalie. I was a bit surprised but off he ran to the goal. Of course I grabbed my phone and ran down to get some video! Sorry for my loudness on the video...I was a little excited. :)

I'd say this first soccer experience has really been a good one so far. I asked him how he felt about his first game and he said "well, I didn't love it, but I did like it"! That's really all I can ask for, so I'm happy!

 

Soccer: Team Minions

Sometime this summer I gave Harper the choice to either try soccer or go back to swim lessons. Surprisingly, he chose to try soccer. When it came time for sign ups, I asked him if soccer was still his preference and he said it was, so I signed him up.

We went and bought the obligatory soccer gear a few days before his first practice and $65 later, he had everything he needed. It was only as he was walking out the door for his first practice that he had a bit of...shall we say...choosers remorse. With a look of terror he turned to me and said "Mom, when you asked me whether I wanted to do soccer or swim, I didn't know you were serious"! To his credit, we do play the game "would you rather" when we're looking for a way to pass the time, but we'd talked about this on numerous occasions (and he was there when we chose a ball, cleats, shin guards, water bottle) and I think it just finally hit him when he was actually putting on the shin guards and cleats. :)

He has practice on Tuesday and Thursday from 6 pm to 7. I missed his first night because it happened to be the same night as the aquarium dinner but I asked Tony to get some pictures/videos in my absence.

Tony said he did really well that night and seemed to enjoy himself, but when I asked him about it the next day he said he didn't like it. I don't know if he really didn't like it or if he just isn't too sure about it yet. Only time will tell. 

Last Thursday was his second practice and I made it up to the field to watch him play for a little bit. He was so happy to see me there, but I was only able to stay for a few minutes because Dakota was swirling the drain and needed to get to bed on time. 

After I left, Tony took some videos but most of them are really shaky so I won't post them here. But there is this one that I can't help but post:

So cute!

Dinner Under the Stars, Annapolis

Last Wednesday we finally made it out to Dinner Under the Stars in Annapolis. It's been on my calendar all summer but it hadn't worked out to go until last week. We went with our friends the Wakefield's and my mom also joined us since she was here.

There are several participating restaurants but we chose El Toro Bravo because we just love Mexican food! We ate there once before and thought it was pretty good, so why not? My friend Lisa was all about it once she saw fried ice cream on the menu! Lol!

Group selfie...I accidentally blocked my mom, Dakota is behind Jeff, Landon was washing his hands and Harper was grumpy...but it still turned out cute! (Can you see I'm holding little Evelyn?! Precious little thing!)

Here's mom enjoying baby Evelyn...

And, here's my teen. Cute even when he's ornery.

Mom and I:

The Dads:

Of course we had to get balloon things (dog and flower) when the balloon guy came by:

Both Dakota and Harper were quite impressed with Evelyn this time. They both held and loved on her. It was sweet.

All in all, it was a good night. Good food, great friends, fun atmosphere. We all agreed it'd be fun to do again...maybe even without the adorable kiddos! :) 

Scrapbook Pages, Cruise 2016

It's awful, but I honestly can't remember if I blogged these next two pages and I'm too lazy to go look, so I'm just gonna post them again. I mean, how lazy can I get when all I'd have to do is use my mouse and keyboard...but, I really am that lazy. 

The first layout is from day one of our trip, just after the boat left Baltimore. The kids loved looking out the big windows and I told them if they were lucky they might see a dolphin. (No such luck.) It's a simple page but I love how small they look in that giant circle window!

The next page is from our first night in The Great Gatsby dining room. We had dinner every night (except two when we didn't make it back from a later excursion) at 5:30 p.m. Our wait staff was great and the food was as good as we expected. Dinner was usually a bit chaotic because Dakota was always so tired from the day, but that first night was a good one. Our head waiter did his best to help entertain the little kids and even created a swan out of Dakota's napkin. Both she and Harper were quite impressed!

Night out at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

My parents and brother were up here last week because the American Polygraph Association's annual week long meeting was held in Baltimore this year. My dad and brother worked while mom visited with us but one night the APA rented out the National Aquarium for a dinner and my mom, Zoe, Brandon and I got to go. The event was from 7 pm-11 pm a little too late for the other kids and Tony who had to get up early the next morning for work and school.

The aquarium is generally pretty packed during regular business hours so it was really nice to get to experience it when there were so few people. Being able to leisurely walk through while eating (amazing) appetizers was a very unique treat. The dinner was also really good but I think the crab dip stole the show. I could NOT stop eating it! (And, I wasn't the only one!)

I think the best part of the entire aquarium that night was the Jellyfish Invasion. There is something truly mesmerizing about those jelly's! I labeled the one's I'm pretty sure of. I had to look on the aquarium's website for help, but I still couldn't figure out what all of the names were.

Blue Blubber Jelly (ADORABLE)

Upside-Down Jelly

Moon Jelly

Pacific Sea Nettle

Atlantic Sea Nettle

And, here are a few video's I took of the jelly's:

First Day of Pre-K

I'm ashamed to admit that it's been over a week since Dakota started preschool and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. As big of a deal as school is and it just didn't happen. I'll blame it on being busy, but it'd be true to say that laziness played a factor as well.

She has her staggered entry (they have three staggered days and only a 1/3 of the class attends on their day to get acquainted with the classroom/teacher) on Monday, August 29th and then went the rest of the week. Her first day was great. She told me she was really excited but a little nervous too. I told her that everyone feels that way about new things and they she'd do great, which she did.

However, her second day was reminiscent of preschool past. She was crying as we got out of the van, crying on the walk up to the door and hanging on my leg crying while we waited for her teacher. It was ugly. But, her teacher helped pry her from my leg (she wasn't the only one crying) and I left as quickly as possible. I felt horrible. But...when I went to get her, she hopped in the car and said "I had a great day! Sorry I cried!" I told her she'd broken my heart when she cried like that and she promised to do better the next day. 

Wednesday came around and I was a bundle of nerves worrying about whether or not she'd cry. She didn't and she had another spectacular day.When she got in the van she asked me how my heart was. It took me a second and then I realized she was referring to my broken heart from the day before. When I told her my heart was feeling better she said "Good! That's cuz' I fixed it!" :)

Thursday's drop off was uneventful but when she got in the car she informed me that she may need to break my heart the next day. I asked why and she said it was because she wanted to be the line leader. She went on to say that whoever cries is chosen to lead the line. I told her I didn't think that was such a good idea and that if she was patient she'd get another turn. She said "Actually, crying IS the way to do it." Haha! Smart girl I have! And, so devious. I'm happy to say she had a change of heart and spared me the drama of crying. She talked about school all weekend and when it came time to go today, she was excited and ready. This year is looking pretty good so far. I mean, we're only a week in, but things are looking good. 

A Day at Six Flags

We've been buying season passes for Six Flags for years now and as soon as I got the renewal email, I went ahead and got next years tickets. Since the hurricane missed our area today and the weather was gorgeous we headed out there for the afternoon. It was in the mid to high 70's so it wasn't warm enough for the water park so we spent our day riding regular rides.

I ended up taking the little kids around to different rides while Tony and Landon rode a few of the bigger coasters. Because they were doing their thing I don't have many pics to share of the two of them, but lots of the two little kids!