Underwater

Milo goes underwater at Palmetto Falls waterpark...

Happy Birthday Milo!

Today Milo is five years old! Milo started off his day by opening presents and then taking his new scooter out for a walk with our dogs. Milo then hastily ate some chocolate chip pancakes so that he could get back to playing with his brother and their new birthday toys.



Per Milo's wish, we spent the day at the water park and then went out for ice cream.



For dinner, I fulfilled Milo's interesting request: "Chinese broccoli" (broccoli sauteed with garlic and ginger and soy sauce among other spices) and "Chinese noodles" (his were without the actual Chinese spices--butter and salt are still his favorites). The boys topped off their evening with homemade brownies and an episode of the old "Muppet Show." They are now, finally (phew!), in bed.

Celebration Of Life

In honor of Milo's birthday tomorrow, his Montessori class held a "Celebration of Life" for him this morning. Zola and I were there to participate. Beforehand Milo's teachers asked me to bring in a few pictures for each year of Milo's life. Then, in his classroom, the children sat in a circle around a candle which represented the Sun, while Milo walked around the circle five times carrying the Earth and I spoke about special milestones and important events in Milo's life. At the end of Milo's circumnavigation of the Sun he blew out the candle and wished, aloud, that he could spend his birthday at the water park. His teachers then passed around the "Share Bear" and each child and adult said something nice to Milo in honor of his special day. It was a lovely ceremony, very touching to witness and be part of.

We brought in oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to share with Milo's class at lunch time. A "healthy treat" was requested, so I sadly traded oatmeal cookies for butter cream frosted cupcakes and substituted agave nectar for half the sugar in the cookies. They were still rather yummy!

Life Is Grand

This past weekend Gramma and Grandpa visited us. The Weinberg Three had a grand time, taking their grandparents to the Columbia Marionette Theatre to see the new production of "The Wizard of Oz," splashing everyone at the Fort Jackson water park, and generally goofing around. Zola especially enjoyed all the extra attention from her grandparents, as well as all the Cheerios that Grandpa fed her.

Calder's First Day of Preschool

It seems like only yesterday that I dropped off Milo at CJDS for his first day of preschool, with Calder in tow, slung on my hip (as he was not yet walking!). I guess two years have passed, during which time Calder has visited the school day after day. I suppose then I should not have been surprised that Calder would be just thrilled to start school himself.

Calder woke up early this morning and snuck down the stairs in stealth mode only stopping tip-toeing to stomp into the kitchen with a big smile on his face. He gobbled down his breakfast and quickly got into his clothes. As Zola and I got ready and we waited for Daddy to return from dropping off Milo at his school, Calder sat in the entryway of our home, reading books, with his backpack and lunchbox nearby. He was ready.

Once we got to the classroom, Calder told his teacher, Ms. Sharny, that he has a fire truck at home. She replied that they have many trucks in his classroom too and Calder asked me if he could play with them. I said of course, told him I loved him, and Calder was on his way. He did not look back, cry or make a peep. He was off to new adventures. Daddy and I spoke with his teacher briefly and then I choked back the tears and went to say goodbye to Calder. He looked at me a little funny when I said I was going to leave, but then he just asked if he could play with another toy.



All of a sudden, he's so big. When did that happen? I can't wait to pick him up at 1 pm.

"Where's Milo?"

Just imagine, you are three years old and your best friend/worst enemy and constant companion disappears for over seven hours every day. Well, if you are Calder Weinberg, you will ask “Where’s Milo?” only about six billion times a day, followed by “Why???” once I’ve responded to his question.

To help get his mind off of missing Milo, I took Calder and Zola to the zoo today. Calder really enjoyed feeding Chrissy the giraffe and riding the Spots and Stripes railroad. He was truly afraid of the crocodiles, who happened to be moving around their tank while we were watching, and couldn’t understand why the Siamang monkeys wouldn’t stop hollering at his adamant request (they were disrupting his lunch). Our final stop at the zoo was the Aquarium/Reptile complex, where Calder could not get enough of “Nemo” and his daddy and “Dory” (perhaps we have watched “Finding Nemo” one too many times). How does one respond to multiple questions as to why Nemo and his daddy (two clown fish on opposite sides of the tank) are not talking in the fish tank and why Dory is in a separate tank. Yikes!

Our trip to the zoo at least stalled until after 1 pm repeated questions regarding when we’d be picking up Milo. And, I must admit, it helped me to forget just how much I was missing Milo too.

Kindergarten

Today Milo started elementary school at Caughman Road.



He sat patiently through the hour-long orientation attended by parents and children of the primary Montessori classes. Then he quickly followed his teachers, Ms. Strickland and Ms. Smith, to his classroom, leaving Daddy, Zola, and me well behind him in the hallway.

