"August Soccer"

Xander has been saying it for weeks. "August soccer?"

And then, just as quickly, "Soccer first, then Wendy's."

It's the little things, apparently. And while I definitely think the french fries are the motivating factor, I also think he was looking forward to soccer again, too.

Xander is a natural athlete, in every sense of the words. Whether kicking a ball, throwing a ball or catching one, he just does it with a simplicity and ease that you would not expect. It's actually kind of amazing to watch him play. He has some trouble with the listening, and the following of rules, but he has no trouble with the fundamentals. Dribble the ball down the field, kick hard, score. That he can definitely do. Stretches, listening activities, group activities. Those come less easily. Usually with screams of protest and a lot of "No (insert activity here)!" after every thing his coach says to the team. I think she's used to it by now.

So we're back to soccer Sundays through October. The fall season is outdoors, which I think both boys will like better. Time will tell ...

Snapshot Sunday

Love that Expression, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

Well, taken last Sunday at least. Xander wins the prize for my favorite photo from last weekend at the lake. The expression says it all. Loving every minute.

The rest of the photos are here (and Daddy even made a few, because he joined us for the first time all year).

Summer Time

 

And the living is easy ...

Once baseball ended, Connor's summer truly began. It started with a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their cabin on the lake. Mommy and brothers joined them on the weekends, but Connor stayed during the week. And he made the most of his time, as you can see.

Other adventures have included trips to the movies (Monsters University and Despicable Me 2), a local minor league baseball game, a trip to a regional amusement and water park, a music festival and fourth of July fireworks event, another trip to the lake, and now another trip with Grammy and Pappy.

This time Connor is on an island that will take him back in time. There are no cars, just bikes and walking paths. There are fancy hotels and horse-drawn carriage rides. There's dinner in the formal restaurant (for which we had to purchase dress clothes, since our kids are not big on anything other than athletic pants and tee shirts).

Here's his first day ...

Summer Days at Home ...

When the weather cooperates (meaning it's not raining every single day or that it's not unseasonably cold for our part of the world), the boys have been enjoying the backyard pool this summer.

Sawyer loves it the most. He could stay in it all day, every day, when the water temperature is decent. Xander likes to jump, but his love is hit or miss. Connor would probably tie Sawyer for loving it the most, but he hasn't been home much of the summer. So he's not been in it as much as the other two.

And we'll save his adventures for another day (because there are many, and it's going to take a while) ...

Fearless

Fearless. Never mind that he's the youngest, I'm pretty sure Xander is one of the most fearless people that I've ever met. He's not afraid to try anything. He watches everything, studies everything, and he's always ready to try it out himself. He watched from the boat for a few minutes, as Uncle Brian, Cousins Austin and Kyndal, and Connor climbed up some cliffs and jumped into the lake.

A few minutes was all it took.

"This one," he said to me, pointing hard at the cliffs. I shrugged and said why not. I told him he'd have to swim over there. He proceeded to jump off the front of the boat (something he'd seen Connor do, but he'd never done before) and to swim over the the base of the cliffs. I called out to Uncle Brian and the others, who were looking out for him and helped him navigate the rocky cliff without shoes. They took him on the shorter cliff first, just to see if he would like it. He jumped, promptly climbed back up and pointed his fingers again at the taller cliff where the big kids had been jumping.

"This one," he said again. I could here him clearly from my place with Grandpa on the boat (and Sawyer who was happily swimming behind the boat and had no intentions of joining the rest of the jumpers).

So up he went, to the high cliff. Uncle Brian showed him where to jump, told him to jump out. He looked slightly hesitant at first. Connor jumped to show him how it was done. And that was all it took. He jumped in right after him (that's Connor's head in the water in the photo above). And they jumped and jumped and jumped. Xander probably would have kept on jumping. He eventually swam back out to the boat with the others.

And that's the story of how Xander went cliff diving for the first-time ever. On the big cliff. With cheers from his family. And also the random boaters who were also swimming nearby and on the cliffs. Apparently they were impressed that the "little guy," as they called him, was jumping, too.

Fearless.

The rest of the cliff diving photos are here.