Baby Swim Team?

Max wants to know if the "Y" has a baby swim team. Lately, he's taken to "swimming" in the bath tub.

He does the backstroke- laying fully on his back and kicking his legs.



And freestyle- including putting his face in and blowing bubbles.




He's going to have to wait a few years to sign up for the swim team, but once he's old enough watch out! Nate's first swim meet is October 11- anyone interested in details drop me an email- Nate would love to have a cheering section.

The Good, The Bad and The Bloody

Today we drove to Ann Arbor to meet up with our friends Edward & Becky and their 3 kids: Bryn (9), Taryn (7) & Thane (5) at Willow Metro Park . I picked the location because it has a skate park I thought Nate & the other kids would really enjoy.

The Good: Seeing our friends again- since they moved across the state last year, we haven't seen them much.

The Bad: 10 minutes into the visit Bryn crashed his bike on the half-pipe.

The Bloody: a deep laceration and puncture wound caused by the sprocket of his bike requiring a trip to the E.R. and 10 stitches!

Warning- if you have a weak stomach (Andy & Denise- this means you!!)- Do not read further!



It didn't really look like a bad crash. Bryn winced and limped a little when he got up. Then Taryn noticed Bryn was bleeding. I send Taryn to ask her Mom if she had band-aids and went over to look at the wound- expecting to see a slight abrasion. What I saw kicked in my previous first-aid training. It was an open wound with lots of blood. I had Bryn lay down so I could lift his leg higher than his heart and applied pressure using an inside out sock as a bandage. I sent Nate to get Derek because I knew we were going to need more than a band-aid, I just wasn't sure if we needed an ambulance or not. When Derek got there we decided that since the blood hadn't leaked all the way through the bandage we could take a quick peek. We both agreed that the laceration probably needed stitches but that the puncture wound wasn't spurting so it hadn't hit an artery and wasn't life threatening. About that time Becky got back with a first aid kit so we were able to put a clean bandage on and Edward and Becky took Bryn to the nearest ER. (With Becky continuing to apply pressure.) It took about an hour to get the wound cleaned up and get the stitches. When they got back to the park, the rest of the kids were done playing so we decided to go get ice cream. Nate was quite impressed by Bryn's stitches- he said it looks like a 7- sides ways. Yikes! I'd rather stitches not be worthy of admiration- although Bryn's attitude about the whole thing certainly was- he was a champ!

It was nice to see them again but certainly not a good visit! Next time we'll have Edward & Becky pick the location!

What is it about vending machines?

Yesterday we were running a bit behind schedule in leaving for swim practice. So, on the way, I said to Nate:
"We're running a bit late, so you'll have to be extra quick in the locker room."

Nate's response:
"Am I going to be late?"

Me:
"No, you just won't have as much time to change as you normally do."

Nate:
"Well, I normally have enough time to get a bar out of the vending machine, and eat it all, and then change."

Me:
"Have you ever actually done that?"

Nate:
"No, but I could if you gave me some money."

Swim Team update

Nate finished his first trial week of swim team. He really likes it. And honestly, I already see improvement in his swimming. If next week goes well I think we'll be signing up. Nate's buddy from church, Ian, is also doing the trial period and seems to be having a good time too. Hopefully its something they can do together.

As soon as he was done with practice tonight Nate came up to the glass window and mouthed "Can we go to McDonalds?" So I am making a new rule about snacks, we will bring a snack to eat right after practice, we will not stop on the way home or buy something from a vending machine. We stopped at the store and I let him pick a special drink (Kool-aid bottles) and snack (Yo-gos rolls) that will only be for after swim practice. Only slightly healthier than McDonalds but at least a lot cheaper!

Dinner of Champions

Normally I'm not big on making a separate dinner for the kids if they don't like what we are having. Typically we serve at least one thing that everyone likes so its not a problem. Nate isn't a big meat eater but he'll usually eat 6 small bites (one for each year old he is) and then fill up on veggies.

Last night, he took one look at the steak and wrinkled his nose. The potatoes were not quite done so I asked him if he'd like a PBJ. I wanted him to eat well since it was the first night of Swim Team Tryouts*.

He said yes to the sandwich, then make a specific request for crunchy peanut butter and grape jelly, cut into triangles. He took one bite and decided something was missing. Velveeta cheese! (of course, how could I forget?) So he added a slice of Velveeta to each triangle.

Then if you aren't grossed out enough yet- he dipped the triangles in ketchup! As Kaylee so eloquently put it...... Ewwwwwww!

The "good" news is he ate every bite. Swim Team Tryouts went very well. He listened to the coaches and smiled the whole time. They swam about 250m. He burned off all the calories and asked for chicken nuggets on the way home.

