Sun and sand

I think the easiest way to tell about our vacation is with pictures...enjoy your journey!

This is when the DVD player still worked. It went on this horrible skipping hiatus....which you can imagine only caused a few whines from the backseats and a few mumbles and grumbles from the front seats.

There was a lot of time spent in the sand. Delaney adjusted to the ocean water fast, so her and Matt went out farther and farther in the water and jumped the waves....screams of excitement could be heard on shore!! Carson didn't adjust so fast, so we spent lots of time sitting and letting the waves come up over our legs. In my opinion, that was just as much fun, except that we wound up with LOTS of seaweed in our bathing suits...in places seaweed just shouldn't be!!! :-)

There was some alligator spotting ~ okay, they were supposed to be there. They were the main attraction at a restaurant we ate lunch at one day. There was also some after dark crab hunting...after we had hopped the kids up on some sugary ice cream to keep them awake and happy!

There was also plenty of opportunity for cousin bonding time. They shared donuts, giggles, morning cartoons, and ice cream. The hardest part was sharing Grammy and Grampy!

There was time for playing and making new friends. Delaney is quite the social butterfly around other children. She won't talk to an adult she doesn't know even if we say it is okay, but I don't know that I mind that right now. She made new friends everywhere we went. She tried to rule the roost a few

times...notice the look on the

father's face....I think he's thankful he has a boy!! Carson wasn't as much into making friends, but he was a DARE DEVIL on the play equipment. He might not have liked the water much, but he saved all his tricks for dry land!! He only left with 2 minor wounds :-)

We watched the lifeguard run people off of the beach b/c of the CRAZY waves that the hurricane was causing. Amazing to me how the actual storm was SO far away and the waves we saw were enormous (compared to what we'd seen earlier in the week). They were bad enough that for one day we weren't allowed on the sand at all and then we weren't allowed in the water for the next two...bummer!

Luckily, when the ocean wasn't available, the pool was, so we continued our crazy antics there! Delaney was a true fish in that water, demanding that she be able to do things alone. She quickly learned her boundaries, only to test them frequently. Carson was more of a "hang on someone" or "sit at the edge" kind of guy....I like that about him :-) He did love to be a lazy guy and lay in the green float he's holding on to...he just needed a drink and someone fanning him....HA!!

And then, one day, we woke up and it was all over. We went to say goodbye to the ocean and were filled with mixed emotions. While I was excited about the idea of sleeping in my own bed, I was not excited about the car ride ahead. Carson was mad, pretty much just to be mad...he has yet to lose that attitude since we left Florida, maybe we should go back and see if the "old" Carson comes home with us this time!! Delaney was an emotional wreck...you'd think she was 13!! She just couldn't imagine not seeing the ocean for a year and what would happen and would it all be the same and would she remember it and on and on and on and on...she wore me out in the first 45 minutes in the car! While we were excited to get home and see Lion and Twix (the cats) we were sad to join the people here living reality, because, well, reality bites!!!

Grandparents Day

We decided to surprise all of the grandparents with pictures of our gorgeous children (you know, the ones that are fighting behind me ~ screaming and slapping involved, thank you very much!). We tried somewhere new and it was great (Portrait Innovations)! Hopefully we'll be going back for Christmas cards too. Included are just a few of my favorites out of the 88 taken.

An evening at the zoo

Probably should have done these in the opposite order...oh well. Go down to the next post and then come back up :-) I never claimed to be perfect!

Matt and Delaney on the free train ride

Car and I enjoying the train

We have this wonderful book that we read every night before bed that tells about an animal ~ some special skill or trait that they have and then compares that to how God develops that skill or trait in each of us. It's awesome!!! That week we had learned about meerkats and how they are good helpers to their meerkat friends, so we took extra time to study them that evening.

We had not read about goats though....Delaney is obviously terrified of them.

It didn't take long for them to warm up to the goats though.

May I brag?

Why, thank you for continuing to read...I thought I'd scare some of you off with my title. We are members at the Indianapolis Zoo and in the late summer they always have jazz nights where the zoo is open late for members and they feature a free event every week. We decided to take the kids on a night when the free feature was train rides. The kids always ask to ride and we always say no b/c it costs money. So, we rode the train!! YEAH!!

Am I bragging b/c we let our kids ride the train...well, no. I am bragging b/c I am so proud of Delaney. She started K4 a few weeks ago and she has grown leaps and bounds in that time...however, the growth has all been socially. She told my mom they don't learn anything in K4, and for her, bookwise, that might be accurate. She has been reading for over 6 months now and she is getting really good at it. While at the zoo she stood at this sign, totally determined to read every word on it. I, being the good mom that I am, never in a hurry, took the time to stand with her and use my best teacher skills to help her sound out the 3 words she couldn't get on her own.....I love seeing things through her eyes...she's amazing! Yes, she frustrates me to no end some days and she has horrible mean streaks where she is a beast to her brother. She is self centered and very impatient....wonder where she got those amazing qualities from. Apples do not fall far from their trees!!! But she is mine, a beautiful gift from God, and she is amazingly and wonderfully made!

