Modern Day Pen Pals

Remember having a far-away pen pal and anxiously checking the mail box for an envelope with your name on it?  These days that has moved into cyberspace, and those letters are coming electronically - but still create the same joy when one arrives.

Claire and her cousin Hailey have been emailing back and forth to each other since we left Florida after our spring break trip.  It always amazes me how young kids are so comfortable around computers (gosh… I am dating myself), so Claire has no problem replying to the message, typing up her thoughts and sending them away for Hailey to receive.  And she asks almost every day if one has been received back in return.

I get a kick out of their messages to each other:

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On Apr 10, 2012, at 7:16 PM, "Verrett, Chandra" wrote:

Hi  Hailey   

This  is  Claire

Gust  got  home  from  Gymnastics.  I wanted to talk to you.  I had a good day at school.  Did you?

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From: Jeff Bolduc
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 2:36 PM
To: Verrett, Chandra
Subject: Re:

I had a good day. Did you have fun at gymnastics? Claire, did you have a good at kindergarten?

I love Claire

Hailey

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On Apr 12, 2012, at 7:43 PM, "Verrett, Chandra" wrote:

I am  in  First  grade.  I  did have a fun  at  gymnastics!  I went to swim  lessons  yesterday.

I love  you  Hailey!  Did you like our blog!

Claire

 

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From: Jeff Bolduc
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 3:48 PM
To: Verrett, Chandra
Subject: Re: am

Yes I did like your blog. What did you do today? I went to a party.

Hailey

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And most recently, the girls exchanged videos of their latest accomplishments…. Hailey riding her two wheeler, and Claire with her skiing adventures.

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From: Jeff Bolduc
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 2:16 PM
To: Verrett, Chandra
Subject: Bike riding

Claire,

I rode my big girl bike all by myself because I am 5 and Hannah rode her scooter all by herself because she is 2. Please watch my video. 

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From: Verrett, Chandra
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 2:17 PM
To: 'Jeff Bolduc'
Subject: RE: Bike riding

Hailey,

Good job on ridding your bike!

I water skied all by myself because I am 6 and I knee boarded too all by myself! Chloe rode a tube and I did too.  Please watch my video!

I miss you  

Love

Claire

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Maybe next we’ll hook them up with some video chat…

Holiday Weekend Love

There's nothing better than a 3 day weekend, except for a 3 day weekend spent soaking up some sun and splashing in some water.  We took full advantage of Memorial Weekend's scorching hot temperatures by heading down to the lake.  For the past few weeks I've been thinking that this is the year that we need to try Claire out on some water sports.  She's comfortable in the water and is pretty willing to try out new things that she isn't familiar with.  After showing her a few rounds of kiddos knee boarding on you tube videos, she was game and ready to sign up.  But we don't have a knee board, and Jennifer and Chris weren't going to bring theirs over until Sunday - that's a whole half day longer than I was willing to wait, so I suggested we hunt down a set of kid skis to double the  drama  fun this weekend.  An hour later, we were pulling into the lake house with a new set of O'Brien Jr. Vortex skis and a 72" towable tube.  Claire couldn't wait to get started.

So get started we did, and we convinced her to go ahead and try out the skis - interesting because she's never actually seen anyone water ski.  Claire was excited - and asked that someone please video her while she skied so we could post it on You Tube with a title of "How to Ski."

I went over the key points several times with her:

What do you do when you fall?  LET GO OF THE ROPE
What do you do when you fall?  LET GO OF THE ROPE
What do you do when you fall?  LET GO OF THE ROPE

And... what did she do when she fell after that first attempt?  SHE DIDN'T LET GO OF THE ROPE. She sniffled a little after coughing up half of Lake Hartwell, but agreed to a few other attempts.  Overall, it was a good effort, but she was more interested in the tube and going for a ride on that thing - with me.  Ugh.  So tube riding we did, and vowed to return the next morning before the lake got crowded for more ski lessons on hopefully glassy water.

Yep, that's me... doing a knee board demo

Claire giving the knee board a try

So Sunday came, and it turned into a usual lazy day on the lake.  We had lots of friends and kids over, and we convinced all 4 of the little kids, ages 3 to 6, to take a spin in the tube during a boat infested Holiday weekend which created a whirlpool of waves in our little cove.

Only a few kids cried (ok... almost all the kids cried) and then we convinced Claire to give the skis another try, only now while everyone was here watching.  Like a good sport, she did.  And shocked us all when she popped up on those skis - shocking herself even, and promptly LET GO OF THE ROPE.

The summer has just begun, and she'll get skiing down before it ends.... 

Meanwhile, we'll zip around on the Rhino

And soak up some sun in the pool.

