The Farm and the Lake: Memorable & Highlights

We left Florida and headed to Matt and Melanie's for the night, and then onto the farm for the next few days.

Highlights:

-Seeing all of the Keiths, who were temporarily all rounded up in the same place for some family pictures.  

-Jayce and Hannah getting to play with Hadley and Madeline.  There is nothing like playing with your cousins.  The friendships are instant and sweet.

-A perfect day on the lake.  The weather was hot enough that the water felt great, but not so hot that we were baking the whole time.  Sunny skies, a light breeze, not crowded, cold drinks in the cooler, everyone felt like getting in the water and playing around a bit.  It was exactly what we had wanted.

-Jayce asking to tube by himself, which spoke volumes about his confidence in the water.  It didn't last long, he immediately went under, but he didn't cry and we were impressed that he wanted to try in the first place.

-Dinner at Betty's OK Country Kitchen.  It's always been a favorite, is the perfect way to end a day at the lake, and it did not disappoint.

Memorable:

-This was Hannah's first time ever on the boat.  She wasn't nervous at all, wanted to help dad drive, and demanded to hold grandpa's hand whenever she was out on the dock.

-Chris stood up on the tube before crashing hard.  He was extremely proud of himself.

-When we were picking out where to sleep, Jayce wanted to sleep on a very narrow cot in one of the rooms.  While he was sleeping he fell out of it, and the noise absolutely scared me out of my skin. (The sound of your child's limbs hitting linoleum floor from their bed is significant.)  Chris helped him back into bed and tucked him in, and after my prompting placed a doubled-over quilt next to the bed in case it happened again.  He fell out of bed 2 additional times that night.  When I asked him about it in the morning, he sheepishly replied that he fell because he was being a wiggle worm. :)  The next night we slept in different beds, and no one fell.

-Jayce and Hannah golfing little plastic balls around the house, sidewalk chalk, swinging in the swings, drinking hot coffee on cool mornings on the back gazebo, and bare feet in wet morning grass.  Overall, just watching our kids run around and enjoy a place that we have enjoyed together for over a decade, and a place that has always been a part of Chris' life.

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And Then There Was "Year One"

Today was Jayce's first day of school.  He's in Year One, in the Rabbit Class.  

This was the source of several confused conversations while we were visiting in Akron.  Chelsea had a graduation/going away party, and it seemed like everyone had this conversation with Jayce.

Person: So, what grade are you going to be in?  Are you going into Kindergarden or First Grade?

Jayce: Uhhh… (They don't use either of those names for the grade here, so he kind of had no idea what they were talking about.)  Then he'd finish with, "I'm going to be a rabbit." and run off.

But the truth is, even though I don't really want to admit it, it's more like he's going into First Grade than Kindergarden.

Last year he went to school all day long for 5 days a week.  And it wasn't like a preschool kind of set up.  They played a lot, of course, but there was a lot of time for learning.  He already knew his letters, but every day they did some phonics and he learned to read.  He learned lots of other things too, measurable and immeasurable, but this one is the big one in my book.

(One day this summer, Jayce pointed to the word "whatever" and said, "Mom, what's this digraph?"  I told him and then asked him what a digraph was.  He said, "It's when there's two letters that make different sounds, but when you put them together they make a new sound."  Honestly, I was a little surprised by this, because, though he's pointed out different digraphs before, he's never explained to me exactly what it was.  I was just a  little surprised by the fact that he does seem to actually get it.  I wanted to go hug his old teacher.) 

Regardless of what it's called, it's the next year of school for him and he loves it.  Honestly it's just me that has the problem.  I'm still a little disappointed that I missed out on my last year with him at least partially home with me.  (Last year I thought his school was only half days and was a little surprised/freaked when I discovered it was full days, but I got on board.)  And though we had a rough patch in the beginning, things ended up working out great.  

So, yes.  He needs to go to school, school is good for him, in no way can I replicate at home what he is getting there, not even by a fraction, so to school he goes.  I just miss my little buddy while he's away, but luckily I get him back every afternoon. :)  End of random processing mom-rant.

Jayce was a great sport this morning, jumping out of bed right away, got dressed quickly, and even happily ushered Hannah around to the yard to get some before school pictures.

 He was much more agreeable during picture time than last year.

Much happier than Chris and definitely more so than Hannah.

He even wanted to take a few pictures himself.  That's my boy.

Then we grabbed the scooter, sunglasses, and were off.

And as far as I can tell it was a great first day.

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Destin, On the Balcony

Exactly 2 weeks ago today, the day after Jayce's last day of school, we boarded a plane and flew to Florida, eventually arriving in our beloved Destin.  We typically stay in the same condo, which is on the first and second floor of a lake-front villa.  But this time we were in a high rise condo with a view of the lake and the ocean, and I think the view, and the balcony in particular, must have made an impression on me.

We were in Destin for 10 days, and in that time, I took 45 pictures with my "big camera."  

When I downloaded them and looked at the number I burst out laughing.  (To give you some idea of what is normal for me, in the outfit pictures of Hannah that I've posted of her in the clothes I make her, I usually take between 50-200 in one session.  Or, when Mom and Chelsea came to see us in London, I took over 1,200.)  So 45, on vacation in Destin, for 10 days…well that's basically nothing.

That said, when I looked through all the pictures there appeared to be a theme.  With very few exceptions, the pictures I did take are on or have to do with the balcony.  It was pretty great.  

Perfect for bubbles, ice cream soup...

kids' yoga, 

and my unsuccessful attempts to catch the beach and sunset at various shades of dusk.

But I know that there are 2 main reasons that there aren't more pictures. 

1.) Jetlag/ vacation mindset/ dang I was tired/ "I'm on vacation I don't want to get up and get my camera I just want to sit here."  There was that.

2.) Hannah.  She wants me to chase after her or be snuggling her at all times right now.  This is fine with me, but tricky to do while also using a camera that requires two hands, and when we are at the pool or the beach it's just not a possibility.  

But when I did have the camera, the balcony was in the picture in one way or another.  We spent 10 days thoroughly enjoying it. 

As to the rest of the time, that's what a camera phone is for.

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Hannah's Birthday at Kew Part 2 and Sleeping in Public

We left the green house and headed out back by the Rose Garden Tea Party that had recently been set up.By this time, we were all pretty pooped.  Hannah had already fallen asleep in her stroller, and Jayce was trying to fall asleep.So we stopped off one of the paths, parked Hannah  in the shade in her stroller, and Chris and Jayce grabbed a sunny spot nearby for a mid-day, full-sun snooze.I thought it was kind of funny and just wanted to take pictures, but it turns out that Jayce couldn't sleep, so he joined me,and we took some pictures together.Then he wanted to use the big camera for a bit,one of his pictures, above, and I took one of him with my phone, in another one of those "I'm taking a picture of him taking a picture of me" circles like I've talked about before.Then we found one of those machines that presses your penny and turns it into a souvenir and Jayce was SO excited about it, as you can see.  In Hannah's sunglasses. And the rest is history.

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