Things I Learned at the Lake

Izzy is growing up way too fast.

So is Chip.

18 month old little boys are insanely busy and share none of their energy with their parents.

Nothing wears my kids out like life at the lake.

Izzy is braver around her friends than she is with just us... wouldn't ride a tube with me, but hopped right on with the big girls.

I could float for hours.

Nothing says "me time" like a napping house, a good book, and being stretched out on a float on a screened porch.

I didn't miss my computer that much even though we were gone for 2 weeks.

Maybe I should try more time unplugged.

Izzy still comes running to me with most news, but occasionally she doesn't and that makes me a wee bit sad...

I'm still sometimes surprised by how much our family has lost in the last 3.5 years. We took a great picture of the kids, Izzy, Chip, and Natalie, piled on Aunt Nik Nik. Love the picture and there are smiles all around. Had to wonder though, what it would have been like with a nearly 8(!) year old Catie and 6 month old Aiden piled on.

I could listen to my kids laugh all day.

Izzy loves nothing more than being around other people.

I hope that Tre' and I raise Iz to think for herself, esp. during her teenage years.

Visits from family and friends sure are nice.

Nothing says, "aaahhhh," like a hot shower after a day at the lake.

Geocaching is fun.

I love vacation, but nothing beats coming home.

Fall Break... Aaaaahhhhh...

You've just gotta love fall break!!!!! Being home for the last several years, I had forgotten how good Friday afternoons and the beginning of a few days off can feel. I'm here to tell you, it feels good!

Things are going well here... Izzy is growing, my belly is growing (not sure which one is growing faster!). Iz is cold and sniffle free at the moment (though she's shared her last cold with her daddy). The dishwasher and washing machine are running and I'm trying to catch up on a few things. Iz even seemed to catch on to the idea of vacation this morning. After waking at her normal time, she and I decided to curl up on the couch. She actually fell back asleep!!! :) There were some serious snuggles going on. I eventually got up and got a few things done, and she continued to snooze (see pics in entry below).

She's just woken up from her nap and I think we're going to fold a load of clothes! Hope things are good in your neck of the woods!

And We're Back

We have been enjoying the summer! We've been to the lake and to the beach... soaking up some sun and water and going through lots of sunscreen -- you gotta love the spray stuff. Iz has enjoyed the water and spending time w/ folks she loves. She's definitely easier at the beach than at the lake... at the lake the water gets deep so quick that you really have to stay right on top of her. At the beach, we usually go out at low tide -- Tybee's south end is sooooo great for little ones at low tide. There are great tide pools and the adults stay cool in the water while the kids run around and splash and, as Izzy loves to do, cover themselves in sand.

Some pics to share...


Checking out a book w/ Uncle Chad (he and Aunt Tati are expecting their first baby in November, a boy, we can't wait!!)


Giving loving to Natalie (who just turned 1!!)


If you only knew how many pictures we had to take to get this one!!


And check this out -- they're both still!!


Hanging out at the lake


Check out that wild hair


With Sara Beth -- and escaping from the picture


We were going for a cute pic in their matching pjs -- Sara Beth finally just held her head towards the camera b/c Iz kept escaping!!


Happy Girl!!!

The other reason I haven't posted much lately is b/c of some computer issues. My keyboard was going a little nuts, kept typing numbers instead of letters. So when Tre' brought his laptop home, I would catch up on e-mails, but no time for blogging. And... I kept falling asleep at night before I had time to call Dell to see what the deal was. So today, I decided to call Dell while Iz was napping. The nice man at Dell said, "have you tried pressing the number lock key on your laptop?" Oh my gosh!!!!! It seems that at some point, about 3 weeks ago, Iz hit the number lock key... and so, I haven't been able to type on my computer for THREE WEEKS b/c I didn't hit the number lock key!!!!! :) Can you believe that? Too funny! Oh well... you gotta laugh!!! It was easy to fix and we're back in business now!!

