Zinger: Walking the Dog

Patrick took Kita, but not Sadie, out for a walk.  Sadie came to me whining and protesting.  Genevieve noted, "Of course she is upset mom, walks to dogs are like ice cream sandwiches to kids!"  True, so very true.

Back to School

They both have the exact same goofy half smile!

This was Isadora's and Genevieve's first week back to school.  For Izzy it was (kind of) her first official week of preschool and for Evie her first week of second grade.  They were both very excited on Monday morning and remained pretty darn jubilant throughout the week.  Izzy is in the French preschool class with about 5 other kids who are 3 and 4 years old.  Her teacher's name is Mr. Abdul and he is originally from Lyon, France.  Izzy is going to do two after school clubs, preschool choir and kids zumba.  (oh the cuteness)

Genevieve is in French 2nd grade.  Her French teacher this year is the same as last, Mme Bouchard, and she is super excited because her French teacher this year is also her P.E. and Art teacher.  In addition to Art, P.E. and French she has the same english teacher as last year, Mrs. McDonald, the same music teacher Mrs. Ausprung, a new science teacher Ms. Nelson and a new math teacher, Lao Shu Chang.  Her form tutor (like homeroom) this year is Senora McKenna.  (Whew kid has a lot of teachers)  Evie is planning to try four different after school clubs (I say try because we may veto one or two if she seems to tired after the first few weeks).  She is going to do Oddessy of the Mind, Gardening Club, Science Club and Choir.  She has decided she really wants to learn to sing so she is also going to try her hand at voice lessons once a week before school.  (If nothing else she is sure to sleep well every night!) 

This week also marks my first official week of working full time again.  In order to swing this change in schedule Patrick and I came up with an elaborate scheme of drop offs and pick ups that I now have posted on my wall at work so that I won't mess it up, but really it just means that Patrick is picking one or both girls up from school every day.  He is really enjoying this and so far this week has gotten them donuts twice, tried to take them to a splash park (only open on the weekends as it turns out, it was tragic... so he got them ice cream), and to the bookstore.  At this rate they may never want me to pick them up or take them into school again :)

Belated Birthday Pics

 We came back from our summer vacation a day before Isadora's 3rd birthday.  This meant that if we were going to have a party at all it would have to be almost totally pre-arranged.  I must admit I am pretty proud of myself for getting it all put together over a month ahead of time.. although we did break with our birthday-parties-at-home tradition.  We asked Izzy where she wanted to have her birthday and she told us at the jump place... so the jump place it was. 

We put together a little party of mostly family (and Evie's friends... poor second child with a summer birthday to boot) and got to celebrate on her birthday proper with a special smurf cake I had also ordered before we left. 

I think Izzy had a lot of fun, although she was definitely overwhelmed by all of the presents for just her, and the next day she slept in until almost 9 am and then took a 4 hour nap....

Pool Time

Although as a person who works in water management our pool is my dirty (not so little, not so) secret, it is definitely the highlight of Genevieve, Isadora and Patrick's summer.  At least the girls, and usually Patrick too, are in it every single evening.  Sometimes, like yesterday, they are in the pool morning, noon and night.  Even though I am not so keen on the water use, I must admit it is pretty fun to watch them play and to see just how good both girls are getting at swimming.  Isadora in particular started the summer scared to even get in (probably due to a run in with a bad swimming teacher this past February) and is now jumping in on her own and swimming to the side.  She has not quite become graceful in the water but she is making it her own way and is definitely enjoying herself.  Genevieve on the other hand has progressed towards graceful in the water.  Her favorite pool activity is getting thrown into the air by Patrick.  I will still advocate for turning the pool into a giant rainwater harvesting cistern when the girls grow out of it but for the time being I will admit I am pretty happy our house has a nice wet outdoor playground.

Age of Not Agreeing

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Although it began in little bits and pieces about six months ago, a tipping point has been reached in the Lacroix household these past few weeks.  Genevieve and Isadora have begun to honest to goodness disagree and fight.  And while (mercifully) it is not all the time, it is definitely a noticeable change in the house....one that perhaps deserves a (remade) song....

