March and April 2018 Updates

This year, spring was very welcome, except for a few hiccups we had along the way. We started off the month checking out the kite festival in the park by our house. I rode both kids down to the park in the bike trailer, still feeling pretty good after a winter of consistent running. I had also been going to physical therapy regularly for about a month at that point, working on some core strength that was still weak thanks to the diastasis recti I had throughout two pregnancies and post partum. I was getting stronger, but still feeling lower back pain (more about that later). My family visited in March to celebrate my birthday, and we got to see some North Carolina Courage (professional) women's soccer in a few exhibition games against division 1 college squads. Since Rose has pretty much stopped napping, I took her to an afternoon game again Tennessee (go Vols!). Most of March was spent grant writing for me, and with an injury (more below), Colin stepped up to take the girls to things I didn't need to attend (like school friend's birthday parties). Easter was April 1st this year, so we obviously had some Easter Egg hunts in these two months, and a trip to South Carolina for Easter this year. Other exciting events included first haircuts for the girls, Rose getting really good at the Strider/balance bike, the spring projects display at the girls school, and trips to our favorite museum and parks.

Rose trying to fly a kite at the Bond Park Kite Festival March 3

I had decided not to play outdoor soccer this spring, wanting to keep my weekends free to hang out with the family. But, after going to some of the college/professional games, I was itching to get on the field. I felt stronger (except for that nagging back), and decided to join a few weeks into the season. Of course, all it took was the first game to put me back out of commission. It certainly didn't help that my first game back was after a week of travel to/from Asheville, later in the day after carrying Rose about half a mile on the walk (with a back that was already feeling pretty stiff), and playing a full 90 minute game down a player (10v11) in 40 degree rainy conditions. I played on a Sunday, sat at a computer working on a grant all day Monday (our March snow day), and woke up unable to move on Tuesday. I tried to do physical therapy for the rest of March and April, but finally decided to get a MRI. The results ... three bulging discs. I remained optimistic. Bulging discs are better than herniated discs and I left my "pelvic" physical therapy practice for a "spinal" physical therapist and that has made a huge difference. Did you know you can do exercises to "push" the bulge back in? I've been working with my new physical therapist to figure out the right angle for the exercises since May.  It's the end of June now, and I am much better, but not healed. It's a long road to recovery and I'm not sure my back will ever be 100%. 

Spring brought on Rose's soccer league. Her first game was mid-March and she had a wonderful season which wrapped up on May 12. It was noticeable that she was one of the more experienced kids on the field, and she was now 4 whereas some others were only 3. Zoe's been ready to play. We hope to sign her up in the fall even though she doesn't turn 3 until a few weeks into the season. The season was so fun because Rose had two of her classmates on her team - Lucas and Nathan. The two girls and their two friends would often sit together after the games enjoying their post-game snacks.

Rose and Zoe ready for Rose's first Spring 2019 game on March 17

Zoe with her gear on at Rose's soccer game

Our first Easter Egg Hunt of the year was at Bond Park. Even though the park is basically in our back yard, this is the first year we actually went. Rose had a soccer game in the morning and we managed to squeeze it in before Zoe's nap and before the rain started. It was a last-minute decision, so we weren't completely prepared for it. We had walked to the park and had to move quickly to get back home as it started sprinkling when we finished collecting the eggs. 

Zoe collecting Easter Eggs

Zoe had also been dying to get her haircut for weeks. There is a kid's haircutting place next door to the wine shop where we pick up our weekly Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. She saw kids come of the salon with balloons one time and every week would ask to get her haircut. Since Rose has never gotten her hair cut, and Zoe's hair has gotten long fast, we scheduled it for one weekend in late March. Both girls got to watch Paw Patrol while they got their cuts. I wasn't overly impressed with the cuts, but we were in and out quickly since both girls were sufficiently distracted. And, they were both so excited to get their balloons!

