Tina's Triathlon

On September 14th Tina ran her 3rd Triathlon. It took place up in Sandy Hook, NJ. Tina and her friend, Marge drove up together earlier Saturday to pick up their race stuff while I stayed back with Evan. Evan had back to back football and baseball games that day.

The weather was great for the race and Tina beat her previous time from last year by 9 minutes. Gigi, the kids and I got to see her at a few points during the race. It was a great day.

Evan's football team continues it's character building season. Right now he's 0-1-3. Evan scored a touchdown at the game before last which was pretty exciting.

Madeleine continues to cheer and while the routines are getting more complex, she is keeping up fine.

Right now we are in the midst of getting hardscaping done around the house. We replaced the front walkway with pavers and put a few retaining walls around the house. We're also getting the landscaping updated. The fun never ends.

This weekend Tina ran a 5K at the kids' school. In addition she did a 1 mile fun run with Madeleine. Evan had a football game and I went with him. This game they tied... an improvement. The kids had a lot of fun and are building their skills. Next week may be the winning week !

Hanna and Her Twisters

Tropical Storm Hanna was pretty much a non-event here last weekend. She came in late Saturday morning and managed to cancel Evan's baseball game. Apparently a tornado hit Allentown, about 45 minutes north of us, but essentially it was a rain event.

Sunday the weather was great which was encouraging since both kids had games. Madeleine cheered for the 70lb tackle team (which won) and Evan played right after (which didn't win). So far Evan's games have been character building experiences (0-2 for the season). We're hopeful to get a few wins before too long. We'll see on Saturday !

1 Down, 179 to Go

It's the day after Labor Day and time for the first day of school. The "end of summer" hit 90 degrees today. Evan and Madeleine were both pretty excited about going back. Evan is now in 4th grade and Madeleine is in 2nd. It's hard to believe how fast they are growing up.

Evan and Madeleine are both excited about their classes. Evan was especially glad to find out that several of his buddies are in the same class. We felt compelled to remind him that while he is in class with his friends, it's important that he pay attention or they will be separated. His response (which is pretty common these days ) is "I knowwwwwwwwwwww!!! We expect Evan to do especially well this year since, apparently he knows everything.

Madeleine is looking forward to the year as well, but is a little more subdued. She has some friends in her class as well, but not the posse Evan has.

We quickly forgot that while the kids are starting with homework, mom and dad don't escape unscathed. In addition to the kids' assignments, we have to fill out forms, check and initial homework assignments. I miss summer already !

Are You Ready for Some Football ?

We're well into football season. The month of August was taken up with 4 day a week football and cheerleading practice. Now it's go time!

We missed the first game of the season as we were on our way back from the beach so Evan's first game was week two. The Lansdale Cannoneers played Lenape Valley, but unfortunately lost 20-14. Their record stands at 0-2 for the season. Evan, however had a fumble recovery and 2 tackles. Evan played in both offense and defense positions. A highlight of the game is that it was Evan's birthday and the cheerleaders sang happy birthday to him.

Madeleine had a "bye" week and we'll get into the full swing of everything next weekend.

The Summer of Birthdays

In addition to vacations this summer, we get to celebrate the kids' birthdays. Since they are getting older, we are starting to have separate parties. The single party solution was easier when they were small, but now they're getting older and forming their own opinions regarding how they want to spend their day.

Madeleine's birthday party was first. For her we decided to have a tea party. There is a place nearby that hosts tea parties so she was able to invite several of her girlfriends to the event. The girls got dressed up and they were served finger sandwiches and lemonade. Lemondade was chosen since the prospect of serving caffeine to 14 little girls in a confined environment didn't sound like a good idea. Madeleine's Aunt Mindy was visiting and was an invalable asset in helping to entertain the girls at the party.

Evan's party, on the other hand was the polar opposite of Madeleine's. Evan wanted to have a laser tag party. Essentially laser tag is comprised of putting on a vest with sensors, going into a playing area and seeing how many people you can shoot. Since it's lasers nobody gets hurt. Tina, Gigi and I took 11 boys to Ultrazone for the laser tag experience. They all had a great time. From there we took everyone to pizza where Madeleine and friends joined us. Both kids seemed to enjoy their respective parties and were glad that they didn't go to each other's.