When you push and shove in hopeless tirades

Insisting to ev’ryone the conflict is true

You’re at the age of not agreeing

When all the harmonious play is through

When you set aside your habit of sharing

And your sisterly love is lost up on a shelf

Your at the age of not agreeing

And you begin to argue amongst yourself

You’re an argument a day and no one solves

The petty discord you believe to be true

Where did all the happy endings go?

How can you work this out and play anew?

You must face the age of not agreeing

Doubting that sister you thought you knew

Until at last you start agreeing

And realize there’s something wonderful…

Truly wonderful with you two

3rd Birthday Interview

On the occasion of her 3rd birthday and interview with Isadora...

Favorites:
Color - Pink
Book - The "appletoot" (aka octopus) book
Movie - Frozen
Activity - Dance
Animal - Giraffe (so she told me this morning, I would also add kitties to that)
Food - Beans (no idea where that came from... not sure I have ever seen her eat beans, from my personal observations I would say her favorite foods are spaghetti-os and oatmeal)
What she wants to be when she grows up - a Happy Birthday girl
Best Friend - Jasmina (who she hasn't seen since December, but still talks about all the time)

Notable things - Went from wearing diapers to using the potty.  Starting talking so well she tells jokes and increasingly elaborate stories.  Started to learn to really swim (after a period of time where she was so scared by the pool she wouldn't even put a toe in, now she jumps in and swims to the side alone and even went snorkeling with us in Belize!).  Now plays with Evie (and other kids) instead of just next to them.  Established herself as the Lacroix night owl... if allowed she'll stay up past 9 pm and sleep in until 8 am. 

Belize (with a little Guatamala) Adventure!

On Wednesday we arrived home late from an amazing vacation to mostly Belize with a little two day stint in Guatemala.  The girls once again proved themselves to be amazing travelers!  Much like our trip to Costa Rica two years ago we traveled around quite a bit, and as Patrick put it made the trip "adventure forward"where we did the more adventurous portion of the vacation at the beginning. (Although we ended up ending the vacation with one last fabulous adventure).  On the trip we started in the Cayo District of Belize, traveled to Guatamala, and then out to the Turneffe Atoll in Belize.

Canoeing.  Patrick and Izzy were in one canoe and Evie and I in the other... it was supposed to be a two hour canoe trip but we made it last all day with frequent stops.

Floating dock for swimming in the river.  Evie is hanging onto the rope swing, which we all had fun using!  The water was amazingly warm.

At the summit after a steep hike.

Hanging out in the hammock on our porch

Evie and Patrick at the start of their tubing adventure.

Izzy and Evie at a lookout tower during a break from the canoes...

We started our trip in the Cayo district of Belize at a jungle lodge called Black Rock.  There we ate amazing food (well Patrick and I did... luckily for the girls the folks there were super nice and made a trip into a nearby town to get them the makings of mac and cheese for dinner...) slept in a cabin overlooking a river and the jungle, canoed the river, tubed the river, swam in the river, hiked up to a summit (to see what we could see), and visited an amazing botanical garden.

Dawn atop Temple IV...

View through the mists from Temple IV at dawn

Later in the day at the Grand Plaza

Temple I

Coolest turkey ever!

Its rough when the steps are as big as your leg....

Temple V

We then made the trek (not long in terms of miles but long for the drive time and border crossing) from Belize into Guatemala to visit Tikal.  We stayed in a hotel in the park for two nights.  The animals were amazing, as were, of course, the Mayan ruins.  We even woke up at 3:30 in the morning to trek into the jungle and the ruins to see the dawn break atop the highest monument in the park.  It was misty and other worldly and down right amazing!  After a morning nap we set out into the park again to see the monuments in full daylight, and they did not disappoint!  The girls trekked up monument after monument, and Tikal is so big that even in the middle of the day we found ourselves wandering around and coming across ruins with no one else around.  

Playing on the beach

Getting ready to snorkel off of Half Moon Caye

Nesting red footed boobies

Baby boobie...