Rose made sure we scheduled the haircut the night before

Zoe ready for her hair cut, Rose will be next

Two happy girls with new hair do's and balloons

Easter weekend we made the trip out to the Greenville, South Carolina area where my parents live. My back was still feeling bad (before I had the MRI, while I was still doing the pelvic PT which made symptoms worse, and while I was still pretty stressed with grant writing). I made the 4-hour trip laying on my bac, across the second row each way. We loaded up a few things in the passenger seat and on the floor of the second row, and put the girl's car seats in the third row. Darwin stayed home (which he prefers to the car rides), so that made it easier. With a back that wasn't hurting too bad (thanks to laying down), I was able to mostly enjoy the weekend with the family. We explored Greenville on a beautiful spring day, came upon an Easter Egg Hunt when we were going to a park between Greenville and my parent's house, and had a very nice Easter morning/day with my parents at their house. The weather was amazing all weekend.

Rose and Zoe enjoying the Greenville, SC downtown park

Picture with the Easter Bunny at the Egg Hunt we stumbled upon in Greer, SC

Rose and Zoe in their matching Easter dresses, ready to hunt for eggs at their Avos house

Sipping hot chocolate in the nice warm South Carolin sunshine

Cheers to a wonderful Easter weekend!

In April, Bond Park started their "First Friday Bands, Bites, and Boats" event, which includes a performance on a small stage by a musician, a food truck, and boat rentals. We decided to check the first one out. Both girls wanted to dress as princesses. We brought our own dinner to the park, went out on a boat ride, and the girls practiced riding their balance bikes before going home.

Heading out on our boat ride

Rose zooms too fast for the camera

Zoe's still not sure about the balance bike

I know I've posted about it before, but we love where our girls go to school. The Reggio Emilia inspired Spanish languge immersion school really excels as the projects they do with the kids. They have tons of outdoor time, get fed good meals and snacks, work on themed projects every month (or a little longer), offer semi-annual parent-teacher conferences, and have semi-annual festivals to display the class projects. Rose was excited to show off her "transportation" projects and Zoe loved showing us her music displays.

As the weather warmed up in April, Rose really excelled in soccer. While she wasn't always scoring in the correct goal, she was working hard on the field, getting involved in the play, not getting frustrated when others pushed/knocked her down, and just really wanting to be on the field. She's a very good listener, paying attention and implementing what she learns. We are so proud of her.

Rose lined up for soccer drills at practice before the game

And, I have a feeling Zoe won't be left behind. I don't know if I've posted before that Zoe has always been a little pigeon-toed. We brought it up with the pediatrician a few times when she was young. He told us most of the best athletes are a little pigeon-toed. Not sure if there's any evidence of that, but I will say Zoe does act really athletic. She's got great ball control already and can move pretty quick. I hope we'll find out how she does with team sports in the fall. This video doesn't do her skills justice, but it is the best at capturing the games this spring.

School friends enjoying the post-game snack

A family selfie in April 2018

Rose enjoying the carousel at Pullen Park

Some museums and things we do are regular events in our household so I don't share details about them every time. As I often post, we are huge fans of both the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences (and their train, bears, wolves, lemurs, farm animals, butterfly house, music and treehouse exhibits) and Pullen Park (and their train, carousel, and paddle boats). In the spring, summer, and fall there are often events going on in Bond Park as well, like the Bonds, Bites, and Boats First Friday evenings. The park also hosts concerts at the amphitheatre, Arts festivals, kits festivals, dog festivals, etc. 

Stay tuned for more posts on our May and June adventures, which include lots of pool time. If you've followed me for awhile, you know we spend a lot of time at our neighborhood pool. This year we've already gone to the pool a whole summer's worth of times thanks to a certain 4 year old now being old enough for the swim team. You'll have to wait to hear more about that!

September Updates

I have so many pictures and videos on my phone from the past few months that these updates are going to be my photo and video dumps.

