Gavin's 9 years old

Yesterday Gavin turned 9 years old. He was excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Harris here for the eventful day although he was not interested in having us take him out for lunch or even join him for school lunch!  Very typical, actually. Pulling him out of school would shift his routine too much and he's never been fond on lunch time visits...he gets too embarrassed for some reason.  So we offered to take him to dinner and that got a huge smile, like finally we'd offered him the jackpot!

We headed to Burtons Grill, one of his favorite restaurants, because the kids menu is set up in food groups and you pick a protein (steak, grilled chicken, shrimp, or a local beef hamburger), starch, fruit, veggie, and a dairy (which includes frozen yogurt).  His pick for the night:  shrimp, chips (homemade), cucumbers, mixed fruit, and frozen yogurt. And all this for the lovely price of $7......it is by far the best kids menu I've ever seen in a restaurant.  We all went around the table and told him things we loved about him which included his laugh, his athletic prowess, "he's fun to play with and good at everything he does", his desire to always do what is right, his ability to focus and accomplish great things and maybe two more I can't recall.

We then went home to open gifts that included a new fishing pole and tackle box, a new soccer backpack, a new bike helmet from Jonah who told him: "Since I sort of took over your old helmet, I thought you should get a new one"! Loved that! He also got a longboard, something the boys have all been talking about for some time.  Everyone was of course a bit jealous and Gavin was good to give everyone, including me, a turn.

Here are the fun things I want to remember about you, Gavin:

You have a very loud voice.  It must come from being the 3rd brother down and needing to be heard.   There are times in the car when you forewarn me (one time you didn't and scared me to death, so now we have a rule) and tell me that you are going to be really loud for just a minute.  And you let out this ear piercing scream that shakes me to the core.  It's a huge release for you, otherwise you let out a constant stream of short and quick yells!  It reminds me of the time you came home from WV with Dad after helping out with his High Council speaking assignment.  You had polished every snack I had sent and then proceeded to rip off all your church clothes and scream and laugh at the top of your lungs.  As Dad says, you were being a complete maniac!

You love to have to-do lists and mark them off.  You love to know exactly what is expected of you and then you try your hardest to do it.  This makes you easy to coach as many of your coaches have commented, and it makes you a joy to parent.  I realized today while swimming, that you have been getting more ornery with me when I remind you of things to do because it's already in your plan.  So, I decided that because I can't read your mental "plan" as of today I'm going to start to try very hard to only remind you when it's obvious you have forgotten something because I do trust you to get what needs to be done, done.

You are an athletic powerhouse.  This week alone you have come home from school reporting that you set the school record for the year for the pacer test (82) and then the next day for the push up test (45).  I mean Dad and I cannot even do 45 push-ups (standard style) in a row, let alone in total.  And remember, technically you could be considered a 3rd grader!  I have told you this before, but I marveled at your body when you were a baby, marveled.  At 6 months you had defined calf muscles and you were never really a chubby baby, just a solid mass of muscle and this is still very much the case.  You have been blessed with an athletic body and a mental drive to boot.

Your favorite sports in order are: tennis, skiing, water skiing, soccer, swimming.

You love to read! You just finished the last Harry Potter book about one month ago and so we watched the final movie, which we told you you'd have to wait to see until after you finished reading the books. The past few days you have been reading Holes and when we told you there was a movie of the book your eyes sparkled with excitement!

You love to be organized.  Your desk in your room and your dresser top stays in the order most of the time.  When we clean out drawers you like to put your clothes back in using whatever system makes the most sense to you.

You know how to knit and crochet and finger knit and love to make little tops for your nightstand or long scarves.

You are amazing with the yo-yo or any other hand skill toy.  You used your money to buy a $40 Duncan on our trip to the Outer Banks this summer.  Then the brothers all ordered theirs when we got home, of course .  When we are running errands I find having them is a great distraction and you love when others take notice.  I watch you try and show more interesting tricks for them without saying a word.

You know how to make German Pancakes from start to finish by yourself and they always turn out great!  You haven't adventured into other recipes at this point, but I have a feeling you will.

You hate peanut butter and jam sandwiches, hot cereal (the tears, oh the tears), tofu and rice, beans and rice, wheat bread and melted cheese.  You love almost any vegetable, all fruits, and all meats and fish.  You also like a fried egg sandwich with bacon NO cheese, pancakes and waffles with whip cream and fruit (you put a blueberry or raspberry in each square of a waffle), and like me, you love dark chocolate :)

You are very musical on piano, drums and the cello.  Right now you are playing a song on cello that is from a bluegrass band, Steel Wheels, who we saw at the Red Wing Roots Festival this summer.  Apparently, you heard it this morning on the drive to school and when you sit down to start your practice on the piano or cello, you often start by playing some random song that is floating around in your mind.  So obviously this is where this song has been today.  Dad just came in, because how can he resist something so awesome and you played it together for me on this video that did not upload despite having tried for 10 hours (overnight).  Sigh.  I'll figure it out soon, I hope.

I love how you play with Jonah.  You two are room buddies this year and after I leave the room you love to talk and sometimes cause trouble.  I think your asleep until I hear little voices laughing and banging on the walls.  I'll go up to find either you on the top bunk with Jonah or him on the bottom.  I'm usually not happy because by then it is 9:30, one hour past your bedtime!!!! Trouble!  But, it does make me happy knowing how much you two love each other.

Gavin, I want you to remember that I love everything about you and I absolutely love being your mother!  Thank you for being such an amazing person.

First Day of School

The boys headed back to school this past Wednesday.  They were all excited and some were a little nervous. For the first time in 3 years I only have two children at Meriweather Lewis Elementary school.  Liam has moved on to Henley Middle school to join Caleb for one year before Caleb moves on to Western Albemarle High School.  Middle school for Liam this year and High School for Caleb next year!  Sheesh!  I've been having some latent worry about whether we're doing all we need to do to prepare them for life on their own as the precious time with them seems to be rushing by, and even when I try my best and they still end up in tears, I wonder.  After Liam's 5 sessions of tears yesterday alone and Jonah's sobs when he didn't play Twinkle-Twinkle on his violin "perfectly" for the video I was shooting of him, I told Jared I was throwing in the towel for the day.   He simply reminded me that this is what it is like every year and especially for Liam who was in entirely new surroundings.  The first few weeks are an adjustment, I know, I do remember!  I had already thought this through at tear fest #2, but it was nice to have the confirmation from Jared that I was still a capable mother.

This year Jared and I decided to hold the first annual "Harris Retreat" in order make a bigger deal out of our family theme for the year: Unity as well as to talk about some of our goals and expectations, for Jared to give them their annual Father's Blessing and to just play and be together.  We decided to head up to Sugar Hollow past our favorite swimming hole "snake hole".  We found a nice rock outcropping that was perfect!  This year we were making some big schedule changes - - namely, getting Caleb and Liam up earlier to do homework and/or music and to have family scripture study.  The evenings this year are complicated with people filtering in at different times up until 8:30 or later, making attempts to read scriptures consistently at night impossible.  The other big change is that Caleb and Liam are both in their own rooms for the first time in their lives.  When we lived in MN, all three boys were in one room: Caleb and Liam slept in a full bed and Gavin was in a crib (Jonah was in a crib in the living room!).  When we moved into this house we have had two rooms that all four boys shared. Each year we try to mix up who is sharing a room with who in order to help them build different relationships, which for the most part, has worked out pretty well.  Here is a letter from Jonah written in June at the end of the school year:

"This is a card for Liam from J-Rawl to L.J.. Happy End of School year!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been loving being your room budea (buddy) this year. I hope you have a good time in mid school whith Caleb and I will mis you in merry wether.  Love J-Rawl"

But this year because of their "priorities" of wanting a desk (C. L. and G.) or sleeping in the top bunk (J.) moving some of them to separate rooms was the only option.  So Caleb and Liam are on their own and Gavin and Jonah are sharing the bunk bed with Jonah on top and Gavin setting up shop in the built-in desk in their room. Although I strongly suspect that on the weekends Caleb and Liam will end up having sleep-overs simply because Caleb loves the company.

 Gavin, Jonah and Liam were trying to repeat the fish spearing experience from the last time we were up here.

Then Gavin fell in the water!

We were a little short on time towards the end of the retreat because of Caleb's soccer practice, so they were given one shot to jump off the rock into "snake hole"! (Caleb opted out because of soccer). These bad photos are my fault:  I didn't have the time to check the ISO as they jumped in rapid succession, but my spear fishing ones redeem my decent skills :)

Here's to the first day of school 2013:

Spy Rock-Liam

Since his birthday in June, Liam has advanced into Boy Scouts (11 yr old scouts) this year, for which he is thrilled.  Now he can participate in all of those envious activities that Caleb has been a part of!  He kicked things off with a one-day daycamp in June, but this past weekend he got to go on his first overnight camping trip along with two other boys in his patrol.  One of their requirements is to camp, prepare a meal, and hike 5 miles.  They did this all last Friday-Saturday up along the Shenandoah Parkway.  In fact they backpacked in for two miles, gaining 1,000 feet of elevation gain, and set up camp right off the Appalachian Trail at Spy Rock.

Their two scout leaders went along, and so did Jared.  The boys set up their own tent (Jared's 25-year old 3-person Eureka tent he used as a scout, and has since given to Caleb), foraged for wood, started a fire (another requirement), cooked and ate their slightly burned hobo (tinfoil) dinners, made s'mores, then talked late (10:30 ish) into the night.  The next morning it was Liam's turn to prepare breakfast: hot water on Jared's old backpacking stove, for hot chocolate and hot tang (which Liam had never had, but was a camping staple for Jared growing up), hot cereal and then a new experiment: precooked bacon, which was such a huge hit with everyone.  Jared decided we should have it every camping trip we go on.  (I won't stress about what is in the bacon that allows it to sit at room temperature for months and still not give us food poisoning...  I'm not sure we can really call it a "food," now that I think it through.  But I digress.)

After breakfast they hiked without out their packs along a 5 mile loop before they broke down camp and saddled the big packs back on and headed home.  The views - even captured on the little point-and-shoot camera - look spectacular.....I mean this is why they call it the Blue Ridge Mountains!  Liam and Jared have definitely convinced us that we need to repeat the event on our own.

Corolla, NC

The day after swim champs we packed up and headed to the Outer Banks, NC with my parents.  The trip down was more eventful than I would have liked with a few missed exits and a little unwanted stress, but we all managed to arrive at the house safe and in one piece.  This was our 6th Outer Banks beach vacation and I think if I were to take a vote, it may have just been the best one yet.  Each year it's different, sometimes we have gone with friends, sometimes with both sets of grandparents (sans G-ma Harris), sometimes with my parents, and sometimes for family events: two of our kids (Liam and Gavin) have both been baptized in the Atlantic Ocean at the Outer Banks.  This year we stayed up on the Northern end in Corolla.  In fact, we were a mere mile to the end of the paved road and the wild horse preserve!  The beaches here were unlike any other we've experienced...relatively flat and wide and even Jonah was able to walk out 30 yards into the water and the waves were only up to his waist.  This made for great boogie boarding for everyone and we all spent hours "catching waves".  We decided that even though getting up to the Northern tip of the Outer Banks adds another 30-45+ minutes of driving, that the beaches and smaller crowds were worth it.

This beach week was a needed break for all of us. There was no schedule, no executive education, no swim team, no tennis team, no piano, no violin, no cello, no math, no typing, no writing, nothing but a big wonderful empty slate.  Each morning we woke up to new adventures to be had.  There was a fun chalk board calendar in the house and each day we filled with things like: boogie boarding, skim boarding, Duck Donuts, walk on the beach, paddle ball, game night, movie night, knot tying, fishing, afternoon reading and naps, Steamers shrimp for dinner, an evening and morning thunderstorm, swimming pool games, hot tub time,  and on and on.  Jared was smart enough to take a photo of the beach house's chalk board!

Our house was only one house off the ocean ("semi ocean front") and a mere a two minute walk to the beach access which allowed us the freedom to come and go throughout the day.  The first two days we did nothing but spend time at the beach boogie boarding, skim boarding, digging in the sand and playing a game Jonah made up called "Pow-Pow" where the boys would slam themselves into the waves.  (This actually resulted in some serious swimmer's ear by the end of the week that required a visit to the doctor and a course of antibiotics and pain meds.  Caleb and Liam were absolutely miserable for several days after we got home.  Looking back, it seems obvious that "Pow-Pow" was not such a great idea...)

