2/27 - Lowe's, the park, & Aiden with technology

On Friday, Ms. Jackie (the 2-yr old teach at Aiden and Eli's daycare) took them home from daycare and kept them over night. UF was competing against GA in a gymnastics meet and I wanted to make sure while we were living in Florida, that I actually got to go to a meet again. I got to see a few old teammates which was fun. I called Jackie at 6:45pm to see how things were going. She told me the boys had a great time at the park, then they ate McDonald's for dinner, and then they just wandered around on her farm a while and got really dirty. She even gave them a bath.  I told her I was shocked that Aiden let her give him a bath and that he even got dirty enough to need one. He got all kinds of dirty exploring around her house and really enjoyed feeding her horse. Brad and I had a great date and got to see some great gymnastics. 

On Saturday morning, we picked up the boys at 9:15am. We didn't get back home until about midnight so it was very good that we didn't have to pick up the boys until around 9:00am. When we got to Ms. Jackie's, she had all their stuff ready. The boys were busy playing in the living room. They were glad to see us and said they had a great time. They want to go back to Ms. Jackie's but have us go with them and feed the horses. We went to Lowe's Build and Grow Workshop when we left Jackie's house. It was the first time we have gone to Lowe's (we love Home Depot on the first saturday of the month). The boys liked getting different aprons and they were excited to build a car.

Here is Eli helping daddy pound the nails in the bottom of the car.

I was working with Aiden and made him try to hit the nail as well. He did it two or three times and then said he "wasn't strong enough; mommy finish."

They were really happy to hear (literally) that the car made noises when you pushed a button on top. Although it looks like Eli is using his car as a phone, he's actually listening to the speaker on the underside of the car.

Brad tried to take a picture of all of us but Aiden was too busy listening to his car to stop and smile for the camera.

The boys took awesome naps. Ms. Jackie said the little stinkers (she didn't call them stinkers) even woke up a little before 7am so we knew they would be exhausted. The fell right asleep and slept for 2.5 hrs. After they woke up, we went to a local park about 20 min away from us. I didn't realize Brad had never been to this park before and he enjoyed it. Brad and Aiden played chase and hide-and-go-seek for a long time. Eli, as you can see below, was serving me up so food. The wood chips were carrot sticks and apple slices.

I have a video of this that I took on my camera (and need to figure out how to put it on the blog) but Eli was driving on the cars and Brad acted like Eli had just hit him. Eli would crack up laughing and I must admit I was laughing because Eli was laughing so hard.

Here is Brad and Aiden working on the digger. The handles are so heavy that Aiden can't lift them up by himself. He decided he would make Brad do all the work and he would just tell Brad what to do. Pretty smart boy!

We stayed at the playground so long that I wasn't going to have time to make dinner so we went to IHOP (where kids eat free from 4-7pm everyday). It was taking a very long time to get our food so I asked Brad to get his phone out and let Aiden play with the flashcards that he installed on there a long time ago. Brad has an Android-based phone and it has a touch screen. It was Aiden's first time playing with it. He had so much fun tapping the screen to make the next card appear. We even got Eli to take turn with Aiden. If Eli would say, or at least try to, the name of the object, he got to tap the screen. Brad just got a new iTouch earlier in the week so he gave mine (I got it free a few yrs ago when I bought my mac) back to me. I loaded it up with kid apps and decided I would carry it for when we had long waits again.

We went to church on Sunday morning as usual. Here is Brad playing with the boys in the afternoon. They were playing Candyland but Aiden didn't want to play by the rules so Brad wouldn't play with him. He got really upset that Brad wanted to play by the rules. Aiden decided to wear his new Lowe's apron to AWANA on Sunday night. We found at the end of AWANA that next week is Camo week. Aiden is already so excited and he has his entire outfit picked out (including socks) but told me yesterday "I wish I could have camo underwear." The kid cracks me up.

This morning I let Aiden play on my computer some. He really enjoys to be mentally challenged/stimulated so I wanted to see how he would react to the computer. I also thought that using a mouse would be good for his motor skills. He was getting the hang of it and really enjoyed it. After taking Eli to daycare at 11am, Aiden and I had a date at chick-fil-a by his therapy (it has a bigger play area than the one closer to us). We ate, he tried to play but said it was "too loud" in the play room and wanted to "wait until the noisy kids leave." He absolutely cracks me up at times. I told him I had my iTouch and put some games on it for him. I showed him how to play a memory game and then he also played a matching number game, and tracing some of the alphabet. He acted like he had been using the thing for months. It was ironic because we went to therapy and he used in the iPad in therapy for the first time. He dragged these shapes into the correct spaces like he had been playing that game for months. It was amazing. Ms. Lisa also had some cool writing apps. Needless to say, I see an iPad in our very near future. He was able to use a special pen and could practice his writing on the iPad and actually enjoyed doing it. At home, when I try to work with him on writing (most other things he will do willingly), he says no and won't do anything. I even try and bribe him with special play time, a piece of candy, etc and he still won't trace/write letters for me.

