Sleepover and Zoo with Cousins

Aunt Lisa is about to have another baby.  To help her out, Timmy and Leah spent the night last night along with Mimi to help out.  The kids had a great time playing in the playroom and then watching a movie.  I was happy to see that they go along so well. 

The boys putting puzzles together

Leah colored after putting her own puzzles together

The next morning after breakfast of four pancakes each, we headed to the zoo.  I thought we might be there 2 hours or so but ended up being there over 4 hours.  Despite the on and off rain and humidity that followed, we all had a good time.  The exhibits were great as usual but the landscape was especially gorgeous.  I don't know if it's because of the rain in the last week that made the landscaping stick out but it was beautiful wherever we turned. 

Collin wanted to be the leader and show us where to go.  We stopped at the reptile center first before seeing the Meerkats, Elephants, Bears, Tigers, Giraffe, etc.  He was a really good guide for us.  The kids listened and were really well-behaved for the most part. When we stopped at the small gift shop in the back to cool down, Leah had a little meltdown.  I was surprised she was the only one. They all really liked watching the Chimpanzees and the monkeys.  The boys like the reptiles better than Leah.  She was bored quickly walking around the reptile house.  We had to stop at the sea lions on the way in and then the way out.  All of the animals were really active this morning instead of hiding because of the rain. 

In the Reptile House looking at mice

Stopped to play on the lady bugs

Leah and Timmy not fighting.  It does happen.

Collin not getting his way

Checking out the elephants who were loving the attention

This little guy was really posing for us.  It seemed like he knew what he was doing.

Leah trying to find the Leopard

Collin found it!

Leah was worried about the Leopard biting her

Great way to get a breeze on this humid day.  It poured while they rode.  Great timing!

"What are they doing?"  Glad nothing sexual that I would not want to explain.

Playing on the drums near the African Safari habitat

Me, Collin and Leah.  They are soaked because they rain through the water in the rain forest. 

Swim Team Party

Tonight was the swim team party and awards.  Collin got an trophy for being on the team but did not win the special awards for each age group:  Team Spirit, Most Improved and .... not sure what the other one was. 

While walking back to the car, we talked about the trophy and noticed that it looked like the person on the trophy did not look like a swimmer but, instead, like someone squatting to take a poop.  This cracked him up so much that he could barely walk back to the car. 

When we got home, he was excited to add this trophy to his growing collection.  "Now I have 10 trophies!"  He proudly put this new trophy next to the other ones in his redesigned room.  He does still hang out in there more than he did before.  After putting the trophy away, he and I kick the tiny soccer ball back and forth while Mimi watched and talked to us.  She came to the awards and is spending the night to help me while Daddy is out of town....and to be with us.  We have not seen her as much lately so it was nice to have her all to ourselves.

Boys and Frogs

Because it has rained so much in the last two days, there are tiny little frogs in our front yard.  Collin found one and wanted to bring it in the house to keep as a pet.  He put it in the butterfly container we have and then ran to the refrigerator to get so lettuce for the frog.  The little piece of lettuce was still 3 times as big as the frog.  I explained to Collin that I doubt frogs eat lettuce especially if it's big enough to squash it.  He said that he learned during his nature camp two weeks ago that worms eat lettuce so frogs must too.  Poor, tiny frog was captured and already in the butterfly container so I thought there was not any harm in seeing what the frog did with the lettuce.

That evening, we had the last swim meet that I posted about previously.  During the Meet, the kids found the same type of frogs and wanted to play with them.  One boy squished a frog between his fingers.  Collin did not like that the boy did that.  However, he did want a frog to hold and take home.  I said he needed to concentrate on the swim meet and not worry about the frogs.  Plus, I was not going to hold the frog while he swam so he was going to lose it anyway.

After the Meet was over while walking back to our car, he found a frog.  I pleaded with him to leave it but he wanted to take it home.  We had a used soft drink cup and lid in the car which is where the frog stayed on the way home.  While on the way home, I explained that this frog did not want to live in the cup or the butterfly container at home.  He really needed to be outside.  Frogs don't eat lettuce either.  "Do you see lettuce outside for frogs to eat?  What do we have at home for frogs to eat?"  I told him that he could keep the frog but it would likely not be alive when he woke up in the morning OR he could let the frog go in the yard and we could watch it happily hop away to find food and new friends.  He was torn between these choices and started to cry a little.  I thought he might be faking until I saw real tears.  I asked him why he was crying and he said, "I want to keep the frog but I don't want him to die.  I guess I need to let him go but I can't to it."  I told him I would help him and said that he made a really good decision.  We knelt down in the grass, took of the lid and turned the cup on it's side in the grass.  The frog eventually hopped out, stopped to look around and hopped away.  That's when the tears REALLY started to flow.  He was so sad that the frog was gone and he did not get to keep him.  That is my sweet, loving little boy.  I knew some of this was because it was past 8pm after a long day of camp and a swim meet but also knew that my kind-hearted little boy just made a tough decision.

