On the Eve of Second Grade

Dear Ethan,

I’ve been thinking about this letter for a few weeks. Part of me curses myself for starting this dang tradition of a letter the night before you start school.  Not only is it a busy time, but the stress of expressing myself – or rather, expressing you, gives me a little anxiety.  Ultimately, the desire for you to have a written record of these years wins out.  Here goes…

Second grade!  What?! A year of full day school in the books – you seem like an expert already to me.  But, at the same time, I still see in you my little boy, the one who still cries when he’s hurt and wants to snuggle.  The one who still loves to play with his four year old sister, probably more than anybody else.  

I am exceedingly proud of the way you treat Eleanor.  You certainly have your moments, but you are mostly so patient with her and truly enjoy teaching her things.  The other day, you played “school” and had Eleanor trace over letters you made.  You came down to show me how well she did, and she was beaming from ear to ear at the stars you gave her.  She wants to do everything you do and picks up so many of your actions and sayings.  One that comes to mind is your “thumbs up or down” dinner rating system.  This one, of course, I could do without!  But, oh, how I wish I could freeze a bit of time while the two of you are best friends.  And, oh, how I dream of a strong, positive relationship for the two of you later in life.  Right now, few things make me happier than listening to the two of you play Legos or Star Wars (or Star Wars Legos…) together, having so much fun.  You have taught Eleanor to be just as creative in her play as you, and it made my life easier this past year.  Who needs play dates with other kids when the two of you play so well together?

Just like in Kindergarten we watched you come out of your shell a bit, first grade pushed you even further.  You are by no means a ham, but you seem to have your father’s performance gene, even if only for family at this point.  After our trip to Hilton Head, you became slightly obsessed with Greg Russell and his guitar stylings.  In our basement, we currently have a guitar on a stand as well as a homemade microphone stand.  You spent much of the summer singing your favorite Greg Russell tunes or performing other shows like The Spiderman Show, or plays like Rudolph.  We took you to see Rudolph this past winter, and you performed much of the show for us, verbatim.  Both dad and I were impressed with how you remembered such cute details from the show.  And now you have started piano and will hopefully have a chance to perform in a recital.  You seem to have a talent for music.  And, while the time spent cajoling you to practice is usually the worst part of my day, I love when you finally get into it and play the pieces.  Your teacher is impressed with you so far, and hopefully you (we) will stick to it!  

Another interest you have that I am trying to really hone is for cooking.  Both you and your sister love to help me in the kitchen and I try really hard to let you do just that.  You have even helped me chop vegetables with a real knife.  As we cook together, I talk a lot about what we are doing and why.  My ultimate goal is that you will leave this house knowing how to cook, and well.  You will know how to sauté, make a roux, season appropriately, cook meat properly, and so on. You will also know how to make Grandmama’s meat and marinara sauces as well as homemade pasta.  She was already so proud of you, but she will love to watch us cooking together from her kitchen chair in Heaven.  

Perhaps most exciting for me, personally, in this last year has been watching your confidence in reading grow.  We learned in the middle of first grade that while you could decode words, your fluency was lagging a bit.  So we started reading more, and more, and more.  Many mornings were spent snuggling in bed, reading back and forth to one another.  And now, at the end of the summer, you are flying through Diary of a Wimpy Kid and not even stumbling over the big words.  Plus, just in the past couple of weeks, you’ve discovered that you can read for fun!  I have caught you reading in the morning on the couch, or in your room, and before bed.  For a long time, I think you were overwhelmed by anything with a lot of pages or words.  Now, you tackle them and enjoy the independence of being able to read to yourself if no one else is available.  You’ve also conned us into later bedtimes as you finished “just one more chapter!” That is okay with me, though, and I really hope this love of reading you’ve had for so long continues.

Daddy would be sad if I did not mention your involvement in sports.  This fall, you will do your fourth year of AYSO soccer.  You do not love soccer, but you do not hate it either, and we like to watch you improve.  Daddy works very hard with you, and while you may not always appreciate it right now, I know you will look back and feel pretty fortunate that your father cared so much.  You will also be in a short season of Fall Baseball.  You have some talent here, no doubt, but you are not a sporty kid just yet.  You are more content playing Legos or with other friends.  This may change, but it may not.  Either way, we know the exercise is important for you, and you do enjoy your games and time with your teammates.  And, of course, you love the participation trophies you have been accumulating!  

Bud, I want you to know how much I love you.  I know I am cranky sometimes and tell you to quit hanging on me and to get out of my face (because, seriously, that’s annoying), but I will always always always love you.  You are my little man. My favorite part of every day is going with Eleanor to pick you up from school.  Love to see you come out enthusiastically and hear a little about your day.  Hopefully, this year I will still get my daily hug…the hug that precedes the throwing of your backpack at me before you run for the park.  I will take what I can get!  You cannot even know how grateful I am to be around for these moments with you, to be able to volunteer in your classroom, serve in your school's parents organization, and be around for the little things.  This will not always be the case, and I heartily soak the moments in now, while I can. 

Love you!

Love,

Mommy

Day 5

Phew! Just got the kids to bed...long day!

After not sleeping well last night, I didn't argue when Will got up with Ethan this morning to go for a ride to the beach.  Unfortunately, no sooner had I fallen back to sleep when Eleanor, who has been sleeping past 8 every morning, decided to get up by 7:15.  Oh well.  I had extra coffee this morning.  And it is a good thing because we took a long bike ride into South Beach Marina, home of all things Salty Dog.  The ride was quite pretty, though it can be a bit stressful with all the kids.  The trees I with the Spanish moss are my absolute favorite (and Lisa's).  So unique nada do very pretty.  We put our name in to eat at the Salty Dog when we got there, and the wait was only about 30 minutes.  We opted for inside as eating outside would be a bit sweat-inducing.  While we waited, we walked over to where the kids can tie dye their own salty dog t-shirts.  We figured a souvineer they had their hand in making was pretty good.  Can't wait to see how they turned out.  Pretty sure Eleanor chose Bob Marley colors...should be interesting!

By the time we were done and walked in a shop or two, the Salty Dog was ready for us.  The hush puppies alone I while have made an excellent meal, but the other food was good, too.  Will and I both ate the special, which was a spinach tortilla wrap with three different fish and a spicy aioli. It was quite yummy.  And, thankfully, Jake the he dog did not make n appearance in the restaurant.  Eleanor had been saying she would not go to the SD because of him.  Glad she didn't have to make a scene.

After lunch, we walked over to see some pretty cool macaws, then made our way back home.  On the way, we stopped at the baynard ruins, a historical site of an old plantation.  The buildings are made from crushed oyster shells.  Pretty cool.  We came home and rested for a bit and then hit the beach around 4. Will had gone to the surf shop to get something for Ethan's birthday and saw that the waves were really great.  The kids loved jumping in them, but the current kept moving them down the beach.  And then it appears tht Ben got a small jellyfish sting on his leg.  We got some jellyfish spray from a lifeguard (just vinegar, apparently) and he seems to be ok now.  Lisa buried all the kids in the sand, then, and we got some funny pictures.  We also had a double rainbow and then  a single.  Of course, this happened the day I decided not to bring my nice camera.  I snapped a picture on my phone, so we will see.  Forgot to mention that when we first got to the beach, it started raining. There were mostly blue skies, but we had about 5 minutes of rain. Random.  It actually felt quite nice.

When the kids were good and sandy, we came home for showers, a quick dinner, and then, finally, the Greg Russell show.  He is a very adorable man, and the kids just love him.  It is neat to see the generations of families that have seen him year after year.  Kids make signs for him to read and he will read them.  One sign had an old picture that said my mom sang with you 30 years ago, or something like that.  It is sweet. And, he sang the song Ethan now knows from his school program, "The Cat Came Back," so that was good.  He also taught the kids a song to annoy their parents on the  drive home from HH.  Not so good.  Thanks Greg Russell.  We will likely go back tomorrow, so we will have to think of a funny sign for Ethan for his birthday.  To be honest, I think the show is about 15 minutes too long for me.  I was very tired and kept hoping he was almost done by the end. He is a great entertainer, but I was just exhausted tonight.  The kids were troopers, but this mom could not wait to get home to bed!

