Maine Trip - Thursday

Leah Strolling

So, if you were to ask me "what is Leah's favorite thing to do?," I'd say number 1 is Mommy taking her in the stroller, and then number 2 is Leah taking her friends in her new stroller. We recently bought Leah this stroller and she is testing its limits everyday. Today she has crammed Mini Mouse, a sippy cup, a baby doll, and two stuffed kittens in the pink stroller. Not only that, but I think this stroller already has a couple of miles on it.

Leah's 18 Months

Our baby is turning into a toddler, she is exactly 18 months today. This change doesn't happen overnight, so she's still a baby in many ways, but the toddler is erupting. I guess the biggest event in her life right now is her use of the potty. She knows what to do on it and is still learning, but we are very proud of her poops and pees.

Leah has also taken up singing and dancing. She loves to sing "Happy Birthday," we're not sure why she sings it, but it is very cute when she does. Every day the words get more and more clearer.

Listening is one of Leah's strong skills. When it's time to get shoes in the morning for school, she is the first to get her shoes on (she has some little croc like shoes that she can put on herself). She'll even get the boys' shoes and hand them to the boys. At bed time, she wants her toothbrush and will brush her teeth. Leah also knows a little sign language, so understanding her is pretty easy. She's got the pointer finger and the word "no" down.

Another new development for Leah is running, well she sort of skips around the house keeping up with the boys and chasing the cats.

Most of the time it is fun to have this growing toddler in our house and our first girl, so there are some differences in her development. One change is early tantrums. Even though they are more funny than anything else, we are trying hard to ignore these outburst.

She is in the second year of life, which means terrible 2's. The pediatrician said that she is fully capable of understanding time outs. So far, we give time outs when Leah hits. Oh yes, she is a big hitter and she thinks it is hilarious.

All in all we have a delightful firecracker and we are having so much fun with her. The boys love her and truly show their empathy. Zachary was upset when she got shots at the doctors. Avery couldn't stop wailing when Leah fell on the bunk bed and was bleeding. I'm in love with all our beautiful and sensitive kids.

Leah's stats are as follows:
weight: 21 lbs 9 oz
height: 30 1/2 inches

Sunset Cruise

Noodle floating with Leah.
Leah loves to put stuff on her head.
Here's an easy way to get toasted. Go on a sunset cruise where they keep serving you all you can drink rum punch.

Today was fabulous and we are sad that it is our last day at the resort. We spent the day at the pool and the beach. Eli and I got to spend the evening sans kids on a sunset cruise and dinner out. The cruise was fun. There was a captain and his mate who served drinks and hors d'oeuvres, shrimp, veggies, meatballs, cheese. The scenery was beautiful with islands all around.

While we were out, our kids took a nap. Nani took GG and Sam to the pool to play bingo. They had dinner and watched a movie. Even Leah watched the movie straight through and ate popcorn like the rest of the kids. When she is around older girls she likes to emulate them. She sat next to GG and copied her every move down to eating one kernal at a time versus slamming as much as she can fit in her mouth.

Megan's Bay

I have to say that this is the best beach I've ever been to. It is clear and calm, warm, and perfect for a young family. There are even lifeguards on duty. To top it off, it was a short drive from the resort to here. Also, there was no cruise ships in today, so hardly anyone was there. Gorgeous!

Shopping

These guys were everywhere. The highlight of our trip, my favorite, iguanas.
We're shopping for jewelery. We actually we're on a scavenger hunt looking for the free stuff, and when I say we, I mean Mom and I. The kids enjoyed the stop for ice cream though.
Is there wind in there?

We went shopping today after going to the pool this morning. My parents bought me a ring, which is an early birthday present. Thank you Mom and Dad. The prices on jewelery were great. Everything else, normal or higher than usual. The taxi drivers kept yelling at us again. They wanted to take us back to our cruise ships. Although, I don't feel too bad, because my swim aerobics instructor, who is a St. Thomas native, says she gets nagged by the taxi drivers too.

After shopping, my parents go on a Sunset Cruise, remember free cruise for listening to the time share spiel. We take the kids to the pool for some drinks (for Eli and I) and rum bingo. Yeah! I won, some guava Cruzan rum. Our neighbors, gave us beer. They're leaving the next day, so they are trying to get rid of it. Fun Fun Fun...