Eli didn't get much of a nap at daycare and Aiden got no nap so they were a handful this afternoon. After a certain amount of fighting on the train table, I kicked them off. Aiden asked to build a new track and I said yes but if I heard any arguing, I was putting it back in the box. The little engineer built a pretty cool track in about 5 minutes. He has a 3-way switch on the far side an a 2-way switch on the side in front of Aiden. There were lots of places for the boys to play on the track so they stopped arguing thankfully. We also made muffins this afternoon. Aiden stirred the batter for about 10 seconds and then told me "my hand is tired." When daddy came home at 5pm, Aiden runs to him and tells him we made muffins today.

 I let the boys have special snack time in the living room in chairs so they could skype with Nana.

The other fun thing is that I got my new blog book in the mail today. It's the thickest one yet!! I love that I have these books to document our family growing and to see all the pictures.

Finally, Brad got his written orders today for Air Force War College in Alabama. We are relieved about this. Brad's orders even state that he is due to check-out at the end of June which would be totally awesome. However, I'm gonna still expect Brad back in July and will miss our birthdays as usual. I think he's only been around 2 times out of the 5 yrs and this would be 6 yrs. Whatever happens is God's plan!

2/20 - Vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC

We spent the past week in Myrtle Beach, SC as a family. It was the longest vacation we have ever taken but it was a ton of fun. I forget how easy it is for our kids to have fun. After a long day in the car (it took about 7 hrs to get there), Brad took the boys down to the playground at our timeshare while I unpacked everything. I took a picture of them from our balcony. It was a great way for them to burn some energy after sitting for so long. 

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium one morning. We were going to go back in the afternoon too, but once we got there and realized the size of it, we found that there was no need to go back because we would already have seen everything. They had huge fish tanks there that were pretty awesome. The boys were amazed by all the fish and were mesmerized watching them.

Here is Aiden getting an up-close view of the fish. He looked at the placard and was trying to find all the fish on the sign. He did a pretty good job and we compared some of them to the characters in Finding Nemo. 

We just walked around the kids area for a bit but Aiden saw a sign to see Mermaids and he was hooked. Unfortunately, when a three year has OCD, he gets stuck on things. He got stuck on seeing the Mermaids. We finally realized though that the mermaids only come on the weekends and we were there on a weekday so that shattered his world for a while (hence the covering of his eyes in the picture). He mumbled about it for a while but eventually got over it.

There was this really cool shark exhibit. You got to stand on a people mover and it slowly moved you under the tank where dozens of huge sharks, fish, and a sea turtle were swimming around. It was amazing. Both of the boys were quite scared the first time through and just wanted to hang on daddy. Aiden eventually stood on the people mover (which completely freaked him out at first) but still didn't like all the sharks around him. 

As we were coming to the end of the exhibit (the first time), Aiden said he wanted to leave. I explained to him that he was getting to see something really cool and many people never get to see this. The sharks and fish could not get him and he should enjoy the view and relax some. It worked. He calmed down and wanted to go do it again ... and again .... and again. I was getting dizzy from the number of times we went through the shark exhibit until Brad and I finally told them we were stopping. It was an awesome view though to see all those sharks so close up. 

After we done going through the shark exhibit, there was a tank that had some sharks and some huge sting rays in them. Aiden went up to it and I thought this was a cool picture to add because the shark was so big compared to Aiden. He was scared to go up to the class at first but then we reminded him the sharks and sting rays couldn't get him. 

We had a great time at the aquarium and then went back to the hotel for some naps. After naps, we played in the room for a bit.I forgot how much our boys love phones. We unplugged two of them and they played with them all weekend. 

We got the boys a new erector set thing and Aiden had fun learning to how to use the screw driver and wrench to put stuff together. Actually, he's much better at taking stuff apart right now.

We went to IHOP for dinner and Aiden ordered a smiley face pancake. He was so excited when they brought it and decided to like the whip cream right off his plate!