After two nights in Guatemala we made the trek back over to Belize City to catch a boat to the Turneffe Atoll and Blackbird Caye.  The boat ride was 1.5 hours to get out to the remote island resort where we stayed, but it was well worth it!  We spent the next few days mostly relaxing and playing on the beach and in the ocean.  On our last full day of the trip we decided to go out to the Blue Hole, which is a 900 ft across and 400 ft deep submarine sinkhole about 43 miles off the coast of Belize, and the Half Moon Caye.  Both of the girls proved themselves to be amazing snorkelers on the trip.  Evie used a real snorkel and on the Blue Hole trip day went out for 3 separate snorkels with us.  Izzy went with a floatie and goggles and just floated along putting her head under the water to look at the fish.  At one point, while snorkeling the Blue Hole she said to Patrick "Daddy, I am going to swim to you in the deep end!"  Awesome.  We are both so proud of the way the girls just rolled with it on this adventure!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Isadora!

Happy Birthday to Little Bit... our Isadora.  I cannot believe three years have gone by since that stormy July 10th when she was born.  This past year in particular she has shown herself to be a funny, brave and amazing little person.  She has gone from diapers to potty not to mention starting to swim, articulate clearly what she wants (and doesn't want) in this world and crack a mean joke.  I'll "interview" her tomorrow... and hopefully update the poor blog :)

Frozen Camp

Evie with a friend she made at camp.

Like probably every other girl between the ages of 3 and 12 (or older?!) Evie has been obsessed with the movie Frozen.  It has played in our house at least 20 times and we now all have the songs utterly memorized, in no small part because Patrick decided to buy the extended soundtrack album for the girls just before our 6 hour long car ride up to the Blue... Don't get me wrong, the music is pretty good, but dear god I am ready to let it go.  (haha)  Given Evie's fixation with the movie she was beyond excited for her first camp of the year, a two-week long theater camp where the focus was on taking the songs from Frozen and turning them into a new little play.  The big performance was on Friday, I am afraid I only had an iphone to capture the spectacular and it didn't turn out too well... but if you ever want a repeat performance just ask Genevieve... she will be more than happy to show you.

Shoes on Ice

 Like many new puppies (or not so new in this case) Sadie has a shoe chewing problem.  Her chewing is particularly problematic because she seems fixated on not just my shoes but my most favorite shoes.  There have been half a dozen tragedies to date.  My heartbreak over gnawed shoes must be leaving an impression on Isadora because she has now decided that she will store her shoes (and her clothes from the day) in the empty wine fridge we have in our kitchen.  When asked why she was doing this she simply informed us that it was to protect her shoes from Sadie... and that she liked them nice and cold.  Looks like it will be a few more years until we use that classy wine fridge for its original intent... nice to know though that it is getting some use!

First Day at IST

Well folks it is official... We now have both kids at the same school!  (kind of... Evie is at camps not at IST all summer)  Yet another one of those all important milestones you will never see in a book :)  Today Isadora started at IST... or as she calls it IST camp.  Her first drop off went really well.  She was a little scared to be there but said goodbye like a brave little (almost) 3 year old.  It is exciting to see her getting to be so big and to have her learning French like her big sister!

Working on the Blue

The week after school gets out is always a child-care no man's land.  There is no school and camps won't start until the first week of June.  This year we tried a grand experiment...  a week up on the Blue where we worked while the girls played (or were asleep) so that we didn't have to take vacation and the girls would get a whole week up in the woods.  I am happy to report that for me it worked incredibly well.  I got up at 5 am every morning and worked until 8 am when everyone got up and then again in the afternoon around nap time. I also took reading down to the river with me to catch up on while they played... heavenly.  I even had an emergency with a proposal that required me to work all day, fortunetly my folks were there in the morning and then Evie just hung out with me while I worked and Izzy took a miraculous 5 hour nap.  This aligning of the stars is noted here for the record, as I do not expect it to ever happen again, and I need for it to be in print so that it can be referred to on one of those days where the whole work/mom balance utterly collapses.

