Tennis

Rylan decided awhile back that he really wanted to take tennis lessons.  I've been trying to get him into a set through Williamson County Parks and Rec but none have lined up to work with our schedule so far.  I'm really hoping to find a class this summer that is at the Indoor Sports Complex which is where Carter had his home swim meets last year.  Tennis in the summer has to be so much more pleasant indoors!

Carter and Rylan have been hitting tennis balls with our old racquetball rackets in the road lately so I decided to surprise the boys with their own rackets.  We actually had nothing after school today so after picking the boys up from school, we headed over to Crockett Park to try out "real" tennis.

We played for about an hour and Gray was a perfect angel (SURPRISE!!!).  He even let me have my racket most of the time and he just watched us as we moved around the court.

At first the boys tried hitting back and forth to one another.

That ended up with a lot of standing around so eventually it was the two of them against me.  Rylan stood around mid-court and Carter stood behind him at the back of the court.  Rylan would miss a little over half of the balls and Carter would hit a lot of those.

It actually worked out really well.  The boys and I had a lot of fun and we are looking forward to playing again when we have some free time!!!

Field Trip - Rylan

Rylan's class went on a field trip to the Nashville Children's Theater today.  Carter also went here for his spring kindergarten field trip last year.  I helped to drive (I only had to take Rylan though) but Gray and I didn't want to be a disturbance so we sat in the lobby during the play.

The theater is downtown in an area I haven't really been much and I was impressed with how pretty the area is.  Nashville is changing so much right now - there are new buildings and apartments everywhere.

I took a few pictures of the kids while they waited to be seated in the theater.  Mason is still one of Rylan's best friends ...

Henderson & Hudson with Rylan ...

About half of Rylan's class ...

Rylan said the play with really funny and he liked it a lot.  Only a few more weeks with these sweet kiddos before they all spread out to different schools!!!

St. Louis - Day 3

On our third day in St. Louis, we spent most of the day at the City Museum.  It had rained overnight and it was pretty chilly that day so we wanted an indoor activity.

City Museum is probably the most unique and coolest place we have ever been.  It is impossible to describe the place.  I've pulled some information from Wikipedia to try to explain it ...

City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building. The museum bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." On the first floor, are a number of tunnels that run across the ceiling, hiding above a sea of fiberglass insulation cut to give the impression of icicles. To get into these, one can climb up a Slinky, which is an old refrigerating coil (donated by Anheuser-Busch), or through a tree house which leads into a giant hollowed out tree that leads to a cabin on the other side of the floor. One of the museum's most popular attractions, the Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shafts run through the center of the Museum, and go all the way to the 10th floor.  The Shoe Shafts were developed from structures built for the International Shoe distribution operation. To get the shoes from various floors to the loading dock, staff would place the shoes on spiral shafts. The Shafts opened in 2003 with one three-story spiral slide, and five years later added a ten-story slide that starts at the roof and goes down to the Caves' entrance. There is also a five-story slide.

There are several more stories of amazing slides, rebar creations, a circus performance ring, a skate park (without skateboards), secret passageways, a train, a bank vault, and so much more.  There are two outdoor areas too.  Unfortunately the roof was still closed for the winter when we were there but there is a ferris wheel up there, a school bus that hangs halfway off the building, and much, much more.

I wish my pictures could do this place justice.  It has got to be the most amazing place for a kid.  I don't think a child could imagine anything cooler.  There is something new to discover literally around every corner.  There are so many secret passageways and tunnels that you can get lost in.  Luckily we never lost anyone!  It was extremely crowded since it was spring break for the local kids.  We stayed with the big boys for awhile when it wasn't too crowded yet but eventually we just let them explore an area an just check in with us occasionally.

The outdoor section that was open as we were walking into the building ...

How cool is this coil that you can climb through to get from one floor to another ...

One of the many, many slides (Brian is going down with Gray in the first picture) ...

We got to City Museum before it opened and when we were able to go in, we essentially had the place to ourselves for awhile.

This is the Shoe Shaft area with the 10-story slide you get to after going through the caves ...

Rylan didn't want to go all the way up (it was pretty dark and a little scary feeling) but Carter and Brian did the big slide.

So many rebar structures to climb up and through ...

