No Spelling at the Table

Backtracking

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:01:14 PST

We took the kids to their first UNC basketball game in early December, stopping by some campus landmarks on the way to Franklin Street for dinner. They weren't too interested in any "Mommy used to live in that building" talk, and they spent a good bit of time complaining about how far it was to walk anywhere.

We met up with Mandy, Josh's first-grade teacher who's now a PhD student at UNC, for dinner at Pepper's Pizza. It was very fun to hang out with her as friends instead of teacher/parent, and we're glad she's being converted into a Tar Heel fan!

The Tar Heels struggled in the first half against a crappy team, and our fellow fans in the nosebleed section had some choice words for our team. Josh picked up on their colorful language, and in a shining moment for all of us, stood up and yelled "You suck!" at the team. Several weeks later he yelled the same thing to the Charlotte Bobcats at a game here. In Josh's defense, they deserved it!

Molly was less than impressed with the whole basketball thing. She was mostly interested in our trip to the Yogurt Pump for oreo yogurt before the game.

Even though some guy with a Tim Tebow jersey was seated a few rows in front of us, I hope in the least our trip to the Dean Dome will remind Josh which collegiate team he needs to cheer for.

Molly is 5!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:01:36 PST

Molly turned 5 last week ...and I missed it!

I had the rare opportunity to take a Caribbean vacation with my college friends, kindly paid for by Shelley's husband Kevin. While we were sitting on the beach in the Bahamas, Molly celebrated with Chris, Josh and Jerry, who came to help run the show for the week. And really, I'm the one who did all the work on Molly's birth day -- a little relaxation is always in line to celebrate that event!

Chris is now an expert in making chocolate cakes, as he made one for my birthday earlier this month as week. They took Molly bowling, her choice of birthday activity. Tim and Hannah took her to Barnes & Noble the next day and let her pick out a book for her birthday, and she ran from the classics straight to the super hero section, where she chose "Hulk Saves the Day." All we can say about that is at least she's interested in books!
Just for fun, here's Molly almost five years ago ...

Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:21:19 PST

We have a lot to catch up on! We're back from two weeks of Christmas celebrations, which started with Molly's last day of preschool for 2011 and the Christmas party at her school. Santa doesn't appear too interested in Molly's Christmas list!

We spent the first week of Christmas break in Charlotte before heading to Chicago, and Chris and the kids went with me to interview the owners of the animals that participate in live nativity scenes around Charlotte.

We celebrated an early Christmas morning at our house and opened gifts from my parents and from us.

Then we had Christmas morning with Chris' family. Missy and Tyler graciously hosted us for a whole week!

Josh and Molly goofing off at a post-Christmas family party in Chicago

Rhys, Ethan, Molly, Josh and some of their cousins

We spent one day at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Yesterday Chris, Rob and I took Molly, Ethan and Josh on the commuter train into downtown Chicago. We planned to take the elevator to the top of the Sears (now Willis) Tower, but a huge line and $17/per person fee made us change our minds. We went for ice cream instead.

Parent Observations

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:42:11 PST

Last week was parent observation week for Molly's dance and gymnastics classes, so I joined the parent paparazzi and cringed as Molly received presents and medals for... attending class. So much for the good old days when you actually had to win something to get a prize!

Dave's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:47:08 PST

Our good friend Dave, who we first met in Wilmington and who now lives in Charlotte, got married in early December, and as you can see the kids had a great time playing on our phones while we enjoyed catching up with old friends. I first met Dave in the late 90s, and we have enjoyed reconnecting with him in Charlotte. Molly is especially fond of Dave!

We first met Dave's wife, Roseann, at dinner a few months ago, and we love her!

We were so happy to see Karen and her husband Dean at the wedding -- longtime Wilmington friends who got married last year. It was an unexpected reunion with some great friends, some of whom had never met Molly and hadn't seen Josh since he was three months old.

Lukewarm Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:42:26 PST

After such a wonderful Santa experience last year, I took the kids back to the children's library last week in hopes of a repeat visit. Unfortunately, the kindly Santa has been replaced with the unsmiling Santa. While not the best for pictures, at least he didn't telling us we were traumatizing him.

No hope of getting all four kids to look at the camera at the same time

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:00:39 PST

We spent most of Thanksgiving week in Florida again this year, starting with a few days at the farm in the Florida panhandle. The weather was great, and the kids were somewhat cooperative for pictures before leaving for Thanksgiving brunch in Panama City Beach. We are happy to report that Molly did not fall into the decorative pond at the hotel this year.

Chris and I took Josh, Molly, Abbey and Elizabeth for a walk/run on the pier after brunch, and one man, who thought all of the kids were mine, offered to buy me a drink out of pity!

Mom, Dad and Emily

Mom pushing the kids on the porch swing at the farm. Dad bought a fire pit this year, so we all spent two nights roasting marshmallows and hotdogs over it and looking at the stars. Too bad we didn't think of this years ago!

