Calvin's Last Day of Kindergarten

Um, yes, his last day was a week ago, so we are a little behind again. This will be a short post, too, because our air conditioning went out tonight and it is, like, 90 degrees INSIDE the house and I just cannot really concentrate on anything except the Skinny Cow ice cream cone I'm going to get out of the freezer the second I am done with this.

Until then, here is a picture of Calvin on his FIRST day of kindergarten back in August. See how small and uncertain he is here:



And by some strange coincidence (or maybe because he needs more shirts), he happened to be wearing the same shirt on the last day of school. I wish I could say we planned this. But we did at least notice it and figured it would be a really good time to take another photo. So here is on the last day of school. Bigger, hairier, smarter, and still just as cute:

Our Little Maestro

On Sunday, Calvin had his second piano recital of his young musical life. He started taking piano in September and, despite the occasional struggle to get him to practice, we have all really enjoyed it. He can read music now and recognizes many of the musical marks and relishes the fact that he now knows more about piano than Noah.

I was SO nervous at his first recital in February. We wanted Calvin to be prepared for the fact that there would be lots of people watching, but we didn't want to freak him out, so it was a tough balance to strike. Plus, the first recital was canceled and rescheduled many times because of all the snow, so we had many weeks for extra practice and growing anxiety (at least on my part). But when the day came, he went up, played, smiled, and thought nothing of it.

So when this recital rolled around, we could all relax a little bit more. And he did great! We told him he could pick the restaurant after his recital, which, of course, was his usual favorite (and ours) Rio Grande, a Mexican place that is usually insanely busy so we have to carefully time our visits. But we braved the Sunday night crowds for him.

Here he is, all decked out and ready for the show. I hope we can get a few more uses out of that awesome seersucker jacket this summer, before he outgrows it:



Looking for his name in the program, which is probably the highlight of the show for him:




Found it! Yes, he was playing the classics Yankee Doodle, Grandmother, C Song, and Elephant Ride:


Our sweet girl. She was very patient during the performances:


This is her brother's face, absorbing an afternoon of culture while the other kids played:

Finally, his turn. He's playing a duet with his teacher, Ilya:



This was the best shot we could get of his bow, which is my favorite part of his performance. (His teacher makes all his students practice the bow, too, so Calvin is really good at it:) He was pretty excited to finish this time, though, and we were seated way in the back. So he only paused for a second and then broke into a sprint to get back to us. But his smile shows how pleased he is with himself. When he got back to his seat, I hugged him and told him he did a great job. And he said, "And now you'll take me to Rio Grande."

DINOSAUR poem

I had a pretty crummy day today--like a Monday on a Friday--but this made me laugh when I pulled it out of Calvin's backpack. So I thought I would share. It's one of those poems you make where each line starts with one of the letters of a word, which is printed vertically down the side of the paper. I really didn't appreciate these when I was a kid, but boy, do I now as a mom! So cute.

Not sure how well you can read this in the photo, so I will translate below, too. I think it's the "Nasty" that really gets me:


"DINASOURS" by Calvin

Dinasour
Incredeble
Nasty
Outstanding
Super Cool
Ate Meet and Plants
Ugly
Rooooor!

First Baseball Game of the Year

Noah is very excited to be going to the Nationals game tonight to see this new guy, Stephen Strasburg, some "pitching phenom," as they are calling him. It is also beautiful outside, cool and no humidity--a perfect night for baseball.

In honor of his special outing, I'm posting some photos our trip to the game on Sunday--our first game of the season. Unfortunately, our weather wasn't so great. Extreme humidity followed by a downpour. I think we actually sat in our seats for a total of 20 minutes and then had to run for cover. But we still had fun!

The boys:



The girls:



(I have a confession here. I once told Noah long ago, before we had kids, that if we ever had a daughter, he had to promise not to by her any pink sports paraphernalia. I didn't mind if he decked her out in Redskins stuff--I think this was before the Nats were around--I told him it just had to be in the usual burgundy and gold. OK, but I totally caved when I saw this cute pink Nats hat for V. I mean, come on, it has little watermelon slices on it. How could I resist? And the woman outside the ballpark gave us this really great deal, as you know they always do:)



Calvin sporting his new batting cap. They passed these out to all the kiddos upon entering. Lucky guy:


Calvin and a friend. No, not the real Ryan Zimmerman. But they are both serious baseball fans, nonetheless. Obviously:

Catching up!

Two weeks ago (yes, we are a little late with this post), we decided to jumpstart the summer with a little trip to the beach. We had considered going on Memorial Day, but because we planned it late, the places were already booked or too expensive. So Noah took a day off work and we made our own three-day weekend. Yes, we beat the crowds and the crazy summer prices, but we also got to the beach before the warm, sunny weather.

Here is Calvin checking out the beachview from our hotel, and getting excited about the cool kids' pool below. This is also the last time we saw the sun that weekend:


I should say that we didn't beat all the crowds though. Somehow, in all of our infinite planning, we missed the fact that it was also Classic Car Weekend at OC. This meant that there was a population of nomads who came to the beach to either show off their cool cars, or to stand on the street, drink beer, and watch them go by. Apparently, one of the main goals at these sorts of events is to cheer the drivers on, urging them to spin out their tires. So everyone once in a while, someone would indulge the crowd and large squeals and plumes of black smoke would follow. Yes, it was pretty much a 5-year-old boy's dream come true. For us, it was both really cool and really cheesy. But I guess that's what you kind of want from your trip to the beach.


Calvin and his favorite green truck:


We have A LOT of pictures of the various vintage cars, mainly because Calvin kept begging me to take photos. He was trying to match up the cars to some of the ones in his Hot Wheels collection. (There were a lot of similarities, actually.) The picture below is my favorite, though, because Calvin took it. So it is a classic car show from a 5-year-old's perspective. What better way to see it?




We also took the kids on a little drive to the beach at Assateague. It was not your traditional beach weather. No sunny sky or warmth for us. But the cold and fog was kind of cool, and made for a quiet, introspective day at the beach.

V enjoying the ride:

Bridge to nowhere:



The ocean is out there...somewhere:



There were other people there, but you just couldn't see them. Kind of like having the beach and the ocean to ourselves:





Later, there were fun games along the boardwalk:


Noah sketching a picture of his boy at a local BBQ joint:


Kinda looks like him, huh?



And while everyone else was heading back to school and work on Monday, we were... playing mini-golf:


Champions' pose:

Memorial Day at home

We had our beach weekend last weekend (photos to come), so this Memorial Day, we were at home. I think I preferred it that way, though. No crowds. No traffic. And we could escape the heat by going inside our air-conditioned house. (Of course, we could have used just a little of that warmth and sunshine when we were in OC last week. But you can't have everything.)

We did BBQ with friends, of course. But we also had time to laze around and have fun at home.

Good porch weather:


Violet practicing some walking in one of her many summer dresses I wish came in adult sizes:


A slobbery smooch for Daddy:


Noah and Calvin also went for a bike ride one morning. And then we took off Calvin's training wheels and had him practice a bit in the grass at home. This actually worked out well. He did manage to stay up for a few feet at a time, and we all cheered. He's doing great. And he has a good incentive: Daddy has promised him a bell and light set for his bike once he learns to do it without the training wheels. (Yes, we know that by calling this an "incentive," it doesn't erase the fact that it is also a bit of a bribe, so feel free to call the parent police. But progress has been slow here, so we are doing what we can to get him excited about it. And come on, who doesn't want a bell and a light set?)