So? What'd You Do?

We spent a whole lot of time at the beach. The first couple days we were tormented by algae in the water which ultimately led to the demise of my eyesight for the week as I was plagued with pink eye. Both eyes, mind you. I was not a very happy camper. Especially when Bobby and my dad referred to me as "One Eyed Willy" ( That was before it had spread to the other eye). But, the boys were still cute for a picture. Please note Grant's pirate face. You will notice it is a common theme throughout. My wonderful mother would rise in the morning and make breakfast. She made her famous "Souffle" one morning and, as usual, it was a hit. Unfortunately, this week the kids have been super disappointed in the breakfast bars they are back to eating. I've had to throw out the "Does this look like vacation to you?? Didn't think so." a couple times already.
Something worthy of noting is the souffle ingredient that almost cost my dad his deacon's position at church. The Maple Syrup. It took on an uncanny resemblance to a liquor flask. So much so that the bagger at the Publix wrapped it in a brown paper bag and gave it to my dad! HA! Little did she know that never in my lifetime have I EVER seen my father with an alcoholic beverage. That made it all the more hilarious. That and the fact that she grinned at him when she gave it to him. Just needed to throw this in because it's back. The pirate face. I can't escape it. Out of 299 photos, this is Grant in at least 285 of them.
I did a lot of this. Reading. One of my favorite things to do. It was on this day, when my chair was facing the ocean, that I was taken to some far off place almost catching the killer in my book when a tsunami sized wave brought me back to reality and drenched me (and thus allowing the ocean water to penetrate my eyes leading to the pink eye I'm sure).Bobby spent all day catching jellyfish with the boys. By the end of the morning he had 25 and Cade's goal in life was to be a jellyfisherman. Nothing like high aspirations. They also caught one crab. Obviously all the hours watching Deadliest Catch finally paid off. Sorta.Dad built sandcastles with the boys almost every day. Maybe Grant smiles in this one. Nope. Still a pirate. Preparing the crab for ultimate tourture in a sand bucket. Rhett learned that he could swim if he wore his little lifevest. All summer I have tried to convince him of this and finally it sunk in. He threw out a lot more "CANNONBALL"s and thankfully it was in the pool this time. We headed to Baytowne Wharf for some good dinner and a "Mini Gras" party for the boys. My sister helped us rangle the crazies in the swarm of people. And finally......What Grant had been dreaming of finally came true. He actually got to be a pirate.

Next up: The mandatory family beach picture day.

In Progress

I'm still working on sharing the love from vacation. This is how it is at my house all the time. Just love, sweet love, flowing around for all to experience.

Please do not refer to any of my previous posts in an attempt to discredit any statement made here today.

Coming Soon....

"Daycation" pics. It's hard to muddle through 299 photos and decide which few to blog. For now, here is one of my favs. The annual feet in the sand photo. Stay tuned later this week for a daycation synopsis. (Cade still calls it "DAYcation" and I just can't correct him. I like it too much!)

Lovin' This Photo

I snapped this photo of Little Buddy and my dad back on Father's Day and loved it. Just wanted to leave you with a cute image as we head off for vacation.....as opposed to the images from my last post.

Did I Hear "Canonball"???

I was trying to get all packed for our vacation. The children were driving me CRAZY. We were going to go to the pool to swim off some energy but it was "Closed due to contaimination" for the third day in a row. So, after cleaning up all the 25 dollar i.d bare mineral powder make-up off the floor in my bathroom (and from the face of my precious 2 year old) and just after picking up peanuts that were ground into the carpet, and after running downstairs to the screams of "he's got cuts all over him!! They're all over him!!!" only to find, yes, you guessed it, Rhett, with red permanant marker on his cheeks, nose, palms and belly, I sent the lovelies outside to play. Actually, I demanded that they go before something happened that we would all regret later. I slid up my breakfast nook window so I'd be able to hear the happenings outside while I was cleaning the kitchen. That's when I heard "CANONBALL!!" I looked out to find this: My camera was actually sitting right there because I was packing it up and I took these shots through the screen so as not to undermine my forthcoming discipline. They had filled the sandbox full of water and it was a complete mess. So, you know, I was so sick of threats and spankings and loss of privileges. Therefore, I put on my mad face, marched right out there, grabbed the hose, and completely doused each one of them. I sprayed them until they looked like they had been dunked into the deep end of the pool with their clothes on. I even sprayed them in their faces as they fell to the ground trying to get away. Yeah. I guessed they learned a lesson that time, huh?
I'm sure the neighbors love my sometimes irrational behavior. But, keepin' it real, sometimes having three boys can move you to do sometimes immature and irrational things.

(Just for the record: this punishment was in no way effective. Do not try it at home. While I was completely wild-eyed and crazed, the children were laughing and loving it. Oh, well.)

Rewind

It just recently occured to me that I never posted about the boy's swim lesson experience. So today I am rewinding a bit to back in June. We once again took swim lessons at Camp Nickajack and the boys had a blast. Cade was already a decent swimmer so basically he was there to get some extra practice and have a little fun. He learned a bit more about diving and did perfect swimming the length of the pool.Here he is so proud that he actually made it without perishing. I'm sure Mr. Burt is glad to see that he has also matured this year and, unlike two years ago, did not throw every poolside item into the water nor did he pull his trunks down and pee in the grass. Small steps, friends. Big progress.
Grant was so excited about swim this year. I was glad that I didn't have to hear any tall tales of Mr. Burt putting his hands around Grant's neck and forcing him into the water. He seriously tried to pull that over on me last year. He made so much improvement this year and in fact, is no longer wearing his little lifejacket. He, too, can swim the length of the pool which is just astonishing when you consider that he rarely uses his arms. They stay glued to his sides and his legs just kick like nobody's business.

I guess he figured when you have hair wings like this then arm usage is totally overrated. Little Buddy wasn't big enough to do lessons this year. But have no doubt, he was planning something totally mischievous for next year. Can't you tell?? I'll have to give my friends at Nickajack the heads up on this one.

Fun With Just One

The Big Boys got to take a trip with Granpa and Grandma to the Space and Rocket Center so I decided this would be a good opportunity to spend some quality time with Little Buddy. I personally have always wanted to go to Build A Bear Workshop and the other boys could care less. Therefore, I hyped it up and convinced Rhett it would be the coolest thing ever. He was ecstatic.

He talked about an elephant the whole way up there. Talked about how much his froggie would LOVE to have an elephant to play with. How much he LOVED elephants. So when we got there he picks out.............no, not the elephant, but the husky dog sitting right next to it. Go figure. I tried to talk him out of it but he would have none of it. Once he had picked up the husky dog it was over. No more looking. Whatever. The elephant would have been so much cuter.
He plumped it up and gave it to the lady. Refused to kiss the little guy's heart but he did warm it just a little.

His favorite part was the bath. Husky dog got several of them. Then it was on to dressing. We are now welcoming fireman husky dog to the family.
We sat down at the computers and Rhett had to name the little guy. I thought for sure it would be "fireman dog" or "fire doggie". Nope. "Chicky Bear". Let that sink in. I have no idea what that is suppose to mean but he said it three or four times and I repeated it for clarification. Once again, whatever. This was not about me although Bobby would tell you differently. He knows I have been waiting for this chance for 6 years now. There is so much sacrifice in motherhood.
We topped it off with a healthy meal from Chick-fil-a. Today was "Cow Appreciation Day" and if you dressed like a cow you got a free meal. Rhett wore this and got a free Kids Meal. Who knew?? Obviously if I had I would've pulled this out and donned it once again. Ahhhh. Circa 1994. Good times.