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!

2/7 - Amy's been sick

I haven't posted anything lately because I've been so sick and tired and have gone to bed not long after the boys. We've been doing some more arts and crafts lately. Here is Eli painting.

We tried this shredded crayon thing I saw on Pinterest but it didn't come out like I was hoping. I meant to take after pictures put I can assure you it doesn't look anything like the "before" picture you see below where you can actually read 'Aiden.'

We also bought a gingerbread house that was 70% off from Christmas and finally made it the other day. The boys had fun but it was really tough for Eli to actually decorate versus just eating all the candy. Aiden enjoyed decorating but I had to put limits on the amount of candy he ate too.

Here is Eli being ... Eli and silly while he was eating some meal. The kid is too cute.

The boys decided to get out all their boxes the other day and play cars. I've had them in the garage for a few weeks so it kept them occupied for a while because they were fresh toys.

The other day the boys decided to be silly and wear pant hats. They actually wore those on their heads for about 1.5 hrs. I was quite shocked.

Aiden's therapy has been going pretty well. He had a speech evaluation last week and we found out today he was diagnosed with 'Other developmental speech disorder' (moderate pragmatic speech language disorder) and developmental articulation disorder. That said though, his comprehension is in the 96th+ percentile and that of a 5 yr old. Even his expressive communication is at a 4 yr 3 month old level (he's 3 yrs 8 months) which is good but unfortunately, he doesn't use his speech and words when he needs to. He starts speech therapy in another week so hopefully it will help. Here is Aiden at therapy learning how to grip the pencil correctly and getting his hand held down by Ms. Lisa, his occupational therapist. He really likes her and she does a great job with him.

Last Tuesday, Brad pulled in to port for the afternoon/evening. It was SO GREAT to see him. He gave us (me and 2 friends) a tour of the ship and then we got a hotel on the beach for the evening. My awesome friend Stephanie picked up the boys from daycare and then kept them overnight so Brad and I could spend some time together. He had to be on the ship by 7:30am but it was great to see him for the little bit he was here. We decided for him not to see the boys because they wouldn't understand why he was leaving again so soon.

On Saturday, we went to a friends' birthday party in the afternoon. The kids were having a great time to start with.

They were playing fairy tag (which means my kids were just running around with all the bigger kids but having no idea what was really going on) and having a blast. Eli kept trying to run in the woods and hide.

Even Aiden was having fun playing chase.

Everything was great until it was cake time. Aiden was trying to wait patiently and he just has a hard time with that.

They had some chips to munch on and that held them over for a bit.

Then it was cake time. Aiden was having a very hard time deciding if he wanted cake or a cupcake so he kept saying he wanted both. I informed that was not an option so he better choose what he wants.

Eli had no problem shoving a cupcake in his mouth and he made sure he ate every bite! He enjoyed it thoroughly.

Aiden was so conflicted about cupcake or a cake. He had a cupcake he picked out but was crying at he ate it because he wanted cake. Needless to say, even after he finished his cupcake he wouldn't stop obsessing about cake.  He followed me around for about 15 min whining "cake, cake." I gave him a warning to stop it and he wouldn't so I packed us up in the van and left before presents were even opened. Eli was sad to leave because he was having fun but Aiden was on a power trip and needed to learn that mommy was the boss and I mean business. In the picture of Aiden holding the cupcake, he is actually crying and sobbing because he doesn't want it (although he won't give it to me for a piece of cake either). It was extremely frustrating for all of us.

Last night we were doing therapy stuff for Aiden and Eli wanted to participate too. Eli likes the putty with the treasures inside. He's actually really good at it and has pretty strong hand muscles.

Aiden wasn't too much into his therapy stuff last night.

I've been sick since last Wednesday night and was just completely wiped out over the weekend. I've had a migraine for almost 48 hrs so I'm praying for relief from some type of drug soon. On a good note, Brad sent me an e-mail today telling me that he is coming home tomorrow (rather than Friday). The house isn't read (cleaned) for that but hopefully he'll understand. Also, Eli went to the ENT yesterday and they put him on the surgery waiting list for replacement tubes and to get his adenoids out. Things could change though so we'll see. I need to feed the boys dinner and CLEAN like a mad-woman!