spectacles

Love this kid!

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

We put our toes in the Atlantic ocean on Friday, July 22.  After a great day of sightseeing in Boston on Thursday, we took off Friday morning for Maine.  We met up with the Mather crew at Old Orchard Beach where they had been staying with cousins and grands for the week. 

Boy was that water C.O.L.D. 

 We hung out at the beautiful beach house for the afternoon. There was an old-fashioned ice cream shop diagonally from the house. The kids could walk over by themselves and take care of business.

The beach was full.  Above Joe(10) and Conleigh watching the action.

 After dinner, we caravanned up to Rangeley to the lake house that I have heard about since I met Bridget almost 19 years ago.  We arrived to hot temperatures, but thankfully, they didn't last long...

Warming up in the hot tub at the beach house.

Campbell kickin' back on Rangeley Lake.

Our family at Smalls Falls, Rangeley, Maine.

Campbell, Erin Anne, and a pine cone.

Four Mathers + Three Hardins =  Fun, Fun, Fun!

Mid-Day pictures

What would Salem, MA be without a statue honoring everyone's favorite witch, Samantha from Bewitched? Of course, the kids had no idea what we were talking about.

Downtown Salem, 7/20/11

Boston with few words

Swan boats up first. See the swan?

Giant bug at the Science museum.

Best pizza ever eaten by Peter.  Regina's at the Quincy Market.

Boston Common. Sir George Washington and the Hardins.

Campbell was selected to help the presenter during the Science Live! show at the museum.

Dino footprint. Alex handprint.

Conleigh spinning like an ice skater.

Dinner in the wine cellar at Massiminos. Delish!

New Hamster

The alarm buzzed at 3:30 am at our house.  Wow, was that a short night.  The kids got up no problem at 4:00 and we were out the door to the airport at 4:20.  I couldn't believe how absolutely busy the Austin airport was at 5:00am!!  I was worried we weren't going to make it. We got through We were one of the last passengers on the plane. We ended up in the very back row of the plane.  
Our plane arrived on time in Manchester, New Hamster this afternoon.  Alex has affectionally decided to call it Hamster rather than Hampshire. Very cute.
The weather is very pleasant. I think the locals are hot, but we are lovin' the breezes.
There are so many Dunkin' Donuts here.  So, of course,we have already patronized one and consumed nothing but Boston Kreme donuts.   
We found our way to Salem, Mass, after a mis-step to Salem, NH.  What a quaint town. It is exactly like I imagined towns of the northeast.  We visited the Witches Dungeon Museum, and saw a play about the witch trials and heard a lot of history. Then we took a tour of the dungeon. It was a little much for Alex and Campbell. Conleigh seemed to 'get it' and learned a  bit.

The Lobster Shanty for dinner.

For dinner, Peter wanted to try a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurant, so we went to the Lobster Shanty.  Peter and I shared Boston Clam Chowder, and a Lobster pie.  The kids ate the most boston-ish meal ever: grilled cheese and mac and cheese.

Salem Maritime Historical Site. This is the ship named Friendship.

Salem was a great first day of vacation. Tomorrow we'll venture by train to Boston.
For now, the hotel pool awaits...

On the steps of the old Town Hall in Salem, MA.

Catch up

I cannot believe a week has passed since I posted.  I may have to go backwards to try to remember how we spent our time this past week.

So, today, Alex had an eye doctor appointment.  Our little six year old will soon be sporting spectacles.  He is a little far sighted, and hopefully, the glasses will help him be able to read a little longer without having to strain his eyes.  As of now, he is excited about them. We'll see how it goes when they arrive. Thankfully, he only needs to wear them to do school work.

We are busy packing this evening for our vacation to the northeast. We leave bright & early tomorrow morning to fly to Boston and then on to Maine for some fun with the Mather family. We can't wait to be there.

Over the weekend, my parents and nephew came to town to see Alex swim at the Invitational swim meet at the UT Swim Center. It was so exciting to be in the natatorium.  Alex did as expected, but the experience was great. There are some fast little six and under swimmers. 

Alex's cheering section

Lane 3!

Silly kid

The swim meet went fast which was great.  We had a relaxing Sunday afternoon. We watched the women's world cup soccer with Spencer as our leader.  He was very passionate about the game. I kept falling asleep.  Afterwards, Peter took all the kids up to the pool. We had some BBQ for dinner and called it a day.  Mom, Dad and Spencer came by for a bit on Monday morning before heading home.

Last Saturday we made a quick day trip to Houston to attend Peter's second cousin, Meli's wedding. It was a beautiful event and the reception was so much fun. The kids absolutely loved dancing the evening away.  We forgot our camera, so we have no pictures to show for it, but they had a photo booth there and we totally abused it by taking picture after picture in it. Campbell was totally getting down on the dance floor, no inhibitions.  Alex worked on perfecting his robot. He even asked the bride to dance, then he busted out into the robot and left her in the dust. It was hilarious.  Conleigh found another little girl and they danced and danced too. We got home to Austin at 11:45 that night.

Nit pickin'

Oh, the thrill of motherhood. Last Friday, when Conleigh & Alex were finishing piano camp, Campbell and I were running errands. I looked down at her and there was a bug in her hair. I looked closer and there were more. Disgusting! Lice!  Recently, we've had some friends who have experienced this joy.  The buzz about a new place in town, The TX Lice Squad has spread. Well, they made a mint on the Hardins last Friday.  All four of us had it!!  All three kids and me! Ugh.  I'm glad we went that route instead of putting chemicals on our kids heads.  They pick through every strand and then you go for a follow up and they guarantee their service.   I'd be happy if we never had to experience that again. We went straight to Dairy Queen after that.