On September 9, 2017 Miss Zoe turned 2. In regular Miller fashion, we celebrated on her birthday at the pool with cake, and then again a week later with her grandparents at the pool with cake again, and then a few weeks later in New York with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, with a cupcake. Zoe was a trooper celebrating her big day by going to Rose's soccer game and then mommy's soccer game. She seemed to enjoy herself at both games, and we celebrated by going out to lunch and having cake at the pool after naps.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Miss Zoe!

Rose and Zoe posing on Zoe's 2nd Birthday

Birthday cake at the pool on Zoe's actual birthday

Rose continued with her soccer league. The first week was here shining game of the season. Unfortunately, week 2 she played a team where aggressive boys knocked her down. She did an excellent job participating in the 30 minute practice before the games, but it took most of the season for her to get back to participating in the game. I don't think she scored any more goals, but she and Zoe both enjoyed our Saturday morning routine of going to Rose's soccer game. On a few occasions I would help out if there was only one coach, taking the players who were not in the game to the side to play sharks and minnows.

Arriving at Rose's soccer game

One of the weeks mommy helped coach

Team photo day

This year, September was fairly warm. We managed a beach trip when it didn't interfere with Rose's or my soccer games, enjoyed the Durham Museum, started our Sunday morning walks to the playground, and enjoyed every last little bit of the pool we could. After Labor Day, the pool was only open on weekends, and we made sure to go if the weather cooperated.

Zoe playing in the water at the Durham Museum

Rose climbing the rocks at the Durham Museum

It's difficult to capture videos now that Zoe has entered the age where she wants to hold the phones and becomes obsessed with technology. Rose went through a similar phase and seems to have outgrown it. If you don't know "Zoe-speak" at 20 seconds in, she says "Zoe broke it" referring to the ripped pages.

Our Sunday walks to the park are about a mile each way on a paved greenway and trail. We usually bring both backpack carriers, for the occasional times the girls want to be carried. Here's a snapshot of a typical walk with Zoe wanting to hold Darwin's leash.

Rose resting on a tree stump during our walk

Girls posing on our walk

Being silly for a photo

 Our two year old swinging before going down the slide at the playground

August and September were also filled with birthday parties for Rose and Zoe's classmates. We enjoyed spending time with their friend's families, and the girls especially enjoyed Miss Olivia's 4th fairy birthday party. The girls got faces painted by a fairy at the party and enjoyed lots of indoor and outdoor toys while wearing their fairy dresses

Posing with the fairy face-painter

Zoe loved the bubble wand, which ended up all over her dress

Rose is loving her friend's 4th birthday party

You can expect more photo and video dumps for October - January with fall activities transitioning to holiday activities and lots of snow during the start of 2018!!

Soccer Games (June 18-19)

When you grow up in a soccer family, you watch a lot of soccer games together.  Growing up, many of the games we watched were played by members of our family.  But, we would frequently go to see a local college team, professional team, or even the national team.

The month of June brings with it the time to celebrate my dad.  His birthday is at the beginning of the month and Father's Day comes soon after.  With my mom oversees and the physical distance between our family, my brother mentioned a get-together in D.C. for Father's Day weekend.  The United States Men's National Soccer Team was set to play Jamaica at RFK Stadium for the Gold Cup semi-finals.  As the date neared, we all made the commitment and made plans for the game.

My dad and I celebrating Father's Day at RFK Stadium watching the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team

In true Clemente fashion, my brother decided it would be a great idea for him and my dad to drive down to Raleigh on Friday to see our new house, and turn around to see the game in D.C. on Sunday!  Sounds crazy, but that's how we roll.

Early Friday morning, my dad and brother left the Rhode Island area bound for Raleigh.  Getting through NYC was not much of a problem because they missed rush hour, but they were not so fortunate around the DC area.  Add traffic to a 12.5 hour drive and you've got a really long day.  Needless to say we didn't do much on Friday evening or Saturday morning.  So, after a lazy morning, spent hanging out and watching the Bruins parade on TV, we decided to beat the heat at the pool during the afternoon hours.  My brother and I considered playing pick-up soccer in the area, but decided instead on the Carolina Railhawks soccer game so we could all share in the fun.

