Church Retreat

This past weekend we were at Camp Kulaqua for the church retreat hence the lack of a post from me. The kids look forward to it with great anticipation and the parents, hmmm, maybe I'll say, anticipation.  But, no, it makes me happy when the kids are happy.  Anyway, last year we remembered that Aubree wasn't riding her two wheeled bike yet and we, in fact, didn't even bring her bike with training wheels so she was left out of all the bike riding.  The goal this year was that she be on two wheels and we were happy to say that she reached her goal.  Even Brady was pretty much on two wheels for the weekend (more on that later).  So it was three two-wheeled bikes that were loaded into and onto the van for the weekend.

Duncan got out of work a little late on Friday so Colby had already taken his nap when we finally left about 4:00 pm.  It's such a relief that I don't necessarily have to plan longer trips around his nap time anymore since he is relatively entertained by a movie playing overhead these days.  And anyway, we had other Colby issues to worry about it as it turned out.  Thursday night he woke up at 12:30 am and wouldn't be consoled so I ended up sleeping in the guest room with him.  I noticed he was warm and gave him some Tylenol and had my suspicions of what the problem was.  Sure enough, I checked his mouth in the morning and there, finally, was the tooth next to his two bottom front teeth just breaking the gum line.  Calaubra never had teething problems but leave it to Colby to break that trend.  The poor thing was whimpering all day and had his finger in his mouth.  Even when he would take a drink out of his sippy cup he would cry.  All I could think of was, "Why did this have to happen RIGHT NOW when we are all going to be sleeping in ONE room?" I was tempted to just send Duncan on his way with Calaubra but I didn't anticipate that would go over very well.  So onward and upward we went.

The first stop was at the Springs Diner where where we were curious to see if the same owners from England were there.  They had bought the place a few months prior to our eating there last year.  We were happy to see that they were.  I didn't get any chance to talk to them as we came after everyone had ordered and I had to deal with Colby.


We had our usual set up for lodging.  The Isidros, Bergherms, and us shared a 4-bedroom mini-lodge.  This year the Bergherms took the extra bedroom and we scored the big bedroom upstairs.  It's very, very spacious up there, which of course, was lost on Colby who insisted on sleeping right next to me and ON me both nights.  Actually, that's not completely true.  The second night he obviously spread out...so far that he rolled off the other side of the bed onto the floor resulting in a giant thump in the middle of the night.  I felt SO terrible.  I had put the pack-n-play (a complete waste of space to bring) up against the other side of the bed thinking that if he somehow got over there, the drop wouldn't be that far.  But apparently it wasn't up flush against the side.  Thankfully no real damage was done and after a few whimpers, he went back to sleep.  Of course, for the times that he was close enough to reach me (which was most of the time) his hand was in my hair so I "awoke" (I use that word loosely since it implies sleep was taking place) with a huge afro.  Ah yes, good times.  I had preemptively relegated Duncan to one of the empty bunks from the very beginning and he had his own challenges the second night.  Brady had been so tired on Saturday evening that we put him to bed at about 7:30.  His bed was all messy with toys so we put him in Duncan's bed and I had assumed Duncan would move him to his own bed when Duncan went to bed.  Except he didn't.  He thought Brady's bed was still messy (I had fixed it) so he slept in the small single bed with Brady the whole night.  When they woke up in the morning, Brady was basically sleeping on top of him.  Brady sat up and grabbed his private part so Duncan says "Oh, do you need to go to the bathroom?" And Brady says "I already did." And then he realized where he was and he got a really remorseful look on his face and said ever so contritely "Sorry, Dad." What a pair we were...my hair was as big as Dolly Parton's and Duncan reeked of pee.  But other than that, the weekend was great!

Mini Lodge # 8

The girls and Brady had a great time riding their bikes everywhere.  Aubree was thrilled to be a part of Calleigh's group riding around.  Unlike last year, the weather was perfect so we had no worries in the department.  We did Sabbath School and church in the morning.  After church, the Bergherms had London dedicated by Pastor Barb next to the spring.  It was really nice and of course, I'm partial to outdoor dedications next to bodies of water.  Following that there were two baptisms.  I missed it because I was tending to Colby but everyone was talking about how just after one of the baptisms, they saw a snake in the water behind the pastor and the "joke" was that it was Satan leaving the premises.  A pretty neat thought, actually.

Breakfast Sabbath morning.

Maddy flashing some gang signs. Incidentally, I had forgotten to bring any kind of sweatshirts or long sleeve shirts for the kids.  Oops.

Most of the kids in our group.

Aubree and Brady

The Bergherm family, Julia (Jennifer's mom), and Pastor Barb.

After lunch at the cafeteria, we had goodies back at our house courtesy of Jennifer for the dedication and then went to the zoo.  Thankfully Colby was now in better spirits and really enjoyed himself there.  While I took Colby back for a nap, Duncan took Caluabra canoeing.  In the evening, Brady went to bed early, as mentioned, but the girls rode their bikes until the last possible moment and had some smores.  The adults enjoyed their time chitchatting in the main area once all the kids were asleep and even had our own background "music," otherwise known as snoring, but it would be impolite for me to say who it was.

