Summer 2010: an overview

Summer 2010 is starting to come to an end. I will be spending Monday and Tuesday of this week training student writing coaches to work in the writing center. I officially head back to work on Monday, August 30th for the start of workshop week. This summer has been incredibly fun--and very busy. I think the one downside of summer is how often I have to clean my house because we're doing what you're meant to do in a house- LIVE. I think if I could spend the day with my boys in someone else's house, I'd be all good.

I'd like to share with you some of the highlights of our summer:

1. The summer was event-full. Mitch competed in a number of mountain bike races, many of which he won first. I competed in two triathlons and one 5K during the summer months. I won nothing, except an increased level of fitness (which is disapearing because of an achilles tendon injury). Mitch and I do love to participate in these events though. I love the atmosphere and comraderie. He loves winning.

2. The summer was active. I took the boys to a number of parks and pools this summer. I think our favorite pool is the LTF Savage pool. While it lacks the pizzazz of the Edina Pool, it's more fun for swimming, relaxing, and socializing. Mason recently realized the joys of lifejackets and floaties and now insists that he swim by himself. He is gleeful as he spins and moves through the water. And he loves to jump in (as long as someone is holding his hands). Hunter took one session of swimming lessons this summer and is slowly learning to swim. Yesterday we practiced and he was able to swim a much greater length than he has been doing. He has no fear of the water, however (at least when we're just playing at the pool). He jumps in and goes underwater if he knows he can touch the bottom. Some other parks we enjoyed: Bryant Lake, St. Louis Park's Splash Pad, the Apple Valley park comparable to the Splash Pad, Washburn Elementary's play park (which Hunter named the Wishy-Washy park), and numerous others in the surrounding area.

3. The summer was memorable. We took three family vacations this summer, one more memorable than any other. Our first was to Red Wing. Now, that might not sound like a vacation, but it was for us-- because we stayed in a hotel and played in a pool and ate out at restaurants and watched Mitch compete in a mountain bike race. Our second was to my parents' place in N.D. I drove by myself with the boys to Beulah, which is eight hours west of where we live. Hunter is a champion traveler. Mason- not so much. We did, however, have a great time visiting. We spent a couple nights with my sister and her family in Bismarck and stayed a few nights with my parents in Beulah. My father took the boys fishing. We went to the pool. Our third and final (and best) vacation was to Wisconsin Dells where we stayed at the Wilderness Resort. This vacation deserves a blogpost all its own (coming soon).

4. The summer was water-parky. (Wisconsin Dells post coming soon!)

5. The summer was color-full. With paint. Since we moved into our home, over six years ago, we have been making improvements- slowly but surely. This summer has been devoted to making better use of all the space we have. Our house isn't enormous but I'd like to think we have a pretty good amount of space. So, we decided to finally give Mason a big-boy room and a big-boy bed. We moved him downstairs with Hunter. So the guest room (which is only used a few times a year) became Batman's bedroom. Mason's old room became the new home office/guest bedroom, which increased the amount of space we have in our basement and our kitchen (which is where we were keeping our computer). Now we're using two more rooms in the house that typically go unused and have more space in others. Now we're looking at our bedroom as the next room to paint, but I'm perplexed by color. I don't know. We just painted our office Eqyptian Green (what makes it Egyptian is a mystery) and Cottage white. Mason's bedroom is blue and blue (two different kinds). Hunter's room is blue. Our bathroom is purple. Our kitchen is blue. Cottage white is everywhere. I don't want to paint the room yellow. So what does that leave me? Perplexed I tell you!

6. The summer was brain-stimulating. Hunter took a three week reading class at Cornelia. We made many trips to the library and picked out some very fun books. I think Hunter's favorite is "Super Hero School." We also got some encyclopedia's focused on the U.S. Presidents. Hunter is fascinated by the presidents but wasn't real interested in knowing much more than their names, what number they were, and if they were still alive. Mason pretty much follows Hunter's lead and loves books about super heroes and the like. If you didn't know, his favorite character is Batman, so we checked out some books that are all words and no pictures. There aren't many Toddler Batman books.

Well, I'm tired, so that's all for now. I'll add more as I think of more. Sorry about all the parentheses. A stylistic choice that's often overused. Count em. I overused them!

Welcome to the Batcave

We decided it's finally time to let our little Batman grow up. It all started by emptying the guest room closet of all the clothes I've been saving for the last six years. Then we moved everything out, including the Queen size bed (now sitting against our treadmill). We painted the cave in Batman colors- light blue, dark blue. We ordered a pretty cool wall decal and a new comforter. My sister-in-law gave us a twin bed (so no more crib- which in some ways is liberating and in other ways sad). We moved everything out of Mason's old room, which was once Hunter's room and will be the new office. While Mason's batcave is still a work in progress, he's very pleased with the results.

Now I have to start working on the office. So much to do before I go back to work.

Don't Shake it

Mason found me out! Because he is such a juice-"diva" (what is the masculine equivalent for "diva"?), I secretly add water to his juice so he's not taking in too many liquid calories. Well, for the last few days, this has been a conversation happening in our household:

"Mommy, I want some ja."

"Mason, say all your words."

"Mommy, I want some juice."

"What's the magic word?"

"Ple-ease..... and don't shake it mommy, okay? Don't shake my juice, okay?"

So, he saw me shake the juice/water to mix it together and now knows that I've been depriving him of the full juice experience!