8.30.2013 Firehouse Museum

Today we met up with some friends and went to the local Firehouse Museum.

 

 The museum had a couple firetrucks for the kids to play on...

 

 ...and cool outfits to put on.

 

 Eli loved his fireman outfit too.  He was a sweaty mess by the time we were done, but he had a blast!

 

 'Driving' the truck.

 

 David got a turn too.

 

 And of course, Leah got in on the action.  My favorite part of the day was when David said 'Hey!  You can make the window go up and down with this stick thing!'  Apparently he's only used automatic window controllers :)

 

 :)

 

 I think they wanted to go down the pole...

 

 Our little group...minus Evie.  The Museum was really fun!

 

 There's a real fire station right across the street, so we headed over that way.  This fireman gave us a tour of the truck.  Midway through his presentation, he got a call, though...

 

 ...so we went over to watch him get his gear on. 

 

 He waved goodbye, and was off!  It was pretty neat.

 

 Watch out fire!  Eli's comin'! :)

 

 

Leah was in charge of the CB...they have no idea what trouble THAT could cause :)

 

Such a fun little trip!  We may have to go back again soon!

8.28.2013 The Park is more fun with cousins!

 Wednesday we got to hang out with Katie and Jacob, so we decided to head to the park (Eli was at school)  I think Jacob officially loves the wagon! 

 

 A little fun on the see-saw

 

 Some digging

 

 and bug hunting.  Katie is always happier when she's found a bug to study!

 

 This guy had a blast!  He loved climbing all over the playground equipment.

 

 Can't leave the park without playing in the sand...and getting completely filthy.  (Side note...she asked me to put her hair in piggy tails so she could look like Milli Measure from Team Umizoomi.  If you need birthday ideas for her, anything Umizoomi is a big hit right now :) )

 

A little exercise

 

Katie showing off her gymnastics skills.

 

Leah trying...

 

...and Jacob also trying. 

 

Love these animal rides.

 

This is seriously the worse playground animal ever...what is it?  A worm?  Weird.  But the kid on it is cute!

Fun fun fun at the park!  After they left, Leah (after crying hysterically) said "Now when are Isaac and Ethan coming?"  Hopefully soon!  (Don't be offended, Ben and Carly...the last few nights as she prays she tells God about how you guys came over, and how Carly painted her nails, and hopes you come agan too ;) )

8.26.2013 First Day of Pre-School

So...summer is over.  Eli started school today.  He's at a new school this year.  It's a pre-school just down the road from us.  It's at the church he goes to AWANA on Wednesday nights, so he was familiar with the layout. 

 All ready to go!  

 

 Leah wanted to get in on the fun too.  She's SO ready to go to school.  Keep waiting, little girl.  It's gonna be a while :)

 

 My two favorite kiddos!

 

 In front of Eli's room.  The school you have to wait outside the door until the teacher opens the door.  I thought Eli was going to go crazy.  He wanted to go into his class so bad!

 

 I stepped in to get one more picture, and he quickly looked up and said 'Bye mom, BYE MOM!'  translated, 'GET OUT OF HERE MOM!' :)  No separation anxiety here!

 

 Leah and I headed over to the park after dropping Eli off.  I told her to 'be crazy'.  This is what I got.  Then she ran off to chase squirrels.

 

 Happy girl.

 

 Not afraid of anything...

 

 Such a cutie!

 

 Anyway, back to Eli :)  This is what he learned today...I went and picked him up after his full morning, and met with his teacher.  

 

This is her :)  We had a meeting and talked over a few things in his IEP that he had gotten at the end of Pre-school last year.  She said he did really good today-fit in just fine.  He had some trouble staying in line, and staying on task, but didn't get upset when he was redirected, and participated just fine.  I'm so excited that he's in this class. His teacher is a retired teacher from the public school system-she taught elementary for 40 years, and is now in her 4th year at Eli's school.  She seems wonderful so far.  She also has a Masters in Special Education, so it's a perfect fit for Eli.  Plus, she has 3 grandsons that are on the Autism Spectrum.  Seriously...God could not have chosen a better spot for my special little guy!  We went to speech therapy after school and showed his therapist these pictures, and she was so excited when she saw Eli's teacher-that was the same teacher her daughter had had at that school.  She had only wonderful things to say about her-she said that his teacher is very organized and structured.  Perfect for Eli :) 

 

We are so thankful for a great first day!  I remember dropping Eli off at school for his first day last year.  I had a knot in my stomach....I was so worried that we were 'doing the right thing'.  And in the end...I don't know if it WAS what was best for him.  (Good thing kids are resilient!)  But today I had NONE of that feeling.  I was excited for him.  I wasn't even sad to take him.  I really truly felt he was in the best place for him and that this year is going to be an incredible experience for him.  I can't wait to see what God is going to do in his life this year!!

