Midsummer Night's Run

One of the things we enjoy about Lexington is the variety of festivals and events that take place right in downtown.  It is nice to know that the city has no problem shutting down some of its streets to encourage some good old fashioned community fun.  And that is certainly the case with the annual Midsummer Night's Run held the second Saturday in August.  It all begins with the Fasted Kid in Town.  Or as its known in the Bowes household, Crying Kids Running.  This was Reese's first year, and we had high hopes for her, especially since we recently described her as fearless.  But it was not to be.  Her run across the grass consisted mostly of John holding her and jogging while she cried.  We're not quite sure this is what is meant by getting your kids involved in a healthy lifestyle.

Now this was Callie's third year, and we talked about it for several weeks leading up to the big day.  Indeed, any time we drive by this open greenspace Callie talks about it as the place where she "ran her race."  For two years she was excited to run and then broke down in tears during it.  We are sad to report that the third time was not the charm.  You would think that we forced our girls to do this event.  But we promise, that at least in Callie's case, it was her idea and right up to the starting gate she was gung ho.  But we are eternal optimists, and there is always next year.

Of course, the most important race of the evening is the family race.  Or at least, our family ran the 5k together, weaving through the crowds of walkers, dogs, and multiple strollers to make our way finally to the finish line.

It was fun to be able to do it together, although we must say that if you ever intend to participate in a 5k as a walker we have two things to say.  Number one, start at the back.  And number two, don't walk shoulder to shoulder with five other people so that no one can get by you.  It is possible that next year we may run this with a cattle catcher on the front of the stroller to push people out of the way.  You just never know.

Ballet Under the Stars

Since Callie was young, she has very much enjoyed playing dress-up.  So it was only a matter of time before Reese got into the action.  And Ballet Under the Stars at Woodland Park was a perfect excuse for both of them to dress up in their finest tutus, grab their fairy wands, and head off for an evening of dance and culture.  

This was the first year that we attended this annual event, but we have a feeling it won't be our last.  Maddie's family invited us to sit with them, and they had done a great job of getting us prime seats in the middle of the lawn.

Before the Lexington Ballet Company took the stage, various kids from dance companies in Lexington put on a performance of Tinkerbell and her Fairy Friends for all of the children who were in attendance.  Callie and Maddie were both entranced by the show, and loved the costumes.  But most of all, they loved the fact that it was kids on stage putting on the show.  Who knows, maybe in a couple of years Callie will want to have the chance to be one of those kids on the stage.

Reese also enjoyed the show, but might have been more entranced by the number of snacks that we had packed for the event.  She kept shoveling grapes, crackers, popcorn, and oreo cookies (brought by Maddie's parents) into her mouth.  Because we had never attended this event before, we had no clue how long into the evening it went.  Although we tried to watch the entire show, we knew it was time to leave when Reese simply kept standing up, spinning around trying to dance, and falling down in utter exhaustion.  In short, a good time was had by all.

Summer's Greatest Hits

This year we managed once again to get together with the Johnson's to take in the Fourth of July festivities in Lexington. Needless to say, it was hot. The excitement of the parade was overtaken at times by the heat and the humidity.

Fortunately, there's no heat that can't be beaten by some Italian Ice and parental strategy about the angle of the sun and the tallest building in Lexington. In short, we managed to be out of the sun for most of the parade.

Despite the heat, Reese enjoyed Lexington's finest strolling down Main Street and showcased her spirit by waving the flag handed to her by one of the marchers. Although the parade seemed shorter than past years, it was still a good show. And it was nice to have a day like this to transition back to Kentucky from our Cape Cod vacation mode.

And once we returned from Cape Cod there were no travel plans for the rest of the summer. This meant, among other things, the opportunity to schedule much overdue playdates with friends like Maddie, who Callie has known since the two were three months old. They are inseparable at school, and were both very excited at the idea of spending extra time together.

Of course, Reese is now at an age where she wants to do everything Callie does. So if Callie is going to hang off the rings at the playground, than Reese needs to do it to. Not pictured here is the moment Reese let go before either of her parents were prepared to catch her. Fortunately, Reese remains one tough cookie, and brushed the wood chips off of her face and carried on.



