Teeth, sports update, weekend action, dry lawn

Summer is flying. Meanwhile Eleanor and I've both settled sunburns and been covered in bug bites. She has her mother's skin and even now I'm typing with an ice pack on a pack of welts that I gleaned from the weekend. 

It was a busy weekend - we are working to pack as much in as we can while the days have been pleasant and the sun is shining. Grady is winding down on golf and finished his last session tonight. He's been a wonderful surprise to watch play sports this summer. He's excited to play baseball... it was a building year for sure. There are moments when I can feel him getting it - the throwing, the catching, the batting - even the base running. But then there are times when I can tell he's all arms and legs and it's still development. When he played outfield there's a spot he would park himself in between 1st and 2nd and wait for his moment to shine/aka wait for the ball to come to him. I liked watching baseball - he had some really good boys on his team and

always was excited to go play. Golf also made him happy. This past weekend, upon his request we also went to the tennis courts to play a bit - he was so interested and wanted to swing and play but the hand-eye coordination is still a work in progress but he was a fantastic ball boy.

Eleanor and I had a big conversation about finishing things that we start and giving it our all when it comes to tennis - this past week was an improvement on her participation but we will not be doing day sports next summer.

E also a big week dental wise. She had a loose tooth on Monday that she
pulled out herself on Tuesday. And why stop there... she also ripped out the other front one the same day. Much to her dismay, she did not get $20 for both teeth from the tooth fairy. He, err... I mean she, was generous enough with $5.50. 

Matt also had a rough weekend when he realized that the cord he cut during landscaping project was not the deck lines that Amanda was excited about and he didn't want... instead it was his sprinkler lines. We only caught it after a month of non-watering and disappointment in the lawn conditions. Unfortunately, he didn't remember where the end he cut "exactly" was so it required some exploratory work. The good news - he did find the ends and managed to salvage the lines and he's back up and running... the bad news - all the new grass that he did get to grow is back to mud. 

The bad news doesn't stop there.. Matt was a two time loser in the badmitton off that we had in the backyard. Occasionally, we had a kid play with us and whoever scored the point got to have the interested kid stay/move to their side of the court. They were interested and tried and maybe we'll have more of backyard brawls but I'm the current undefeated champ. We did have to get official and measure the court out. The part that killed me in all honesty was E decided to be the sports announcer! Announcing the scores and providing color commentary to the action.

We had guests over for a well cooked smoked brisket too with some seasoned rice - and cleaned house. By the way, school shopping is done and 1/2 the garden veggies are too - E and I picked all the radishes and harvested a portion of beans. We also closed out the weekend with dinner with mom and dad who popped due to a rain shower. 

MJR: So Grady, what do you like better - golf or baseball?
GRR: Golf - baseball has a lot of running.

Lola gets booted out early sunday morning from main bedroom.
Lola begins crying sporadically to demonstrate her displeasure on the other side of the door. 
After awhile, door knob turns and Ainsley's arm becomes visible
Ains: Lola wanted in.
Ains shuts door. 
Lola begins crying inside the room to announce her presence. 

Boat. Gracie's first. River Run.

 So Matt finally got the boat out and running... it's been collecting rainwater for quite some time but it's been hard with the kids and all the activity and the stuff. So he spent a day getting it sea worthy - and the kids were excited at first... and then it took too long. They can only vacuum and turn the wheel until it irritates him so much.

MJR begins pulling boat to front driveway.
G: I'm going to go tell my sisters.
Runs awkwardly to backyard, yelling: DAD'S GETTING THE BOAT OUT.
Yelling continues: DAD'S GETING THE BOAT OUT.
Yelling continues but is getting further away: DAD'S GETTING THE BOAT OUT.
MJR: Grady! Get up here and put blocks under the wheels so it doesn't roll away!
Yelling continues, uninterrupted, unphased: DAD'S GETTING THE BOAT OUT.

The next day, they took it out to run it around a bit. Matt wanted a quiet lake that they could open up on. He said they had a blast and luckily everyone understood that this was a driving time, not a fishing time. 

MJR prepping fishing poles.
Ains grabs her pole and begins to run out of the room. In this movement, catches MJR in the face with the edge of her line.
MJR: AINS! Watch your pole! 
Ains (singsong): Whoopsie daisy

The following weekend, given the success of the maiden voyage - they all went out fishing. Matt wanted to put them on some crappie or blue gill and basically plug and play. Luckily everyone understood that this was a fishing voyage, not a drive time and the lake didn't allow wake. They came home with one less fishing pole and 15 little fish. 

