lucky 13

13 years ago today it was a hot day much like today is supposed to be.  In an un-airconditioned church.  

But I was one happy girl.

We celebrated yesterday ( a day early ) with a kid-less afternoon together.  We played miniature golf, went out to lunch, took our first trip to the North Market, tasted our first Jeni's ice cream (which was amazing and so different!) and took our first "selfie."  It was a great day (though very hot....not unlike 13 years ago!)

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband.

And now he's going off to leave us for a week, while he climbs the Presidential Range in New Hampshire.  The girls and I are headed up to see Grandma and Grandpa for the week.

camp

This week is Rachel's week at Girl Scout day camp.  She loves it, and has even met a couple of girls who will be at her new school in the fall, which will help with the transition, I'm sure.

It's been rainy the last couple of days, but she doesn't seem to mind much.  She's loved the hiking, creeking, cooking, crafting, you name it.  She loves it.

Rebecca is missing her favorite play mate, though.  She and I went to the zoo on Monday with some friends, which she loved (she's asked me every day since if we can go back today....).   

(Rachel photo bombed Rebecca's picture....Rebecca didn't like it.)

Then they each photo bombed the other, and all was happy again.

catching up

This summer Rachel is playing catch up on some things most kids her age seem to be already able to do.  First was bike riding.  It's now her favorite thing to do, since learning to ride without training wheels.

Next is math facts.  We've been practicing on her fluency, and she's getting a little better, but they're still a struggle for her.  Trying to catch up so that when she starts multiplication in the fall she won't have as much of a struggle.  

And then there's swimming.  

She's always been really afraid of the water.  I've not put her in swim lessons because I felt like it would be a waste of money, since she'd likely cry and/or refuse to do what was being asked of her. But this summer my parents really felt like she should learn, so they said they'd pay for her to take lessons.  So last week they began, Monday-Thursday, for two weeks.  Last week was cool and rainy, and the pool was FREEZING.  She was in level 1 and in order to move up to level 2, she had to go under the water ten times without plugging her nose (they call them "bobs.")   The first day she wouldn't go under at all.  I knew she could do it because when we were at the Great Wolf Lodge she did it over and over.  But this pool was absolutely frigid, so I couldn't really blame her.  The second and third days it was rainy, so the lessons were held in the indoor pool, which was warmer.  She also had a different teacher those days, who seemed to work better with her than the one from the first day.  So she went under a few times inside, but she still plugged her nose.  The fourth day she was back outside in the cold pool, with the teacher who wasnt as good, and didn't go under at all.  She cried that day because it was the end of the first session and she hadn't passed, so she didn't get a sticker for her certificate (you get a sticker to show when you pass a level).  She wanted so badly to do it and to pass.  She hated that she was with little kids, three and four years old, and wasn't learning any real swimming skills.  But she just couldn't seem to overcome her fear.  We practiced in the bathtub at night, and went to the pool a few times in the evenings so she could practice, but nothing seemed to work.  

Yesterday the second session began, and it was more of the same.  She didn't go under.  She was so disappointed in herself.  After swimming yesterday we went to run some errands and she saw a bike at Once Upon a Child that she wanted (it was the next size up from her current bike, which she is outgrowing).  She wanted me to buy it, but i said no, so she asked me to take a picture of it to show Daddy, so I did.  I showed it to him last night and he said, "What if I tell her we'll buy the bike if she passes tomorrow?"  I didn't want to do that--I really hate bribing.  I also said, "What if someone buys it and its not there tomorrow?"  But he was sure it wouldn't make a difference anyway, because she wasn't showing any progress, so he told her.  

So what does she do today??  Ten bobs without plugging her nose!  She passed!!!  

(Coming up out of the water)

She was thrilled (I have a video of it, and her squealing and laughing with glee, and if I ever figure out a way to post it, I will.)  I was so, so proud of her.  And she was so proud of herself, too.

So afterwards we went back to get the bike, and what do you know.....it was gone.  So I spent the afternoon online shopping for bikes.  I found one on Craigslist that was brand new and arranged to get it.  We brought it home tonight, and it's too big for her!  :(  The problem is that she still hasn't learned to take off from a stopped position on her bike--she has to get herself going with her feet on the ground and then puts her feet up on the pedals to start, and with this new bike, only her toes can touch, and she can't get a good start that way.  So until she learns to start from a stationary position, she won't be able to use the new bike.  (I guess that's now one more thing we need to add to the list of things to catch up on!)

 

So that's a bit disappointing, but still, we're so proud that she overcame her fear.  Now she's in level two and learning to float and glide.  She's happy to be learning "real swimming."  

Proud of my girl who is finally learning some big kid stuff and catching up a little to her peers.

by george, she's got it!

