Thursday, May 24, 2012

A big event for Trevor

I've been slacking in the blog department.  I bet everyone has been on edge...huh?  I will try to catch up a little bit here.  So the day had finally come for Trevor for his first communion.  I've discovered that it is very difficult to explain this ceremony to someone who isn't Catholic, and I'm not familiar with other religions enough to know if there is anything similar.  I do know that if you have a girl making her first communion, boy can she get decked out.  Beautiful white dress, veil, gloves, and I have no doubt Gwen will eat it all up when it is her turn.  I bet she won't put as much value in the process and the fact that she can actually participate during communions to come.  I think she just wants to put on and dress up with her dress.  She loved looking through the catalogue I got in Trevor's folder of information. 

I digress....So Trevor has been waiting, and waiting, and asking when his turn was going to be.  Finally the preparation was done, and the day was here.  We had a great turn out, and Gwen was able to enjoy herself in the Nursery.  Technically she shouldn't be down there, having gone to Sunday school this year, but I'd rather not have to keep my eye on her. 

They had a nice ceremony, and Trevor of course couldn't stop talking about the wine.  They had already tried both the bread and wine in their last meeting of the session, so at least he knew what he was in for.  But he still could not keep his thoughts to himself about the wine.  Hopefully the whole congregation didn't hear. 

So we had brunch and gifts for Trevor from his wonderful family.  I know that the day was a right of passage for Trevor.  He can now go up for Communion with the rest of the family.  Next up, 2nd grade graduation!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Twins game...check!

Well, last summer, the time got away from us.  Two years ago, we went to a Twins game and it was a little tricky with Gwen, only being 2 years old.  Last year, we didn't get a chance.  I had it on my list of things we had to do this summer.  And it wasn't even in the schedule yet.  I guess this was one of those things that just happened to work out perfectly for us. 

We had tentative plans for Saturday to at least meet up with Derek and Kyrsten for a number of reasons:  Her birthday, baby gifts to look over, and simply because it had been a few weeks since we had said hi.  So we started the conversations, and found out that they had come into a set of 4 tickets due to an illness in the family of the original ticket owners.  Should we use them?  Should some of us use them?  Should we decide to do something else?  The game was at 6:10.  It was a beautiful night, no rain forecast.  The Twins had not been doing very well so that if we wanted to look for more tickets, chances are they wouldn't be tough to find, or overpriced. 

After talking it over, we decided to go for it.  I looked up tickets in the same section for two of us, and found a few choices.  They were both under face value.  So I snatched them and we started getting ready.  We arrived and had a few minutes to play around before Derek and Russ had to run some errands.  The time began to tick away, and it was getting close to when we had to get going to make it for the first pitch.  So Kyrsten and I loaded the kids and headed out to the park.  The boys came later. 

We got into the park as they were heading out to the field, and walked to our seats, on the 3rd base side.  The kids were ready to eat so we got them their requested hot dogs and water.  We brought gloves and jackets for Gwen and I.  Even as we were riding into the game, Trevor was asking when we were going to leave.  REALLY TREVOR?  As much as I could, I tried to ignore his want to leave by the 5th inning.  And asking him politely to enjoy being there...it was going to be a beautiful night to be watching baseball.  As we sat down in our seats, he started to ask again...and I said if he promised me to drop it, I would let him give me his opinion.  He accepted that, and said at the 6th inning. 

The kids started eating and soon the Twins were up for their first at-bats.  Because of our seats I explained that we were going to have to watch out for left handed batters.  He didn't believe me at first, but both Span and Mauer fouled some off by us.  Trevor then wasn't sure if he should put down his hot dog to try to catch the balls.  I could tell he enjoyed being able to track the ball and watch the game, and all the side games much more than in the previous games he went to. 

Gwen was enjoying cheering for her Twins and especially the ones she knew by name.  She has been getting over a nasty virus but had finally started eating again, which I thought was a good sign.  While she didn't always want to stay in her seat, it was better than 2 years ago.  She played with a phone only for probably 15 minutes during the entire game. 

Derek and Russ made it to the game around the 4th or 5th inning.  They took some seats in the row behind us and shortly after, the people sitting next to us on the end of our row left for the evening.  I think they only stayed for 3 innings or so.  So we were all in the same row.  Very nice.  Gwen and Trevor both got their ice cream in a helmet before we left.  By that time, it was the end of the game anyway. 

Strangely enough though, there was this group of 3 that sat in the row in front of us.  They looked to be in their mid 20s or so...maybe older.  Anyway, it was two guys and a girl and one of the guys came back to his seat with a foam finger for Gwen.  He just took it out of his stuff and said she looked like she could use it.  The guy then saw that she had a brother, and found another vendor and got a pink foam finger for her and asked her to give the blue one to Trevor.  This group was so nice and chatty from that point on.  They thought it was funny when the kids were poking them with the fingers and were respectful enough to know not to swear or be disruptive. 

Through all these things, by the end of the game, when we decided to get up and get ready to go, guess who was saying he didn't want to go?  Yep, Trevor.  And of course, since then it has been everything about baseball: wanting to play for the Twins, playing Mario Super Sluggers, practicing baseball outside, and thank goodness for the lovely weather that is due us. 

So yes, the to-do of going to a Twins game this year is checked.  Thank goodness we took advantage of this opportunity.  Everything worked out so perfectly...except that the Twins couldn't pull out a win.  And I love that Trevor didn't want to leave.  I knew that he had a wonderful time as well.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A string of good luck would be nice

Although I guess when I think about it, at least we haven't had a string of bad luck!  It seems to be up and down with the family lately.  Trevor's been having a good time having a little break for the weekends, starting up baseball, getting ready for his First Communion in less than two weeks, and really getting excited for his summer vacation.  Gwen has been slowly coming to a realization that she will be going to Kindergarten at Trevor's school next year, and that means saying goodbye to most of her friends at Preschool.  They are changing the way they are running their preschool again next year, so I am glad that we are not going to have to adjust to that next year.  I have signed the kids up for most of their summer camps, at least the ones that I can, and it doesn't seem to be too busy.  I think they have either 12 or 13 weeks off, and only have camps for 4 weeks for Gwen and 6 weeks for Trevor. 

We started our unofficial kick-off to the summer at the lake this weekend with the Kentucky Derby party.  I brought Gwen up on Friday afternoon because she was done with school and we wanted to make it up in time for dinner.  Trevor and Russ stayed back so they could do their baseball practice.  Of course it got rained out but they didn't know until they showed up at their field.  Trevor at least got to go on an early morning walk and play outside for a little while on Saturday before the storms came in and rained us out for the rest of the weekend.  All the little kids enjoyed their horse cheering sections.  We each got to draw two horses, so we had two to cheer for (except the winner...nice drawing Kelsey!).  We had our regular dominoes games at night, thankfully the kids slept ok...although Gwen was up early on Saturday, but I'm so bummed that the weather hasn't been as good as it could be.  No boat rides, no toes in the water, no Vitamin D overdose....so I've been very blah lately. 

I have been running around doing some year-end things for the school and haven't had much time to settle down yet.  I hear tomorrow is supposed to be nice?  Now I just have to find some things to do outside and hopefully keep Gwen interested.  At least I can hope...no rain tomorrow please!