Soccer Season

This year Jackson is playing Soccer for the first time.  Soccer is a big deal at his school.  At least I think it must be based on the length of the season.  It last the entire school year.

So far he has enjoyed the practices.  His coach is one of the preschool teachers and I’ve got to hand it to her.  That is a lot of energy to try and corral.

I’ve been pretty slow about getting pictures so far because while  they have practice I’m trying to keep Miller off the field.  It’s a full time job, I tell ya!  This one is fantastic, right?

Just because you can’t see Jackson and they aren’t playing soccer, doesn’t mean it isn’t great!

Ok!  Just picture a swarm of 10 to 15  kids running up and down a field chasing a ball.  There is actually about 20 kids on the team, but at any time there are quite a few who are picking flowers or have stopped for what seems like no reason at all.

Jackson seems to like playing goalie.  {I used to like playing goalie too, when I was in P.E. because the goalies doesn’t have to run.  That’s the thing about soccer, you have to run!}  He seems to be able to concentrate on the ball better when there aren’t 15 other children trying to kick the ball too.

They have their first game on Saturday.  It should be great!

Go Optimists!

Hidden Gem

We were recently introduced to a hidden gem here in the Bahamas.  Everyone knows about the beaches, but something a little different is nice every once in a while.

Some moms from the school said they were going to the Cloisters during Fall Break.  I really didn’t want to go because I’d been having a hard time with Miller.  I just didn’t need another time where he behaved badly in front of the world.  I’m so glad that I just went.  It was just what we all needed.

Plenty of space for the boys to run, beautiful vista for me and fresh air for all of us!

 

When you come in you are in this lovely courtyard with amazing statues and clipped hedges.  There are several terraced levels with stairs down to the gazebo, which is right on the water.

 

Of course my boys immediately jumped over the hedges down to the next level.  Why use stairs, when you can jump?

 

It was about 5 feet down. After they jumped over a Bouganvelia bush with spikes.
 

I’ll tell you why you ought to use stairs….the Bahamas is lovely, but you don’t want a broken leg here.  Med-Evac would be necessary.  While a trip to Florida sounds fun, a trip to a Florida  hospital sounds a little tedious. 

 

It looks like an ideal place for a wedding, if you took away all the kids and their paraphernalia.

I learned that the Cloisters were built in the 14th century in France.  It was imported, stone by stone, by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s.   Unfortunately, they forgot to number the pieces before they disassembled it, so  it sat in pieces.   Later the Cloisters were bought by Huntington Hartford and installed at the top of a hill on Paradise Island overlooking Nassau Harbor.

That is the end of your history lesson for today.

We had a BALL!

Recently, the weather on the weekends has been awful.  Windy, rainy and cloudy.  We decided it provided the perfect opportunity to take the boys bowling for the first time.
They were thrilled.
Look how stinking cute the kids bowling shoes are.

When taking pictures of little bowlers BEFORE they can start bowling you tend to get faces like this.  Too bad!

AND we’re bowling!  Remarkably, this bowling alley has technology.  When the kids turns came up, the bumpers came up.  Adults didn’t get to use the bumpers.  I could have used the bumpers!

They still use price tags in the grocery store here, but the bowling alley has bumpers that go up and down depending on your age?  Things that make you go hmmm…
There’s the smile!

Look at the form and concentration.  Just kidding they had these stands that the kids could roll the balls from.  Kids get all the props.  Know what we get?  Sore fingers.

Proof that I need the bumpers!
Love this one!

Jackson took this one…

and this one…

You could call it a montage of legs!

Love  all the colorful balls.

Then it was over, and we don’t know who won!  I can guarantee it wasn’t me.

BOO!

Is this scary enough for you?

No, how about this?

 

Still not scared?

I promise they are positively ferocious adorable sharks!

I’m trying to hold off on the scary for as long as I can…Jackson just asked for Frankenstein Legos.  What?

Those guys are itching to get their hands on some candy!  I’ve got to find their buckets.  I hid them on Thursday night after the first party, and now I can’t seem to locate them!  ACK!

Happy Halloween

Argh!

Since I was a bad blogger this summer, I didn’t share about our trip to the Pirate Museum.  The boys loved it.  Remember their Pirate Party last year?  They love Pirates!  One of their favorite books is David Shannon’s How I Became a Pirate.
We are part of a playgroup here, and they planned an outing the the Pirate Museum.  I didn’t even know there was one.  There is one and it was FUN!
To set the mood, they boys donned their pirate hats on their way there.  Here is Jackson's attempt at a ferocious face.  Keep working on that!

Miller’s Fearsome face!  Even scarier!

When we got there, this was our tour guide.  He had, the clothes, the speech and even the teeth.  Totally authentic!

We got to see some of the scenes of pirate life.  Some were very realistic…

Did you see the rat?  It’s right there on the table.

Nassau was (and maybe still is) home to lots of pirates.  They say in the museum that the pirates here just wear suits now.

The boys were brave, but it was scary in parts.  Dark and scary.
At the end they weren’t sure if they wanted to pose with this guy or not….

They did great and they loved it in the end!
Maybe they will be pirates for Halloween!

Guess What?

We had to wash all our Legos.

TWICE.

Can you guess why?

Butterbean tinkled on the whole tub of them.

Twice!

Seriously, he has finally turned a corner with the potty training.  It has been a long road with this one.  There were times when I thought I couldn’t do it any more.  If there was one more dirty pair of underwear, I thought I might just light a match and walk away—it was that bad.

It has taken me a while to write this post because I didn’t want to jinx it.  don’t you hate when you talk about how good your child has been doing and then wham, they go and embarrass you immediately?

He so excited every time he goes #2 in the potty.  I can guarantee I’m more excited than him!!

Fishin’ on the Dock

Have you ever heard the song Fishin’ In The Dark by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?  It is a family favorite!  Love it.

We have our own version here at our house.  It’s Fishin’ On The Dock.  Get it?  Clever, right?  I know, I’m lame, but that’s nothing new.

We’ve made a bit of an aquarium right off our dock by sinking some things.  We feed them leftover food and fruit and vegetables.  Fishing in the aquarium is kind of a joke around here.  Sometimes you can pull up fish after fish, but sometimes you get nothing.   

This wasn’t one of those days.  Jackson managed to hook 2 fish that don’t live in the aquarium.  You’ll never guess what they used for bait?

 

The first one was a croaker.  Hank was there to inspect it.

Miller had to inspect as well.  He blocked my shot!

Seconds after this picture was taken, that fish flipped right out of his hand and into the water.

Back at work…

This was a big ‘un!  Some kind of Jack is what we found out.

Look how proud he is!

    

And back he goes!

Until another day…

p.s. They love leftover Wendy’s french fries!