When we went inside, he saw that the other frog he captured just 3 hours before was dead.  That made him feel better about letting the other frog go...but now he was sad that the first frog was dead.  Hard lessons to learn but all part of growing up.  I guess I will have to see what he does when he finds his next frog.  There is rain in the forecast for the next two days.....

Last Swim Meet

Tonight was the last swim meet of the season.  Collin was actually said that this was the last one and I was surprised.  He made the best of it by enjoying playing with his friends on the team while waiting to race.  We were not sure if we were even going to have a Meet today because of all the rain.  It cleared up about an hour before we needed to be there and did not rain at all during the Meet. 

Collin's results were:

Mixed Medley, Heat #3 - 6th.  He said he thought he swam fast and was 2nd.  He did make up time for the other team mates and touched the wall 2nd but he was not the last swimmer in the medley in his lane.

Free style, Heat #3 - 2nd.  Based on the video I took below, it was REALLY close.  I thought Collin got first and so did he.  I was not upset about this by the time we walked back to his chair to wait for the next race.

Back stroke, Heat #1 - 5th.  He was last off the wall again.  We talked about this before to not look at the other swimmers and push off when he hears the horn.  He has a habit now that is hard for him to break.  He also swam more crocked than he usually does which make him hit the rope. 

His main priority tonight was to eat and play games.  Just like a boy!

Here he his during the free style race.  He is the swimmer in the lane at the bottom of the video.

Here he his during the back stroke race. He is the swimmer in the lane at the bottom of the video.

First Sleepover Birthday party

Collin had his first sleepover birthday party at a friend's house.  While he has spent the night with friends MANY times, he has never spent the night with several kids at the same time AND for a birthday party. When I was packing him up for the party, I said we needed to pack a sleeping bag.  He wanted to know what a sleeping bag was.  I pulled out my sleeping bag from when I was in Girl Scouts.  It's in great condition for being an antique so I thought it would be fine for Collin to use at the party.  Daddy had to make fun of it because of the mustard color fabric inside and the orange and blue on the outside.  Collin was so excited about using it that he had to test it out in the living room using using Monkey and Puppy along with his Star Wars pillow.  He looked so tiny in it.  Looking at him brought back so many memories of camping when I was younger.  Oh....sorry....on with the story.

We dropped him off at Jacob's house around 6pm.  They were planning to walk to the neighborhood pool to swim and have pizza.  After swimming, they came back to the house, changed into their PJs and then got into their sleeping bags to watch a movie.  After the Lego movie, Collin was the only one awake, so Miss Susan put on another movie for him.  He lasted until 10:30pm which is around the time he has been going to sleep while I was on medical leave this last month.  He was probably also the last one asleep because Daddy told him that he could not be one of the first ones asleep because the other kids could mess with him.  He asked what they might do and Daddy gave some examples.  After that, I knew he would try his hardest to not fall asleep first.

Collin is on the top left next to the chair in the sleeping bag with the orange stripe

The next day, the kids had either pancakes or waffles for breakfast. Collin said he had waffles.  Then, they played video games until their parents picked him up.  Collin was the last to be picked up because we had a bike ride this morning for Team Wonder Woman.

Collin is on the couch second from the top.  The birthday boy is standing playing the game.

Collin said he had a great time at the party and wanted to do this for his birthday.  He has been saying the same thing after the last several birthday parties we have been to because he knows his birthday is coming up. 

Knowing that he is still in a Pull Up at night, I asked if anyone noticed.  He said no one did.  "Because we all had the same boy parts, we changed in the same room.  I put my Pull Up in my PJ pants and then pulled them on.  No one saw."  What a smart kid and great idea!
After picking him up, we ran an errand, came home to rest before going to the neighborhood pool, coming back to swim a little in our pool and then play some kid golf outside.  On our way to Grandma H's house at 6:45pm, Collin fell asleep...and stayed asleep the rest of the night. 

He starts Museum Camp tomorrow with a friend, Ford, for the week.

Alone?

After a great evening of swim practice followed by 1 1/2 hours of swimming at the pool with several different friends, Collin and I were walking to the car when he asked, "Are my friends always going to ask me if I am alone?"  I asked him what he meant by that and he said, "they ask me if I have a brother or sister.  When I say "no", they ask me if I like being alone.  I tell them I am not alone because I have Burke."  I was initially sad hearing the first part of the conversation because he will have this question asked throughout his childhood as long as he is an only child.  However, I do love that he did not let the question get him and considers Burke not just a dog, but a brother.