We got back to the hotel and let the boys play for a bit on the playground. Here is Eli on the slide and Eli swinging on the monkey bars. Brad does such a good job of playing with them. He was playing chase and freeze tag with them. I tried to jump in but Aiden tells me, "no mom, we are playing with daddy." I just let them play since they don't get daddy that much. 

It amazing how the pillows in the hotel room are so much fun to the boys. Brad took the curtains and made them into a fort and the boys absolutely loved it.

It was a tad cold in SC (we were long sleeve and jackets the whole time) but thankfully they had a heated indoor pool. We visited the pool a few times. The deal was the boys would go with us to exercise in the morning and then we would reward them for playing quietly in the corner for 35 min with a trip to the pool so they could "get their exercise" as we told them. Aiden was tentative to go in the water at first. Eli .... was not.  

The boys did a good job kicking and letting us carry them around in the pool. Both boys do a good job with blowing bubbles and kicking their feet so hopefully we can get them into swim lessons soon. 

Brad sat at the side of the pool with boys and they all practiced kicking their legs in the water. 

Brad also had the boys practicing paddling in the water and splashing (the latter one is a big deal for Aiden).

Eli is gonna be a little fish like his daddy. Aiden is doing a good trying too. He is so safe which is really assuring when I have to keep an eye on Eli.

We went the Boardwalk which is where the aquarium was at. They have a ton of shops there and a bunch of fish to feed. Thankfully, we were told to buy a box of cat food to take with us to feed to the fish. There were some dinosaur statues that the boys (all three of them) played on for a bit. Here is Eli roaring in the first picture.

 

I have never been to Build-a-Bear before. Wow. That's what I have to say. I was wondering if the boys would be interested in getting a bear and having Brad's voice recorded in it. To summarize, we found one camouflage bear that we decided the boys (and maybe I), will share. The boys got to push the pedal to help fill it with air.

 

They then got to eat put a heart inside the bear before the man closed him up. Once he was sewn up, Eli gave him a hug.

 We then took him over to the brushing station to brush off any extra hair from him.

It was quite an experience. I was shocked by all the clothes and accessories they have for these bears. Aiden decided to name the bear Veggie. Brad recorded a really sweet message in it and the boys already listen to it every night before they go to bed. 

I saw there was a Children's Museum in Myrtle Beach and knew we had to go. Eli had been struggling with a fever for the past 3 days and it was getting worse. Thankfully, his ENT called him in some Augmentin and that has helped. Eli is schedule for surgery on Mar 21 to put another tube in his one ear and take out his adenoid. So, back to the museum. The boys loved it even though Eli was feeling pretty yucky. 

Here is Eli blowing some really big bubbles.  

The boys got to sit in the magic school bus. They had fun putting their tickets into the box so they could "get on."

Aiden had fun playing hockey. He got the hang of hitting the balls/pucks and played with Brad for a while.

Eli found a pizza making area and was hooked there for a while. He loved it!! He played in there so long that eventually Aiden missed him and went to go play with him. He was making pizza, taking phone calls, and serving pizza (yes it was all pretend food). 

We found an area that the boys pretended to paint in. Aiden did good and was even re-applying [pretend] paint without us telling him he would eventually have to re-dip his roller.

Aiden just had fun setting cones up and wearing a hard hat. Eli so bad wanted to open the lunch box that was sitting out but it was just for display and didn't open or come off. That boy does love food.

We even got a chance to dig for fossils. I found a miniature dinosaur fossil which freaked the boys out a bit. They had fun digging in the sand with paint brushes trying to find things. 

The also had a big section of super-size building stuff like nails, screws, hammers, and wrench. Eli had fun banging on those.

Aiden found a cart and put tons of different wood on there and eventually built himself a house. He was so deliberate and didn't want any help or guidance from us. 

They had a crane that the boys loved to figure out how to operate and a conveyer belt that moved the blocks. It was actually quite the little hands-on museum. 

Eli found this little house and played in it for probably 30-45 min. He loved it. We took pictures of it so we could figure out how to make one at home. Both the boys enjoyed playing it.

I pretended like I was the weather girl but the boys were not impressed. 

Overall, we had a great time, not only at the museum, but on vacation as a family. We did some outlet shopping and Aiden has some 4T winter stuff for next year now.

We had a great time. One of Aiden's most favorite things if you ask him was running up and down the ramps in the hotel parking garage. The boys had lots of fun playing on the elevator, taking the steps from one floor to another, and just wondering around. Brad has the rest of the week off to get things done that he wants/needs and then he goes back to work next week. It was a great vacation with lots of good memories. These boys are growing up so fast!