Lifetime Sports Camp

Check out E - he made the cover of the Club newsletter!

Morrigan was at the Club's Lifetime Sports Camp this week. Which, I have to tell you, I wish were for grown ups. Tennis, golf & swim instruction complete with lunch! But I digress. As we always try to, we carpooled with two other families which meant I got to listen to Morrigan talk to her peers. Hilarious! The first thing revealed was that Morrigan plans to marry Saber, the tennis pro. The fact that he is 22 some years her senior and married matters not a whit. She spent her week refusing to be in any other pro's group as Saber is her "best friend."

One of the other girls gave us all a lesson in heaven and hell this morning. According to her, we need to be good or we will live underground where it is very hot and pointy. Which led them to a discussion of who was good and who was bad. Firemen, police and doctors topped the list. Grace ranked firemen above doctors which prompted a spirited debate about how many people each group saves.

We also had one morning where the evils of hunting were discussed. Katherine went to Williamsburg where they talked about how in olden times, people used all the parts of animals they killed. I think their message was more that people were better about not wasting but the message received was hunting is bad. Personally, I am pro-hunter. I don't care if they waste parts or not. All those anti hunters clearly NEVER had their entire flower garden eaten by the troublesome #$*&%s. Now I am realistic. I plant only things that are deer resistant. But the bastards came up and ate all the flower petals off my coneflowers and black eyed susans, which as I understand it, are about as deer unfriendly as it gets. So now my garden looks like Tim Burton tends it, only black centers with no petals. As far as I am concerned, it is open season on Lockridge!

Summer is Flying By!

Ah but the little ones have been keeping me busy! The girls are taking ballet. Fortunately, they are in the same class which minimizes driving & waiting around time. Eion is not fond of the waiting room. Even if I bring toys, he spends the entire 45 minutes screaming - mostly that he wants to go into the dance studio. I don't think he wants to do ballet but he just can't stand to be told he can't go somewhere. When it is cool enough, I just strap him in the car seat & we wait in the car. Morrgian seems to really like it and will continue in the fall. Maggie is less enthusiastic and it is way too much trouble to get there & wait with Eion if she doesn't want to go so she will probably go on dance hiatus after summer. Fortunately, she & Morrigan have the same size tutus so Morrigan will be able to wear Maggie's!

The ER had a pig roast last Saturday. Matt Harless (see above), one of the Docs was up the whole night before cooking it. The kids were very excited about there being a WHOLE pig. There was much speculation about his tongue and if you could eat the eyeballs. They were duly impressed upon seeing it in person. Though they did tell Matt that their Daddy's pig was better. There was also a big inflated obstacle course. Big hit with all the kids. At one point the generator ran out of gas & it deflated. When it was re-inflated, Eion refused to leave & got stuck in it. Did not make him happy at all!

Later that night we played poker with our regular couples group. Tim & I were 2nd and 3rd respectively. All in all, a pretty nice day. Since then things have been crazy with Tim working everyday, Morrigan being at sports camp all day & trying to get ready to go to Detroit. I'll try to check in but may be MIA for a couple of weeks.

Birthday Difficulties

So the girls are trying to make planning their birthday parties impossible, literally. I asked Morrigan what kind of party she wanted to have this year. She said she wanted to invite all the recently graduated kindergartners, about 75 of them I think, and she wants it to be a surprise party. Now even if I were willing to have a party that big (I am not) how on earth can you get 75 6 year olds to keep a secret? When I pointed out that it might be difficult to surprise her as we were discussing it, she said, "It will be easy. Just turn out the lights and when I come in, flip them on and yell 'Surprise!' " Right. Thanks for the input. I think I was happier with her previous idea which was a mermaid party at which she planned to wear a rubber tail.

So hearing all this, Maggie decides it is time to get in on the planning. She wants a party with only girls. Now this is a real problem as all her friends, save one, are boys. But I guess a party for 2 is cheaper than one for 75.

Tim, on the other hand, simply says, "They need a party every year?"

[Still no new pictures - camp this week. So I offer some retro ones!]

My Little Campers

I don't seem to have any new pictures since the last post so I offer a classic from May 2005. Eion was about 4 months old, Maggie 20 months and Morrigan 3 1/2. Now mercifully a bit older, they are all off to an art day camp this week at Raleigh Court Pres. Morrigan skipped right off with her friend Riley and never looked back. Maggie was sobbing because she was in a different room from her friend Sophie and Eion just screamed because that is what he does every time I leave him these days. I told the teachers to call me in 20 minutes if they didn't stop and ran. Call me heartless if you will, I've learned from experience that sticking around doesn't stop the tears and usually just draws things out.

But when I picked them up at one, they were all smiles! Reports were that they all had a great day. Morrigan happily debriefed me on what she did. Eion, not the biggest talker, gave no useful intel. When I asked Maggie what they did, she got really excited and told me, "A bird pooped on my teacher!" Yes, money well spent.