Well, this will be my lastl post with a 6 year old, as tomorrow is the big number 7 for Ethan.  Crazy.  Just crazy.  I think it is fun that Ethan is often traveling for his birthday.  Maine last year and now Hilton Head.  Having his cousins here really makes is special, too.  Until tomorrow...

Day 4

Today started with another beach run.  This time, I went on my own.  I passed a gator in a pond on the way...that is one way to increase my pace. :) It was definitely hot on the run, but I absolutely love running on the beach.  Not sure I will be able to I go back to asphalt.  Eleanor was still asleep when I returned, so Will and Ethan went with the Berkley's on a long bike ride.  When little miss got up, we made some scrambled eggs and she watched some Disney while I did some vacuuming of the sand.  When everyone came back, I packed lunch, and we loaded up to go to the beach.  It can be a process.  But I do like how so many people ride their cute bikes with baskets and take their beach stuff.  We have a good system.

The kids continue to have an absolute blast at the beach.  Eleanor is totally in love with the water and waves. She and Will spent at least a full hour in the water with Eleanor right away (resulting in some pink shoulders for Will...). The boys played in the water and also spent quite a bit of time building sand structures.  There was also a lot of time spent on sand dollar hunting.  They were everywhere in the water.  Lisa has collected at least 11 of them and bleached some last night.  They look great and will make a great ornament to put on the Christmas tree to remember the vacation.

We finally got the kids out of there by 3:30 or so and came home for baths/showers.  Lisa's family made plans to have dinner at a burger place in Harbour Town with their friends from Wheaton.  We were welcome to join them but opted out.  9 kids and 6 adults sounded a bit frightening to this small family.  We debated between making fish here or going out for seafood.  We ended up going out to a place Will had seen a write up for in the NYT.  It was called Skull Creek Boathouse.  It was out of Sea Pines and a little drive but ended up worthwhile.  They do not take reservations, and it was jammed when we got there.  Will could hardly get in the door to get our name in, and the wait was over an hour.  There was a large outdoor space, though, with stuff for the kids to do, and a pier to walk out on.  Will ended up going to the bar and asking about getting take out.  The girl said she wasn't supposed to do take out orders when it is so crowded but Will charmed her, apparently, and they let us.  It was awesome because there were picnic tables for people waiting for their tables.  Tree here was an outdoor bar and beam bag games and - the kids' favorite - a giant connect four game.  We played for a while and then Will came out with our meals.  We ate al fresco.  Perfect.

After dinner, we headed back into Sea Pines and into Harbour Town, where we met the Berkleys and Peppings (their friends...very nice people) for the Greg Russell show.  He sings 5 nights a week under a big tree.  The last two shows have been cancelled for rain.  Tonight, he got out two songs before they had to shut down because a storm a coming in. What we saw of him was a lot of fun.  He is a funny guy.  Will is still laughing at some of his jokes.  Hopefully, we will have one full show of Greg Russell before we leave, but I'm glad we at least saw part of his show.  We ended up hitching a ride to our car from Lisa because Will had to park far away and take the trolley.  We didn't want to wait for a trolley in the rain.

Tomorrow, we hope to get to the Salty Dog for lunch and to have the kids tie dye their own t-shirts.  And, if the weather cooperates, we will hopefully take some nice family photos on the beach.

Day 3

Another nice day in Hilton Head.  Will went for a sticky run in the morning, but not to the beach.  I think he stuck of the shady paths.  The kids and I ate breakfast and played before we decided to hit the beach earlier today.  We got there around 10 and set up shop.  The kids played for a while in the water before deciding to build a "hot tub." They worked very hard, and it  was great, until the tide came in and destroyed it.  Undeterred, they simply moved their construction project back a bit.  I wows pretty hot, but as long as you cool off in the water every so often, it feels pretty good.  The hard part is trying to reapply sunblock to wet, sandy kids.  Luckily, we have not had any sunburn issues as we are all diligent about sunblock.

