Icatar Family Blog

Annalise had a very busy day this past Saturday.  She is part of the Norwalk Zeus swim team and is also part of the Norwalk Zoomers fast pitch softball travel team.  On Saturday, she had a softball game up in Bethel, CT which we had to get up very early for.  It was a hot day and she played the whole two hour game.  Once that game was done, we had to drive all the way from Bethel to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where she participated in a giant swim meet.  I’m usually wiped after a baseball game, and I can’t imagine having to swim competitively afterwards.  Anyway, Annalise ended up swimming in 3 heats:  100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, and 50m freestyle.  I should not that this was Annalise’s first time competing in an Olympic sized swimming pool.  Her usual swim meets are in a 25 yard pool, and most of her heats are only 50 yards.  We were curious to see how she would do in the slightly longer 50m and the really long 100m heat, but she did great in all of them.

All in all it was a great day.  We finally got home 130 miles and 12 hours later.  Check out the pics (click the picture to see a large version) and videos below.

How’s that for a catchy title?  So, we have a couple videos to share with you.  The first one here is of Isabella at her first softball game.  This is her first year playing where the ball is pitched to her, but as you will see, our practice in the back yard has prepared her for the real thing!

About two weeks ago, Isabella started to learn how to hula hoop. At first, she could only hula hoop a few times and she would count how many times. She would be excited to hit 10 or 12. Within a few days, she was able to hula over a hundred times, and now, she can do it with two hoops! Amazing!

And finally, you’ve undoubtedly heard the hoopla over Apple’s iPad.  After agonizing over the decision, I ended up getting one for myself, or should I say, ended up getting one for the family.  I can honestly say that the kids have probably used it more than I have, and as you can see from the pictures below, it’s gotten ugly!  Don’t worry though, we were able to work out a friendly, timed usage scenario and everyone is now happily sharing the device (including me!)

Our busy year continues.  As I mentioned previously, I am coaching Annalise’s softball team, the Hawks.  You can follow the team at our website (http://www.eteamz.com/NAASoftball/index.cfm?league=1190520&subsite=3701528).  We just had our first two games this week and everyone involved had lots of fun (except maybe for myself, since I was stressing out so much over making sure the girls had a good time!)  But Annalise did great pitching and hitting in both games.  Isabella is also playing softball in the Rookie division and just started practices.  She should be starting games soon and she can’t wait.

Did you ever think you can have so much fun with balloons?

I can’t believe it’s been a whole decade since Annalise was born!  As she enters the double-digits, she celebrated with a few friends at a sleepover party.  What better way than have a few of your friends bow down while you open gifts!

Somehow, the girls managed to stay up and watch 5 movies!  Beverly Hills Chihuahua  started the night.

Today, I celebrated by 39th birthday.  It started off with our first baseball practice outside in nice, crisp 40 degree weather.  After a couple hours of batting and fielding drills that left me exhausted, I went back home.  We all went to church where we commemorated Palm Sunday, then the church had an Easter egg hunt after the mass.  The kids had such a great time at the Easter egg hunt that Isabella exclaimed, “This is the best daddy’s birthday ever!”  Afterwards, we went to my mom’s house where we were treated to a surf-and-turf feast of NY strip steaks and king crab legs.  Yummm!  The highlight of the meal was this giant, three layer cake that Julianne and the kids had made last night and spent a lot of time on.  It was definitely well worth it!  Here are some pictures from the day.

Our Winter Sports season continues with another first:  skiing.  Julianne has skied since she was a kid, but I’ve only gone a couple times.  Annalise has never gone skiing and was excited to give it a try.  We went to Bolton Valley with Julianne’s dad for a day of skiing.  (Isabella and Nathaniel stayed home with Grandma.)  We planned on getting Annalise into a kids group lesson to get her started and I would get a refresher lesson in a group.  This allowed the more experienced Julianne and her dad to get some runs on the more advanced trails.  Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect from Annalise.  She would either absolutely love it or she would get so frustrated that she would never want to ski again.  When we went to get her after her lessons, we were happy to hear that she did very well in her lessons and she was very excited to keep skiing.  At first, she wanted to show off her skills on the beginning hill and was hesitant to go on the ski lift to go on a higher hill, but after a while, she agreed to go up.  Again, she enjoyed herself so much going down the hill that she completely forgot about the beginner hill.  Then, we urged her to go on a higher hill, and although she was hesitant again, she agreed, and had an even better time!  At one point, she was so excited, that she asked when we would get to do the moguls (since she had just seen the women’s moguls event at the Olympics the night before!)  Luckily, Bolton also provides some night skiing as Annalise was not ready to go home.  All in all, we ended up skiing for several hours into the night, and by the time we got home, we were exhausted.  Annalise already can’t wait for the next time we go skiing.

Our next sport?  Curling!