Kolden, Colby, and Aubree walking into the zoo.

Aubree was so nice and lifted Colby up to see stuff.

In years past we did pony rides and go-carts on Sunday morning but decided to skip it this year and just do some swimming at the springs.  The water was pretty chilly and Brady had no interest in it but Calleigh and Aubree were able to put their fear of snakes aside and go in.  They have this big giant inflatable thing called a "blob" you can jump on and Calleigh LOVED it.  It's so funny because Calleigh is so different from Aubree.  Calleigh basically has no fear about this kind of thing and totally went for it whereas I don't picture Aubree probably ever doing it even as she gets older.  I guess time will tell.

That's Calleigh flying up in the air at the end.

Aubree swimming in the spring.

The other big news since I last wrote is that I'm getting LASIK.  I am so excited.  I never thought I would be interested in getting the procedure but I have had so many contact issues the last two years and after seeing what a great experience Duncan had when he got it done, I have been eager to go for it.  First, I had to make sure I was eligible.  Last week I went in for an assessment at the same place Duncan had gone.  They were really nice and it was kind of funny because the lady that checked me was named Corrie (I told her she was lucky to have the girl spelling) and then the guy who took me around was named Rory.  I was waiting for a Lori to be involved but alas it was a Nancy (I have never met a lady named Nancy who was in her 30's until now).  It's basically like getting a regular eye exam...reading stuff of charts, etc and then they take pictures of your eyes up really close.  I was on pins and needles and then the doctor came in said a bunch of mumbo jumbo but the part I understood was that I was an "above average" candidate for the procedure.  Maybe they tell that to everyone, I don't know.  From there, Rory took me to an office to discuss the details of it all and he was like "Okay, we can schedule you for Friday if you are ready to go." I was like "Whoa, whoa, whoa." I wasn't expecting it that quick...two days!  Usually when you try to get appointments for stuff it's like weeks out.  I would have done it though but of course, we had the church retreat so it wouldn't have worked.  Instead, I'm having it this tomorrow.  Yippee!!  I asked Rory if I should be worried about getting it done on Mother's Day weekend because I didn't want anything to interfere with my shopping day on Sunday.  He assured me it would be fine but hey, at least I would have an excuse if I bought something really expensive...I couldn't see the price tag properly.  I say "Um yeah, I shop at Goodwill, so...." He chuckled and then we discovered that we are both homeschooling our kids so that was fun to talk about.

Let's see, what else is happening...Oh, so back to Brady and his bike riding.  I can definitively say that having a kid on a balance bike at a young age really does wonders for learning to ride a two-wheeler.  Brady's hiccup was that he couldn't start or stop on his two-wheels but the last couple of days have gotten those kinks worked out and he is riding it completely unassisted now.  I think that's pretty good for being three years old.  I laugh because I think Calleigh was six when she started riding one but that was probably because we didn't try it any sooner.

If only I could say the swimming lessons were going as well.  We have now done seven lessons and my hope was that Brady would be swimming at the end like the girls were (well, Aubree was basically swimming and then forgot it).  He is floating exceptionally well but he's not swimming.  The main problem, I think, is that the lesson is happening late in the day and it gets pretty chilly and he's shaking all over through the lesson.  Thus, he hasn't been doing the full half hour because he's shaking and crying.  I'm not sure if we should keep going or what.  Or maybe find a pool that's warmer and where he can go during the day.  I've got to figure that out.  Aubree, on the other hand, is thriving.  She LOVES the lessons and it's amazing at how great she is swimming now...above water and under water.  One less person I have to worry about drowning now.  I think we were will continue to do lessons but with she and Calleigh doing them together next.



On the Colby front, the tooth pain is gone, fortunately.  Sleeping is completely back to normal as soon as we got home...as expected.  I recall Brady's speaking taking off at 20 months.  Colby is now that age but I would say it hasn't exactly taken off yet although in the past day he is now saying "Thank you" and "You're welcome." Basically the first things he's said that are more than one word at a time.

Okay, I need to wrap this up so I'm going to end the commentary here.  A few pictures to close off and then it's a wrap.  I know the kids had some quotes since I last wrote but apparently I didn't write them down and I don't remember.

Took some family pictures at church a few weeks ago. It was pink day, obviously.

These were my latest bow tie creations.

Love Colby here.

And here.

We were chitchatting with some friends so the boys occupied themselves with peering down the drain.

Blueberry season is upon us once again so Duncan took the troops out for a picking session.

Eight pounds.

I'm not scared of lizards (you can't be in Florida because they are everywhere) but I gave a girlie scream when I went to throw something away in my trash in the laundry room and found this just sitting there.

Went to the new Trader Joe's in Orlando.  We so love that place.

Ate at this awesome new (for here) restaurant called Noodles & Company near the Trader Joe's.  All of us ate for $28 and the food was really good.  A lot of options for vegetarians.

Grandma came and babysat while I went to my LASIK assessment and she took the kids to the pool/splash playground in our neighborhood.

Picked up Monopoly at a yard sale and the girls have been playing.  I love how they are doing math and don't even know it.

Made some H2O molecules for Daddy out of grapes.

Doing a science experiment with baking soda.

Clearly this caught her by surprise!