Disney, Part II sort of

Well... in getting ready to do the rest of our trip tonight, I've realized that I don't have any digital copies of the majority of our pictures from Disney. I have hard copies, but not digital ones... My hard drive crashed at the end of the year last year ... So I'm going to try to scan pics in at some point and give you the full deal... for now, here's what I have left at my photobucket account.

Day 3 was Animal Kingdom and MGM. We really had a good time at Animal Kingdom... We hit the safari first thing in the morning and had really great luck seeing all sorts of animals. Catie liked that. The other thing we really loved there was the Lion King Show. Catie was a big Lion King fan, so she enjoyed seeing all the characters and watching the story play out right in front of her (we were on the front row, and they were RIGHT THERE!!). She got her hair wrap here too!! The lady said normally she didn't do hair that was that short, but she did it for Catie and Catie was so proud that she had enough hair to get one!! At MGM, we hit the Playhouse Disney stuff... Bear in the Big Blue House and, of course... JoJo and Goliath and the Little Einsteins. We also went to the Little Mermaid show... this was before it became a favorite movie, but she liked how it rained on us and the wind blew and all. All these pics are hard copy right now, not digital. She was so funny meeting JoJo and Goliath! That night we met good friends of ours for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (very cool) and checked out LegoLand in Downtown Disney.We made it home in time for a tuck-in from the 6 foot tall rabbit Mayor Clayton, head hare of all things at Give Kids the World. We have that on video and it is so funny. She is giggling and it is from the belly. I'm so glad that Tre' taped it.

Our last full day in Orlando we went back to Magic Kingdom. We had so much fun there that we decided to totally skip Universal (and a lot of the stuff there was for older kids). I'm so glad we did b/c this was the day we spent meeting all the characters... The look on Catie's face was pure magic. We did characters for the majority of the day and it was so fun. We hung out forever in Toon Town (and she ended up getting her face painted for her "famous picture") and also spent some time in Fantasy Land and Frontier Land (if I'm remembering the names right). We ended the day with a parade just before we left the park.

Here are pics that I do have... I wish I had more of them!!


Playing dressup at the enchanted castle at Give Kids the World


With Stitch


Can I feel your nose?


With Minnie Mouse


With Mickey


With Goofy
Our favorite visit w/ Goofy was when he came to Give Kids the World one morning. He rode the train and Catie got to ride in the car with him. He was so, so silly and she was laughing so hard at him. I can hear her now saying, "that silly Goofy."


All the characters were so good to Catie and took their time with her... but these were great... this Minnie was so sweet. It was hot, can you tell?


Getting tucked in by the Mayor himself.


With the whole crew from Aladdin. The Genie came out especially for Catie, he had just gone inside (he had to be frying in that costume), but he heard she was out there and wanted to meet him, so he came back out. Aladdin gave Catie a small bead and told her it was a very special jewel that Jasmine had given to him when they first met, but he wanted her to have it... I wish you could have seen her glow!!! She was so amazed.... like I said, that place is magic!


Ok, this one kind of captures the trip for me. You can't even see Catie's face, but you can tell how totally mesmerized she is... Belle was so sweet to her (and she was already in love with that movie by then).


I know this picture is everywhere, but I can't do a Disney update without putting it here. It was actually taken a year ago today. Her daddy was holding her while we watched the parade. She so looked the part, hair wrap, face paint... I took about a dozen pics and thank goodness one came out just right.

This is how I like to remember her... tan, enough hair to flip out a little, looking like the picture of health... of course the ironic thing is that the tumor was growing even then... who knew... We certainly didn't that day and I'm so glad we didn't. As far as we knew, we had 4 more rounds of chemo and we were going to be done. That allowed us to enjoy the trip so much more. She was feeling great, looking great, acting great, moving great... It was truly the perfect time for us to go and I'm so grateful to Make A Wish, as they allowed us to make memories that we treasure so much. Catie truly had the time of her life (and we did too). I recently heard someone say that memories are a lousy substitute for the real thing, but when it comes to those we've lost, it's all we've got. So, I'm very grateful for these memories.