Swim Meet #3

We are getting the hang of these swim meets now.  Packing is quick and I actually look forward to the "down" time relaxing, watching Collin play with his friends and talk to Daddy between the heats.

This time, Collin got 3rd for the Mixed Medley.  He got 4th for Freestyle only because one of the kid's did a false start so Collin did not jump in.  The guard never called it so the race was on and Collin jumped in last.  He caught up but came in 4th instead of likely 2nd or 3rd.  He did really good on the Back Stroke but was not awarded the ribbon he earned.  He should have gotten 3rd but was given 5th place because the lane judge was not paying attention.  Daddy tried to make this right but no one else saw it, even both sets of side judges.  Even one of Collin's buddies came over to ask where his 3rd place ribbon was.  Fortunately Collin did not care.  We were winning the Meet so we did not need the 3rd place points that Collin really did earn for the team so we did not push it further.

Lining up to get ready for the first race

Googles on!

Collin getting ready for individual Freestyle

Lining up for individual races

Collin after he finished Freestyle



Receiving his 5th place (but should have been 3rd)

Best Buddies - Brody and Collin

Back stroke time!

Collin's New Room

While I was on leave, I wanted to make sure that we fixed up Collin's room.  Here is what it looked like before.  Not bad but just "blah" in my opinion.

 

Collin and I talked about his room a few months back and he really liked a soccer theme wall sticker I found.  I showed him this again recently and he still really liked it...so I ordered it.  I had his walls painted a blue that he picked out.  Also, he needed something to display his trophies he has started to accumulate and now the ribbons from swimming, the running/race bib numbers and awards.  I had an armoire we used in his other room before we remodeled that was perfect for this so we moved it into his room and the small shelf out.

Here is a work in progress but a good idea of where we are headed.  He spent most of the afternoon in his room shooting goals at the wall or laying on his bed watching a movie.  That shows me that he likes his room enough to be in it other than to sleep.  I still need to hang some pictures back on the walls but these are too heavy right now (I am not supposed to lift over 8 lbs after my surgery for another 3-4 weeks). 

See how the armoire is great for his books and trophies.  The middle section is where he has his dinosaurs right now.  To the right, I will have a wall plaque to hang his ribbons, race bibs and medals.

Tada!  Look at that cool soccer goal and soccer player.  This is his favorite part of his room.

 

Here he is shooting a goal.  He is saying GOOOAAALLL when the ball hits the wall like they do on TV.

 



Fun at the Sanctuary and Pool

Collin had a friend, Jacob, over for 4 hours today.  What to do with two active boys for that long on a hot day?  We walked over to the bird sanctuary to walk around for an hour.  Now that Collin had day camp there this past week, he is more interested in the plants and things to see.  He had fun showing Jacob and I the different trails.  His favorite one is the Bumpy trail which is appropriately names because of all of the steps and dips along the trial.  He showed us the zip line that they got to use on the last day of camp.  This is new.  The zip line was locked up because the counselors were not available to watch the kids for safety reasons.  The boys had fun climbing around anyway.

They had the most fun fishing for tadpoles in the small pond.  There were nets and buckets available for them to use because there was a birthday party going on.  We snuck in and used the nets while the birthday party kids were walking around the trails.  The boys did get kicked out for just a short period of time and came back.  While we were waiting to use the nets again, we saw a large toad and a water snake.  The boys were scared of the snake, I don't blame them, so we did not hang out long looking at it.

Searching for just the right tadpole

Here are a few of the ones they caught before we had to take a break

At the end of the Bumpy Trail

When we came back to the pond, Jacob immediately caught the biggest tadpole

I thought these were interesting.  Not sure what these are.  Anyone?

On the zip line tower.  Jacob was really fond of his butt this morning.  This was not the first time I saw this pose today.

After exploring at the bird sanctuary, we came back home to pack lunches and head to the neighborhood pool.  Since we are members now because of swim team, we might as well use it.  When we arrived, Collin was excited to see that a friend from Kindergarten and some sports teams, Lorenzo, was there with his family.  Between sliding down the slide, jumping off the diving board and shooting water guns at each other, the boys had a great time.  They did take a break during Adult Swim ("why do only adults get to swim?") to eat lunch and rest before playing more.  We were there over two hours.  They did not want to leave when it was time to get home so Jacob's mom could pick him up. 

Here is Collin jumping off the diving board:

After resting for two hours, Collin went to a birthday party while Mommy rested from the busy morning/afternoon.  I am so thankful for friends that help us out like this. 