We went back to Gainesville on Friday, and that night we went to a Florida basketball game, which Josh thoroughly enjoyed. The Gators won by over 50 points, so Josh was thrilled. He was not so happy the next night when he attended the Florida-Florida State football game, where Chris said Josh was in tears because Florida lost. I don't think he was the only member of my family who wanted to cry that night!

24 Hours of Misery

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:34:14 PST

We naively thought it would be fun to participate in the Cub Scout pack's family camp out this weekend. The campground was only about 40 minutes from our house, and I felt like I could convince Molly to come home with me to sleep, and then we would rejoin the group the next morning. The forecast was for the mid-30s on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, every time I offered her a bribe to go home, even as it got dark and the temperature dropped, she would yell, "I want to sleep in the tent!" I didn't want to abandon Chris with two kids in a tent, so I stayed too. The kids passed out 10 minutes after they went to sleep, Chris was snoring and I spent the night lying awake, hoping my kids weren't freezing to death and wondering why I ever agreed to camp out in November.

While I think the camp out was 24 of the most miserable hours of my life, the kids loved it. Josh (here reading his Cub Scout handbook) fished, hiked and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. The boys told ghost stories and "funny" stories, which mainly involved a lot of jokes about poop, and did skits. I sat in our camp chair with three coats on and tried not to look as horrible as I felt.

Molly and her friend had fun playing in the leaves and sliding down a hill. I didn't take more pictures because that meant I had to take my hands out of my pockets. Thankfully, the Cubmaster announced on Sunday morning that there would be no more November overnight camps. Finally, someone came to their senses!

Cub Scout Hike

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:28 PST

Josh has joined our local Cub Scout pack, and this Sunday was the first meeting of the pack's hiking club. You'd think we had hiked up and down a mountain based on the whining and throwing of themselves on the ground at the end, but we really just hiked about three miles on a flat trail. Josh doesn't know this yet, but we've signed him up to run the same trail in a kids race in two weeks! I'm sure that will bring about plenty of teeth gnashing.

Our neighbors' son is also in the pack, and his sister was Molly's hiking buddy. Molly actually finished the hike too -- we were proud of her!

Halloween 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:25:26 PDT

Halloween has turned into the longest day of the year! Molly's new preschool has a costume parade and Halloween party, so I spent the morning at the school helping out. The kids paraded into the church at the preschool and each one was introduced. They loved it!

Molly and her friend decided weeks ago they wanted to dress alike for Halloween

After preschool, we went to dance class, picked up Josh and then frantically got ready for the neighborhood Halloween party. Molly was thrilled that her best friend from last year's preschool came to the party.

Most clever costume!

Josh was really into the hayride this year

These costumes drew plenty of comments, including people who weren't sure if it was a costume. One person asked if I was angry, and the host of the party told me I couldn't use his bushes for a bathroom! Some people asked if we had heated dinner conversations, but I told them this was not a political statement. I'm not sure if they believed me...

A day out on Wells Fargo

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:15:38 PDT

Now that Wells Fargo has completed its takeover of our hometown bank, Wachovia, including blanketing Charlotte with its loud yellow and red signs, it seems to be trying to buy some goodwill in the community. Today Wells sponsored a free day at our children's museum, and we were happy to take them up on the free admission and the half-price IMAX theater tickets there. We saw two movies at the museum and the kids had a great time playing in the exhibits.

Josh had to be repeatedly told not to squeeze or pick up the turtle, which as you can see was making a beeline for the animal keeper.

Psychedelic jelly fish aquarium. We wish we had one of these at home!

Molly's reaction to touching a sea urchin

Random encounter with the Ghostbusters outside the museum

Chris wanted to show us his new office in the Bank of America corporate center, but the security guard wouldn't let the kids and me in because we weren't properly registered. We entertained ourselves in the lobby while Chris ran up to his office. Thankfully he came back down just as the security guard was walking over to scold us for something. I'm not sure what we did wrong this time!

Donuts with Daddy

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:57:38 PDT

Chris went to work late one day last week so he could attend "Donuts with Daddy" at Molly's preschool. She was probably just as happy about the donuts as she was about Chris being there!

Her class made "royalty" costumes last week as well, so Queen Molly, as she called herself, accompanied us everywhere, including restaurants. The outfit also came with a large scepter (not pictured), which she enjoyed hitting Josh with.

Molly is a bit under the weather this week, but I drug her out of her room to go with me to Josh's school, where I was covering a new boys' running program for the newspaper. Josh can't join the program until 4th grade, but he seemed much more interested in the golf program going on in the infield of the track.

Quadrathlon

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:20:01 PDT

Josh turned 8 today, reaching a major milestone in that he no longer has to use a carseat in North Carolina. With our small cars, that is a big deal!

