Finally Catching Up - Vacation, Part 2

This seems like forever ago now, but I want to catch up from where I left off.

We left Amelia Island after the condo was destroyed, and we headed to Brunswick, to Mick's parents' house.  It was only about an hour away, so it was nice to not have to drive a long way.  Since it was Memorial Day, everyone was out of work, so Em was excited to see Grandma and Papa, Grandma Lala, and her cousin Landon!

We went to the beach at Jekyll Island, and of course it started raining as we stepped onto the sand.  Luckily, they have a nice big covered pavilion where we sat through the storm.  Em and Landon shared some goldfish!

The sky was looking pretty angry, so we sat for a while.

We actually didn't mind the time to just relax together.

And Em enjoyed playing with the umbrella!

We left Brunswick on Tuesday morning and headed home.  We of course still had Gracie and Bella with us, which makes it a little more difficult to just check into a hotel.  We readjusted when we got home on Tuesday, and decided we'd try to make the best of what vacation we had left.  At one point, Mick was talking about going back to work, but I was determined not to!  We couldn't find a place in Hilton Head or Charleston with such short notice, so we booked an oceanfront resort in Myrtle Beach.  It's a short drive, familiar area, and we knew the weather would be nice.  I arranged for the pet sitter to take care of Gracie and Bella, and we headed out on Wednesday.

We got to the Dunes Village Resort and checked in on Wednesday afternoon and wasted no time getting on the beach. 

Em is fearless, and very adventurous.  She wanted to go straight to the water, and wasn't thrilled to get out.

She liked the splashing and jumping the waves.

And more splashing :).

We came across someone's sand castle kingdom and had to remind Em that it wasn't hers to knock over.  I'm not sure why she likes knocking things over so much, but she thinks it's hilarious.

One reason we chose this place was the indoor water park they advertised--Em loved the pool too.  There was a lazy river and a basketball goal and some other water toys.  It was a great alternative to being outside, even though the weather was perfect and we didn't spend much time there.

We headed to the beach again on Thursday, and Em finally got to build her sand castle!  Again, she really liked building it, but LOVED knocking it down,

so the building turned more into digging than anything.

We dug a hole that she was so proud of, and she sat in it to dig some more, play with her little boat, and only took a break when we lured her under the umbrella with peanut butter and crackers!

Our hotel reservation included tickets to Ripley's Aquarium, so we headed there on Friday, where Em couldn't get enough of the fishies!  There was a mermaid exhibit where she met a mermaid and saw one swim with stingrays, and a dinosaur exhibit that intimidated her at first.  She was fine after she realized they were only pretend (and continued to remind us of the pretend dinosaurs for the rest of the day!).

By far though, her favorite things were the hungry sharks!  There was a long walk-through tunnel that she loved, and kept making her "hungry shark" face.

When we saw this shark across the lobby, Mick grabbed Em and practically sprinted over to catch him.  Her new thing is wanting to give high fives, so she gave the shark a high five and was ready to go eat lunch!

When we were done at the aquarium, we decided to get ice cream.  Em thinks there's no need for any flavor besides chocolate (can't say I disagree there), and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

When we got back to the hotel, we spent some time in the pool, and gave Em her first try with her floaty.  She was very brave in it, and was excited to wear it (partially because Dora and Boots always wear life jackets "so we can be safe" when they're in the water).  She knew she was being safe and liked that.

There was also a playground and a mini golf course at our hotel, and Em followed Daddy's lead.  She was a few over par on every hole, but got so excited when she finally got the ball in.

I'll be honest--I'm only putting this picture here because it reminds me of one of myself when I was little--the scrunched up face, the curls, and as much as Em looks like her Daddy, I like a reminder once in a while that she's my girl too :).

We left about mid-morning on Saturday, and got home in time to relax some, get unpacked and get laundry done before heading back to the daily routine on Monday!  It wasn't exactly the vacation we had planned, but it was certainly an adventure, and one we won't forget.

Talky, Talky!

I finally got around to replacing our laptop, so we'll be transferring files and I'll have my pictures back to start catching up, but I wanted to jot a few things down before I forget how many new things she's saying these days!

