Let Me Hear an "Opa!"

Every year the local Greek Orthodox church puts on a "Taste of Greece" festival. I'd never gone, but this year they had 7 different bounce houses viewable from the road so my kids begged me to take them. $10/per kid to jump almost made me turn back, but it's a fundraiser, so it's a good cause, right? Anyway, there was really no turning back at that point - my kids had already run off and started jumping while I stood agog in front of the ticket booth. The lady saw my expression and offered to let Christian in for free. I thought she was making a joke to diffuse the tension, like "Well at least the baby's free!" kind of thing. But she was serious! She really expected me to pay $30 for bounce houses but was taking pity on me! I managed a "thank you" for her generosity, took my tickets, and left. But they had a great time. I ended up doing one with them where you are attached to a bungee cord and you run out and stretch it as far as possible before it snaps you back and whoever went farthest wins. I had a great time on that one and Benjamin did it multiple times. Afterwards we went into the main tent area and listened to a wonderful Greek band and watched some really fun Greek dances. Benjamin loved it the most. He absolutely loves music. He sat riveted for 5 songs by the band, commenting on various elements in the music, the unfamiliar language, and the unique instruments. When the dancers performed, Bella moaned, slumped in her seat, and whined, "Can we goooo now?!" I leaned over and asked Benjamin, "Are you bored?" "No! I'm not bored. I want to stay!" was his excited response. So we stayed while Bella nearly fell out of her seat in an effort to display how unhappy she was. It was fun for me too. I loved the music and I loved all the atmosphere. I couldn't bare to give out even more money on food so I didn't buy their $10 bite-size items. However, I loved the solidarity I felt among the people. They were so proud of their culture and heritage. They ate the food, sang the songs, did the dances, and spoke the language - people of all ages so far from Greece had held on to the traditions and celebrated them together. The excitement was truly contagious.






Yesterday we enjoyed the beautiful cool weather and spent the afternoon at the playground together. My kids have grips of steel. Most likely perfected by grasping toys as the others attempt to yank it away. In any case, Christian is following suit. His favorite activity was hanging from the bar.




Followed closely by eating rocks. The oral fixation is a common theme for them all too. Here we see the brothers sharing a snack of rocks. (You can see each of them currently has some in their mouth).


This week we also went mini golfing at the course across the street from the Greek fesitval. Not the greatest course. I remember mini golfing when I was younger on courses where every hole was a work of art - the ball goes into a crocodile mouth or under a windmill as the blades spin, or gets taken up in a rotating bucket and dropped elsewhere, etc. I haven't been mini golfing in years and assumed that all courses were like that. This lame-o course proved me wrong. Not one hole had anything on it but astroturf, fake rocks, and a hole. Some curved left, some curved right, some had a hill. Zero points for creativity. However, I was able to talk the man at the counter down 50% in price (from $17 to $8 for our group) and the kids had a great time regardless. Made me feel better about the bounce house cost. :) Benjamin was so cocky the whole time, "I'm a pro at golf. This is so easy!" He got tired of waiting for the rest of us, so he went from hole to hole alone, each time calling out how few swings it took him. Isabella and Shade (a boy I tend a few days a week) had fun just doing the holes that looked like the most fun to them and ignoring the rest. When they found one they particularly liked, they played it over and over again, or backwards even, if they wanted. Bella started gathering real rocks and creating obstacles in the path of the ball because she liked watching the ball richochet and fly into the air. Shade was a purist, though, and would always run up and remove the rocks declaring that one shouldn't put rocks on the grass. It was really fun to watch them all.


School starts a week from today. Where has this Summer gone? It's been a lot of fun. Can't believe Benjamin will be in school every day soon. He still seems so little to me. Just the other night a cousin of mine and his wife were over for a visit and Benjamin came out in his PJs - Spiderman shirt, Batman pants - and my cousin asked him about the combination. "So I can have both sets of powers!" he declared. "Batman can only come out at night, like a bat, but Spider man can come out in the day. And they do different things too. This way I can be out and powerful all the time!" Such a cute little boy.

Technical Difficulties

I had fully intended to update my blog tonight but I'm having major Mac issues again. I thought I'd figured it out but it's still not working. I've now squandered my evening trying to solve my problems and I'm giving up and going to bed. Hopefully I'll be able to make this all work again very soon.

Look Who's Walking!!

The day after he turned 1, while I was reading bedtime books to the older two, Christian stood up on his own and walked over to me. Just out of the blue, up and over he comes. I thought I'd imagined it at first, but once he'd experienced it, he couldn't be held back any longer. He has steadily been getting better and better and has made it from 2-3 steps at a time to entire lengths of the house. He still crawls if he needs to get somewhere fast, but he clearly loves to practice walking and it is so fun to watch him. Both hands up in the air for balance and off he goes. So adorable. I've put together a few clips to share the joy.



