Staying Cool in the Pool

Summer Schedule

Today is Aidan's first would-have-been-a-school-day at home and I encouraged him to put a list together of things he'd like to do this summer.

Included on the list (there's a page two):

• Get a lock--he gets a locker at school next year and wants a Wordlock...I told him about the locks, but not the particular password they chose on the linked commercial.
• Learn to tie his shoes--we got him Velcro at the beginning of the school year and should have been working on this much sooner.
• Swimming lessons--he can't wait to start the next level!
• Go fishing--I believe Papa D and Grammie have this on the itinerary for their July visit.
• Go to Como Town--maybe Kellen can ride the Dragon Coaster with us this year!
• Ride a bike without training wheels--he's got a new bike that fits him better and we're ready to tackle life on just two wheels.
• Make another super hero video--maybe we can expand the actor count in this one to three!
• Mini golf--good thing we found a new place to putt last weekend.
• Go to grandmas and grandpa's houses--perhaps the grandparents can take all three and Rachel and I can do something extravagant like go to dinner by ourselves.
• Play dates with school friends--one mom approached me on the last day of school about getting a few of the boys together...sounds like a good way to stay connected to the boys who are not on the soccer team.

Of course we've still got three solid months of soccer, a backyard pool, playtime with brothers and the park to entertain us. I'm sure other things will find their way onto the list as well.

VIDEO: Baby Talk

Soccer Kick Off

Aidan had his first soccer game tonight. Last week's rains cancelled two practices but the boys didn't seem to need it. His Irish Green team of 10 looked World Cup ready scoring fifteen goals before the other team got on the board. Technically no one was keeping score but I had enough fingers and toes to keep up.

It's a city league but all of the boys on Aidan's team are from his school's kindergarten class. The future of Heritage Futbol looks bright after a 19-2 win in the opening game. Oh...and our little #4 scored a goal in his first game!

The first 30 seconds of Aidan's organized sporting career.

Businessman in the Making

I think I’ve got a future businessman in the house!

Aidan has been talking a lot about running a lemonade stand lately. Today he suggested Saturday would be the best day of the week to have one because people in the neighborhood are not at work or school. He also thinks Saturday might be warm enough to make people thirsty. Sounds like good market research to me! Warmth = thirsty = more potential sales.

The suggestion I’ve been most impressed with is his master plan to get his product in front of the most people. He thinks it would be great if I would have a garage sale at the same time so I can bring the masses in and he can piggyback on my attempt to generate a little revenue. He wants to set up his stand next to the driveway during the sale so he can sell to my customers.

He has recognized his limitations in pouring lemonade from a large heavy pitcher into small cups and has informed me that I'll be working for him in that capacity. Not sure about his full marketing and business plan but I'm sure a full SWOT analysis is on the way.

Aidan Trump…future lemonade billionaire.

Kindergarten Graduation

Ready for graduation

Aidan and Mrs. Kopischke

Aidan's Kindergarten Class of 2010

Our favorite kindergartner

Receiving his awards packet from Mrs. Williams (class assistant)

VIDEO

Brotherly Love

Record Breaking Video

I've been looking for a decent video of last weekend's wooden shoe dance. Something more professional than everyone's "look at my family" offerings on YouTube.

Here's a piece on the record breaking event from one of the local new stations:

CLICK HERE!

Clog Envy

de Slaapmuts

Yesterday I was part of a record breaking performance! All needs to be confirmed by Mr. Guinness but it is safe to say a new clog (wooden shoe) dancing mark has been set.

Approximately 2800 people were registered for the event coming from all over the U.S. and four foreign countries. Of course the majority of the dancers were locals or those with local ties. The previous record was short of 500 and set in the Netherlands.

My dance partner (my mom) wore a traditional Dutch costume. I wore the less traditional hoodie and commemorative t-shirt ensemble.

To the left, my everyday shoes. To the right, my dancin' shoes!

We lined the town square in preparation for record breaking jig and later danced de Slaapmuts for six minutes and 15 seconds on a chilly May morning in Pella.

Deur, Travis from Minnesota. Dancing into the Guinness World Records book as participant #193!

My Hometown

A glimpse at my hometown for those of you not from "the home country". This weekend Pella celebrated its Dutch heritage during their 75th Tulip Time Festival.

The Tulip Tower

The town square

Sunken Gardens Park

The largest working windmill in the United States

The Molengracht Canal

The Glockenspiel

Best. Bakery. Ever.

Kid Compare (3M)

Three months old today and still lacking the look-a-like locks of his older brothers.

Logan

Kellen

Aidan

Sharing the "Love"

CAUTION: The following account contains thinly veiled references to regurgitation. I tried to keep it light enough not to turn your stomach as much as ours have been but this is a story about everybody getting sick. Read at your own discretion.

Last week Aidan projectiled his lunch so suddenly I heard Rachel scream. I was actually insensitive enough to smile trying to find humor in her startled response to a messy situation. Karma is bad thing.

Once Aidan got better Rachel got hit...and Kellen. The latter two welcomed the bug while many members of our family were in town for Aidan's Grandparents Day and Logan's baptism. Thankfully we were all well enough to attend the scheduled events.

I got word after the relatives had departed that we had spread the "love" outside of our immediate family and people were falling like dominoes. Three grandparents had been hit shortly after leaving. Determined to avoid the inevitable, I took a mental stance against the idea of getting sick and drank a Gatorade on Monday morning feeling there was nothing better for preventing sickness than a heavy dose of electrolytes.

I will make my personal account brief. On the way to pick up Aidan from school I asked God to get me there and home before allowing the sick demons to bring me to my knees. He was kind enough to give me a quiet dirt road as a private spot from which to begin my personal journey through the darkness. Today still feeling a bit weak but no longer at a standstill (or a lay-down-still) I stepped on the scale and found myself ten pounds lighter than I was at my physical last week. I might want to retract a statement I made to my wife saying I'd rather be violently ill for 24 hours than battle a bug for a week. I have however found a weight loss plan that is infinitely quicker than diet and exercise!

Dancing with the Stars

If all goes according to plan I will be a legend in my own mind come Saturday. You see when I was in grade school I spent a lot of time paging through the Guinness Book of World Records during library time and believed it to be the greatest book on the planet. I was intrigued by the man with the world's longest fingernails and the heaviest twins (do you remember the picture of them side by side on their motorcycles?). I never even considered that one day I would have the opportunity to claim a world record as my own.

About a year ago I heard rumblings that my hometown of Pella, Iowa would be attempting to set the record for most people in wooden shoes during their annual Tulip Time Festival. The word Guinness never entered my mind until I found out Guinness would be there to verify the new mark. There was no longer a question that I would be participating...even after I found out that I would have to be one of the people DANCING in wooden shoes.

So Saturday I will don a pair of wooden shoes and hopefully not trip over my two left clogs as my dance partner (my mother) and I put our intense training (a YouTube instructional video) on display. If it goes off without a hitch we will be part of history during five minutes of mass Dutch Dancing. At last look the number of participants signed up was more than four times the current record.

Mr. Guinness, here I come!

Family of Five

Logan's Baptism

G.G.

The boys have decided it's cool to shorten Great Gramma to G.G.

Here's G.G. and her three great grandsons...

Crazy Eyes

High Steaks

After the playhouse was assembled we gave the grill a proper workout.