Finger Counting

Rylan seems to think he's from Europe.  When he's using his fingers to count, he starts with his thumb instead of his index finger.  However it gets a bit weird when number four is his pinky and number five is his ring finger.  Check it out ...

Baseball Practice

Carter has had a total of 4 baseball practices (however, we did miss an additional 3 while we were in Disney).  We were supposed to have more practices but a handful were canceled because of the crazy weather and the coach being out of town.  Tonight was Carter's first game but I wasn't able to go because I had to coach Rylan's soccer practice.  The team was supposed to play on Saturday but that got rained out and the make-up game is tomorrow.  So I'll post about games next time.

So far, practice had been going well.  This is our coach's first time ever coaching.  He's doing good for never having done it before.  It would be better if he broke the team up into stations more often so there is less standing around, but it's not like the games are going to be that active either.

Carter is getting used to hitting pitched balls that are thrown overhand from pretty far away.

I used to always pitch underhand and from pretty close and those he can hit easy.

We've been doing some practice in the backyard and will continue to work on it.  During games the kids get 5 pitches from the coach and then get 2 tries off the tee.

Here are a couple of Carter's hits from practice the Saturday before last ...

The last couple of practices Carter has ended up playing first base.  He's been doing so well that he's won the starting position there.  Go Carter!!!

Brian said Carter did great in his first game tonight and I can't wait to see him play tomorrow!

New Addition

BIG NEWS ... We have a new addition due November 7th!!!

I had an ultrasound on Friday and everything looks great.  I'm 8 weeks along.  We told the boys on Friday morning before our appointment (and took them with us to the appointment).  They are so excited!  Carter wants the baby to be a girl and Rylan hopes it's a boy.

So far I'm feeling horrible, but managing :)  The all day nausea is awful and I'm ridiculously exhausted.  I was prescribed some medicine on Friday and it's helping some.  Hopefully this pregnancy is more like my second and the sickness gets better after the first trimester (I don't think it ever went away with Carter).  And I'm already showing! Crazy!

We're super excited (and a bit nervous) to be expanding our family!

Disney - Day 4 (Epcot)

Our next day at Disney was Tuesday, February 25th.  After our long day at Magic Kingdom, we were looking forward to a slower day at Epcot.  Rylan was still up nice and early (at 5:30 am - which felt like 4:30) but Carter and Brian "slept in" to 7:15 am.  I somehow kept Rylan quiet enough with the iPad and even got stuff packed up for the day while the other guys slept.

Epcot had Magic Hours on Tuesday so the park opened for resort guests at 8 am.  We arrived around 8:30 and it was still pretty empty.  We decided to go do Soarin' first since it always has the longest line at Epcot (it was still a 20 minute wait this early).  Soarin' is another ride that Rylan now made the 40" height requirement.

On Soarin', you sit in a hang-glider (with your feet danging) in front of a huge IMAX screen showing scenes filmed in California.  The hang-glider moves around some to create the feeling of slight drops and moving side-to-side.  There is also wind and scents like oranges and fir trees.

Yosemite Falls!  We hiked to the upper falls in 2007!

Both boys thought this was the coolest ride of the day.  As we were getting off, Rylan was already saying he wanted to ride it again.

Our next stop was the Epcot Character Spot.  We got to meet Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie.

When Rylan saw that the last character was Minnie, he decided he had no interest in meeting her and went to sit in his stroller.

Next we had a Fast Pass for Test Track.  I had never been on the ride and it had been redone since the last time we were at Disney and Brian rode it.

Before the ride, you get about 4 minutes to design a car.  While on the ride, your car is compared to the other people's cars on the ride for speed, handling, etc.

Carter and I designed this car:

Rylan and Brian designed this one:

Carter liked the ride but Rylan was not a fan of the speed section (you are outside then and approach 70 mph - it's REALLY windy).

After Test Track we did the Living with the Land boat ride through the Epcot greenhouses.  The kids thought it was pretty cool seeing foods they like (and don't like) still growing.  Next we had a Fast Pass for Soarin'.  The boys liked it just as much the second time.

