Soccer May Never Be The Same

We signed Reid up for soccer this fall. I had my doubts, but we the City of Greenville program is inexpensive and laid back (not to mention the only one that allows 3 year olds around here). We have "practice" once a week, every Thursday night.



The program is perfect for Reid - if it were more serious or competitive, I don't think he would enjoy it at all. He's doing really great. The first week was rough but mostly because we had driven back from the beach the same day and he was overly tired. Every week since has been an improvement. Even though he still says he doesn't want to go, he begs to stay every week.



He's also doing great at listening to the "coaches" - seriously, so much better than I anticipated. :) He's learned to trap the ball, to dribble, but his favorite thing is to make a "big kick."

Tidbits...

Tonight, after a day full of fun activities, Reid was still jumping around and bouncing off the walls. He has become quite the jumper lately. He loves using the leather ottoman as a trampoline (it works quite well, actually), and piles up the beanbag, pillows, and blankets for a series of impressive jumps back and forth.

After watching the show for a while, I said, "Goodness, where do you get ALL that energy?!?"

Reid's reply: "From food, Mommy. That's where energy comes from."

Tough to argue with that logic. Remind me to stop feeding him.

Our Newest "Addition..."

... Addition on the house, that is!

A few months ago we got a pergola on the back patio. We love it - it's just like having a little outdoor room. And, it provides some shade back there several hours earlier than we would normally get it.

Now we just have to stain it... not looking forward to that!

Myrtle Beach 2009

We FINALLY got to go on our beach vacation at the end of August. I didn't think it would ever happen! Since we went to Disney in January, we planned our beach trip to the end of the summer to space things out a bit.

We spent four nights there and Reid's Granna got to come with us. She made the drive from Alabama, which is much farther than our 3.5 hours from Greenville. But Reid was so glad she was there. The weather wasn't great but it could have been worse. It was the warmest/sunniest on the afternoon that we arrived, and we didn't waste any time getting out onto the beach. The days that followed included a morning of rain and some cooler temps, but we were still able to build sand castles and play in the pool. No need for sunscreen!

Reid is a total beach kid. He completely loved jumping in the waves and had no problems when he got knocked down. Of course, it made for a less-relaxing trip for the adults, who were trying to make sure he didn't get swept out to sea. Why does the salt water not hurt kids' eyes but bath water does? Ross made Reid a cool sand "castle" that was really more of a fortress. But, it had a sand throne in the middle that Reid could sit on. He would sit down and wave at everyone passing by like he was the king of the beach. :)

Besides doing the regular beach stuff, we also went to Ripley's Aquarium - along with every other person in Myrtle Beach, the morning it rained - and spent a lot of time at Broadway at the Beach. Our resort package includes some attraction vouchers that can be used at a variety of places, including (thankfully) the kiddie rides at Broadway at the Beach. They have some pretty neat things to choose from but Reid was not interested in trying anything new. He only wanted to do the kiddie rides we did last year and, even then, he only did three of them. Over and over and over. We were there at some point for three days straight.

Ross also took Reid out to the NASCAR theme park and for his first mini-golf game, but nothing compared to the kiddie rides for him. They went to Jurassic Golf and, of course, Reid decided he was afraid of the dinosaurs. It wasn't very crowded and Ross said they covered the first 9 holes in about 6 minutes. Oh well. :)

It was a great trip - much too short, but still great. Would have been better only if I had come home with a tan...

Myrtle Beach 2009 - Photos

Reid was fearless at the beach. How is it that the kid who won't jump into the pool because his head might get wet has no issue diving face-first into huge crashing waves?

Lots of fun at Broadway at the Beach.

Reid's first mini-golf excursion and some of the MANY photos we have from riding the kiddie cars...

We ate dinner at Margaritaville one night. Reid totally loved the theme-i-ness of it all. He insisted on having his picture taken (top right) with this parrot/palm tree condiment caddy from our table. And, he got a balloon parrot - named Polly - from a guy on stilts. Super fun!

Preschool Mischief

Reid started back to school a few weeks ago and was so glad to see all his friends again. He is one of two boys in his class, and the two tend to get into trouble together consistently. Since entering K3, there is now a discipline system - card flipping. Green card = good behavior. Yellow card = warning. Red card = bad behavior.

Reid and Andrew tend to always have the same color card flipped each day. (I wonder why that is....?) So far we have had two red cards and one yellow one. On the most recent red card day, which was last Thursday, his teacher had taken a photo to show the moms at pickup. (Not to worry, Miss Ashleigh took the photo for amusement purposes only.... I think.) :)

Reid and Andrew's parents received a humorous email Thursday night with the photo below, after they had their cards flipped for spraying themselves and the entire bathroom with water during potty break: