Back To The Hill!

One of our family's favorite weekend activities during the warmer months is to go hiking in Weir Hill.  It's been a long winter, and a rainy spring, so we were thrilled when we woke up this morning to a perfect temperature and clear schedule.  We all quickly got dressed to head over to the hill for our hike.

This is the first time we completely ditched the stroller, assuming that both kids could walk the entire trail, or get piggy backs when they were tired.  Lexi has been hiking on her own for years, and Zach doesn't like the stroller anyway.  There was a little more carrying than we anticipated, but it was still a great hike, through trails that we have less frequently traveled.

Lexi, of course, wanted to stop at every rock and stump to have her picture taken, and Zach  begrudgingly went along with the photo shoots.

We walked, chatted, listened to the animals, explained poison ivy to Zach, and Lexi taught us all about camouflage.  It was a great hike, to be followed by our first trip to Benson's Ice Cream for the year.  What a perfect kick off to summer!

Baby Ballerina Like a Rose

Do you ever have those moments in life where you think, "I wish I could go back to my 1987 self, tap her on the shoulder, and show her this moment through a little window of time."?  I had one of those moments this weekend when Lexi danced in her very first Nancy Chippendale's Dance Recital...except the more I thought about it, I couldn't decide which version of myself I would most like to show off this moment to.  It sure would have been fun to go back to "Crissy version 1982", a young Chippendale Dancer herself, and let her see that someday she would be the proudest mommy in the audience while her little five year old danced her heart out on that stage.  Or maybe "Crissy version 1997" in college, having my whole life ahead of me, and having no idea the joy that I was in for.  But I finally settled on "Crissy version 2006", the terrified mother who was carting her young daughter from Neurologist, to MRI, to Neurosurgeon, and spending hours in tears, pacing through the house, so worried about her beautiful daughter's future.  That Crissy would have done anything to take a peek through the window and know that this little angel would someday be a beautiful ballerina, dancing with the biggest smile on her face, on the same stage that she used to dance on as a child.  But that's not how life works.  Instead you have to live through the hard times, relying only on faith that everything will work out for the best.  And maybe that's what makes moments like Saturday so amazing...remembering all you've been through to get there.

Either way, the most important thing about Saturday was that Lexi had a blast.  In the weeks leading up to the recital, it was clear that she was nervous about the whole ordeal.  She couldn't possibly understand what a recital was because she had never been to one, or in one.  I think the unknown was making her very uncomfortable.  But on Thursday we had a dress rehearsal, and as soon as she got there I could tell she was hooked.  She waltzed away from me without even a second glance when the teachers came to take her class back stage.  I sat in the audience feeling totally unsure of how she would react when the curtain went up, but when it did she ran straight to her spot and sang and danced her little heart out - biggest smile ever plastered on her face.  When I met her backstage for the costume change she was elated.  She couldn't wait to get back out there for her second number.  When the rehearsal was over, it was nothing but excited anticipation of the recital in two more days.  I'm not sure which of us was more excited.

On the day of the show we were both giddy with excitement.  We couldn't wait to get there.  Now that she knew what to expect, she just wanted to get back up on that stage and dance.  I had so much fun watching her family - Gigi, Poppy, Great Gram, Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Kae, Auntie Jen, Uncle Devan, Eva, Zach and Ahren, watching her dance.  I had to hold myself back from standing up, pointing to her and saying, "THAT'S MY KID!!!  ISN'T SHE AMAZING???"  I didn't, but she was.  And I was absolutely the proudest Mommy in that audience.  It was a day that I will never forget.

You can see videos of her dances, and more pictures here.

Zachary the Comedian

Zach is a funny kid.  The list of amusing things he says is endless, and often not as funny unless you can hear him saying it, and see the expression on his face - much like last night when I was telling Ahren that I thought it would be best to have our dinner delivered rather than going to pick it up.  Zach replied with gusto, "Yea!  It's true, DAD!  It's TRUE!"  I started cracking up and he wagged his little finger at me saying, "It's true.  It's true."  I know you cannot grasp the comedy of this moment without having seen it unfold, but trust me, it was very, very funny.

Zach's current "go to" thing to say to people is, "Hey , did you know that my people are coming to my house?"  He has been saying this since before Easter, and will tell anyone who will listen.  "Zach's people" have become quite the joke in our house.  We never used to refer to friends or family as "his people" so we had no idea where this came from...until Wednesday morning when I dropped Zach off at Yaya's house.  All of his friends came out into the entry to meet him and say hello.  Ultimately it was time for everyone to go back in, so Yaya said to them, "Okay my people, back inside for schooling!"  Ah HA!!  I should have known it came from Yaya.  :)

While his vocabulary is impressive for a two year old (we thank Lexi for this), there is still some confusion and misunderstanding when conversing with Zach.  A few weeks ago we were driving to Connecticut for Cousin Sophie's birthday party.  Gigi was riding next to Zach in the backseat.  During the drive Zach pointed to a plate of blondies that my mom had made and asked what they were for.  My mom replied (speaking "properly" with her Massachusetts accent), "They're for the pahty."  Zach replied, "I want to put one in."  Not quite understanding what he meant, Gigi replied, "Ok Zach, you can!"  I quickly jumped in, perfectly understanding the miscommunication, "No Zach, Gigi brought them for the paRty, not the potty!  You may not put the blondies in the potty!"  Zach's reply?  "AWWWWWE!"

Yes, it's true - Zach keeps us laughing all day long.  He knows he's funny, and enjoys making us laugh, so I see this as a theme that will continue for some time, and I'm fine with that.  Some of my favorite people make me laugh on a daily basis.