Day 3 Lake Erie and north

Stopped at a cute lunch stop outside the lake with famous fried food and milkshakes. The Texaco gear brough back memories for me. 

They were really excited To check it out and get to the water. 

David and Ellie skipped rocks and looked for treasures they snuck into the car to bring home. 

I enjoyed the great photo opportunities. 

We found this cool structure and then…

Clair got an idea to build something 

She worked hard

It was not quite comfy enough so… 

Meanwhile still treasure hunting

Big brother decides to help 

Gorgeous day and amazing dualing kites 

Day 2 continues

After kennywood we went into Pittsburgh main downtown for dinner. 

Max and Clair won these stuffed animals and were so proud of themselves!

Road-trip Day 2

Day two took us to Kennywood Park. It was nice exploring a new amusement park and the lines were reasonable given it was a Monday. Big Kids enjoyed the new roller coasters. I hung with Clair and enjoyed watching her mostly on calmer rides. 

Family road trip

This summer flew by and the kids returned to school early - August 17th. Before they returned and after my long trip to Warsaw, we took a family road trip up north for a week for our summer vacation. 

This idea was inspired by Lori and Justin’s trip last year. I wasn’t sure how it would be received but everyone was genuinely excited about it and genuinely enjoyed the adventure. I’m really glad we did it. 

Our itinerary was - Sunday Pittsburg, Monday Kennywood Park, Tuesday drive to Niagara Falls but stop at Lake Erie on the way, Wednesday Niagara Falls, Thursday Buffalo NY, Friday Hammondsport NY, Saturday Corning NY and Leonardstown State Park, then home. 

Each stop was interesting for its own reasons. We had some plans change along the way and it all worked out for the good. Some pictures below capture the adventure well. Everyone did great in the car. David and I even got a night out at the bar in Niagara whilst the kids watched a movie in their room upstairs. They are at great ages for family adventures. 

Day 1 Carnegie Mellon Science Center

Summer flies by

I can’t believe we are more then half way through another summer. Ellie starts high school in a month. I’m off to Poland for work for 10 days on Monday. It really is flying. The kids do a lot of just hanging out - Ellie in her room on that stupid chrome books or making her beautiful art and Max and Clair in the basement.  Sometimes Max and Clair are on the desktop computer in the office trying to do scratch coding. 

We did manage to get Clair into two camps - basketball with her friend Brooklyn and the Soccer last week with Max. I’ve been trying to organize some play dates at times. I wish they had more friends in the neighborhood. 

Ellie did have a friends pool party. Max and clair has a celebration for their birthdays mid June. 

The Ls are back local and we have had a couple afternoons and evenings around the pool with cousins which has been really nice. 

The work weeks are hard. I wish I could work less and spend more time with them. This guilt is real and will follow me around forever. Each day feels like a waste of these few years I get with my babies. They are the one thing I knew I wanted my whole life and it’s flying by. I’m really sad about that. I wish I could change it but with the lifestyle we have built I truly do not know how. I am great full for all we can give them. I hope and pray we have made decent trade offs but I sometimes wonder. I hope they feel loved and know how much I like being with them. Sometimes the stress of work is too much and I fail to demonstrate what they mean to me. Kiddos, I’m really sorry about that. 

Preparing to be gone for 10 days is hard. I’ve made a schedule and they will have some time with Gramma and their cousins. David has a schedule for food and doctors. It will be fine he tells me repeatedly. I know it will be but it’s still hard to leave. Work does call and I need this trip for my team who I do care about greatly. 

When I get back we are taking a family vacation road trip. This will be an adventure and they seem to be looking forward to it. So I am too! 

I’m thankful for the pool. We have lots of relaxing evenings and afternoons there. It’s also a good reason to have people over. They had a friend yesterday and today we have family friends coming. 

I hope they are enjoying their summer. I hope they enjoy the relaxation. The crazy fall schedule starts in one month. 

A great day of soccer

Today was the end of season bracket playoff day for both Max and Claire soccer teams. They were at different fields so we had to go separate ways as a family. I took Clair and David took Max.

Claire‘s team played really well. They won two games and tied the third one. They only gave up one goal the whole time. Clair was goalie almost the entire day and she really did an amazing job. She was brave enough to put her hands down there and people were going after the bar. She caught a huge ball kicked from half court in the air perfectly. She ran out to get the ball and stop the play as a good goalie should. She seems to be really enjoying being old. She says she likes it because she can use her hands like Softball.

Though I really think she played quite flawlessly, she was really disappointed when that goal in the final  game went over her head and in a goal with 15 seconds left in the last game. She was in the right place in the goal and put her hands up but she was just not tall enough to block it. She was devastated about that goal. She was angry that they didn’t win in advance to the championships. Many people told her she did a great job and she shouldn’t worry but it was really hard to pull her out of the anger that she felt.

After Clair‘s game the coaches talk to them and told them to be proud of what they had accomplished for the day. Coach also gave them each a special shirt with their nickname on it. We packed up and headed over to the other field so we could watch Max‘s last game.

Meanwhile, Max’s team which was the second to last in the whole big for their group, Was having a great day. They ended up first seated in their flight and in the championship game for the day. I was able to watch him play the last game. I saw him get the first goal for their team.

We learn today with the team that scores first win 70% of the time. Max score a couple goals today and really helped his team.

We learn today with the team that scores first win 70% of the time. Max score a couple goals today and really helped his team. His team ended up beating The other playoff team and tomorrow they are in the championship game. Those boys had a rough year and it was great to watch them celebrate when they saw the news that they were going to the championships for their bracket tomorrow. I’m really excited for them. 

About two hours after leaving the field from Clair‘s team we get notifications from the coaches that there was a mixup and Claire‘s team is actually progressing as the winner of their flight to the championship game tomorrow as well.

This girl was so excited, she was literally jumping for joy in the Chick-fil-A bathroom when I told her about the message. She has determined they will win tomorrow. She really wants to be a champion and bring home a trophy. She spent most of the night thinking about and celebrating this victory. She went from sad to happy with this news.

I’m proud of them both and really happy they’re having such a great weekend. Tomorrow will be another long day in the soccer field and it is totally worth it.