Swim Lessons

 Despite buying a pool for the backyard this summer, Ryan made little progress in learning to swim. One problem was that our pool was not deep enough for him to really learn--the water hit him at his waist/chest, but he could still touch.  Whenever we would attempt to teach him anything, including floating on his back, moving his arms or legs appropriately or putting his face in the water and blowing bubbles, he had a complete melt-down.   When we pushed the issue, he would just decide he didn't want to swim for days after that.  We knew it was time to resume swim lessons.   Our YMCA lessons have made a BIG impact on him in a short amount of time!

 Ryan's first lesson was definitely baptism by fire.  At first he refused to get in the pool.  I had to put my stern voice on before he finally got in.  That first lesson his teachers played "Ring-around-the Rossie," where on "all fall down," everyone gets submerged for a second or two.  Ryan's response during this activity was panic, yelling, "Oh no! Oh no!Oh NO!" But he did have the sense to stop yelling and hold his nose just before getting dunked.

But now, only a month later, swim lessons are his absolute FAVORITE activity.   They have him jumping into the deep end off the diving block.   He is blowing bubbles, pushing off, volunarily submerging his head in the water, practicing correct strokes and making his way across the pool on a kickboard.  Needless to say, I am VERY happy with this progress!

As an added bonus, free swim hours are at the same time as Ryan's lessons.  Recently Josh has been able to take this time to play with Dylan in the water.  Dylan enjoys being a "jumping bean" off the side of the pool, dropping swim rings and making Josh pick them up, and kicking on his front and back.  Meanwhile, I get to sit back, relax and read a book for half an hour!

Aw, Bats

A few weeks ago, while my husband was grilling on a breezy fall night, about a week before Halloween, he called me outside.  "Listen to that," he commanded with a grin on his face.  I heard a shrill noise coming from somewhere on our porch. "Is that..." 

"Bats..." he finished, pointing with a stick to a dark gap between a false chimney and the point where our porch roof met.  Standing at the base of the chimney, Josh shone a flashlight up into the dark and we could see them--three bats. Two adults and a pup. "What a cute little bat family" Josh said winking at me.

This happens to be a commonly used and favorite spot for many of us in our family, and thus a very bad spot for bats to be residing above and pooping on.  Incidently, this false chimney stands right next to our back door. The spot by the chimney also happens to be Esteban's favorite spot to lay when he is chilling out in the backyard. It is my favorite place to keep the outdoor toys (bikes and sand/water table) because it is the most sheltered from the elements-which is most likely why our bat friends also chose that spot as their new home. 

I knew they were going to have to go.  I felt bad. I really did.  I think bats are really neat creatures.  I appreciate that they eat bugs and I sort of relate to them being as we are both mammals. I can appreciate the need for a nice dry warm place to shelter from wind, rain and cold-especially with a pup.  I felt bad about turning them out being as the days were getting chillier and wetter, but unfortunately bats also carry diseases which I want no part of. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Bats can carry and transmit Histoplasmosis, Hemorraghic fevers, and of course Rabies.  With two dogs and two kids, these bats were just too close for comfort.  In addition, according to my research, when bats move in-they move in to stay long-term, adding to their colony throughout the years.  Mother bats have on average one to two pups a year.  

I looked at my husbands grinning face.  He clearly thought having bats was really cool.  We showed the kids the three bats curled up in their dark little hole, and then I told him, "OK, that was neat.  We gotta get rid of them. "  This earned me the nick-name "Hitler," for the next several days (which I feel was sortof unncessary. I didn't want to kill them, they just needed to live somewhere else).  Josh's initial plan was to spray them out with the hose.  Eventually a wet, cold and unhappy looking Daddy bat crawled out clinging to the brick and chirping.  Josh reminded me that removing them was my idea and looked at me so accusingly, I told him to stop.  I booked a Bat removal guy the next day.  Bats are protected in our state and it is unlawful to kill them--which is fine! I wished no harm on this bat family. I just wanted them to leave.  When Josh found out I was planning to pay money to remove the bats, he asked me to cancel the guy and told me he could get rid of them.  He bought some insulating foam at the hardware store, waited until the bats had left for evening hunting and sprayed the foam in the crevice between the chimney and roof.  It puffed up and hardened.  There was no way they were getting back in.   Problem solved! I do hope they find a new better place to live though. 

Tranquil Rainy Days

Not only was it spitting rain, it was cold enough to turn on the heat for the first time.  In the past, I would dread days like these.  On this particular day of the week, I used to drive around all day which meant I would be wet and cold all day and arrive home wet and cold.  But I don't dread these days anymore.

We started off with some hot cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast with some hot cocoa.  Then in the cheery warmth of candles and heat did our lessons.  At lunchtime, seeing no improvement in the weather, I decided a hot lunch was in order as well....comfort food- grilled cheese, carrots and dip and tomato soup.

After cleaning up lunch, we laid out newspaper on the table, put on some favorite tunes and began painting.  We used corks today to make some truly beautiful fall trees.  Dylan really enjoyed this and yelled "Dot! Dot!" after each dab.  Ryan also painted some suncatchers--but I was a little too afraid of Dylan getting this on his clothes, so he and I did stamps instead.  It was a truly fun "bad weather" day, rounded off with delving into our giant bag of books from the library.

