Another Day Out

On Tuesday, we decided to go to Destin Commons to shop for swim suits for Jessica. This is a ways for us, so we attempted to get an early start. The twins went with us. Jasmine wasn't feeling well, and Tyler was home from work with a 102F temperature, so Jasmine stayed home too. That was disappointing, but she didn't want to try to go. So only four of us went.

We don't have a Belks near us, and that's where we'd seen swimsuits Jessica liked on a previous trip. She picked out two, and she'll be getting them for her birthday in two weeks. So she didn't get to wear them for this beach trip.

We stopped at the candy store of course. The twins shared a carmel chocolate covered marshmallow stick. Jessica and I shared a piece of fudge.

Fries for snack.

Jessica paid the extra for cheese and bacon on the one we shared. Yum. We were nearby in Build a Bear when she decided that : )

They were trying to wash their faces in the fountains.

We saw they had a sublock machine and decided to try it out. It was $1 for 45 seconds, but it didn't spray well. It was a good idea though.

They shared a ride. (In case you haven't figured it out, we share everything to save money so we can do our exursions. But anyone can use his/her own allowance/work money for their own stuff if they want more) The twins want to save for a new Build a Bear. We didn't buy anything this time.

We planned to go to a beach in Destin, but they were all parked full and packed full. So we started down scenic 98/30A until we found a beach that wasn't over run with people.

My new fins. Unfortunately, my new snorkels leaks so has to go back and be exchanged.

There were live sand dollars about 12 feet down. Some people were taking them anyway, but we do not ever take anything that is still alive. So Jessica just took a picture, and then put it back.

We took the scenic route home and discovered lots of interesting looking small towns and beaches we plan to visit at a later date. The first day of school is coming too quickly though, so we may not get to explore everything we'd like to.

So, two good days in a row for the twins. And a fun day at the bay for Jasmine Monday even though she missed this trip. 

What's your favorite place for sun and water? I know not all of you live near an ocean. Seriously, I am spoiled by our white sand.

School starts the 20th here. What about you?

At the Bay

Today we went to the bay. We asked two neighbor families to join us. Between the three families we had 12 children and five parents. One family has two older children who are grown and out, and we were missing Tyler to work, Adam to boot camp and Jeff to Afghanistan. I plan to do a post soon about the older kids including Ashley. But for today, we just had Jessica, Jasmine and the twins.

Kayla started out on the board.

Kaleb on the board.

Kayla on the turtle.

Kaleb in the kayak.

Josiah and Kayla. Josiah and Kaleb were in the same class this year. Four of the children at the bay today were second graders all at the same school. Next year those same four children will be split among three different schools!

Jessica grilled hot dogs, sausages and hamburgers.

Jasmine ferrying around Mrs. Josi.

Jasmine

Mr. Jimmy. He's the pastor of a small church near us.

Joy. She has four brothers! Three older and one younger.

James-he's one of Joy's older brothers. Josiah (above) is also.

Jessica. Yes, she was supposed to have a life jacket on, although it wasn't overly deep.

Brothers, Alex and Casey. Alex was in the same school as the four second graders (one of whom is his brother) but he was in fifth.

Casey and his mom. His cousin is in the background. I actually don't know how old the cousin was. He was visiting.

Kaleb helping Josiah up the tree. These two kept their teacher on his toes this year!

We had quite an assortment of boats--three kayaks, one of which was a  pedal kayak, a two person pedal boat, a jet ski, a raft boat (?) with a motor and the jet ski.

Rick took his lunch hour to tow the jet ski to the bay and then came back after work for food and to help us load up and haul boats home. Two of the kayaks and the jet ski are ours. It was a lot of fun to share them with friends today.


Tomorrow, if all goes well, we are going to Destin to shop for swim suits and go to the beach. I finally figured out where the beaches there are. We are always on 98 and we need to be on scenic 98. I bought myself snorkel equipment and hope to try it out tomorrow.

Jessica has two term papers and a final in the next two days. I also start physical therapy this week that is supposed to help with the pain from my bone spur, and I mentioned my allergy testing already, so not everything is all fun here, but today was. And hopefully tomorrow will be also. Everyone worked together well today and followed the rules! Yay!

Hope you all are having a sunny and happy week.

Pool Fun and more

This week the twins had soccer camp.

We didn't get any pictures of them playing because they were finishing up when we picked them up.

He doesn't look thrilled because his team just lost. He will be playing on a team in the fall. Kayla will not. She showed very  untrustworthy behaviors this week. We will see how she's doing when basketball season rolls around.(I may reconsider if I see the changes I need to see in the next four weeks before soccer starts).

Lunch at Golden Corral for those who competed running/walking 200 miles since we started last year. Tyler and I finished that morning! No one has to run, so it's just if you want to do it or not.

He definitely loves his food!

Chocolate fountain

Jasmine with her drumsticks that Duncan from Newsboys sent her! Mike Nawrocki from Veggie Tales arranged that for us. These are a couple of the good guys, so if you've never listened to Newsboys or watched Veggie Tales, be sure to check them out.

We only got to the pool once this week to work on swim skills. Still, Jasmine has passed off on 25 meters front crawl and back crawl and treading for a minute.

Kaleb passed off on 25 meters on his front. It wasn't exactly front crawl, but we'll work more on technique next summer. For now, we are working on endurance and being safe. He still needs to do half a length on his back for me. He stayed afloat for a minute. It was kind of a combination of treading and floating, but I was just looking for him to be able to jump into the deep end and not panic, and then stay afloat. In doing that for me, he also passed the test to be in the deep end.