Visiting St. John

This is how the car ferry loads the cars on the boat. Every car goes up in reverse because it isn't a through ferry. It takes about 30 minutes to load everyone aboard and another 20 minutes to cross the ocean, 10 to unload. Not too bad for going to another island.
There is St. Johns.
Well today was an "I did that" kind of day. We went to St. Johns, but it wasn't the greatest times. When we got off the ferry we went the wrong way to get to the beach we were headed to. We wounded going up very steep hills that are rental could barely climb only to realize that we were going in the complete wrong direction. We wanted beach, not Mountain ;). It was a pretty drive, anyhow.

So, we got to the beach and we have no drinks for the adults. Eli waits in line to get drinks. Everyone else goes to sit down for our lunch. The kids are hungry and eat and drink, we brought juice boxes for the kids. Eli was taking a long time and we're all hungry so my parents eat too and I nibble hoping to eat lunch with Eli. Dad checks on Eli who says to go to the other side to pick out a place. Dad doesn't really communicate that, so we put lotion on the kids, meanwhile Eli finally gets bottled water and starts to look for us. We finish up and go see why it is taking Eli so long. He isn't there, but the beach isn't too big, so we find him walking toward us. Of course, he is not hungry, so no lunch.

As soon as we get to the beach and the kids get in the water, Sam throws sand in Avery's eyes. He is very sensitive when it comes to his eyes. So, poor Avery cried for 20 or 30 minutes because his eyes hurt. We finally get him to nap on the beach. Eli fell asleep with Avery. Leah played in the sand because the surf was too harsh. Zachary, on the other hand, had a blast just laying in the surf, letting the waves take him in and out.

We are going to rethink going to St. Johns next year. It wasn't really worth waiting 2 hours by Ferry when half the family was miserable. But, we can say, we've been to St. Johns :).

Our New Home

Here it is, Frenchman's Cove at the Marriott. As you can see they are still building it. Plans say it will be done in 2012. They are going to have a kids play ground and an adult only swim area. All rooms have beach views. The room that we got is only on the top floors and there are 13 total when the Cove is completed. The picture is taking from the Hotel at Frechman's Reef. Also as owners we can use the Hotel pool and beach, which we haven't done yet. There are many restaurants, an Adventure Center for many planned activities, as well as a Kidz Club, which the kids have enjoyed painting, making plaster sand art and much more. When Leah is older we can put the kids in their day care for half or full day or bring a babysitter along, anyone?
At Frenchman's Reef waiting to go to dinner.
At Coco Joe's.
Zach-a-boo.

Today we hung out at the pool and beach area again. At 3 we had our time share talk for a free Sunset Cruise. Eli and I never talked to each other about a time share before going in, we just listened and both thought it would be a good time to buy. We have a habit of buying things very quickly... like our houses. We've always had a good outcome, so we thought, why not, and we are having such a good time here. So, we bought a 3 bedroom and it is our home 1/52 of the year, yeah! Not that I have to legitimize our purchase, but everyone we talked to thought it was a good purchase and the place to be. So, we are very excited about our new home. We also have a long list of potential inhabitants... :)

After our long meeting, (we esentially were buying a property, so we had to sign numerous documents) we went to Coco Joe's at the Reef. The kids were tired and not very hungry because they had a ton of soda and snacks at the office, but we still pushed through dinner, another long wait. We also had a bad smell near us that they finally took care of after we moved our table further from it and could see something on the ground making the foul smell. The food was very good, but we were kind of put off by the smell and the service. We're going to be making our own meals for the rest of the stay at the Cove.

Rum Punch Night

My mom and dad cheering to free rum and an awesome place.
Little Leah with a glazed over look. I think she had some rum.
I have to say that having a Rum Punch Night at the resort was one draw for Eli and me when it came to buying our time share. I was about to think we didn't get anything for free. But, with rum comes loss of inhibitions, which means your more likely to buy the stuff that the marketers had come to sell. Eli and I were smart and left our wallets behind. My parents on the other hand got sucked in.

Besides the shopping, we had a great time. The kids went down the slide for the second time today. We all went to the beach again. We enjoyed the hot tub. We wore out the kids by dinner time and they were having a hard time keeping their heads up. We just ate at the restaurant at the pool, which is good food, slow service, but we're on "island time."

