Soccer Fun

This past Saturday was the last day of our fall soccer season.  It has been really fun.  I was Bella's coach and I have to say that it is a riot coaching 3 and 4 year olds!  They are so funny!  There's the one or two kids who are totally into it and do all the work and then there is the rest of the team that's an absolute comedy act out there - kicking it away from their own team members, shooting on the wrong goal, watching motionless as the ball bounces into their legs and rolls away, throwing the ball in right onto someone's head, sitting down on the field to chew their mittens, running out of bounds with the ball and just going and going and going as parents and coaches chase after them.  Of course, there's also the pack mentality - no concept of positions - just move as a mob around the field chasing the ball.  I had a great time.  They are really the sweetest kids, though, too.  We had a great time practicing our skills and playing all sorts of fun games and drills.  I was sad to see the season end.  I've signed up to be Benjamin's coach next season, though, so I'm excited for that.  Bella has decided to take a break from soccer for a bit.  It works out great for me because that was the one down-side to coaching Bella's team - that I never got to watch Benjamin play.

This past week we also went pumpkin picking and rode ponies at the barn.  Then we made our first jack-o-lanterns of the season.  Bella was very precise in telling me what she wanted.  A happy face with triangle eyes and a square nose.  So that's what I gave her.  Benjamin, however, wanted a "really scary" one.  I'm no jack-o-lantern artist, but I tried to be a little creative.  This was also the first year that Benjamin agreed to help hollow it out.  Up until now he hasn't been able to stand the feeling of the pulp, but he stuck with it this time and cleaned his out all by himself.  I couldn't get Christian to even touch the stuff.  He kept shouting "Yucky!" and stepping farther and farther away.  Bella finally went and played house with him while Benjamin and I finished.  I think they turned out well.

Checking In

I feel like it has been forever since I last wrote.  I don't think I've ever taken this long of a "vacation" from blogging.  Just shows how busy life is right now.  First off, I went to Germany the day after Labor day for my  grandmother's 90th birthday.  Just I went.  Not the kids.  That was fabulous.  I had never been away from them for more than a weekend and had never gone completely alone - always had the youngest with me the two times I've gone.  I'd forgotten how peaceful and easy traveling without kids was. I also LOVED being back in Germany and seeing so many of my family and friends again.  I had managed to forget how much I missed being there and I cried on the way home.   I definitely don't want to wait 5 years between visits again. So that trip was wonderful!  Although I really missed the kids.

Then I came back and immediately soccer, gymnastics, preschool (for Bella), and home school (for Benjamin) started.  That, in addition to church responsibilities and everything else in my life, threw me right into the thick of everything and I really hit a wall for a while.  Things felt incredibly overwhelming at first and I did quite a bit of crying that first week back home.  Probably also due to jet lag too, I guess.  In any case, I'm feeling a bit better now.  We're in the groove of life and things are going well.  Bella is loving school as I knew she would.  Home school has its ups and downs, but I know I'm doing the right thing.  Every day we do reading, spelling, writing, math, science, and music (piano).  We also do field trips that incorporate history/geography/art/etc.  It's been a lot of work preparing lessons, but I have really enjoyed teaching him these fun things. We do a lot of games and activities and experiments and I try to keep worksheets and book work to a minimum. Benjamin really enjoys it, but he's very lazy and hates to be pushed out of his comfort zone so it can be quite a battle some days. Every day we have at least one battle of wills in which he tries to get me to give up and let him goof off and forget about school work. I just always have to remember to stay focused, remain very calm and patient, focus on praise over criticism, and set realistic expectations.  Once he settles in and realizes he's not getting out of it and does what I ask, we do very well.  He always ends up saying how much fun we have, but of course, what kid wouldn't rather spend the whole day playing and relaxing?  I just hope these little battles lessen over time.

Other than that, not much else is going on - just lots of kids stuff...oh, and the primary program. I'm primary president, so that's been keeping me occupied too.  But I love fall and the cooler weather and the changing colors.  So beautiful here this time of year.  We've been visiting apple orchards and Greenfield Village, going on bike rides, and my mom came for a few days as well.  It's been so fun enjoying the return of the season.

 Bike ride on Hines Drive with half-way stop at the playground.

Plymouth Orchards w/Bella's preschool.

We brought our lunches and stayed after to enjoy more time outdoors.

Three Cedars Farm with my mom.  The obligatory hay-stack jumping photo.  I've taken one here every year.  I noticed the stacks were much, much shorter this year.  Maybe it was deemed a safety hazard   Still fun to jump on, though.

Hayride around the farm and pumpkin patch.  So fun to have Mimi with us!

We also spent a day at the Henry Ford museum.  Here's Benjamin running a "driving the model T" simulation.  Those cars were complicated to drive!  It was a fun way to learn.

The kids LOVED pretending to drive this huge train.  They were turning cranks and pulling levers all over the place.  I worried they'd rip something right off.

We spent nearly an hour in the simulated airplane.  It is in three parts, with each part representing commercial airplanes of a different era.  We took turns being pilot, stewardess, and passenger.  They later called this part their favorite of the day.  My favorite part was sitting on the Rosa Parks bus and the fact that we were there at 1pm on a Thursday so we practically had the museum to ourselves!  Yay for home school!  :)

Yellowstone!

We just got back from our monster long roadtrip to Yellowstone.  It was wonderful.  Well, the drive was okay (better than the terror I was expecting), but the rest was fantastic.