Jasmine's jump.

 I am encouraging all of the kids with their swim skills, but not forcing it. Jessica is working on some that she uses in Scuba. She has advanced and search and rescue. She will have her science diver certification once she gets a physical that's a little more complicated than what her doctor is used too.

I will be taking everyone who passes my test to the water park about 45 minutes away. So far Jessica and Jasmine are signed off and ready to go. Kaleb needs to do his half length on his back. Ty has opted not to do it because he only has Fridays free. But while he doesn't swim strokes, he's water safe. I think Kayla has decided not to do it too. She hasn't said so, but the last two times she hasn't even come into the water. She sits on the edge and watches. I'm okay with that, but I'd really feel better if all of them had some water skills since we live by an ocean. But we have life jackets and many times I have the kids wear them due to under currents and large waves. I can't seem to get the videos of the pool to upload, so I'll try again later.

Today Jasmine and Kaleb went to Lowes with Rick to do the free project.

Lowes does these projects every other week for free. You just have to sign up ahead. So check out your local Lowes. This is the first time we've done it, but not the last. Saturday mornings get busy during the fall, so I'm not sure how many times they'll make it. I don't think Jasmine is going out for city soccer this year, so she will probably be able to go. Kayla too. But Kaleb will have games on Saturdays, and I'll be at those.

So that is more or less what we did this week.

Happy Birthday Tyler

We celebrated Tyler's birthday a day early because he wanted to go to the mall on his actual birthday (today) and use his discount. Jessica is also at work today. It worked out well because it stormed so Ty finished work early.

I had a pork shoulder roast in the crock pot all day for pulled pork.

Jasmine got him a Skylanders throw blanket.

He wasn't all that excited about clothes. Actually, he probably didn't  need new clothes, just needs to clean his closet!

Camel pack for running. 

Much more excited about the games we got him.

A check from Grandpa and Grandma

A gift card from Adam

A game from Uncle Ken

And a game from Aunt Lou (actually I don't know which game came from who)

And a keep cool thing from Jessica for his job

Travis is hanging out after his little boy surgery.

Ice cream cake. Jessica went to get him a cake, and the bakery was almost empty of cakes, so she got an ice cream cake. It came in a big box , so silly us, we thought we were getting a big cake! 

 Even though we celebrated last night, we didn't let today go unnoticed. Rick bought a dozen donuts for Ty to take to work. It was a rough day for Ty at work because of vehicles getting stuck due to the constant rain.

He took the trolley to the mall to use his birthday discount at FYE, and I picked him up there.

I had just been pricked 64 times in the back for allergy testing, and then they stuck 25 needles in my arm. That did NOT feel good. Basically I'm allergic to every kind of grass, several trees and molds, pets, cockroaches, dust mites and such. I did not test positive for any food, but he only tested the most obvious ones-milk (I'm lactose intolerant but not allergic), eggs, peanut butter, tomatoes and a couple of others. Not allergic to any of them. All in all, it was not a pleasant day for either Ty or I.

Jessica made this while I was at the dr. It was really good!

I bought mini cupcakes and Snickers ice cream.

Ty bought the turtles with Grandma Sims' birthday money and the rest with his own.

Kind of empty here tonight with Adam at basic, Jessica at work and the twins in bed. I haven't said much about them. But as you know, this is an adoption blog where I share the good and the challenges, and today was challenges. The twins are in soccer camp from 9-12 each morning this week. Kayla has not outright broken rules, but she's taken advantage of things. Like, I  limit her drinks because she has lots of pee pee accidents. But the first day of camp she filled her 20 oz bottle three times because no one was watching her or thought anything about it. She knows not to do that. She did the same today. She only did it because she could get away with it, not because she really wanted that much water. In the two days she has had THREE major pee pee accidents and hidden them. We are talking Lake Michigan sized accidents. She can easily get to the bathroom, but she waits until it's too late. I send her but it's funny to pretend to go and not go. She has her final warning that if she does this tomorrow it will be her last day of camp. Our rule is that if we can't trust you out of our sight because you deliberately break rules then you don't go.

Kaleb was doing better but going to camp has given him unnatural feelings of empowerment. Do you parents know what I mean? "I'm a soccer player so I can do whatever I want." And today what he wanted was to eat not only his own lunch, but two extra hot dogs which meant two other people didn't get any. He really saw no problem with doing it because he's a soccer player and that puts him above rules.

Really, though, the summer has been pretty issue free because other than TMI camp and soccer camp, the twins have been with us all the time. I'm their summer tutor. I'm their summer swim teacher. I'm their running partner and playmate. I make sure jobs get done. So things have gone fairly smoothly. And they've seen that less issues means more privileges. Same rule. If I can trust you, you have more play privileges because I don't have to watch you every second.

Are the rest of you seeing any changes in behavior with school out for the summer? Do you stay on a schedule? Outings?

Anyway, my firstborn is 23 today! And yes, it does seem that long since I gave birth to him. It has to be because it feels a lifetime ago. He has lived in ND, Okinawa, SD, England, GA and FL. We've gone on some cool trips and he's had some experiences other kids haven't had with moving with the military.

Ty is still working for Goodwill doing contracted services like weed wacking, mowing, trash pick up, sign repair etc. He's doing great, and he seems to get along with his whole team. There is a supervisor right with them who looks out for them too.

Have a great week everyone!