Walking the Walk

About three weeks ago the gentleman doing rides out at the Y after school program told me that they'd started a "walking club" after school. They were keeping track of laps around the track, and some kids were working toward the goal of participating in the Triangle Heart Walk at the end of the month (also sponsored by the YMCA).

Mostly motivated by "prizes," both Madeleine and Lily have been very dedicated walking club participants, doing as many as 13 to 18 laps PER DAY.

Since they worked on it so hard and told me of their plans, I signed us up for the heart walk. My work had a corporate team, so I just joined there. Ignoring threats of rain, we headed out to the RBC Center on Saturday.

Madeleine and Lily follow Mommy's stretch out routine.

We checked out the Y tent and didn't see any counselors from our school. The girls were a little disappointed, but another coworker brought her son who was only 3 days older, so chasing Gavin kept them entertained most of the walk.

We did the 1 mile and called it an afternoon because of the humidity.


Go Goodman Family!

Nature Girls

A couple weeks ago while cleaning up in the driveway, the girls asked me if I knew how to do any projects with "nature" items like basket weaving or with sticks.  Of course I said I did not.  So when I saw that Yates Mill was having a Harvest Festival featuring corn husk doll making, I knew we had to go.

 It was raining on and off all morning, but we trekked out anyway and made our way to the doll-making classroom as soon as possible.  Luckily there weren't many people in there, and we were able to get right in a session at the beginning.  They had some nice teenage girls helping out, so we were able to keep up and follow along. 

 Madeleine insisted on tying all her own knots.

Madeleine's angel had "feathered" wings.

 Lily chose the butterfly wings.

 Here Madeleine is braiting together strands of wheat to make a heart-shaped wreath.

Madeleine, Lily, and pal Leif make goodie bags to hold all their swag.

In addition to the crafts above, they also enjoyed learning about soap making, corn shelling, bread bowl carving, cane pole fishing, and listening to the Sandbox Band.  The only thing we didn't do was the gourd-painting, and I think we can do that on our own soon.  

Fair Weather

This weekend we hit up the Fair at St. Rapheal's church.  I remember going when I was in high school, and we went last year as well.  I think the girls have finally aged out of the kiddie rides and were ready to try something more adventureous.

 I don't think I was ready enough for them to try the swings.  They'd only been on a kiddie version before and were pretty scared then.  I could barely look as they were going around, but they did great.  I think they were more excited to prove me wrong.

 The roller coaster was a breeze this year.

 They got matching unicorn tattoos to "surprise" me.  Someone told them I collected unicorns as a kid.

Displaying their game prizes (the crown and bunny).

Old-Fashioned Farm Days

Saturday we headed out to Siler City for the Silk Hope Old Fashioned Farmers Day event.  I had seen it in the paper and thought it might be cool.  Above - the girls are enjoying their "steam cream" while watching various clogging teams. 

 Lily's highlight was the pony ride.  On her back is "Jeremy,"  her class mascot.  She was the first kid at school this year to get to bring him home for the weekend.  We were supposed to take him on a family outing so she could write in the journal about it.

 Feeding one of three animals they had for kids to pet.

 Madeleine on the climbing wall.  They also had jump houses, but it was $7 each for an "all you can jump" pass, and it wasn't worth it for two kids who would maybe spend 15 minutes on the three jump houses.

Lily and one of the steam engines.

Overall, they were not into the tractors or the blacksmithing (a bunch of dudes getting metal hot and hitting it with a hammer).  They had some live music and were interested in a family performing with little girls on the banjo and violin.

Confidence Goggles

When the girls started swimming lessons again in June, my goal for them was to be able to swim well enough to use the water slides at the pool by the end of the summer. This was their third series of 8 week lessons, and they did well. Madeleine was much more confident than Lily and was easily able to give the slide a go at her last lesson. Lily did as well, but on her second trip down she was scared and needed help. She didn't want to try it again.

We've tried goggles in the past, but they've never stayed on correctly and have been more headache than help. I bought really expensive ones last year thinking that they'd be different, but no luck. One pair actually rotted apart in the bag, so I had to throw them away. So I picked up a 3 pack at Rite Aid that was on sale for a couple dollars just in case.

Last week Lily saw them in the bag and asked if she could try them. Sure, why not. Well, since then Lily has been swimming like a fish (with and without goggles). She'll swim up to 12 feet entirely underwater and used the slides 5 times today. She calls them her "laser eyes."

Crazy.

Little Monkeys

We went to the park the other day - and here's some clips of the girls on the monkey bars. I'm always amazed to watch them. I guess the gymnastics and rock climbing has paid off.


They're apparently not allowed on the monkey bars at their new school, and they really don't understand why.