baseball, spelunking and bull fights

We had a busy week filled with rain and sun mixed in each day--more rain than sun most days ;-( Charlie decided to stay at school all day most days and seemed to really like it so I got a few minutes in the afternoons to myself--and my friends laundry, dishes, dinner...My friend and I have started watching glee and are so addicted--this week we were the moms that get together and watch soaps (i've heard of them) but instead we caught episodes of glee. It was quality time for the kids to play together ;-). Friday Jeff and I went to a yummy asian heritage lunch and then the kids enjoyed the carnival at their school. Just a few games, bounce house. Heather and Charlie did the cakewalk and since jeff didn't know what was going on Charlie picked out some goodies while Heather played the game and actually won! They each brought home a plate of goodies that they "earned." I went out to dinner with some friends afterwards and had great food, company and crepes to top off the evening. I came home to find that Jeff and 3 husbands, and 10 kids had played games until about 10 and then all headed to bed. Apparently it was also boys night and kids night as well.

We started out today with some tired kids and rain which surely would cancel baseball but no. Charlie and the t-ballers were out there playing in the drizzle and wind. Charlie does great hitting the ball although the coach has to be reminded he is lefty (he hit pretty well righty the first game when no one told the coach...). His fielding needs a bit of work as he does not charge the ball and by the time it would get to him usually someone has picked it up and made the play. Apparently he made a nice play at first, picking up the ball and touching the base, however I was tending to cameron so i missed it. Heather followed and the sun had come out to join the game. She didn't get the ball in the field, only one came her direction and a faster boy went and got it--I think she was planning on picking it up if it had rolled 10 more feet...She hit a foul ball her first at bat but ultimately didn't get a hit in her allotted pitches. Her second at bat she made nice contact past the first baseman but wasn't quick enough to get to first before she got out. She was a little sad but seemed to be OK. Jeff decided it was a good day to take tired kids on a hike in a cave with a friend. When we got to the entrance of the cave and looked 20 feet down into a rocky black hole I decided that Cameron and I would not be making this adventure. Heather and Charlie armed with bike lights taped to their bike helments carried on into the cave with Jeff and our friend Rob. They had a good time until Heather bumped her head and they had to turn around. They were in some pretty narrow spots that the kids had to crawl so it sounded pretty impressive that they were able to brave it--not sure that I would have liked it even if I went and Jeff said definitely not for Cameron yet! Cameron and I explored around the entrance to the cave which was quite pretty and watched some doodle bugs crawl around. We ended the day with a street bullfight at a friend's house. Again it was pretty much a social event with a bull wandering through every so often--but still fun and full of Azorean culture. It was a VERY busy day and I am amazed that the kids made it through all of our activity seemingly without any trouble.