Swimming Lessons

After completing a week of swimming lessons, the kids are advancing their skills. Kenzie is getting more confident of her skills. She is practicing swimming underwater while the instructor is working with other kids. What a great example of independence and how to further your skills in life!

Kaleb is finally loosening the choke hold he has on me while we are in the pool. Yesterday she introduced a bench that the kids can stand on in the water if they are tall enough. Kaleb is and his skills have improved just from adding the bench. There are fewer "No Mama, No Mama, No Mama" squeals coming from our end of the pool.

They are enjoying it so much, they may get another 2 week session so they can be lifetime water bugs.

Hoping for a great weekend with lots of options on the table for activities. I hope you choose something to do as a family this weekend.

More Vacation!

We spent lots of time walking up the beach to find shells. There was a great place where the shells were collecting on a shelf underwater. When the tide went out it was easy pickin's on the shells.

As I was walking the beach I began to think of how brief life is. That one day we are walking along and then then next we are gone. We are like footprints in the sand. We make a brief impression on our world and then we are gone. Within a few years traces of our life has faded. A few more, and all remembrance of our life is gone. Just like the footprints in the sand. The first wave fades the prints, the second completely removes them. Watching the waves dance in and out sweeping the beach clean of footprints, reminded me how fragile and precious life is. I realized that I want to spend more time in the moment and do things instead of waiting for another day. I am going to try to do things just because instead of waiting for a special occasion. I really enjoyed this vacation and the time that I got to spend with the kids.

McKenzie's Footprints



McKaleb's Footprints


Looking for the perfect shell



Outside the Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach



On the third evening, we ate at the Sea Captains House. It was a different experience. We waited for about 45 minutes, but the kids were entertained by the chess set and the beautiful lawn that overlooks the beach. McKenzie thought that the waiter, whose name was Nick, might have been Nick Jonas in costume. He did have slightly curly hair, but.... When Nanny asked him if he was Nick Jonas, he replied that he wasn't. He had heard of the Jonas Brothers, but other than that had no idea who they were. He was a little old to be a part of the Disney crowd.

McKenzie had a ball pretending to be organizing her own Camp Rock experience. She registered all her campers and sent them to their cabins to get ready to practice for Final Jam. She is a great little organizer.

Kaleb was content to play ball and jump off of the beds while she was trying to keep her campers in line. He is working hard on potty training too! Hopefully we will be dry during the day by his birthday!! He wants to be a big boy so badly!

Vacation!!!

This was the first vacation that I had taken in 4 years. The last time I was at Myrtle Beach, I stayed at the Captain's Quarters. At that time life looked a little more like this:





Life was simpler and happier then.

Four years had changed my family and the resort. There were subtle changes that I couldn't put my finger on while I was there, but pictures show the changes quite well.

My Kenzie has grown and changed so much during the past 4 years. We have also added a little man to our home. Kaleb is just a little older than Kenzie was when I went on my last vacation. His reaction to the beach and water at his age is much different than McKenzie's was. She jumped in the pool without fear and almost drowned. She has done it a couple of times since then too! McKaleb won't get in the pool without clinging for dear life. You couldn't pry him off without a crowbar, lots of grease and even then, you would have a hard time.

Our first day on the beach was short. The kids picked up a few shells and put their feet in. The water was really cool around 8:00 am. We stayed on the beach for about 45 minutes to an hour before we went to the pool. We also found the outdoor lazy river that I didn't discover on my last trip. The outdoor lazy river was a gold mine. It was located at the North campus of the hotel. The North campus had a pool, a baby pool and a hot tub. It was practically deserted all week. We ended up spending most of our time doing this.



At the end of our first full day we at at Joe's Crab Shack. It was a great experience for me and for the kids. Kaleb was enthralled by the decor of the shark eating the man hanging from the ceiling. He counted the crabs on the wall. Kenzie loved the dancing that occurred every 20 minutes or so.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel for more swimming. Kaleb fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and slept until the next morning. He slept over 12 hours!!! He was really tired from all that playing in the water.

BTW - The kids are feeling better after day on the antibiotics.

Where did we go?