The kids really enjoyed piano camp. Conleigh will continue lessons. It was a bit much for Alex to sit still for two straight hours each session.  Campbell went to Kinder-camp last week and seemed to enjoy it. There were 10 in her class and at least five will be at Spicewood, so that is good. Work has been steady busy. 

Off to vacation...

Girl Time!

 Conleigh and I had a great mommy/Conleigh date this morning. Alex was a swim team and Campbell returned to kinder-camp.  Conleigh and I went and got our toesies prettied up.  She loved it. We have done it one time before, but this time they did it just right and she got some flowers painted on her toes - with beads even. I have never even heard of that. I forgot to get a picture of her toes. I'll have to fix that tomorrow.
She told me that I needed to break away from my regular red.  I did. Guess what color?  You'll have to wait til tomorrow. I'll get a toe picture of both of our feet.

After pedicures, we went to Target. Conleigh still had a gift card from her birthday.  We shopped around and she bought a few little things with her money. Loved spending time with my big girl.

Monday, Monday...

We got off to a fast start this morning.  Campbell began Kinder-camp. She is willing to go back tomorrow, so I'll take it that she did okay there. The teacher isn't too personal, so I didn't get a lot of feedback.
I took Conleigh & Alex down to their first day of piano camp. They were both excited. They are in different rooms which is a good thing.  Peter picked them up at noon and he said they both loved it.  He took them out for pizza and brought them home since that was the same time Campbell's camp ended. 
This afternoon our tutor came over and spent 30 minutes with Campbell, and then 30 minutes with Alex. 
After that, we were off to soccer. Alex liked it and got some physical exercise in today.

This evening was the swim team banquet. Man, I feel old. I was so hot in there and it was so loud with all the screaming on the teenagers. Ugh.
Alex cleaned house. One of the dad's said he looked like Flavor flave (a rapper from the 80s) he had so many medals around his neck. Five in all.  That is hard on friends and sisters to see one person get so much recognition. Conleigh was sad. She got six ribbons, but the medals are hard to see. Alex really handled it all very humbly and didn't flaunt it at all.
It is so hard to see kids not be nice to each other and especially to your kid.  Sweet Conleigh went to sit down with other 7 & 8 year old girls. The girl next to her got up and moved down to the other end of the row. Then the next one did, and when Conleigh went to scoot over, the next girl put her hand out and said, this seat is taken.  I was heartbroken.  This parenting thing is harder than I ever, ever thought it would be.

Summer Fun

 The Lone Boy

 jumping on the trampoline

 Summer Fun

 Sweet friends from near & far

Campbell finally got her purple room.  After the exterminator found our friendly carpenter ants in the sheetrock & wood above our mantle, we had a handyman come out to cut out, replace & paint the ceiling at the mantle. While he was here, we asked him to paint the girls room! It is purple and it looks great!

Swim Team Finale

 Yesterday was our divisional swim meet. There were three teams participating. Our kids did great!!! 
Time improvements everywhere.  Conleigh placed 9th in 50 freestyle. She improved her time by a couple of seconds, and then she placed 10th in 25 butterfly.  She improved her time in that event as well. She also won a heat ribbon for 25 free and had a best time for that as well. She was pleased with herself. Her confidence has increased immensely this season.

Campbell had a great season and decided to forego the divisional meet. She & Granny had a fun day together. They stopped by the swim meet to watch Conleigh & Alex swim an event.  You can see what Campbell liked most about the meet yesterday. Snow cones!

Alex & Coach Zach having a little chat before a race.

Alex had an incredible meet.   He improved all his times and made the invitational swim meet in three individual events, so he has one more week to go.
The boy really went bananas at this meet.  He finished first in 25 freestyle, first in 25 butterfly, and 2nd in 25 backstroke. His free relay also got a gold.
At the divisional meet, they give a high point trophy to the swimmer in each age group that contributes the most points to their team.  Guess who got this award yesterday?  ALEX!

 They played Olympic music as they announced the high point winners.  Third place six & under boys was a tie. The two boys scored 10 points each for his team.  Second place scored 11 points for his team.  First place, with 25 points for the Balcones Country Club Sharks --- Alex Hardin! 
25 points.  Alex didn't really understand what he was getting the trophy for.  After it was over, he asked, "Isn't Matthew going to get a trophy too?"  Matthew is his bud below with the shark hat on.

Evan, on the right, isn't on swim team, but he came over and asked Alex if it was neat getting to go up there. So sweet.

Conleigh, Kendall and Lauren getting ready to go 'fly'.

We are very proud of all three of our kids and their swim season.  I think they are proud of themselves too which is what it is all about!

I hope you had a great 4th of July. We had a nice surprise visit from Peter's boyhood friend Salomon and his family. They were in Austin and came by for an hour. We had never even met his almost five year old son.  His daughter, Carol is almost 9 and she & Conleigh really hit it off. I hope we can get the girls together again in the near future.

After the Lahana's hit the road to Houston, we went to the July 4th pool celebration in the neighborhood.  It was crowded and hot but the kids had fun. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then came home and prepped for our dinner company.  We had two fun families over for dinner, the Vagner's, and the Schultz's.  Peter grilled chicken and everyone brought a side.  Then we all made ice cream sundaes for dessert. With no fireworks this year due to drought, the ice cream sundae making took its place and we could do that inside in the air conditioning.

This morning we were back to the pool for swim team practice. Campbell's season is done. She is happy and we are hoping that she will want to swim next year. Conleigh and Alex will swim in the divisional meet this weekend. Alex has a 24.63 time in 25 free, and he needs 24.21 to qualify for the invitational meet the following weekend.

Our new piano was delivered today. Everyone in the family seems excited about it. I plan to start taking lessons soon and Conleigh even expressed interest in lessons.

We had movie night here tonight and watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid II.  Funny movie.