(Milo's on the left)

Milo paused before entering the wonderful classroom and then took in the work centers with all their interesting materials and manipulatives. Milo was especially captivated by the math manipulatives, which his teachers assured him he would learn to use tomorrow when he has his first full day of school (from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm). We really hope Milo's level of enthusiasm and joy of learning continues throughout the year. Wow, kindergarten!

August Birthday Bash

Today we celebrated the Weinberg Boys' August birthdays.

The boys had a lot of fun painting and decorating little wooden race cars, throwing water balloons, racing matchbox cars on the twenty-plus foot race track Daddy set up for them on our hilly driveway, eating pizza and delicious cake, collecting candy from their race car shaped pinata, and making music with their friends.

It was a wonderful party shared with our wonderful friends.

Seven Months Old

Zola is seven months old today! This week Zola was reunited with her Auntie Alli, whom Zola had not seen since her visit to Amsterdam in March.



At seven months Zola loves to eat Cheerios, smile, giggle, coo, and play with her toys, especially her best toys: her big brothers! Zola's a pro at sitting up and can drink from her sippy cup. And we are happy to say that Zola still has the sweetest disposition of any baby we've ever known. We all love her so.

Happy Birthday Calder!

Calder turned three today! Calder started off his day opening birthday presents and then gobbling down chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. He played with his new scooter, mowed the lawn with his bubble mower, and helped Daddy with the yard work.

Calder topped off his special day with dinner at his favorite restaurant, Five Guys, and a Lunch Money concert, where he danced with Milo and their buddy Jack.

Beach Boys

While Zola was hiking in the woods, Milo and Calder went to the Isle of Palms with Grammy and Oom-Poppa!

While on the beach, the boys loved playing in the surf with their boogie boards, digging in the sand with Oom-Poppa, and flying their kite.

They also visited a fort and climbed on the cannons.

Grammy and Oom-Poppa even took them to a water park where they splashed and raced down the slides.

And, they had hamburgers and fries for almost every meal. Wow, grandparents rock!

Zola In The Woods

Last week Zola returned from a short trip to the Great Smoky Mountains with Daddy and me. We stayed on a mountainside in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at the Foxtrot B&B, which has beautiful views of the national park.

Gatlinburg itself is quite a cultural experience. Just imagine endless traffic and pedestrians, numerous national chain restaurants, people trying to sell you something every step you take, and an amusement park or beach boardwalk-like atmosphere, without an actual beach. We spent as little time as we could in town, trying to maximize our time in nature without the hordes of tourists.

On our first full day in the mountains we hiked the Ramsey Cascade trail, which was four miles to the top to see the tallest waterfall in the park. The trail was lovely, with views of cascading waterfalls most of the way up. The waterfall at the top of the trail was spectacular, especially since there had been a lot of rainfall recently. We passed some bear droppings on the way up to the top and spoke with another hiker who'd heard a baby bear was sighted earlier that day on the trail, but fortunately (or unfortunately according to my husband) we did not run into any bears. We rested at the top, taking in the views and eating our lunch while being entertained by a friendly and brave squirrel. Then we hiked the four miles back down the mountain. Zola was a happy girl the entire time and DID NOT NAP! She took in the views and smiled and babbled at the other hikers.

On our second day we hiked to Hen Wallow Falls, which was about a four and a half mile round trip hike on the Gabe Mountain trail. Although this waterfall was less impressive than the Ramsey Cascade, the trail through the rhododendron forest was beautiful. Interestingly, Zola slept through most of this hike, waking only to eat and smile at other hikers.

On our third day, before we drove home to SC, we drove to the top of the highest peak in the park: Clingmans Dome. Since Zola had fallen asleep in the car, we took turns walking around the top. Daddy got a kick out of the "First Amendment Expression Area," which requires a permit.

There were butterflies everywhere in the mountains, but they especially seemed to like to congregate on the roads, hastening the end to their already short lives. After our time at the peak, we drove down the other side of the mountain into Cherokee, North Carolina, which was considerably less developed than Gatlinburg, but just as ridiculously commercial. We meandered our way through the mountains of NC and back home in time for dinner.

We hope to return to the Great Smokies in the years to come with the whole family. That is, once the boys can stand to walk for more than two miles without incessant whining and requests to be carried too.

Nature In Our Garden III

As a result of the huge storm here last week, a tree (and all the crazy vines and creepers attached to it) fell down between our home and the apartment building next door. As Daddy and Oom-Poppa worked to get rid of tree limbs and vines that were crowding into our yard, they happened upon a nest of baby squirrels that had toppled with the rest of the tree detritus. The boys wanted to keep the baby squirrel that Daddy rescued from the edge of the nest. But Beacon's and Cleo's (our whippets) whines to get closer to the baby animal convinced the boys otherwise. Baby squirrels sure are cute!