Little Flipsters

This week was the Spring gymnastics session wrap up, when parents get to go into the gym to see the kid's progress.  This is always very exciting for Claire and Chloe, and they were double excited that Jason's parents came over to watch them as well.

Waiting on class to start!

 Chloe is moving along in her pre-school class as one of the younger kids in her 4-5 age group.  But she is mastering her skills like a champ, and having a great time doing things like

Walking backwards on the balance beam

Skin the Cat on the bars

Inch bug up the ladder

And pullover the bar.

Claire is working on perfecting her form on front and back walkovers,

And polishing skills on the bars, beam and vault.

Claire also takes a Tumbling focused class where her key skills she is working on are the standing back handspring and a front handspring step out.

Getting spotted on the back handspring

Of course the hi-lights of the nights were receiving some bling and a certificate to go with it.  Big smiles all around, as these girls love their gymnastics!

Bell Ringing

Claire's elementary school  is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and the final PTA meeting of the year was combined with a birthday bash and a send-off for the Principal, who is retiring at the end of the school year.  Somehow Claire's class was chosen to perform at the event - it was optional but looking at Claire's face when she found out about it, I knew there was only one option: she was in.  Claire's class performance was going to be playing the bells - like chorus-style.  Hmmm, this should be interesting with first graders.

Monday nights are gymnastics night, but Claire was glad to toss gymnastics to the side in favor of the bell ringing for this week.  Jason took Chloe on to her class while I took Claire to school for their 6pm meetup time.  Showtime was 6:30, so I figured Jason and Chloe would be a few minutes late but hopefully arrive before Claire took the stage.  The cafeteria was fairly empty when I got there at 6:00 on the dot.  Thankfully it wasn't any earlier because it was pretty warm in the cafeteria and I had a 30 minute wait as it was.  I managed to hold Claire off from her nervous pacing all around the house and asking me fifty times "Can we leave now???" until the last minute, and she was still one of the first kids to arrive.  I picked a seat right in the front row,saved a couple more and waited for the festivities.

Not long after I arrived I realized that our gig wasn't the only one going on that night with scores of parents, teachers and siblings starting to cram into the cafeteria.  The temperature was rising with each passing minute and the paper programs were being converted to fans all throughout the room.  I was starting to drip with sweat.

At 6:35 the show gets on the road with the start of the PTA meeting and some awards and hugs for the outgoing officers, the newly elected officers and the retiring principal.  Next year's budget passes with a simple motion by a lady talking on a cell phone and without a nay from the stuffed cafeteria when asked for objections to the $60,000 budget.  Can we get some air conditioning in next year's budget?

Finally the real show starts just before 7:00 with B93.7 DJ's Hawk and Tom who immediately start cracking on the unbelievable heat that we are sitting in.  Tax cuts?  No way!  These poor kids don't even have A/C!  I was sitting next to the retiring principal who looked mortified.  Someone obviously forgot the schedule override on the thermostat.

Now, there are about 10 performances scheduled with an average of 15 kids per act, and 2-3 spectators per kid.  Lots of people here, folks, and each person has one kid that they are waiting to see.  So when Act One sidles onto the stage I was a little surprised to see that it was a solo act by a teacher singing a karaoke version of "Footloose."  Not saying she was bad, just not worth the price of admission.  Especially with sweat dripping into my eyes.  Can we get some kids on the stage??

We were Act 4, after the "Footloose" dancing queen, the sign language club's rendition of Lennon's "Imagine" and a dance club's high energy 180 degree jumping while somewhat synchronized.  Hawk and Tom  introduced the group and noted their attempt to keep 18 bells quiet off in stage left while in the hands of 6 and 7 year olds.  Not an easy feat.  In a perfect line and wearing sparkly blue vests, the bells were silenced against their chests as they took their places on the risers on stage.  All looked nervous, or on the verge of a heat stroke.  Both were possible.

The two songs they played were "Canon in D" and "Your a Grand Ole' Flag" - two good bell ringing songs.  Except not one kid on the stage heard any music, applause or even bells.  I saw then how they accomplished their symphony - the music teacher sat on the stage holding a deck of cards that she flipped in time to the music.  Kids: you see a purple card?  Then all kids holding the purple bells ring.  Yellow card?  Let's hear the yellow bells.  They stared with laser focus at those cards and rang like crazy until that card disappeared.  Claire was a purple bell, and she rang that thing with all her might.  It really was great!

I'll admit that we didn't stick around for all the other acts, and I peeled myself out of the sweat puddle on my chair to go collect Claire to head out for dinner.  She was very proud of herself and her bell-ringing mates.

Feeling patriotic?  Here's a little "Grand Ole' Flag" courtesy of the first grade bell ringers.