About 2, we finally got the kids off the beach and home for some lunch.  After lunch, I had Ethan lay down in his bed for some mandatory rest time.  He has been sleeping past 6, we think, but we knew it would be a later night.  He was asleep within a few minutes despite the fact that he "wasn't tired." Eleanor rested by reading books on the couch.  I'm pretty sure a few of Lisa's kids fell asleep, too.  I showered and then woke Ethan up after 20 minutes.  He did some reading and writing before playing with his cousins for a bit.

The adults were debating what to do about dinner out because some storms were rolling in.  The plan had been to eat outside in Harbour Town and then watch the Greg Russell show, but It looked like rain.  We decided to go to the Mellow Mushroom,  a pizza/sandwich place we had heard was fun.  It was a neat place.  And it was good we went indoors because it did start pouring.  Will entertained the kids with magic during dinner, which was a big hit.  They could not understand how he got his thumb off and how he got the knife to float!

After dinner, we hit a grocery and picked up some ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Everyone came back to our place to hang out for a bit.  Bedtime was rough and the kids weren't really asleep until almost 10.  Then Will and I did what we do when we have cable...we got sucked into HGTV shows.  We  stayed up a bit too late to find out of an annoying couple was going to "Love it or Leave it." :)

Day 2

We have a very pleasant first day on the island.  I got up with Ethan and we decided to run/bike on the beach.  Ethan remembered the way to the beach club, and he took his bike while I ran along the beach.  It was pretty low tide, and there were tons of creatures on the beach.  We saw jellyfish, crabs, a giant horseshoe crab, and a few other unknowns.  We even got a video of a ghost crab scattering along.  It had its claws up and ready to fight us...it was so cute.

We came home to find Eleanor had just woken up Will by "poking him." We had breakfast and then got ready for. Bike ride to Lawton stables with the Berkleys.  It was a short ride to the stables, and the kids had fun feeding Harley the horse, who is quite friendly. We also saw a deer, goats, pigs, donkeys, and alpacas.

We continued our ride into Harbour town.  The kids played at a park for a bit, and then we walked up the 112 stairs to the top of the lighthouse.  Very pretty views from the top.  We also enjoyed looking at the incredible yachts and watching people crabbing on the pier.  One little kid caught a decent sized one.  We actually have a crab net at our place, but Will doesn't want to deal with what to do when you actually catch one.  The dad on the pier couldn't get the crab off the net...it didn't seem easy.

After the lighthouse, we rode home and had lunch and then got ready to go to the beach.  It was crowded!  We found a spot no problem but had to move pretty quickly because the tide was coming up.  We moved back quite a bit and by the time we left, the water was pretty close to us.  It was nuts.  The kids really like the water and how far they can go out and still stand.  Eleanor discovered boogie boarding and is hooked.  The Berkleys have some friends staying here, so the kids all played together.  Their youngest is Ben's age, but the other kids played well with our little ones.  Jacky fell asleep in Lisa's arms on a chair, so poor Lisa had to sit in the sun with a hot box on her.  Next time we will bring their tent.  It was definitely hot, but a long as you kept cooling off in the water, it was fine.

We came home around four and gave the kids much needed baths.  Will went to Publix for a few dinner supplies, and then we had tacos at the Berkley villa and watched the World Cup.  They decided to go into town to see Greg Russel, the musician who plays almost every night here and is an institution in HH.  We opted out because we could see how exhausted the kids were and selfishly wanted an early night ourselves.  The kids have been going to bed so late, and Ethan is still up early.  It ended up being the right decision, too, as Lisa texted shortly after they left that it was down pouring.  They came home then.  We will hopefully go tonight.

We have had a low key morning and now we are getting ready to hit the beach.  It is overcast today, which isn't the worse thing because the sun is hot.  There are chances of storms later but it seems tot only rain for short periods.  We will see...

Hilton Head Day 1

I will not say much about our drive to the island, other the it was not very pleasant.  As usual, the kids did far better than Will and I.   Bottom line, a drive that should have been six hours took us far longer than expected.  With traffic, accidents,  and vacation congestion, we were traveling from 7:30 until almost five.  We've decided to always tack 4 hours on to any expected drive.  If a map tells us it is a half hour drive, we will allow 4 1/2.