• When you ask Em a question she doesn't know, she'll think for a minute and say "I not know."  Of course, it's not correct...but that's my favorite thing she says right now :).
• She's getting great at using pronouns now!  She no longer refers to everyone by name all the time, and she refers to herself as me/I.  I'll ask her "who's is that?" and she'll say "me's!"  When I laugh at her, she'll correct herself and say "no Mommy, it's mine!"
• She's still talking about our vacation, and will tell people details about what she did or saw.  Her memory just amazes me, and she makes connections with things on her own all the time.  She knows exactly when we're almost home in the afternoons, and when we're close to school in the mornings by the places we pass on the road.
• We were driving one morning and she dropped her purple monkey (she sleeps with him at school, and sometimes he comes home with us too), so she asked me to get it for her.  I told her I'd get him when we got to school, but I couldn't reach him while I was driving.  She replied "Mommy, drive faster!"
• She's somehow learned superheroes--I guess because of all the boys in her class, but she'll occasionally mention Superman or Spiderman, and I asked her one day if she was Super-Emily, but she shook her head and said "no, I just Emily."  Now she'll say that if we ask her if she's beautiful, or silly, or almost any other adjective.
• She tripped and fell one morning walking to the car, and when I asked if she was okay, she said "Mommy, I tough!"
• Mick will sometimes say "I love you, little girl."  So Em has now started saying "I love you, big boy."  It's so funny :).
• She distinctly knows the difference in boys and girls (not necessarily the anatomical differences yet), but she knows who's a boy and who's a girl--in her class, in her cartoons, among her toys.

I know there are a hundred other things I should mention, but that's a quick snapshot.  She's so very entertaining all the time!

Technical Difficulties

I haven't updated anything lately because our laptop quit working--apparently the motherboard is the problem.  Luckily, we will be able to retrieve our files (primarily pictures and videos), but we'll be looking for a replacement.

So I haven't posted anything new since I don't have the pictures to post right now...coming soon!

Couple of Clips

It was tough to get a great video at the beach because the waves and the wind were so loud, but I thought these were sweet.  This one is Em and Daddy in the pool at the hotel. 

We had dinner at the cafe by the pool one night, and Em provided the entertainment while we waited for our food.

High Expectations

We probably should give up on vacations--I think our problem is that we don't go on vacation very often, so we end up with very high expectations, and something usually goes wrong.  Well, this time, the wrong was Tropical Storm Beryl.

It was about a 6 hour car ride, and Em was a perfect traveler.  At one point, we did resort to Dora on the iPad and a Chick-fil-a snack :).

As I posted earlier, we arrived in Fernandina Beach Saturday afternoon and headed straight for the beach.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time.  Em said we had beach toes, so I had to get a picture :).

Sunday morning, we got dressed for the beach and stayed out for a couple of hours, but around 10:00 AM, it started to get dark and cloudy and a little rain started.  We stayed out on the deck for a little while, just watching the ocean. 

Em enjoyed blowing bubbles for everyone, especially Bella.  She loved that we had Gracie and Bella with us.

 She liked being outside and feeling the wind in her hair.

We spent some of Sunday in town--we had lunch at Jack & Diane's and Em did some window shopping.  We had ice cream sundaes and Em played at a little outdoor playground until it started raining on us.

By Sunday afternoon, it was getting so windy we could barely go to the beach because the sand was blowing so hard.  We went down long enough to take the dogs out, and were all ready to get back inside after only a few minutes.

We watched the storm get closer as it got later--the wind picked up and the waves started looking pretty fierce.

We went to bed that night with strong wind and rain, and Em woke us up around midnight crying because it had gotten really loud.  She got in the bed with us, and we all just stuck close together for about the next five hours.  At one point, it sounded like a herd of horses was galloping across the roof of the house, and we knew something was seriously wrong.  Mick put a chair in front of the french doors at the deck because we thought they were going to blow in, and the roof started leaking everywhere.  The bed was soaked pretty soon, and we found a dry spot to sit in the living room to wait it out.  Em managed to go back to sleep in my lap, and Gracie and Bella were surprisingly unaffected.

By about 5:00 AM, we could tell it was weakening some, and we were anxious for daylight to come--it was just a little scarier in the dark.  The power had gone off a few times, and we couldn't get online or watch TV for updates.  I had a weak signal on my phone, but enough to get on facebook and try to get an update.  Julie called me around 5:00 AM and gave us a weather update when she saw my post--we were glad to know Beryl was beginning to move away from us.

Em slept a little longer after I put her on a blanket on the couch, and we went out to find the entire roof had completely blown off the house, and half of the deck was gone.  It was truly a disaster area.  We knew we couldn't stay in the house for the week, so I got in touch with the owner and told her we were leaving.  We quickly packed everything up and left around 10:00 AM Monday morning.

