Hilton Head, 2013

Beach vacation bliss.  I could really leave it at that and say good night, but for posterity's sake, I'll jot some memories down.

Day 1: Wake up, go to beach, lunch, nap, pool, shower dinner, cocktails, bed.
Day 2: Wake up, Tom golf/be lazy, lunch, beach, nap, shower, cocktails, dinner, cocktails, bed.
Day 3: see Day 1.
Day 4: Wake up, Tom golf/take kids for sugar infused breakfast, playground, lunch, beach, nap...dinner or cocktails or both, bed.
Day 5: Wake up, Emily ride pony, beach, lunch, nap, pool, cocktails, dinner, nutty family dance party, bed.
Day 6: Wake up, Tom golf/(fake) tattoos, caricature portraits, shopping, lunch, beach, nap, dinner, drinks, bed.
Day 7: Wake up, beach, lunch, nap, pool, pack, dinner, cocktails, pack, bed.

This year we shared a place near the beach with our dear friends from Columbus, Ted and Melissa, and their son Teddy.  And it was a week of sun, fun, laughs and not a lot of pressure to do much at all.

 

 

Some highlights for us:
The weather was amazing!  In the 80's and not a million percent humidity and sunny.  Fab-u-lous.

 

 

 

Our girls NEVER wanted to go to the beach, but once we forced them, they loved it and had the kind of fun that only little kids can have, spending hours and hours digging in the sand and water.  Seriously, they did nothing but dig.  And dig.  And dig.  I'm pretty sure that was some intense occupational therapy going on for Emily all week.  And when they weren't digging they were covering my legs and feet with wet sand.  I'm pretty sure that was some intense exfoliating going on there for me.

 

 

 

Our girls went through an entire jar of Nutella while we were there.  I'm not sure why, but I find that amusing and noteworthy.  Maybe not my best parenting efforts for breakfast while we were on vacation but when the little devils woke between 6:15 and 6:45 every single morning, I had nothing in me but to spread Nutella.  With love.  After coffee.

We celebrated Father's Day while we were on HHI.  And by celebrate I mean Tom got to wake up, play Harbor Town golf course, text me to meet him with the camera on the 18th fairway to take his picture (ok, I offered because I knew he'd really like it), go to the beach then drink beer and watch the US Open on TV.  Again, not keeping score, but look back on the Mother's Day blog post and just compare.  One of us clearly won here.  (it wasn't me)

 

 

 

Ted and Melissa are better cooks than Tom and I will ever aspire to be.  And we've learned now to always go on vacation with someone who is a better cook than us because those duties will never fall on our shoulders :) 

This was the first year Casey was too big to ride a pony, so she had to sit out and watch Emily have all the fun.  Emily initially insisted she was not going to ride a pony, but we pulled the we're your parents and we know you don't really mean that card and forced her on one.  And she loved it.  Every year we've gone to HHI the girls have ridden the same pony- His name is Romeo and he is blind and both girls have developed some affection for him and request him by name each year.  By the way, Emily loved her pony ride and asked to do it again.  (I love it when that whole parenting-by-force thing works out!)

 

 

The one morning Tom golfed, I took the girls to Coligny Plaza and we did all the things daddy usually says 'no' to, like browse t-shirt shops, get spray painted tattoos and caricature drawings.  It was a fun little morning for the girls and I think they'll remember it as a special little blip on our vacation.

One of the best times we all had together was when it rained one evening, and we all just hung out in the condo.  What started out as parents with coronas watching Casey directing Teddy and Emily in a little skit turned into a dance party that was just plain silly and fun.  I did not miss the opportunity to whip the camera out and capture this evening because it was just as special to the girls as an afternoon surrounded by sand and the ocean.

 

Somehow dance party turned into tickle mommy for my crew.

 

For the 3rd year in a row, the last day on the beach for us has brought out the creatures.  The first time, a shark was spotted off shore by a fishing boat and no one was even aloud in the water, last year in the first hour we were at the beach 8 people were stung by jellyfish.  And this year, at least 6 or 7 horseshoe crabs were found (spiny tail up) hiding in the sand where we were camped.  Some people are creature and nature lovers and get into all the national geographic business.  I am not.  I am more of the I enjoy the white sandy beaches and waves of the water because it's all tranquil and spa like.  the occasional hermit crab or starfish I'm cool with but otherwise I am very content to ignore the fact that there are things with tails and teeth that sting, bite or poke people in the sand or water. 

 

 The last night we went out to dinner and Tom and the girls danced on the deck to the live music.

Like I said: beach vacation bliss.

