Treasure Hunt!

Nicholas, Maggie and Francis have been all about pirates lately, so the last time we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa, we decided it would be fun to have a treasure hunt. There is a beach a short boat ride from them that is pretty quiet during the week so we shuttled supplies out there for a campfire and cookout earlier in the day and then around dinner time we all headed over. We had the beach to ourselves and the kids had a great time swimming, skipping rocks, following the treasure map, digging up the treasure chest, and cooking hot dogs and s'mores over the fire.

Arriving

Jumping off the boat

Skipping rocks

Treasure map

Checking out the map

Let the hunt begin!

The pirate princess

X marks the spot

Carrying their haul

Treasure!

Hoisting the pirate flag

our campsite

Not so far from civilization...

Pirate Nicky

Yankees!

Back in May my Dad had invited Jackson to attend a Yankees game the week school got out. As time approached he had been looking forward to it for a month and was pretty excited but his own baseball team which had a great Spring season, still had not had their division playoffs due to weather, etc. So of course, we started the  last week of school with the collision of the two biggest things in the mind of my baseball obsessed nine-year-old. Monday we got word that Thursday was going to be the semi-finals. All indications pointed to a championship game on Friday, the same night as the Yankees game! Of course, we had no idea if they would advance beyond the semi-finals and wouldn't know until late Thursday evening, so Jackson had to agree that Nana and Pops would buy his ticket and if he had to miss it to play in the finals he would send Francis in his place. Not an easy decision for a boy who hates to miss anything, but in the end  Francis went to the Yankees game and Jackson stayed home to help his team win the championship. (more on that here)

As a consolation, we promised him the chance to go to a game later in the summer and so a couple of weeks ago he picked out a game (based on the probable pitchers, of course) and he and I took the train into the city. I stumbled upon some seats that were affordable and looked okay and we were pleasantly surprised to find they were only one row back from the field. We spent the game just 20 ft from Alphonso Soriano, who with a grand slam, home run and seven RBI's was easily that night's MVP.

Anyway, we had such a good time we barely got up to get food. He and I haven't been anywhere without the little kids, since Francis was born.  (except the ER)  You can see us in this clip http://wapc.mlb.com/nyy/play/?content_id=29721947&topic_id=8879110&c_id=nyy just above the "A" and "R" in "celebrate" around the 1:37 mark.

Here are some pictures that we took:

9 Year-Old Division Champs!

 article in the local newspaper about it.

 on the mound

 Some really excited kids!

Greeting from a fan

And another...

 First place trophies!

 Team Picture

 After party!

What a game! Jackson's team went 10-2-1 during the regular season and went on to win the division championship.Above is the article that appeared in our local paper about it. Basically, his team took an early lead and were up 6-0 by 5th. Then they put Jackson in to pitch the last two innings and he had the worst outing he has ever had. He allowed 5 runs in the fifth and they had to invoke the mercy rule. (no more than 5 runs per inning) It wasn't all his fault, there were some defensive errors, etc, but it was ugly. I was afraid he would be devastated. So his team got up to bat in the top of the 6th and wasn't able to score. Hi Coach put him back on the mound with the score 6-5 in the bottom of the last inning. This time he was able to get two strikeouts and throw a guy out at first for the final out of the game! Of course, I was dying a thousand deaths, watching the whole thing from the playground and I figured Jackson must have been really nervous going back out to pitch the last inning. After the game, I asked him what was going through his mind and how he managed to quiet his nerves enough to get the last three outs. He says "Mom, we were winning, like 10 to nothing. I wasn't nervous at all!"...

Baseball 2013

Spring 2013

Pinewood Derby

Francis and the Pinewood Derby.

Francis turns 7!

This year Francis wanted a video game party with all of his classmates. Unfortunately, for him, in order to get all of your friends together for a party the first day back from Christmas break, your Mom has to be super organized and plan the party and hand out invites in mid December and then pray all of your friends don't forget about t over the break. Needless to say, that didn't happen, so by the time I actually called the video game truck, their next available date was a weekday in mid-February. Lucky for me Francis is a really good sport, and we decided to make it a Mardi Gras video game party. All was well until we got 36 inches of snow the weekend before! The snow banks on either side of our road and driveway left us with nothing but tunnels and I feared they would never be able to get a tractor trailer truck full of playstations into our driveway. When I called to confirm the afternoon before, they bailed on me. Motivated by the pure panic of having to entertain 20 first graders expecting video games, I went through the Yellow Pages and found a mobile video game unit who was willing to come on short notice. (believe it or not there is more than one) An hour before the party we were out there with shovels trying to get the truck into the driveway. Thanks to the persistence of the driver and our willingness to sacrifice the mailbox, he was in and the party was on!

The kids had a great time going between treats in the house and games in truck. Francis wanted everything in Skylander theme, which was hard to come by last year so we had to improvise. (He is such a trendsetter...) I made a cake that would only be impressive to 7 year old boys, and was so bad I told them it was only for inedible and fed them cupcakes instead.

I think, in the end Francis would agree it was worth waiting for. He had fun with his friends and got his fill of sweets and video games to last him through lent.

Our driveway the day of