Summer Days

We are LOVING summer! Warm, sunny days...time spent with friends...popsicles on a hot afternoon...swimming, and of-course, playing outside until the shadows are long and the sun bids its final farewell to the day! We are soaking it all up!



Luke is in his second week of swim lessons with his two friends, Rachel and Hudson and they are all doing amazingly well! As of today, I am so proud to say that Luke can officially swim! In just two short weeks, Mr. Bruce (their swim instructor) has transformed three unskilled but eager preschoolers into safe little swimmer-fish! Luke is having an absolute BLAST in the water! He started out fearful of putting his little face in the water and unsure of himself, but is now diving under water for 10-15 seconds at a time, kicking with fervor and today, even began using full arm strokes. A quick learner, for sure! I am so proud of him! And quite honestly, largely surprised at how well he is doing in such a short period of time! If he's anything like me, he'll become a little fish here before long! My parents used to have to DRAG me outta the pool when I was young!

Here he is doing a safety jump to Mr. Bruce. This was the second of two and it looks like the instructor is gonna catch him, but on the first one, knowing that Luke was safe to swim, Bruce raised his arms out of the water and didn't even catch Luke when he jumped in. (My heart skipped a beat in that moment, btw!) Luke didn't even bat an eye...he quickly began paddling and got himself safely back to the pool's edge,where he pulled himself up and outta the water like he'd been doing it all his life! :) Big guy!




Ellie is loving the pool too! We sit together on the steps during the lessons and try to keep cool! :)



After swimming every afternoon, it has become our little habit to have a popsicle (or two!) when we arrive home! Today, we pulled in the driveway JUST in time to meet the Ice Cream Man! They each got a yummy (aka MESSY!) treat and I caught a few moments on camera! This was actually Ellie's first time buying a treat from the Ice Cream Truck! She was SOOO excited! When I have more time, I'll try to post a few of the other shots I took.....got some really great ones that are SUPER cute! :)

The tell-tale sign of being in the swimming pool...those red, bloodshot eyes!

And that, my friends, was our afternoon! How much better can it get?! Life is good!

In other news.... :)

Ellie will be taking her first plane ride tomorrow! :) She and I will be flying up to northern California to visit Heidi and Amy for a long weekend! SOOOO looking forward to that! Time with girlfriends is always good! :) Ty will stay here for some boy-bonding time with Luke and I guess they have all sorts of fun planned! :) Sooo....I guess I'll see you all in a few days! :)

I knew this day would come....

...and quite honestly, I feared it! We lost Ellie's last binky today. Of the two that were 'broken' (aka, poked!) one was left behind (by sheer accident) on vacation and we had just one that we protected and kept safe with fervent effort! It wasn't allowed to leave her bed. We gave it to her bear every morning and afternoon after naps, so he could sleep well while she was gone, and she had learned to place in atop his little face, along with Snuggie covering his little body like a blanket before we left her room. It was quite cute! Can't say we didn't try! But sometime this morning, as I was tidying up upstairs from our sweet visitor last night (more on that in a minute) Ellie must've swiped the binky out of her bed and we can't find it. :(

She is in her bed for naps now, wailing on and off, calling out for binky! Its so sad to hear her! BUT...I'm standing firm, with my hands inadvertantly tied....binky is not returning. :( Poor baby! She's calling out "Maaaammmmmma! I WANT BINKY....MAAAAMMMMMAAA!" from her crib. Every now and then, she'll throw in Grandma's name or Daddy's in her sobbing plea. Its SOOO sad! But getting rid of binky is, in the long run, a good thing. So this afternoon, she and I will just have to suffer through the tears. Pray for us! LOL!

If you would, could you also say a little prayer for my dear, dear friend Laura, who has been very sick the last several days and spent last night in the hospital. (Our visitor last night was her little Maddie, who got to sleep over for the very first time, while Dave went to be with Laura in the hospital.) Laura will hopefully be returning home today to recover from a very bad infection that she has had, but she could sure use our prayers for healing and strength! Its been a LONG few weeks for her family! Thanks, friends!

I'm off to try to console sweet Ellie. The tears don't seem to be easing up at all and I think she needs a long snuggle with Mama. More of our catching up updates in the next few days....

