Thankful for Famly Time

This past week we were lucky enough to have Christopher's sister Amy and her little 11month old daughter Alma visit us here in Nashville. We loved having them here! Here are a few pics from their visit.

We went on Saturday to Centennial Park to feed the geese and ducks. Ristow and Jessica had a blast throwing crackers to the geese. Jess wanted to grab them. As we were feeding the geese in the pond, we look behind us and a giant army of geese are closing in from the rear. It was a crazy parade of them. Once they got right up to us we decided it was better to take the kids to the other side of the pond for a while :)

This is what Alma did while we fed the ducks...

Even though Jess and Alma whined and cried and tried to hit each other more than play together, we still loved having that time together. Ristow on the other hand LOVED playing with Alma and making her laugh and was absolutely great with her.

Thanks for making the trip Ames. We love you guys tons!

First Day of School & Jazz Hands

Thursday was the first day of 1st Grade for Ristow. He was super excited. He had his new light up shoes, his new Ironman belt, his new backpack, a cool shark fin haircut and he was reading to go!
I took some pictures of him before he headed to the bus stop and he said "wait mom, I've got to do one with Jazz Hands!"
Ristow has all of sudden been doing Jazz hands all the time. Not sure where he got it from or why he thinks it is so funny, no, ok, I get the funny part. But he even wanted to take a picture of Christopher and I but wouldn't take it unless we did Jazz Hands. That kid cracks me up.

So the first day of school went great for him, he loves his teacher and all looks to be headed in the right direction. As long as he doesn't make all the other kids do Jazz Hands ;)

Freedom in Swimming

For the past three weeks Ristow has been taking swim lessons. They are only 10 minutes long 5 days a week. Now you may wonder what anyone can learn in only 10 minutes and I thought the same thing at first. These swim lessons are basically survival swimming. Teaching babies and kids the basics of how to survive if they fall in a pool.
Ristow has always been afraid of getting his face wet and for years I have been trying to get him to just stick his face IN the water let alone under it. Now that he is 6 1/2 yrs old, we decided it was time. Christopher knew of a woman who did these survival swim lessons and we thought we would give it a try. She is amazing! Ristow went under the water the first day (to my amazement) and took off from there! He swims under water, floats on his back, does jumps off the side and is learning the specific strokes now. He has loved swim lessons but more importantly he has loved what learning to swim has given him... Independence!

This summer we swam at the camp pool when we were up visiting my brother in PA. There were lots of other bigger kids in the pool and Ristow didn't want to swim because he didn't want to have to wear his arm floaties. That is when I understood that he was finally ready to make a change.

Today I took Ristow and Jessica to the community rec center for a last day of summer vacation swim. It was awesome. Ristow was playing in the water and doing Cannonballs like he had been doing it his whole life. I actually was able to take Jessica to the kiddie pool and watch Ristow from there while he played we some other kids his age in the big pool. He LOVED it! He jumped and swam and played just like all the other kids.
Today, as we left the pool Ristow walked with his head a little higher and a big smile on his face. He said "Mom, that was a great time, wasn't it?!"

Dinosaur World!

For years we have seen this dinosaur as we drove up Interstate 65 on our way through Kentucky to Ohio and for years Ristow has begged to stop at Dinosaur World. Well this past Saturday we finally made the trip he has been waiting for!
It was pouring rain as we stopped and had breakfast on our way out of town with the kids. ( An amazing breakfast by the way at a new restaurant in Brentwood) We drove north through crazy downpours praying that it wasn't raining in Kentucky. When we cross the state line the clouds parted and it looked like we were going to finally see the Dinos.

It was a fun place. It has over 100 lifesize dinosaurs throughout the park, a museum with fossils, a playground and a fossil dig where you actually get to keep 3 of the fossils you find. Ristow dug and found 2 sharks teeth and a sea creature fossil. Christopher and Ristow had fun pretending to fight the dinosaurs.They had a mammoth area that Jessica loved because she got to touch the "elephant" and made tons of elephant noises.
It turned out to be a hot and sunny day with no rain. Definitely worth the trip.
After Dinosaur World we hit Onyx cave. Ristow had never been in a cave before and we thought it would be cool. It was a little intimidating for him but in the end he liked it.

Then we hit a local restaurant that unlike breakfast left much to be desired. We did get to meet the local funeral director who was sitting in the next booth initiating some interesting conversation :)

All in all it was a fun family day! Then Christopher and I actually got to go on a date that night at a great restaurant and then to see Captain America. So thankful for a fun day together.

When Imitation Isn't Necessarily Flattery

Before Jessica could talk she has been imitating us, learning to clap, making faces and sounds. I knew I was in trouble this past school year, when on a weekend, Jess and Ristow stayed at my parents house overnight and my mom told me that Jessica was waving Ristow's clothes at him and "yelling" for him to get dressed. Now she couldn't say specific words at the time but everyone could tell it was an imitation of me trying to get Ristow dressed before school. Funny and a bit embarrassing at the same time ;)

Since then, she has imitated more sayings and words and loves to pretend to be cookie monster and say everything in a rough low voice. (Christopher likes to pretend that he taught her to talk like Carl from the movie Slingblade). Nowadays Jess has quite the vocabulary and likes to talk almost as much as Ristow does, which as you can guess, doesn't leave much time for anyone else in the family!

This afternoon Jess took it to a whole different level. When we came in from playing outside, she grabbed a toy bunny and put it in the corner for a "time out". She said "bad, hit, out, one" then walked away from him and went back gave him a hug and made him say "sorry baby". Then she gave him a kiss and went on to play with something else. The translation of Jessica's words work out to be something like "That was a bad choice. We do not hit! Sit in time out for one minute." Which she seems to hear quite often and can now obviously imitate in her play.

It really amazes me all that they pick up and learn, even at such a young age. It also is a good self check for me to make sure she is imitating good things and not bad. Imitations like Christopher's fly dance moves or Ristow's silly faces and jokes and hopefully lots of my hugs and kisses and love!

4th of July, Cousins, Chickens and more

After the McClintock Reunion in Ohio, the kids and I decided to drive up to PA to see my brother Jim and his family. We drove up on the 4th and made it just as the Ligonier Camp 4th of July Parade was starting! The kids were so excited and love seeing Uncle Jimmy and Dylan in the parade.
The next big excitement was seeing the cousins. Ristow and Dylan ran to each other from across the parking lot and hugged, it was the cutest thing. Right out of a cheesy movie!
When we got down to their house Jess screamed with glee as she chased after the chickens and ran around. Later in the visit she was walking around the yard and the chickens were actually following her in a little parade.
We did tons of stuff while we were there. From fireworks and sparklers



to riding horses and playing cowboys.



We picked wild black raspberries and saw a military helicopter overhead that responding to our shouting and waving with spins and circles! Ristow's other favorite thing is eating in the camp cafeteria and spending time with Uncle Jimmy.

Unfortunately I didn't get quite as much grown up conversation time as hoped as Suzannah and I spent much of the time refereeing the little ones. James and Jessica weren't quite the loving cousins we had imagined they would be. They are at that age of testing and tantrums and communication frustrations. It is a good thing they are so stinking cute ;) Lots of good hugging time was had and fun on the swings.


All in all, it was a great visit and we are so glad we could make it up to see them. Time passes so quickly and the kids grow so fast. It is important for them to know each other.
Much love to the Paul Family!

McClintock Family Reunion 2011

Another year, another reunion. Kids are bigger, hairs are more grey, some new faces are added to the mix. But in general reunions stay the same... great food made with lots of love, hugs, laughter, small talk, catching up and sharing pieces of life together.

This year it was fun to see our little niece Alma and Jessica play together. I look forward to the cousins growing up together. They battled over laps and toys but seemed to be pretty intrigued with each other.

Ristow looked forward to his special stash of cookies at Nana's house that he only gets when we go there.
He loved talking and playing with the older kids and gave lots of hugs. We spent great family time at the pool and the playground! It was wonderful.

It was a very enjoyable visit and we are so thankful for the time we got to spend with everyone!