I’m trying to get the girls more interested in sports. We play a little basketball, but the girls can’t even throw the ball all the way up to the hoop, so it’s not that fun. They don’t really enjoy soccer. But one sport that is “taking” at least a little is baseball, or wiffle ball. Claire loves to bat! And she’s getting better at throwing too. Catching is a big challenge, right now, though. Still, it’s a start. Molly tends to enjoy the throwing and catching. Together, these girls make a pretty good baseball player!
Last year’s trip to Schlitterbahn as a family of four was a little tricky since Molly and Kit couldn’t swim. Claire and I swam around having fun while Kit basically babysat Molly in the kiddie pools.
So this year, we planned a Schlitterbahn trip with just Claire and a friend and me. Kit and Molly had their own special day at Donut and Taco Palace, followed by puzzles at home, then dinosaur bone digging at the Austin Nature and Science Center, and finally watching the Shaun the Sheep Movie at the theater.
Unfortunately, Claire’s chosen friend, Nadia, broke her arm a couple of days before the trip to Schlitterbahn. With such short notice, it was hard to get a replacement friend, so it was just Claire and me. Claire loved Kristal River and the Torrent, both circle “river” types of rides, which we did at least 20 times. We spent the whole day at Schlitterbahn, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.
It was a day of many unexpected free things too. At the Schlitterbahn ticket gate, a lady randomly gave me a free ticket that she didn’t need, worth about $60. A guy we shared a picnic table with gave us some free drinks from his cooler. We got a free tote from the Schlitterbahn locker guy. And P. Terry’s gave us a free milkshake that they had extra.
We met up with Kit and Molly at home around 6:30 and traded stories before getting the kids showered and off to bed after a full blown day of fun!
Here is the first episode of Claire’s new video series. She worked hard on the concept, script, and sets. She did much of the editing herself, and some with my help, in iMovie on her iPad. Just, Claire is the rare 9 year old who can edit her own movies.
This time of year is challenging for child care. Claire and Molly are still on summer break, but our summer nanny is done for the summer and back at college. So the kids are left with “random nannies” from a service plus our reliable afternoon nanny, Sarah. We had two morning-of nanny cancellations this week to make things even more complicated.
This week’s nannies were Nicole, Kristen, Ashley, Mayli, and Sarah.
Claire and Molly don’t seem to mind having a different person coming to take care of them every day. My hat is off to them for their openness and adaptability.
here are some pics from our bi-annual trip to Anacortes, Washington to sail with Kit’s parents aboard the Molly Claire. This year they planned a special trip for us to Victoria, Canada, which was a fun and beautiful destination. This was both girls’ first international trip. The biggest perk of Candid? Kinder Surprise eggs are legally available unlike back home.
Claire has been learning to ride a bike for about 4 years now. Or at least, we have been trying to get her to ride for that long, and she reluctantly tries for a while until we run out of time or she outgrows her bike. We have asked various nannies to give it a try over the summers, with no luck. We’re making one more push this summer on Claire’s bike #3.
So on Sunday morning, we hit the track at the local middle school where everyone around here goes to learn to ride a bike. I had gotten Claire a new (used) bike that actually fits her current size, and she was at least willing to give it a spin. No training wheels any more for Claire; they just don’t make them for her size bike.
It turns out that riding a bike and teaching someone to ride a bike are very different skills, and you don’t automatically know how to teach someone to ride a bike when you become a dad. Strange, right? I figured we’d just go for a modest victory, at least some small progress. So I ran along with Claire and held her bike steady by the seat as she peddled along the flat sidewalk. I told to peddle faster since it’s easier to balance that way. We got up to a good speed, and then I let go for a couple of seconds without telling her. Then I caught on to her seat again before she had crashed and told her she had done it: she had balanced on her own for two seconds! Claire was very proud. We did it again, and she asked me not to tell her when I was letting go so she didn’t get nervous. She did three seconds this time before she started to wobble, and I caught her seat again. The last thing we needed right now was a bloody knee or broken arm, so we called it good there for now.
Molly crashed cleanly and posed for this picture
Meanwhile, poor Molly was trying out her inherited little bike with the training wheels. She asked us not to tell anyone that her bike had training wheels so they would still think she was cool. I don’t think the two joggers and one dog walker nearby thought any less of her for her training wheels, but we did not mention it to them to honor Molly’s wishes.
While I was running with Claire, Molly managed to crash her bike on the grass. But she was unscathed, slightly amused, and ready to keep going. I had her pose for a picture (above). Then Molly got to ride around the 1/4 mile jogging track once with her little bike. Molly enjoyed riding her bike more than Claire did. With her attitude, she might learn to ride on her own before her older sister. A little sibling rivalry might spark Claire’s interest in biking?
But Claire is making progress with her three seconds of self-powered riding and should be proud for just getting out there and trying it.
We made a quick trip to Houston this weekend to see my Dad for his birthday. Kit stayed home to study for some big doctor test coming up in August. We were in Houston for one full day and a morning.
Highlights included ice skating at Memorial City Mall, Molly’s first time to skate. It took about 30 minutes for Molly to make her way around the edge of the skating rink while she held to the side on for dear life. On Claire’s turn, she didn’t fare much better. Both girls really liked the American Girl store across the hall from the skating rink.
Also, there were hours of swimming in the townhouse pool, featuring the big deep end and lots of sunshine (and lots of sunscreen).
We had chocolate pie and James Coney Island for my dad’s birthday. He and my mom went to the Astro’s game while the girls and I headed back to Austin.
Before we left, I managed to do a quick baseball home run session with Eric in the blazing sun at our old junior high. Eric’s five-year-old son, Luke, took a few solid swings but didn’t connect for a homer. When Eric and I were batting, Luke was in the dugout, safe from the flying hardballs. But we did have a couple of game delays when Luke yelled “Firefly!” and ran out into the field to chase a firefly. What a great little kid moment, even if it was someone else’s little kid.
The girls’ nanny, Sarah, discovered a new app called Dubsmash that lets you lip-sync a small part of a song. Claire and Molly each took a turn. Sarah texted these awesome vids to us as a nice little distraction at work.
Over dinner, when Kit is not yet home from the hospital, Claire and I often find ourselves playing different fictional characters that we just make up as we eat. Molly does not really join in, but she does seem to enjoy the amateur performance.
Our favorite characters recently are a father (me) with a heavy Russian accent. I am simply known as “Papa”. I speak of my time back in fatherland Russia, where “if you want to eat, you do not go to grocery store. No. You chase down dinner and eat it. Or maybe if you’re not so fast, it eat you.” I have no idea where this comes from.
I tend to carry on about dinner. “I work and work and make good dinner, and you turn up nose!”
Cubbie
Claire is Minka. Minka is my daughter, but she is not Russian. By her accent, she seems to be from South America or maybe Southern Asia. She grew up in America and is spoiled by things like grocery stores and chicken nuggets. Something is not quite right with Minka, who is afraid of televisions, iPads, or really anything electronic. And she gets confused by forks and spoons.
Minka loves her dog, Cubbie (Muffin). I adopted Cubbie back in the fatherland, where she helped me survive on the tundra by hunting down dinner with me every night. Cubbie joined me on my trek to America and is always kind and patient with Minka.
Molly is Minka’s little sister. We tried to include Molly in this story, but she does not want to join in. We tried to name her Pepe, but she insisted that she is Molly. Molly is “normal American kid who loves chicken nuggets and television”.
We’re not sure what happened to Minka’s mom. She may be back in Russia fighting her way through the frozen tundra. Or maybe she’s stuck at the hospital. We’re not sure which is worse.
McG Kids 