Summer's third day of fun

Yesterday, the kids stayed home from daycare so a friend and I could take them to Nashville Shores for the day.  Two years ago, my friend Rachel and I had taken Oliver to Wave Country -- it's a cheaper, smaller version of Nashville Shores, and for the age he was (and the fact that I was pregnant with Emmeline at the time), it was great. But I wanted to try out the bigger park.  I knew I couldn't do it by myself, so I recruited my friend Robin from school, who has always been great with the kids and is also a big water person.

I did a little planning ahead so that the day would go smoothly.  I decided to rent a cabana -- a little pricey, but not bad during the week.  It also includes two tubes and a locker, which makes the cost of the actual space about half.  And it was worth it to me to have protected, shaded space all day.  I knew if we were going to make it more than two hours, I would need somewhere to let the kids rest in the shade.  The park doesn't let you bring in food or water other than bottled water, so I got some of that (and froze it -- it was supposed to get over 100 degrees), and then packed some food to eat in the picnic area of the parking lot.  I wanted to make sure the kids had plenty to eat at lunch without spending a fortune for the three of us.

We were up and readying after 7am on Thursday.  We left the house about 9:30, picked up Robin, and made it to the park just as it opened.  I sent Robin ahead to let the kids start playing while I waited in a highly inefficient line to be "escorted" to our cabana.  I'd gotten one near the kids play area, and it turned to also be central to the park, making it easy to walk the kids to different areas.  We spent the morning in the kids' splash area -- complete with small water slides, different kinds of fountains and spray areas, and even little swings for Emmeline.  We did the wave pool (with and without waves) and the Lazy River.

Around noon, we took a break to eat lunch.  It was really easy to just step out, have some food, and come right back in.  It also let the kids warm up -- strangely, they were cold from the water, even in the heat of the day!  After lunch we went back to the Lazy River, since Oliver liked it so much.  We had tubes that came with the cabana, and the park provides life vests for free.  Between their hats, long rash guards, swim shoes, and life vests, they both looked like mini-adventurers ready for white water rafting.  We went around the Lazy River four times, I think, and Emme actually fell asleep on it.  Robin and Oliver made another stop at the Wave Pool while I took Emme back to the cabana to nap.  She was dead asleep while I carried her back, her head bobbing up around her life vest, but then was wide awake when I laid her down.

We took a brief rest from the sun and then headed over to the area with the bigger water slides, which also held three pool of varying size and depth.  There was another small water slide for Oliver, and even Emme could touch in two of the pools, which she really liked.  We enjoyed it for a while and then, sensing an impending breakdown (and nearly six hours in the sun), decided to head home.  I did treat everyone to ice cream before we left, which I'd promised Oliver the day before.  The kids both started fussing as we left, the tired setting in, but we got to the car with little hassle.  Emme was asleep before we made it back to the highway, while Oliver sang and chatted us up.

I tried to lay Emme down when we got home, and she did sleep for a little while.  Oliver agreed to go to bed early if he didn't have to nap, and that turned out to be a fine choice.  They both got a little ornery at dinner, throwing raisins on the floor.  They were in bed by 6:45 and fell asleep shortly thereafter, and both slept until after 7am this morning, which is "sleeping in" for them.  It appeared that we'd done a great job shielding them from the sun, but it's since become clear that my sunscreen job on Oliver was a little spotty.  I think I avoided right around his eyes in hopes of not getting it in them (it was aerosol spray, and I was putting it on my hands and then wiping it on his face and ears), and consequently he got a little sunburn there.  I'm hoping with plenty of lotion and no additional exposure, it won't last long.

For the cost of the park -- tickets, parking, and so forth -- I don't know that I'd go back again this summer, and I definitely can only go with another adult.  That said, it's a fantastic park, and I will take them back next summer.  Going on a hot weekday seemed to be key -- thinner crowds, the kids didn't get cold out of the water.  Packing a lunch and having the kids wear swim shoes were both really helpful.  Taking kids on these kinds of outings are definitely a lot of work, but so much fun!

On a Friday

The white trail blaze is for the Appalachian Trail

Happy dog

Ruffle butt

On a Thursday

The kids with Carol Broderson,
a family friend and neighbor.

On the playground at Mt. Rogers Combined School

Ice cream cones!

Oliver asked for one every night.

Emme never managed to finish a whole one.

Lucy loved being off leash for the week.

The kids are (mostly) all right

I have kids now.  Not a baby and a toddler, but kids.  Emme is just small enough -- and cries enough -- to make me feel a little like I still have a baby, but she's definitively a toddler.  She has this funny little gait, more noticeable in her bulky cloth diapers, and just yesterday climbed into her booster seat at dinner for the first time.  And while Oliver has his moments as a "little guy," his burgeoning vocabulary, turn of phrase, and emotional seesawing position him solidly as a preschooler.  And mostly, the kids are all right.

