Florida Fun

We spent the last week of the summer in Florida, August 12th - 19th.  Matt had a conference in Destin and we got to tag along.  We left a little late on Friday so we took 2 days to drive the 14 hours.   We stopped half way there to stay the night in a hotel and we were setting up the arrangements for everyone to sleep.  Kylee did not appreciate the set up and was upset.  She let us know that she would be sleeping in the bathroom.  We thought she wasn't really serious and would give up and finally come get in bed.  We woke up during the night to find Kylee had made her bed of towels next to the toilet and had fallen asleep.

We got in to Destin Saturday afternoon and we were able to spend the late afternoon hours in the ocean. While hanging out on the beautiful white sand, clear water beach we saw 2 seperate weddings in the few hours that we were there.

We didn't have reservations for the hotel of the conference until Sunday, so we stayed somewhere else on Saturday night and then transferred to the other hotel after church. The hotel had a great room set up.  There were bunk beds just as you came in the door.  This where Kylee and Brayden slept.  There was a TV attached to the wall opposite the beds.  This made for a great place for all the kids to hang out and sneak in some TV watching.  The rest of the room included a king size bed and a queen pull out couch so that everyone had a bed without any kids in ours, a hotel rarity for our family.  The large and comfortable room had a great ocean view and was a fun place to hang out between our adventures.

Monday (designated a travel day) we got to enjoy Florida.  Matt rented a jet ski for a couple of hours and took turns taking the older 3 on a ride.

When the Conference started on Tuesday Matt had a pretty nice schedule each day, which meant plenty of family time. The kids and I slept in and then went to the pool to swim for a couple of hours while Matt was at his Conference.  A little past noon or 1 Matt would meet us and we would spend the rest of the day with him.  That meant a lot of beach time, swimming in the hotel pools, and exploring the Destin area.

Here are everyone's favorite memories for the week.

Kylee enjoyed all the swimming she got to do and meeting new friends (she is very good about introducing herself and finding people to play with). True to her love of critters she also enjoyed when Matt found "Jam" the jellyfish.

Brayden's favorite was riding on the jet ski.  A few weeks before our vacation he had a new interest in them and wanted to watch youtube videos about jet skis. 

Julia loved doing all the swimming at the beach and pool.  She got really good at swimming without her vest.  Her fantasies came true when Matt made Julia into a mermaid with a tail made out of sand.  Julia had fun going out in the ocean on the boogie board and going up and down on the waves.

 Blake's favorite was playing in the water. 

Mom - I enjoyed being on the beach in the evening hours, with most everyone cleared out and the sun going down with a beautiful sunset.

 Dad - the view from the balcony, relaxing on the beach as the sun went down, being able to take care of a TDY while enjoying time with my family at the same time

There was lots of swimming at the pool and hanging out at the beach.  So much that the kids, by the time we headed back on August 19th, were saying the beach and swimming were horrible.

Blake cracking eggs

We were having a lazy Saturday morning having out upstairs putting off coming downstairs to make breakfast when Kristel heard a tapping noise that sounded something like an egg being cracked against a glass bowl.  We thought maybe Julia, our egg lover, was downstairs cracking eggs for breakfast.  But when we looked around and saw Julia we jumped up and ran downstairs where we found Blake hard at work.  He had successfully cracked five eggs into a glass bowl without a single shell.  We had him demonstrate his technique for us.  He cracked the egg on the side of the bowl and then squeezed the egg making it kind of explode in his hand.  We were all impressed.

Stuborness continues

I thought that once Blake was out of the Terrible Twos his stubbornness would start to dwindle.  However, it seems to be only getting worse.  Here are a few of the stories typical of Blake's stubbornness.  He decides to exert his independence about the craziest things.  

Blake was given a bath when he did not want one.  To show his protest he took off his pajamas, dug his clothes out of the dirty laundry, and put them back on.  He got the shorts on backwards and the shirt inside out and upside down.  The pictures are not very good because he would not hold still for a picture.   This scenario is actually not an isolated incident.