*Tryouts isn't really the right word. Its really a two week free trial period to see if you & your child want to commit to the swim team before you have to pay to join. The teams motto is "Everyone swims, everyone wins." We are calling it "try-outs" because we want to see what kind of effort Nate will put into it before we sign up and pay.

Back to [Home]School!

Today was the first day of our homeschool co-op, Destiny Academy. Since we learn year round (albeit less structured in the summer), we usually take our "back to school" pictures on the first day of Destiny Academy.




8th Grader Kaylee takes electives at Destiny Academy. This semester she's in Yearbook, Time Travel (history taught through drama) & Science Olympiad.


Second Grader Nate would rather you see his back pack than his face! You might have noticed his lack of shoes in the group picture. He did wear shoes in school. He's in "Team Freedom" at Destiny Academy. Today they made tye-dye shirts in Science (and learned about defusion), they also have craft & gym classes.



This year Max even has a class. He is in "Team Achievers" with 7 other 2 (or almost 2) year olds. He did great! The very smart teachers started with snack time (bribary as they called it), they also had craft, music, & story time. The teachers said that by the end of the 3hours Max and most of the younger kids were "zombies" but they were still very good. They only had one crier in the class and it wasn't Max!

Not the brightest idea

Here's a homeschool science experiment for you to try on your own... NOT!

Let the bathroom mirror lights get really hot.

Stand on the bathroom counter.

Drip cold water on the really hot light bulb.

Time how long it take for the light bulb to burst.

Tell no one.

Count how many days it takes your parents to notice the broken light bulb.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you which of our little scientists came up with this idea. When we discovered it, we asked what possessed him to do this. His answer was,

"It was an experiment. You know- science. Like school."

Yeah, right. I guess school is back in session.

A time saving tip from Max

Brush your teeth while you eat. It saves a step.

Head Bangers

Here's a conversation from this morning:

Derek: Last night the boys banged their heads together pretty hard....

Nate: We started crying at the exact same time. It was really cool....except for the hurting part.

How Max eats ice cream

This post is especially for Erica & BeckyJo to make amends for not having pictures of the Spaghetti-os . Special thanks to Susan who got to experience Max eating ice cream live and happen to have her new camera handy!

How Max makes Spaghetti-os

Yes, my almost 2 year old is a budding chef. He's figured out how to make Spaghetti-os ....

Just add your left-over yogurt covered cherrios to your spaghetti dinner!

Sound gross? Don't worry- you don't eat it- you just throw it on the floor, and the door wall and the chairs, and your brother.

Yeah. 2. It's coming.

How it all began

We got to do something fun this weekend. We were able to take our kids to the place where we fell in love. (o.k. all together now-- awwwwww)

Derek & I both attended summer camp at Camp Living Waters near Cadillac, Michigan. We both starting going there around 1979 and we know of at least 3 years where we were definitely there at the same time. We have common camp friends and even photographs of the same events but we never knew each other until 1991 when we were on staff together.

I was the Aquatics Director and Derek was a counselor. One of my jobs was to give all the staff a swimming test and then train some of them to be lifeguards. When I saw Derek swim, I decide he had potential. (To be a lifeguard! Geez, what were you thinking?) The first few weeks of Camp we got to know each other. Then on July 4th we went on a group date and saw fireworks- both literally and figuratively. By mid-August we were unofficially (so as not to completely freak our parents out) engaged. On December 27, 1991, we went back to Camp for a winter retreat and in the same spot where we first saw fireworks together, Derek officially asked me to marry him. (I said yes.) On July 25, 1992, we got married.

It's been a long time since we been back to visit. Some things have changed (like the location of the swimming area!) But a lot of its the same.



Jack Pine Lodge & Cabin Row- The steps used to be concrete and the Pepsi machine wasn't always there. When we started going to camp there was a Pepsi machine with glass bottles! The rule was you were not allowed to leave the lodge with a bottle of pop so counselors use to sit on the steps watching the sports court and hoping a camper would forget and come out with a full pop so they could confiscate it!


The Sports Court


The Dining Hall


Derek's Cabin. He was the Counselor for the Wolverine boys. There are 4 double cabin buildings similar to this one. Then there are 5 cabins connected to the main lodge (cabin row) and then 2 larger cabins connected to a smaller lodge. For a total of 15 cabins- each has its own bathroom and has 8-12 bunks.


Cant Hook- Kelli's cabin her very first year at camp!


The Horse Barn (where we snuck our first kiss!)


The old metal canoes we remember are still there but Nate had more fun on the kayaks, fun bugs & paddle boats.