Fighting?

 Fighting definitely happens between brothers-- even the best of brothers every once in a while.  I am happy to report that usually it's not my oldest who starts said fights, but the youngest, who doesn't really know better yet (but who is well on his way to knowing better).  But sometimes two brothers just need some good old fashioned play-fighting.

Predictably, the youngest started it--while his nemesis was laid low on the ground none-the-less.  I asked him what he thought he was doing.

Mid swipe, he cheerfully responded that he was "fighting" while  Ryan deployed defensive blocks and attempted to bring Dylan down.

It's pretty amazing that while Dylan is smaller and more wiry, he holds his own pretty well (it does help that Ryan is a good big brother and is usually pretty gentle).

For a few seconds it looked like Ryan would be the victor this time. 

But something happened....I'm not quite sure how....it happened so fast....But Dylan was up and Ryan was the one on the ground. 

After that with both of them giggling this little play fight was over and they went off to play something else.  Boys are so much fun. 

Zoo-Boo

Well, it's "that" time of year again-time for halloween and zoo fun! My kids love the zoo and we like how family oriented the zoo-boo activities are. The kids dress up in their costumes and trick-or-treat around the zoo, while still enjoying the animals.

We were blessed to have Aunt Alicia join us for zoo-boo again this year.  I had hoped to continue dressing the kids in themed costumes (for example last year Ryan was batman and Dylan was Robin).  It just didn't work out this year.  Ryan wanted to be a knight and Dylan picked out a Mike Wazouski costume (this kid loves Monsters Inc.)  

 Ryan and Dylan both loved this fog machine which produced bubbles which when popped burst into a puff of smoke.

We had packed a picnic lunch, which we sat down to eat 3/4ths of the way through the zoo.  At that point it started to rain.  We decided we had enough of the zoo for the day and went home to warm up with some pop-corn, blankets and a family movie.

Changes in the kids

 Fall is full blown these days.  The change between seasons is so beautiful.  Like the changing seasons, I continue to be amazed at the small changes in the boys also.  Dylan has graduated from the baby swing to being able to sit in the big swing while being pushed.

 Ryan has been practicing and practicing for months, but just recently he discovered he can go across the monkey bars all by himself!  

 Dylan has been hanging off of playground items for ages.  He is just getting more daring--hanging and swinging higher and higher up.  My little monkey. 

Pumpkin Patch

 

The minute rounded the bend, arriving at the farm, my husband groaned loudly and announced he wanted to leave immediately.  We had glimpsed three cars ahead of us, being directed by a staff-member into a field we had henceforth never parked in.  We had never parked in this lot because we had never been to this farm when it was busy....ever. We had also never had to wait in a line three cars long to wait to park...ever.  So, right away, my husband wanted to leave.  But my husband also loves me very much and knew me well enough enough to know that leaving at that point simply was not an option (not to mention the two excited kids and one teenager in the backseat).  Besides, we had already driven 40+ minutes to get there, so busy or not, we were staying to pick pumpkins. 

The first thing we did was see the haunted boo-barn.   Ryan was very impressed with the scenes of witches, ghosts and ghouls and no one was a bit scared.   Secondly, we looked at all the cute farm animals: calf, ducklings and pig.  Dylan finally met his hero and legend: Ole' McDonald. 

This place had an enormous pumpkin-head movie/nursery-rhyme display.  It was fun to challenge the kid (and teenager) to guess what characters were depicted.  

We gave them this one for free since they have never seen this movie.  Can you guess what movie this is from? 

From there we stood in an enormous line to hitch a ride up to the pumpkin patch.   We saw a few ghosts and ghouls and a few pilgrims and Indians along the way. 

Ryan was determined to pick the "BIGGEST PUMPKIN" ever.  Fearing that he would pick one that would be a HUGE pain to carry back to the wagon we added one stipulation--he had to be able to carry it himself.  He took his time.  Carefully, he searched far and wide through the field for the perfect one.   He finally came to us with this beauty: 

He carried that sucker back to the wagon ALL by HIMSELF.  Dylan, taking his cue from his big brother attempted to drag pumpkins as big as himself, but he broke his pumpkin's stem, making it a lot harder to drag.

It was so busy and so crowded that three wagons passed us by before we were able to get on one to take us back down to the festival.  That is an awfully long time for a little boy holding a heavy pumpkin.  It's a good thing big pumpkins also make good seats.

  After all that work, we were all a little hot and thirsty and hungry.  So, we treated the kids to some candy apples, kettle corn and a special soda.

Since it is a festival, there was no shortage of fun, over-stimulating things for young children to enjoy.  One of Ryan's favorite activities was a giant tube slide made extremely slippery by sitting on a burlap sack.

One of Dylan's favorite activities was using a water-pump to made rubber duck's swim.

We had brought my husband's sister Cassie with us, and I'm not sure what her favorite activity was, although if I had to take a guess, I would imagine it was the quality sibling bonding time with her brother.