Sibling Doubles

Our summers for the last 7 years have been filled with tennis, tennis, and a little bit more tennis.  There has been tennis camps, tennis clinics, tennis lessons, and tennis tournaments.  There is really not a day during the summer (or any other season of the year) that I am not taking a kid to the tennis courts.  Tennis seems to be a part of our family!  Everyone enjoys watching and playing tennis.  Tyler and Corynne are our 2 tournament players, but Lauren and Lyndsey are beginning to play in a few tournaments!  The 2 big tournaments of the summer are played right here in Montgomery in June and July.  Yes, our summer planning begins by putting these dates on the calendar and everything else has to adjust to fit these 2 weeks and weekends!  

Tyler has a strong tennis game right now.  It is amazing how his game has changed with him in the last year.  He is a bigger "boy" than his dad; and he has the strength, endurance, and temper of a MAN.  I remember sitting at these courts a year ago thinking "I do not want my kid to play against those big boys.  There is no way he can play 'that' kind of fast paced tennis."  USTA Boys 16 & 18 is on a completely different scale than school tennis!  It is just a different level of intense competition.  Now I watch him play, and I know he can handle "that" game!  He is one of those hard-hitting boys!

 Today, Tyler & Corynne played mixed doubles together for the first time.  I posted on FB "this could go really good or really BAD!"  Tyler has no patience!  They lost in the first round, but they were truly out-matched!  Corynne listened to Tyler.  She got her serves in and hit the shots that came to her, but it was not enough.  She did her part!  It was fun (and stressful) to watch them on the court together.  I hope they get the opportunity to play mixed doubles again in the next few years!

City Swim Championship

Corynne, Lauren and Lyndsey have been swimming for the Bell Road Dolphins this summer.  We decided to go over to Bell Road (instead of the YMCA 1-mile from our house) because their practice was early every morning.  This made it possible for Corynne to swim and still go to volleyball practice in the afternoons and hang out with friends.  It was an EARLY commitment for the summer.  The girls had to be in the pool 15 minutes from our house at 6:30 every morning.  It was hard to get up at that time...it is SuMMER, but they were up and out the door just about every morning without a fuss!  Well, we heard fussing from JM because he was the one who got to drive them.  When we agreed on this schedule, he was going to use the time to workout at the Y or catch up on dictations.  I am not sure that either one of those things happened, especially not the working out part!!!  Dad has become quite an artist when it comes to "swimming competition back art"!!!  Look at that Dolphin!

Corynne's goal was just to get in a morning workout every morning.  She enjoyed the swim competition and actually competed in a few of the swim meets on her own will.  I had told her at the beginning of the summer that see did not have to go to any of the meets just the practices.

 

Lauren had a great summer season, and she enjoyed being competitive each week at the meets.
 

Lyndsey had an awesome summer.  This was her summer to shine.  She was at the top of her age division, and her swimming skills just continue to improve.  Each week she brought home more and more blue ribbons.  We felt that the City Championship was going to be her race to WIN, but we did not tell her the emphasis of the meet.

Lyndsey was just being Lyndsey, and she was having fun!

When they called her name to receive her award, she had lost interest in the long, drawn-out, waiting process of the awards and was talking to her friends.  Her friends pushed her to get her attention, and she kinda got mad at them for pushing her!  That girl!!!  She happily accepted the trophy like it was no big deal!  When we explained to her that "this 1st place" meant she was the fastest 6 year old in the city of Montgomery, she was a little "shy" about the honor!  We expected her to want to tote her trophy to church the next day to show her friends, but she did not even want to tell them about the award.  Humble....???  I don't know!!!

Lauren ended up with 5th place at the City Championships for ages 9-10.  She had some tough competition, and pulled a few 1st place for her heats!  We are very proud of her hard work!!!!

Blueberry Picking

Today Corynne, Lyndsey, Colleen and I went blueberry picking!  It was a fun morning!

 Then Corynne made a blueberry pie for Tyler!!! He had been requesting one all summer!!

Our School Room 2013-2014

Here is a quick tour of our school room this year.  I moved the desks from under the window to the right side of the room to make room for this setup on the left side of the room.  In the left edge of the picture you can see the edge of my desk/storage.  Then I added the horizontal shelves this year to hold the music, latin, Bible and geography books and materials.  We squeezed in a small table for the computer jammed up against the bookcase that holds everything!

 The girls desks are centered on the other side of the room.  We have our geography wall on the back.  A chart of the presidents, the history timeline and the books of the Bible chart are above their desks.

We will see how this works in a few weeks!  Homeschool starts July 22nd!

