Turtles and Turtle School

I took Jessica out to see a turtle nest dig and it was a big fat failure. There were actually two that night and neither had any live babies. The ideal nest has all happy little cracked eggs, no dead hatchlings and no live ones, meaning they all got out okay. So I guess... whatever... Ha. There were I think 7 dead hatchlings, the turtle pro figured, because it's been so blasted hot, that it's likely they got dehydrated before they got out. Sad. So with neither nest having a baby that makes four attempts with no babies!  I was starting to think I was bad luck!

I was considering giving it all up because I have been having Matthew come home from work early in order for me to go and for Pete's sake, I can't keep having him come home early! (Early is by 6, so he's still putting a day in, but I think he would normally try to leave around 6.) A few girls from church mentioned that there was another nest they just added for Saturday and Saturday I could maybe do so I tentatively planned on it.

Duncan and Ian an I headed to the beach and walked the half mile to where this nest was. Not too bad but the boys naturally thought that it was the end of days. They instantly started playing in the sand and building things. All the times before it was about the ocean, tonight it was about the sand! They didn't even go very far in the ocean at all just played on the beach with other kids. The tide was high and the waves were HUGE so that might have had something to do with it.

Because of the weather, there wasn't that much beach actually! Compared to other times we came I was totally surprised because in the past the sand stretched out for days!

They saw a lot of ants initially which is a bad sign. She put on the rubber gloves they normally wear and then slipped knee high panty hose on over her arms! The ants can't bite through the hose! Ants are a horrible, no good, very bad sign so they were hesitant but it turns out that the ants were pretty much just at the top and she ended up able to take the hose off.

When they started to dig up the nest it went really quite slowly... it was this particular lady's first time doing a dig and she was getting her rhythm on.

Then there were dead little hatchlings, just one after the other after the other. It was so crazy. There were SO MANY! One of the ladies has been doing this for 9 years and she thinks it was probably the most dead hatchlings that she has ever gotten. And extremely large nest, turns out the largest one of the season with 144 eggs, but so many didn't make it! They don't know why, she joked turtle CSI, but said one reason might be that the tide was so high that it packed the sand too tight. and they couldn't get out. They were also spread out over 12-18 inches so if they aren't all working together and going straight up it doesn't work quite right. So sad... 

But then, as she was past the babies and collecting the eggs, one moved. She was so excited! As was I, finally! There were two hatchlings that were alive that we were all able to send off which was SO COOL! Totally worth all the effort! I am okay now not having to force all the stars to align so I could go watch.

More turtle school for those interested - Every time I have gone I have learned something new. This is what I got from the last two nest explorations. 

Babies can live up to two weeks in the dirt out of their eggs and they get all the oxygen they need from the sand. They basically sit and wait for enough to hatch to start digging upwards. If they sense that the sand is too hot to continue digging, they stop, and wait to continue until it cools. Which is why the hatches mostly happen at night. Though the Mickler's Beach Turtle Patrol has a video of a nest hatching that happened at about 8:30 the other night because it was nice and cool. The video is pretty incredible. They are all spilling out of a hole in the sand!

This is the first year that Florida has participated in DNA testing on the turtles even though they have been doing it other places along the coast for up to 9 years. Only Northern Florida participates. They take one single egg out of each nest and have been able to find links between mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers.

The turtles nest 3-6 times in one year, every couple weeks, and each clutch has between 120-145 eggs.

I mentioned only one in every 1,000 makes it back to nest 30-35 years after they are born. She talked today about how they have had a ton of nest this year and it's largely because the conservation efforts started 30 years ago and they are finally reaping those reward, it
s showing now that it's been working. Is that crazy? Putting all of these things in place and not knowing if it's working for 30-35 years? Amazing.

These are loggerhead turtle nests, they have about 3 foot wide flipper marks up the beach but she spoke of Greens and Leatherbacks as well. Greens have about 6 foot wide flipper span and apparently Loggerheads are much wider even than that. She said people that have seen them nest say it looks like a VW bug on the beach! Unfortunately Leatherbacks are so endangered and they dive so deep in the ocean that their nest are most often unfertilized. They just never see another one so when they lay eggs, the entire clutch is no good.

One of the little guys tonight had a weak little fin, he was having a hard time getting everything coordinated. When we asked about it, she said it was fine but said that turtles can live in the wild with only three flippers. They have pulled some in for tracking and found that some had been "naturally amputated", like by a shark, and they do just fine with the three.