Swim Meet #2

We are pros now with this Swim Meet thing now that we know what to expect and what to bring.  Besides being stinkin' not, it was a nice evening for a Meet.  This time, I packed sandwiches, drinks, snacks, blankets, electronics for Collin to play with and chairs for us.  This was SO much better than the last time.

As with the order of the last Meet, the Mixed Medley heat was first.  Collin swam with faster team mates, so he got 2nd this time instead of 6th.  He was really happy about this.  For freestyle, he got 3rd.  He swam more straight and breathed consistently.  He also did not stop to look and see where he was in the lane.  Much better than the last meet.  For the back stroke, he was moved up to the fast group and got 4th.  He was not happy about this and threw the ribbon at Daddy.  He was expecting 1st but did not know that the was moved up to the fastest group.  We explained that to him and he felt a little better about this. 

After walking back from one of the races back to where the 6 & Under Boys were sitting, he told me we need to start bringing band aids because he stubbed his toe, again.  This time, it was his other toe. Thank goodness this was after the last race because he was being a little dramatic after it happened.  Fortunately, I still could not pick him up due to my recent surgery, so he had to walk. 

Overall, I think he is having a good time on the swim team.

This is just 1/2 of the team getting ready for the Meet

One of Collin's buddies showing off his barracuda

Cuda Cheer before the Meet starts

Lined up for the Mixed Medley

This is Collin's version of a dive

Collin during the Mixed Medley

New way to show off his swim ribbon

That's a good lookin' boy!

The 6U boys playing games while waiting for their turn to race again

Mimi showed up and Collin was so happy to see her

Collin getting ready for the back stroke

Back stroke

Collin pushed of great and is off to a good start

First Swim Meet

Yesterday was Collin's first swim meet.  It was also Daddy and my first swim meet.  Neither of us was on the swim team growing up nor had friends on the swim team so we did not know what to expect.  It was like camping but not spending the night. People were EVERYWHERE sitting in folding chairs or standing.  The kids were playing electronic games while waiting for their turn or "heat".  We were there from 5pm until 9pm.  Wow, not what we expected.  We will plan better for next time...especially bringing Mommy more food.  What was also interesting was how the kids were marked for the races.  They all had their names written on their backs.  Some groups even included on the kid's arms which heats and lanes they were in.  Even other groups included "Eat my bubbles" and other saying on their arms or backs.  Our "Cuda Keeper" was not as creative which was fine with me.  Someone was going to have to talk all of that marker/writing off later.

Collin's first heat for the Barracudas was a mixed relay with his age group.  His team included two 5 year olds so we were not too surprised when they finished last or 6th place.  He did NOT like that.  "I was last!" and then he went and cried a little on Daddy's chair after throwing his ribbon on the ground.  He got over it and started playing games with his friends again while waiting for the individual heats.  Daddy and I got in a lot of quality time too while waiting so it was really hard to complain about how much time we were spending there (other than Daddy needed to get back to work and to see Grandma H who was still in the hospital).

I did ask Collin about his first race and how he thought he did after he calmed down a little.  I could tell by what he talked about that he was really nervous because he did not know what to expect (that's just like I would have been). It did not help that one of the other swimmers had a false start so they all had to swim back to start over after they had already swam half the length of the pool.  Now he know what the yellow rope across the pool means. 

Collin playing games on my iPhone

Guess who this is

I love this picture of Daddy and Collin before his first race

The 6 and Under Boys

Collin is in Lane 2 (start from the left)

He is the swimmer with his arm in the air

After waiting for 45 minutes, Collin's next heat was freestyle.  He started in lane 2 again.  We found out that the kids swimming in lanes 3 and 4 are the fastest so Collin swimming in lane 2 meant that this was not his strongest.  His start could use some work because he jumped in instead of diving which put him back a little.  He came in 5th and was happy he was not in 6th.  Improvement already.  :)

Look at that smile!

For the last heat he was in, he swam Backstroke and was in the 4th lane.  That meant this was his strongest and the Coach thought he could win 1st place.  Collin had the best push off and was swimming strong.  He was 2nd until he kept on pushing hard.  It was close with the swimmer in Lane 3.  If Collin did not look over at the swimmer in Lane 3 he would have gotten 1st place.  He got 2nd place instead and was supper excited about that.  He did not know the color of the ribbons and asked, "What place is this?" when the Lane Keeper handed him a red ribbon.  Now, the 6th place ribbon was not bad and he loved holding all of them. 

Collin is in the 2nd lane from the bottom

Beckett, Brody, Collin, August, Ali, Conner and Davis

We had a great time.  Collin was hungry when we got home.  He would have eaten while at the Meet but he was too busy playing with friends.  At least we know what to expect for the next Meet this Thursday.