The Beach Beginning

Lance once told me he thinks people feel a sense of accomplishment when they "make it" to the Beach. There's just something about the Sea air, the sound of the waves and the way it goes on and on and on as far as you can see.

We all feel that sense of achievement today...so much so that sleep is hard to come by as the excitement of vacation is finally here.

When we arrived at the condo today, some strange (and sudden) sense of maturity overtook Lyla. She dumped all her clothes on the floor and began unpacking, putting things in her dresser.











She told us that she didn't need to wear swimmies in the pool as she is now almost 5. She was so upset when we told her that swimmies are a must (particularly given that she can't swim completely).

We spent some time at the indoor water slides - Lyla loves the 3 ft. pool because she can walk anywhere without swimmies.

I'm relieved that Cade agreed to his ear plugs for a while...and then he wanted to go "building" in the sand. So, I took Cade while Lyla went down the water slide with Daddy.

The sea was even more mystic through the eyes of Cade.












He loved building with his new shovels and pails. The beauty of the experience was in moments like when he looked up at me and said, "We're having some 'boy time', Mommy." - an expression he usually reserves just for Daddy.

We played in the sand for awhile, and I asked him if he wanted to go into the ocean, expecting him to say no. Instead, I was met with an emphatic, "Yes!" - as he threw his shovel down. He held my hand, walked straight into the ocean with his sweet little feet and erupted into a fit of belly laughs when he felt the waves removing the sand from beneath his feet.

It was one of the sweetest moments I've ever experienced with him.

Later, he returned to building sand castles, burying Mommy's feet and pretending that he was the firefighter to rescue me:












As if life couldn't get any sweeter, I then heard, "Mommy!!!" I looked up and saw our sweet girl running toward us telling me all about her fun with Daddy:

- "We went down the slide, Mommy!"
-"We went in the lazy river!"
-"It was so fun!"

Lyla was more interested in the ocean tonight than ever before - we had to drag her out - she loved the waves.












The Beach is magical with these 2.

And my heart is so full of love for these 2 and their amazing Daddy that it just might burst!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Myrtle Beach

Almost here !

We're almost here! That was a crazy ride! I am an exhausted cruise director after entertaining these 2 wedged between the car seats. Here's some favorite things they worked on:

Lyla's phonics game:




Cade's robot drawing:




And...looking for the ocean (or the Sea as I prefer to call it):







Can't believe we've almost made it!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Myrtle Beach!

Myrtle Beach Day 2

That was a crazy night. Getting these 2 settled down at 10:30 pm was not an easy task - Cade insisted on being rocked to sleep, and Lyla followed by asking if she could be rocked too. After approximately 5 seconds of rocking, she said, "Mommy, I'm done rocking. I'm too big for this."

Between this one "laughing like a hyena" (Daddy's words) at 4 am in her sleep:







And this one rolling off the bed at 3 am with a huge THUMP....







...it was a pretty crazy night.

Lance actually jumped out of bed at 8 am unprompted by me or an alarm clock (something that NEVER happens unless we're on vacation), and we're now back on the road. The kids slept in and had to be awakened for baths.

They managed to pick up a few rocks for the road:








Lyla told Daddy she's going to have a "collection of junk" by the time she gets home.

She's been so busy playing with a $3 mermaid we bought yesterday that we've decided it may have been the best trip investment so far. She says she's not going to get the mermaid wet - she's just going to hold it over the ocean water and use its reflection to attract a mermaid "to talk to". I love this girl's thought processes.

Cade is asking, "Mommy, can we go to the Beach now?"

4 more hours to go....

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:I-20 E

Myrtle Beach Day 1

This was one of the best (and only) photos of the day. It depicts us finally moving after sitting for over 4 hours after encountering a huge plume of smoke in the sky from 2 tractor trailers who hit each other. The accident involved other cars, fatalities and a huge chemical clean up.







Obviously, we didn't make our 250 mile marker we wanted to make, but we're so grateful that this is as close as we came to the accident.

Magical moments today came in the form of our family working through several incidents to get us this far - from dealing with Mommy's headache medicine before we left Louisville to getting the car packed and ready to go last night, thanks in large part to Mimi.

The best moments are always the ones you don't plan for:
-Cade getting to walk up close to a "big rig" when he got to get out of the car during our stand still time on 1-75.
-Lyla's affinity for her new kindergarten books and her excitement about learning.
-Learning, firsthand, what awesome travelers our kids are - they can make the most of anything. Lyla peed in a pull-up while we were stuck in traffic, and Cade made friends with the UPS semi driver, Steve. These 2 love travelling, no matter how dismal the situation.
-Cade has a snout unlike anyone I've ever known. He smells everything before anyone else (including Daddy's gas), and I don't know how many times I've heard him say today, "What's that smell?!"

Classic quotes:
-Cade to Mimi, explaining the traffic incident: "Mimi, we're trapped."
-Lyla to Cade during a play yes/no fight: "Isn't it funny that we're arguing, Cade?"
-Lyla: "I was just 2 when you were born Cade, but I didn't tear things up."

So...day 1 of vacation will end at a hotel just outside of Asheville. 350 miles to go tomorrow. Can't wait to play more of Lyla's new version of I-spy using phonics! :)

Addendum: It's now 10:22 pm. After an impromptu (and gross) dinner at McDonald's, we are driving to Asheville as our original hotel spot was full except for smoking rooms. Both kids medicated and clothed in pjs in parking lot. Still in good spirits...and awake.

314 miles to go...

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:The Road

Our Fairy Garden

Today, we worked on a Fairy Garden. We went to Home Depot and purchased several succulents and ivy…and Lyla and Cade insisted that they also needed to include a cactus each. Lyla said that she wanted to make the garden ready for any desert fairies that might appear. 