By now we were getting hungry so we headed to the World Showcase section to find lunch.  We ended up in Morocco at the Tangierine Cafe - it was really good.  On the walk there, Rylan finally took is first nap of the week.  He slept through lunch and for a little while after.

While Rylan was still asleep, we set Carter up to do the Agent P's World Showcase Adventure.  Agent P. replaced Kim Possible that we had done before.  It's pretty much the same thing, but updated with new characters.

Basically it’s a series of scavenger hunts at pavilions in the World Showcase.  The hunts use an adapted cell phone to develop a story, give you clues, and activate various objects that you find.

Carter's pavilion was France.

Rylan woke eventually and helped out.

There goes Agent P. ziplining between buildings!

When you are done, there are hidden places to deposit your phone.

Since Carter basically got to do France, we let Rylan start over with his own phone and do Japan.

We Japan 2 years ago and a lot of things were the same, but Agent P. in a boat was new.

Next we did Germany together making the boys switch the phone back and forth between them.  Here are the beer steins that we activated.

This time Rylan got to deposit the phone when we were done.

After all the Agent P. fun, we did the couple of rides in the World Showcase.  First was the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico.  Then we did Maelstrom in Norway (we had a fast pass for that one).  Rylan didn't love the ride but did fine.  He really doesn't like the drops.  I can't blame him - I generally don't either.  I prefer loops and crazy movements over basic drops.

Next we did Ellen's Energy Adventure.  Rylan was so excited when we told him that there were dinosaurs on the ride but then got a little scared when he actually saw them (we were just preparing him for DINOSAUR at Animal Kingdom the next day - that one's really scary!!!).

The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival was coming up so there were some new cool topiaries that were being constructed ...

Our last ride of the day was The Seas with Nemo and Friends.  After we rode it we walked through the aquarium for a bit (we got to see manatees eating lettuce) and played in the kids area for awhile.

On our way out (about 5:30 pm) we attempted a family photo (not sure why Rylan was so grumpy!).

We picked up dinner at Moe's and took it back to our hotel to eat.  After dinner we walked around the hotel grounds and made it to the Cars section this time.  The boys had to have their picture taken with EVERY SINGLE CAR.

Lightning McQueen had a box around him with a picture on it - he apparently needed a repair).

After dinner it was time for baths and showers and we were all in bed by 9 pm.

Class Pictures

The boys had their class pictures a couple of weeks ago at their school.  Somehow both boys look good in their pictures (the glare looks like it was really bad in Carter's picture because half the kids and teacher look like they are scowling).  I love Rylan's relaxed look :)

Carter's Class

Back Row (L to R): Sarah Kate, Evan, Lyla, Annalane, Molli, Hunt, Campbell
Front Row (L to R): Lacie, Quinn, Sadie Mae, Sophie, Carter, Maddie
Teacher: Ms. Denise

Rylan's Class

Back Row (L to R): Lucy, Colgan
Middle Row (L to R): Maddie, Madelyn, Georgia, Hannah, Jude
Front Row (L to R): Rylan, Luke, Vanessa, Ella
Teachers: Ms. Linda, Ms. Cynthia

Here are the kids' pictures from 2013 and 2012.

Neighborhood Hike

Yesterday afternoon I took the boys for a hike in our neighborhood.  Instead of a pool, our neighborhood has a nature trail up to a water tower and pockets of "nature".  I'd rather have a pool :)

The boys decided they needed their Camelbaks and hiking sticks for the hike (as well as a set of binoculars).

First we had to hike about 1/4 mile to the trailhead.  And then it's probably 1/3 mile straight up to the water tower.

Carter was all about posing for some pictures!

Taking a little break midway up ...

"Mom, are you really not going to carry me???"

Rylan actually did great.  He was getting tired but he found a new game of hitting trees with his hiking stick and was re-energized.

We made it!

