VACATION!

The wonderful view from our balcony

our (failed) attempt at being athletic

sisters minus one

me and my little man

our beautiful beach house and my beautiful girl

amanda, dale, & krys at the beach

the parents at our biggest dinner out. mom even got a crab hat for her birthday.

Oli gets in his zone and throws sand at anyone who comes near him.

We love vacation! This year, we got to go to the Outer Banks of NC with our whole family! Mom, Dale, Beth, Krys, Amanda, Mike, Tim, me and the kids all drove down (9 hours) to the beautiful and quiet beach town of Duck. There is no boardwalk, which disappointed Mac at first, but we had a huge house, our own pool, and a short walk to the beach. Tim was supposed to leave on Tuesday, but was able to stay the whole time.

Some highlights include:

1. Waverunners -- Everyone (except me and Oli) taking out waverunners and zooming around the bay (inlet? bay? whatever -- it was water). I am a worrier, and it has been brought to my attention that I am a little over protective of the kids. I did not like the idea of Mac going out, but since she would be with Tim, decided it would be okay. I was literally in tears as they headed out, but she loved it.

2. Mom's birthday - Since Mike and Amanda had to leave on Tuesday, we celebrated Mom's birthday with a great dinner of grilled steaks, chicken, and salmon. Mike cooked it and it was delicious. More and more, I feel like a good home cooked meal beats going out to eat any day.

3. Beer Pong -- Later that night, we (minus Krys and the kids) played beer pong. Despite my love of drinking in college, I never really played beer pong. Mom never played, either, but it turns out she is a natural!

4. Riding the waves -- A favorite since I was little. This summer I have enjoyed taking Mac in the ocean a few times, but we stay pretty shallow. This time, I got to go far out with Mike, Tim, and Beth. It was great until my bathing suit top came off. Luckily I caught it before anyone else did.

5. Ice cream -- Ice cream every day!! Nothing says vacation like continuous ice cream!

6. GI Joe -- Okay, not necessarily a highlight in an of itself, but Tim and I went to a midnight showing of GI Joe. It wasn't a bad movie, I managed to stay awake, and it was the first movie I've seen in the theater in quite a while.

7. Candy Land -- I almost forgot. Candy Land is Mac's favorite game right now, and we played it constantly. The aunts were her favorite partners, since I am old hat, and I'm sure they will be quite happy not to hear the terms "double red" or "Queen Frostine" any time in the next few years. Luckily, Mac has finally embraced losing, or at least has learned how to be a gracious loser. Believe me, that was a long fought battle, and I'm not sure it applies to any situation other than Candy Land. But she is a fun opponent and I'm glad to see her enjoying the game.
I've realized that it doesn't even matter where we go when we are all together (even though we go great places!!), it is just fun having the time together.

Queen of the Ring

Mackensie strikes again! In her second official taekwondo tournament, Mackensie took a Tiny Tiger trophy for her excellent, black belt high block. She really does a great job at tournaments. They challenge kids in a few ways, including:

1. getting up super early -- line up is 8:30 a.m., and the tournament is usually 30-40 minutes away. Maybe not a challenge for most kids, but mine don't sleep at night, so they like to make it up in the morning. Mac usually rolls out of bed at 8:30. It was especially challenging to get up early for this tournament, because Mac was also coming off of a mega-tantrum the night before. She handled it like a champ, though, and got dressed and into the car in record time. A quick stop at dunkin donuts and I had her fueled up on Munchkins and ready to go. Of course, Tim forgot to mention that the tournament was at a different location than usual, so we went 15 minutes in the wrong direction before finding out where we were supposed to be going. We got there a little late, but it helps to know people. The tournamet host was a friend of Tim's, and Tim was already there and waiting for us, so we got right in to a ring that had just started.

2. sitting still in a line to wait her turn -- ideally, they also want the kids to fold their hands across their chests "like a master." And Mac actually bought it. She sat still, and clapped and cheered for other kids when appropriate.

3. feats of athleticism -- mac has this sewn up. although she has inherited some clumsiness from me (and tim is actually pretty accident prone, too) she is also really good at taekwondo, and learns how to do her moves really quickly and accurately. although she doesn't always remember all of her moves in sequence, yet, she does them with great precision. in Tiny Tigers rings, the "judge" does the moves with every student, and then picks the best part of their form as a basis for the trophy. So while Mac got her trophy for her high block, others got trophys for their "awesome front kick," "black belt attitude," or "loud yell."

In the end, every kid gets a trophy and it is a truly gratifying experience. I really enjoy taking Mac to tournaments, and I have to think that it is a really fulfilling experience for Tim.

