Fun at Kimball Farm

We went to Kimball farm in Westford with the family this weekend. Wow, was it fun! Their offerings begin with food and ice cream, and are then huge in scope, ranging from bumper boats and petting zoos to 2 miniature golf coures, a driving range and batting cages. Fun was had by all!

Connor's first drive on the range

Fiona is getting the hang of things

Uncle Michael demonstrating the proper technique

Bumper boats -- Booyah -- they were fun!

Bam!

Fiona did a great job driving!

Connor did not want to leave the batting cages!

Mad Libs

We recently rediscovered a childhood favorite - Mad Libs -- reincarnated on the iPhone. Mike and I played with it a bit on a long car ride a few weeks ago. Connor had a blast doing it on our trip into Boston.

I want to share these funny little stories!

Connor did this one.

TARZANOne of the most hairy
ADJECTIVE characters in fiction is called 'Tarzan of the dogs
PLURAL NOUN.' Tarzan was raised by a/an monster
ANIMAL and lives in a/an green
ADJECTIVE jungle in the heart of darkest (the) Texas
A PLACE. He spends most of his time eating bananas
TYPE OF FOOD (PLURAL) and swinging from tree to cat
NOUN. Whenever he gets angry, he beats on his chest and says, 'beep
FUNNY NOISE!' This is his war cry. Tarzan always dresses in blue
ADJECTIVE shorts made from the skin of a/an kangaroo
ANIMAL, and his best friend is a/an fat
ADJECTIVE chimpanzee named Cheetah. He is supposed to be able to speak to elephants and zombies
PLURAL NOUN. In the movies, Tarzan is played by Connor
PERSON IN ROOM.

Connor also did this one.

VACATIONSA vacation is when you take a trip to some hairy
ADJECTIVE place with your plain
ADJECTIVE family. Usually you go to some place that is near a/an Florida
NOUN or up on a/an Colorado
NOUN. A good vacation place is one where you can ride kangaroos
ANIMAL (PLURAL) or play Wii
GAME or go hunting for hockey sticks
PLURAL NOUN. I like to spend my time bowling
VERB ENDING IN 'ING' or skiing
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. When parents go on a vacation, they spend their time eating three cheeseburgers
FOOD (PLURAL) a day, and fathers play golf, and mothers sit around running
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. Last summer, my little brother fell in a/an Connor
NOUN and got poison rose bush
PLANT all over his foot
PART OF THE BODY. My family is going to go to Disney World
PLACE, and I will practice snowboarding
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. Parents need vacations more than kids because parents are always very silly
ADJECTIVE and because they have to work 1,025,000
NUMBER hours every day all year making enough jelly donuts
PLURAL NOUN to pay for the vacation.


And this one:

A RECIPE FOR ICE CUBESTo make tall
ADJECTIVE ice cubes, first find a tray with molds shaped like a ice
NOUN or a dog
NOUN. Then snowboarding
VERB once while holding the tray. Fill the molds with Koolaid
TYPE OF LIQUID, or even water
TYPE OF LIQUID, but for the best results always use milk
TYPE OF LIQUID. It can even be dyed yellow
COLOR if you wish. Ski
VERB carefully when placing the tray in the freezer. Allow the cubes to fly
VERB for at least 125
NUMBER minutes until they are completely hairy
ADJECTIVE. Remove the tray quickly
ADVERB, and jiggle with your heads
PART OF THE BODY (PLURAL) until the cubes run
VERB. Add to your favorite drink and play
VERB!

Characterizations

After touring Fenway last Saturday, we continued on into Boston for a couple of errands and lunch. Mike had forewarned me there was an anime conference. I was completely unprepared for it. Turns out, it was the annual Anime Expo. The Anime Expo included a masquerade, anime video contest, video games and more... Apparently, somewhere around 20,000 people were expected to attend this year. We saw many of them, dressed as their favorite character, as we had our lunch...

Food court at the Prudential Center

Who knew?!

Touring Fenway

We had a great day the Saturday before Easter. Michael, Connor and I decided to take a trip into Boston for the day. We thought it would be fun to take Connor for a tour of Fenway Park.

We arrived at 9:20 am and were among the last to get into the 10 am tour. Our group of 120 was queued up to go at 9:55. They split us into two smaller groups of 60 each. The 50 minute tour was a lot of fun. We got to see the visiting team locker room, the Green Monster seats, the press box and a variety of other cool areas. I'd definitely recommend it!

Welcome to Fenway!

First time seeing the field up close

Checking out the view from the Green Monster

We all had so much fun!

Love this teammates statue!

Every experience...

brings something to our lives. I know this is a general statement.

Here's the short of it... We invited Connor to take a trip to Boston with us last weekend. We stopped for gas along the way, and he helped to pump it (with adult supervision). The pump got loose, did not shut off, and ended up spurting gas all over Connor. It also went In. His. Eye.

After we performed the immediate first aid at the rest area (thorough flushing of the eye), we headed to the emergency room. Connor was not injured in any way (thank God).

Playing Angry Birds while waiting for the doctor

One of the tests they did was really cool. The doctor put a special drop in Connor's eye and turned off the lights. She used a black light to look at his eye. The purpose of the dye was to make any abrasions or burn on the cornea stand out. There wasn't any damage, but the effect was still really cool.

Connor thought this would be fun to do to eyes for Halloween

All's well that ends well. We'll be off to Boston again next weekend. This time without stopping for gas.