Rylan watching a TV to know when the slide is clear to go down (this may have been the fastest slide I've ever been down - it was SCARY!!!) ...

There was a toddler area with smaller versions of the cool slides and climbing structures that were easier to take Gray on ...

We ventured out into the cold for a little bit to check out the cool stuff out there ...

Rylan shocked me by not being scared to climb up these "ladders" really high above the ground ...

Brian with Gray ...

One of Carter's favorite spots was this bird's nest :)

After about 6 hours, Brian and I were worn out.  The boys could have stayed longer but we could tell there were getting tired too.  It was only 3pm so we decided to fit in a Budweiser brewery tour.  On the way to the brewery, we were telling the boys about clydesdales.  Rylan proceeded to ask, "Is beer horse pee?"  We had a hard time not answering that yes, Budweiser pretty much is :)

We did the free tour which was just right for taking the boys with us.  There wasn't too much walking or talking.  And we did get to see the clydesdales.

Our free sample on the tour ...

We got to hold onto this chip to get a free full size draft beer after the tour.  These little chips are the only thing I remember from a Miller tour I did as a kid with my family one summer in Milwaukee.

I'm pretty sure the entire brewery does not look like this (it's pretty much the exact opposite of Eastman!) ...

After the tour, we hung out in the warm beer garden for awhile and enjoyed our free beers and lemonades.  We also ordered some really yummy appetizers that ended up being our dinner.

Brian and I both agreed this hour was the most relaxing part of the trip :)  Everyone was in a good mood and we had free beer!

When we were done, Brian and I decided we didn't have energy for a big dinner and we had promised the boys some time at the pool.  So we hit up the McDonald's drive thru for a little more food and headed back to the hotel.  The boys enjoyed the super crowded pool and then we headed off to bed!

Speech Update

Both Carter and Rylan are still in speech therapy through your school system.  They are finally at a point that they are rarely misunderstood.  Except for no one can understand Carter say his name still!!!  Most people still think he says Conner even though he overemphasizes the "-ter".

Carter is pulled from class for just a few minutes 2 or 3 times a week.  Here is a summary of this progress report for the third quarter:

Annual Goal 1:  During 5 minutes of conversational speech, Carter will correctly produce /s/ in all positions of words with 80% accuracy in 4/5 data sessions over a 5 week period as measured by observation and data collection.

Status Narrative:  Carter has met this goal!

Annual Goal 2:  Given words with initial /r/ and /r/-blends, Carter will correctly produce /r/ in words then sentences with 80% accuracy in 4/5 data sessions over a 5 week period as measured by observation and data collection.

Status Narrative:  Carter continues to work on initial /r/ and /r/-blends.  He currently elongates this sound and overemphasizes it because he is focusing on correct production.  He is making great progress though!

Annual Goal 3:  Given words with vocalic /r/, Carter will correctly produce vocalic /r/ in words with 80% accuracy in 4/5 data sessions over a 5 week period as measured by observation and data collection.

Status Narrative:  Carter has been working on his /er/ and /or/ in words.  He is making good progress!  We will move to other vocalic /r/ sounds soon.

Status Summary Narrative:  Carter always works hard and has such a positive attitude!

Rylan attends therapy at Crockett Elementary two times a week for 30 minutes.  Unfortunately his group has grown to 4 kids so I don't feel like he can possibly be getting that much therapy.  But I cannot complain too much as this is still a free program for us :)  Here is a summary of this progress report for the third quarter:

Annual Goal 1:  Rylan will eliminate the process of cluster reduction (s-clusters) in the final position of words and phrases with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 trials.

Status Narrative:  Goal Met.

Annual Goal 2:  Rylan will eliminate the process of cluster reduction (s-clusters) in the initial position in spontaneous speech and conversation as measured in 3-5 minute speech samples with 80% accuracy.  (i.e. describing a picture, commenting on a story, or describing his day)

Status Narrative:  Rylan has met this goal with most s-clusters.  He sometimes still has difficulty with "sl", but continues to show improvements.

Annual Goal 3:  Rylan will eliminate the process of velar fronting (produce k and g) in all positions in spontaneous speech and conversation as measured in 3-5 minute speech samples with 80% accuracy.  (i.e. describing a picture, commenting on a story, or describing his day)

Status Narrative:  Goal Met.

