2011 Urban Games & Kite Festival

The 2011 Urban Games were held earlier today at the seafront. Events included world record attempts for a few different events (like one was, I think, trying to beat a 40-foot drop on a bike to land on a target), parkour demos, breakdancing demos, skatepark competitions in skateboarding, BMX bikes, and scooters, and a team of professional trick bike-riders.

Simultaneously was the Whitley Bay Kite Festival, held right next door. The seafront was packed out. The boys rode their scooters down and really had a blast.

The skate park was PACKED with people watching the BMX bike competition.

Ollie wanted to wear his helmet the whole time.

These tiger kites where massive--at least 50 feet long.

Wind socks for sale.

Ollie inching in on the skate park between the BMX bike competition
and the skateboard competition.

Merrit had one pound to spend so he bought candy for
himself and an ice cream bar for Ollie.

Hello Passport!

It was at the bank. The last place I remember having it.

Finding Things....

We found three great things this week:

A babysitter. Woo hoo! Mike and I went out for dinner on Friday night in Tynemouth, while the boys stayed home with Brioni (pronounced like Bryan with an "ee" at the end; how that's a nickname for Victoria, I simply can't figure out).

She is a 19-year-old college student who's been background checked and grew up in a home with two older sisters. For the last six years, her parents have taken a series of foster children in and now Brioni wants to study child psychology because she has seen kids coming from all kinds of rough situations and wants to work with kids like that as her career. She really seems to have her head on straight and the boys liked her--and didn't give her too much trouble.

For our part, we were thrilled to be out and about without the kids. First time in six months. Here we are, taking goofy pictures of ourselves, so happy to be out for uninterrupted conversation!

A church. Sunday morning, we tried a new church and feel like it's going to be a good fit for us. Yay. It's close to our house--we could walk there but not with the two short-legs in the family (no, not ME...the boys!). So, it's about a four- or five-minute drive. The church is a small Baptist church that meets in an elementary school. They have about 60 members.

We both really liked the pastor. He was funny, transparent and very humble, and had a great message; the sermon was about how Onesimus went from being a slave to a Christian and helper of Paul to one of the first bishops in the church. The pastor also had a strong Scottish accent (love that, and could listen to it all the live long day). 

There was also a special visitor this past Sunday; a woman named Grace, who traveled down from Scotland for the day; she was an older woman who has been blind since birth. She shared her story--which was, surprisingly, hysterical...she was very funny--and sang / played piano twice. What a blessing she was! 

The families with kids were all pretty much absent, because it's summer break and everyone with school-age kids goes on holiday, so we met mostly the older crowd this past week. We couldn't believe how warm and friendly everyone was. Really. After trying a few other churches, this one really stood out as unusually friendly. We were invited to homegroups, introduced to the church during the service, and there was no way we could have walked out the door without staying for biscuits (cookies) and tea....we were hemmed in on all sides with friendly people who wanted to meet the boys and find out why we were here in the UK.

So, we'll be going back. 

A trainer. I also found a cool beach boot camp class that I'll be going back to. It only runs through the end of August so my only regret is that I didn't find it sooner. (Lisa and Tina: No it's not the scary, she-man trainer I sent you a picture of! LOL) I went this morning and had a blast. 

We jogged through loose sand while tossing a 10-pound medicine ball back and forth, we did partner strength moves (and even though I didn't know anyone, I was quickly paired up with a nice girl) for about 30 mins (killer) and then did a 4-move strength circuit (squats, push-ups, crunches, and bootstrappers--a new hamstring/calf exercise I didn't already know) for reps of 10, then, 20, then 30. Woah. The jog back through the sand was tough after all that!! 

But, I'll be back on Thursday morning, ready to pay for more pain. :)

Last thing...and this is something that we need to find. My passport! I took it with me to the bank on Friday and haven't been able to find it since. I remember putting it in my purse at the bank, so chances are it's here at the house...but please pray that I find it! 

All for now. Y'all have a great day! Er, I mean...Cheers!

Can We Fix It? ... Yes We Can!

Here we are in our front yard, getting ready for a mommy-and-ollie date at the Whitley Bay Playhouse for their second showing of Bob the Builder. Well, I have to just say that this was not "high theatre" and the tickets were overpriced, all things considered, but...

to have special time with my little guy was worth it. :-)

Mike took this pic of us in our front garden on our way out the door to the
theatre.

A balloon vendor was hawking wares outside.
Thankfully, Ollie's isn't a materialist sort of boy.
We walked on in....

"Two, for Bob the Builder, please.
Thank you...." 

As we waited in the crowd, I told Ollie, "Bob the Builder is behind the big
red curtain." And he just looked at me like either (A) I was crazy, or (B) he
didn't believe me.

Look at that pudgy little thumb...

The ol' hold your arm out and take a picture of yourself trick.

We weren't supposed to take any pictures during the show, but I snuck this
one. Wendy, at left, and Bob, at right. Actually, Scoop, Dizzy, Scrambler,
and Spud all made appearances in the performance.

Four Eyes

He looks like such a little brainy act.

Yes, our little Olfer has glasses. We had his eyes checked about a month ago, after which we were referred to a pediatric ophthalmology specialist. That eye exam was last Wednesday, and it confirmed that, yes, he does have a mild astigmatism in both eyes. (His eyeballs are football shaped instead of soccer ball shaped, or as they say here,  rugby ball shaped instead of football shaped...huh?) 

Glasses were in order. We selected frames on Friday and picked them up yesterday. 

Even eating yogurt now looks like very serious business.
Really, he's reading the Wall Street Journal.

Love that smile. 

So the deal is, these glasses are part of a therapeutic trial. The eye doctor suggested that Ollie should wear them as much as possible, especially when doing detail work like looking at books or coloring or learning letters/numbers or building with Legos, until he's about six or seven.

Reason being: while the neural pathways are still being laid down in his developing brain, if he "sees" things properly, his brain will then "see" them properly for life, even if he's not wearing glasses later. This is particularly important with symbols, like letters and numbers and shapes. Proper visual-cognitive interpretation now can help prevent difficulties with learning to read a few years from now, and so on.

And, yeah, there's the cute factor, too. He's going to get away with everything now, isn't he?

Candy Land

Ollie is learning to play his first board game, Candy Land.

There is a lot to learn with a simple game like this: Taking turns, colors,
drawing cards and putting them in the discard pile, counting spaces,
the concept of starting at the beginning and moving toward the finish line,
and the concept that you are represented by a game piece.

Family Fun Day at the Whitley Bay Playhouse

On Sunday, we bought tickets for Family Fun Day at the Whitley Bay Playhouse, which is where Merrit and I went to see Oliver! a few months ago....and where Ollie and I will be seeing Bob the Builder on Wednesday of this week.

The events included a puppetman and ventriloquist, a magician and balloon-twister, and a story teller. There were the usual "extras" that seem to show up at events for kids: Face painters, a hot dog stand, booths selling kids' books and toys and games, and so on.

Here we are goofing around at one of the two intermissions.

Wearing a silly hat and waving a balloon sword.

Same hat. Different kid.

Same hat. Different kid.
Wow, does his face just say "FUN" or what?