Of course nothing says successful play date quite like a trip to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt. And the girls wanted to sit at the big table away from the adults.

All in all, everyone wins when frozen yogurt is involved.

Of course, we also have to take as many opportunities as possible to plug the NCAA Champion Wildcats and their head coach. It's kind of a state law/city ordinance. So here is the obligatory picture of the Caliberry flavor offered at the Orange Leaf near our house. We have it from high level sources that Coach Cal is one of the owners of this particular franchise. And of course we do what we can to support Big Blue Nation.


But we end the post with a status update of our youngest, Reese Harper. As you can see from this picture, Reese is constantly in motion. She will smile for the camera, but good luck getting her to sit still.

When this picture was taken she was a little over eighteen months old, and that provides us the opportunity to give you some statistics. She is 31 inches tall, placing her in the 30th percentile. And she weighs in 20 lbs 12 oz, which is right there in the 7th percentile. The old noggin is 47 3/4 cm, which is the 80th percentile. She is healthy as can be, but she is a wee lass. And if we had to pick three adjectives to describe her, they would be happy, fearless, and loving. We are very lucky.

Cape Cod Part II

Although it was completely unplanned, one of the highlights of our vacation was the fact that John's close friend Mike Skonieczny and his family were renting a place two towns away during the same week. We were able to meet up several times throughout the week, which meant the kids all got to play together and the adults managed to have some good hang out time as well.

One of our joint adventures was a trip to Provincetown that included a whale watch. We were all a little intrigued to see if all the kids would endure the long boat ride that might or might not include a glimpse of a whale. There were also some weather concerns. Fortunately, everything worked out perfectly. The only crew member that was short-changed was Eli, the Skonieczny's youngest at two and a half, who started his nap on the way out of Provincetown and woke up shortly before we got back into port.

While Eli napped, his brother Ethan and sister Ella, as well as Callie and the rest of us, got to see quite a few whales. All told we saw one finback and six humpbacks during our excursion. The captain was very kind and we happened to be in the right location, a combination that resulted in us standing in the front of the boat on the upper level, with a captain's eye view of the whales. Even Reese got excited and pointed to the whales every time they spouted or showed their flukes.

The girls certainly enjoyed their time on the boat. The naturalist was very educational yet also knew how to relate to kids. The boat also had lots of children's books about the ocean and its inhabitants, which entertained Ella and Callie in particular on the entire ride back. Although Callie loved tagging along with Ella and Ethan, she always wanted to come back and share part of the experience with her sister. This is one of the many special things about our little girl.

When we weren't having dinner at our place, we had dinner at the Skonieczny abode. In fact, out of our seven nights on the Cape we ate dinner there three of them. Very impressive. The picture below was the last of those three nights, when the dinner party was expanded to include Nana Banana and Sport.

It was so awesome to have a more casual environment for our girls and the Skonieczny kids to get to know each other. We usually only see them during the holidays, which includes a quick visit and mass chaos. This was a welcome change and hopefully it won't be the last time we are able to put something like this together.

Did we already mention that we spent a lot of time at the beach? At low tide we not only could walk out into the bay, but we could also walk along the shoreline to check out all of the other beaches in the area. Unfortunately, when we weren't playing in the flats and walking on the shoreline, Callie's legs found a way of getting "tired" again. But we were able to find different ways to entertain both her and Reese and ourselves to try and make the journey better for all of us.

There are some pictures that have to be included, and no other explanation is really needed. Below is one of those pictures. We can say that although sand was Reese's kryptonite at the beginning of the trip, by the end it was her new best friend.

But don't let the cute smile fool you, because it was during this trip that Reese began to earn the nickname of Godzilla. While visiting the tide pools Callie would take time to save all the snails by gently taking them off of the rocks and putting them back in the water. Reese, on the other hand, tended to wade into the pools like they were downtown Tokyo and she was a fire breathing monster. No tidal pool was safe from her wrath.