We held his birthday party, which felt like the fourth event in the triathlon I ran yesterday morning, last night at the local laser tag establishment. The great thing about this party was that the staff oversaw the laser tag and the food while the parents stood around and talked. Of course this kind of service isn't free, but it was worth every penny!

After last year's bowling alley chaos, we downsized this year to only boys. We quickly learned that 10 second-grade boys are about as manageable as 17 first-grade boys and girls! It was fun to get together Josh's friends from kindergarten, first and second grade, and judging by the noise level, I think they all had a great time. Thankfully, we learned another lesson from last year and served dessert before the kids began chanting, "We want cake."

And even better, because Chris complained to the manager about the snack bar being closed early, each kid received one hour free in the arcade. I told the parents that my gift to them was a very tired kid to take home!

Our day yesterday began at 5:30 a.m., the wake-up call for us all to make it to the site of my triathlon yesterday. My love-hate relationship with my bike continued, as it had a flat tire when we unloaded it at 6:15 a.m. (many thanks to the bike crew at the race who fixed it) and then my chain fell off during the bike ride. Thankfully, I had watched a bike maintenance video playing on a loop at a bike shop last summer while waiting for my bike to be repaired, and I knew exactly what to do!

I have no idea what Molly is doing in this photo! Either way, I was very thankful for my little cheering section.

This triathlon had 1,650 competitors, according to the race organizers, which meant the last swimmers got in the pool two hours after the race began. Thankfully I got in the pool early, because when we left the race some women were just finishing up their swim. I finished in 251st place, which I was very happy about.

We all collapsed for a few hours when we got home, then headed out for the birthday party. I was glad to see the day end!

Preschool, finally

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:48:36 PDT

Molly began preschool today, which was a great relief to us all after a very long summer. She's going to a new preschool this year, and she announced that it was "fun" when I picked her up today, so hopefully that's a good sign. It's hard to believe she'll be in kindergarten this time next year.

Here's Molly hanging out on an old chair during the Great Labor Day Garage Cleanout of 2011, which was the start, we hope, of soon actually getting a car in our garage! We're happily selling and giving away the last of our baby gear, including our stroller collection, that has contributed to the garage problem.

We had to pull all of our bikes out of the garage to clean, and it was funny to watch Josh try all of the different sizes, including his first bike. He's graduated to a 20-inch bike with gears (the white one in the picture), which he loves. This bike is much faster than his last bike, so we keep him away from parked cars and mailboxes.

First Day of Second Grade!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:52:06 PDT

Despite the forced smile in the picture, Josh was very excited that school is starting today. Our school system added 45 minutes to the elementary school day this year, and we got our 45 minutes tacked onto the morning. That means the bus comes just after 7 a.m., and we have an early wake-up call here!

Second grade -- it's almost here!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:09:54 PDT

Josh met his new teacher, Ms. Beale, at open house today, which means that the first day of school is only two days away! It was so fun to be back and school and see friends, and Josh's teacher has gotten rave reviews from other parents. It was a little intimidating to see the two textbooks on Josh's desk, but if any of the books cover facts on animals, measurements or transportation, Josh should be fine.

Josh's new classroom is in a trailer behind the school, as apparently a right of passage at Charlotte's overcrowded suburban schools is spending a year in a trailer cluster. It's certainly a change from the bright, open classrooms in the school building, but hopefully it will be a character building experience.

On the Job

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:02:51 PDT

Since school doesn't start until Thursday, I have to take my posse along when I work. Today we visited a plant nursery, where Josh and Molly enjoyed throwing rocks into the landscaping while I interviewed the owners and took pictures. One of us is very happy that school starts in two days!

The kids wanted to take pictures too, so the one above is by Molly and the one below is by Josh.

Florida Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:58:32 PDT

We ended our crazy summer with a week in Florida at my parents' house, and on Thursday we took the kids to an arcade and water park in Jacksonville. I handily beat them at this trivia game, and then Josh proved why a driver's license is not even visible in his future by his performance in the motorcycle driving game. Strangly, the motorcycle game avatar he chose for was a woman wearing a black tube top.

Josh loved the big slides at the water park, and Molly was mad that she's not tall enough to go on them yet.

Since Chris wasn't there, I had the privilege of accompanying Josh on the water slides.

We also attended my cousin Doug's wedding near Orlando while in Florida. Staying in a hotel with little kids, I must say, is not the most fun thing in the world, although the kids thought it was great.

We were very thankful that Amy dressed Abbey and Elizabeth in monogrammed dresses -- it was much easier for us to identify who was who!

Vrignaults' summer visit

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:05:42 PDT

We're enjoying a few days with the Vrignaults, who are here on their summer visit from France. Emily came over for the morning, and we marveled at the number of kids we now have between the three of us!

Summer Road Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:02:00 PDT

The kids and I hit the road earlier this month for our road trip to Iowa. After two days of driving, much of it through corn fields, we were very happy to arrive at Shelley's house! Josh and Molly had a great time hanging out with Maggie, Alex and Sara -- here they are playing on a queen-size air mattress in the camp pool. As you can imagine, Shelley and I had our hands full with five kids between us!

One morning we took a hike on the camp grounds to a swinging bridge and a cave.

The main event of our visit was a triathlon Shelley and I competed in on Sunday to celebrate 20 years of friendship. We met our freshman year of college! The triathlon, specifically riding a bike on the windy, hilly country roads of Iowa, nearly did me in, but I was glad to finally stagger across the finish line!

A big thanks to Shelley's husband Kevin, who brought the older kids to watch the race and took pictures.

Triathlon Bloopers 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:27:07 PDT

We entered Josh in a different triathlon this year, which turned out to be way more competitive and intimidating than last year's at the YMCA! We didn't do much preparation, hoping he'd stay focused like he did last year.

We should have figured out early that something was amiss when we were waiting in the pool area for Josh's age group to start the swim. Josh was jumping up the bleachers (not an easy feat!) despite us warning him that his seemingly endless supply of energy might get used up. I'm not sure if he was nervous or excited, but I know that he didn't listen to anything we told him about how the race would work.

We got worried when we saw kids in the 4-6 age group swimming proper freestyle down the pool very quickly! Josh managed to get in the lane with the only kid using a snorkel. The kid got off to a fast start, but Josh passed him on the second lap and we were feeling hopeful that he could finish in the middle of the pack.

However, everything fell apart when he got out of the water and seemed totally lost as to what to do next. At one point I thought he was going to jump back in the pool! I was yelling from the other end of the pool for him to put on his shoes, and by the time he figured it out, the snorkel kid and everyone else had cleared out. So Josh entered the bike ride in last place.

I got to the bike trail just in time to see Josh try to pass another kid and wipe out in the grass. He got back on the bike, but several kids he had caught up with rode by while he was on the ground.

So he finished 30th out of 33 boys ages 7 and 8, and thankfully he did not get a trophy. We know for next year to practice the transition between swimming and biking, particularly the putting on of shoes!

We love babies!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:10:33 PDT

We made a tour of new babies on Saturday, first stopping by Tim and Hannah's to meet Lucy, who was born a week ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed holding other people's sleeping babies recently, which is way better than having my own!

Our next stop was at Emily and Randy's so that Chris and the kids could meet Watson, who was born July 14. I'd already met him a few times at the hospital.

Belated 4th of July

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:50:04 PDT

We decided at the last minute (i.e. mid-afternoon on July 1) to drive to Florida for the holiday weekend and attend a family reunion. We packed in record time and surprised my parents at the reunion! One of the highlights of the trip for the kids, sadly, was staying at the Days Inn in Phenix City, AL on the way down and eating breakfast at Waffle King. While Waffle King did have good waffles, we tried to explain to them that there are more exciting things in life!

We didn't take many pictures, but here are some from the reunion. Many thanks to the people who provided the table centerpieces, which kept the kids occupied for much of the reunion.

This is the best I could do with Abbey, Elizabeth, Molly and Allie. Here are the girls three years ago at a wedding:

And Molly's favorite part of our beach trip was...

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:31:17 PDT

the five-minute pony ride! I shouldn't be too surprised -- it would have been my favorite part of the trip at age 4 as well. This farm also has a petting zoo, so the kids got to meet a llama, sheep, goats and a deer.

The pony ride included two laps around the ring, and on the first pass the kid leading the pony said of Josh, "He sure does know a lot of information." I'm sure the kid learned more about sperm whales and dolphins in that five minutes than he ever wanted to know.

This long-haired goat was so desperate for attention that it let Josh check out its teeth.

We took the kids on the "Dolphin Cruise & More" last night, and the "& More" turned out to be pulling in a crab trap and throwing nets to catch fish. Here the kids are arguing over who gets to throw the big hermit crab that came up in the crab trap back in the water. One guess as to who won.

We ran straight to our garden when we got home today to see what had transpired, and we were shocked to find this gigantic zucchini! Apparently there was a lot of rain here while we were gone.

More Hilton Head

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:19:16 PDT

We headed to Savannah on Tuesday, only to find the city a bit like an oven. It was more than 100 degrees, and we were all wilted after about 20 minutes. One restaurant on the water had a great marketing ploy -- water misters outside the restaurant.

The kids got some relief from the heat in this fountain in downtown Savannah

At least Ethan was excited about playing miniature golf. Josh and Molly warmed up to it, although Molly used a "sweeper" method of playing that involved more pushing the ball with the club than hitting it. Congratulations to Chris for beating all of the adults!

Ice cream after golf

Obligatory vacation picture

Molly and Frosty Froggy