Besides almost biting off his tongue, this was one of the many times C. would slam ear first into a wave:

More photos of Jonah playing Pow-Pow:

Skim boarding.  The boys all have their own boards and spent more time in pursuit of the perfect wave than anything else that week.  They often wait for 5 minutes or more before they would decide that the right wave just came in.  I tell you skim boarding looks so easy when the boys do it.  They wait for the right wave, throw the board, run to jump on it, then skim into the next incoming wave.  But, it is not simple.  This year both my dad and Jared made their attempts and it only took a few runs before my dad took a hard spill and only a few days' worth of runs before Jared pulled an inner-thigh muscle so badly he had to walk backwards part of the way home and take baby steps for the rest of the day.  There was no camera around, so I'll preserve the image of that moment of pain and agony in my mind forever and remember that I could not stop laughing.  Doubled over in pain, drool dripping down from his mouth, total agony.  For the record, after the deep breathing and baby steps, Jared was laughing too.  (He said "I was acting 20 instead of 40..")  That was the end of skim boarding this trip for Jared!  But the boys never stopped.

One of the evenings after the tide had come and gone, there was a perfect training ground for Jonah to practice his budding skills.  He didn't plan on getting the water, so before heading to the beach he had chosen (despite parental advice) to not put on his swimming suit.

I really do believe that one of these days Gavin or Caleb are going to lose a portion of their tongues.  It's unbelievable how often their tongues take part in their physical activities!

Boogie boarding.  This was the one activity that everyone could do and there was little to no risk of injury.  Even my parents were in the water catching waves:

 Finally there was just plain ol' fun in the sand.  We had to make a quick stop at the Ace Hardware store for more real garden shovels because somehow they got left back in C-ville and you really cannot dig well in the sand without them.  There were random kids on the beach who would see the rapid progress we were making in digging some hole or another and ask to borrow one of the shovels.  Jared shared with the parents where we got them, so hopefully they weren't sold out!

Here are the beginnings of what would become a giant hole surrounded by a mote and castle towers.

The boys also decided to try to see what would happen if they dropped a paddle ball down a crab hole.....they found out those holes were much, much deeper than they ever expected - and required much excavation to retrieve the ball! 

I loved watching Caleb with Jonah....this little boy loves his biggest brother!

There were paddle ball games going on at some point every day and Jared and I reached a new personal best: 409 hits in a row!  One evening we pulled out some kites because you really can't spend time on the beach without getting them out at some point.

We pretty much stayed around the house with a few exceptions, including the one tradition of eating out at Steamers where you order the fresh shrimp by the pound.  We also discovered a new Mexican restaurant, did a bit of souvenir shopping and climbed up the Corolla Lighthouse.  It has been several years since we walked those 200+ steps and I kept thinking back to the last time we were there and Caleb refusing to walk out onto the top platform due to vertigo.  This time I was behind him and watched as he hesitated for a second and grabbed the side of the door, but then made his way out having overcome the fear of heights that had paralyzed him so many years ago.  Both Jared and Caleb even managed to hold on to the railing, but Jared couldn't quite let go of the door frame....he too has a marginal phobia of man-made heights.

Grandma was on the hunt all week for sea glass and a particular kind of shell.  She found tiny, I mean tiny peaces of sea glass and came away with some fun shells.  My dad on the other hand was searching for heart shaped shells for Mom and she had them all laid out the night before we left.  So fun!

Lastly, Caleb needed to pass off a few more requirements for his fishing merit badge, specifically learning to tie some knots and catching a fish.  He passed off both of these with my dad and despite the odds they had given themselves, 70/30 they did indeed catch a fish!  A grouper.  Unfortunately no camera was around to catch the moment - it was only the two of them, out earlier than the rest of us.

Going to the beach every year is something I look forward to, starting in December.  I love the salty water and the power of the waves; I love the soft warm sand on my feet; I love that we all come back to the beach house from the sandy beach every day and skinny dip (boys together, then me by myself) in the pool to get the sand out of all our crevices; I love not having a schedule; I love taking long walks on the beach and listening to crashing sounds of the surf; I love being together with the people I love most in this world and the people I would not survive without.