Shortly before we started our vacation, Callie learned how to play Uno. So we bought her the game so she could have her own deck, and now it is a constant companion. If we were at the cottage and she wasn't swinging, she wanted to play Uno. A word to the wise, however. Do not leave her alone to shuffle and deal the cards. You would be amazed at how many Wild Card Draw 4 and Draw 2 cards she ends up with if you don't keep a close eye on her. Also on this trip Callie had to learn the tough lesson of good sportsmanship. We love her competitive spirit, but it is crucial to shake hands and say good game after a tough loss.

One night we hit the road to find a good fish, chip, and ice cream joint. Not exactly a tough errand on the Cape. But we definitely hit a home run in Dennis at a place called Captain Frosty's. The ambience was exactly what we wanted and the food was better than we could have hoped for. But it you ask Callie and Reese, the best part of the outing was the ice cream they consumed after dinner. Each girl got her own ice cream cone and Callie got hers dipped in sprinkles, which was almost more than she could handle. Reese simply wanted to shove her face into the middle of her cone. She was in heaven with her first official cone.

Another highlight of the trip was that Nana Banana and Sport drove up to join us for the last two days we were there. Since we had seen them only a month before, the girls were ready to jump all over them the minute they arrived.

And we were ready to jump in the car and leave them to babysit just as fast. All kidding aside, it was wonderful that they were willing to watch the girls so that we could have a night out together. We had a great dinner in Chatham and got to walk around for a while seeing the sights. It was fun, but it also reminded John of the times on the Cape growing up when his grandmother would babysit while his parents went out for dinner. It's crazy how quickly life goes by.

On Friday, while Reese napped, Nana Banana, Sarah, and Callie headed out to check out the Cape Cod Natural History Museum, which was just down the road in Brewster. The three of them had a wonderful time looking at the various exhibits, including a lookout over the wetlands with an osprey nest and three newly hatched chicks. But the best part was an hour long walk with a naturalist across the wetlands to the bay.

We had a great time digging in the flats and asking questions about what we found. The naturalist pointed out several fun things, including a plant called a sea pickle. She encouraged us to taste it, which, surprisingly enough, Callie did. Her report on the experience was short, but to the point. "It was very salty." All in all the excursion was well worth it and the next time we are on the Cape we'll have to visit the museum again.

The final picture was taken as we were leaving Brewster on the last day of our Cape vacation. The girls headed to Madison to spend the weekend with Nana Banana and Sport, while John and Sarah drove to Fairfield for a fun weekend with John's high school buddies and their spouses. There were no tearful goodbyes from Reese or Callie. They were excited to have their grandparents to themselves. They also knew that waiting for them in Madison were their cousins, Michael and Brendan.

It certainly took us a long time to get around to scheduling a family vacation. Our week on Cape Cod proved to us that this is something we need to do much more often.

Cape Cod Part I

As we reached the end of June, the family vacation that we had planned for close to six months was finally at hand. For a full week, the four of us would be together without the distractions of our day to day lives and hanging out in Brewster, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Needless to say we were excited. Of course, for anyone who knows us, patience has become a necessary part of our existence when we travel. Because before we could enjoy the Cape, we had to get there.

The picture below was taken at Newark airport, just after we found out that our flight from Newark to Providence had been cancelled. We tried to get a later flight, but the "best" option involved two more flights and a midnight arrival. No thank you. Of course, who knows if our final choice was wonderful, but it worked. At 3:15pm on a Friday afternoon, we left Newark in a rental car determined to drive to Providence.

Callie and Reese have displayed tremendous resilience during such adventures, and this time was no different. We certainly would like to complain about a couple of whiny moments in the car, but who could blame them when it took us nine hours to finally reach our hotel in Hyannis after enduring traffic in New York City, traffic in Connecticut, a brief stop for dinner with Nana Banana, a quick rental car agreement exchange at Providence airport, and the final push to Hyannis. It is also important to note that we started our trip that morning from Lexington at 8am. Honestly, they are good troopers. Of course, what really saved the experience the next morning was that our hotel had a pool.

Saturday morning, after breakfast and some time in the pool, we made our north to our cottage in Brewster. We were delighted to see that it looked even cuter in person than it had in the pictures online. And the location, as we would find out over the week, was perfect. However, Callie squealed in delight when she looked in the backyard and saw two swings.