Boston

We were very glad to make it to Boston on July 3rd and to find Dad waiting for us at the hotel!  We enjoyed a good nights sleep scattered over 2 hotel rooms!  On Independence Day we had tickets to the Boston Red Sox game at noon.  This is our ANNUAL MAJOR LEAQUE GAME DAY!!  We headed down Fenway Park and ate lunch before the game at a Jazz Club across from the stadium.  Dad got us tickets under the upper deck so we were shaded from the intense heat all afternoon, but it was still hot!

The girls go to many baseball games each summer, but they very seldom sit through an entire game!! JM found the entertainment area by the 6th inning to give us all a break!

After the game, we went to a local pizza place for an early dinner (since we had eaten an early lunch!)! Then we made our way down to claim a spot for the fireworks!  It was a long, hot wait!  The fireworks show was well worth it!!!

On Friday, July 5th we were a little slow to rise!  We were all exhausted after our LONG 4th of July!  We ate a big breakfast at the hotel, and then set off for some site seeing!  Our first activity was the Sons of Liberty Tour.  We stopped by the Capitol building for a picture only.  It was closed off for the day (at least this side was and no one wanted to really go in).   

 We where led around the city by this amazing story teller.  She really brought the city and the history to life.  I learned so much, and the kids were picking up quite a bit of information too!

Colleen played a little Marilyn Monroe gig during the tour!  Honestly, we all wanted to do this!  It was SO HOT!!!

 We made a stop "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" (Cheers).  Of course this was really just for JM because the kids had no clue what the big deal was!  We tried to eat there but the wait was entirely to long!

After lunch, we went over to the Swan Boats.  Everyone said we had to go ride the Historic Swan Boats.  It was a pleasant ride around the park!

At this point we were all hot, tired, and ready for a break!  We headed back to the hotel for some swimming and rest.  For dinner, we looked up some close local restaurants.  I can't remember what we originally chose, but we could not find it or it was closed.  We ended up at TastyBurger which was a fun experience - eating on the street fun experience since they did not have a dining room!

 

 

On Saturday, July 6th we headed out to Disembark at Little Brewster Island to visit the first and oldest lighthouse station in the United States, and the last to retain a U.S. Coast Guard keeper. We climbed the 76 stairs (plus 2 ladders) to the top of Boston Light to see the historic Fresnel lens.

Afterwards, we visited the Boston Tea Party Museum.  Where we helped dump the tea into the harbor. This was a fun stop for the kids.  The girls loved this since we had just finished our American Revolution study!

Finally, we went back out on the Atlantic for a Whale Watching cruise that lasted until dark.  We loved watching the whales jump around and play in front of us.  It was a beautiful and relaxing experience!

On Sunday, we started the day late again!  Actually, JM started the day out with a trip to The Parker Hotel for a few treats for us.  He brought us back some original Parker House rolls and Boston Creme Pie!

We went down to the Harbor Area for an early lunch at California Pizza Kitchen before we went on the Duck Tour!  The kids were excited to ride on the bus-boat transformer!  Well, all were except Colleen who had a complete meltdown about 1/4 of the way into the tour.  She had a meltdown in my lap squeezed in the front row.  She was so tired that she could not get control of herself.  I think she had a little clostraphobia also (or was that me trying to control her in the confined space while crying behind my sunshades).  I wanted off the exit-less tour immediately!!

As soon as the tour from down-under ended, I told JM (who was at the back of the Duck boat while I was manhandling a 3 year old) that we were done.  I was taking a cab back to the hotel.  They could finish the day without us!!!  We no more than got into the cab before Colleen fell asleep.  I carried her up to our room and laid her down for a 3 hour nap.  Yes, I took one too!!

JM and the other kids finished the day with a trip to "The Tipton" from Zack & Cody.

They also went on the fast, speed boat tour on the Boston Harbor!

On Monday, it was time to say goodbye to Boston.  We backed up our suitcases to head for the airport. We did make 1 last tourist stop.  We just had to go to Harvard!  We were led on a tour of Harvard by a sweet Texas girl who was a Sophamore at Harvard.  It was really cool to be ON the campus!

After our tour, we ate at a Harvard Landmark, Bertley's Gourmet Burgers!  Yummy!  What a great way to end our Boston experience!

Rhode Island

It was not a long drive to Providence, Rhode Island from Hartford.  We got there early afternoon.  The capitol circle was beautiful.  We did not spend long in Rhode Island's capitol because it was HOT, and if they had central air it must have been broken!  We walked around and did find the most ornate bathroom we had ever seen! Marble and beautiful carved wooden doors...absolutely beautiful and hidden in the ladies restroom!!??!!

After our fast tour, we went across the street to the mall to spend a little time.  It had a movie theatre, so we decided to catch a movie before it was time to go to the airport to get Dad.  While we were shopping, I got a call from JM that his flight had been canceled, and there was no more flights into Providence.  Disappointment set it.  (Remember I am ready for a vacation!)  He did get a flight into Boston which is where we were going tomorrow for the Red Sox game!  Luckily it was early enough, I had not checked into the Providence hotel, and the Boston hotel had extra rooms tonight that we could amend our plans for the evening and meet him in Boston.  We ate dinner and got back on the rode.  Just 2 more hours kids!!  Just 2 more hours Mom!!!

A Day in Hartford, Connecticut-The Constitution State

After our 2 brief stops in New Jersey, we moved on into Connecticut.  We did not get to Hartford until well into the evening.  We checked into our downtown hotel and then drove across town to eat Mexican food!  We just needed some tacos and it was $ taco night! Yippee!!!!
The next morning we packed the car AGAIN!  Our plan is to meet Daddy in Rhode Island at the end of the day!  I am so ready for a vacation!  We drove to the capitol and took a self-guided tour.  Seeing the statue of Nathan Hale and Layayette's Bed were definitely the highlights for the tour.  The angels and the canyons were a close 2nd!

 On the capitol grounds, is Bushnell Park which is the home to the Historic Carousel.  We had to ride it!  unfortunately, we had to wait for an hour+ for it to open!  It was a hot day at the park, but the younger girls made friends fast and enjoyed the hour out of the car!

New Jersey

Getting out of Philly on Tuesday morning was difficult!  Everyone was hungry, and the hotel restaurant was way too pricey for kids!  The front desk told me there was a counter dinner less than a block east.  So off we went.  It was perfect!  Everyone got what they wanted from pancakes to egg sandwiches, and they loved the "counter/barstools"!

Hmmm...everybody looks a little sleepy in this picture (taken before they ate)!  After breakfast, we walked back to hotel.  I sent the 3 older kids up to the room to get all the bags while I went to get the car out of the garage.  They did a great job having everything down to the street by the time the 2 littles and I made the block with the van to the front of the hotel.  We were 10 minutes out of downtown when Corynne realized that she had left her wallet.  It is a very cute Vera Bradley wallet and she had about $30 in it.  I called the hotel as I was trying to find the next exit.  The front desk went up and found the wallet right where I had seen it last night.  I circled around and headed back into town!  Ugg!  So much for the early start! 

We finally made it to Trenton, New Jersey around 10:45.  Getting into the capitol was like an act of Congress.  The garage attendant asked why we were there.  I said, "Just to see your capitol building."  He gave me the craziest look.  From that point, we were directed straight to a tour guide.  It was the most structured capitol tour we had on the trip!  It was an unusual, yet beautiful capitol!  With each addition, the architectural style changed.  So the building had many different styles!  The girls favorite things were the stained glass windows, the carved tree with ALL the state symbols, the dome, and the carpet which also had the state symbols on it!

 After our tour, we drove down a few blocks to a City Deli for lunch.  Then we headed north!  Oh wait, New Jersey is famous in our house for one special Cake Shop!  We had to stop by Carlos' Bake Shop for a treat!  I really did not even mention where we were going until we were on the street.  They were so excited to see the store front!  The cupcakes were an additional treat!!!  SO MUCH FUN even though we did not see any of the family there today!

Philadelphia

We drove into Philadelphia late Sunday night.  I wanted to get an early start on this historic town!  The kids were excited to go see the Liberty Bell.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy Monday in Philadelphia!  The first stop was getting tickets and ponchos!!
I was nervous about getting tickets for Independence Hall because they were sold out online.  When I walked up to the ticket booth, 5 tickets were available for the next tour.  We dashed over to wait in line!

After the Independence Hall tour, we waited in line to go see the Liberty Bell.  

Up next was the Money In Motion Exhibit at the Federal Reserve Bank.  It was full of money trivia and games.  We had so much fun, and they gave you $100 when you left!  Well, it was a bag of shredded money but it was $100 at one time!

We walked on down to Franklin Square to ride the Carousel.  Tyler and Corynne also played a round of putt-putt in the park.

We ate at Square Burger which came up on my Google searches of places to eat in downtown Philly.  Burgers and Shakes in the park...nobody can complain about that!!!  They were also having a Milk exhibit at the park so the girls participated in a few activities.

After lunch, we walked down to the Betsy Ross house.  The girls were excited about this stop also since we read many books about Betsy Ross last year.

Betsy taught us how to cut the one snip-5 point star.  She made it look so easy!  I can not tell you how many sheets of paper we cut up trying to follow the directions and cut this star in homeschool!

We had to take a carriage ride tour of Philadelphia!

We ended the afternoon with a colonial dinner at City Tavern.  I thought it was so cool because George Washington and many other men from our American history ate here.  The kids...not so much.  They just wanted chicken tenders not colonial food!

After dinner we walked down to Penn's Landing.  I wasn't sure if anything would be down there (and there wasn't), but we did enjoy just playing around the water fountains and looking at the Delaware River.

We enjoyed our day in Philadelphia. The kids were all very patient with the historical stuff and the rain!