Another Big Week for Oli

We've had another busy week. This time, it was full of doctor's appointments for Oliver. Nothing serious, but stuff that was important to get out of the way. On Tuesday, we went for a PT evaluation at Children's Specialized Hospital. Our PT, Ruth, recommended it since Oli is at such a crucial stage in terms of mobility. This evaluation was to qualify him for outpatient therapy at a "baby gym." We met with a really nice physical therapist who played with Oli for an hour. She seemed pleased with what he could do, but recommended him for two sessions a week. It has to go through insurance first, but we will hopefully have Oli hitting the gym in just a few weeks. We should also be getting his walker this week, so he will be movin and groovin.

Oli also had a hearing evaluation this week. It was quick and simple, and he slept through it. His hearing is fine. We did thi because every time I bring up delayed speech to his developmental intervention therapist or neurosurgery, they ask if we have had his hearing check. It is something to check of the list before we can look to other reasons for his delayed speech. At age two, he will qualify for speech therapy through early intervention. Now, we are ready to get started.

Oli has had a boost in speech in the last few weeks. "No," "more," "down," "out," "moo," "woof," meow," "up," and a few others. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of his road to full speech. I can tell he has a lot to say; maybe he just doesn't know how to get it out.

Tim is World Champ in Sparring!

It was a long, hard battle (four matches, two of them against really strong competitors), and certainly a long time coming (19 places in Top 10, 5 Silvers, and 5 bronzes over fifteen years) but he did it!

The day started off slow, with one of his students losing and Tim taking third place in forms. Of course, we felt he was robbed of first in forms, so I think that we were all a little discouraged going into sparring. He won his first match easily, and had his second match against Eric, a friend who pretty much always wins his sparring matches. But Tim beat him 2 to 1 and moved on. He then sparred the guy who took first in forms earlier in the day. This guy was at least 6 or 7 inches smaller than Tim, so Tim won that match pretty easily. Finally, it was the match for first and second place against his friend John. John is an excellent sparrer and a really nice person. Tim started the match strong and was up 4-2, when John did a jump kick to the head, which is worth three points. My stomach dropped, only one judge called for the full three points, while the second judge called for two points, and the third judge for no points. Since John didn't actually make contact, it probably should have been no points, but he wound up getting the 2. So it was a tied match -- the next person to score would be world champ... Tim snuck in with a punch to the stomach and it was all over. It was amazing!

What is great is that win or lose, almost everyone here has a really good attitude. Tim was fine (albeit disappointed) when he took third in forms, John was probably disappointed that he wound up taking second, but everyone laughed and joked and shook hands. That is how it should be.

Tim also tested for and got his sixth degree black belt this week, so this has been our best trip off all time so far.

A lot of Tim's friends won world champ in other events/divisions, so it was a good day all around. This is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Tim, and I couldn't be happier or more proud.

Sniper's Close Call

Admittedly, we have been a bit lazy about letting Sniper off leash lately. Since we don't have a door that opens directly into the fenced in part of our yard, the alternative is to walk Sniper out on a leash, wait while she does her thing, and then bring her back inside. Sometimes this is long and inconvenient, especially when the kids are waiting/eating/crying/killing each other inside. So, as Sniper proved her maturity by peeing and coming directly back in, we have let her go outside on her own.

Lately, she has been wandering over to the neighbors yard. This is especially mortifying because our neighbor keeps a nice yard, and surely doesn't want dog poop on it. Sniper doesn't really listen to me, but usually Tim can get her back on our property pretty quickly.

And this is what was happening on Saturday morning. I let Sniper out first thing in the morning and she promptly headed over to our neighbors yard. But instead of going in the back, she went to the front. I ran to get Tim, and by the time he got out there, she had wandered (or rolled -- we are on a hill) down to the street. Tim got outside in time to hear the impact and hear her cry. He yelled for me, and as he did, I heard her cry, as well. I wasn't sure what it was until he came running up the driveway carrying Sniper and saying "She got hit by a car."

In that second, I looked at her and saw that she was conscious and breathing and seemed okay. I kept asking if she was okay, and he kept telling me she got hit by a car. I went to call the vet, but I couldn't even remember their name to look them up. Once I found their number in my address book and dialed, I could hardly tell them our name. Luckily they had us come right in. I was afraid to touch Sniper because I didn't know if she was okay. So I had Tim load her in the car and off we went.

By the time we got to the vet, I could kind of tell that Sniper was okay. She had been standing on all fours at home and was conscious. She wanted to jump out of the car when we got to the vet's office and seemed fine in the waiting room. I was afraid she was going to convulse or collapse because of hidden injuries, but she continued to seem okay.

The vet was so nice -- it is really a place that loves animals. They checked her over, declared her stable, and did some x-rays. Nothing was wrong other than a broken tooth and a dilated left pupil. They think that her pupil will be okay (and it seems to be), and that she will be fine.

Since we've been home, Sniper has been jumping and running around like nothing happened. She is truly the luckiest dog ever. And even though she has gone back to 100% naughty dog behavior, we feel like the luckiest parents, too.