Blake would not get his shoes on before church because he wanted to wear his flipflops.  He snuck the flip flops in the car.  We took him into church without shoes, but brought his church shoes with us.  He fell asleep during sacrament meeting and we made the mistake of not putting on his church shoes while he slept.  He woke up in time for his nursery class and we told him he needed to put on his church shoes to go to class.  He was pretty stubborn that he wanted to wear his flip flops and started to make a scene disturbing the adult sunday school class.  I was not willing to have him hang out with me for my classes, so I gave in and let him wear his flip flops to nursery.  I guess we lost that one.

Blake is stubborn about wanting to use our phone to play with.  He likes to let everyone know that he wants to play phone.  When we were at church Matt pulled out his phone briefly.  Blake saw it and wanted to play it.  He began to beg and whine and as he gradually got louder Matt took him out to a room to help him practice sitting reverently.  He resisted for a while, then finally gave in and calmed down.  He came back with Matt with his arms folded and tears in his eyes, but being the stubborn little guy that he is, he sat down and immediately asked again for the phone.  He quickly got louder and headed out again with Matt.  This time he came back asleep in Matt's arms.

The kitchen towel fell on the floor after Blake used it, so I picked it up.  However, Blake wanted it to stay on the floor, so he pulled it off the oven door handle and threw it on the floor again.  He did it several times so we let it sit on the floor for a while and took him away from the area.  Hours later, when he came back to the kitchen and saw it back on the handle he threw it on the floor again.  He obviously was not going to settle for a towel on the handle, so Matt picked it up and put it up high on the cabinets so he couldn't reach it.  He was determined to get it and started climbing the cabinets.  So very stubborn.

Our air conditioner was not working so our repairman (which happens to be the bishop of our ward) came to fix it.  He showed up right when we were getting home from school so I got out of the car quickly to open the door and I left my purse in the car.  Blake was in one of his grouchy moods so he was upset when I went back out to the car to get my purse.  He said I couldn't get my purse.  I brought it in and forgot about it.  About a half hour later the bishop let me know he needed to get a part at the store to be able to fix the AC, so he opened the front door to leave and there was my purse thrown out the front door.  I brought it in and Blake was mad that I did so he threw it out again.  Blake was determined not to give up and would not let me bring it in.  Brayden had the idea to go out the back door and run around the house to get my purse and bring it through the back door.  However, as Brayden was coming back around the house Blake saw him and wanted to go outside.  When he opened the door and saw the purse he was not happy.  He got it, went through the house and threw it out the front door again.  Luckily he was distracted and forgot about the purse and I was able to bring it inside and keep it in before the bishop came back.

Blake wanted some ranch with his pizza so my sister Chantelle poured some on his plate.  However, he wanted to do it himself.  He scooped the ranch off the plate and onto the table with a spoon and then proceeded to pour it himself.

Blake knows how to be stubborn.

Another day Blake wanted the whole loaf of french bread and not just a slice.  We have to choose our battles.

Blake very regularly does not want to get ready for church.  These are just a few examples of his day to day.  We love the little guy, but hopefully the stubborn streak eases soon.

Texas beach vacation

In June my parents got a 2 week break from their temple work.  My Mom decided to come out and visit us so that we could spend some time at the beach.  The Kenitzer's also came down from Dallas to get in on the fun.

We decided to stay in Rockport and go to the beach in the area on the first day.  It ended up being filled with jellyfish and not worth it to go swimming in the ocean and get stung.  The kids ended up playing on the sand and not really swimming.  Kylee and Dallin  entertained themselves by collecting hermit crabs and making them a castle.

We decided to take the ferry the next day to Port Aransas and try the beach there.

 

It turned out to be the better beach because there were no jellyfish and the kids were able to get in the ocean.

Brayden had all the seagulls following him because he kept throwing them bread.

The Kenitzers, Carlos, and my Mom stayed an extra day to tour Corpus Christi and the USS Lexington.

We finished off the week by going to Sea World.  The kids had lots of fun.

We were lucky to be able to have Mamaquel in town to celebrate her 69th birthday, part of the celebration was having a birthday breakfast at IHOP.

