Florida trip- part 4

 More beach fun.  But if you're Callie, before you head out to the beach you have to play a little Angry Birds with your Uncle John and change out of your footie jammies.  Seriously, that Callie is the cutest little thing.  She sure knows how to keep us all entertained.

 Aaaaand...back out to the beach to make some BOOTS!  Of course.

More chillaxin.  As parents, this trip was a piece of cake.  They boys were self entertained, and other than puting up the umbrella and digging a hole every morning, we didn't have to do a darn thing!

I'm just adding this random video so you can see how calm and clear the water was one of the days we were there.  I think that made playing in the water really easy for the little ones since they didn't have to worry about getting knocked over by any big waves.  

 It was so nice being with the Ford's.  We were all on the same speed and our schedules lined up pretty well.  Every day we'd come into the condo for lunch and naps.  Yep, even Tyler and Robby.  We've found that when we're on vacations, our boys especially need naps.  They play so hard and it's so nice to have a little down time in the middle of the day.  Here are the kiddos getting into the zone right before naps.  The adults enjoyed the extra kid free time to sit on the balcony and chat, read a book, or take naps too.  My favorite nap time was spent with Chrissy one afternoon.  We tucked everyone in bed and then headed back out to the beach by ourselves.  We sat under an umbrella and talked and then took our rafts out into the ocean.  The waves were calm, but we each held on to the other's raft so that we wouldn't drift apart.  We laughed and talked and then almost fell asleep as we were lulled into a deep relaxation by the waves.  It was heavenly.  And I sure wish our husbands would have taken our pictures from the balcony.  It would have been funny to see two ladies on their rafts out in the middle of the ocean (we drifted pretty far out).

 One afternoon, John decided to rent a sea kayak.  First he and Mike tested it out and then he and Ty went for a quick ride.    

Again, I wish you could see the huge grin on Tyler's face.  

 At night, after it gets dark, we took a flashlight out to the beach to catch crabs.  These little white crabs are everywhere (I know, makes you think twice about taking that romantic walk on the beach after sunset).  Boy did we have fun catching those things.  I think one of the funniest moments of the whole trip was when my two boys were too scared to pick up the crabs at first.  After showing them several times and them making a few attempts, Callie bent right down, scooped one up, and dropped it in the bucket.  I don't think the boys were scared anymore after they saw their little girl cousin do it.   

Here we are letting them go.  Pretty cool.

It was a fabulous trip.  We will definitely be going back to Destin again someday.  I can not say enough about how great that trip was.  

Florida Trip- part 3

Another non-beach activity that we enjoyed was a trip to see and feed the alligators at the Fudpuckers restaurant.  Another hit with my boys.  I mean, you get a stick and rope with meat on it and then you dangle that a few inches above dozens and dozens of gators...what is not appealing about that to a three year old and seven year old boy? (and Callie liked it too, but Callie likes anything fun)  

Florida trip- part2

We did leave the beach on occasion, but only for more adventures.  Destin is a very family friendly place and when we heard about this pirate ship cruise that caters to young kids, we knew it would be a hit, and it definitely was!

Here we are on the top deck enjoying the view.

 After a few blasts from the cannon, we left the harbor and the pirate crew led the kids in several pirate activities, like...

SWORD FIGHTING, and...

 GUN FIGHTING (did I mention my kids LOVED this cruise?), and...

 DECK CLEANING!  Ha!  that's right, after the water gun fight, they told the kids that the pirate crew now had to clean the deck and they brought out a bucket and mops.  Robby was absolutely hilarious.  They cranked up the music and most of the kids danced around and played with their mops, but Robby took his deck cleaning duties very seriously.  You could see the look on his face and he meant business.  I could just see him thinking to himself, "I gotta clean this deck.  Oh, look over there.  It's another wet spot.  Better mop it up...and over there..."  I could not stop laughing as I watched him attack that deck.

 Then, they did some face painting to make the kids look like real pirates.  Oh man, again, could not stop laughing.  A ship full of little kids who looked like little pirates.

 And the best part was, the kids helped pull up a treasure chest from the ocean and each got a couple treasures.

 Pretty much, they nailed it.  This activity was so perfect for my boys and we had a pretty good time watching them (and darn it, why do I not have a picture of little Callie with her beard and mustache?...funniest thing ever).