That evening, we celebrated our niece, Gracie's first birthday. It's so funny watching babies grow. You look for different things with each child. I know it's easier for me to observe given where I'm at in life and knowing what I know. The first birthday is a giant milestone in parenting life and I'm proud of my sister for getting there - it's hard and each day you struggle and each day you say good bye to independent life and those little people are wonderful and bright and make you laugh but also question everything in a swoop. I was excited to see our kids excited for her... especially as it can be hard to celebrate other people's birthdays. 

Ains: Why does Baby Grace get her own cake?
ALR: It's her first birthday, when you turn one you get a cake all to yourself.
Ains: Well I think she should share.
ALR: You didn't share your first birthday cake.
Ains turns and walk away: Nobody asked - I would have shared.

The following day we made a river run - this is probably one of my favorite things to do in the summer. We started doing this a couple years ago and have near about perfected it. We load up all the things we need - head down to "the dessert" aka Kimball Bottoms and within 25 minutes we are set up for the day. We pop up a tent, blow up floaties - rope and stake them, get sand toys, drop coolers... we usually have a lunch and snacks and everyone for a couple hours plays - no fights, no scraps, and it's wonderful. And the weather was grand for it... hot and made dipping legs in and dropping in wonderful. 

Other happenings of the week ... baseball, golf, and tennis... we are coming to the close of those as well but it's hard to believe summer is half over. 

Back into routine, 2nd 4th, lessons

 Won't lie... it took a bit to get back in the swing after a week of off routine. The kids had trouble at school, our emails were backed up, the house was a mess, laundry was mounting... but what made me chuckle was I asked Eleanor if it felt weird to be back.. and she said, it feels good to be back. I agreed - something about sleeping in your own bed and puttering around your own home that makes a trip feel like you came home just in time.

We did celebrate the 4th of July again on Friday night tho - we spent some time with my family and lit fireworks off at my parents house. It was nice, slow, and quiet. We had some hold overs from last year and Mom picked up some too - the kids love the parachuters. I think I'm a fountain fan... less boom, more pretty. The kids stayed a couple nights at the farm - they played in the corn, hit up the local one room school and played with the kitties between side by side rides. 

Matt and I got some stuff knocked off around home include working on the landscaping and even got a round of golf in .. it was horrible and we both played like schit until we quit talking to each other. Fun times!

This week has been busy. G started his golf lessons and he's excited about it. We are piling that on with baseball lessons - I'm not sure if we are into skill mastery yet but we are still liking. Eleanor also started tennis this week - something totally new for her. 

Overall, it's hard to believe that it's July and summer is swinging into the back half - we have a lot of things on our list that we haven't even thought about or started planning for!

G comes out.
G: Eleanor is (insert petty behavior that we don't want to hear about).
MJR: Grady, I'm sick of hearing about the things your sister does wrong. What does she do that's right?
G: Nothing
G walks off.

PA: Part 3 - the recreation

This was NOT Eleanor's first trip to Philly. She went with us in September 2016 when Aunt Judy married Uncle Chris. We took her around Philly and took pics of her with specific iconic elements of the city. Well this time, we created it. She had fun with it too - was heartbroken that we missed some but that's a trip for another day. Here is the difference of 7 years.

Generational Pic with Grandpa Dave

Pic with the victor! They all picked Geno's in the Philly Steak Off!

Not our best recreation but E says it counts. Ben Franklin grave and fence... check!

Constitution Center... she rocked this place and walked away with a replica this time!

Liberty Bell...Way more interested this time around!

She was excited to get this one with Betsy Ross House! 

Dilworth Park!

Chinatown Friendship Gate

Hers and my favorite of the set tho!

The pig at Reading Terminal Market.

For the record... I wanted to recreate where we had her sleep in the drawer in the hotel - but she wasn't having it!

PA: Part 2 - the Philly Stuff

Usually, I don't start with the quote piece but I think it sets up the second part of the vacation.
MJR laying down in his own bed upon arriving home: I've never seen so many public restrooms in my life.

We left Tuesday morning, the 4th for Philly - just our family. We said goodbye to Judy and Chris - appreciated their hospitality and tractor rides. Matt wanted to stop at the cemetery where his Grandmother is buried. G got out to take a look around too. 

G: What are you doing?
MJR: Talking to my grandma
G: Dad, are you going to die?
MJR: It will be a very long time before I die.
G: But you are going to die, right?
MJR (sighs): Let's not worry about that anymore, Grady.

After a public potty trip, we headed to Philly. We drove through the Lehigh Valley Tunnel, where they attempted to hold their breath - it didn't work. We also went past Allentown and decided to start Philly off with the Cheesesteak off. We've done this every time we've been to Philly - Geno vs Pat's. We got one whiz wit of each and sat down for lunch.