Monday in St. Thomas

We're having a great time. We spent all day at the pool and beach right outside our resort room. Leah even got her naps in by taking one on me by the pool.

We learn quickly that we need to buy groceries or we'll spend a small fortune at restaurants and the hotel shop. So, Eli and I brave town by Taxi. First stop, the local K-Mart. Gallon of milk, $6.59. A box of cereal, $5. Everything is about a dollar more than at home. We also shop at the Four Seasons grocery store. Not much on selection, but we get some questionable deli meat, apples and browning bananas. I thought the food would be better here, oh well, no big deal. The restaurant food is really good though.

As for getting a Taxi back, we called the company back. There were men at the K-Mart calling Taxis for people. He got angry when we told him we called one on our own.

We also decided to rent a car because the Taxis charge per person. With 9 people it would be crazy not to rent a car. We rent a minivan that sits 8, which I'll hold Leah. It will be here tomorrow.

Arriving in St. Thomas

We arrive an hour earlier than expected. But, we are all ready to be at the hotel and get our suits on. The kids are hot in those long pants. We left in 35 degree weather and arrived in 80 degree weather. Yeah, we're here!
Now we are waiting to go see the pool and beach. No swimming yet. We arrived to early so our room isn't ready.
Here's the pool area and the beach is in front of that. The pool is huge. There is also a water slide in the far right corner.

Trip to Clark Elioak's Farm

All the cousins, except Leah. Zachary, Avery, Madison, Gabrielle, Genevieve, and Samuel.
All the cousins in a teacup enjoying a snack. We had to get them all ice cream shortly after. Too much running around!
Leah watching a free range chicken.
Thursday I went to Ellicott City, MD, to visit my mom, sister, and nieces and nephew. After enjoying some lunch, we went to Clark Elioak's farm. They bring and renovate old Enchanted Forest structures and put them on the grounds for kids to play on and look at. There is also the petting zoo too. At the end of the trip we even got to witness the birth of a goat. The goat in the picture is 2 days old.

Too Cute times 3

The cats have found a perch they love, the baby changing table. Leah saw them sitting there and wanted to pet them, so I lifted her up. She's pretty good with them, but the cats can only tolerate so much fur pulling. Casper leaves in that case, on the other hand, Daphne fights back just enough to make Leah stop for a second. We have been very fortunate that the cats have not bit or clawed the kids yet.

Leah is on to her new thing now as I type. She climes the high chair to get on the kitchen table. Best be going.

Pictures

Leah holding Daphne. Daphne is considerably lighter than Casper weighing in at 6.5 lbs, while Casper is a solid 8 lbs. Anyhow, Leah can hold "Daffy."
Silly kids. They love to push each other around in this cart. This morning Leah was upset because she was not involved in the action.
Another favorite activity of Leah's, reading books! We do encourage book reading in our household. In fact, we loaned out 26 books from the Library yesterday, which may only last us a week.
In preparation for our St. Thomas trip, I got these hello kitty sunglasses for Miss Leah. She looks like she is posing for the paparazzi, my little Hollywood star!

Eli's Brewing

Sung to the tune of Three Dog Night's "Eli's Coming" - "Eeeeeli's Breeeeewing."

I don't know if it is for the love of beer or for the love of scientific experimentation, probably the former, Eli has brewed a batch of homebrew. He started about 3 weeks ago and coined his first batch "Eli Amber". We sampled throughout the process and had our first finished bottle a couple of days ago. It wasn't fully carbonated yet, but it was quite tasty. Eli is already thinking about what kind to make for another batch.
Here he is pouring beer from the bucket to the bottles. He does it this way to avoid getting sediment in the bottles. He could make Vegemite if he wanted to.
Now he is capping the bottles. He bottled 51 beers; just over 5 gallons worth. Ask how he enjoyed his first brew and he'll say it was fun, but time consuming, and sanitizing all the equipment was a pain in the butt.

Zachary and Leah Updates

Today Zachary and Leah went to the doctor for their standard check-ups. Leah is 29 3/4 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs, she is 30% and 22% respectively. Zachary on the other hand is in the 50% for height and weight, which are 34 lbs and 39 1/4 inches. Oh, and they got 7 shots between them, 3 for Leah and 4 for Zachary.

