Tae Kwon Do

Friday is John's 1st promotion test in Tae Kwon Do. If he passes he will go from a white belt, to a yellow stripe. At this point, I'm not sure if he will pass or not. He knows all of the required moves, but he also needs to know how to count to 10 in Korean, memorize and repeat a "home rule". We have been practicing, but it doesn't seem to be clicking yet. Here are a few pics of him showing off his skills.

Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday, Mike and I took the kids to a friends lake house for the day. It was only about an hour away, so it was a prefect day trip for the kids. We arrived around lunchtime and had a nice picnic lunch outside. After eating, we all took a pontoon boat ride around the lake. It was so nice, and Mike and I were actually talking about getting a place there. Probably just with a camper at first, but eventually a house. During the boat ride we came up to a little playground, so Mike and the kids got off to play while I got to sit and relax in the boat. After playing around for a little while we headed back to the house so the boys could go fishing. John caught one little fish, but unfortunately I was up on the deck and couldn't get a picture before they threw it back in. The girls stayed up with me and had a great time going person to person seeing who they could mooch food off of. John had a fun surprise visitor. Our friend's nephew is one of the assistants in John's Tae Kwon Do class, so he was very excited to see Mr. Tyler outside of class. Surprisingly, the girls actually laid down for a short nap in the afternoon, and Mike and his friends took a few rides on the bar stool carts. To me, these look like an accident waiting to happen, but I guess boys will be boys. John DID NOT ride them, but had fun posing on them for pictures. :) After a long day of fun and sunshine, we headed back home. I really hope we get to go back again this summer, once the lake has warmed up a little so we can go swimming!

singing songs and having fun

Tuesday was John's last day of preschool this year. They ended the year with a concert for the parents of songs they have learned throughout the year. Here is John singing a few.

Today was the school picnic. They rent out a pavilion in a nearby park and have a potluck lunch. The kids get to run around with their friends and play on the playground, and the parents get to sit in the shade and snack and talk. It is really such a nice enjoyable day for everyone. This year they even had the sprinkler on, so we came home with a soaking wet little boy. Next year I need to remember to bring a swimsuit, or at least a towel.

My gosh, I think he looks so grown up in this picture!

Natalie making cheesy faces for the camera.

We don't have a whole lot planned for the summer yet. Last year John did 5 weeks of camp at the preschool, but it just made those weeks so hectic trying to get everyone ready and out the door everyday, that we only signed him up for one this year. It is Dinosaur camp though, so he should really enjoy it. I'm hoping to get to the lake a time or two, and Mike wants to take John fishing around here more this year. I'm sure we'll find something to occupy our time. :)

Life Lessons

An important lesson was learned by John today. When sitting down to go potty, if you realize you also have to pee, either stand up, or point your boy business down. We had pee EVERYWHERE!

I scream. You scream.

We all scream for ice cream! The girls got to tag along to John's 1st field trip at preschool.

Think we can make it to preschool injury free?

No pictures today, just an update.

John had his adenoids removed on Friday, as well as tubes put in his ears again. This was after another 4 month span of ear infections. He was SO cranky after the surgery. He cried and cried for well over an hour. After getting home and taking a nap he was perfectly fine. He didn't even want any tylenol. I obviously don't know if it has helped with ear infections yet, but it has definitely helped his snoring. I used to be able to sit in the living room, watching tv, and hear him snoring and breathing from his room down the hall. Now he is silent. It actually kind of freaks me out and I have to keep checking that he is breathing because I was so used to the noise.

Rebecca had a spill on Tuesday and hit her forehead on some bricks and ended up having to have the wound glued shut. Both she and Natalie were screaming at the doctor's office before anything even happened. I guess they associate it with getting shots. She is fine though. It is super hard to give a 2 year old a bath without getting her forehead wet though. Her's looks like it healing much better than John's head injury did though, so I don't think she'll have much of a scar if anything. Now Natalie just needs to bust her head so all of my kids can match. I swear CPS is going to come knocking on my door one day if the kids don't learn a little balance soon!