She was very serious about her work and wants everything to be just so so:

The finished product - Cade’s green cactus is on the left, and Lyla’s purple is on the right. She says that the ivy will provide a wall for the fairies to fly into the pot as they might needs some shelter from the rain. 

Cade, on the other hand, was not so committed to a perfect Fairy Garden, much to Lyla’s consternation. He prefers to throw the shells and rocks as opposed to creating a staircase for the fairies, like his sister wants. He finally opted to go his own way:

In other news around here, we are frantically trying to help Lyla mend her injured toe in time for our trip to Myrtle Beach. She spends quiet time with her toe “exposed” trying to give it some air with no bandage. We’re hopeful that it will be mended by the time we leave so swimming time won’t be affected. What a week it’s been around here! We’ve dealt Daddy’s tailbone and Lyla’s toe, and….Mommy had to have a tooth extracted earlier this week!

Here’s to hoping things calm down in time for vacation! PLEASE!!!

Summer Days

Someone once said that this period of life is characterized by long days and short years. As we sit here tonight on the eve of the first day of school for Oldham County, I’m forced to consider that this time next year, Lance I will be awaiting the first day of school for our kindergartner tomorrow morning. This time next year will be Kindergarten Eve for us, which seems impossible to even fathom. 

Where has the time gone? I know it’s cliche, but really, just yesterday I was bundled up in a warm old house in Cincinnati watching Lance trudge off to work while I held our baby in my arms. I just can’t believe it. 

We are 8 days away from our family beach vacation to Myrtle Beach, and Lyla cut her foot yesterday in a freak, random walk around the neighborhood on the sidewalk. Here, Lance is bandaging it for her. I felt so happy when this happened to have him here to take care of everything. It’s just such a source of security. 

Times are pretty crazy around here - today we dealt with a massive breakdown following a play date at Karalee’s when I refused to let Lyla carry home 8 of her rocks from her rock path. She completely lost it in a way I haven’t seen her lose it in months. I don’t know if it’s fatigue or end of summer burnout - I think it’s time to return to a schedule and routine, and let’s face it, these two need a break from each other. 

Cade E. Bugg is quite the mess these days. He thrives on tearing things apart, driving everyone crazy through hitting, kicking, aggravating…I often don’t know what we’re going to do with him. 

Yesterday, he announced to the ear doctor who was looking at his ear tubes (and incidentally, removed the one from the right ear) that Daddy has a sore on his bottom - a reference to a cyst on Daddy’s tail bone we’ve been dealing with the last few days. He also yelled this information across the street to a neighbor yesterday. 

Most of the time he’s endearing, hilarious and just plain entertaining, but sometimes…he tests every ounce of patience in my tired body. And I’m so tired these days. 

He’ll start 2 day 2’s after Labor Day. I think he’s ready. I think we’re all ready. 

I think.

I know that once we begin, it will be with bittersweetness….our babies are growing up. I sure do love these 2. 

Even through the fatigue and loss of patience, I know the house will be too quiet when they are gone to preschool, and I know I’ll be so grateful to bring them home where they belong. 

Happy First Birthday Bodhi!

I was able to take a lot of photos today - and it was a great day. We had so much fun with the Hottman’s celebrating Bodhi’s first Birthday. I can’t believe it’s been a year since he joined our family - it’s just so amazing to think that so much time has passed already. He is a real light amongst us - such a happy boy! It’s going to be really interesting to watch him grow over the next year. 

Our day started with Rebecca’s Little Man theme - oh, how I love a summer birthday party!

The Birthday Boy:

Face painting with Uncle Kip - our family is so lucky to have such a talented face painter: 

I haven’t seen Cade sit this still in a very long time, if ever. He originally wanted a full-on tiger face, but we talked him into a more reasonable version: 

Uncle Kip did a great job!

Lyla sweetly held Isa’s hair back while she got her sparkly butterfly. I’m so overwhelmed with pride at Lyla’s innate sweetness. She is such a kind, thoughtful little girl: 

Lyla was thrilled with her sparkly, purple unicorn: 

Our August Birthday Boys: 

We were so happy that Daddy stopped in for a few minutes on his way to work to wish Bodhi a happy 1st: 

Our sweet girl preparing for her first real potato sack race. She did a great job!

Cade was more interested in wearing this green balloon until he popped it on the grass. He was not happy about that.

The race begins: 

The race:

Cade likes playing in Isabella’s sandbox. Unfortunately, he also likes throwing sand all over the yard, despite numerous redirections. Ergh!

The kids were thrilled about the piñata - although it was a bit difficult to break: 

I’m not sure what Isa is telling Emory, but it appears she has some pretty serious piñata advice: 

Emory attempts: 

Blaire attempts:

Isabella attempts: 

Lyla attempts: 

The kids wait and wait - I think they’re looking pretty tired here: 

The piñata was ultimately broken by the Birthday Boy and his Mommy.

Cade was thrilled with his candy bag: 

Bodhi and his birthday cupcake. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

We attempted family photos - Don and I switched off to take these. It was a pain getting everyone together, but I know we’ll be glad we did someday. :)

Here are a few of my favorites of the Birthday Boy in his Birthday Suit: 

And, then there’s our sweet Cade E. Bugg - he’s quite a talker these days. Here, he’s showing Nonnie his new school back pack: 

I’m not sure what he’s saying here, but I love Uncle David’s reaction. Cade really is very humorous these days in his observations of the world.

Incidentally, a new favorite expression is his use of the word “very”: “I very want it, Mommy! Please!!” I know it won’t be long until the very is replaced by really, but I love every time I hear it in the meantime. 

 

It was a great afternoon - I’m so glad we could all be together. The kids were exhausted from having such special time together. 

Happy Birthday, Baby Bodhi! We “very" love you!