Here we are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Our first stop after driving 14 hours through the night.  Kelly and I were wasted, but the kids had a blast climbing around everywhere and having a picnic next to the falls.  A really beautiful place.   It think that was my biggest lesson on this trip - South Dakota is really beautiful!!  Who knew?!?

The highlight of every vacation - hotel swimming pools.  Christian's face sums it all up.  We also celebrated his 2nd birthday on our trip!!  My little baby is two!!  He's such a mature little guy.  He's talking up a storm and has been doing #2 in the toilet for a month now.  It's fabulous.  We love him so much.

Then we got to Yellowstone.  What an incredibly, amazingly, beautiful place.  I could have spent a month there.  Waterfalls, geysers, wildlife, forests, and clear fresh springs.  I couldn't get enough.

While we were there, the whole family (cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) stayed in a beautiful cabin  near West Yellowstone.  What a fabulous place.  Beds for 19 with all the amenities.  Island Lake, Idaho - I'd definitely recommend it.  When we weren't in Yellowstone, we were on the playground or riding bikes/motorcycles or laying in the hammock or reading books or watching movies or roasting marshmallows or a dozen other fun things.  The kids were in heaven.

This is how we did most of our Yellowstone sight seeing - all piled into the RV with the kids playing in the above bed area.  It was perfect.  My Little Ponies were the focal point of every day for them...when they weren't throwing their stinky socks at the adults below (as Bella's doing in this pic).  That was a lot of fun for them too. :)

Bella and Dalton in the RV.  Cutie cousins.

Yellowstone.  The waterfalls were my kids' favorite things, I think.

Gotta love Bella with her hat and purse checking out the sights.

Uncle Andrew, aka Superman.  He carried my kids on his shoulders for miles and miles around Yellowstone.  What a champ.  I wouldn't attempt to walk up all those stairs with a 55 lb Benjamin on my shoulders for anything, but he did it without complaint.

He also showed him how to catch, gut, and clean a huge trout that he caught.  He also took the time to have a 30 minute conversation with Benjamin in the RV during one of our days touring Yellowstone.  What an amazing uncle.  So happy to have him in our family.

Old Faithful. We picked the wrong spot from which to watch it.  The wind was such that all we saw was steam and it rained down on us in great heaps.  Alas, a great reason to go back again someday.

The playground near the cabin was a ton of fun.  So great to have cousins to play with and grandpas to push you on the swings!

The motor bike.  Benjamin couldn't get enough.  Even Bella gave it a try.

Hanging with family at the cabin.

We lucked out seeing animals on our trip - deer, elk, moose, brown bear, black bear, buffalo, various birds, chipmunks, praire dogs, etc.  The kids loved it.  Here we encountered a moose within just a few feet of us enjoying a clear spring coming out of the mountain.  (Can you see it in the water?)  I'd just given the kids some granola bars, so they were more interested in opening and eating them, than they were in the moose, but once they were happily munching, they thought the moose was pretty cool too. :)

Bella and Christian couldn't get enough of the buffalo.  They sat there with their baby dolls and watched the buffalo for what felt like hours.

Uncle Zerin has an awesome boat that gave Benjamin and Isabella their first opportunities to go tubing.  Wish I'd remembered their goggles, but both had a great time.  Benjamin more so because he got to go in the tube alone.  I held Bella and I think the cold water scared her.

Then he got to drive the boat back to shore.  That was a highlight for him as well.

Give these two cousins a some water and some rocks and they'll be happy all day.  Such cuties together.

Kelly had some chances to go fishing too.  Mostly he went with Andrew, but the kids wanted to try too.

All too soon it was time to go home.  Everything was going well until we were on an especially narrow, steep, winding road in Wyoming and I heard a familiar unpleasant sound behind me.  Christian was throwing up in his seat.  Time for an emergency stop.  He couldn't have picked a better time.  We were just passing a "point of interest" as the sign called it, which also had a rest stop with a bathroom.  We cleaned everything up and got him feeling better and then checked the place out.  It was a beautiful waterfall.  Luckily that was the only such incident on the entire drive.  It could have been a lot worse.

On the way back through South Dakota, we stopped at Mount Rushmore.  That was a fun place!

It was very impressive to see it in person even though I'd seen pictures of it all my life.

At the visitor's center we met a very friendly park ranger who gave the kids activity books to fill out while there.  They were fabulous - perfectly geared to their ages and a great way to research the park.  They had to go around doing various activities, seeing different parts of the visitor's center and talk to people and answer questions.  At the end they brought the books back to him and he gave them each a little gold ranger badge.  They thought they were the coolest things ever.

The last thing we did at the park was attempt to take a picture of me and kids since I'd not been in any pic there so far.  However, a kind woman walked up to Kelly as he was taking it and offered to take a picture of all of us.  He agreed and this became the last picture our camera ever took.  As she handed the camera back, she dropped it on the concrete, right on its lens and we bid farewell to our dear camera.  It served us well for longer than any other camera we've ever had - nearly 2 years.  And this is the first camera who's untimely demise was not our fault! :)  Thank goodness it was the last day of our trip or I would have been really sad!  Alas, at least we still have all the pictures.  She did a good job with the picture, I'd say.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip.  Can't say I loved driving 29 hours each way, but we survived and it was worth it.  What an amazing, beautiful country we live in.