For two years Rachel has wanted to ride her bike without training wheels.  Every time we'd try to take them off and teach her, she'd try a couple of times, get frustrated that she couldn't get it, usually cry, and give up.  I've written before that she isn't really determined to do things that don't come easily for her.  That's why I was so thrilled when she worked and worked at the monkey bars last fall.  Unfortunately, she's her mother's daughter, in that she wants to be good at whatever she does, and if she can't do it well, she doesn't want to do it at all.

Meanwhile, pretty much everyone she knows can ride theirs, and she felt babyish, and didn't like it, but wasn't all that determined to change things.  She hardly ever wanted to practice, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to try.

A month or so ago a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook of her son (someone Rachel knows from church, and he's the same age as she is) finally learning to ride his bike.  That got her interested.  She asked me that afternoon to take her out and help her, which I did.  She started asking more and more often.  I looked up online, "How to teach your child to ride a bike," and in a couple different places I saw the suggestion of taking off the pedals and just letting them learn to glide and balance, without worrying about pedaling.  It made sense....I'd heard about balance bikes for several years, which are the same idea.  We just never had one, so she hadn't tried it.

Two days ago we took off the pedals.  She started practicing walking the bike, eventually learning to lift up her feet and glide a little bit.  This morning I started setting goals for her:  Let's see if you can make it to the next mailbox.  Now lets see if you can go two mailboxes.  Now try to get all the way to those garbage cans down there.  She enjoyed the challenge for a change, and caught on quickly.  Within a few minutes she could go quite a ways.  A YouTube video I watched said that the next step was to put the pedals back on and just have them glide with their feet on the pedals.  So I mentioned that we should put her pedals back on.  "Really?"  She asked.  I told her she didn't have to pedal, but just put her feet on the pedals.  "I can't pedal?" She asked.  I told her she could if she wanted to, but didn't have to.  I put them back on, she got on, and tried it.  All of a sudden she started pedaling and went halfway down the street!  She was squealing, and I was yelling with tears in my eyes, "Wow, Rachel!  Great job!  Look at you go!"  I couldn't believe it!  The first try!

She's so proud of herself, and we couldn't be prouder of her.  

birthday recap

Here are the pictures from Rebecca's birthday celebrations.

On Memorial Day (the day before her birthday) we headed up to see our nephew march in the parade in my husband's hometown, and then visit his side of the family for a little while. 

Before the parade

During the parade (she read that whole book while waiting for the parade to start....)--these little popper things (on her nose) were passed out during the parade.  For some reason they decided to put them on their noses.

Rachel and Rebecca's cousin, Ashley, who watched most of the parade with us, took good care of Rebecca.

After visiting with family, we surprised the girls by heading to the Great Wolf Lodge, instead of Grandma's house, which is where they thought we were going.  They were thrilled!

Last time we were there Rachel saw other people playing this scavenger hunt type thing called "MagiQuest" where you point a wand at a bunch of stuff and look for clues and so forth.  She wanted to play it in the worst way, but it was super expensive.  This time we bought a Groupon for our room, which included a credit on our account, which we allowed Rachel to use to play MagiQuest.  She loved it, though she became very obsessed about it (as she does about most things she's excited about....she talks about little else while she's in the midst of the obsession).  She's still talking about it and reading the clue book, over a week later.

 

 

After story time that night, Rebecca wanted to meet the character.  Rachel didn't.

We took pictures the next morning while waiting for the pool to open.

Rebecca did a lot of this....longing for the pool and asking, "Is it open NOW????"  That's what happens when little girls wake up at 6:00 AM and pools don't open until 9:00. 

The next day was Rebecca's birthday. We swam for awhile, then left after lunch to head to Grandma's house to celebrate the birthday girl.

(new flip flops....)

 (both girls got new sleeping bags from Daddy so they can go camping....)

I didn't get many pictures of her opening presents.

After the festivities, Grandpa took both girls for rides on the tractor.   I don't know who thought of it, but once one of them did it, they both had to do it....  I'm sure Grandpa loved it!

It was a fun celebration for our big four year old.

asian festival

A couple of weeks ago we decided to try something new (to us) and visit the Asian Festival here in town.  They kept talking about it on the news, and Rachel loves that kind of stuff (anything having to do with a party, festival, fair, whatever...if it's a celebration, Rachel's in love!) so we tried it.  It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around and looking at everything.

We've had a rather big decision come up this spring, and have decided to send Rachel to a different school next year.  I won't go into all of the specifics right now, but she's both really excited and very nervous about it.  But the reason I write about that here is that we found out that in third grade they study Japan.  So she was excited to go to the Asian festival and learn more about Japan before she's even at the school. 

Both girls enjoyed dressing up in Asian garb (Something involving dress up?  My girls are IN!)

They had a special kids area with different activities they enjoyed.

There were dancing and martial arts demonstrations, and this crazy game, which was a cross between volleyball, soccer, and martial arts. 

It was a fun day.