St. Ann's Fair

We were out the other evening and saw this fair at St. Ann's Club...an Italian cultural club.  So we decided to stop by and have some fun.  The rides seemed a little run down, but they weren't going on anything too fast, so we  let it slide.

Our view from the top of the Ferris Wheel (Norwalk River in distance)

Maine...

Last week we went up to Deer Isle Maine to visit with Josh and Marika for a few days.  I didn't take as many pictures as last year, as I was in a total "unplugged" mode, but here are some highlights.

Stopping at the rest stop on the way up.  The trip is about 8 hours.  Approximately 100 miles into Maine, get off 95, turn right and it's another 2 hours to the water.  The kids were great.  

The pack and plays are a thing of the past.  So we have invested in air mattresses.  Lucas still trying to figure out how to stay on it throughout the night.

Visiting the Marine Educational Institute in Blue Hill...

And what would Maine be without a lobster dinner?

Felix and the kids picking blueberries....this is how wide open and free this place is.  There is no business here allowing you to pick fruit for a fee...you just go out to the hills and pick for yourself.

The newest addition to the Knight family...Tristan.

Lucas cooling off at Walker Pond..

Lucas and Felix swimming...

Yeah...well, the water toys got the best of the men.

Miniature golf on Caterpillar Hill

 Thanks so much to Josh and Marika for having us...this is turning out to be a really great tradition.

Triathlon...

Sorry it has been so long....but life has been a bit busy.  But...on to the blogging!  A few weeks ago (yikes...it really has been a long time) I competed in a sprint triathlon in Norwalk and Felix and the kids came out to cheer me on.  Such good sports as the race started off at 6:30 am.

Before the swim...

Right before we entered the water.

My training partner Giovanna and I at the finish line.  Giovanna is an amazing athlete and training with her made me achieve my fastest time ever!  Here's to many more!

Candlewood Lake

Last Friday, we headed up to Candlewood Lake to visit with the Daubner family.  

We all went out on their boat and swam out to this water trampoline.

Afterwards, Felix went tubing with the twins...

And to top it all off, we had a nice pizza dinner before heading home.

The Beatles!

Throughout the summer, Norwalk has a series of outdoor concerts on the beach.  This was a Beatles cover band...they even dressed like The Beatles and called each other  John, Paul, etc....interesting.  But they were quite good and we had a nice outdoor dinner. ( I am starting to think my dining room table feels neglected)

Swimming, cont.

The kids will be swimming Monday-Friday for all of July.  When I arrived for the second day of lessons with the kids, I was informed that they would be moving up to level 2, since they were very comfortable in the water and would essentially be wasting their time in level 1.  The class size increases from 8 kids with 2 instructors to 12 kids with 3 instructors.  Do the math and the ratio of instructor to student is still the same, but just more kids to keep track of.  Most of the kids in their class are five years old and some can even almost touch the bottom in the family pool...so Lucas and Liliana are now small fish in a big pond.  The classes are a little challenging, but that's good for them.  I would rather they be learning than bored.

In the class, they practice holding to these floating bars and kicking, lying flat back and kicking, etc. They seemed excited to participate....

Shortly after this picture below was taken, Liliana and Lucas were holding on to the wall, and having so much fun, they decided to let go and try and swim (some of the older kids in the class know how to doggie paddle, and I think they thought they could do it.)  All three instructors were with other students going across the pool....and Lucas and Liliana went under and couldn't get above the surface.  Parents are not allowed anywhere on the pool deck and I saw this all from afar.  Luckily, each class has its own lifeguard that sits right next to the kids (see him sitting in a chair right there?)....within a few seconds of realizing that they couldn't surface, the class lifeguard, plus another lifeguard were diving into the pool to bring the kids to the surface.  Liliana was not fazed at all...Lucas was scared and wanted to come out of the pool area.  I walked away from the fence so that he couldn't see me and wouldn't come out.  He didn't swim for the rest of the lesson (about 10 minutes) but he stayed there which is good.

This is our little spot we go to after the lesson for a drink and snack.  We can watch the sailing school as we relax in the shade.  I am happy to report that both kids remained on the wall during lessons today(when not with an instructor).  Seems our days of throwing ourselves into the water have passed...at least for now.

Swimming....

The twins started their swim lessons on Monday.  They are held at Longshore, where we usually swim.  

The twins were much more comfortable with the water then their other classmates...

If you look close you can see Liliana in the air in this shot.

On a different (and much more significant) note, yesterday was Felix and my 6th anniversary.  However, during the summer, Felix does not work on Fridays and Christina usually does.  So we didn't feel the need to pay to have her come just to go out because it was the ninth.  Last Friday, we went paddle boarding on the Saugatuck River and then had a nice long lunch in Westport.  This Friday, we are planning to kayak out to Sheffield Island in Norwalk.  Having relaxing days to just hang out with each other is something we don't get to do usually...and are way more precious than one date night.  So last night, we just opted for a relaxing dinner by the water with the kids.  It's been a great six years...

A Day at Quassy..

On Thursday it was beautiful and Christina was off...so I decided to get out of the house with the kids and so I packed them up and we headed up to Lake Quassy Amusement.    Water slides and lake side fun....much needed.

You can't really see it  but they are on the platform and the big barrel tipped over and spilled on them.

These were the slides they went down...much bigger than anything else they have done before.  And they went down alone.

In this picture, they are walking back discussing which slide they want to go on...it was very cute.

Afterwards we headed to the beach area for lunch and some swimming.

It was really nice to get out of the house.  Liliana is doing so much better, which is refreshing.

Being a good sport...

Liliana spent the better part of three days in the house alternating between benadryl, oatmeal baths and calamine lotion....

Because of all this, we missed out on the fireworks (I think I was more disappointed than they were).  But we celebrated our own way by getting ice cream from McDonald's...

And lighting sparklers before bed...

On the fourth, Felix went into NYC to see his family who were all gathering for the fourth.  Liliana stayed back with me.  We wanted to go to the beach, but the weather was not cooperating.  So I let her try out her new bathing suit and her new goggles as she "swam" in the bathtub.