Patrick didn't fare quite so well, he had to make a colossal trek back to Tucson for a hearing, but we figured out how to have documents read to him so he could work on the drive at least.  Doing the drive back and forth in a 24 hour period was exhausting, but lucky for him is boss gave him a break and he took the rest of the week off :)

The girls spent most of their time down at the river.  We also paid a social call to neighbors who rent airstreams on their property.  It just so happened that said airstreams were filled with no less than 8 girls that week, so Evie had kids to play with both that night and on another night when they came by to visit with us. 

On Thursday I took the afternoon off and we hiked Escudilla and visited the rock at mile 6.8 where we were married almost exactly 12 years ago.  Patrick and Izzy decided to stand out on the meadow and call the elk.  I laughed at them thinking it was silly, until off in the distance a bunch if elk answered back.  It was incredible.  The only sad part of the trip was learning on the way home that our favorite hike on catwalks near Glenwood NM is closed (probably for good) because the catwalks were all destroyed in last fall's flood...  The week reminded me just how lucky we are to have a beautiful place for our kids (and us!) to go back to year after year.  I think we have found a new beginning of the summer tradition!

End of the School Year!

 Genevieve has finished her first year of elementary school.  I must admit I am amazed at the transformation!  She went from a bit of an unruly kindergartener to a much less unruly (in all fairness really, very well behaved) 1st grader.  She is doing a great job reading in English and in French.  Her French teacher is working on her cursive handwriting and as of now her cursive is prettier than mine (although this is not saying much).  She has made new friends and seems to really enjoy school. 

French 1st grade singing a song at the end of the year party

 This week, as the school year was ending, we finished up her 1st grade year book.  Here are some of the answers to the questions in the book:

• She participated in 3 clubs: Art, Science and Majong
• When she grows up she wants to be an artist because artists are very famous in France.
• She made three new friends this year, Madison, Cela and Ruby and her best friend is Isabella
• Her favorite games are cootie and goblet
• The hardest subject for her was P.E. because she runs around and doesn't like it.  Her easiest subject was English.  The best grade she got this year was in science, which made her feel happy and proud. She had the most fun at school in French class.  Next year she hopes she can do better in art club.
• If she could pick just one word to describe this year in school it would be... "asome!!!!" (aka awesome)

Goals of 2014

Instead of making new year's resolutions for 2014 I decided I would set 3 goals...  The first was to complete a sprint triathlon.  Although I did not train nearly as much as I probably should of I am happy to reveal that I have managed to at least knock one goal off my 2014 list!  Perhaps even more exciting than the triathlon itself was the chance to travel back to Florida again for the long weekend.  Patrick and I went sans kiddos and reveled in those things that people without kids just take for granted....  we spent over an hour just looking out of the window on the plane, we ate dinner for almost 3 (!) hours, we watched whatever (bad) television we wanted, participated in an hour-long tour of the Dali museum, and just wandered around with no real agenda for an entire afternoon at the beach.  OK the last one we totally could/would do with children so perhaps it should be rephrased as we wandered around for an entire afternoon at the beach with NO snacks.  A big thanks are due to my brother-in-law who requested our presence at the triathlon for his 40th birthday!

Birthday Parties!

Genevieve, as has now become the tradition, has celebrated her birthday multiple times.  First was the actual birthday last weekend and this weekend it was the slumber party spectacular at our house.  (Well actually it was pretty low key, in fact I commented to Patrick that we got off pretty easy this year, given that last year we did a slumber party, trip to Disneyland and a gathering at my folk's house) 

Last weekend we spent her birthday recovering from our 11 hour drive home from Texas.  This "recovery" involved building the climbing dome that we gave her for her birthday and a my little pony scavenger hunt in order to get her present from me, a perfect example of how scarcity begets ingenuity.  I decided to put together the scavenger hunt because I didn't have any wrapping paper....  Finally, we ended the day with a birthday dinner (and presents!) at my folks house. 

Then this weekend she had three of her school friends over for a sleep over.  This year's sleep over was much easier than last years, the girls even got to all stay in the same room and sleep together.  They managed to make it into the pool twice (hooray for pool covers that make the pool 80 degrees already), watch Frozen (the seemingly favorite movie of all young girls) and do an egg hunt in the wash this morning.  We even saw one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.

Evie, ever the shiny personality, proclaimed that it was the best weekend ever... and it is only Saturday!