The 1st Day of School....what?!?

Finally, the day we've talked about all summer...the first day of K4. Matt took the day off work (trying to burn up as much vacation as possible before his last day....today!!!). We had a lazy morning together doing nothing but eating cinnamon rolls and reading books.
She already has the school girl attitude going on....I won't let her know, but it looks SO cute!
The big girl (mommy, not Delaney) was rewarded with ColdStone. I didn't cry at all until we were sitting there eating ice cream and she was talking about everything she had done and all of her new friends. Then, all of a sudden, she was really big stuff and I hadn't witnessed anything that she was talking about. I didn't even know those kids (luckily I know her teacher).
I was very worried about how Carson was going to handle it. On the first day, we went shopping after we dropped her off and then we went home, played Slap Jack (his favorite game), and he took a nap. We had to wake him to go pick Delaney up. He listened to all of her stories with great interest. The second day he was a little bit whinier, but he also had spent the morning with his best buddy Sawyer, so he might have just been more clingy b/c he hadn't been with me the whole morning. We'll see how next week goes when we get into some sort of a routine. Matt also starts his new job on Monday, so we'll be adjusting to a new schedule there too....when it rains, it pours!

IN State Fair

Welcome to August in Indiana...the State Fair! This year was double exciting...fried food and Carrie Underwear!! They had the wonderful Wonder Trail set up that took the kids on a farming adventure. In the end they earned paper money for everything they had collected and were able to buy a snack. They each bought a granola bar...that was the absolute healthiest thing they consumed the entire day!!!

After taking in all of the animals and dinner (corn dogs, shakes, ice cream, funnel cake, pork chop, popcorn...do you feel like you are going to explode yet, because we did!!), we found our seats for the Carrie Underwear concert. Delaney was VERY excited...so excited she turned into a crazy maniac girl and wiggled around all over my mom. I believe my mom compared it to wrestling a greased pig :-) The kids were awesome during the concert. Carson played the air guitar and Delaney sang along and danced. About 15 minutes before the concert was over Carson fell asleep in my arms. I love moments like that, so I didn't complain in the least. After the concert the three of us shared an orange shake-up (I highly recommend) and then we headed for home. Much to our dismay, the kids still woke up between 7 and 8 o'clock even though they didn't get into bed until almost midnight...why, oh why?!?

It's August, really?!?

Where does time go? It seems like just yesterday that Matt and I got married and we just celebrated 8 wonderful years! It also seems like just days ago that we brought our precious little bundles home from the hospital and now we're gearing up for the start of preschool. All of this is scary and exciting at the same time.

We celebrated Matt's birthday in July. We bought him funny presents from the $ store (a snake b/c he hates them, those silly glasses with the nose and mustache on them, and a Suduko book...we had to throw in something useful!) and took him to dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Delaney (and I) thought it would be fun to dress up for the occasion, so we straightened her hair and put on cute clothes!!

We were able to spend some time with our friends, the Billingtons, that live in Quebec. It is very fun for me to see Joel, their youngest, playing with my kids b/c they were some of our teen leaders when I was in high school. Joel is sandwiched right between our two age wise. It is also sad, in another "time flies" kind of way, to see their oldest, Sam, reading books with Delaney. I remember when he was little and we used to read to him....now he's the big kid!!!

On Saturday morning we woke up and decided it would be fun to do something different. So, we put on play clothes and loaded into the car for a trip to Brownsburg. I had been to a really cool park there with our cousins and decided it would be fun to take Matt. So, we drove there, played for a few hours, had lunch at a little hole in the wall sub shop, and then headed home by way of a few stores. It was a fun morning! Delaney and I went shopping in the afternoon while the boys rested. What fun to be a girl!!

Names

The other morning Carson and I were having our typical bonding time (he is my early riser). Over our coffee and juice (and snuggling) he started an interesting, and then funny, conversation. They went to Vacation Bible School last week at the church we've been attending and they were learning a lot of new songs there. They asked us to buy a CD of the songs on Wednesday night, so we did. They taught us all 10 of the songs, with the motions for most of them, by Thursday afternoon. One of the songs says "Jesus Christ" in it, so Carson asked me if Jesus' name was just Jesus or if it was Jesus Christ.

The conversation went something like this:
"Why does that song say Jesus Christ? He's just Jesus."
"He has more than one name, buddy. Your name is Carson what?"
"Carson James"
"Carson James what?"
"Dillard"
"Okay, so like you have more than just Carson as your name, so did Jesus. But we don't always call you Carson James Dillard, right?"
"Yeah"
"What is my name?"
"Mommy"
"What is my REAL name?"
"Mommy James Tooley"

I don't know why I found that so adorable, but it was said in the most serious of tones...he was convinced that was my name! What a cutie!!!

