Baseball

We don't live in our new neighborhood yet, but Jack has been playing baseball there since April! The East Mountain neighborhood has its own athletic association, and through the help of a friend we were able to get him on a team right in the nick of time. Literally days away from the first practice! Jack is so excited to be playing baseball this year...his first time...and we are so excited to get to watch him every week. He's doing so well and really proud to be part of a team, and doing his best to learn all the rules and techniques of the game. Here he is at his first practice...



While he plays on the field, Sophie plays on the playground...



And here he is at his first game. Can you tell that he's excited?


Pitching...



Pretty rainbow over the field

Good Game!

It's been fun watching the kids become a real team, listening to them cheer each other on at bat..."Let's Go Ja-ack, Let's Go!"...and to see them all find their niche position...Jack's become the team catcher. We're in our last month of games now so we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts. We've come to love his game days, and we look forward to them just as much as he does. We'll be sad to see them end!

Boy's Day in NYC

Back in March, Joe took Jack into the city to see a NY Knicks game. Jack is a huge Knicks fan so he was SO excited to go to a live game! They donned their matching headbands and wristbands early in the morning and I didn't see them till LATE that night. They were busy! Watching the game, of course...


But you can't go to NYC without seeing the sights. Times Square...


Apple Store (Joe's kind of a MAC geek)

Naked Cowboy sighting! haha

Rockefeller Center

Cool Central Park granite slide (we took him sliding here when he was 2!)

And of course, Grand Central Station

I'd say they had a good day :)

Family Hike at the Ansonia Nature Center

During our March nature class on animal tracking, we discovered a praying mantis egg sack in one of the fields. Of course our instructor requested that we leave it there, so we did. But not for long! I told Joe about it and we decided that watching it hatch and then releasing the babies would be a cool thing for the kids (and us...well, okay, ME!) to experience. So we headed out to the nature center for a family hike...and to search for the egg sack to bring home! Of course we always enjoy our time there, out in nature, so we took our time enjoying all of the sights along the way. It was March so the trees were budding...

We sat to watch the Canadian geese feeding in the pond...


Of course, Sophie had to go in the pond too (hence the rain boots :)...


And OH! the mud...who can resist squelching through ooey gooey mud? Not these two...


Jack found this interesting dried plant...probably was some kind of flower in it's hayday :)

Then after LOTS of searching and "I could have sworn it was right HERE"'s, Jack found it! The praying mantis egg sack, stuck to an old milkweed stalk! We were SO excited and we carried that little egg sack with us ever so carefully so we wouldn't disturb the life inside.

The kids decided they needed a drink, and the juice we brought along just wouldn't do. Especially when you can drink fresh-from-the-ground water.


We managed to snap a pic of ourselves together...since one of us is always behind the camera these pics of the 2 of us are pretty rare!

And then headed home with our treasure!

Animal Tracking

At our March class at the Ansonia Nature Center the kids learned all about animal tracking. As usual, they began with some classroom time. Miss Allie talked about clues you can find in nature that show where an animal has been. Clues like fur, feathers, tracks, skat, burrows, teeth or claw markings, etc. She also gave the kids a few scenarios, telling them the location and clues she found at each location and the kids had to guess which animal(s) left the "clues" behind. The kids had fun being nature detectives!


Then we headed outside to track some animals! We found a groundhog's burrow and a chunk of wood that had been gnawed by a beaver...


Tracks from pheasants and coyotes...


Animal skat...yep, poop...

Paths made by deer, which they obviously traveled through regularly...

Along the way...


Miss Allie also showed us how to make a plaster mold of an animal track. Plaster of Paris and water, poured into a soup can with both ends cut off and pushed down into the dirt around the track, and let it sit long enough to harden.

We plan to do this ourselves one of these days. That's one of our favorite things about the monthly nature class...we're always inspired to take the information we learn and run with it!

Hike at Sleeping Giant State Park

I took the kids on their first hike at Sleeping Giant a couple of months ago. It was definitely a bit more challenging of a hike than they are used to but they did really great! We made it all the way to the top, stopping to rest a few times along the way, and although there were a couple of brief moments of "I'm too tired to go any further", once they reached the top and got to the top of the lookout tower and saw the amazing view, they both agreed the work was well worth the reward!














And when you hike 3 miles, you definitely deserve ice cream! :)