Double Birthday Boys

For the past few years we have celebrated the boys' birthdays together in one party.  It has worked out so nicely that we decided to do it again this year.  However, with the possibility that the house could still be on the market, we decided to plan a party at someplace other than our house this year.  We knew the theme would be Minecraft and we picked Pump It Up as our location because the boys thought a bouncing birthday party would be lots of fun!  We also did the party a little on the earlier side this year just in case things got crazy before the big move.

It definitely was an easier way to do a birthday party.  When the day arrived, we simply loaded up the cake (which Ian slaved over for several days, but more on that later) and we arrived at the party location 15 minutes prior to our party time.

The boys both had lots of friends from their classes there as well as several of their joint friends and neighbors.  Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice even drove up from Charlotte to join in on the festivities.  Everyone had a great time bouncing.  They spent 45 minutes in one room, 45 minutes in the next room, and then about that long in the food room eating their pizza and cake.  Their were several Pump It Up workers keeping an eye on everything, and while they were a bit rambunctious at times they did keep the kids excited and having fun.  The boys even got to go in a wind tube and feel hurricane force winds.  They had a great time!

When we were all putting on our shoes to head into the pizza room at the end of our jumping, one of Evan's friends, Diego, finally arrived.  His dad said that he had really wanted to come even though he knew he'd be late and miss most of the party.  I felt bad that he hadn't gotten to bounce at all, so we let Evan and Diego go through the obstacle course a few times before we all went in for pizza.  I give Diego so much credit because most kids I know would have been sulking for the rest of the party because they missed so much, but he just kept on smiling and had a great time with the pizza and cake.

Once we were in the food room, everyone finally got to see Ian's cake masterpiece.  This year, it was a Minecraft themed cake of course, so Ian had constructed it all out of individual blocks of cake of three different flavors-vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.  Then, he frosted them and created a whole Minecraft world. It was really awesome and the boys loved it!  A good time was had by all, and when we got home we just crashed before a present opening extravaganza thanks to some very generous friends.

It was so great to see the boys surrounded by so many people that care about them.  It was a great day!

(The birthday boys are ready to party!)

(Uncle Reid jumps into the bouncy house.)

(A view of one of the bouncy rooms)

(air hockey, anyone?)

(Evan climbs high.)

(Benny runs around.)

(Everybody is excited to go to the next room.)

(airborne Evan)

(monkey Benny)

(Evan, Ben, and Macie in the hurricane capsule)

(Ian's Minecraft masterpiece)

(time to blow out the candles)

(blocks of cake)

(Evan goofs off with one of his best buddies, Nathan)

(Aunt Candice sits pretty.)

(The whole groovy crew-Happy Birthday Evan and Ben!)

Intermediate Parkour!

Evan has been taking parkour lessons for about two years now.  I'm sure some of you are asking, what on earth is parkour!  If Evan hasn't explained it to you by now, I'm getting pretty good at it.  First, I ask people if they've seen American Ninja Warrior on TV.  If they have, problem solved-that's what parkour is.  If not, I ask them if they've seen the first Daniel Craig James Bond movie.  In the opening scene James Bond chases someone through a city jumping and flipping and doing some pretty nice parkour.  If they've seen neither, then I just explain it to them that it's gymnastics without the gym or skateboarding without the skateboard, or basically just running, jumping and doing a bunch of flips out in a park or the real world somewhere.

So, that's what Evan's been doing for the past few years, and he LOVES it!  There were definitely times over the past few years when I've wondered if he was actually making progress or if he was just sitting in the gym getting distracted or goofing off.  However, he was actually putting in lots of good hard work over the past few years in between a few spurts of silliness, and as a result he's learned a lot.

About six weeks before we moved, they did assessments in Evan's parkour class.  They had Evan and the other kids do a bunch of skills and tested to see how far they'd come.  Since we had to take a few weeks off for Ben's swim lessons, Evan had to make up some of the assessment after class with Coach Jay.  They were in there for quite a while, and when they came out, Evan was holding the little assessment checklist in his hand and had the biggest smile on his face!  He had qualified to move up to intermediate parkour!  I was so proud of him.

Then, I went into the office to look at scheduling for the intermediate class.  Now, we would only be there for about six more weeks, but I wanted him to have the chance to do some intermediate classes.  I had the option of signing him up for a class that met at a similar time in the evening but was with a different coach.  Or, I could sign him up for one that didn't start till 7 in the evening but was with Coach Jay.  Since it was only for six weeks, I decided we could do the late night classes, just for that long.  He really wanted to stay with his coach.

So, we went to six weeks of intermediate parkour and had a ball!  Plus, I think he learned a lot from the more advanced kids.  We were really sad to have to leave parkour and Coach Jay in Durham, but hopefully we will find an equally good spot in St. Louis!

(Evan shows off his parkour assessment!)

(Evan practices his back handspring in intermediate parkour.)

(intermediate parkour at its best)

The Durham Bucket List Continues

As I said earlier, with a new house bought and our current house sold, we really did have a bit of a lull in all of the activity of moving.  So, we wanted to make sure to hit up some of our favorite Durham haunts before we moved on.

After our fabulous day at the Duke gardens, we had to head to one of our other favorite Durham places, one where the boys and I have spent many, many hours.  We headed to the NC Museum of Life and Science.  I don't know what I would have done raising my boys without a membership to that place.  In fact, I was at the museum with my parents and Evan on the day I went into labor with Benny!

We started off the day at a birthday party for one of Evan's classmates, Lucy.  It was so nice, she actually invited both Evan and Ben!  It just shows how often Ben has visited that class and how ready he is to join in on the Kindergarten fun himself.  So, we all had a great time at Lucy's party in the butterfly section of the museum.  The boys love the butterfly house because there could be the possibility, no matter how small, that a butterfly would actually land on them.  While no butterflies actually landed on us this trip, it was still fun.

After the party with the butterflies we went to another of the boys' favorite stops in the museum, the dinosaur trail.  Now, they are not very into wandering around and looking at all of the dinosaur statues, but boy, do they love the fossil dig.  They could spend hours in that pit searching for sharks' teeth and all other manner of rocks, shells, and bones.  I have to say, with all my hours in the fossil pit, I've gotten pretty good at finding sharks' teeth myself, and I can always leave the pit with a few for any kids that want some.  Oddly enough, the big attraction of the day at the fossil pit for the boys was Lucy and one of her friends from the party who were using the magnifying glass party favor to burn leaves.  My boys do love fire, especially Evan, so that was a big hit!

We didn't make it to every corner of the museum that day, but we did make it to one other favorite spot that still baffles me as to why they like it so much.  There's a spot inside the museum where they have hooked up a projector from the ceiling.  That projector displays a series of lines and circles on the floor below and they move and change.  The boys absolutely love running back and forth jumping over those lines and circles.  We keep saying that we need to build one of those projectors into our basement, so we'll see if that happens.  Finally, after one last picture in front of the big rocket ship, we said goodbye to the museum and headed to one of our other favorite Durham spots that just happened to be nearby.

(starting fires with the birthday girl)

(our lucky day-two four leaf clover finds!)

(hugging the rocket ship goodbye)

We had to stop by Locopops before we left!  Locopops makes the best popsicles, or Mexican style paletas, and we've stopped by many times after hikes on the Eno or other Durham adventures.  They even have a chicken flavored version for the times when Ripple is with us.  This time though, it was just the human contingent.  I was surprised when everyone but me opted for the fruit juice versions while I had my traditional creamy Mexican chocolate flavor.  It doesn't matter what you get, you can't go wrong with Locopops!

(Mmmm...Locopops!)

The day finished off with something that wasn't necessarily Bucket List inspired, but it was still fun.  Since the boys had been in to sporting events of all kinds recently, I wanted them to be able to see the Kentucky Derby.  So, after our morning adventures, we headed home.  Since you're supposed to dress up for the derby, we all found some silly hats, Ian and I concocted an official Kentucky Derby beverage, and we all sat down for the most exciting minute in sports. We all picked our horses, and I'm happy to say that mine turned out to be the official triple crown winner, American Pharoah!  Too bad I'm not a wagering person!

(watching the Kentucky Derby-somehow I don't think we were quite as stylish as some of the other attendees!)

Brave

With summer rapidly approaching I wanted Ben to do one more set of swim lessons.  I had thought about having them both do half of the swim team season before we actually moved and I thought this would be good preparation.  Turned out we had WAY too much to do before we moved, but the swim lessons turned out to be great preparation for the summer anyway.

They had two different groups for the swim lessons-the Pikes and the Eels (I don't remember which one is which).  They would take them all together on the first day of lessons, assess them all, and divide them up in to groups according to ability.  Since Benny had taken probably three different sessions of preschool lessons already with the YMCA in his lifetime, I was hoping that he would be in the higher group and really learn to swim independently before summer.

