We Love Saturdays in Summer!

Though not officially, summer has been here for a while in Boston, and we've enjoyed lots of outdoor activities over the past month. I'm 41 months old, or not quite 3 1/2 and such the big boy. I'm still working on all my letters, but able to write some independently now, though you can't read it too well unless you know what I'm writing. I'm fascinated with what time it is and what that means. I also like to keep track of what day of the week it is. I like to "read" my books - I've memorized most of my favorite ones and I'll read them to Mommy and Daddy. I've started asking deep philosophical questions - for example, last nights series of bedtime questions, "Who made Jesus? Who made God? Where does God live? Did God make the sky? How did he make the sky? How did he reach the sky? Do I really need a brother?"


Soccer has been in full swing for the past few Saturdays.


Two Saturdays ago brought another match with the dreaded blue team. As you may recall from my last post, this team was very aggressive, knocked me down repeatedly, and wouldn't let us find the goal because all the parents were in the way. This game was no exception. One kid played with a Ziploc bag of snacks in his hand. Check out the parents in the picture - mind you, none of them belong to the Green team except for the man in the gray shirt who is one of the coaches. Plus this week, in the first 3 minutes, a fist-fight erupted between a member of our team and theirs - come one people, we're just 3!


Again, rumble with the blue team. I was a little more aggressive this week, and actually put my hands out and pushed some kids. I probably knocked this kid down. Oops.


After all the pushing and shoving in the game, I was not excited to pose for a Team Green Bean picture. Mommy took 5 different pictures of our team, and in all of them, this was the face she got. Maybe it's my game face.


This picture was seriously taken 1 minute after the team photo and notice what a difference a trophy makes. This is my first trophy. I'm a soccer star!


My bestest buddy Kaya has her annual half-birthday party in June - December birthdays are no fun! Her party was outdoors at Lars Andersen park in Brookline. There was a little wooded area near where the party was set up that we called the jungle, so Kaya and I explored all around the jungle.


Plenty of room to run!


Our buddy Arlan joined in the race!


Arlan (who was Kaya's next door neighbor until he recently moved) and I have become big buddies recently. Arlan just got a new little brother too.

Look mom! Arlan and I were exploring in the jungle and I found this can! Eew.

The Fearsome Foursome - My Brookline buddies: Kaya, Lulu, Arlan, and Me.

More soccer. I'm getting pretty good at my drills, though sometimes I get a little wobbly!

Big kick!

Dribble, dribble.

This week we played the yellow team. It was much less physical - I definitely wasn't used to that. And look, no parents all over the place. (Somebody should check the yellow kid's birth certificate though, cause he looks a lot older than 3 to me!). This was the last game of the season. A lot of the kids (myself included) thought we were going to get a trophy after this game too. After a summer break, I think I'll try fall soccer too. I'm pretty good!

Even though we've lived in Boston nearly two years, we're always looking for something new and exciting to do. This past Saturday, Mommy and I travelled an hour away to Edaville for some carnival rides. (Daddy was at work.) She didn't tell me where we were going until we got there. When we got there, there was another surprise - Thomas the Train was there for the day! I know who Thomas is but I don't really watch him so much, but I was still super excited to get to see him and get to ride on him.

We bought our tickets to ride Thomas, but until then, we tried our hands at all the carnival rides. Most of them didn't allow pregnant ladies, but luckily no one seemed to mind too much and let Mommy on. These are rides geared for preschoolers after all! First up, I rode in drums that spun around, like the teacup ride. It was awesome. Grins all around!

Next up, the airplane ride. This one I was big enough to ride with no Mommy.

There was a lever I could pull that made the plane go up in the sky. I was going the highest of al the other planes! This was super cool!

Next up - a big ole ferris wheel.

This was awesome too! I keep telling people I liked riding the parachute, but what I really mean is the ferris wheel. Mommy's big belly hardly fit behind the safety bar, and when we tried to ride it a second time later in the afternoon, they wouldn't let us. Oops.

After a quick bite to eat, it was time for our Thomas the Train ride. I chose to ride in the caboose.

The train ride was pretty cool, lasted about 20 minutes or so, and took us all around the farm/park. I really liked this part. Then, finally the train pulled back into the station.

Next up, a roller coaster I could ride by myself.

Rides with no mommy are the coolest. Look how much fun I was having.

Then, I hopped aboard a little train and rode that around a track.

No mommy!

This picture is from the Tilt-A-Whirl. This ride I called the Wiggly Ride. It was super duper fast and super duper spinny. This (along with my Thomas ride) was my favorite of the day. I was all squeals and grins from this ride.

I also rode the merry go round and a flying elephant ride that were fun. No trip to a carnival would be complete without a souvenir, so here's me with the biggest Thomas balloon I could find. I got home that day at 4 and slept clear through to the next day, but it was fun!

We sure do love summer and love eating popsicles on the front porch and playing outside. Mommy loves our indoor air conditioning window units. Speaking of Mommy, she and baby Chocolate are doing well and growing at 32 weeks. I like to feel him wiggle and I like to give him hugs and kisses. I ask every day when baby Chocolate is coming out and everyday I whine and cry when they tell me in August. My response, "But that's for too long!" I have a baby in my belly too. Her name is Ninny and she wiggles a lot. I also have an invisible friend named Spanky that makes his appearance quite frequently, but he doesn't cause any trouble. Mommy starts her new job the first week of July as a pediatrician in an office and she is really excited about that. Daddy has one more really busy month left until his much more relaxed third year of neurology residency.

We hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Beach Bums

Welcome back to my monthly posts. This month was a pretty busy one, filled with all sorts of activities and travels.


Our first worldy travel was sparked by some unfortunate news and our need to travel back to Kentucky for a funeral. We hopped in the car on a Thursday and drove the 14 hours to Louisville through the night and arrived at 6am on Friday morning. I was a super trooper and watched a couple of movies, then went to bed in my car seat about my regular time. Though we were going to Kentucky for sad reasons, our visit also happened to coincide with a visit from Gigi, Bubba, Samantha, Lauren, and Isaac. We stayed at Nana and Papa's house, and I remembered their tire swing in the backyard that was lots of fun.



Papaw pushed me, Daddy pushed me, and Bubba pushed me and it was so fun.




I even tried my hand at croquet.


It was also Derby weekend in the Derby city, so I headed to my first real Derby party.


And guess what?!? I drew the right horse in two jackpots in a row. I won thirteen dollars! I was so happy! We had to head back to Boston on Saturday evening before the Derby even started, but I enjoyed watching the other horses race and yelling for the ones I picked.


Before we made our trip back to Boston, we stopped in the Schulte house to meet baby Ben Schulte for the very first time. He's not quite three months in this picture. I enjoyed holding him and putting his pacifier back in his mouth. Oh the things to come at my house! We split the drive back to Boston into two days, and got home just in time for the main water break and had to boil all our water for a few days. What a pleasant surprise!


Soccer season hasn't been too exciting this year. Most every Saturday it has rained and the one Saturday it didn't, I was in Louisville. But, we did manage to have a game the following Saturday after we returned. I was pretty excited about soccer this time! Here I am stretching with the Green Beans.


Here we are practicing dribbling, then stopping by placing our foot on the ball.


Lining up to practice scoring goals... yes, I am really tall.


Huddle up before game time.


Me in action - don't I look like a pro? This game was a little different than the last game...


Meaning, it was more of a free-for-all. All the players who wanted to play at once could, no more of this 5 on 5 business.


The game got pretty rough - or as I said, "That team was really crazy." There was lots of knocking kids down. Most of the girls left the game at some point in time. Everyone was crying at some point. I did a really good job at being right in the middle of the action and going to where the ball was, but that meant I spent a large majority of the game being pushed down. I'd get knocked down, start crying, and get back up on my own - still crying- and run to where the ball was. I really tried hard, but it was out of control. And then there were the parents on the other team... Look at this picture closely. Behind me is supposed to be the goal, but you can't see it because the blue team's parents are all over the field. Yes, all over the field during the game. No wonder my team didn't score any goals.


Me in action again. We celebrated our soccer game with a trip to IHOP. Yummy pancakes make all my scrapes and boo-boo's better.


It was such a gorgeous day after the game, we decided to take some pictures outside. Here's mommy's belly at 26 weeks.


Here's me and dad.


Pretty soon, it was vacation time. I love to pack my suitcase. I beg to pack my suitcase all the time. I love pulling it around. I love flying on airplanes. I'm usually pretty excited to put my suitcase in the belly of the airplane, but this time I wanted to put it in the head part (aka the overhead compartment). I was pretty excited that my suitcase was there when we arrived in Charlotte, NC and even happier that I had mine when mommy and daddy had to wait over an hour for them to get there.


We continued the tradition of our May vacation with Gigi and Bubba and since the beach was such a hit last year, we decided to do it again. This time, however, we went to Myrtle Beach SC and this time, Lauren, Isaac, and cousin Samantha were able to join us. We all know how much I love the beach!


View from our hotel room.


Our hotel was perfect in that, not only could you enjoy the beach whenever you wanted, but it also had an indoor/outdoor water park when you were tired of sand. Last year, I wasn't a big fan of the swimming pool. This year, I loved swimming. There was an indoor lazy river that I could ride either an inflatable car or an inner tube along and I loved that. I loved jumping in the pool into Mommy's arms. I even rode a giant water slide in Daddy's lap, but I'm still not sure if I liked that.


I loved buidling sandcastles. This was the first one of the week.


I built them with Gigi...


I built them with Bubba (and Samantha helped).


And I played in the ocean.


And so did Samantha (although sometimes she wasn't too sure about it). I loved the big waves crashing on me.


Here's our growing family of four. Isn't Mommy's belly big? She's 27 weeks in this picture and letting it all hang out.




Watching the waves with Dad.






Like last year, I got to fly my kite. I got a little confused at first and thought I was supposed to catch the tail of the kite. Once I understood how to fly it, I thought that you had to be constantly running in order for the kite to fly, so I took of running at high speeds back and forth along the beach. Daddy had to follow behind me to keep me from killing other beach-goers with the kite strings. It was fun but exhausting!




On the way to the beach one day, I climbed in this tree and said, "Hey take my picture." So they did.


I also liked to drive my cars along tracks I made in the sand. I buried some of them too - maybe they're still there...


Collecting seashells to decorate more sandcastles...


Building more sandcastles with Mommy and Chocolate...


And building more sandcastles with Bubba...


Water guns with Bubba


Our wonderful family of three - plus Chocolate


Cousin Samantha and I with Gigi and Bubba Bolton down by the pier.


What a great vacation we had! It was so much fun going to the beach and the pool multiple times a day, getting suntans, and seeing family. While I was excited to ride an airplane and put my Lightning suitcase in the head part of the airplane, I was sad to go home. All is going well in Boston - we're having a giant heat wave with 80-90+ degree weather. I even went to the beach in Boston yesterday.

Mommy and Chocolate are doing well - though not loving this heat wave in our non-airconditioned house. She is a little over 28 weeks now and doing well, up a total of 19 pounds (ouch). I love Chocolate and love kissing Mommy's belly and feeling him move. We think we're a little closer to picking out his name (and yes I know what it is) and we're still working hard on his new bedroom. It now has new windows and is painted a lovely shade of Buttermilk Biscuit.

Stay tuned for future adventures!