Getting Caught Up....Day 2

Determined to get this posted, I'm here again today for Day 2....

Friday, 5/29....Beach Day

Again, as with our entire vacation, we awoke this morning to clouds and drizzle. :( Not very conducive to running in the waves and digging in the sand, but did we let that stop us? Nooooo!

We had some breakfast and lounged around while to see what the weather would do. The kids played and Ellie tried to be a big girl in mama's running shoes. (Side note: This was the day that she started with her fever and looking back now at the pictures, I can see that her face looked different to me and that she was starting to look sick, though we didn't know it at the time).



After awhile, we dressed the kids in their swimsuits (and...ahem....tried to get a picture)...

Luke cooperated! :)


We made sure to grab their sweatshirts, hopped in the car and drove the short 5 minutes to the ocean. Luke was sooo excited, he could hardly stand it! We had gone to the beach the evening we had arrived, just to let them wiggle their toes in the sand and whet their appetite for the big beach day, and it had worked wonders! Despite the short car ride, Luke still kept asking "Are we there yet, Mom? Almost there? I see the ocean! Can we get out soon?" It was endearing, though I was thankful the trip was short, 'cause I can see how it would've gotten old pretty quickly! :)

The beach was pretty much deserted, save one or two other crazy souls who, like us, looked to be trying to make the most of it! :) The air was so chilly and the wind swirled around our bodies, carrying with it a salty drizzle that I will admit dampened my spirits just a smidge. But, no sooner did Luke's toes hit the sand, and he was off and running! Ellie took a little longer to warm up to the idea, but after a little shell-searching at my hip, she was willing to try out the feeling of sand between her toes too!

The tide was low and we hung out near the rocks for awhile, exploring the millions of barnacles and sea life clinging to them. We saw several sea stars in an array of reds, purples and oranges; a handful of urchins and a few crabs! Luke chased the waves in and out and, despite my urgings not to get too wet, found himself quickly drenched! :) Oh well! The water actually felt warmer than the air did, so being wet didn't seem all that terrible at that point!

We headed back to our little spot for some sand and water play next.







Don't you just love those pigtails?! Man, she's cute!!!

Luke was having a BLAST! He ran in and out of the waves...peeling off wet layers of clothing one by one until he was just in his t-shirt and board shorts. He was covered in sand and surf and he delighted in it! The cold didn't bother him! He was in 4-year-old heaven! :) Ellie, on the other hand, was much more timid when it came to the water. Unlike her previous visits to the beach, she was afraid and tearful (surprise, surprise!) when the waves approached her. But on a few occasions, she let her guard down and ventured a little farther out. Unfortunately, it was then that, with a camera in hand, I was unable to grab her when a small wave threatened her legs. It swirled around her ankles, bringing a shocked look to her face and, once it began to recede, made her loose her balance. Before I could catch her, she fell backwards into the water! Oops! Water drenched her up to the waist and the tears began flowin'! I felt terrible and she was NOT happy! Off we went to the car to dry off a little.

She recovered her confidence a short while later and again followed me into the water. This time I had the video camera in hand (which I soon came to regret!) and, having not learned my lesson previously, allowed the same thing to happen again! :( Only this time, it wasn't just her little bum and legs that got wet....it was ALL of her...head to toe! What an awful mama I am! Ty scolded me, between our giggles and Ellie's wailing! Seriously...it was a stupid mistake on my part...I was just too wrapped up in capturing the moment on film! So off we trapsed, BACK to the car, to peel off the last of her soaked bathing suit and to dry her sand-filled, VERY COLD little body! Poor child! Ellie didn't venture back near the surf again that day. :(

But Luke did! He and I played more than a few games of chase in and out of the water, and he exhausted himself chasing after all the seagulls and roaring at them like a lion! :) Good times! Good memories! I do have video of it all.... :) but my man is at the desktop as I type and I am not able to upload them for your viewing pleasure. Maybe tomorrow. :)

After all the excitement at the beach, we grabbed some food, headed back to the condo for naps (and a load of laundry to get rid of all those sandy clothes!) and hit the pool in the late afternoon. It was really my only opportunity during the whole trip to have Ellie Belle wear my favorite bikini that I bought her.....so naturally, I had to take a photo!