On the first day of lessons there were a TON of kids there and a bunch of teachers assessing them.  However, as I was watching them assess, I saw that they only had Benny in the water twice for a brief period of time the whole time we were there, and they didn't learn very much about his swimming.  Sure enough, when I came back the next day, he had been put back in one of the lower groups.  I think lots of the time they just assume he's younger than he really is and place him according to that.

Well, I don't normally like being the squeaky wheel, but in this case I thought it was warranted.  I explained to the lesson supervisor Stanley that I thought Benny could handle being in the higher group based on what he could do.  So, he just switched him.  Then, I was nervous about whether he could really handle it.  Turns out, it was a success, and the teacher pushed him more than he had been in the past and had him trying to swim by himself a little.  He really liked it and I feel like he was learning.

Then, we got to the last class. The teacher he had had for the previous classes was gone, so Stanley was substituting.  About halfway through the lesson I look over to the pool and do a double take.  I ask the mom sitting next to me, "Is my son swimming without a float?"  Sure enough, Stanley had him swimming all by himself for quite a distance, something that he was yet to accomplish in any of this other lessons.  He got done swimming across most of the short distance across the pool and I was so proud of him.  He immediately started crying.  It stressed him out, but it showed him that he could do it.  Then, at the end of the lesson, he took everyone in Benny's group to the deeper competition pool and wanted them to jump off the swim team blocks and swim to the wall.  Ben wanted nothing to do with it and started crying again.  Finally, we convinced him to jump off the blocks with Stanley holding his hand.  He wanted Evan to come watch him and then he was willing to.  Sure enough, even though he was scared, he did it!

In the end, he learned a little during the two weeks of lessons, and then he learned more in the one day with Coach Stanley than he had in lots of days of swim lessons before that.  I am so glad that I pushed him into that group.  After those lessons, something clicked, and you should see my little fishy swim across the pool now with ease!

(Ben practicing his kickboard skills early in the lesson sequence)

(Look how far Ben has progressed after one lesson with Coach Stanley!)

(My big brave boy jumps in with Stanley.)

A Mile for Good Cause

For many years before I started staying home with my boys I worked at a fabulous school called The Hill Center.  I've been stopping back in to say hi and help them out with some testing ever since. On one of my recent stops in I noticed that they were hosting the first annual Hill Mile Fun Run to support all of their programs.  I was super excited and signed us all up to take part.

We showed up that morning at the Durham Academy fields where the race would take place in all of our warmest clothes because for some reason it was the coldest day in April that I've seen in a long time.  We registered and put on our Hill Mile race tee shirts and bibs.  Fortunately, they had a bounce house where the kiddos enjoyed playing while I was able to say hi to lots of my Hill Center buddies, many of which I hadn't seen in a long time.

Pretty soon, it was time for the races to start.  First, they would run the competitive mile race.  We watched and cheered the competitive runners and waited for the recreational race which was our race this time.  It was fun to have the boys with me to experience the race atmosphere that I love so much. When the starting gun was fired, we were off.  I wasn't sure how they would do because they had never run a mile before, but I figured we'd give it a try.  Ian ran in front with Evan while I stayed with Benny.  Much to our delight, both boys ran the whole mile without stopping and were so proud when they crossed the finish line and received their ribbons.

Next, it was time for the kids' dashes.  There were races across the field for all age groups.  Benny ran first and then Evan. They both ran as fast as they could, and while neither of them were first, they both enjoyed the running and were proud of themselves for finishing.

The race was capped off with some sno cones for the boys.  (I don't know how they could do the sno cones in that weather, but they enjoyed them.)  It was great to be able to support such a great cause that is near and dear to my heart and have fun at the same time!  Now, we all need to find some more races to run together!

(The boys are ready to run!)

(Our family shot after the mile run)

(Benny speeds by.)

(Evan is ready to race.)

Durham Bucket List

Fortunately for us, the weekend of the terrible poodle injury we managed to sell our house.  I had been putting so much work into getting it ready to go on the market, and I was proud that it went in two days with three offers-above asking price!

Once the house was sold and our house in St. Louis was purchased, we could all take a deep breath and enjoy the last few months that we had in Durham.  One of our first stops was one of our favorites, Duke Gardens.  It was a beautiful spring weekend and all of the flowers were blooming in the gardens.  I dressed the boys up in decent clothes, because of course, I wanted to get some pictures at the gardens.  Evan is definitely a Davis at heart because as soon as we got to the gardens he kept setting up poses for himself and his brother.   Maybe there's a future in the family business for him??