Video Spoiler: 3:2 - Matt wins with Geno's.

From there we went and got settled with our VRBO and then took on the history portion of the day. After a quick trip past Ben Franklin's grave - where we dumped quarters because we had no pennies, we took on Constitutional Center first - took in the President Portraits, the Hall of State Flags, the 19th Amendment display, and then the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I don't think that we did a good job explaining the importance of the place and the trip - maybe E got it but those other two uncultured swine complained their way through that building as well as the Liberty Bell display. The whining subsided a bit when I bought Italian Ice... which I have to say the lemon was amazing. 

We took in a Ben Franklin story - as there were story tellers parked throughout Philly that day and then headed to Betsy Ross's house - where the heat and the walking (approximately 3.7 minutes) got to Grady. I unbeknownst to me, saved the day by buying our customary 2 water bottles (one for the backwashers and one for the nonbackwashers) - G chugged it to empty and seemed better. I won't disagree that it was hot - it was 90 degrees and the humidity was high but c'mon man.

We switched gears and went to Dilworth Park - where we had to convince those people to play in the fountains. We couldn't keep them out of the creeks in PA's country BUT apparently they need swimsuits for city fountains. After a bit - they figured it out. Also, Ains and I found our 3rd public bathroom of the day - which required a purchase again.

It started raining and we had the kids put on dry clothes before heading to my favorite Philly Restaurant - the Dandelion. It's so adult and British and it makes me smile - word play, good food, good drinks..... They had no kid menu and sharing a cheese board with the heathens was a bit unnerving as they poppped aged cheddar like it was skittles but it did make me proud to split mussles, fish and chips, risotto, and my unexpected favorite - their tandori chicken. 

We headed home for baths and downtime. I specifically found this VRBO because of the view it offered of Philly. Sure, it had a lovely downtown view but it was right in the center of multiple firework shows. They had cake pops and cookies with berries that they hustled from Aunt Liz and Uncle Dave on the roof while we watched side shows. The location was ideal as Ains tuckered out and wanted to go to bed, E did too - she thought listening to the booms while she went to sleep was fun. G took in one of the big ones with us but my favorite part of the entire trip - one that I will remember for my whole life was when all the kids gave up and I got to sit on that Philly roof with my person and watch the sky light up. I love my children and fight for them each day but it's times like that I love the simplicity and ease of the love of my husband. The day in Philly was the only thing I really pushed to do for the trip and the fireworks on the 4th in the city where it all started was easily for me a once in a lifetime experience.

The next morning, we headed to another place I love - Reading Terminal Market. First stop - donuts (m&m - Ains, caramel apple - G, bavarian - Matt, white sprinkle - E, and peanut butter).

ALR to G and Ains: Aren't these amazing?
G, mouth so full of donut, his cheeks look like a chipmunk (nods earnestly)

From there the graze was on - we had an Iberico Cone - which Manchego cheese, a salami and teeny breadstick. G and I devoured. Ains thought the cheese looked like dried pineapple and wasn't interested. We started the shop and walk.. the kids got hung up on the sweets and cotton candy but the cheese monger caught my eye. Matt loved the meat display cases. The kids saw a lobster tank and each took pics. I totally got sidelined by the famous mint lemonana - with rosewater splash. I had to share with gluggers before Ains decided she needed to add another public restroom notch on her list. They took in pickles and I split an Amish pretzel before we left for the Please Touch Museum. 

Ainsley's view of the lobster tank - no wonder she's angry, she can't see schit.

This was a beautiful concept because these children couldn't keep their hands on anything - bathroom walls, signs, fence posts, sidewalk glass - I'm not sure when they are going to understand filth and yuck but we are not there right now. There are all sorts of divisions in the museum - Alice in Wonderland, water tables, transportation, grocery store, bakery... but Matt's favorite was the money and currency section - of course it was. I got a kick out of the baseball exhibit that was up too. 

From there - we went to the airport. Took the rental back and caught the two flights back home getting in at approximately 1:15 ... AM. Not everyone was a good traveler that day. G probably was the best especially since he took a nap on the longer flight. But I will not forget the final leg into Bis where we had TV's and Ains just wanted to watch Paw Patrol but the announcements and safety briefings kept pausing her show. She lost her mind and I will always see this tiny hand coming up beside Matt gesturing emphatically, like an angry little Italian and wailing like an Irish wake that she didn't need the safety brief and wanted Paw Patrol. I sat across the aisle so maybe my humor in the situation is from not having to rationalize with that exhausted little body.