Soccer 2011

Soccer has sort of come and gone this year without any fun.  And technically, it isn't even over yet.  We've just had a wet Fall and the field has been muddy so a lot of games and practices have been cancelled.  I spoke to the people in charge in August and requested that Princess Sparkley (9) and Buddy (7) both be put on the 7-8 team since PS just turned 9 a couple of weeks before soccer started, and it would be much easier to have them both on the same team.  They both loved and hated this idea. 

On soccer picture day the kids just showed up to get their pictures taken and then went home.  B had the kids that day while I was at Souper Saturday at church so we took them to a park and kicked the ball around with them and let them play on the playground.

Sunday Evening Walk

Stream

Another bike ride, but this time the dry stream bed had water in it and B, the little 3 1/2 year old son of our friends LOVES puddles so we spent a lot of time in the stream.

Bike Trail

We found a fun bike/walk trail in town and invited some friends to join us on our first adventure on it.

 Buddy and Little Guy were on bikes and Princess Sparkley was on her scooter.  It was a great trail with ponds and playgrounds every once in awhile to give us a break from bike riding.

And we saw some geese and goslings as well as a great blue heron (bottom left corner picture). 

1.64 miles

At the Park

It was such a nice day, and the kids wanted to be outside, so we broke down and let them go play at a park in town. 

Belle Isle - Richmond, VA

We went to visit family in Richmond for Superbowl weekend. My sister-in-law always has plans for fun things we can do. We got there Saturday afternoon in time to see the end of cousin S's basketball game (he informed us after the game that it was his team's first loss of the season). The rain that was supposed to stop early in the morning and not start up again until night didn't stop... so our plans of exploring Belle Isle Park on the James River were thwarted.

My sister-in-law took a nap, leaving the activity planning to those less creative and we ended up at Sam's Club because as B said, "It was the only suggestion they had unanimous agreement on (all five kids didn't want to do it)." Really, we tried like five other ideas first:
1. a movie - no good kid movies playing
2. Jumpin Jacks (a sort of bounce house)- only half the kids were on board, and one kid didn't have socks, which is a requirement
3. Chuck E. Cheese (which, much to my pleasure, had an enormous line coming out the door of the "restaurant."
4. a candy shop downtown (wanted to go with sister-in-law)
5. I don't remember anymore, but there were more ideas.


See, even Sam's Club can be fun.

Sunday, after church the weather was nice so we decided to finally explore Belle Isle. Before the Super Bowl, of course.

Downtown Richmond.
Little Guy as Darth Vader.
The second LG picture is him giving us his bad guy "look."
The pedestrian bridge.
Brick wall left from Belle Isle's past as a prison for Union soldiers during the Civil War or before that when it was a village with a nail factory.
B and LG.
A lavender dog.
Yep, a lavender dog. My brother-in-law works downtown and sees this lady and her dog all the time. He's not sure what she's doing, but she does pass out business cards. The kids all wanted to pet it. I think Princess Sparkley chickened out but Little Guy, Buddy and the cousins did. I love this picture because just as I took it LG left the back of the dog (you can just see him behind Buddy) where he'd been petting its' bum to walk around to his face where he bent over a little and greeted the dog. It was like he was trying to be polite and proper.




Rocks and water. The kids had a lot of fun here. There were some places where we had to keep them close because the drops were far but mostly they (except Little Guy) were free to roam.


B and Little Guy wandered off together and then I spotted them climbing this enormous rock. Only two kids got wet on this adventure, PS trying to jump across a stream that was a little too far for her. And Little Guy on this rock. B had to boost him up there first and demand that he sit in one spot (or possibly fall to his death... I don't know, I never got close enough to see what was on the other side). Then B had to jump up there himself, which took him a couple of times to give you an idea of how high this was. After LG got up there he started to move and B yelled at him to sit right then. And he did. On a little puddle. At least he's obedient. Although he had to be told twice.

Snow Day! And Sledding!

The snow stopped late Wednesday night and so Thursday morning B and I joined the kids outside. We shoveled, they played.



It was a warm day, so the slow was slushy but the bottom layer was those sleet balls I took pictures on an earlier post, so shoveling was a pain. Keep in mind also that the sidewalks were shoveled at least three times already by the time we came out to play. And there's about two inches of snow on them.


Since it was such a nice day and the roads were clear, we ventured out in the car in search of a park with a sledding hill. There are a few we know of in town, but we didn't want crowds. I remembered I park I'd been too before that has sort of an elevated soccer field. I guess, more accurately, the soccer field was leveled off to create a flat field and so two sides of it are hill. It was perfect. We had to park at a nearby shopping center (because the parking lot for the park hadn't been plowed, and the gates were closed) and trek to the park in probably 8 inches of snow with just a couple other sets of foot prints in it. But it was worth it. The hills were little enough for our kids, but big enough for them to love it. And there was just another group of older kids off across the field leaving us alone.


You can see in the bottom left picture how deep my foot is in the snow. 8 inches. Maybe.



So handsome.


So excited.


Pretty and colorful.


While sledding, Buddy kept saying variations of "[Buddy Mileposts] the world's most fantastic awesome sledder!"


