Soccer and Swimming

Sports season is upon us, and Hunter is going full strength! Soccer practice on Tuesdays and games on Saturdays, and swimming M, T, Th, and F!

Some pictures from the game yesterday:

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So glad one of the moms facilitated getting the kids' names on their jerseys!

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Hunter exemplifies team spirit, seen here as he celebrates another boy on the team scoring a goal:

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Huddle - GO GREEN HORNETS!!!! BZZZZZZ!!!

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Hunter takes swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and does aquatic phsyical therapy (which amounts to private swimming lessons), on Monday and Friday Mornings. He started swimming back in May, and has come so far in terms of both comfort and confidence in the water and skill!

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Needless to say, it has not been difficult to log enough P.E. hours!

Roots

On Sunday, September 5th, we decided to get in touch with our roots, so the four of us drove up to the bay area for the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Scottish Highland Games. We spent a full seven hours at the games, the kids were amazingingly cooperative and well-tempered, the music was awesome, the food was great, and the ale was cold - what a day!

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Our first stop was the Clan MacLean tent (Justin's clan, his grandmother was a MacLean).

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My family (Arnott) doesn't have a current clan, as there is no present-day clan chief. We are however, part of the Fife District Clan, as that is where the Arnot(t) family seat has been since the early 12th century.

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After checking out the clan tents, we headed over to the grandstand to watch some of the heavy athletics competition. We watched the weight for height competition, and of course, the caber toss.

From there we headed over to the Children's grove, where they had face painting, and some cute games for kids.

Here is Hunter, channeling his inner William Wallace:

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Playin' a little golf...

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Hunter earned 12 tickets at the golf game!

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Next was the haggis toss...

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Check out the 'haggis' Hunter is about to throw-

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After Hunter played his games, we decided to grab a bite to eat and sit down to watch some pipe-band competition.

We shared a steak and mushroom meat pie, as well as a Scotch egg

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The scotch egg is a hard boiled egg, inside a massive sausage meatball, breaded and fried. Amazing.

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The pipe bands were awesome, we could have sat there and listened all day!

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I wasn't sure if the loud sound of the bagpipes would bother Morgan, I'm thinking it didn't :o)

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After hearing some pipe bands, we headed back to the grandstand for the closing ceremonies. When we got there, Marine Band San Diego was playing.

And just as we were laughing about Justin not being able to get away, we looked behind us....

The Marine staring at Justin ended up coming up to us, and thanking Justin for his uniform - turns out he's a Bear's fan :o)

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The highlight of the day was the mass bands at the closing ceremony. All of the pipe bands that competed stood together and played 'Amazing Grace' and 'Scotland the Brave' in unison (that's over 600 pipers at once!) It was so awesome, I had a hard time not tearing up!

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Marine Band San Diego, interspersed with the L.A. Scots Pipe Band, one of only three grade I pipe bands in the United States

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We had a great time at the games, and we hope that wherever we are next summer, there will be a Highland games for us to attend. (until then, the mission will be getting kilts for Justin and Hunter!)
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Morgan is 3 Months Old!

Our sweet baby girl is three months old, can you believe it??
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I don't know all of her 'stats', as she isn't due for another dr's visit until October. When we weighed her at home last week, she was just over 12 lbs. Some tidbits:

- Morgan has mellowed out A LOT in the last few weeks. She still functions much better when she gets good naps in her bed (as opposed to cat naps in the car seat), but she is super relaxed and happy more often than not!

- She is sleeping 6 - 7 hour stretches at night, the last few nights she has been pretty consistent, having her last bottle between 11 and 11:30, and sleeping until somewhere between 6 and 7am. ahhhhhhhh :o)

- Morgan eats 3oz, every 3 hours

- Justin made her giggle for the first time the other day. With as much as Justin has to be away from home, I am so SO glad that he was here for, and was the cause of, her first laugh :o)

- Yesterday she started reaching. Justin was dangling his keys in front of her, and she reached out and got them. This took a lot of effort and concentration for Morgan, but she persevered!

- She is still wearing a lot of her 0-3 month clothes (rompers, onesies, and dresses), with footed sleepers and pants she is wearing 3-6 months because she is looooong

So that is three month old Morgan in a nutshell - we are still cloth diapering and loving it! Having diapered one in disposables, and having done the cloth thing for a full three months now, we can say with confidence that we LOVE our cloth diapers, and wouldn't do it any other way!

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Here are some pictures of her sweetness:

Mom and Hunter Day

On one of the last days of our trip to Chicago, I took Hunter out for some quality mom/son time. My mom and Morgan dropped Hunter and I off at the Downer's Grove train station, where we caught a train out to Naperville. After about a 15 minute train ride, we were at the DuPage Children's Museum!

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Hunter, our handsome young man, waiting for the train:

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This is like a where's waldo picture - can you find Hunter?

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Hunter really enjoyed the wood shop, where he got to pick out different pieces of wood, and actually sand, saw, and nail stuff!

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Next was the rhythm room - awesome.

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Yes fellow children of the 80's, that is a giant light bright!

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In the art room, Hunter got to draw a picture with neon oil crayons, and then paint over it with black paint, creating a really cool picture of space!

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Hunter really enjoyed the section of the museum involving air - there was much to see, touch, and experience!

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In the wind/air room, there is an awesome wind tunnel. Here is Hunter, cleared for takeoff:

Hunter in the tunnel, taking it all VERY seriously!

"That was SO sweet!"

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After a fun morning, waiting for the train back to Downer's Grove

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Grandma and Morgan met us at the Two Toots Grill (aka superfun train restaurant where the train brings your food right to your table!)

Hunter, telling Grandma all about his picture -

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After a delicious hot dog and a vanilla milkshake, Hunter rode the horse :o)

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Good Times on the Patio

My parents' patio has changed aesthetically many times over the years, but the good feeling I get from spending time out there is the same as ever :0)

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Dad grilling:

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Mom hostessing:

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Nowadays, my fun on the patio includes watching Hunter hang out too! (here he is facing off with great-uncle Tom!)

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This has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures. Hunter got ahold of my old catcher's mask from my softball days, and thought it would make a great hockey mask. You know what? It really did.

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On our last night there, we roasted giant marshmallows on the backyard fire-pit:

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Good times were had by all during our trip to Lombard, thanks for having us, Mom and Dad :o)

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

While in Chicago, we had an unexpected opportunity to go to a Bears pre-season game. We jumped at the chance, and had an amazing time with great friends!

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Here is Hunter riding on my dad's shoulders - up in front is our good family friend Anne, season ticket holder since 1981 and purveyor of the evening's tickets. Next to Anne is another great family friend Eric (his wife, Rachel, was next to me :o)

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Hanging out waiting for the game to start, I love this picture!

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Hunter, enjoying his very first Bratwurst! (It was a huge hit, and he continued to eat brats during the rest of our visit to Chicago!)

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Gorgeous view of Lake Michigan and the Shedd Aquarium

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Hunter, watching practice and making his 'Urlacher face'!

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Cutler to Knox ... TOUCHDOWN BEARS!!!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Okay, so we're not leaving, we've already been here for a week, but you get the idea :o)

Last Thursday, I traveled from Monterey to San Jose to Los Angeles to Chicago, with both kids and no Justin... it was an adventure I had been really, really nervous about!

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However, my kids are awesome. No, seriously!

Our good friend and neighbor Maria, and her lovely daughter Miriam, drove us to San Jose on Thursday morning:

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Maria waited at the curb with the kiddos while I checked our bags (thank you Southwest, for not charging for bags). After we were all set, I went and grabbed Hunter and Morgan and we were on our way. Upon entering the airport, I witnessed this:

He is such a little man, I love it!!

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We made our way through security without any issues, although there was a brief moment where Hunter wasn't sure if he was getting his shoes back - once I explained the process he was quite relieved :o)

On our first flight (San Jose to Los Angeles), it was only half full. Even though I didn't have a ticket for Morgan, they let me bring her on in her infant carrier. So the three of us had our nice little row and enjoyed the quick, 1 hour flight.

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We had about a two hour layover in Los Angeles, but as usual, Hunter was super patient! This flight was jam-packed, so I carried Morgan in my lovey-duds wrap . This worked beautifully, because Hunter got to sit by the window and watch movies, while I sat in the middle with Morgan sleeping soundly on my chest. Because of this set up, I actually dozed off for a bit, and then READ A BOOK! It was amazing...

Morgan got upset as we descended into Chicago, I'm guessing it was her ears. Other than those twenty minutes or so, the trip could not have gone more smoothly.

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Did I mention that my kids are AWESOME???