Regatta '08

For the 4th of July weekend we headed down to Madison (Matt's hometown) to enjoy the Regatta festivities. Matt's grandmother graciously allowed us to borrow her apartment which is just steps from the parade route and blocks from the river where the fireworks, boat races, and food vendors are located. We started Friday off with a trip down to the river to show the kids the boats. Carson hadn't taken a nap yet, so he fell asleep in my arms while we were walking. I found someplace to sit and Matt went to get snacks for us. The parade was that evening. We watched it with all of Matt's family. It was very fun, but kind of long!!

On Saturday we decided to take a downtown Madison tour...courtesy of Matt. We went to see the fountain, some historic homes, a train caboose, and ate some donuts. That afternoon we walked down to the river again, this time with strollers so Carson could fall asleep there. Saturday night were the fireworks. As we were headed back up to the apartment to get the blanket and bug spray Delaney asked if we had popcorn to eat during the fireworks. We didn't have any, so we stopped off at the grocery store and bought some to microwave before heading back down. We popped 3 regular size bags of popcorn and she ate an entire bag alone....I guess she really wanted popcorn. She was a little hesitant of the fireworks at first, but with some convincing (they were not going to fall on her and burn her), she enjoyed them. Car on the other hand was NOT a fan of fireworks. He sat cuddled up on my lap with my hand over his ear so that he couldn't hear them. If I tried to move my hand to talk to him it was quickly slammed back down. I did finally turn him so he could see them and he stayed that way.

Sunday was the day for the boat races. They were delayed and then there was so much time between the heats it was ridiculous. Then they were delayed again......and again.....so we decided to go ahead home. Car fell asleep on our way back up to the apartment to gather up our stuff, so we laid him down on the air mattress to sleep while Matt loaded the car and I gathered everything up.

HA!

Some things are just too cute to not share! Carson has become an early riser (6:45 or 7am) lately. Well, I am constantly trying to get him to go back to bed using, "It isn't wake up time yet." Matt has been home later in the mornings, so if he sees Matt up he is certain it is time to GO! This morning he woke up at 6:50, but Matt was already in the kitchen and I caught him in the hall, so I thought I had the perfect plan. I told him it wasn't wake up time and he consented to go back to bed....in our bed. I agreed and let him lay down while I worked some more. After about 25 quiet minutes I could hear him in the bathroom. When I went in to check on him, he said (are you ready for this?), "My pee told me it was wake up time, okay?" He had the CUTEST look on his face while he said it.....so, we cuddled for a long time in the living room chair while drinking juice/coffee and watching the morning news.

And, as if that story isn't enough, I think I'll attach a picture that is also too cute to keep to myself. I bought these shoes for $2 at Children's Place and figured Matt would hate them. Matt thought they were okay, but Car thought they were TOO handsome! I don't think he'll wear that outfit with them, but I can hardly wait to find the perfect pants.

A Day at the Museum

Matt was able to take a half day from work to spend the day at the museum with us. We met him in the parking garage, the kids had no idea he was going to show up, so that made it even more fun...they didn't even know where we were going until I drove past the dinosaurs coming out of the building. They have a new animation exhibit and a comic book area, so Car really wanted Matt to see the Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and any other kind of man you can think of pictures! We had a ton of fun!! Delaney had a great time drawing and coloring in the comic book area and Carson loved to play memory in the dinosaur area. He does not like to go in where the dinosaurs are (they are too loud for him), so we sat out at the play table where there is a computer with dinosaur memory on it. By the 5th game he was doing an excellent job...and just as an fyi, the cards were not in the same place every time!!

Wonderful IN summer weather

One day last week we woke up to a wonderful summer day. So, we decided to take advantage of it. Before breakfast we filled up the little plastic pool (you know, so it could warm up while we ate...HA). The kids had SO much fun outside! They played in the water, squirted me with water guns, and ran all over the backyard. I did not require the water wings that Carson is wearing, he loved them and refused to take them off...hilarious tan lines, but he's 3, he doesn't care! He also learned to jump like a frog from standing outside the pool to inside the pool. It was very interesting to watch him try and try and finally master it. Probably not the safest idea, but he was so determined I couldn't burst his little bubble. Plus, Delaney couldn't figure out how to do it, so that made it an even more wonderful experience for him.

Carson's big day

Lucky for us, the PBS Kids Park (as Carson referred to it) happened to fall right on his birthday! So, as the announcer on the TV told him, he could go see all of his favorite friends in the park. Per the birthday boys request, we headed downtown to see all of his friends! It was a hot day and there were so many people it was crazy! Luckily our kids didn't want to have their pictures taken with the characters, they just wanted to take pictures of all of the characters...yeah!!! No 45 minute lines to stand with the character for 30 seconds and be scooted away so the next child had their turn. We took lots of pictures from the side of the tents that the characters were in. They also had a bounce house and other blow up things that Delaney thoroughly enjoyed....Carson isn't as adventurous yet when it comes to unfamiliar territory.

For dinner we headed to Chick-fil-a so he could play at the playland...and, yes Shannon, he came down all on his own (with the promise of cake when we got home).

He's 3 now....my baby is 3...doesn't seem possible.