Aruba, February 24

Today is our last day on Aruba. I am waiting for Quinn and Matt to wake up to go to breakfast. The weather has been awesome...today is just a little bit cooler and cloudier which is great because Quinn has had his limit of sun. The wonderful breezes (winds) do keep you comfortable. Last night we watched a band at our resort called Joy Ride. They played a nice mix of classics and new pop that Q loves. He finally made a friend to play with yesterday...Sanzio from NY...who is also a hockey player. Q did great talking to some adults last night about hockey.

I am currently watching the Zamboni beach sweeper go back and forth. Our beach is so perfect! Plenty of space and beautiful white sand. I think even our non-beach Dad is impressed.

Other highlights of the week include eating at Yemanga in Orangested...visiting de Palm island...going snorkeling there and off the catamaran. It was neat to be able to snorkel with Quinn. We saw some beautiful large green parrotfish, and I saw a pretty large starfish. I'm curious to see if the underwater camera worked. (Update, disposable underwater cameras are lousy!)

Yesterday Dad and Quinn did two fun activities...jet skiing and water sliding at the other Divi resort.

I think my favorite meal was at the Red Parrot...a delicious seafood pasta. The steaks are great here  as well. And I think I could talk Matt into buying one of those "grill-your-own" tables for our deck.

I saw some beautiful birds, but not as many as I had hoped for. We had a pelican mascot on our catamaran trip. Also, on that ride, Quinn got to sit up with the captain. I think I got a good picture.

First Snow

One year ago today, we were on the Epic cruise ship. Today we had our first winter snow, and I crunched my car with a sliding skid. Quinn played at the Xl center today with his team. The game was great, although Q didn't p,ay well. I think he was starstruck.

We finally had a good week for the ice rink, and Add,Elisa, James,Quin, Nick, Mei, and me al had fun skating. Mei is doing amazingly well with her skating...she is so coordinated, and so tenacious. She would be a great hockey player.

Our new pellet stove is making January much more tolerable...it's easy to go out to shovel pr walk Buster when you know that cosy fire is waiting. Buster loves the snow...I've been letting him loose fornhis figure 8 laps in the front yard.

happy new year!

2012 got off to a fun start thanks to Quinn's invitation to play on the ice at Fenway with his Mite A team. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed staying over in Boston with a few hockey families. Dinner for all15 of us was at Fire and Ice...fun, but Matt and I both had expected something a little better. And the night before on New Year's eve, we had dinner with the Anastasios after an exciting Ct Whale game. We got some interesting looks as we walked into Max Downtown with the three boys and their foam fingers and Whale shirts. Once we were seated everything was fine, and there was even a kid's menu.

A good month

After the storm, we have had beautiful weather and we have taken advantage of it with lots of walks, raking, and street hockey. Quinn has been everywhere on his Razor scooter...I'm so glad that he likes it! He had a fantastic report card last week with Mrs. Lindquist writing that Quinn is every teacher's dream. Grammy was showing it off to everybody, I don't think any of the other cousins ever had a report card quite like that. The problem is that there's only one way to go from here and it's not up. Our seven year old has set a high bar for himself! Speaking of high bars, the Mite A team has had a few tough games playing what appears to be tougher competition. The ages are the same, but the opponents seem a lot bigger. Maybe they are all 8-year olds. However, the kids are having a great time, and the coaches and parents are all very nice. I give a lot of credit to the coaches for volunteering so much of their time and effort.

We are definitely in Christmas mode, and Quinn and I put the tree up last week. Actually, I put the tree up thinking I was doing the family a big favor and Quinn started crying that he didn't get to help. So, I dragged the tree back into the basement and we brought it up again together. We only had 2 ornament casualties so far. One was a Quinn drop and one was a Buster steal. I am trying not to freak out about doing everything perfect for Christmas. I am trying to do one small decorating, shopping or packing project a day...and it seems to be working. Now I have to get to our Christmas card, which will probably be a hockey picture.

I retired from the Mother Ducks, only to go out and skate with Quinn's team. I felt a little ridiculous with all my stuff on, but who cares? Quinn and I were both disappointed we didn't have a scrimmage! Now I am looking forward to getting our rink going. I bought Matt a small fireplace today for it...it would be fun to have a little party down there. My 50th birthday is coming up, I'm anxious to see what Matt has cooked up for it!