Florida- part 1

A few weeks ago (mid-September) we went on a vacation to Destin, Florida.  This was our "summer vacation," only we didn't want to deal with summer crowds or summer heat, so we decided to do our summer vacation a few weeks into fall.  Best decision ever.  This was the most perfect vacation.  It was relaxing, exciting, fun, and low key- so easy!  The best part is, we talked my sister Chrissy and her family into flying out to join us.  The condo we stayed in was right on the beach and was perfect for our group.  It was nice, clean, and big enough with a kitchen, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and one big walk in master closet for Callie's pack and play- not to mention the fantastic views from the balcony.  The beach was heavenly.  We'd heard so much good about Destin.  For us, it is driving distance (about 14 hours) and it was so worth it.  The sand is white and the water is clear.  We had a few days of calm winds and water so the boys were able to catch fish, snorkel, and float on rafts and a few days of windy weather with waves for jumping and boogie boarding (even Chrissy who was almost 5 months pregnant did a little boogie boarding- so funny, that girl). 

Here we are on our first day there- after church on Sunday.  Amazing none of those cute kids ended up swimming in their clothes.

And seriously, aren't they the cutest ever?!  

Here are some of our adventures, in no particular order:

Tyler boogie boarding- sure wish you could see the huge grin on his face every time he'd catch a wave.

 And, yes, we made him wear his little brother's life jacket.  I'm not really sure if it would do much good, but it gave us peace of mind every time he'd drift farther and farther down the beach on his boogie board.

Robby pretty much did this the entire vacation.  Digging, digging, digging.  He was in heaven.

Each morning, John would joke that he had two items of business that needed to get done before anything else and they were; 1. put up the umbrella and chairs and 2. Dig a hole for Gus.

John would start the hole and Robby would spend the rest of the day expanding it.

 Then it was on to the next item of business:  bury Tyler.

...and turn him into a beach snowman.

And then we got to turn John into a sea turtle.

 And of course, there was plenty of time for relaxing on the beach and listening to the random conversations between Gus and Callie.  Oh man, that Callie.  She is sooooo, super cute.  She could talk your ear off, and it is so stinkin' funny.  I kind of wanted to take her home with me and keep her.  She is just so much fun- happy, silly, cute, and chatty.

 Seriously, this is exactly what Robby did the entire vacation.

Big Tex

I'm sure some of you (of the non-Texas variety) have been wondering what in the world that creepy picture of the dude with a cowboy had has been doing next to my blog title for all these years.  Well, that creeper just so happens to be Big Tex.  Big Tex has stood welcoming people to the Texas State Fair for the last 60 years.  He stood 52 feet tall and was considered a Texas icon.  On Friday, an electrical fire caused Big Tex to burn to a crisp.  Many Texans were sad to see this icon go, but my first thought was, "oh no!  now I have to change my blog banner!"  

I am not one for change and I have a need to keep things in my life simple, but clearly it is time to change things up a bit on this blog.  In fact, I think i deserve some type of blogging award for keeping my blog exactly the same as the day I started it over four years ago.  

And here are a few pics of Big Tex in his final moments.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this picture makes me laugh every time.  It's totally not digitally altered to look like that, but it is a little creepy- like Big Tex is waving one last farewell to Texas.

 I hear that a new and improved Big Tex is in the works.  Hopefully he is a little less creepy looking.

And hopefully I can change the look of this blog before then.

...And Gus goes to school too

Robby started preschool this year.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I struggled with this.  I wend back and forth on this decision countless times, but finally decided that it would be good for me to learn how to teach and trust others to care for Robby (not just baby-sitters and friends).  

I approached the director of the preschool Tyler attended and asked if she was willing to take Robby on as a student, given his special needs.  Bless her, she agreed (unlike a public school, a private pre-school can reject students because they might be a liability or extra work).  My biggest hang up was in leaving him for 5 hours.  I knew this would entail one snack and one lunch, which translates to two BG checks and lots of work for them and me- not to mention the stress, so I asked the school director if she would let Robby come for half days.  She agreed and was even willing to pro-rate the cost for me. Needless to say, they have been more than generous to us and our situation.  My hope is that by the end of the year he is attending full day, but we will need some time to work up to that.