6.12.2013 Family Camping Trip Day 4

Our final day to our trip arrived.  We got up, ate breakfast, and packed up camp (the stakes came out WAY easier than they went in...)  We had been told there was a place where you could pet manatees, so we thought we would go do that.  We headed that way, but when we talked to a lady about doing it, we found out you had to go on a boat and jump off the boat, into the water and you could just touch the manatees with one hand...if you could find them.  I figured Leah would either be petrified, or want to take a ride on a manatee, so we decided to pass.  We chose, instead, to go to a small local beach. 

 

 Eli was happy to play in the mud.

 

 Leah got right in.  I gotta say, I always thought these little 'puddle jumper' life preservers looked so stupid...and I still think they kinda do, but they are AWESOME.  Leah gets right in the water and plays without fear.  She's been wearing it a lot at our local pool while I work with Eli, trying to get him to swim.  It's been very nice.  And really, Leah always looks cute, even with a dorky looking life vest ;)

 

 Eli did NOT want to get in.  He went climbing over on some rocks with Edgar, but the rocks were covered in crabs.  They were actually all over in the water, too, but we didn't realize this until later...when a giant one was headed our way.  Then we started seeing them everywhere.  It was very cool...and a little unnerving.  Who wants to step on a crab?!

 

 Fun swim time with daddy.

 

 Eli finally decided to get in.  He loved it once he got in.  Not sure what his hesitation was about.  Maybe he knew about the crabs all along...

 

My little fish :)

This little beach was super nice.  It wasn't crowded at all, and free to park-perfect!  Plus it was a beautiful day.  We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed home.

Our little camping trip was definitely a success.  Can't wait to go again!  Pretty sure next time we set up our tent we're gonna be in a gorgeous back yard somewhere in Michigan... :)

6.11.2013 Family Camping Trip Day 3

After a better night (we found Leah's pacifier) we got up and had a yummy breakfast (bacon and eggs for Edgar and I, oatmeal with raisins for the kids) we got ready to go for a little hike. 

 

 Eli got a hold of the camera again.

 

 Hearing him giggle as he took these pictures was worth acting silly :)

 

 He made sure to get a picture of his foot, of course...

 

 Eli managed to take the only picture of our campsite...Not sure why I didn't think to get a better picture...This was our site, though.  As you can see, no shade.  At all.  Because of the daily rain, we had to keep most of our supplies in the back of the van.  Kind of annoying to have to dig through the van all the time, but very thankful we have a vehicle big enough to do that.  Every morning after breakfast we'd sit in the shade of the van in our camp chairs, eat some trail mix (which Leah called Cheerios) and hang out.  The heat hit pretty quickly, though, so we didn't stay long. 

 

 Leah's ready for her hike!

 

 Eli's ready for anything...as long as he has his camera.

 

 Don't let this happy face fool you.  Leah complained and cried for most of the hike.  It's funny, though, because when you ask her what her favorite part of camping was, she says sleeping in the tent with her pacifier (oh brother...) and going on a hike.  Funny girl.

 

 

 

 Edgar brought his binoculars along...because I asked him too.  A big 'ol thing to lug around so I could take this picture.  The kids liked looking through them, but it lasted all of 30 seconds.  Edgar's a good sport, though, and never complained.  Out loud anyway ;)

 

 Eli had a good time on the hike, but after an hour, it was pretty hot, and I think he was done too.  He'd been sleeping on the floor on a thin mat (Leah and I had the air mattress...sometimes it's good to be a girl) and I don't think he was sleeping very well.  He was pretty tired at the end of this little 3/4 mile hike.

In hind site, hiking is probably not the best idea to do when you camp in Florida in June.  We love going on hikes, but I think we should have just planned on spending the day in the water.  Lesson learned.

SO, we got our suits on and headed to the swim area at the campground.  The water was the spring water, so it was also 72 degrees, but we were all so hot, we didn't care.  We stayed at the water for the rest of the day, until the storms moved in.  The kids had a blast.  No pictures, though...I left my camera at the tent, and didn't want to go all the way back for it.  One of those regrets I'll have to live with :)  There were a bunch of other kids swimming with us, and Leah especially enjoyed meeting a bunch of new friends.

Then the storm came, so we went back to the picnic shelter we used on Sunday to make dinner under an umbrella again.  In the middle of the downpour Leah said she had to go to the bathroom, and I told her she had to wait.  So she stood up on the bench of the picnic table and peed everywhere.  Lovely.  So she spent the storm very cold because she no longer had shorts on. 

 

The storm finally finished shortly after we were done with dinner, and we all went and took showers, and put the kids to bed.  They were exhausted, and we didn't hear a sound from them after putting them to bed.  Edgar and I enjoyed a couple of wonderful hours sitting by the best campfire he's ever built talking and looking at the gorgeous stars.  I think that was one of my favorite parts of the trip :) 

It felt like we were finally figuring out this 'camping thing' and it was our last night. 

A really really good day :)