The great news is that Lisa's villa and ours are literally across the parking lot from each other.  There are several sections of Lighthouse Road Villas, and we rented one right across from them.  Perfect.  Once we got here, finally, and got our stuff inside, I made a quick pasta dinner so that we could do a bike ride to the beach after dinner.   Lisa led the way, and we hit the trail for the short ride to the beach in front of he the Sea Pines beach club. It is a beautiful beach and the sand is crazy soft.  The water is quite warm, too.  I didn't bring my suit tonight, but Will and the kids did.  They wasted no time getting into the water.  It is shallow for a while, so you can really walk out pretty far.  Can't wait to jump in tomorrow.  Eleanor and Jack were so cute filling buckets of sand, and the other cousins were loving the waves.  We stayed pretty long before finally coaxing the kids out of the water.  Ethan decided to roll around in the sand and while wet, which meant he had to be hosed down at the showers next to the beach club.

Or place is very nice.  Clean, and roomy.  I type this in the Carolina room, off of the living room.  It is a window filled side room that faces the nice back yard, backing up to a golf course.  Lisa and Brian don't really have a back yard, so our place will likely be the one to gather in for the kids to play.    The owners have a ton of books and movies to borrow, and it is decorated nicely.  It is definitely a good find.

Hope to explore more tomorrow and get some serious beach time in.

Day 3

Another nice day in the Smokies.  Ethan was up bright and early, as usual, and he and Will left to go for a run.  They came back like 2 1/2 hours later, so Eleanor and I decided to walk into town a bit.  We went to Dunkin Donuts, again for coffee and munchkins. We also walked past a few of the Ripleys places like the arcade and Haunted house. This place is so commercial, it is a bit ridiculous.  We haven't really spent any time in town, besides my moonshine adventure yesterday and in the morning to get coffee.  During the day, it is so crowded and there are tourist shops in every inch of space.

When we got back to the condo, the boys were back.  We finished breakfast, packed a lunch, and headed out to the national park.  First we did a short hike around the Ogle nature trail.  At the start, there are two old homestead buildings then there is a loop around.  Unlike some of our other hikes, this one had no incline and was also not very crowded.  I admit I was a bit nervous about bears.  Luckily, none came around. But Eleanor, with her impeccable timing, decided she needed to poop.  We hightailed it back to the car then and just went back to the condo since we weren't that far.  There are very few bathrooms at the trails and they are very primitive.  Well, we got back to the condo, but Eleanor decided she didn't actually have to poop.  But, it was not for naught...Ethan decided he needed to.

Back on the road, we started on our journey to Grotto Falls.  It is along a one way road, and the drive is slow and winding...but beautiful! We stopped off at a gorgeous vista to eat our picnic lunch. Then we parked down the road from the Grotto Falls. This hike was 2.6 miles round trip (same as Laurel) but a bit more strenuous and without a paved path.  I brought an Ergo carrier for Eleanor, which allowed us to do both these hikes.  She could have never made it, and we felt better with her not running along the path. This hike was hard, especially with an extra 30 pounds, but it was worthwhile.  The falls were cooler than the ones at Laurel, and we could walk behind them even.  Super cool.  There was also a nice place down below for us to get our shoes and socks off and play in the water.  Since our adventure yesterday morning, the kids have been wanting to do more rock collecting.  We saw some water striders and a salamander, too.  The hike down was smooth, and faster than the way up.  Ethan does pretty well.  His new thing on these hikes is to want to do everything on his own because he says, "I want to challenge myself."

We drove back into Gatlinburg then, looking out the window to beautiful mountain creeks and such.  Then it was back home for a swim, dinner, and bed time.  There is an amazing storm over the mountains with crazy huge lightning over the mountain.  Going to try to capture some on the camera. Tomorrow, we will hopefully be off early on our way at to Hilton Head.

Smoky Mountains Day 1 and 2

View from the balcony of our place.