Lots of videos... I figured the grandparents and cousins might like to see some of them.

Buddy was thrilled with this sledding hill with a jump/bump that someone else made and he discovered.


Little Guy getting a push from Dad.



Princess Sparkley goes down the hill with the jump.


Little Guy. Then PS and Buddy.



Mom and Little Guy go down a hill together next to Princess Sparkley. Then the camera pans over to Buddy going down the hill with the jump. The best parts are PS's scream and the end of the video when Buddy has his legs straight up in the air.



PS and LG go down together.



Buddy.




I went down the hill with a jump (twice, the first time really hurt but B didn't get it on film and made me go a second time). Ow.


Little Guy goes down the jump, then Princess Sparkley tumbles at the end of her slide.


Three more videos to come... it's just taking forever.

Cousin Weekend

I drove the kids down to see a play that our Richmond cousins were in at the end of their week of drama camp. We left B at home to study for his two big exams he has coming up this month for grad school.


Little Guy, "playing" Wii right along with the big kids. They were ALL lined up but by the time I got my camera, the line had disintegrated somewhat.


Uncle G was nice and gave Little Guy his own controls (that weren't plugged in or doing anything). He tucked one under each arm and waved it at the tv just like the big kids.

The county was having a kid pirate day at the park, so we got everyone dressed up and headed over. There was face painting, a "walk the plank" dunking booth, face paint, air brush tattoos, a pirate ship slide/jump, and treasure hunts.



You had to do the first three treasure hunts (letterbox style) in order to get the clues for the final treasure hunt. We did the first three and got lost trying to do the final one. "Lost" turned out to be the playground right where we parked so Aunt H promised them all a treasure of ice cream from Ray's and we went on our way.


cousin G


Princess Sparkley and Little Guy teeter-tottering






At Ray's, cousin G and PS both decided to get Death by Chocolate. PS made a bit of a mess!

Clemyjontri Park, McLean, VA

I took the kids to this awesome park last week.

Saturday Was a Busy Day

Our Saturday was busy. We started off at a baptism for I, a boy in Princess Sparkley's Primary class who we hear a lot about because he's so funny, etc., etc.

We changed into picnic clothes at the church and headed to a ward/Primary picnic followed by a concert by the Mormon Choir of Washington DC.

At the picnic, there was a "potato" sack race. B and the kids participated.


B is on the far right.





Buddy is the second kid from the left, PS is next to him talking to her friend A.

Burke Lake Park

B's sister called us up earlier in the week saying they had a free Saturday, did we want to go down to them, or could they come up to us. Since Buddy had the later T-ball game (not getting over until lunch time), they came up. They were very nice and took us to lunch and then we headed to Burke Lake Park. We'd never been before, but they'd been once with our brother-in-law's family when their kids were babies.

The park has a train, a carousel, a playground, a lake, a ice cream parlor, a disc golf and mini golf course, and more. Uncle G was super nice and bought us all tickets for the train ride and the carousel.


Little Guy was THRILLED.




Buddy was also THRILLED. Notice PS's crazy face in the background.


Cousin G and Cousin S.




The lake. Cousin G was excited to get in the water and PS was right behind her. Buddy wandered in a little ways.










Little Guy wanted to go in the water too, but was wearing Nikes with socks. He was content to throw sticks in.


Cousin G and PS. Cousin S was too far away for me to see while still holding on to Little Guy and his horse.


This might have been Little Guy's first carousel. He liked it a lot for the first few times around... but then it kept on going. He'd say "horse up and down."


Buddy named his horse White Chocolate Chip.


The Carousel went around about 20 times too many. And I was the only adult brave enough to go on it. Bleh.

Nature Center and Plants

Monday, April 12th we went with some of members from our northern Virginia homeschool group to a nature center to have a talk/walk about plants. This fit in nicely with the plant unit we've just started for science. We didn't actually know any of the people* in this smaller group, one mom planned the fieldtrip and invited anyone in the larger group who was interested to come along. Our homeschool group is for LDS homeschoolers in all of northern Virginia, so they were all from a city further away that I've barely heard of. One of the moms set it up for us to take this tour at the Ellanor C. Lawrence Park.


More Bluebells. Our park ranger told us they only bloom in the shady wet places near a stream or creek and are only out for a few weeks.


This park used to be a farm so the trees are only 80-90 years old. One of the trees, our guide pointed out to us, had a poison ivy vine wrapped around it that she guessed was 80-90 years old as well. It was 3-4 inches in diameter. Yikes.


The group of kids (or some of them) under a Dogwood tree (Virginia's state tree and flower). Buddy and Princes Sparkley are on the far right.


Just my three under the Dogwood tree with the Walney Learning Center in the background.


My boys.

*We'd been there about five minutes when the mom who planned it asked if my daughter knew some of the other kids. I looked over and saw that Princess Sparkley had already found the other girl about her age and they were BFF going around the nature center looking at turtles** and fish together.

**Two of the little turtles were out of the water, one using the other as a stepping stool for his front legs as they sunned on a rock in the lamp's light. Baby X told me "Two turtles. Two turtles cuddling."