May - part 2

 This is how I felt May 31:

Let's pick up where I left off after Mother's Day. 
Casey's Girl Scout troop went to a Cincinnati Rollergirls Rollerderby game?, match? - whatever they call it.  I could not anticipate just how much she and other girls would love it.  We all had the opportunity to meet some of the players?, rollergirls? - whatever they call them.  And some serious hero worship began.  They each had a program and poured over the team pictures and the unique names of the competitors.  Then proceeded to track down each one and get their autograph.  It was a fun outing for Casey and me.

 

On the 18th Emily had her dance recital.  Her team performed the same dance they did at the dance competition in February but this time her partner, Taylor, did not stand right next to her.  Instead, Taylor knelt down in the front of the stage to give cues.  I told our family before there was about a 50-50 chance she would actually do the dance.  She knew the dance but once the curtain went up I wasn't sure her if attention and focus issues would get the better of her.  I tried to take some pictures and the video I accidentally deleted the video I took on my iphone. (Talk about some serious mommy guilt there..)  But I had too much adrenaline going and was far too nervous to get any really good shots of the actual dance.  But I'll testify - sister did her dance!  My parents, Tom's parents and my friend Mandy and her daughter Lucy came to watch.  With her first dance class behind her, I look forward to what the next one brings!

 

 

 

 

The day of Emily's recital was also Casey's half birthday, so I made 1/2 of a cake with half-ass effort :)

 

Casey had been really wanting a Lego set and we told her we were not going to give her the money - she had to earn it.  So one day she came up with the idea of creating a newspaper for our neighbors.  Casey tells me at least once a week she wants to be a "published author" one day, so she ran with this idea full speed ahead.  I did not want to tarnish her work by correcting any spelling for her, so this one was truly all Casey.  The finished product was pretty hilarious and true to her word, she hopped on her scooter and went door to door asking our neighbors to buy her San Mateo News.  She made 8 copies and sold all 8 making $5.75.  She only needed 4 more dollars to buy the Lego set she wanted so she was very excited!  I was proud of our little entrepreneur :)

 

 

Emily's last day of pre-school was the 23rd.  And with that, pre-school will forever be in the rear view mirror for our family.  Surprisingly, I was not very emotional about the whole idea.  Usually, I'm a teary mess at milestones like this.  Maybe it was because I didn't have the emotional attachment to the teachers this year or maybe it was because we were so busy with so many things, finishing pre-school was just another thing to get done.  But that doesn't sound very nice, so we'll just say that we squeezed everything we could out of pre-school and are ready for kindergarten :)

 

The 24th was second grade Safari.  Here is a description I stole from the school's website:  Adena Elementary's 2nd graders took a field trip to Africa – sort of. Teachers and parents worked together to host an in-school adventure in which the rooms were completely transformed into different regions of Africa. Students were introduced to desert animals from the Cincinnati Zoo, performed cave experiments, created a rainforest terrarium, listened to a presentation on what it's like to grow up in Ghana and participated in a West African music and movement workshop.
Tom took a vacation day to watch Emily so I could volunteer at the event and I'm so glad I did.  My job was to take a souvenir picture of each of the 125 kids and snap memories throughout the day.  Each class wore a different color tie-dyed shirt and everyone received safari hats to wear.  My job didn't require much set up, but other parents spent up to 40 hours that week transforming rooms to African regions.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took do the rooms' decor any justice, but I believe kids and parents alike will have some great memories of the event. 

 

 

Memorial Day weekend was visiting our friends, Ted and Melissa in Columbus, having friends over for a cookout and, once again, Casey's Girl Scout troop marched in the West Chester Memorial Day parade.  Unlike last year when it was a million degrees and 150% humidity, it was in the 60's and was gorgeous.  It was a busy, fun weekend.

 

In between all of that we had a couple of IEP meetings for Emily to go to kindergarten (all went well!), some 'meanish girl' stuff that was happening that was making Casey really dislike school (I requested that a particular girl not be placed in the same third grade class as Casey), the start of swim team practices for Casey (we signed her up against her will and she is loving it), and a doctor appointment for Emily that has resulted in some really positive changes for Emily (more to come on that in another post).

Oh, and the last day of second grade for Casey on the 31st!  It was a good year for Casey overall, but both she and I were ready to say sayonara to second grade by the end of May.  On the last day of school I picked up Casey and the other 2 girls I carpool, armed with cups of pink lemonade for each of them.  The school had large speakers set up outside the building's doors with the song 'Schools Out (for summer)' by Alice Cooper blaring on repeat for all the kids to hear when they left the building!!  And Miss Casey came home with a certificate that acknowledged her perfect attendance for the year!  She was so proud of herself and I am of her as well.  (Little known fact: Casey has never had a sick day yet.  The only days of school she missed in kindergarten or first grade is when we pulled her out to go on vacation.  Girlfriend has a rock star immune system!)  

 

That flop over the finish line of marathon May was with a trip to The Cone to get some ice cream to celebrate!  
June is going to be busy, too, but I'm hoping it resembles something like this: