To sum up the end of the summer: We had visitors Beverly and Al whose rental allowed us to spend more time on Smith Mountain Lake (and LOVE every minute of it). Then we headed up to Connecticut for our annual pilgrimage to the Bridgewater Country Fair. I was Oscar's age when I started going, maybe younger (my memory fails given that I probably couldn't talk then). We made a pit stop on the way up north (and on our return home) at the home of Jay's sister Jennifer, the cousins Luke and Colin, and Uncle Jon. We love that we're so much closer to them now, especially since Annie and Colin are only 8 or so months apart. Even though the distance between our houses is shorter, ever since the road trip when we get on a highway, Oscar always says, "When we get on the highway for a long time, we go to Aunt Jennifer's." True that.
Oscar, too, has started his new school—three mornings a week—this year. His teacher, Mrs. Kelly, touts how easy going he is and how he just goes with the flow. I wish he would share some of that with us. Not two days in to the school year he comes down with a horrible stomach bug that put him out a full week. Welcome back. Now with Annie in school full time, however, I have to say I've really enjoyed my one-on-one time with him these past two weeks. I haven't had that since he was an infant. It's great to see what he's like as his own little person. He's got quite the personality. He's a helper. Loves to watch what you're doing (he drags over his step stool, and today, even brought it down to the basement to observe me ironing—oh, the wonder!), and insert himself in whatever way he can (even if you wish he didn't). I just started him in gymnastics, which is basically the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. The first day, he ignored instructions to return to the top of the mat to practice his somersaults and instead ran up a foam ramp which ended about 3 feet off the ground and just kept going—even though there was nothing but hardwood floor after it. It was like watching a bird take flight. A blind bird. With no wings.
Yes, they keep us all laughing (as exhibited in the video above; I call it "Pumpkins" followed by "Santa should move."). Quite the performers. Annie participated in the annual naming of the classes this year at her school, where each class comes up with a name for themselves based on the year's theme (this year's being "Making ripples, Creating waves") and acts out a skit to get the rest of the school to guess what it is. She was the cutest surfing penguin I ever did see. OK, the only surfing penguin, but still. They sang "Everybody's gone surfing... Surfing USA." She made us feel just like we were at the beach yet in the arctic at the same time. That's talent.
Now that we're back in our school routine, I hope to be more consistent with the blog updates. I know somewhere in the heavens, I'm being graded.