When I considered my reservations, I always tried to do what is best for Robby and I knew that sending him to have a fun time twice a week for 2 1/2 hours was going to be a good thing for him, even if I was going to miss him like crazy.  When the first day finally came, Robby was so excited.  Oh man I love watching this kid when he's excited.  The excitement bubbles over and he can hardly contain it.  Here he is eating breakfast with his backpack on- ready to go!

 And here's my darling little pre-schooler.

For him, his first day was a HUGE success.  He loved every minute of it!  For me, it was a bit of a disaster.  But oh well!  Before school started, I met with the director, her assistant, and his two classroom teachers.  I trained them all and left them each with a quick cheat sheet for Robby's diabetes care as well as a binder with step by step instructions for everything (including pictures).  It is quite impressive if I do say so myself.  So when I dropped him off on the first day at 9:00, everyone was ready to go.  Our plan was for the preschool director to do a BG check at 10:00 and call me with the results.  I got a call just before 10 letting me know that Robby had reported that he felt low, so she did a BG check and it turns out he's not low, but extremely high (like 450 high).  At least the kiddo knew what to do when he didn't feel good.  So I ran back over to give him a shot of insulin, rather than having her deliver a bolus of insulin through the pump (when he's that high a shot works better and faster).  Then an hour and a half later when I came to pick him up, I asked him if we could take his picture outside of the school before we headed home, he then started crying (my first cue that he's low) and told me that he felt really low.  A quick BG check in the parking lot and sure enough, he was at 49.  Blast, from 450 to 49 all in one morning.  Poor kid must have felt like crap.  It turns out that adrenalin makes the body insulin resistant and I guess Robby was a combination of super nervous and super excited, thus resulting in the super high.  Wow.

We went home and had lunch together.  That is now my favorite part of the day.  We sit and eat and talk about his time at preschool (no m&m bribery needed).  I love hearing about the world through his eyes.  It's so exciting and fun.

Things have leveled out since then.  The first few weeks, he continued to run a little high, but not high enough to require me to head back to give him a shot at least.  I'm so grateful that he's having such a positive experience.  I'm so grateful that he's a good sport about leaving early and about having a different snack than the other kids (his sweet teachers package up the daily snack and send it home for later), and I'm extremely grateful for capable and loving people who are willing to take care of my boy.

Preschool is such an adventure and we're all excited for our Gus.  Here is Tyler asking Robby about his first day of school.  What a good big brother Tyler is- i love their sweet interaction.

And no, Robby's first day did not get a "first day hooray party." Mostly we were just glad he survived the day.

First Day Hooray!

Goodness!  I'd better blog about the first day of school before Halloween arrives!  

Tyler started second grade this year.  Sunday night before school started, we had a special back to school dinner.  I didn't expect anyone to appreciate my efforts, but still wanted them to know that I thought the first day of school is a big deal.  To my surprise, the boys were excited and grateful for a "fancy dinner."

Monday morning this second grader was ready to go.

 When he started kindergarten everyone told me it would get easier every year to let him go.  I disagree.  I still find myself leaving the school with a lump in my throat and the rest of the day wondering how he's doing.  The only thing that made it easier is that there was less uncertainty.  He knows what to expect and so do I...and we're both excited as well.

 After school, we celebrated with our annual "first day hooray" party, complete with m&m's and cookies (I started a new tradition where Tyler gets an m&m for every detail he shares with me about his day.  I am not above bribing in order to get the facts.  He's a boy, he doesn't like to share, but he does love food.  I know how to work the system.

 And then after dinner we head to our favorite frozen yogurt place for more celebrations.

Now that it's October and we are well into the school year, I can say that it has been a fantastic one so far.  He has a wonderful teacher and some good friends.  Last year was a bit rocky (he was in a rough class, which we moved him out of half way through the year) so we were grateful for a positive experience after that one.  

Tyler loves school.  He is smart and a fast learner and he genuinely loves learning.  He thinks library day is about the best day of the week because he gets new books and he's recently discovered the joy of participating in the running club.  

Tyler is such a great kid.  As much as I hate letting him go and grow up, I love watching him learn and mature.  I sure love who he is and who he is becoming.