Our Vacation

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Thanks Grandma and Papa

For your upcoming 40th anniversary, instead of going away on some exotic vacation you gave your kids a gift instead... and not that we need special stuff to keep us coming around and spending time with you, but this pool is awfully nice!!

I have had the best week just watching all of these kids enjoying themselves while I hang out and relax, chatting with my sisters, aunts, cousins, friends and of course you two....and watching this little guy go from water hater to mer-man in one day! It's wonderful... thank you...

and it will be even better when you hire that cabana boy!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jack!!

Happy birthday wishes....we hope you had a great day!! (Ethan is enjoying his "Just-Because" cake from a few weeks ago... when we made a cake for no reason except that we wanted to, and sang "Happy Thursday".)

The end of an era...

Alex, my independent, stubborn, vocal vegetarian has succumbed to the call of the burger... yep, she's a meat eater once again.

More from camp...

I got a call from the nurse at camp this morning. Alex needed to be picked up because they suspected she had pink eye. I had to rearrange my morning (thanks Dawn and Megan for being "me" for me!) and take her to the doctor. She was bummed that she had to miss a whole day of camp, but she'll be back tomorrow. (In fact, her doctor said that he wouldn't mind sending her back immediately, but that he didn't want to step on the "camps rules".) She'll need to take her drops with her and administer them 4 times a day. This is proving to be an interesting week camp-wise!

M.F.U. (More Frequent Updates) - edited

I have decided that with Justin traveling so much I should update this blog more frequently so he can see what we are up to while he is away.... so here we go!

8:30 am: Ethan calls me again from Aunt Megan's house. Again he is freaking out about the fact that he wants me to bring over a life jacket so that he can swim at camp. I tried to explain that they won't let him use it and that they will be teaching him how to swim, to no avail. He hangs up on me again. I called back and talked with Megan. She said that he is freaking a little but she thinks he'll be ok.

9:05 am: Report from Megan... the boys were delivered to camp just fine. Ethan spotted a friend, Logan, from nursery school whom he hasn't seen in a long time. (Logan goes to Canandaigua not Bloomfield, so we only occasionally run into him) He was so excited to see him he forgot all about being nervous about swimming. Cool! Thanks Logan! Logan lives just around the corner from Dom... we'll have to get the boys together to play outside of camp someday.

UPDATE: When I picked the boys up today Ethan said that it was a "bummer". "What's a bummer?" I asked. "That there are only 4 days of camp left. It's sad." So, I guess he likes camp!! And he even went swimming, and said that swimming was his favorite part. And guess what? They had a life jacket for him to wear!

Camp

We took Alex off to 4H camp today. She's so funny because, just like last year she was all, "Ok mom, get out of here now." She can be so independent...which I love about her, but at the same time she's only 10 and I'm not quite ready to be kicked out of her life yet. She is sharing a cabin with Caroline and Tessa and I'm sure they will all have a blast. Oh, to be a kid going off to sleep-away camp. Doesn't it sound fun? Campfires... silly songs... swimming... being in charge of yourself for a whole week (well, sort of). Hudson goes next week with a group of his friends. Ethan will be going to day camp at the same location starting tomorrow. He was on the waiting list for camp (because I was reluctant to sign him up... I didn't think he really wanted to go) and we found out last Monday that he got a spot.... Gabby's spot!! Because of Gabby's arm injury she can't go to camp. It is sort of like that story telling devise we used to use in elementary school called "Fortunately/Unfortunately".... Fortunately Ethan can go to camp. Unfortunately it is because Gabby hurt her arm and can't go. Fortunately they will have swimming lessons at camp. Unfortunately Ethan will probably freak out. Fortunately I won't be there to witness him freak out. Unfortunately for some poor teenager, they will... get the idea?

** 8pm update: Ethan just called me from Aunt Megan's house... he is spending the night there because she is going to take him and Dom to day camp tomorrow. (Cate arrives at a time that I cannot get Ethan to camp in time.) E is already freaking out about swimming. He was so flustered on the phone that I couldn't understand him. All I heard was "Mom!" “swimming!” and a shrill “life jacket!” before he hung up on me. I called back and talked with Megan. She was trying to convince him that he can touch in the shallow end, and got the tape measure out to prove it. And yes, at this point I am going to be of those mothers... I told her to tell him that they can't make him swim... poor kid, he's so petrified.

Waterpark

On Wednesday Grandma Chickie treated the kids to an afternoon at the water park. It was overcast and not a super hot that day, but that meant a less crowed park... which is ok by me! Ethan surprised us by going into the wave pool without any prompting... but he wouldn't go on any water slides. I have decided that Aunt Megan must have the magic touch with Ethan when it comes to water... she got him to "swim" at the lake earlier this year and he went on the water slides when Megan took him to the park. When Grandma and Papa's pool is done, Megan will have to have an installment of "Aunt Camp" and get Ethan to go in there too!

Thanks G.C!! We had a great day!