Biking

Carter had been hesitant about riding his bike without training wheels.  He's preferred to just ride his scooter or the big wheel.  I took the training wheels off a couple of months ago and he tried riding a little that day but didn't really like it.  I hadn't pushed him to try again until today.  I've signed him up for 2 triathlons at the end of summer so he needs to be able to ride his bike.

When I told him today we were going to try it, Carter said he'd do it for "50 seconds".  Well, that turned into all afternoon!  He does not want to get off the darn thing!

Since taking this video, Carter got way more confident.  He's going as fast as he can and turning in tight circles.

Now we just need to get him a new bike!  The 16" looks way too small!

Swim Meet vs. Brentwood YMCA

Carter is swimming with the F.A.S.T. Frogs this season.

F.A.S.T. stands for Franklin Area Swim Team and we practice at the Williamson County Rec Center in Franklin.  We chose F.A.S.T. because it's the team Suzy's kids swim with and I figured we could help each other out with practices and meets since we both have 2 non-swimmers to also wrangle.  You are also required to volunteer at 3 of the 5 meets which can be hard with all the other kids.

Carter has had 2 weeks of practice so far (but a few days have been cancelled because of the cold and rainy weather we've been having).  He also had swim lessons last week.  He's come a long way in those 2 weeks and improved so much.

This morning was cold and misty. It was only 60F at meet time!  Today's meet was at the Brentwood Y which uses their outdoor pool.  Luckily the water was heated because I can't imagine how much bluer Carter's lips would have been if it weren't!

Carter got his team suit today too - love the jammers!!!

Carter swam the 25-yard freestyle, 25-yard backstroke, and 100-yard freestyle relay for the 6 and under boys.

Carter's time in the freestyle was 46.38 seconds.  He placed 5th (but had the best time for his team).  I think he was super excited and trying too hard to swim fast because his form is usually a lot better.  But I'm so proud of him and think he did great!

Carter is in lane 5 in the video below (the swimmer closest to me while filming).

Carter's time in the backstroke was 40.07 seconds.  He placed 2nd (and had the best time for his team again).  He was less than 2 seconds behind the winner.  I was super impressed!!!

Carter was in lane 5 again (this time there is also a swimmer in lane 6).

In the the relay, Carter's team won (but only because the other team got DQ'd when two swimmers jumped in the pool at the same time - they were much faster).  Carter was the 4th swimmer in his relay and swam super fast (I didn't time or video that race).

Carter should get ribbons for all his finishes tomorrow.  He's so excited!  He loves his award collection :)

After the meet we went to McDonald's for ice cream.  Carter did a great job swimming and Rylan did awesome just hanging out and staying out of trouble!  (Grayson slept in the Ergo most of the meet which was perfect too!)

Strawberry Day at Delvin Farms

We had conflicts with the gardening class most of the month of May but we finally made it to a class on Thursday.  And it was a very special class!  We got to visit Delvin Farms and pick strawberries!

Delvin Farms is 100% organic, run a CSA program, and are at 6 local farmer markets.

After a brief introduction to the farm, we got to take a hayride over to the strawberry field.

It was fun to get to take a hayride but it was our first sunny day all week and it was very hot and humid!

Mr. Delvin told us how they use June-Bearing strawberry plants which produce large berries.

Then it was time to pick!  I'm pretty sure we only got to pick berries because they were done harvesting from the plants.  The weeds had definitely started to take over!

Plus allowing that many children in the field meant lots of trampled plants!

Carter and Rylan each filled a container and I filled a container for Grayson me.

These were the best strawberries I've had in years.  They were AMAZING!!!

The strawberries we picked a couple of weeks ago with Brian's parents have nothing on these yummy ones.  I hope we get invited back next year :)

Splash Pads

We haven't joined a pool yet for the summer but we've been sure to get in lots of fun water time already.  Twice this week between morning swim team practice and afternoon swim lessons, I took the boys to splash pads with Missy and other friends.

On Wednesday we tried out a brand new park (Port Royal) that had opened this past weekend in Spring Hill.  They have a splash pad and a really nice playground with huge slides and unique playground equipment on an astroturf ground.