 

camp halfblood

The week after school was out  Kylee and Julia were invited to be a part of camp half blood.  A brave Mom hosted about 15 girls at her house for 3 hours each day with activities based on the book Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  

This is a schedule of their activities

The shield and sword that Julia made during their weapon making course.

On Thursday, June 9th we were able to join as a family at a local farm to ride a pegasus (horse).  They also got to feed and pet other animals, and went on a short hay ride.

The week ended up with the girls swimming at their pool and then all the families got together for a potluck and to watch the play they rehearsed all week.  Kylee and Julia both played the role of a mouse. 

Last Day of School

All the kids were sad on the last day of school...not sad about the homework and schoolwork ending, but sad that they won't be with their friends and have the same teachers next school year.   This year has been the first year that I have been sad at the end of the school year realizing that my kids are getting older.  I am happy with where they all are and I would be happy if they just stayed this age.

Kylee - 4th Grade

Favorite Color - yellow and blue
Favorite Subject - reading, science, p.e., art, music
Favorite lunch food - pizza sticks
Friends - Persephone, Madeline, Madison, Giovanni, Ariana
This year Kylee was on the Lewis leopard choir.  She enjoyed doing a few choir performances throughout the year.  Kylee read a lot of books this year and got a lot of AR points quickly.  Kylee
discovered she likes a lot of the food offered for lunch at school, which made my life less stressful since she does not like sandwiches.  She will only take pasta to school for lunch.

The highlights of her school year were making a roller coaster in GT class, doing science experiments,   and school parties.  This summer she is looking forward to going to the beach, pool, sea world, and playing outside.

Kylee doesn't really want to go to 5th grade because that means her class is in the portables and she says they are always freezing.

Brayden - 2nd grade

Favorite Color - blue, red
Favorite Subject - recess, lunch
Favorite Lunch Food - chicken patty sandwiches and pizza sticks
Friends - Dalton, Luke, Michael, Ashton
Brayden's big accomplishment this year was that he finally learned how to tie his shoes.  It didn't take him that long to learn when he finally tried to do it (he likes to make things a lot more difficult than they are).  Brayden enjoyed playing with his group of friends.  He talked a lot about different groups in the class.  There are 4 main groups and some "randoms".  I can't believe it starts this early.

The highlight of Brayden's school year was his teacher and friends.  He is looking forward to visiting his cousins in Dallas this summer.  He says he doesn't want to go into 3rd grade because he likes 2nd grade better.

Julia - Pre-K

Favorite Colors - pink, purple, golden, silver
Favorite Subject - playing centers, and Fun Friday box because it had more toys in it
Favorite Lunch Food - pizza, hamburgers
Friends -Maddison, Jenna, Bea, Reylissa (and then she started listing everyone in the class)
   
Julia came home singing various songs every day.  She loved "Fun Friday" because it meant more center time.  Julia enjoyed taking lunch to school and was one of a few that regularly took a lunch so that meant she was able to be the lunch line leader a lot.  She was so happy that a couple of months ago she learned how to swing by herself from her friends at school.  She loves to go out in our backyard and swing.  I enjoy watching her pumping her legs.

The highlight of the year for Julia was going on the fieldtrip to the children's museum.  She enjoyed riding the bus on the field trip and I got to be a chaperone.  This summer she is looking forward to swimming, going to Sea World, and going shopping.  She is excited to be going to kindergarten and learn new stuff.

(Julia recently told us when Grandma Mindy was visiting that she was ready for Kindergarten because she knows how to open a juice box, open a cheese stick, peel an orange, open up the cup of peaches, and she can swing by herself.)

I AM

Blake has been going through a funny phase where he feels the need to emphatically respond to any and every instruction, direction, or suggestion that he IS doing it.

"Clean up Blake" "I AM cleaning"

"Be quiet Blake"  "I AM being quiet" (which, generally uttered in sacrament meeting or other similar situation, inevitably is not said in a quiet tone)

Picking the kids up from school we are usually running late, "Hurry up Blake"   "I AM"  as he slowly walks up the side walk.