We have a seven year old!

Quinn turned 7 last week and we had another party at the XL Center for the Whale game. We invited 9 kids but 11 came! (Reid and Alex joined the group). The kids were much better than last year. I think it was for a few reasons...1: we didn't load them up with sugary cake before the game; 2: it was a Friday night so all the kids were exhausted from the school week; 3: we had more parents than last year including 2 Moms! (Stephanie and Jackie) and 4: we didn't stress out about missing a few minutes of the game. The best part of the night was that the Whale won in OT with 6 seconds left. That got the kids out of their seats!

Quinn has also started having hockey games with his Mite A team, and he scored his first authentic full-ice goal in his first game. Not the prettiest goal, but he brought the score up to 5-7 vs. S. Windsor. The team did great considering that SW has been playing full ice for a couple of months. Black Friday we get up at the crack of dawn...not to get to the shopping doorbusters, but to get Q ready for a 7 a.m. start time at Simsbury Farms for the first game of his tournament.

Fall is here

Today was day three of hockey tryouts for the Mites Travel team. Quinn is one of 24 kids trying out, with 16 spots available. He skated great and Matt and I think he has a good chance of making the team. We will know in the next day or two! His friend Matthew also did very well...we just don't know the "politics" of the try-outs and whether they favor 8-year olds over 7s. It'll also be interesting to see how many girls make the team.

Meanwhile, soccer has been a very fun experience for both me and Quinn. About 10 days ago, Quinn lost a tooth when he collided with Nicholas' head. Nicholas was fine, but Quinn spat up some spit and blood and cried for a bit. Now he has a gaping front tooth hole that he tries to stick his tongue through. No sign of a big tooth coming in behind. At least he won't have to wiggle it for months getting it to come out! It'll be kind of fun to get his school picture, then look back and think about why his tooth was gone.

The other night, Quinn seemed very tired and on our way to bed, he looked at the pictures I have of his grandpa. Next thing you know, he was face-down on the bed crying that he never got to know his grandpa. He was inconsolable! Bawled for a good half-hour and finally cried himself to sleep after Buster comforted him for a bit and I found duck-baby (glad I still have that old thing!) I would like to believe that he is really sad about not knowing his grandpa(s) because he would have liked to have met them, not that he is sad because his other friends have grandpas. I am going to go with the first option.

Quinn's shyness with adults seems to be disappearing. At the Harvest Fair, he shouted out to the art teacher "Hey Mrs. O!" and when he got to demonstrate this week in soccer, he made sure to shout out "Bye, Coach" to the big guy in charge. Very cute!

First Grade

I love conversations in the car! Quinn and I have the best talks...usually about school. He's the typical kid who won't answer at all to "How was your day?" at 3:15 off the bus, but boy, will he open up when he doesn't realize he's doing it! I have finally figured out the names of all of his classmates in Mrs. Lindquist's class. There are 8 boys and 10 girls. And I have met many of them at soccer. I crack up every time the kids get in the big circle for their soccer instruction and they all scream at each other to say hello. I don't know it strikes me so funny...I think because it's so stupid! Back to school, I heard from a reliable source, James' mom, that the girls have instigated a daily game of chasing the boys around at recess.

Quinn and I had the day off from school today, and we had a relaxing morning with plenty of time to play with yo-yos (we were trying to master "Around the Town"). We also went and bought a couple more Bey Blade tops and I actually convinced Q to come with me for a quick stop of dress shopping (this would be for Joey Trenholm's wedding). I found six dresses to try on in about 3 minutes and bought 3 of them. Later, Nicholas came over to play and they had a good time. Oh, and we saw four deer (three on our street) and I had my closest viewing of a black bear near Nicholas' house. I wonder if the animals are foraging knowing the muggy weather is about to finally break.

Quinn still calls out of bounds "out of balance", but I noticed in soccer that other boys say it too! He also wants to know why the mountain "follows us" in the car. Finally, he is very interested in where girls pee. I pointed very quickly to the general area. I'm sure the girls in his class will let him know as well.

Boston lost their wild card chance in the last regular season game yesterday...and for what it's worth, there is no Giants torture this year! I'm going to miss dressing up as "the franchise."