Swimming in the Summertime

Summer 2010 was a big swim summer. Not that we did more swimming this summer than other summers but this was the year of two big breakthroughs.
The first was that with one notable exception where Bob almost killed Jacqueline, this was the summer that taking the girls to the pool was not at all stressful and it only required one parent.

This made for a more flexible weekend where we managed to get some workouts and some relaxation too. Well, now that I think about it the relaxation option only really seemed to be for me since sometimes Bob would take the girls himself and I would relax (to be fair, I also paid bills and blogged some...).
This is Jacqueline demonstrating how mom thinks about relaxation.
The pool was also a place for the girls to socialize with other kids taking lessons at similar times. This worked out very nicely.

The second big breakthrough was even more important (for mom). This was the swim season where mom was not required to wear swimwear! You got it -- I could safely watch the girls from the side of the pool staying fully clothed! While I was not yet ready to leave them to the lifeguard to watch them, it is a lot more relaxing to attend to swim lessons when you are not actually in the pool. No water in your eyes, no kids kicking you in the gut -- really big.

I now love swim lessons. That hasn't been true since I was a kid myself -- yay!

Legoland 2010

After hearing about Legoland for years we finally got ourselves a trip. It was a nice cool summer day and all the rides were well suited for ages 4 and 7.

There were too many photos to count of cool Lego statues and objects but Harry Potter certainly had to make the cut.


Ashton had to demonstrate not only how to captain the boats but also how to strike a pose.
A very little bit of sisterly love. This was mixed in with a huge amount of sisterly strife, I somehow chose not to snap photos of that!
Jacqueline checking out her future home for size.
Ashton and Dante conspiring on how to get rid of her annoying sister. This was a big theme of the weekend for sure.

Life's a Beach

For my birthday weekend we took a quick trip to San Diego to see Dante's new digs. Living just blocks from the beach is a pretty good life we discovered.

Shockingly the weather was not too great, a bit overcast and cool for July but the kids certainly didn't mind.

The adults also managed to relax -- here is Bob watching the kids.
and Caren watching the waves


and Max reading a book...

Little did we know that this relaxing day would end with a stressful finale as Max and Caren found themselves with a huge hassle in Menlo Park waiting for them including fire trucks and lots and lots of smoke and fire damage. Luckily no one was hurt but certainly not the relaxing weekend we were intending to have!

Kids on Bikes

As you know cycling is a big love for Bob, so this year has been a bit of a challenge as the girls are in the tween stage. Neither could ride their own bike and both were too big for mom to offer to take one on.
This had Bob doing a variety of "turn" rides to attempt to keep the dream alive. Sadly, mom hasn't been on her own bike in ages as a result.

Both girls are doing great on the jump bike though. In addition, Bob has been working toward getting them to ride for themselves getting Jacqueline a balance bike (with no peddles) and taking endless trips with Ashton on her two wheel bike.

As with most things that don't come easily for Ashton (which is a small list of things but always memorable) it's an exercise in patience. Most "bike training" trips involve Ashton complaining of a variety of things (hunger, pains, hatred for biking, frustration that she will never learn, tired, etc.), some tears and occasional bribes.

She is very close, but Bob certainly deserves credit for not giving up. Mom is wondering why there are ski schools and swim schools but not bike schools. For those of us who have kids who do better under peer pressure, I think it's a bummer no one has given an option to outsource this parenting challenge.

Kids in the hood

As you all know we so love our neighborhood, even when we have to walk (or drive) six blocks to be a part of it. As summer comes on it's hard to get settled inside for the evening when it's light out and there are friends to play with.
So we decided to do a little playing before going home.
This sitting up stuff is a little tough sometimes!
and getting a whole row of kids to face the camera is even a bit more challenging but worth it. Left to right -Ashton, Zach, Baron, Sophie, Jacqueline.

Happy Fathers day... whereever you are

In the long tradition of celebrations at the Bear household father's day lasted almost a week here. Not because Bob was getting special treatment (although you can see the force was with him in the form of a massive cookie) but because he was in Japan.



Not to have him miss the chance to be with his girls for the event we made a point to send him a few special photos to let him know we were thinking of him on his day. First was a required photo of the special blanket.

Next was a photo of his three girls saying happy father's day.

but getting three girls to all look at the camera is quite difficult so there were a few outtakes as well. It seems Julianne is less practiced at getting her photo taken as the other two...

Jacqueline graduates from Preschool

Anyone who has a child with a birthday close to the school cut off knows that you have to make a decision if you are going to progress to Kindergarten or do another year of preschool. There are as many opinions as people on this topic, and for Jacqueline we got several votes for and against another year of preschool.




In the end, we decided it was time for her to graduate and push forward to Lincoln next year. The deciding vote was Jacqueline's as she was very clear on her intention to start kindergarten.

The graduation was held at the park and each child had a part to play. Jacqueline led the group in a song. I think she can be described as "belting it out" with gusto! She faced the kids to make sure they were joining her.

She got her diploma and her congratulations from her teacher.



For the photo op, she had to say "peace out".