By the way, I'm the new owner of a MacBook and this is my first movie editing project on my new mac. As a result, it's VERY rough. Please bear with me. I'm struggling making the move from a PC to a Mac. It took me 3 hours to get what I've done so far and I refuse to spend another minute, no matter how unfinished the result. Oh learning curve, thou art a steep one.

Happy Birthday Christian!!

Our little man is 1 today! What a wonderful year it's been with him. Although we now have to share our wedding anniversary with him (we've been married 10 years today!!) we are happy to do it. As a joint anniversary/birthday trip, we decided to go to Michigan's Adventure - an amusement park 3 hours west of here in Muskegon, Michigan. It's got a water park and a traditional amusement park portion. So we decided to spend one day in each and spend the night in a hotel in between. I really thought my kids would spend most of their time in the water park and was super excited to see their reaction. However, the weather didn't fully cooperate and it wasn't terribly hot that day. Only high 70s/low 80s and when they were soaking wet and the wind hit them, they got really cold. Then the kiss of death for the outing was the wave pool. Benjamin had loved the lazy river and was totally gung ho about the idea of a wave pool...until the first wave hit him and he went down and cut up his knee on the bottom of the pool. Happy feelings gone. His confidence was shattered and he never recovered.



He tried to be a good sport and go on a few little water slides with me, but he never wanted to play in the water or try any larger slides and after an hour of "let's go now," we aquiesced. So we ended up spending the rest of the day on the rides, which luckily went way better. They were both little dare devils and had so much fun on rides I never would have thought they'd go on. Bella loved the roller coaster so much she asked to go on it again and again. Benjamin loved the Falling Star Ride which I know better as the Magic Carpet. He just kept running around and getting in line again and again until he told me his stomach felt squeezy. They loved the go carts too. Such serious, intense faces! But he did manage to smile once he got the hang of it!





We had a great time and because we ended up doing everything in one day, we saved ourselves the cost of the second days' tickets and went to a children's museum in Grand Rapids the next day instead. That was a lot of fun too. Some really fun tables and even a free live dance performance from an international dance school in the area happened to be going on while we were there. The kids sat in the front row riveted as they watched the Indian and Middle Eastern dances.








We also went down to the river in town. Benjamin wanted to go down to the water's edge, but Bella had other ideas. Soon everyone decided that Bella's idea was a good one.




How every successful trip ends:


Although Benjamin never admits to sleeping in the car. He slept like that for an hour and when he awoke, I asked, "Did you sleep well?" "I wasn't sleeping. I just had my eyes closed to trick you." He says this every time. It's hilarious. Just resting my eyes, boss. That's all. :)

Today on Christian's actual birthday we went to church. I dressed Christian in the same outfit Benjamin wore on his 1st birthday. So cute!! Can you tell who's who?



Afterwards the kids and I made blueberry banana muffins and gave Christian one with a #1 candle on it as we sang to him. The moment we started singing he bounced in his seat and started clapping his hands. Kelly helped him blow out his candle and then Christian devoured every bit of his muffin.


The kids wanted to play play-doh afterwards so we tried again to see if Christian could play without eating it. The verdict? No.


But he also just enjoyed playing with the plastic pieces and being one of the big kids. So there's progress.

He was very happy the entire time until he got it in his head that he wanted to climb onto the table. He has started to be a real stubborn little kid! When he wants something that he shouldn't have and you keep him from it or take it away, he will throw a fit! He will try again and again and again to accomplish his desire and will scream and throw himself around to make his point. I think he's learned with two older siblings he has to be forceful to get his way. He's also sooo active lately! He can't stand to be strapped in or sitting still. He's got to be on the go! He especially loves to climb. He's still not walking independently (so surprised, I thought for sure he would by now!) but he LOVES to climb. Anything he can find, he'll climb into or on top of. You have to really watch out. Especially because he also knows how to push the stool over to what he wants and then climb onto it. He also knows how to open cupboard doors and lift the toilet cover. So many times I've heard splash, splash and know exactly what's going on! This kid's going to be trouble!




He topped off his birthday by screaming himself to sleep for over 2 hours. I thought we were over that!! Maybe he just wasn't ready for the day to be over.

We love you Christian. You have a delightful sense of humor, a friendly, happy disposition, a love of music, a constant desire to be on the go, a vibrant curiosity about everything around you, and terrific appetite! We hope you have a wonderful next year.