Status Summary Narrative:  Rylan is such a hard worker and is a joy to have in speech.

Derby Run

Carter's school had their annual Derby Run fundraiser on Friday.  The kids collect pledges for each lap they complete around the car rider loop.  The loop is a little under 0.2 miles and the kids have 30 minutes to do as many laps as they can.  There are a good mix of kids that walk and kids that run.

Last year Carter had the most laps in his class with 17.  My little overachiever wanted to do more laps this year and also get more than anyone in his class, again.

And he easily did it!  This year he ran 20 laps!!!  I think the closest kid to him in his class had 15 laps.  Twenty laps is what the faster older kids do.  He's a really smart runner for only being 7!!!  He ran at a comfortable pace the entire time and then picked it up the last few minutes.  He only stopped three times and only for a couple of seconds to get a quick sip of water.

I so proud of my little runner!  I don't think it'll be long before he can beat me in a 5K!

Carter's class with their teach Mrs. Hess ...

Game Balls

Today was our typical spring Saturday with soccer and baseball games.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to see either Carter or Rylan's soccer games because they overlapped with the other's baseball game and pictures.  But they both did awesome according to Brian.  Carter scored the only goal for his team and Rylan scored 3 of the 4 goals for his team (with the fourth goal being a goal kick that went the entire length of the field and probably would have gone in on it's own but was tapped by one of his teammates!).  Rylan apparently had amazing defense as well and hopped back up right away every time he got taken down.

Both boys also had great baseball games.  So great that they both earned the game balls for their teams!  Yay!!!

Rylan had hits at both at-bats (he didn't need the tee either time) and made it safely to first each time.  The first inning he played right field.  He remembered to back up first base each time and was always paying great attention.  He even fielded one ball and ran it to first base for an out!!!  The second inning he played second base.  He had one AMAZING fielding of a grounder on the run and continued on with the ball and tagged second for an out.  He also covered second base every time the ball was hit to the left side of the field and even got an out when one of the other kiddos threw the ball to him.  Brian got to see the majority of the game and we were super proud of how much Rylan was always aware of what was going on during the game.  He definitely earned the game ball today!

Carter also had a great game.  He played all over the field this game but the only time he touched the ball was when a ball was hit to him at second base during the first inning.  The ball hit his foot too so he didn't even get a chance to get an out.  But where he excelled today was at the plate.  At Carter's game on Tuesday, I noticed his bat was in horrible shape.  It was dented all over!  When did that happen?!?!?  I got him a new bat this week and we went to the batting cage for over an hour yesterday to give both boys some hitting practice and let Carter get used to the new bat.  It's 2 inches longer and 2 ounces heavy so he was having a little trouble getting used to it.  I was a little worried for the game today.  But he had a couple of AMAZING hits.  The first he hit hard to the left side and it should have been a triple but our player on deck touched the ball as it was thrown in from the outfield and Carter had to go back to second.  He nailed his last hit up the middle (I don't think it landed until the outfield).  He had another hit up the third base line and struck out once.  Besides the great hits, Coach Jeff mentioned during the game ball speech how Carter caught a fly ball during the last game and that Carter is always thinking.  He even mentioned how Carter is super hard on himself and how you can tell he is always replaying what he did wrong in the field after the play so he doesn't do it again.

We are super proud of both boys!  They definitely gave it their all today!

Soccer Pictures

Saturday was picture day for our soccer teams.  The cost keeps going up every year and I cannot spend $25-30 per kid per sport per season for one individual and one team picture.  So I offered to both of our teams to do the pictures myself.  We still showed up to the official pictures in case anyone wanted them but then moved off to the side and did our own.

Front Row (L to R): Robert, Mac B., Caleb, Rylan

Back Row (L to R): Jameson, Mac H., Maddox, Angelo, Cooper

Missing: Radnor

Here is Rylan's individual picture from his very first season (Fall '13):

Front Row (L to R): Carter, Jack, Ian

Middle Row (L to R): Jude, Jake, Jack Henry, Carson

Back Row (L to R): Whit, Cam, Calum, Charlie, Hudson

Here is Carter's individual picture from his very first season (Fall '12):