Virginia is for Lovers

From Florida, we left and went directly to Virginia for a week.  We were going to celebrate Pop's 70th birthday, Kaitlyn's 9th birthday, and hang out with family.  While there, we spent a large majority of the time in Aunt K's pool.  The kids got pretty good at putting on sun screen.  Ok, maybe not that good.

The children have improved a ton in their swimming skills over the weeks they spent in the pool.  Kaitlyn is the most adept at not getting water in her nose.  Therefore, she can use both hands to swim.

Hubby and I also got in the pool several times, though not as often as the kids.

Kaitlyn wanted to show me how she was practicing her back arch dive.  Thanks to the fast shutter speed of the camera, I think it is a pretty cool capture.

And then there is Cooper.  He is the man of the house, and when the cousins are at school, and Aunt K is at work, he spends his days in the backyard, jumping in the pool when he gets hot.  So it was natural for him to want to get into the pool with us.  And hubby took complete advantage of his willingness to play.  

The kids also loved to lure him in with balls (the splash on the right side), heedless of the other children already in the pool (Dylan under water). Poor guy.  He just didn't understand the need to be careful with his nails or climbing on top of other swimmers.

Kelsey also improved a TON!!!  During this trip, she swam a few times without her floaty.  And she would put her face in the water and swim for several seconds.  She isn't quite ready to swim by herself, but she has a huge head start!

Swimming at the pool was a family affair.  

And it was great :)

I mean, why else do we go to Virginia but to hang with family in the pool?

Or perhaps lay on them when they are semi dry and least expecting it to get a squish in return.

Mollie wasn't as fond of swimming as Cooper, but she was an expert lounger.

Who needs floaties when you have Pop?

Dive child!  Dive!

Towards the end of the week, cousins Ashley and Taylor came home from a trip to Hawaii!!!  Jealous.  I know.  But they brought a whole new layer of fun to the activities.

I'll have a whole post of GIFS (do you pronounce them Jifs or Ghifs) from the other 1,400,000 pictures I took.  But I wanted this one to be able to be admired in all its glory.  Kelsey is jumping in the pool.  But it looks like she is just levitating.  What can I say?  She is gifted.

And Dylan's poor hands.  After 2 weeks of hanging onto the side of the pool, they were raw and blistered.  They even bled a time or two.

I guess that is the price you pay for fun sometimes.

Speaka De Engrish

Waaaaaay back in the stone ages of 5th grade, before the summer was hot, and before the parties were had, Kari participated in a speaking contest.  The teachers got the notification at school and asked if Kari could participate.  They said they would help prepare her and take care of everything.  Unfortunately, there was testing, and a substitutes, and a few other things that got in the way.  So, she didn't have a ton of information and wasn't as prepared as she could have been.  Thankfully, it didn't seem to bother her, and she enjoyed the experience.  She entered the appropriate category for her age, and decided to write her own story instead of just reading and presenting one or entering the persuasive side.  We didn't know she could/was supposed to memorize it.  Or that some small hand movements or costumes were allowed.  We also could have worked slightly more on her public speaking pronunciation, inflection and eye contact.  But....  I am very proud of her, and pleased that she enjoyed it.

I didn't want to be super annoying and be that parent recording her.  But I did record her.  I just didn't notice that the camera focused on the pen instead of Kari.  But I think you can hear most of her original story about a wolf.

There were three kids in her category, though about 12 competed.  She was super pleased that she got 3rd place!  (I didn't really have the heart to remind her who all she was competing against).  I just let her be happy and proud :)

Aaaaaaaand, because she got 3rd place, she won $10!!!  Many thanks to her teachers for getting her started (at least) and to the 4H club for putting it on.

Sand in all the wrong places

 We were really only in Florida for 3 nights.  Not a ton of time, but enough for those of us who wanted to swim in the pool and watch sharks.  We did also go to the beach.  In case you didn't, I don't love sand.  It gets everywhere in the car, and makes everything messy.  But one night hubby drove us down the main drive so we could gawk at huge beach houses and play in the surf. 

 We had planned to just dip our feet and then keep going out to dinner.

 And, at first, it seemed like a good idea.

 It was a beautiful night out, and not at all as hot and humid as it had been in the past.

 So the kids waded in.

 And found some shells.

 And jumped through the waves.

