Do you know this kid?

If not, it's probably because you haven't read his journal:
It's Greg Heffley, the "author" of this New York Times best-selling graphic novel detailing the life of an undersized misfit's foray into middle school with "a bunch of morons". All 4 books in the series are extremely popular with elementary school boys, especially those with older brothers who are actually in middle school so they get the jokes (most of them anyway). It's sort of a modern cross between The Wonder Years and The Simpsons and it was just made into a movie...perfect party to celebrate Reilly's 8th birthday (a little late) and Owen's 10th birthday (a little early).
They had a blast with their friends, watching the movie premiere last Friday, visiting Maggie Moos for ice cream cake, pigging out on pizza and playing capture the flag until dark. As Greg's best friend Rowley Jefferson would say, "It was more fun than a loded diper!"
I am cooler than Greg Heffley's mother though and not only did I put up with all that, I also made awesome party favors: theater-sized candy boxes and Wimpy Kid key chains in reusable popcorn tubs! As Rowley would say, "Zoo-Wee-Mama!" (You gotta read these books!) Happy Birthday Reilly and Owen!

Spring Break!

Hurray! Peter, Owen and Reilly were on spring break last week! Pierce, too, of course. Me, too, I guess. Although today, with everyone back in school for only the 10th day all year, sorta feels more like a break :) but I digress....
For the first time in 10 years, the weather in MD was PERFECT for spring break and we all loved soaking in the sun, although it was still quite muddy thanks to the ton of melting winter snow. Happily, that didn't stop the spring breakers from opening the garage and spilling its entire contents of bikes, bats, balls, hockey sticks, gloves, and scooters every single day. I said, "No." to the sprinklers and water guns though. But "Yes!" to a couple of friend sleepovers and a day trip to National Zoo. If you go there, you keep your fingers crossed that you will get to see the real rock stars of the zo0...
The Giant Pandas! We got there in time for breakfast....
and a nap!
We thought the sloth bear hauling its baby around was so cute... and oddly... familiar! Owen and Reilly also took photos of...
the meerkat and ...
the prairie dogs. Dad took pictures of...
the elephant. I took pictures of....
Reilly! Owen and Pierce were not in the mood, but they got a kick out of...
the billy goat with its own playground equipment and Dad's favorite was...
the Komodo Dragon, not really but it posed for him, so why not? Actually, we spent the most time laughing at the gorilla family swinging all over the place with their 14-month old baby, a lot of which also looked very familiar! Too bad they live behind glass and photos really don't work. But maybe you'd rather not see how they eat: they have poor digestive systems so they have to vomit and re-eat their food several times-YUCK! Oh well. At least when you have to sit down to dinner at our house, you can remember that and know we really are doing better than the monkeys! No matter. Pierce loved it all... especially getting to see all the "animals" (a great word to learn at the zoo) with DADDY!

Won... and Done!

Connor finished his youth league wrestling career with his personal best season, notching his first winning record in the CAWL and falling just one match short of placing at the MD-VA states. He won his first match at states, but then let a second-round defeat by the eventual 2nd place finisher destroy his confidence, putting him at a 5-0 deficit after the first period of his quarter-final match. He outwrestled his opponent in the last two periods, picking up 3 critical back points in the closing seconds of the gut-wrenching match, but still fell just short, losing 5-4.
We walked away a bit disappointed, trying to remind ourselves that he really did learn a lot this season and succeeded in elevating his wrestling to the elite level. The high school varsity coach gave him a pat on the back and told him he can't wait to get him on the team next year. After a ceremonial trash-can toss of Connor's much-maligned stinky kneepads (the whole team cheered), we headed where every wrestler heads when it's over: to get some food! (You often hear eliminated wrestlers, going out the door saying, "At least now I get to eat!")
Connor had been craving Chick Fil A for 4 weeks so we went to the mall where he downed a spicy chicken sandwhich and large fries in record time, and then ran into his baseball buds and coach who treated him to a long-promised milkshake. So good bye to the stinky knee pads and long winter Saturdays in the 85 lb. weight class and hello spring, metal cleats and diamond dreams!
Great job, Connor!
103 lbs. or bust!