Listen and watch closely because something is always happening and time often flies by without appreciating the chaos before us. Enjoy...laugh...visit often.
Colton finished his first hockey camp. On the last day they gave the kids trophies. He was so excited because it wasn't one of those medals that hung around your neck (although he does love those also), it was a "cool" one that you can put on your bureau for everyone to see. That night we went out for sushi to celebrate Fathers Day. Lucky for us Colton is super into sushi at the moment and we have learned that we need to order him his own rolls or we end up with nothing but the avocado which he picks out of everything. Happy Fathers Day Nick!
Sunday afternoon my niece Leighton came over for a bit. We played bubbles and ran around outside for awhile. At one point Colton was teaching her the ABC's on the blocks that we have for "babies" when they come to visit. He would have been a great big brother...which really just makes him a fantastic big cousin. ;)
Not news to anyone but the Bruins won the Stanley Cup! Nick didn't plan on taking Colton to the parade (what a mob scene it would be) but when Colton woke up and put his jersey on and told me Daddy was taking him to the parade for a "dude day" all plans for a Saturday afternoon went out the door. They hopped on the commuter rail and watched the parade from the windows of Nick's work which is right on Boylston. When I asked Colton what his favorite thing about the day was he said "the vending machines at Dad's work has the blue bag Sun Chips and I love those". Ha. He loved the parade too and made lots of signs that they hung out the windows and screamed to the players. Hopefully not a once in a lifetime thing but glad he got to see the cup and celebrate the Bruins victory in Boston with his dad. :)
My friend Pam called me at 6pm on a Friday night to see if we wanted tickets that they weren't going to use for the 7pm game. Nick was in the garage using the saw and was halfway done putting the new hardwood floor in our bedroom (finished product looks great) and was in no form for hopping in the car for a baseball game in Boston during rush hour. However, Colton heard me on the phone and basically gave us the biggest puppy dog eyes and sweetest "pretty please take me" and Nick couldn't say no. The boys took record breaking showers, got into their Red Sox jersey and hit the road to grab the tickets and battle the traffic. Ironically the principle at Colton's school was singing the national anthem that night...pretty cool (they were late though and missed it). Colton took a sweet nap on the drive in and was ready to live it up once they got to Fenway. The boys had a great night. Colton even talked Nick into taking a ride in one of those rickshaw biker things (wow that guy must have had some strong legs...I would kill for a picture of that...the mental one will do for now though - hysterical). It was a great night weather wise for a game filled with lots of homers and apparently high-fives to peeps in the stands. If you are wondering how I spend my night - it was alone on the couch (been years I think since I as alone at home) and I watched an entire season of Glee that was on my dvr). Good times.
Preschool is done. We all know what that means...kindergarden here we come. I can't say enough good things about our experience with Johnsons Early Childhood, the preschool that Colton has gone to for the last two years. Mrs. Saferian, his teacher this year, and Mrs. Barry (the teachers aide) were just the BEST. On the last day of school they had a little show for the parents and an ice cream sundae party. It was so nice to see Colton with his new friends and to see how much he likes school. His teachers aide from last year, Mrs. Reardon even stopped by to say her goodbyes. She told me "I have been avoiding coming in this room all day to say goodbye to Colton. I have been teaching here for over 20 years and I have never cried or been this sad seeing a student leave, he is just the happiest kid I have ever met, my all time favorite student". Then she cried. I didn't know what to do so I asked if I could take a picture of them together. Then his teacher and aide said they totally agree and said he was the funniest kid they have ever met and that they want him to remember them when he is famous someday...ha! Is it weird that they cried and I didn't. In fact my little "mayor" of a son sort of worked the crowd saying his goodbyes while I kept trying to get him out the door. Little do they know he wants to be an astronaut...not sure how famous he will be with that one.
I love this time of year. I am not referring to summer, I am actually talking about the annual trip that the Hiltons make from the UK back to the States. Rebecca and Finn are just the cutest little Brits I know. The kids had a chance to play and then we went to Hingham Beer Works for lunch and Red Mango for a fro-yo treat. Colton and Rebecca walked hand in hand to Red Mango and I sort of think he has already got a thing for a girl with an accent (although she doesn't have one quiet yet). ;) I have been saying I would make it back to the UK for years now, time to start actually following through with this. Might see a trip that way in the near future of 2012...now that I wrote it in the blog, time to start planning.
Colton finished his first year of Weymouth's Kickers Academy! Nick and I were coaches of his team, which really only involved holding a weekly practice if we wanted to. Every Saturday a soccer clinic was run by the real coaches and kids from highschool so we got to sit back and watch the fun. We had a great group of kickers and made some new friends. The last day they gave the kids medals and a gift card to McDonalds. We thought getting the kids together for an end of season party would be the perfect celebration.
My baby is 5. Can someone please figure out how to stop time because he is growing too fast and I don't want to miss a thing (yeah Aerosmith...you know you are all singing it now). This is the last year I think I can get away with talking him into a family pizza party at Cape Cod. He told me he told his friends at school that next year they could come to his party, this year he just wanted family...lol...I have brainwashed him for sure. It worked out well though because my cousin Paul was home for a wedding and it was his last night home and it was Corey's birthday the Sunday before Colton's so we just did one big old family dinner. Colton was spoiled as usual and told me this was his favorite birthday ever (we are now 5 for 5 with that statement). Since his actual birthday was on a Friday, my mom and him took the ferry into the city to meet up with his bff Rich and Donna for lunch. Then they played a little knee hockey and waited for me to get out of a work luncheon that conveniently was in the North End. We walked back to the Ferry that afternoon, stopping to get some goodies at Mike's Pastry. The O'Connells and Galens came over for pizza that night and Riley got to sleep over and we stayed up late watching Nanny McPhee 2...crazy times I tell ya.