:)

The day wound down after that. The kids were tired and went off to bed early, I believe. But that was the night that poor Belle came down with that terrible fever and was up with us, eating popsicles and drinking gatorade long about 10pm. We were up again with her at 3am, with her fever obviously spiking. :( Ty got sent out then for Motrin and a thermometer, (in the rain no less...poor guy!), and we spent the rest of the wee hours of the morning with her sleeping between us. I guess if we were looking at the bright side of it all, it gave me LOTS of time to snuggle and cuddle her, which seems rare these days.

Before we knew it, it was day 3. And that, my friends, is a post for another day!

Getting Caught Up...Day 1

Is it too late to recap our vacation? Even if I'm the only one reading it, at-least I'll have a recap for my own reference later on. :) I have been terrible about blogging this year. I'm sorry. What has gotten into me?! I used to be so diligent about writing. But to be perfectly honest, I'm a little sick of myself. LOL! Seriously. I get tired of hearing myself think. I mean really, how interesting is my life to anyone else? I don't know...I'm a tad bit apathetic about it all. And just a little more bucking against the idea of one more thing on my to-do list. Do you ever feel that way? Like you just want to turn off every piece of incoming or outgoing communication with the world and pretend like you live in Tim-Buck-To? That's how I feel about my blogging of late. Not that I don't love you all, but you get what I'm sayin', right?

Annywaaaay.....to pacify that nagging voice telling me I need to post, here I am. A vacation, birthday and end of the school year recap. Mostly in pictures, mind you. 'Cause you know that's pretty much how I record my life. :) So....here we go! I'll probably post these in segments so as to not have an 80 page novel for you to read! LOL!

Our beach vacation was really good! We were so grateful to be able to steal away as a family for a few days, just to enjoy being together, without the normal distractions and chores of home. There were some snags in our plans, mostly because the weather did NOT want to cooperate, but we still managed to do all that we intended to do and made the most of the time we had! (We just didn't come home with that great tan we had hoped for!)

Here are just a few (ahem...maybe more than a few) highlights....

Day 1...Legoland

We headed out to Legoland (which was right across the street from where we were staying) on Thursday morning 5/28, and had a BLAST! It was right up Luke's alley! He LOVED the rides (the faster and scarier, the better!)

We started out on the boat ride and I took this super-close up of my handsome boy! (Side note: I only took my 50mm fixed focal lens with me this day so that I could get in some practice with it, so a lot of my pics are close ups! In order to 'zoom' in or out, you actually have to MOVE your body! Haha! And sometimes you just can't get that far back.) Anyway, I digress....

We saw the Ifle Tower...

Mount Rushmore...


and the Inauguration....All made out of Lego's! (And yes...it IS a replica of Obama in there!)

Then it was off to a visit with Bob the Builder, who Ellie was fascinated with, until we got up close!


We spent the day taking turns riding rides with Luke (he LOVED the roller coasters the best!)






while the other tried to keep Ellie occupied. But sometimes, she just fell to pieces when she couldn't go with Bubba...

Actually, if I remember correctly, she was just being crabby while we were standing in line in that picture and I was kinda making fun of her! Lol! :) She DID get happy again and enjoyed Legoland just as much as her brother!





We had so much fun!

The kids went without naps this day, so as we approached 4pm, it became perfectly clear that it was time to go! LOL! We stopped by the gift store on the way out and bought each of them a little souvenir to remember the day by. Luke picked out a king's cape which I took a picture of, but Ty vetoed because he said Luke's looked posed like a girl in it! LOL! So no picture! And Ellie got a pretty princess stuffed horse to snuggle with. :) Good times. We headed back to our condo then, stopping by the lobby for a little non-alcoholic happy hour they were having. There was live music too, and it was nice to just sit and enjoy for a spell. The singer embarrassed the heck outta Luke when she saw him prancing around in his new cape and told him how brave he looked! LOL! He tucked his head behind my leg then and wouldn't even show his face again until we left the building! Kinda cute to me though! Soon enough it was time for dinner and bath time, and once the kids were tucked safely in bed, Ty and I headed to the jacuzzi that just happened to be right outside our sliding glass door! Perfect!