Family Vacation, first few days

We took our first ever family vacation last week. We have traveled to several places this summer, but never just the four of us for vacation only. We spent the week in Amelia Island, which was absolutely fabulous. It was such a blessing to enjoy each other & have a lot of fun!
This was the first few hours after we arrived. We were walking around, checking out the property and the kids were a little tired from the drive. I asked them to turn around and smile so I could take a picture with the beach behind them. This is what they did:

One night, early in the week, we played by the ocean and waited for the moon to rise. We were shocked by the beauty of it. We had no idea what to expect, but everyone told us to wait for it. So we did. When the sky finally was black, we saw this tiny orange light out on the ocean. Ten minutes later, it was a full orange beautiful moon. I can't even describe it with words.
I was explaining to the kids how special and unique it was for them to see this. Allie looked at me and said, "God made that." She's right. Beauty like that can only come from God.

We enjoyed an awesome bike ride under a beautiful canopy of trees. Have I ever mentioned I love riding bikes? (!)

On the first day, after much beach time, Zachary thought he'd just "watch a movie" while Allie took a nap. Ha! He didn't last ten minutes.

The hotel had a beautiful grassy area, like a courtyard, that we ran around. They had lots of little fireplaces for small groups to gather. We lounged and enjoyed the sound of the ocean and the cooling of the day. The kids played hide & seek with Todd. It was so nice & relaxing.

...more to come!

Eaker Family Pictures

While Mimi & Granda were here over the 4th of July weekend, we were able to take some impromptu family pictures. I think they turned out great!

Grammy & Grandpa

We also enjoyed some Grammy & Grandpa time last weekend. Swimming, eating, reading, playing, etc...Fun, as usual!!

Gwammy Tare

My Grandma (aka: Grammy Claire) was here for a visit last week and we had a nice time. She brought them a bunch of bandanas, which they loved. Allie wore all of hers at the same time! And enjoyed reading books with Gwammy Tare (that's how it is pronounced in Allie-talk).

We went swimming, and I LOVE this picture Grandma took.

They had fun planting flowers too!

Grammies

We had some fun with Grammy, Grammy Claire, Aunt Jen & Unkie Dan on Thursday. Here are some fun pictures:

Up her nose

A few weeks ago, I was thinking to myself, we have been lucky. With 2 small kids, Neither of our kids has lodged anything in any orifice, neither of our kids has broken a bone, neither of our kids have eaten or smeared poo on anything, etc...like so many things small children do.

I should have known that merely thinking that statement, I officially jinxed myself.

Last night, I heard Allie messing around in her room long after we put her to bed. I stood by her door and heard her say, "something in my nose..." but I couldn't see her.
When I turned the light on, I saw her cute little self surrounded by torn pieces of wipes. Apparently I left the wipes within her reach and she was creating some kind of wipe confetti...?
I said, "What are you doing?"
"I have pee pee, need to wipe myself."
(she does have her little potty in her room for night-time use)
"Ok, good girl."
"...something in my nose..."
"What's in your nose?"
"...something..."

I could not see anything at first. Her nostrils were clear. So I told her to "blow" her nose while I looked inside. After a few strong snorts, I finally saw it. Way up there.
It took awhile and some little tools, but I got the "ball of torn wipe pieces" out of her nose. It was actually much bigger than I thought and getting it out was much more difficult than I thought.
I'm glad it wasn't worse. I've heard some much-worse stories.
I guess I handled it ok.
And I can take "dislodging something from an orifice" off my list of parenting things I haven't experienced.

Lil' specs

A few weeks ago, I noticed Zachary covering his left eye while he played a computer game. A couple days later, we were reading flash cards and he had his left eye closed and kept leaning closer to the cards with his right eye.
Last week, he was doing the same things much more frequently. I asked him why he covers his left eye. He simply said, "It helps me see better."
I was a little surprised, so I asked him a few more prying, neurotic & motherly questions and came upon the conclusion that he's having some vision problems. I asked several mom-friends (the ones who have kids with glasses) about their eye doctor experiences and we went ahead and got Zachary an appointment.
Apparently our little guy has a weak muscle in his left eye that prohibits him from being able to adjust his focus properly. The doctor actually showed me what our [normal] eyes naturally do when we change focus and then showed me what Zachary's eyes do (definitely not the same!...and a little freaky).
So, he prescribed a special type of lens to help strengthen Zachary's eye muscles. The Optometrist gave another bit of optimistic news - Zachary will probably only have to wear the glasses for 6 months! We had a great experience and Zachary has been a trooper!

I told Zachary he could pick out the pair he liked best (and prayed to God he wouldn't see the Cinderella ones...!). He picked his top 3 favorites, all of which were super handsome on him. He decided on this pair because they had red stripes!

The doctor gave Zachary a little Glasses 101 lesson and even whispered to him that he has to make sure that "little sister" doesn't get them! See him holding the case? He calls it his "wallet"!

It was really interesting to watch him for the first hour after he got the glasses. It was like he was seeing everything completely differently. It made me wonder how much he might have been missing...? Just before nap time, we were reading Peter Rabbit. The entire time, I kept peeking at him and not once did he cover his eye. Yay!!

Another pretty dress by Mimi

Mimi made Allie a beautiful dress for this summer. She looks darling in it, of course! Allie loves the pockets. It's really pretty!

In this picture below, she looks very much like...whom?

Stretchin' with Grandad

While he was here, Grandad had some extra distractions during his daily stretch routine. Both kids love to stretch with Grandad! So fun!

4th Family Fun

Our Independence Day celebration was on July 3rd at our church family picnic. We had a fun time with Mimi & Grandad...
...eating hamburgers

...playing in jumpy things (I don't know what to call them.)

...waiting for dark so we can enjoy the fireworks

When the sun had set and we were waiting for the fireworks to start, there was some great patriotic music playing. The kids were dancing like crazy. I love watching my kids dance. They have some great moves!

On Sunday morning, Zachary was telling Aunt Meredith about the fireworks. He told her that "the fireworks were beautiful," "they were really loud," "there were some that were like a big spider web with a lot of colors," and that "they followed us home!"