Day 1

We left at about 6:30 am yesterday morning and arrived at our condo in Gatlinburg about 6:15. Almost 12 hours of traveling for what was supposed to be a 9 hour drive.  Our pit stops were not too long,but we had some unexpected construction and the drive took longer than expected.  As usual, the kids handled it better than we did.  All in all, it was a pretty smooth trip.

Or place here is quite nice.  A small living area (fireplace we won't likely need) with a leather couch bed; kitchen with fridge, two burners, and sink.  It is actually quite well stocked, though, with plenty of cooking utensils.  The bedroom is roomy with a king bed and attached bathroom.  The kids slept together on the couch couch bed last night.  Eleanor, of course, stayed up talking while Ethan snoozed next to her.  And, of course, Ethan was up far too early, and Eleanor slept in.

Day 2

I got up with Ethan this morning to explore town a bit.  We walked down back stairs from our building and walked the few minutes to main street Gatlinburg.  It was fun to walk there without crowds, though nothing much was open at 8 am.  We did find a dunkin donuts for some coffee for mommy and donut holes for the kids.  We also hit the Walgreens and found some water shoes for Hilton Head.  No luck in finding good socks...I realized I did not pack mine. Oops.  We will have to hit a Target on net he way to HH.

When we got back and everyone was dressed, we headed out and went to the Gatlinburg visitors center to get a trail map.  We got some advice and set out to find Laurel Falls, a short hike to a waterfall we read would be ok for the kids.  Well, we missed  a turn we needed, so we ended up on a different road, winding through the mountains.  When we realized we had gone the wrong way, we turned off at a parking area.  There was a creek/small river at the bottom of a short hill.  We walked down there, took off our shoes and socks, and explored. We stayed for at least an hour and a half.  The kids had a blast collecting small, smooth rocks and walking on the big rocks.  It was really beautiful, peaceful, and not crowded.  We met a family from Texas and chatted with them a bit.  The husband has been coming here since childhood, and I guess this random spot we found is his all-time favorite place in the area.  We felt pretty lucky we came across it randomly.  This man actually was born in Berwyn and grew up in Bloomington Normal.  But he has lived most of his life in Texas.  Both he and his wife are elementary school teachers, and they have two teenage girls. Very nice family.

When we finally dragged the kids out of there, Eleanor had sopping wet shorts, we found a grocery store to get stone lunch items and then went back to the condo.  We rested a bit after lunch and then went to Laurel Falls.  This time we  found it right away.  It is a paved path, not too strenuous but a bit steep.  The hard part is that the drop off is fairly steep so you you just have to watch the kids.  I had Eleanor in a carrier for most of the way up, which meant I got an extra workout.  When we were about 10 minutes from the falls, the people coming back started telling us that up ahead there was a bear in a tree coming up. They assured us it was not close enough to attack or anything.  There had been a warning at the bottom of the trail about bears being active in that area, so we were all a bit freaked out.  But everyone said it was fine.  I put the zoom lens on the camera, and we went faster.  People told us to look for a crowd of people watching.  Unfortunately, after all the hype, we appear to have missed the bear. We never came across a  crowd, so we are  guessing the bear got out of the tree and the crowd dispersed.  Oh well.  :) The falls were cool, but we did to stay long as we heard thunder in the distance.  Eleanor walked the whole way down, and the kids had fun doing mini climbs on the sides.

Once we we back in town, Will let me out to go to  Paula Deen's store.  It was cute, but I did not buy anything.  I then wandered into a bootleg wine shop, where I tasted a few wines.  I bought a blackberry one for Lisa and I to enjoy in HH.  Then, next door, was a moonshine shop.  It was huge.  I looked around at all these crazy moonshiner and then went to the tasting bar.  There were maybe 10 different kinds and the tastings were little thimbles. They were pretty good, though strong, and I was joking with a couple there that my husband dropped me off to go in one store and I would be lucky to find my way back.  Luckily, I did.  Found them at the pool and I went to join them.  Will got out and went to get some taco take out.  I bathed the kids and we relaxed while waiting for daddy.  Ethan is asleep, and I think Eleanor is almost there.  She is a staller.  Will and I are enjoying a Life Below Zero,  a Nat Geo show about people living in Alaska.  We find it fascinating, and also  a bit horrifying.