A Day at the Beach

Alex and Ava absolutely love the water. In fact, whenever Ava sees water, whether it be a lake or a pool she'll say "Swim! Swim!". I think she's trying to tell me something. Anyway, one of their favorite things to do is to go to the beach. However, we were pretty busy this summer and haven't been able to go very often. Now we are nearing the end of summer and Alex starts kindergarten next week, so I decided that we needed to go to the beach at least one more time. The kids were a little excited. We had a great time playing in the water and Alex is pretty fearless when it comes to playing in the waves (and yes, that is Lake Michigan...who knew a lake could have waves like that).

Camp

Besides soccer, Alex has been in camp for 4 weeks. It was everyday for 4 hours and it gave Alex the opportunity to hang out with other kids his age and to do fun things. His favorite things to do were the climbing wall and playing 'Duck, Duck, Goose'. Here he is showing off the t-shirt he tie-dyed on the last day of camp.

Soccer

For the past few weeks Alex has been taking soccer lessons. It's just once a week, one hour lessons where they teach the kids how to play and the rules of the game. Alex really enjoyed playing and he's pretty good, too! He scored a goal when he played one-on-one with another child and he scored another goal when they played on teams. David Beckham better watch his back!

Oh, Canada!

I took the kids to Canada for a week to visit my mom and step-dad, eh. We went to the zoo and saw a bunch of animals, the water park, and a safari park where we saw even more animals. The safari was pretty cool in that you drive through the park and the animals come right up to your car (and sometimes inside it) and you can feed them. The kids were a little nervous at first but after a couple of tries they got the hang of it. I think that was Alex and Ava's favorite part.

Looking for the turtle

So my mom has this Japanese garden in her yard complete with a tea house and koi pond. Someone had given her a turtle a while ago and it had been living a peaceful existence in my mom's pond until the arrival of Alex and Ava. Everyday Alex wanted to go outside and see the turtle and everyday he would ask if we could catch the turtle. We did catch it a couple of times so the kids could see it up close but after that I told them we needed to leave the turtle alone and to just watch him in the water.

Getting ready to throw some rocks

Another favorite activity of Alex and Ava's was throwing rocks into the pond. That didn't drive my mom crazy or anything.

Swimming!

For the past month Alex has been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA. It would be an understatement to say that he likes water. I think Alex would be perfectly content to live life as a fish if he could...except that fishes can swim and Alex, well...he's gettin' there. He can jump into the pool without any help (hey, the kids are only 4 &5, it can be a little intimidating) and he can also swim the length of the pool (and back) with the help of a noodle or floatie belt. I'm very proud of his accomplishments. He might grow fins after all...

Here's my little fish swimming with his noodle.

Okay, I had to put in a picture of Ava because I don't think I did in the last couple of posts. Here she is eating her lunch while Alex is in his swim lesson.

Go Fly a Kite!

Alex got a kite as one of his birthday presents and would ask me if he could fly it when there was even a hint of a breeze. Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, it was windy enough and Alex got to fly his kite around.

Preschool Graduation

Where does the time go? It seemed like only yesterday that Alex was beginning his first day of preschool. Now, after 2 years of learning letters and numbers and a whole bunch of other stuff, Alex graduated from preschool and received his diploma. I can't believe it. I actually can't believe that there is a preschool graduation but the ceremony was really sweet and Alex looked cute wearing his cap. Anyway, next up for Alex is a summer full of swimming lessons, soccer, and playing outside before he begins the rigors of kindergarten in the fall.
Here is Alex receiving his diploma.

Alex with his teachers, Mrs. Gottlieb and Mrs. Fagg.