LaCroix Cup, 2012

We were lucky enough to participate in the 2012 LaCroix cup this year. Our team was three due to Connor's fracture, but... We did pretty good!

There were about 85 people registered for the race.

Fiona placed second in her age category (girls)

Michael placed first in his age category (mens)

I got third in my age category (womens). I need to improve my time.

Drumroll.... Our team won the cup with the fastest time. We are so lucky -- we're the first family to win two years in a row!!! Go Skiing Dogs!!!

You may have noticed our outfits. We weren't being goofy - it was a luau theme!

Public Speaking

As adults, many of us have experienced the joys of public speaking. Mike regularly speaks in front of groups that may have as many as 200 people. I occasionally give talks in front of groups of 20-30 people (or in rare cases a couple hundred). I still remember a college class that required speaking in front of the class of 15 students and the difficulty some of my classmates had screwing up the courage to present.

At Connor and Fiona's schools, Dexter and Southfield, public speaking is a regular part of the curriculum beginning in kindergarten. Events are attended by several other grades, as well as parents and other family members.

Fiona had her annual public speaking on February 28. She was all ready to go, looking very public speaking worthy.

Her class talked about the moon. There was a program made specifically for their presentation that included a bibliography on the back page.

Fiona did a spectacular job. She delivered her lines very clearly, made excellent eye contact and hit the points for her positions on speaking. You can see a video here. The video is below.

Connor had his public speaking the following day. As luck would have it, that was Leap Day. So that was the topic of their talk. He looked very good in his school clothes despite having to deal with his sling.

The art teacher created a impressive collage for the event (Fiona's speech also had a collage -- of Goodnight Moon; Connor had a program, also, I just didn't care for the art).

Connor spoke very clearly and delivered his lines with perfection. We were all very pleased. You can see a video of his speech here. The video is below.

I am so excited for them to have the opportunity to develop strong public speaking skills that will serve them for a lifetime. Good job, guys!

Goodbyes

Unfortunately, goodbyes are a part of everyone's life cycle. They are most difficult for those left behind, as they begin picking of the pieces of what they have lost and remembering all the good in the loved one that has left us. Basically, it sucks.


Today I am in that suckalicious void of sadness. My grandmother, Margaret Anne Everson, passed away Friday afternoon after battling dementia for several years. She waited to let go until all of the family -- her three children and husband -- were assembled together. She is now at peace and free of her corporeal discomforts. She can watch us from above and share in our live forever and always.


She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, an avid reader, card player, swimmer and boater. She worked hard and she was unwavering when she supported someone. I will hold my memories of her dear.

Hitting the slopes

Mike and I have had a great time skiing with Connor and Fiona. We started teaching them at the beginning of last season. This season we are out having fun with little direction required. They get on and off the lifts unassisted (mostly). We're holding off on letting them go up without an adult. A 7 year old fell off the lift at Nashoba Valley recently, and we'd like to avoid that.

Anyhoo... Just thought I'd share some pics from our recent trip. I'm a proud auntie.

Getting ready to go

Between Mike and I, much of Connor and Fiona's lives are documented in photos

Fiona far left, Connor middle, Mike right

I just love these guys

More flowers

Gosh, I am just flower obsessed and cat obsessed. Oh well, you knew already!

Mike's sister also gave us this plant...

So pretty!

A peony for your thoughts...

Our peonies are out now. I have snap pics quick while they last! Those pretty plants turn quickly...

I had fun taking photos of these... The first, from far away is in iAuto mode. The rest are in sepia and soft focus.

This plant was a gift from Mike's sister

soft focus 1

soft focus 2

sepia 1

sepia 2

I just love flowers!

Bikes and the like...

Connor and Fiona got new bikes about a month ago. Since they hadn't ridden for a couple of years, they also go training wheels.

Connor's cool BMX bike

Fiona's cute princess bike

Connor even got cool training wheels...

Aren't they neat?

So, a month has passed by. By consensus, it was decided it was time for the training wheels to go. We all thought we'd take off one, let them ride for a bit, then take off the other. Noperdoodle. Not for the super twins. They rode once with one wheel and said, thank you, I'll have the second one off now.

Bye bye training wheels

The exposure is off on this one -- sorry

Much to our sheer surprise -- and great admiration -- they were both up and riding within about an hour. BY THEMSELVES!!! I worked with Fiona, Mike worked with Connor. I only have one picture of the beginning before we were busy teaching.

And they're off!

After they were steady enough to ride on their own, the four of us rode around and around Lincoln Street school.

What a great day!

I'm back and other randomness

So... I welcome ME back! I'm going to try to get back on the blogging train again. I don't know how long this trip will be, but I'll give it a shot anyway. And we're off!

 Mike had his 25th college reunion this weekend. We went to the festivities on Saturday and had a nice time. It was a long, active day. We started with mowing our wet grass. Then we quickly cleaned up and headed to the campus. We enjoyed the Spree Day picnic and Mike got to catch up with a lot of his classmates. We attended a media symposium in the afternoon then rushed home for a wardrobe change before the class photo at 5:30 and dinner at 6:00. We got back to the campus just as Mike's class was up for photos. Dinner was an interesting affair, followed by a real dinner out with some of Mike's friends. We spent the rest of the night at various venues drinking and laughing until we go home around 1:30.

Mike and some of his friends

Mike messing around texting

We spent much of yesterday with Connor and Fiona. Mike took their training wheels off their bikes and we taught them how to ride. They LOVED it and were up and running in under 2 hours! More photos to come (one I get them from Mike's camera).

See you later!