I still haven't gotten around to getting the graduation pictures from my dad. It has been a busy week.

We left out of Knoxville on Saturday around 8:00 am to go to Myrtle Beach. It was a very interesting trip. On Thursday before we left, Kaleb woke up from his nap with a fever. He went to the doctor the next morning. Dr. Ruth found blisters on his throat. Yikes! He tested Kaleb for Strep, but the quick test came up negative. Boy was he surprised. He graciously checked Kenzie's throat to see if she was ill as well. She looked fine......at the time.

Later that night, she started running a fever and complaining of a sore throat. Saturday morning before we left, I called the dr's office. After a little manipulation....I got them to call her in an antibiotic. Whew! Step one complete. We can leave town and get the meds upon our arrival in Myrtle Beach.

It was a long trip. Kenzie is now old enough to ask "How much longer?" We told her "20 more minutes," the entire way. Just like our parents did when we were kids.

On our stop for lunch, we stopped at the McDonalds from !@#!$!#. There was only one employee who was remotely nice. They didn't have any decaffinated drinks, no water at the lobby drink station, and I got attitude for asking for a water that I had paid for. Kenzie ordered a milkshake for her sore throat. That McD's would have been a good place for a restaurant. Their ice cream machine was broken. So she ordered a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie. We got a Strawberry Smoothie with lots of attitude. Apparently it doesn't actually come with a banana in it even though the sign on the menu advertised an entire banana in the smoothie. There went $2.71 down the drain. Kenzie wouldn't drink it since she couldn't taste the banana.

Eight long hours later, we reached our destination. We unloaded the car and went to dinner. We ate at a great new place called "The Fish House." I assume it was new because the hardwood floors were gleaming and you could still smell the paint drying. The food hush puppies we light and sweet. A perfect precursor to the meal to follow. I had a wonderful deviled crab and boiled shrimp. They even brought the kids a small dish of ice cream after the meal. The ice cream tasted like cool whip. It was a great way to redeem the horrible lunch experience.

We went back to the Captain's Quarters and went swimming in the indoor pool since it was a little chilly and windy. We crashed after a long day of travel.



You can tell in this picture how badly Kenzie feels by looking at those eyes of hers. She has such beautiful eyes.

More photos of our vacation to come soon. We had a great time inspite of the crazy start. Hope you had a fun week too!

Graduation Day Videos!

I took a few videos on graduation day. It was a very emotional night. I almost lost it several times, but I held it together. It is, after all, only Kindergarten, right? I have a wonderful girl. She is the best. I will add pictures later when I get them as my dad is holding them hostage. Just kidding. I did the video and dad (who is an amazing photographer who needs to teach me a thing or two about taking photos) took the photos so we were covered.

Here are a few of the videos from the night. Enjoy!

Graduation Day!

Monday is McKenzie's Kindergarten graduation. I can't believe that she has completed Kindergarten already. It seems like just yesterday that I was changing her diaper. She is so excited about 1st grade and summer vacation. Not necessarily in that order.

She has grown up so much this year. She is becoming such a wonderful girl. She is a great help to me here at home. She is sweet and kind and is always thinking about others. Everyday she surprises me with how generous she is. I am not sure where she has learned it either, because she definitely didn't learn it from me.

Here is a picture that was taken at Easter by my friend Melissa. I think she got a great shot of her looking back, yet joyfully moving forward. You can see her excitement.

Little girl I am so proud of you! I can't believe this year has gone so fast. Remember that I love you always and forever no matter what. You will always be my sunshine!

Love,
Mom

Easter Photos

Easter photos are coming soon! We originally had a photo session with Images Everything. It rained and we couldn't make the rescheduled date. I called a friend that I recently reunited with on FB and asked her if she could take some photos. She was an art major in college and is planning on teaching Art. Maybe she can teach me some too!

She is uploading the pics this week and I should have them soon. Hopefully I will be able to post some of them soon. She sent me a sample of a few of them and she did a great job. We had a very casual photo shoot. We just followed the kids around the UT gardens. She brought her kids and the McKs had a great time playing with them at the gardens. She was able to get some good shots with smiles because her girls were entertaining the McKs.