Every once in awhile I get a great picture of BOTH boys!!!

The boys decided to hold hands for about half the hike back down the hill.  So sweet!!!

Amazingly I didn't have to carry anyone our entire walk.  The boys did great and I think we avoided any ticks this time.  Last time we did this trail (almost 1 1/2 years ago), the boys got tick bombed!

Hockey - Session 1

Carter started the G.O.A.L! hockey program last night at A-Game.  He was excited about it but not overwhelmingly so.  I had been preparing him for a couple of days that it was going to be hard to ice skate and that he would definitely fall down at first.  I believe he just wasn't sure what to think.

When we got there, we picked up skates for Carter and then got him all suited up.  The coaches were walking around helping us make sure we got all the gear on correctly.  One of them taped up Carter's stick so it would be easier for him to pick up.

I have to say I was really nervous for Carter.  I knew it was going to be harder than he was thinking it would be.

Here Carter is getting onto the ice for the first time (I split the video into 2 shorter ones so it would upload):

I could see in Carter's face that he was so scared.  But he eventually started moving again and made it across the corner to another wall.  He didn't spend much of that time on his feet though.  I saw some lip quivering but no tears.  Carter did tell me afterwards that he cried a little.

Giving me a weak smile :)

The session was 45 minutes.  The first 10 minutes was spent evaluating the kids.  They were just sent out on the ice with no instruction.  The coaches came around and put colored tape on the kids' hockey sticks based on their skill level.  The program is for kids aged 5 to 8 so there were a lot of different ability levels out there.  Some could confidently skate around with no problem while others, like Carter, could barely stand up.

One of the coaches tried helping Carter during this time.  He started doing it ... and then fell on his butt again - ouch!

After that first 10 minutes, the kids were told to gather together.  Carter had to go pretty far so he figured out a way to get there as quickly as he could!

It was a little hard to pick out one kid in this mass of matching kids!

Next the kids split up into several small groups.  They had to skate from one end of the rink to the other and back with the help of one coach per group.

Here is Carter starting his turn ("I can do this, I can do this ... not really!):

Carter did get better as he went.  He was going at a snails pace but could go several yards without falling.

Here is Carter getting some help from the coaches - he went so far!!! (Again, split into 2 videos)

About to head back ...

Carter was one of the last few and I think a coach brought him the last several yards because the kids were back into a large group before splitting up one more time.  This time the kids worked on improving their skating.  They were grouped by ability so some were learning very basics and some were doing more (I didn't really pay attention to any groups other than Carter's).

Carter was with one of the girls we've seen at Lil Sluggers that started coaching this session.  I talked to her for a minute before the session and she said hockey was actually her background.  She was awesome with Carter's group.  (Carter is on the right in the picture below.)

She taught the kids how to stand up, how to use their stick to help them balance and not fall, and gave them lots of tips that I couldn't hear from outside the rink.  The kids went back and forth across the ice from one side to the other practicing skating.  That was the goal of this session - just to learn how to skate.  Carter got better and better each time across.  I wish I took videos at this point.  He would fall maybe once each time across.  The last time across Carter even started to try gliding instead of just taking little steps.  He went so fast that time!

I was super impressed by the program and how they worked with the kids.  There were a lot of coaches out there helping and they were so nice.  They seemed to have a great system of handling so many kids at so many ability levels.  Carter improved so much in 45 minutes.

I am SO PROUD of Carter too.  I know he wanted to leave more than anything at first but he didn't give up and didn't even ask to stop.  He was so brave and stuck with it.

Afterwards Carter told me all the different things he learned (and figured out on his own).  He told me when he feels like he's going to fall, he leans forward so he doesn't fall on his butt (because that hurts).  He explained how he learned to use his stick to help him stand up.  And he showed me the right way to hold it.  He did a great job listening to the coaches and doing the things they told him.

Carter said that next week they are going to have pucks and he's scared of that.  He also told me thought that after the 4 sessions are over, he doesn't want to play hockey again :)