Growing Up A Bit Too Fast

Now summer is really here with Morrigan finishing up her Kindergarten year on Friday. Maggie & I went to her end of the year ice cream party on Thursday. (see pics above - Morrigan is with her teacher Mr. Richards) Hard to believe the year is over already. The following day they had an awards assembly. I wasn't able to go (Doctors appt) but someone at the gym told me the next day about Morrigan going up to get her certificates. All the other kids went up shyly, quickly shook the Principal's hand, if at all, and then fled the stage. Morrigan, I was told, walked up with purpose, shook Mr. Merritt's hand firmly and then turned to the audience as if for a hand-shaking photo op. Character abound that one.

For many reasons, the kids getting older has not made me melancholy (yet.) They keep getting more fun and self sufficient. The helpless baby stage never was my favorite. But occasionally, I see darker skies on the horizon. Morrigan is fascinated with teenagers. When we see them, she says, awestruck, "Look! I think they are teenagers!" And she will generally ask any kid who looks a few years older then herself if they are among the revered ranks of teens. And she wants to emulate them, which is really a bit terrifying.

This morning on the way to the gym (you guessed it, Tim is working all weekend), Morrigan informed me she wanted a tattoo like the lifeguard at the pool, who is, let us not forget, a Teenager. As though it were genetically encoded in me, I quickly said "Not a chance in hell." [A phrase likely to bite my behind in the future but I was so darn shocked.] To which her response, you know it, let's say it together, was "Why not?" Now I didn't really think a conversation about how no daughter of mine would sport a tramp stamp or how the rise of digital music was decreasing the number of record stores in which the tattooed ranks could work was really the play. Those words would surely haunt me as she repeated them to the lifeguards at the pool and with two non swimmers and one who is pretty darn close, I need those inked up fellas on my side. Instead, I described in detail how tattoos work and how painful they are to get. Seems to have worked for now. Although she did tell me earnestly, "I'd better warn the lifeguard."

Emily's Visit

My sorority sister, Emily, came to visit last week. Wonderful, wonderful to catch up! She brought her corgi, Gretel, with her as she was in a dog show not too far from here. (FYI - she won!] The kids adored both Emily & Gretel. They both were kind enough to tolerate the ever present screaming and go on walks with the gals. Now of course, I am being pressed more than ever to get the kids a dog. I told them we would just have to go to DC and visit Miss Emily's dogs!

The Naughty Chair

Eion started to climb out of the time out "pen" we had for him rendering it useless. So Tim came up with the ingenious "naughty chair." He anchored a spare car seat to a dresser so it wouldn't move. Then just buckle the little guy in for a time out! (Yeah, the unrestrained chair just doesn't cut it. And he is only in there for a minute or two.) So far it is working well. Just the mention of the naughty chair seems to stop him mid-destruction.

The last day of Maggie's camp on Friday they gave them goldfish, as they did the year Morrigan went to that camp. Darn thing lived just about as long too. Dead by Sunday. We had hosted our Supper Club the night before and were up a bit late. The last thing I needed was crying over dead fish. Well, really only Morrigan cried. Maggie just wanted to be the one to flush it.

The Great Kapok Tree

Today I went to see Morrigan in the Kindergarten play, The Great Kapok Tree, in which she was a butterfly. Twas a wee bit left leaning with the destruction of the rain forest theme, but I digress. Morrigan was one of 10 kids out of 75 who had a speaking part. In spite of having a cold, she did great! No fear of crowds for this one. [Wonder where she gets it?] Couldn't help but bring the gal flowers, which she adored.

After Maggie was done at camp, I picked her up & we went to lunch at school with Morrigan. Both girls found that tons of fun. I thought it was really neat to see Morrigan show off her little sister and Maggie to be so proud to be with her older sister. Ah there are times it works out just like you want it.

Best off to clean the house. A sorority sister of mine, Emily, is coming to visit tonight. She shows her corgi & is town for a show. The kids are psyched she is bringing a dog. I hope the poor dog feels as warmly towards them.

Kindergarten Art Gallery

Ah but you thought I may have forgotten you out there! Summer has put a serious dent in my available computer time, not to mention things have been crazy around here. Last week Maggie, Eion & I went to the Kindergarten Art Gallery at Morrigan's school. All the kids had an area where they hung projects on which they had worked this year. Eion was challenging. He tried to rip down several pieces of art and while I took the picture above, he ran off and went to the cafeteria, which is on the other side of the school. Mind you, it only took 2 minutes tops for this photo. That boy can be fast. Morrigan & Maggie both were going to cry if we didn't stay for lunch so we did. It was Friday aka ice cream day so it was even better! But we knew it was time to go when E started rippping down supplies from the shelves.