Mike and I had been contemplating sending the girls to preschool next year, but didn't know if we wanted to pay for all 3 to be in school, or just wait until the next year when John would be in elementary school. I had discussed it with the preschool director and she was adamant that she wanted the girls there. :) They come with me to drop of John, so all the teachers have gotten to know them and they are very comfortable there. In fact it is a screaming fit to get them to leave. I told the director about the financial aspect of having all 3 kids there at one time and she told me we would work something out. Well she certainly did! It is supposed to cost $110 per girl next year and she is letting both of them come for $150 total! There is no way I could pass that up, so next year I will have 2 mornings a week all to myself and 1 morning with just the girls (since John will be going 3 days a week). Is it bad that I already have their 1st day of school outfits picked out and hanging up in their closet and this school year hasn't even ended yet? :)

Disney Cruise - Day 4

On Day 4 John actually slept in, so I stayed with him while Mike went to find himself breakfast. Once John woke up he and I headed to the buffet again to eat. We sat with another mom and her little girl. This was their 7th Disney Cruise and they said they will never go on another cruise line again. We talked a little about all the fun things we had done, and then John and I left to go find Mike. Trying to find someone on a cruise ship is very hard. We finally gave up and headed back to the room to out on swimsuits and wait to see if Mike would come back to the room. Luckily, he had the same idea and was already there when we walked in. We got suited up and headed to the Mickey Pool. John did the slide a few more times while I watched with jealousy. :) We finally got John to go back to the Goofy Pool with us so that we could fully submerge our adult selves. 1 foot of water in the Mickey Pool doesn't go very far in trying to cool off a grown up. After lunch, and a bit of a fit from John because they didn't have peanut butter and jelly (sleep deprivation was starting to kick in) we went back to the cabin for a quick nap. The only nap of the entire trip for him. Amazingly he fell asleep quickly, and we just hung out and watched a little TV. Once he awoke he went to Kids Club again while Mike and I went to the adults only area. We met a few people and were amazed at how many adults go on Disney Cruises without any children. After an hour or so we picked John back up and walked around a little inside taking pictures. We had so many people coming up to us and asking if we'd like them to take a picture with all 3 of us in it, but unfortunately most of them didn't turn out well. There was a performance called Friendship Rocks that was taking place in the theater that all the kids who had participated in Kids Club were going to be in. We took John down, got his t-shirt, and then he threw an absolute hissy fit because he didn't want to do it. Hey, at least he got the free t-shirt right? It was almost time for dinner anyway, so we headed back to the room, got our bags together and out in the hallway for pickup, and went to Animators Palate for dinner. In this restaurant everything is black and white, and as the meal progresses color comes into all the pictures on the walls. The photos don't do it justice at all. It was pretty neat. After dinner we did a little more swimming and John did a little more Kids Club. When we went to get him he didn't want to leave, but bribing him with ice cream and movie on deck worked. This time we were really prepared and got a big blanket from the room to cover up with instead of towels. It gets a little windy up on deck at night. We settled in to watch The Incredibles. I had never seen it before, so even after John fell asleep I just laid there with him to finish it out.

The next morning we had to disembark and unfortunately had the earliest breakfast assignment. 6:30 am!! Our wakeup call came at 5:45, ugh, and we dragged ourselves out of bed, got our carry-on bags together and headed back to Animators Palate for breakfast. After eating we were immediately herded to the shuttle bus to go to the airport. We arrived in Orlando at around 9:00 and our flight back home wasn't until 2:30! So, we spent 6 1/2 hours exploring all the wonders of the Orlando Airport. Thank goodness John was in a good mood. As soon as we got on the plane he passed out and didn't wake up until we landed back home. We quickly got our baggage and headed to my mom's house to pick up the girls. I had imagined us walking in and the girls screaming and running into my arms. Well, that's not how it went. When I walked in, Rebecca yelled, "Chelsey!" Then they both just stared at me and Mike. Natalie got fussy and ran over to my mom. Finally Rebecca came over and gave me a hug. Natalie took about 10 minutes to warm up to me! It was really quite sad and kind of hurt my feelings. All is well now though. They love us again.