I even got Grayson in his suit and sat him near a small fountain (I had to put Carter behind him so I could take some pictures since he's still having trouble not tipping over while sitting).

Grayson loved the water!  He didn't care at all when it sprayed him in the face either :)

The big boys had fun too!  They especially loved the one water blaster they could shoot at people.  Unfortunately there is only one and always a line for it.

I love Grayson's face in this group photo!

Yesterday we went downtown to Cumberland Park.

Again, Grayson loved the water!

Here's a video too ...

Rylan's friend, Radnor, also joined us.  He'd never been to a splash pad before and loved it!

Silence

Love when this happens ...

Swim Lessons

Carter and Rylan are doing swim lessons again this year with Sweetman Swim School.  We are doing them with Suzy and Jen's kids so we all make up about 75% of the class.  The lessons are one hour a day for a week.  They are out in La Vergne, which is a little over 30 minutes from our house, but definitely worth the drive.

So far lessons are going great!  It poured for about 40 minutes of today's lesson but the kids didn't seem to notice and made great progress.  The rain cleared out for the end of class so I was able to get a few videos of the boys.

Carter doing freestyle:

Carter doing backstroke:

Rylan turning over to his back:

Rylan doing streamline with a kick:

I'm super proud of my boys for working so hard and having good attitudes about it!

It's great having friends in our class too because we get to have special treats.  We stopped at Sonic on Monday after our first day of swim lessons.  The "boys table" ...

Everyone is doing great!!!

Radnor Lake

Yesterday was gorgeous and I wanted to do something fun for our first day of summer.  So I took all the boys to Radnor Lake State Park to go for a hike.  I was a little nervous about Rylan getting tired but he did great.  Everyone was perfect actually (which I needed because the big boys have been getting on each other's nerves a lot lately and Grayson has been extra fussy).

Grayson used the backpack for the first time.  He loved it!

This is my new favorite picture of the three boys!

We did 2.6 miles around the lake using the Lake Trail and Otter Creek Road.  Rylan kept saying throughout the hike, "I'm not even tired yet!"  Which was great because there was no way I'd be able to carry him with Grayson on my back!

Carter took a picture of Grayson and me ...

We spent the hike finding as many animals as we could.

We saw turkeys, geese, ducks, deer, squirrels, and turtles as well as lots of different bugs.

Grayson did so good.  He never made a noise.

The trails we did were pretty flat and really well maintained.

There are a couple of more difficult trails that I promised the boys we'd do soon.

Grayson eventually passed out.

He even slept through our one snack break.

It was a perfect day for a hike and I'm so glad we did it!  I can't wait for more summer adventures!!!

Last Day of Kindergarten

Carter had his last day of kindergarten on Thursday!

He had a great year and learned so much.  When he started in the fall, Carter could only read a few words.  Now it seems like he can read everything!  He only needs help occasionally with a big word he hasn't seen before.  He can also spell a lot of words correctly (about half his words are right at any given time).  He loves to write stories when he draws a picture.

Carter made some great friends this year and we hope to have lots of playdates this summer.  I really liked the kids in his class.  His teacher was great too.  She had her baby about a week before school ended but is planning to be back in the fall.

Carter has grown so much in the last year and it's crazy to think we now have a first grader!!!

Last Day of Kindergarten (May 21, 2015)

First Day of Kindergarten (August 14, 2014)

So Sweet

Carter wanted to feed Grayson yesterday morning.

He's a pro!  He's been watching me because without any prompting he was catching the food that dribbles out with the spoon and putting it back in Grayson's mouth.  I expected a huge mess but they did great together!!!

Rylan's First Day of Summer

For Rylan's first day of summer, I took him to the fountains at Bicentennial Mall State Park.  Missy, Suzy, and Michelle met us there with their kids too.

It was a little cool, but the kids had a ton of fun.  When we were leaving, Rylan was so sweet and thanked me for taking him there :)

Rylan and Gray.  These guys are such great buddies.  We are so sad that Michelle's family is moving to Michigan in less than a month!!!

Our Gray(son) with Jessie.  Jessie is 2 1/2 months older than Grayson.

Grayson with the city he was born in ...

Warming up on the map of Tennessee ...