 And they kept getting deeper and deeper and wetter and wetter.

 And it soon became clear that I probably should have brought their bathing suits.

 Because they were wet.  And we weren't going out to dinner afterwards.

 But they were having fun, and hubby and I were enjoying watching the kids, so it didn't really bother us.  Please note Kelsey's floating head by Kaitlyn's knee.

 It doesn't appear that she minded.

  But, it started getting dark.

 And it was almost time to go.

 So a few more fun things were done....

 And a few more pictures were taken.  I have a lot of their backs at the beach.  But I like them.  Its kinda artsy fartsy :)

 And many much fun-ness was had by all.

And this is life.  Slightly messy, but together and loving it.

And this is also life.  Because Kelsey and Dylan were literally soaked, we rinsed off everyone's feet, and threw their clothes in an extra Wal-Mart bag I keep in the car.  We decided to pick up dinner and head back to the hotel room.  So, here are my nakie children, riding in the elevator.  Tacos in hand.

Because... well.....  Why not :)

Its just Bidness (and pleasure!)

During the summer, we tagged along with hubby on a trip to Florida.  We got to stay in a hotel, and do a few other things.  The hotel even allowed Mollie, so it was a big family vacation!  The room had one bed, and a pull out couch.  But, we decided it would be more fair, and frankly much easier, to just set the kids up on the floor.

 And while daddy was at work, this is what we did most of the day.  We had the pool to ourselves several times.  And it was salt water, so we could get in and out without HAVING to take showers.  The kids had tons of fun!  I'm surprised they didn't grow gills.

 Turns out, swimming a ton will wear out a four year old.  This was before lunch, while I was helping everyone else get dressed and ready.  She just curled up on the couch and went to sleep, all by herself.

 We also got to take a tour of daddy's freshly built apartment complex.  While I have been to several job sites, and looked at the outside,  I don't believe I have ever been IN one.  It was beautiful!  And expensive.  We couldn't afford to live there.  It rained every day we were in FL, but that also meant that we caught several rainbows.  You can see this one coming from the roof on the right side of the building, right above Kari's head.

 You can't tour a construction site without a hard hat!

 The other thing our poor cable-less household did was watch shark week.  Like, all week.  I was slightly concerned that our children would not really be able to handle it.  But, they actually did alright.  And, of course, they were in bed/on the floor with the TV off around 8:30, so they missed the super scary shark stuff.

 Again, all that action was a bit too much for this 4 year old, and she ran out of energy frequently.

 In fact, it was a lot for ALL of them.  Most morning, my children are up before 7 of their own accord.  No alarms needed.  On this morning, daddy had to be at the city offices at 7, but the kids slept through him showering and getting dressed, and continued to sleep until almost 8:30!  Not gotta lie...  it was pretty nice to sleep in a little bit.

So....  while daddy had to work, we got to swim and watch sharks.  What could be better than that?

Kari's New Specs

If you were super observant with the first day of school post, you may have noticed that Kari has new glasses.  While we were in Virginia, a screen door closed abruptly and broke the nose piece on her glasses.  Here is a decent before picture.  And check out those socks!  Its all the rage nowadays.  

 When the kids got their eyes looked at in March, Kari's prescription had changed just a little bit.  Not enough that I wanted to get her new insurance paid for glasses yet.  I figured I would save it for a bit until she really needed it.  And guess what?!?  When her old ones broke, that seemed a good time for the insurance to pick up the tab :)

 We debated on getting plastic ones or metal ones, because they both seem to have pluses or minuses.  But, then we found this pair, and it seems to have the best of both worlds!  The plastic arms on the side are super flexible.  But they have nose pieces that will help keep them up on her nose.  And, the green color is almost her favorite color.  They look kinda clear from the front (above picture), but from certain angles, they have the teal/green visible in them.

 Her first Sunday she wore them to church, she was able to get her Faith in God award.  The primary children have several goals that help them develop talents, compassion, and faith.  They try to finish them before they move up to the Young Women's program (at 12).  Kari finished hers a few months early!  Good for her! :)

 And then, before school started, she had to get a few more baby teeth pulled.  We are still trying to make room for all her permanent teeth to start growing in so we can take care of some crowding issues and get her braces on.  

Its a good thing she has such an awesome personality!  I'm sure the glasses and the braces won't get in her way :)