First stop was Mick's parents' house, which was thankfully only about an hour away.

THE BEACH!

We've all been looking forward to getting away for vacation, but Em has been super excited about the beach!  You can only capture a fraction of her excitement in a picture, but I tried.

Bella and Gracie were excited about getting out of the back of the truck, and Em thought it was fun to run down the beach with them.

She's finally getting to build her sand castle!  We got here about 3pm on Saturday, so we only had a few hours before everyone was exhausted from the long day.

More pictures to come!  Sounds like I'll have some inside time with this tropical storm looming over us.

Yummy Stuff!

I don't know how many of you have tried Nutella, but it comes highly recommended from Aunt Julie, so I decided we needed to try it, and it's quite delicious.  Yes, I know it's not a health food, but it was a nice little treat for an afternoon snack with Em's pretzels on Sunday.

 She gave up the pretzels pretty quickly and dove right in with both hands!

Tonight, we had corn on the cob with dinner, and it was Em's first time trying it.  She really liked it, but about halfway through, she asked "Mommy can take the cob off please?"

 We don't have it often, but it was a hit for sure!

Em is usually pretty good about at least trying new foods--she doesn't always like them, but I'm okay with that if she at least gives them a shot.  Last night, Mick had to work late, so I let Em choose what we had for dinner, knowing she would choose grilled cheese sandwiches!  Yummy :).  It was nice for our girls' night!

Art Update

This is one of my all time favorites--the class got to draw whatever they wanted, and then the teacher asked each child what they drew.  Em told her it was a "hamburger and Mommy."  She has a great imagination when she draws...or maybe she was just hungry!

 Here's a ladybug she was particularly excited to show me.

 And here's a lion she made.

This was my Mother's Day gift that Em made at school.  I love anything with her handprints on it.

Piggyback

We've had some fast forwards and some rewinds in the potty training field lately--some days, Em doesn't want anything to do with the potty, and sometimes we can't keep her off of it!  One night when she was doing particularly well with her big girl underpants, I gave her a piggyback ride to reward her potty success.  Well, let's just say she was hooked!  Mick and I had to take turns giving her rides around hte house.

I just thought this was so cute with her tiny little heiny riding on Daddy :).

Words

I know I was just talking about all of Em's growth and progress, but I recently read an article about what a toddler "should" be doing at her age, and I was blown away.  I know there are many variations of normal development for a child, and it seems when one excels at something, he or she might be a little more delayed in another area (maybe Em isn't potty training as quickly as we'd like because her brain is in overdrive!).

This week, some of the cool things she's said are:

• "I no want sauce...I want ketchup instead!" (um, where did you learn the word "instead?")
• "Mommy, it not spicy--it's chicken!" (new Thai recipe that was a little hot)
• "I like ronis--pepperoni and macaroni"
• "We gonna build a sandcastle little for ants." (when we head to the beach on vacation next week)
• "I gonna fly on airplane to see Aunt Julie!" (something we've been talking about)

She loves to count now--I'm not sure if we've just realized it or if she just started, but now she actually counts objects instead of just counting out loud.

A couple of her favorite songs right now are "Three Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree" (teasing Mr. Alligator, can't catch me...) and "Skidamarink." 

Progress

Em is making such quick progress in so many areas.  She's loving her big girl underpants, and is doing a great job with them.  Sunday afternoon, she was wearing her new Minnie Mouse undies and had three successful potty visits!  Only one accident, and it was just because we didn't make it in time.  The funniest time was when we were putting a puzzle together, and she started doing a little potty dance.  I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty, and she didn't.  I had to lure her to it by letting her watch Dora for 5 minurtes while she sat there :).  We haven't completely transitioned yet, but we're going at her pace, which has worked well so far.

The paci is a little bit of a different story.  She's doing well with not having it in the car, and obviously talks to me a lot more without it, which is nice.  It's easier when she's distracted with a snack, a book or a toy--Gateway has a big basket by the door with fruit for the kids to take on their way out in the afternoons, so Em usually grabs an apple or a banana to eat on our drive home.  She still really wants the paci at night, so we're not making a big deal of it yet.  I did tell her recently that her cousin Chase is coming to visit her next month, and we would probably need to give him her pacis since he's a little baby.  She matter-of-factly told me "Baby Chase can have the green paci."  Don't take it personally Baby Chase, but the green one is her least favorite :).

