Pathfinder: 2013

On Waking

Chris had to wake Brennan up for school yesterday.  Brennan was half asleep when he finally made it downstairs.  He looked at me with half lidded eyes full of sleep, yawned and said, "Momma, my dream was so good that I just didn't want to wake up this morning."

"Wow, really?  What was it about?"  I replied, trying to hide a smile.

"I don't really remember. But it was good.  Real good."

I love this kid.

Aidan is 11!

It seems impossible that my baby is 11.  A pre-teen conquering middle school.  And so tall, he will soon be taller than me.  We celebrated with Aidan's choice for dinner - Daddy's special home burgers and chocolate cake for dessert.  He is easy to please, our Aidan.

Happy 11, Aidan!

Aidan, today you are 11 years old.  It feels like just yesterday, I could hold you in my arms, snuggled up against my chest.  We still snuggle, but you are every inch a boy now, a tall, growing boy, one who will soon be taller than even your mom.  One of the things I love most about you is how open you are with affection.  You are still my snuggler, my cuddler, my hugger.  You are constantly letting your dad and me know how much you love us, and we feel so blessed to let you know how much we love you too.

At 11, you still love all that is legos.  You can build and construct elaborate lego scenes for hours upon hours.  You love to not only build, but to create movies and stop gap animation movies with your lego creations.  You are truly a creative engineer.  Your love affair with nerf continues too.  One of your favorite playdate activities is staging giant nerf battles that take up the whole house or whole yard.  The after dark nerf battle in our yard you had for your birthday sleepover was a definite highlight.

You are still my reader.  You gobble up books faster than I can get them for you.  I am grateful for the kindle and free e-books at the library that keep you well read.  You finished the Lord of the Rings series this summer and after many years of my saying no, were thrilled when I finally relented and let you read The Hunger Games series.  You also love the Percy Jackson series and eagerly await the release of each new book.  (You have been counting down the October release of the next book in the series for months.)

You dream of being an engineer someday.  You told me you want to go to MIT for college and learn to build things.  You are excited about being eligible for the Future Cities club at school this year and can't stop talking about it.  But, you are also a little nervous about starting the school year in middle school too.  It's a lot of change and a whole bunch of responsibility being a middle-schooler and that has made you a little hesitant about the year to come.

You love to play tennis and had an amazing season as part of the OPCC tennis team.  You played almost every match, starting at second singles and playing most doubles matches too.  You won fifth place in the A category for boys' singles at tennis championships this year.  You and your doubles partner Owen won third place for ten and under doubles at championships.  You are so proud of your accomplishments in tennis.  It was amazing to watch you develop into a truly competitive player.

You are excited to play basketball this season.  One of the highlights of your summer was attending a boys' basketball camp at Hilbert College.  The experience seemed to make you grow up overnight - stepping outside of your boundaries to attend a camp by yourself and make new friends.  For five days, you played basketball for 12 hours a day, came home exhausted, but as giddy with happiness over this new adventure.  I loved watching the new found independence you gained, but it also made me a little sad too because I see you growing up in front of me.

In addition to tennis and basketball, you loved swimming for the OPCC swim team.  You also opted to try something new this year and join the Nativity soccer team.  You are having more fun than I think you imagined.  It is another new experience that is helping you push your boundaries and grow as a person.

Your favorite foods are burgers and pizza.  You still love your baked goods, including a nice slice of chocolate cake.  You eat your weight in mini-wheats cereal.  I am scared to even estimate how many boxes of cereal you eat a week.  Your favorite television shows are Mythbusters and anything on the Discovery channel.  You love the Lord of the Rings movies.

You have a kind soul and are always the boy encouraging those around you or offering to help.  You have a sensitive side, but another side of you that prefers to be large and in charge.  You love rules and love even more reminding everyone around you of the rules and how they should be enforced.  This may drive your little brothers a bit crazy, but it demonstrates the natural leader lurking in you.

I am so proud of the boy you are today.  I feel blessed to have you as my son and as part of our family. I love you more than words can say, my first born, my sweet boy.  Happy 11.

First Day of School 2013!

My sixth grader, third grader and first grader.  My, how the years have simply flown.

Center of the World

I dropped Aidan and Brennan off at soccer practice and fell into a conversation with a new mom to the boys' school.  Griffin was eager to get back into the car and interrupted the conversation several times, the last of which he pleaded for us to leave.

I excused myself and had a stern talk with Griffin on our walk back to the car.

"Griffin, you do not interrupt adults when they are talking like you just did.  It was very rude."  I scolded him.

"But, Mom you said we could go home right after we dropped Aidan and Brennan off!"  He pleaded.

"I understand that.  But sometimes, you don't get what you want right when you want it.  The world does not revolve around you."  I replied.

His eyes filled with tears as he nodded.  He swallowed and said quietly, "It sure would be nice if it did though."

In spite of myself, I laughed.  Because how can you not appreciate a response like that?

My Boys of Summer

Swim Championships 2013!

Conquering the Amusement Park

I have to confess something.  I am not an amusement park person.  This may explain why the boys have never visited any of the area amusement parks, let alone any of the bigger, rite of passage parks like Disney.  If given the choice, I will always choose something else for our family adventures.  But, the boys weren't having it.  This year, they added Darien Lake to the summer fun list.  And if something is on that summer fun list, well, we do our best to make sure it happens.

Off to Darien Lake we went!  Even with my amusement park bias, I have to admit it was a great family day.  We went with our dear friends Christine and Dylan and their girls and the kids collectively had a blast.  Well, eventually they had a blast.  We may have gotten off to a rough start by allowing the kids to choose a roller coaster ride as the first ride for the group.

Here is the group in line for the roller coaster Predator.

Yes, they look so happy!  So enthusiastic!  So ready to take on the Predator.  It all went downhill from there.    I rode with Griffin.  Like my other boys, it was his first roller coaster.  But sometimes, I think Chris and I forget that Griffin, even with all his confidence and bravado is truly only six.  And maybe, just maybe, starting out our amusement park trip with a ride called the Predator is not the best way to ease into things.

Griffin screamed the entire time.  Not a good, I am having a ball scream.  But a bad, I am going to die and vomit all over everyone on this ride scream.  He cried buckets of tears and begged for someone to get him off the ride.  This is Chris, carrying Griffin, crying off the ride.

What I don't have, is a picture of Aidan post ride. He was so scared that he bit through his lip and was bleeding all over the place.  We made quite a spectacle of ourselves.

From there, the day brightened considerably.  We hit most of the rides in the park, including the water park.  We enjoyed some games, some kettle corn and some serious people watching.  All in all, it was truly a lovely family day and one, we have promised to make a traditional outing each summer.