Beachin' [Round One, Again]

While looking at the pictures of the first day of school, I found another folder on my memory card that had even more pictures from our vacation in July. Here are my favorites from that missing folder, which I didn't even know was missing!

First Day of School 2014

Yesterday was David and Rachael's first day of school.

David is now in Pre-K! How is that even possible?! That means he goes FIVE days a week!

Rachael is starting her second year at the preschool and, even though she's technically too young, is in the Young 3's class. She is really supposed to repeat the class she was in last year, but her teachers from last year and the Director of the school didn't think she would benefit in any way from that and she would be much happier and challenged in the next level class. So, she's once again the youngest in her class. She goes Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 

 They were so excited that they actually broke out in a song about going to school [they like musicals]. 

I walked with them to their classrooms. First, we stopped at David's room. Since we had a visitation day on the Friday before, David knew exactly what to expect.

He had to find his name on his backpack hook and hang it up. 

Put his personalized pop sickle stick on his chart to show that he is in class. 

Say Good-Morning to the class' pet squirrel, Corky. 

He then found a puzzle he wanted to put together. 

While all this was going on, Rachael was playing with some girls in the class' kitchen area. At the end of last year, David got very clingy and didn't want to go to school. So, I was really worried about him liking his class this year. I spent a lot of time making sure he was going to be okay with me leaving. When it was his turn to use the class computer, I told him I was going to take Rachael to her class and he was JUST FINE with that. So, to Rachael's class we went. Since last year's first day went so smoothly for her, I didn't expect any different. 

She hung up her backpack...

Turned around and froze. She didn't want me to leave and wouldn't let go of my hand. [therefor I have no other pictures] We found some books and I read a few with her [and some other kids in the class]. She liked the books but was still on edge about me leaving. I knew the longer I stayed the worse her fears would get. Her lead teacher noticed her anxiety and stepped in so I could make a get away. Rachael cried as I left, but I knew it wouldn't last long. I had substituted in this very class last year, so I knew she was going to LOVE it. And I was right. At the end of the day, Rachael's teacher reported that she stopped crying seconds after I left and had a great day! David, too, had a wonderful day!!

I pray this year of school is a blessed one for David and Rachael. I pray for their teachers, that they might be filled with God's love, patience, wisdom, and joy as they teach each day. I pray that David and Rachael's desire to learn will be encouraged and that their thirst for knowledge will remain strong. I pray they are nurtured spiritually as they learn more about God and His love for them. I pray they keep their relationships with their current friends strong while also having the confidence to introduce themselves to the new ones. Most of all, I pray that God will watch over David and Rachael, keep them safe and protected from harm while they are out of my sight.

Beachin' [Round One]

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post. Things around here have been even busier and more exciting than usual [more on that coming soon]. I'm finally having a moment to catch the blog up on a few fun events from our Summer. 

Last month we were blessed to be able to spend two weeks at the beach with my family, just like we have done in the past. It was a great time! 

But first, a few pictures from our travel day.

 

As soon as we got slightly settled in at the house, the kids [and their parents] wanted to get to the beach as quickly as possible. And Chief wanted to see what this 'beach' was that we kept talking about.

He liked it.

David and Rachael absolutely LOVED hanging out with their older cousins, Ricky and Cate. In fact, the house we stayed in this year had a "boys' room" and a "girls' room".  I think they ALL thought that was fun. They all played so well together even though their age range is so big [11 to 2]. 

Of course the beach was their main place to play.

 After all that hard playing, they would nap even harder!
 

The pool came in a close second on their lists. 

David's confidence grew so much over the two weeks that by the end he was jumping in and swimming with NO wings!!

And Rachael was also swimming really well!

In the afternoon of our second day at the beach Chief started throwing up, became lethargic, and lost his appetite. At first, Ryan and I thought it was the heat or maybe he was overdoing it too quickly and just needed to rest. Well, after another day of not eating or playing, we knew something was wrong.

See the kibbles in his kennel with him? He wouldn't eat anything!

Ryan took Chief to a local vet and he diagnosed Chief with Parvo, a deadly virus that he was vaccinated against. We were in complete shock and felt a lot of frustration. We did everything right by getting him vaccinated and still he got sick. We knew it was a serious illness and chose to drive him 2 hours away to the nearest emergency vet so he could get 24 hour care to better his chances of survival. We left him there praying he would recover. 

The next four days I was calling the vet every 3-4 hours checking on Chief. Did he eat? Is he happier? Did he throw up again? Same questions, usually the same answers. He didn't eat for days and was throwing up frequently. He was happy sometimes, but mostly wanted to sleep.

FINALLY on the fifth day he started eating some canned food- the sign that the Parvo was done tearing up his intestines. The vet informed us that we could come get our dog. Ryan and I jumped in the truck as quickly as we could to get our pup. Once back with us, he still wasn't 100%, but was clearly feeling better. He had lost SO much weight.

Because he needed to take it easy as he continued to regain his strength, he wasn't able to go to the beach. Additionally, because he was still shedding the virus, for the next few weeks we were to clean up after him AND clean the area with a bleach/water mix. It was all a small price to pay for having our dog alive and well.

While Chief was in the vet, and between my phone calls to the vet, our vacation went on.

This man is a local and every morning walks with his dog, Rosie, and picks up trash on the beach. David and Rachael always loved talking with him and petting Rosie.

David wrote his name in the sand!
 


Ma made a really fun dessert- Sand Pudding. I think it will now be a staple on all beach trips. 

Some fish were caught.

It rained one day, so we took a break from the beach and went to this really interesting aquatic research center about 45 minutes away.

Ready to go!

We got to see most of the animals eat their lunches. The coolest was the turtle.

 Only Rachael took a short nap on the way back to the house, and both were still tired and wanted to "rest" together. This pictures makes my heart smile.

On another day just our family of four went out on the boat for the day to fish and have some time together.

David reeled in a grunt all by himself.

Rachael reeled in a catfish.

David couldn't wait to show Chief his fish AND to help clean it with his knife. [And Rachael helped too]

We all took the boat over to Port St. Joe for our annual boat ride/lunch/boat looking day.

Along the way, we found an awesome place where each kid was able to haul in a gigantic catfish. 

We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to Round Two at the beach with Ryan's family in just a few weeks.