Oliver is just over two months away from turning four years old.  He clearly meets and exceeds all of the developmental milestones and probably has the most room for improvement on fine motor skills (ie. holding a pencil, drawing shapes, writing letters) though he has already made some progress.  He can count to 12 now but needs some help after that to keep the teens in order.  He can add and subtract with manipulatives.  He has some basic phonics knowledge and can spell or "read" a few words from memory.  He's strong, a good runner and walker, and he loves to jump.  His vocabulary is rapidly increasingly, and we're working with him gently on his grammatical errors (like past tense of irregular verbs) and pronunciation (like the th sound).  When he makes an error, I just repeat it back to him correctly and let him pick up on it himself.  He has some sophisticated words ("cahoots"), some mature turns of phrase ("Oh, sorry, sorry, I mean..." or "Sure, mom"), and some original terminology ("light naps" and "dark naps" for daytime naps and nighttime sleep, respectively).  He's getting a lot better in water even though he can't really swim.  He likes to dive underwater and can hold his breath for increasing periods of time.  He still gets nervous about letting go of me in the water, even with a life vest on, but we're getting there.  We're dealing with some of behavioral issues.  For the last month or so, Oliver has been mimicking Emme's babyish noises and psuedo-words.  When she screams, he screams.  Last weekend he got into a phase of being bossy -- telling me and Wes (whom he, more often than not, calls by name) what to do.  We've settled on a response of admonition, rephrasing his statement more appropriately, and having talks before bedtime about what he did well during the day and what he needs to work on.  He doesn't nap well on the weekend, something I'm still working on, and when he gets overly tired his behavior completely falls apart.  I'm really trying to encourage him to be an example for Emme -- in talking properly so she can learn her words, in discouraging her when she screams rather than mimicking her, and so forth.  It works better some days than others.  I see improvement overall, even though there's frustrations day to day.  He still has strange emotional reactions.  He cries at the drop of the hat over the strangest things -- today because he was sad about Emme sitting in his old car seat, and because he said he liked an orange booster seat.  This morning was something else so random I don't even remember what it was.  With redirection, it usually passes fairly quickly.  He's still a good boy, really happy, and genuinely sweet with his sister.

Emme will be 18 months in a  few weeks.  She is just the funniest little thing.  She is increasingly loud these days.  It's not just crying -- which has intensified at bedtime in the past week -- but just loud yelling throughout the day and especially at mealtimes.  Sometimes she seems to do it because no one is paying attention to what she wants.  Other times, she seems to just like hearing her own voice.  I've started asking her to be quieter at mealtimes at the very least, just so Wes and I can hear each other.  She also got her first time out today for hitting Oliver.  I was hesitant to start this, as she seems so young, but I know I began using them with Oliver at the same age.  She wailed the entire time, but I'm hoping it discourages the behavior.  She seems to have a significant receptive vocabulary.  Even her teachers at daycare have commented on it.  She can follow directions really well.  Her productive vocabulary is increasing as well -- she has mama, daddy, Aw-ver (for Oliver), Cille (for Lucy), dog, baby, sippy (for zippy cup), water (she loves the water), bath, and things that sound like bird, book, ball, more, milk, please.  I can say simple words to her and she'll try to say them back.  She repeated but not used independently words like car and truck and pee and poop.  I think by 19 or 20 months, she'll be speaking almost as well as Oliver did at 2 years old.  She just moved up to the one-year-old class at daycare recently, which should help that development.  The transition went better than most of us expected, given her adoration for the lead teacher in the infant room.  She doesn't seem entirely "at home" in her new classroom, but she doesn't cry or cling to me, either.  In a few weeks, it will get better.  For now, she is consoled with the greater access to the toddler playground that the new classroom permits.  Today she came home just covered in sand and dirt.  I sat her on the frog potty for the first time yesterday.  We read two books, sang two songs, and then gave up.  She likes to sit on it (often fully clothed), but clearly doesn't have any idea what to do there yet.  She is playing more with toys now.  She likes to put on the beads, carry around small items like the Lego people, and push trucks like Oliver does.  She mimics his activities more in play than elsewhere.  Recently, the kids have been "cooking" together.  Oliver starts by asking me what I want, and then Emme gets involved with bringing me imaginary food.  Sometimes Oliver asks her if they have something I've ordered, and she'll shake her head yes or no.  It's a riot.  She still gets fussy and wants held a lot, but usually when she's tired.  She's gotten in the habit of demanding breakfast the seconds he wakes up in the morning.  And in true big girl fashion, she's now moved out of the crib and onto a mattress on the floor.  The quilt and cute sheets I ordered for her came in the mail today, and her bed is on order and should come at some point in July.  She's been having screaming fits at bedtime, sometimes an hour or so into sleep, that are hard to quell.  We've gone to her fairly quickly so far, but starting tonight we're trying to let her go a little longer to get used to her new setting.  With the heat (the forecast is 100 or hotter for the foreseeable future) and longer days of sunlight, both the kids are short on sleep.  We're putting them both to bed earlier, but my sense is that they would benefit from more rest than they're getting.  We scheduled Emme's next surgery for November 5, which gives us several more months of no doctor's appointments or casts.

And so my kids grow up a little more -- learning to do new things, say new things, trying out behaviors good and bad.  Ob-la-di, ob-la-da.

On a Wednesday

Liz and Emme on the Virginia Creeper.
The pink shoes started the trip, but weren't there at the end.

Wes and Oliver at the beginning of the ride.

At the playground at the Green Cove stop.

Oliver at the end of the ride.  He chatted most of the way.

On a Tuesday

Emme really liked the "stuffed" animals at the
Grayson Highlands visitor's center

Perhaps you know what it's for?

Along the Twin Pinnacles trail

Quite a crew

Emme really liked the trail

Wes was trying to catch the dog while this picture was taken.
She'd gotten off leash in the park and wasn't keen on coming back.

Emme is holding her flowers; Ollie is making a face.

Enjoying the waterfall area on the Cabin Creek trail.

Hiking a steep portion.

The quickie mart in White Top's "town" -- mule burger, anyone?

Oliver spent a lot of time in the wood chopping --
with a machete -- that his father let him use.

Two men, a rail, and their drinks.

Happy kiddos!

Learning the finer points of pyrotechnics.

Oliver learned that "roasting marshmallows" means holding them over the fire,
not putting them in the fire.  He liked it.