Okay, now to the interesting part of our day. Both Leah and Zachary were being checked out in the same room by the same doctor. Zachary was checked out first, the doctor did the normal ears, nose, throat, groin area, etc. She looked in his left ear, right ear, and found something white in there. She thought maybe it was a bit of ear wax as she was looking, and then looked more closely with the magnifying glass and said it looked like a shell. Anyhow, she finished with Zachary and Leah's checkup before trying to fish it out.

A second doctor came in to try to help pry out the shell. No luck. Zachary was struggling too much and the shell was too deep. So she called an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to set up an appointment. We went to the ENT several hours later, and sure enough, when the nurse looked in his ear she thought it was a shell, tiny and pearly white. She even had me look at it. Yup, a white shell in his ear.

We moved to another room where the kids got to watch Sponge Bob while we waited. The doctor came in and looked in the ear and agreed it was a shell. Now the fun part, the assistant came in and gave Zachary Valium. He can't swallow pills so she was going to dissolve it in water, but apparently it tastes pretty disgusting, so I suggested juice. She found some bright orange V8 splash, yum! It took him two Dixie cups full of juice to get that Valium down. 15 minutes later he was good and loopy and the doctor came in with two assistants to hold him down and take out the shell that has probably been there since Pawley's last June.

The doctor took long tweezers and put them in Zach's ear and pulled; meanwhile Zachary was struggling and turning beet red. Suddenly he took out a shell like a magician pulling a coin from Zach's ear. Not a piece, but a whole shell. The assistant helped us get Zachary into the car for the ride home. He was so drugged up he couldn't walk straight and he was a little chatter box on the ride home.




As you can see, the shell is on the right of the penny.

Some Pictures

Avery, Leah, and Zachary. I gave the little devils hair cuts with the new clipper set Eli got me. It paid for itself in one sitting.
When did my baby turn into a little girl?

It has been an unusually busy February. Most weekends were spent going to birthday parties, and celebrating Zachary's birthday, which seemed to go on for weeks.

Some updates of the kids. First off, Avery, is continuing to surprise me. His knowledge of the world is growing by leaps and bounds. He also can sound out words. He is a little unsure of himself, but we know he can do it. His teacher will send home books that the students put together and he can read the books cover to cover, some of it memorized, but the rest sounding out. I'm excited about this development, but Avery rather play video games, then read books right now.

Zachary is doing very well in school. I thought Avery was my artist, but Zachary seems to be enjoying art more right now. Maybe it is an age thing. He is also starting to read a little. He can sound out all his letters and spell a couple of words. Avery is definitely leading and teaching his brother some of these skills.

Leah, as you can imagine, is blossoming into a little girl. She follows everything we do. Just yesterday, she opened the door to the trash can and threw away trash. How did she even know it was trash? She has three distinct words. Mommy, Daddy, and Daphne. It's really funny that she says Daphne and she knows which cat is Daphne. I give Leah cat treats and she will say "Daphne" and throw the treats at just Daphne and ignores Casper.

More to come. Leah has her 15 month doctor appointment on Thursday and Zachary has his 4 year. I'll post some stats.

Getting Ready for Valentines Day

The boys, with my help, made valentines for their class friends.

Bus Song Video

Bus Project Culmination

Every month Avery's JK class has a new project. January was about Transportation. They had a field trip to the Transportation Office in Leesburg where the buses get clean and sleep for the night. The kids asked tons of questions and learned so much about school buses. In class they built a replica of a school bus with huge card board boxes. Day after day Avery would get into the car and tell me a little more about the bus building. "Mommy today we made orangy yellow paint to paint the school bus." Well I guess that explained the color on his clothes. One morning his assistant teacher loaded Avery into the car and was proud to tell me that Avery thought the bus was lacking a grill on the bus, so they made one to put on the front. I have to admit, I was proud of him too. He has also mastered reading Emergency Exit.

Yesterday was the culmination of the "Transportation Project." The parents were invited to view what the children had created. They also had story boards of how they learned about buses. After Avery showed me all that he did, he got to eat a bus cookie that one of the parents made. It was a fun morning.