More Vacation Pictures

Vacation

Last week we finally had a real vacation. I have a few friends that vacation in Myrtle Beach every summer so we decided to try it out. I booked a condo right off the beach. It was considered off season so we saved a bundle. We drove to Charlotte North Carolina and stayed the night at a hotel and then continued the rest of the way on Labor Day. We were so surprised to see the traffic coming out of Myrtle beach. The other side of the high way looked like a parking lot for miles. Glad we were going in and not coming out. The kids did great..really! Grisham was happy to have his movies and Genevieve had her backpack full of toys. Carolyn slept, played and stayed content. The dogs slept the whole way:)When we finally arrived in Myrtle Beach we could smell the ocean. Now along with the smell off babies and fresh cut grass, the ocean is my favorite smell. We picked up the keys to our condo. We were meeting some friends who were going to share the condo, Michelle and Alan Wood. Michelle is a surgery resident with Scott. After lunch, unpacking and grocery shopping we finally made it down to the beach for a walk. I was able to get a great picture of the setting sun. For the whole week were out on the beach by 10 and stayed until late lunch. Then the kids took really long naps in the afternoon. We ate out almost every night. One night we went to the restaurant called Dick's. Not my favorite. The people are rude and the food was gross. The waitstaff makes hats for you and then writes an insult ton it. Most of the time it is crude. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Most of our days were filled with beach and sun. Grisham eventually loved getting in the ocean. It took him a few days. Genevieve never liked it unless you were right there next to her. Carolyn was our little beach bum. She would take a nap every day under the umbrella. Thursday night we went to the circus. It was amazing. Hot!! and Sticky!!! but great. the kids had a blast. They loved the music, animals acrobats...all of it. I don't think I have ever seen so much joy in their eyes. The circus was over a little after ten so as soon as we got on the road to go back to our condo the kids were sound asleep. Our final day was spent at the beach and then dinner at a Japanese steak house. The day went by too fast. After the kids were in bed Scott and I were able to take a nice walk down the beach. I can totally see us retiring to a place like this. The week went by fast, next time maybe a two week visit will do. (MORE PICTURES TO COME)

Preschool Open House

Before vacation we had Grisham's open house at school. I think I was more excited than Grisham. But he got super excited once he saw his classroom. We found his cubby with his name and went over all that would go on during his day. We found the circle time area, play house area, books and so much more. He was very disappointed to leave that night. But we reassured him that as soon as wee got back from vacation he would start school.

Gymnastics

Monday night was Grisham's first night of gymnastics. I was a little nervous for him, not sure if he would like it or not. There is only four kids in his class so the teacher could spend quite a bit of time with each kid. They started off with sitting against the wall for the rules and directions then they did some stretches. Soon the teacher had them up on the balance beams hopping off and rolling. Then they got to tumble down the wedge and run an obstacle course. The class went by super fast and Grisham LOVED it. He said it was super fun and couldn't wait to come back.

Speech Appointment

When Genevieve was 18 months old our pediatrician recommended that we take her to a speech therapist. I was pretty floored at the time. I mean seriously just because my 18 month old doesn't have as many words as most of the other 18 months old kids doesn't mean there is something wrong. Why do we have to put everyone in boxes!!! Anyway...I scheduled the appointment for sometime in January and we all know what happened in January. Little Carolyn was born. So I canceled the appointment and decided to wait to see if I saw any improvement in the next few months. Well summer rolled around and I was still a bit concerned so I made the appointment. That appointment was this morning. The speech therapist was wonderful. She had a whole bunch of toys and fun books with pictures. I just sat back and let her do her thing. Every now and then the S.T. would ask Genevieve a question that I didn't think she would know and then Genevieve would blow me away by responding correctly. The evaluation went by quickly and the therapist said that she was in the normal range for her age ( 2yrs and 4 months). Her comprehension was above average. Her expressive speech was right at average. Here's the kicker...if she was two months older she would be deficient in her expressive speech. So the therapist would like to evaluate her in 3-6 months to make sure she is improving. If she shows little improvement then we will do some therapy. The S.T. is going to send me her evaluation with some homework in the mail. I am relieved to find out that Genevieve is fine and hopefully she will show improvement at her next appointment.

It's Fairtastic!!

It's Fairtastic was the theme for this years fair. It is also our last Ohio state fair. We had a great afternoon, walking around seeing all the animals, eating way too much and people watching. We stopped at the lego land for the kids. Grisham was being a great lion! We tried to convince Grisham to go down the giant slide with daddy but he did not want anything to do with it so Scott took the older kids to the petting zoo while Carolyn and I took a break in the grass. She also had a major explosion so I needed to get that cleaned up. Of course while we were waiting I had a chance to watch the fair goers. Sometimes it interests me and sometimes it grosses me out. Ok...so people watching at the fair mostly grosses me out. Not as much as people watching at a water park but is right up there. After a few hours we had our fill of fairtastic things and went home.