fútbol

Another first for us last weekend.  Our first ever soccer tournament.   Best advice...get there early to find a parking spot.



Juan Pablo has been Joaquin's coach for two seasons now.  They both love it.  Joaquin gets to spend extra time with just dad and Juan Pablo gets to play hattrick in real life.  He used to be quite addicted to that game.

A fun warm up of monkey in the middle.  I know, it's unusual...but the whole tournament was, too.

They were somehow registered to play U10 which meant this team of six and seven year olds was playing against 10 year olds.  Juan Pablo sent five out on the field for the first game and the ref said, "Coach, it's seven on seven."  

Uh-oh.

We only had eight players on the team.

Those kids played their hardest.  The parents cheered the loudest.  We lost every game, but couldn't have been prouder.

Joaquin is normally upset when he loses.  But it's hard to be sad when your team is made up of your best friends.  


Sideline activities included lots of drawing...Here's a nice one Diego did of Isabela.  Looks just like her.  See the two legs and two eyes?



Diego figured out a way to play soccer all by himself.  He kicked down one way...ran down and got it, then kicked it down the other way.  But they spent most of the game huddled up under the quilt.  I love that Isabela and Diego got quality time together, too, because at home it's usually boys against girls.


I'll take a soccer tournament over a swim meet any day.

medical mystery...cure is socks

We have an undiagnosable medical mystery on our hands.

If you're curious, here it is:

Joaquin, age 7, wakes up in the middle of the night CRYING about his feet hurting.  It doesn't happen every night...it actually hasn't happened in many months, but it happened two nights ago which is why I'm mentioning it.

It probably started happening when he was five.

Back then, I thought he had a bone or stress fracture.  It seemed to happen when he'd done a lot of jumping or running around the day before.  We took him to the doctor, I think they even did Xrays, despite him being able to walk and jump fine...but they came back normal and so they said it was nothing.

The other night, I gave him Tylenol and jumped on the Internet, while JP massaged his feet to see what I could find.  I was shocked that lots of people have had the same thing happen to their children, and no doctor seems to be able to tell us what it is.

There were several suggestions of things that have worked to help alleviate the pain....so we tried two of them.  Tylenol, obviously, but wearing socks was the other.

Yesterday, Joaquin informed me the socks worked in about five minutes.  I'm thinking the medicine just kicked in, but for now we're sticking with the socks.

JP and I had a small discussion at the dinner table about it last night, as well.  His idea is that the AC affects Joaquin, maybe when his feet are sticking out from the covers.  (The AC is the culprit in another of our medical mysteries...Isabela used to throw up in the morning if her belly got exposed in the middle of the night.  Strange...one throw up, and then she was fine.  We made her tuck in her pj shirt to her pj bottom.  Cured.)

I am, of course, hugely skeptical.  I've slept in AC all my life and never heard of either of these two things.  He noted, of course, that I sleep in socks and pjs.

So maybe he's on to something?  Any thoughts?

children's museum

It's been awhile since we've been to the children's museum.  The older kids had outgrown it a few years ago (although, I'm not sure how that's possible because I love everything there) and Diego had never been.

So it was time for a day trip.... just him and me!

Ohhh....chickens!  How fun is this egg run?



We have eggs just like this at home...maybe I can make one!



Fishing in the boat...this was fun until he started swinging that pole around like a sword.  Time to move on.



The outside area is my favorite part....musical instruments everywhere.  Sand, water, and....




....snails.  I'm loving snails right now.


Back inside, we hit the always busy apple tree!  Despite there being some school field trips there that day (there are always schools there!), Diego had his side all to himself.



Which one should I pick first?!



Such a cool car to work on.  Too bad I couldn't hire this guy to do the work on my real car today that's in the shop!




Cashiering has to be the one aspiration of all children.  He knew just how to scan the food and which buttons to press.



Stop the ambulance!  Can't! My legs are too short!



And look at this huge contraption!  I don't remember this before.  But definitely one of our favorites.



First you stuff the scarves into the hole.




You'll feel a nice cool breeze... then woosh!  They whip around in the tubes and come flying out from above somewhere.



Try to catch them before they hit the ground!



So much fun...I wanted to knock all the kids down to catch one, but I restrained myself.



Quick ride on a dino on the way out.



Three is a perfect age for the children's museum! Everything's new and exciting.  I love three!

family math

Math + At the breakfast table = FUN.

Here's a quick little game that kids of all ages can have fun with.



You need:
pencils
scrap paper
deck of cards (just one of each Ace - #9)

First, each person draws three boxes on their piece of paper.

Then someone draws a card from the nine cards.  (Ace is one, of course.)  This is a great job for your pre-writer...Diego drew some of the cards, and then had to try and recognize the number and call it out.

Make sure to replace the card into your pile each time...it doesn't matter if a number is repeated.

Everyone chooses one of their three boxes to place that number in.   No erasing or changing later!

Repeat three times.

After that, each person reads the number they have on their paper...the person with the highest number wins!

So for example, say an Ace, Nine and Seven are drawn.

You could have
197
179
791
719
917
971  (this one wins!)

We quickly decided three numbers was too easy for us and added one more box.  We kept adding a box each time we played, making it more challenging, until we got to the millions.

I found this game in the wonderful math book Family Math!

summer activity #1

I don't know about your family, but for our family, Memorial Day weekend is always a gentle preview of what's to come in summer.  It's only one day off from school, but it's a doozy.

This weekend we were all sick.  The summer cold sick where your nose runs so fast you can't get a kleenex in time!

Add to that, that it was H-O-T.

And somehow, that equals lots of kids saying, "I'm bored,"  then raiding the freezer for the mini ice pops I mistakenly bought, thinking I was getting a great deal on a hundred big ones.

So I thought I'd share a fun boredom buster that always works for us:  making your own board game.

It can be as hard or as easy as you like....be about any topic you're interested in...and creativity runs wild with this craft.

Joaquin had to do a project about an animal last week in school...his animal was the hedgehog.  And while he wanted to simply throw some dirt in a box and make the habitat for his clay hedgehog, I convinced him a board game would be a lot more fun.

For this project all you need is:
foam board
construction paper
any bits and pieces you can find around the house
imagination
hot glue

You can really do a lot with just imagination and hot glue, but I'll simply stick to this game for now.

He came up with the title Hurry Up Hedgehog....the two hedgehogs have to cross the board, avoiding the obstacles, and the first one into the paper cup hole, wins!



He laid out the pathway first, using 1" paper squares, then added the details as we brainstormed together.  I thought Joaquin's tunnel and paper cup hole were brilliant.



The great thing about foam board is you can stick things in it and it stands up (with a little hot glue for added support.)  Look at this berry bush tunnel.



For some reason, I only got one blurry picture of his hedgehog hiding in the hole.  It's made out of clay and toothpicks.  We also checked out Jan Brett's site on how to draw a hedgehog.  A great eye opener for Joaquin who is still drawing circle heads with two dot eyes and a squiggle smile on everything.



Plastic figures are fun to glue down on the game, too.  And when you're done with the game forever, you can simply pull them off, and the glue peels off easily.  (You may remember this dog from our Alaska game awhile back.)



This can be a fun learning activity, too.  Joaquin created questions about hedgehogs that must be answered correctly before you can move forward.

I'll give you an example of one of the questions.  (We like to use open ended questions instead of yes and no.)

What does the hedgehog do at least once during hibernation?
No, the answer is NOT go to the bathroom, although that is sure to draw lots of laughs.
The answer is:  he moves to a new hole at least once.

We are all experts on the life and habits of the European hedgehog now.

And one of the kids spotted this trash can at Busch Gardens the other day...Joaquin was already thinking of a sequel...Hedgehog Makes a Friend...but I couldn't get him to pose next to it, so Isabela did.
Aren't they the cutest things ever?  Both of them!

our summer retreat

Let's go back...way back...this is how we spent Mother's Day 2012.  But since tomorrow is Mother's Day in Bolivia, it's really like I'm a day ahead.



We are so last minute.  I heard the day before that Busch Gardens is always empty on mother's day because "people always do what the moms want on that day, and moms don't want to go to Busch Gardens."  So I mentioned it to Juan Pablo, and it was that easy.

(And yes, it's true, Busch Gardens is EMPTY on mother's day!)



It cracks me up how you ride the great tram ride and think you're already in the park for at least fifteen minutes before you even hit the ticket booths.  We've been twice already now, so we're slowly learning the insider tricks and short cuts to every bathroom in the park.

Ice cream anyone?



If this picture gives you any idea about Diego and rides....this is the train ride that slowly trolls all the way around the park.



It turns out he doesn't like rides.
He doesn't like to get wet.
He doesn't like Big Bird.

But dinos are okay.



And so is the Azul Elmo.



And really, he's just like me.  I've always hated roller coasters.  And I found out I hate the simulated  movies, too.  I haven't felt sick on a ride since the Scrambler when I was like eight...but Europe in the Air, I had to close my eyes half way through and prayed I wouldn't throw up until it stopped and then speed walked outta there as fast as I could.   That one is now crossed off the ever-shortening list of things I will get on at Busch Gardens.

But Joaquin's list is growing, just like him.  He's tall enough to ride lots of stuff now, and is waiting for the day he can ride the Griffon...sheer terror, if you ask me.



Diego got a cozy ride in the stroller we rented, but he's never been one for strollers so I think Joaquin and Isabela used it more.



We finally found something he did like...the carousel horses.  We rode four times in a row.  He chose a different horse each time, encouraged them to go faster, and frowned at the horses beside him that were beating him.



I told him if you hear the ding at the end, you won the race.  It dings every time.



Oh, here's one more ride I don't mind, the boat.  I love making small talk with the captains....it turns out the lake is full of snapping turtles, that's why you don't see any ducks or geese.



So why would a mom who hates roller coasters want to come here on mother's day?
To see her family happy, of course!

celebrating

I've been on an unofficial blogging break due to the busy-ness of life.

Being born, living life, it's hard work,  isn't it?

Take this handsome man, born on May 15th.  But many years ago.




Can you guess how many?



That's a big 3 with four little candles around it.  And that was our cake....one giant chocolate chip cookie.  I spared everyone the messy-cake-that-didn't-turn-out that I've been plagued with the last few birthdays and went for something everyone would love.  It lasted 24 hours, I do believe.

Plus on that very same day, my cousin and her husband welcomed their very first baby, a precious little girl, named Anaum, into the world.  We are anxiously looking forward to meeting her!