Her language is developing, too.  She's using pronouns now--she'll refer to herself as "I" or "me," and (of course) everything is now "mine."  She also references us as "you" at the appropriate times rather than always saying "Mommy" or "Daddy."  It makes me so proud to hear her forming grammatically correct phrases, but I must admit, I actually loved the way she used to say "I want Mommy to hold you," or "Daddy get Emmy right now!"  Each phase is so bittersweet :).

Silly and Loving It

We went to a shopping area this afternoon looking for a lamp to fit in a specific place, and we ended up staying for a few hours.  We didn't find the right lamp, but we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant, had some ice cream, and listened to some live music.

Em has a knack for finding clowns making balloon animals, and there was one there tonight!  When she asked Em what she wanted her to make, Em told her "a doggie on a hat" and that she wanted it yellow and blue.  She was pretty proud of her hat.

We were pretty surprised that she kept it on as long as she did, especially while she was dancing to the music!

10 Years!

Mick and I have been married ten years today!  We had both had a long week, so we really didn't feel up to a night out.  Instead, the three of us ate burgers and fries at Five Guys while we reminisced a little about the last decade together--we've come a long way.  It was a good night :).

Ballelina

Aunt Jenn sent this adorable little dress to Em recently, and she had to put it on right away.

 She told me she was a ballelina and twirled around the living room.  So sweet!

Visit from Grandma and Papa

My parents had to be in Charlotte all week for a conference that ended early on Thursday morning, so they were at our house when we got home that afternoon.

I don't know why I'm so bad about taking pictures when anyone is here, but this is literally the only picture I got with either of them in it.  Part of the reason was that Grandma had curlers in her hair Saturday morning and wouldn't let me take any pictures.

Em stayed home from school on Friday with them and had a great day.  When she woke up from her nap on Saturday, she wanted to see them again--I had to remind her that she said bye-bye to them earlier that day.

It was a quick visit, but enough to make Em very happy!

Strawberry Festival 2012

I can't believe it's been a year since we were at the 2011 Strawberry Festival in Fort Mill, but we decided to go again this year.  We went in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day and got pretty worn out--it started to cool off around the time we were ready to leave!

We had to get another picture with the strawberry--Em was a little more shy around it this year until we walked away.  Then she decided she had to go back to give him a high-five.  At least she didn't chase him across the festival like last year--she can really move now, so it would have been tougher to catch her!

We went through the arts and crafts booths and got some dinner--we had brought a thin blanket, and there was a big grassy area in the shade where we sat and ate and relaxed a little before heading to the rides!

The lines were so long at the kids' rides, but Em spotted this little caterpillar train and wanted to try it--it was a 10 and under ride, so she had to go by herself and was so excited.

There was almost no line for this one, and it gave Mick and me a chance to stop for a few minutes, so she must have ridden it six times!

She liked the car in the very back, and I think she would have stayed and kept riding the rest of the night if we'd let her.  It was so sweet to watch how thrilled she was with her independence.

Looks like the Strawberry Festival will need to be an annual tradition for us!

Little Songbird

Emily loves to sing--we sing in the car, while she's sitting on the potty, taking a bath, and pretty much any other time things get quiet.  She sings a lot at school too, so she knows so many songs, there's never a dull moment :).

Dentist Visit

Em had her dentist visit for her 6 month checkup on Thursday.  I'm not sure what has happened recently that has caused her to hate brushing her teeth, but it's literally a battle every morning with her--nights are a little better, but I usually end up holding her arms down and forcing the toothbrush in.  Because of that, I was a little worried that we weren't getting them clean enough, but the dentist said her teeth looked great.

Em didn't cooperate for a cleaning, but did lean back and open her mouth for the little mirror, so the dentist got a good look at them and brushed some flouride on.

On the bright side, we switched dentists to Bird Pediatric Dentistry, primarily because I wanted her to have an in-network dentist for our insurance, but also because I found a lot of outstanding ratings on Angie's List.  Em had a blast in the waiting room, and liked Dr. Bird.  I'm hoping this anxiety about oral hygiene is just a phase, because that's a non-negotiable for Mommy :).

Temper Tantrum

Here's a nice little clip of one of Em's temper tantrums from last weekend.

We'll ask her if she's ready to be a sweet girl, and she'll sometimes say no if she's not quite done with the squealing.

I hope she looks back on this and laughs :).  Or feels bad for putting us through this in public!