Did I mention the Clemente's are a soccer family?  We don't just sit there quietly and watch the game, but instead analyze the players, the referee, and the quality of the game.  It's actually quite fun to "speak soccer language" for an evening.

When the final buzzer left the Railhawks with a 3-1 win over FC Tampa Bay, we felt the urge to quench our hunger in downtown Raleigh at one of my favorite eateries, Busy Bee Cafe.  I don't drink much alcohol, but their Carpenter Bee tea-like adult beverage is delicious.  Imagine my disappointment to find they no longer offer the drink!  I had previously read that they serve "local organic fare," but their website only lists this information in their history and only the chicken is listed as organic on the menu.  In addition, their menu doesn't even list their delicious mixed drinks. Busy Bee, if you're reading, you need to revamp your website!

Eating on the back deck had it's pros and cons.  It was a lovely night to be sitting outside enjoying a meal.  But, at 9pm there were lots of smokers enjoying their food and adult beverages as well.  I'll take the smokers to the freezing air conditioning though.

The delicious food left us satisfied after a long stretch between lunch and dinner.  I'm sure we all ate too much, too late, since we were just going back to the house for an early night before our trip to DC.  People always ask me if it is bad to eat late at night.  If you think about food as fuel, what are you fueling for late at night?  Personally, when I eat a lot late at night, I don't sleep well.  Maybe my body expects me to use the energy I have so recently consumed, or it could just be that I can't sleep while digesting.

Either way, Sunday morning came too soon!  At 7am we were all up and preparing for the drive and possible overnight stay in DC.  We grabbed some tailgating equipment (camping stove and chairs), knowing we'd stop somewhere along the way to get food to grill.  By 8am, we had dropped Darwin off to spend the day with his buddy Phoenix and gotten coffee for the road.

GPS had us arriving at the game with 2 hours of tailgating to spare.  Unfortunately, we didn't follow google maps suggestion to avoid the most direct way into DC and got stuck in lots of event traffic.  Couple that with a few wrong turns into the stadium and we arrived at the parking lot about 15 minutes before kickoff!  So much for fun tailgating!!  Instead, we fired up the propane, threw some burgers and sausages on the grill and gulped down our food in those 15 minutes.  The far walk to the stadium meant we missed the first 6 minutes of play.

If you've ever been to RFK Stadium, you know how tiny it is.  Even the nosebleed seats feel close.  So, our "in between the field and nosebleeds" kept us on top of all the action!

Watching the U.S. vs Jamaica at RFK Stadium

The atmosphere was intense.  I've never been in a stadium where everyone is chanting and cheering for the same team with such enthusiasm.  The United States played Jamaica in the first game of a double header.  Panama played El Salvador in the second game.  I'm pretty sure there were more people from El Salvador in the stadium than in the country!!  Thankfully, they were all cheering for the United States in the first game so when the U.S. scored twice, the stadium erupted in unison.  Once again, there was lots of soccer talk among us and I enjoyed the really good wave that made it around the field several times.

After a solid U.S. victory (2-0) over Jamaica, we stayed in the stadium another hour and a half to watch the first 30 minutes of Panama vs. El Salvador.

Thousands of El Salvadorians in the stands before their beloved team takes the field

We had to witness the jubilation in the stadium.  It was interesting that Panama did not warm up on the field.  Perhaps the coach knew there would be nothing but "boos" from the crowd.  When the El Salvador team came out, the stadium went batty, during the national anthem, everyone sang along, and extreme emotions were displayed when a penalty kick was awarded for the El Salvadorians and subsequently saved by Panama.  We left the stadium with our hearts still racing from the intensity in the atmosphere.

My dad and brother decided they would try to drive all the way back to RI after the game, so we also left the city.  Thankfully, getting out was a breeze and we had smooth riding the 4 hours back to Raleigh.  By the time we picked Darwin up and reached the house close to midnight, we were both struggling to keep our eyes open.  I'm grateful Colin prefers to drive because I'm not sure I could have gotten us home.