Of course we had to check out some of our favorite haunts at the gardens.  We headed under the gazebo to the flower covered steps.  Benny had to sniff the flowers and find the ones that smelled good while Evan picked out some more spots for good pictures.  Next we wandered down to the fish pond and watched the goldfish, followed by a run in the big field.  We hung out in the magnolia trees for a little while before we saw the signs that told us not to climb the trees.  Have those signs always been there because we've definitely done some tree climbing in the past?

The rest of our garden adventures included saying goodbye to the ducks in the duck pond and wandering back through the bamboo forest on the way to the car.  There were so many more little corners and hidden passageways that we could have explored in the garden, but alas they may have to wait a while for our next pass through Durham.

While we were at the gardens I wanted to wander over to the main campus to pick up some Duke gear-it's going to be much harder to come by in St. Louis!  So, we wandered over to the Duke Chapel with only minimal complaints from the boys.  We posed in front of the chapel for a few quick family photos before heading over to the student union.  Since Duke had just won the National Championship (Go Duke!) I had to get the boys and I a championship shirt (couldn't talk Ian into getting one).  Then, Evan had his heart set on getting a big Duke shirt, I mean a REALLY big Duke shirt.  So, we found the clearance bin of shirts and let the boys get the biggest ones they could find.  They have loved those PJ shirts ever since.

Our last stop on the tour was a visit to Cameron Indoor.  The boys hadn't been there since they could remember, so, with their recent Duke obsession, they were excited about this stop.  There were no games in session, but since it was alumni weekend, Cameron was open for tours.  We headed in to the basketball court and just took in the scenery.  The boys' favorite part was definitely running up and down the stands and peering out the windows at the top.  Maybe they'll be able to come back for a game someday.

We have a lot of fond memories at Duke-camping out for and cheering at Duke basketball games, to climbing to the top of the Duke Chapel to take pictures, picnicking in the Duke Gardens, rushing to the hospital for the birth of Benny B, and so much more.  While we won't be able to stop by as often, I know we'll be back at Duke for another tour as soon as we can!

(Evan poses himself and his brother for a shot.)

(happy boys in the flowers)

(Take time to smell the tulips.)

(another shot composed by Evan)

(my boys and I)

(hanging from a tree we weren't supposed to climb, whoops!)

(our little family)

(Cameron's newest crazy)

(checking out the pond view)

(bedtime in our new Duke shirts-Go Duke!)

The Terrible Tail of the Pink Paws

So, I scrambled and scrambled and cleaned and cleaned.  Finally, the house went on the market.  The realtors were optimistic that the house would sell that weekend that it went up for sale.  We all hoped that they were right and prepared for a weekend of clearing out of the house and staying out of everyone's way.

We had some showings Saturday morning, and the boys were also invited to Amelia's birthday party in the neighborhood.  So, the boys went to the party while the dog and I parked in the pool parking lot and went for a little walk.  Before long, the party was over and we decided to head out for a lunch at one of our favorite outdoor eating spots because we had Mr. Ripple with us.

So, I met the boys over at Amelia and Alex's house and we all quickly hopped in the car.  We were all a bit distracted thinking about birthday parties, house showings, lunch, and countless other things, so we weren't paying as much attention as we should have.  I threw Ripple, leash and all in the back of the van with the boys while both doors were opened.  Then, Ian closed both doors using one of the buttons up front.  Unbeknownst to us, Ripple had hopped out one of the open doors when we weren't looking.  His little leash got caught in the door, and we drove off!!

We drove around their cul-de-sac to turn the car around and started to drive out.  As we neared the end of their street I saw one of their neighbors that was out mowing his lawn frantically waving his hands at us.  He points down and we realize that Ripple was indeed caught outside our car.  I was in the passenger side and I remember getting out and running around the car imagining what terrible shape Ripple may be in on the other side of the car.  It felt like it took me forever to get to him.  Fortunately...amazingly...he seemed ok.  We set him in the car and drove off.  Then, I noticed that he was chewing his paws.  I looked at them and they were all bloody!  Poor puppy!

Our vet was closed, so we rushed to the nearest one that was open.  There they checked over his paw pads and fixed him up.  He came out with three big pink pads on his legs to protect his wounds and keep him from chewing on them.  We all went to lunch a bit shaken up.  We knew that we were very lucky to have him still around.  It made us all take a step back, take a deep breath, and give everyone in our little family a big hug, especially our little poodle who thankfully made a full and quick recovery!