The swings became an important part of our morning routine. We would get up, grab some cereal, and head out to the deck. And after one or two bites, the girls would head over to the swings. For the next 30-45 minutes they would alternate bites of breakfast with some good swing time. We had no idea that the swings were a part of the deal, so it was a great surprise.

Another surprise was the fact that the cottage had an outdoor shower. And due to overall great weather, John was probably the only one who ever had to take a shower inside the entire week. There was a sign on the inside of the outdoor shower door that said, "Relax, it doesn't get any better than this." Truer words have never been spoken.

But the real star of the show was the beach, which was a mere five minute walk from the house. We learned this only hours after we arrived. It was important to us to get as much ocean time in as possible, so right after we settled in we headed down to the beach. Callie was definitely prepared.

In the above picture she is standing at the head of the short trail at the end of our road that led to the beach. She never had any problems walking to the beach or back. Her legs never were "too tired" as has happened from time to time when we are out and about. This was one of our many clues that Callie enjoyed every minute we spent at the ocean.

Reese was just as prepared as her sister to hit the beach. What was very interesting, however, was our discovery of Reese' kryptonite. Reese tends to jump first and ask questions later. But the beach threw her for a loop because of the feeling of sand on her feet. Apparently she is a bit picky about textures and her toes. Who knew? She gradually got used to it, but it took a little while.

Our beach was on the bay side of the Cape, which means that there is a big difference between low tide and high tide. At high tide our beach had about ten feet of sand. However, at low tide, you could walk out for more than a mile (literally) and still have the water lap around your ankles. The flats at low tide are a lot of fun, as the girls quickly found out.

As we mentioned earlier, Reese did get over her dislike of the feeling of sand on her feet. She loved running around in the shallow water and then throwing herself down face first. Callie had fun building mini-pools for the two of them to play in. And we all enjoyed looking for hermit crabs and other sea-life. All in all, we spent a lot of our week trying to squeeze in as many beach trips as possible. And we were successful.

We even managed to work in a sunset trip to the beach, which was a feat since the sun didn't set until 8:30. But hey, it was vacation! And while it took the adult members of the family a few days to truly get in the groove of vacation mode, we hit our stride as a family and had a great time.

Of course, if you think this is the end of our vacation, then think again. We had over two hundred pictures to choose from for our blog, and while the above eight are good, they don't tell the whole story.

Callie's 1st Dance Recital

Starting last August Callie attended a dance class run by the Diana Evans School of Dance. She had a wonderful teacher, Miss Lauren, and every Tuesday morning Callie got excited as we made sure she had her dance bag to take to school. At dinner most nights she wanted to show off her latest "dance moves" and took to spinning and jumping whenever the opportunity presented itself.

But looming on the horizon was the end of the year recital. Sarah knew what to expect because she had attended the big end of the year recital the year before. This is no little deal. Diana Evans takes her recitals seriously and they are held at the Lexington Opera House. Several weeks prior to the big event, Callie kept changing her mind about whether or not she wanted to perform. We just continued to go through the motions and must admit, engaged in just a little bit of bribery. All in all, the three rehearsals leading up to the recital included a combination of tears, running off stage, and glimmers of excitement and dance that led to ice cream rewards.

So when the big night finally arrived, we tried to maintain a calm demeanor and kept our expectations low. When all was said and done, we wanted Callie to have fun. But we were also feeling a little guilty because Grammy Gayle would be in attendance and the Chrismans had also chosen to join us. We hoped they might be rewarded with an appearance by Callie on stage. It was high drama.

For those of you who have never had a son or daughter participate in a dance recital, you might want to sit down before looking at this picture. Yes, they are wearing makeup. We had to borrow some from other moms since Sarah's supply is limited at best. Here Callie poses with her friends and classmates, Vivie Ann and Maya. Thank goodness for them and for their moms. This was the outfit for the first of the two dances the girls performed that night.

The second dance had a UK theme and the moms got to join their daughters on stage for the show. Of course, the dance incorporated eight lifts to celebrate the eight NCAA basketball championships won by the Wildcats over the years. Even at dance recitals at an opera house you cannot escape the C-A-T-S in Kentucky.

The evening was certainly a success. We were on the edge of our seats for the first dance, and became extremely excited when we saw Callie walk out on stage. She stared at her teacher off stage the whole time and refused to look at the audience. But she did every move and stayed on stage the whole time. We were so proud of her and more importantly, she was so proud of herself. It was a great moment. We were also happy to see that the neon green costume looked much better on stage than it did in our closet at home.

The UK-themed dance wasn't quite as successful. Callie didn't want to join the dancing until the parents went onstage, which pretty much meant she came on stage so that Sarah could lift her in the air eight times. Trying to make the most of the dance, Sarah felt it was necessary to ensure Callie was lifted higher than any other child onstage. As one of the members of the audience, I, John, can say that I clearly saw Callie flying up in the air.

And any successful dance recital is traditionally rewarded with flowers, and Grammy was ready to give Callie her first post-recital bouquet. We also promised Callie ice cream, but had to convince her that it would be more enjoyable to do that the next night since we didn't get out of the performance until about 10pm. As we said earlier, Diana Evans does not kid around.

3rd Annual Trip with Grammy

For the third time in four years we arranged to visit a regional city with Grammy Gayle. Three years ago we hit Chicago and last year we tackled Nashville. This year we made it even closer by visiting Cincinnati.

Of course one of the big draws for Cincinnati is the fact that they have a baseball team. We weren't fortunate enough to have it be a weekend when the Giants were in town, but that is probably all for the best. Gayle would have made us all wear Giants gear to the game and it could have been tough. But we very much enjoyed a sunny afternoon at the Great American Ballpark as the Reds took on the Tigers. Unfortunately the Reds lost, but none of us are Reds or Tigers fans, so it didn't hurt our willingness to savor some good food and fine company.

Of course, the most important element of our weekend trips with Grammy is the hotel pool. Callie asked about it the moment she knew that we ware staying at a hotel. And she made sure we went to the pool on Saturday evening and as soon as it opened on Sunday morning. And it opened at 7am, for those of you wondering. This is the second one we have experienced that has been a downtown rooftop pool. We highly recommend it, though not necessarily just after sunrise.

Once we checked out of the hotel and ate a solid breakfast, it was time to head to the Cincinnati Zoo. This was our second visit, but Reese's first zoo experience.

We started outside with a quick photo opportunity with the rhinoceros statue. If you have the time, you can go back to a blog post from July 2009 where you can see pictures from our last visit. There are a few photos here that will capture how much Callie has grown in three years.

A new exhibit at the zoo included at least half a dozen baby Galapagos Island turtles. What was particularly awesome about this exhibit was how they allowed you to walk into the enclosure and pet the turtles. Reese especially enjoyed. We did have to be careful because supposedly they have a tendency to bite. But luckily we didn't have any such problems. But we did have to visit the turtles twice because they were so cool.

There are some pictures that simply defy any description or explanation. However, if we could add any additional commentary to this picture, it would be that Callie and Reese have only begun to be embarrassed by their Mom and it will not be the last time they question her antics. It truly is a phenomenal picture. However, if Sarah had it her way it would have been one of her daughter's head in that alligator mouth. Oh well, they'll learn.

This is another great picture to compare to that post back in July 2009. We have a picture of Callie sitting with this very elephant, and she was just a little older than Reese at that point. Now look at the two of them.

They are quite a pair, and it is difficult to get them both to sit still. Callie was having too much fun showing Reese all the different animals. And Reese was enjoying making all the animal sounds she could. Of course, she doesn't have the full range of animal noises, so from her perspective we saw a lot of horses. But the spirit was there.

The Cincinnati Zoo really does a great job providing numerous hands on opportunities for their guests. Here we see Callie taking the opportunity to brush a goat. What makes this moment particularly impressive is that you can't see just how many goats were there. Callie was great - she wanted to brush a goat and wasn't overwhelmed by the situation and focused on the task at hand. Of course, who knows how she would have reacted to the goat who had to be pushed away after it started eating Sarah's shirt.

All in all, it was another great trip with Grammy. Who knows what city we will hit next, but St. Louis and Atlanta are both in the running.