More firsts!

~Last Wednesday David went in a pool for the first time. I was nervous about how he would like it and if he would get cold quickly (I never had my other kids in a pool this young). He really liked it and never got cold. The kids all had a fantastic time going down the slide and floating down the lazy river. Mark was able to join us since he took the day off of teaching to be with us before he flew out of town later that afternoon.
~Mark went to Boston from Wednesday through Sunday to guest lecture at Harvard. He stayed with Beth, Adam and Izzy (for one last visit before they left for Australia) and met up with some colleagues and friends. I had my first extended time alone with the kids and we did pretty great. The trickiest part was bedtime since I depend on him a lot so that I can feed David and get him to bed at the same time as the other kids. While he was gone, we spent some time meeting new friends for dinner and a playdate and went to James' school picnic another night.
~David rolled from his back to his tummy! He did it Thursday, but I didn't see him in action until Friday.
~On Saturday Mizzou hosted an indoor science and arts fair for kids/families. James LOVED it. He soaked in so much. I literally had to drag him to the door to leave. He was VERY interested in the microscopes looking at germs, the chemistry experiments, and the fossils and rocks. The kids (even David) made (well, not David) and received antennae of different bugs (colorful pipe cleaner twisted onto a headband) and Hannah and James learned how to make a golf stroke. James especially liked the tiger mascot that was there and actually started to get him annoyed since he was slightly obsessed with pulling his tail. Hannah, on the other hand, was terrified of the tiger and cried and clung to me every time he was in sight. When he wasn't in sight, she then talked about how she didn't see the tiger and how she knew that he was a nice tiger. Poor girl. David slept for a lot of the fair, which was nice.
~The kids loved seeing Mark take off and land at the airport. They waved to the pilots when he came home and they came in and gave them all treats. It was especially neat to watch the planes get ready for takeoff and then prepare the passengers to deplane.
~Bethany, Adam and Izzy fly to Australia tonight for a 2 year stint in Sydney. We are preparing for the adjustment and quite emotional about it all. We are excited for them and their adventure, and I am looking forward to visiting the Land Down Under, but we will greatly miss the frequency that we have been able to visit in person and talk on the phone/skype because of the distance/time difference.