Disney Cruise - Day 3

On Day 3 we woke up and headed to one of the restaurants for breakfast. After breakfast we walked around the boat a little and saw Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) in the distance. It was gorgeous! Once we got to port we disembarked and headed to the family beach. We passed Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean on the way, but John didn't want to go near him to get a pictures. (side note - Missy, he looked just like Johnny Depp, so I highly recommend you go on a Disney Cruise for this fact alone) Once at the beach we slathered on the sunscreen, got a few beverages, and played in the sand. John built quite a few sand castles and did some shell collecting. There was a big play structure in the water, but again, John didn't want to do that so we stuck to the beach. There was a big BBQ for lunch so we retreated to the shade to eat and then John went to Kids Club for a bit. Here, they had Kids Club on the island, so we didn't have to go back to the ship. Mike and I then went over to the adults only beach. It was so nice and calm. I got to spend a little time in a hammock until it just got too hot, so I met Mike down on the beach. We sat there with our feet in the ocean for so long just talking and sunning ourselves. The shells there were much better than those at the family beach so we collected some to take back to John, as well as a tiny crab we found. We had an adult beverage or two and then headed back to pick up John to have some more fun on the family side of the island. They had tubes for rent, but by the time we wanted one most of them had been abandoned on the beach, so we just took one and off we went. John was fine for a minute or two, but I guess relaxing is not really his thing, because he wanted off pretty quickly. We stayed there until we had to be back aboard at 5:00. Then we headed to Triton's for our pirate dinner. We all had eye patches and John had a hook. Some families really got into the pirate theme with complete costumes for the entire family. We were not that prepared. :) After dinner we went up on deck for the Pirates IN the Caribbean Party. There were "good" pirates on stage along with Goofy, Minnie, and all the characters (except Mickey) singing songs and dancing. Then the "bad" pirates came and tried to take over the party, but Mickey saved the day. He came down from the top of one of the stacks on a zip line down to the stage. John was very impressed. He also really like the fireworks they set off. After some more dancing we grabbed a lounge chair, and some more ice cream, and settled in to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on the jumbotron on deck. Again, John lasted until about 11:30 until he passed out. He actually slept through us putting his pajamas on him and putting him to bed.

Disney Cruise - Day 2

Monday morning we woke up and were in Nassau, Bahamas. We went to the buffet for breakfast and quickly changed into our swimsuits to meet up for our Blackbeards Cay Beach and Stingray Adventure. We disembarked the ship and took a little walk through Nassau to a smaller boat that took us out to Blackbeards Cay. Once there we got our snorkeling equipment and headed to the stingray beach. The water was way to chilly to actually snorkel, although there were a few brave souls that hopped in. We basically just waded in the water as stingrays swam around us. John and I both got to pet one, but none of them ever came close enough to Mike. They were very slimy feeling, and much bigger than I had anticipated. John wasn't very interested in them, so we took him over to the regular beach. He was amazed seeing the ocean for the first time. It was so fun to watch him run in and then scurry away from the waves coming in. He had a few falls, but just got right back up and kept going. At one point he decided to throw sand all over himself, and man, that stuff stuck! It took 2 days to get all the sand off his scalp. Even a shower and rubbing his head with a washcloth didn't help. Luckily he didn't end up with any in his eyes, although I don't know how. There was a small playground that kept him occupied while Mommy and Daddy had a drink at the bar. When he came over to join us the bartender made him a virgin strawberry dacquiri (sp?) that he devoured and refused to share. We just basically spent the day lounging in the sun, playing in the water, and slathering our little albino boy in sunscreen. We had lunch at the island and then headed back to the little boat to take us back to Nassau around 4:30. Once back we didn't spend any time there and just got back on the ship. John played in the Mickey Pool and then decided he wanted to try the Goofy Pool. We walked over and John just stepped right in and sunk to the bottom! He didn't realize it was deeper, so after that scare he was done with the Goofy Pool and refused to go in even with Mike and me. That night Mike and I had reservations at the adults only restaurant, Palo, so we went back to the room to get pretty. As we were leaving the room to take John to get an early dinner the counselors from Kids Club were walking down our hall to take the kids to dinner, so we just sent John with them. It was great timing. Our dinner at Palo was delicious. Definitely the best meal of the trip. After dinner we let John stay in Kids Club for a little bit while we hung out in the adults only area of the ship. That night they were showing Mary Poppins on the big jumbotron over the pool, so we got John, a couple bowls of ice cream, and headed up to grab a lounge chair. John made it until about 11:00 and then was sound asleep in my lap. So that was the end of day 2.