One of the volunteers spent time in Costa Rica doing turtle stuff. There, the locals dig up the nest and eat the eggs. The volunteers are there to cover up the tracks from the nesting and hide the nest as best as possible. They don't mark the nests like they do here, but rather GPS it an then use trees and natural land marks to be able to tracks the nests.

I have been waiting for this turtle for a very long time!

It was more about the sand than the water this time.
The other boy is Caleb, he's one of my scouts and he's the sweetest. 

Turtle charts.

Bit of a crew. Totally unimpressed with the nest at this point.

Yay! My first live baby!
They named him hope on account of all the turtle carnage he was under.

Lots of dead hatchlings. This lady was full of info, she talked to us the entire time. 

Not my kiddos, but amazing. 

Setting them free!

I wish I wish I wish this wasn't blurry! 

 Doing their beach job and refilling all of their holes before we leave. Just in case any baby turtles need to find the water that night. 

Turtles and lunch ladies

Duncan and I went to see the turtles again and nada! 7 dead hatchlings, two in the shell, two good eggs, but 76 broken eggs total which is pretty amazing! I am going to keep trying until I see a turtle baby!

The next night some people from church went and there were 20 babies! There were so many, and so many viable eggs that they decided to leave the nest alone for another day and look at it the following day.

I was going to take Jessica to that one and another new one on Monday but I read that it was a mile or two up the beach. I mean... a long stroll on the beach doesn't sound so bad to me but I don't think Duncan would have loved it. About an house before we would have left they added one for Wednesday and it's right by where you go to the beach so we are going to try those. There will be two nests, that ups my odds right?

So glad Matthew is supportive in this little adventure as I run out the door with one or two kid while he stays home with the others for now. C'mon, one baby! Easy for him to say, he's seen plenty in the pond out back. Granted, they aren't the cool, endangered baby types, but turtles all the same. We see them poking their heads out of the water all over the pond, he's seen one close up though.

As we were walking up to the beach this last time we could see BIG fish(?) jumping out of the water. At the time we thought they were dolphins but it turns out they might actually have been sharks. After we walked to where the nest was there were sharks jumping around all over out there. Apparenlty this is normal? It's not my normal! It made me a bit nervous but the other families just said to watch for jumping fish and the sharks aren't far behind... then just make sure the jumping fish aren't by where you are. Yikes!

I forgot to mention that the first time we went as we walked on the boardwalk thingy to the beach and the sand and ocean came into sight Duncan went "Ohhh, it's sooo prettty! Why's it so pretttty?" It was so funny. He was just taken back by how amazing the ocean looked.

This week I brought Greyson into Dylan's school with me and we walked through the office into the long hall and he got mad and sat down, right in the middle of the hallway. He sat. Pouting. So I just kept walking. I did look back, he wasn't moving, but I wasn't stopping. I figured as soon as I got out of sight he would come so I rounded the corner and opened the door to the area Dylan is in and saw her Para. I told her I was just going to leave Dylan for a sec and deal with Greyson and be right back. I figured there was a limit to how long I can abandon a 3 yo or else I might have left him there all day.

I had looked back right before the doors and noticed that he was walking now, looking over at what I thought was the giant map on the wall... but when I went back out I realized that he was walking with a woman, holding her hand. He had been looking up at her.

As I walked up to them I said, "You are too nice, he is in trouble!" And she said "I want him!" To which, of course, I told her that I am more than happy to give him right to her! After a brief little exchange about how cute and sweet he was, him all the while batting his eyelashes up at her, she asked if he wanted to go with her or mom. Of course he said with her because he knew he was in trouble once I got my hands on him!

Well, it turns out he hit the jackpot. This was the cafeteria manager! She walked him right into the cafeteria, telling me all her kids are grown and she was going to take advantage of this opportunity to spoil. She asked him if he wanted a treat and he asked if she had ice cream. She said "I do have ice cream!" She gave him a few treats, including ice cream, and he hugged her. She gave him a brief lecture about listening to mom and doing what mom said and told him to apologize, which he did. Then we left... She told him finding random children sitting in the hallway is her most favorite thing!

We had to eat the ice cream before we left in the car, good thing there was a roll of paper towels there from who knows when. I keps having to wrap a towel around it and skim off the outer layer. He was eating it too slowly. There we were in the school parking lot, eating ice cream at 8:30 in the morning.

Ridiculous. This child. So help me if he sits down in the middle of the hallway tomorrow I just MIGHT drop him right at the cafeteria door!

Asher has been doing great at all day Kindergarten. He LOVES it. And he loves his teacher. He draws her pictures at home and wants to mail them to her. I told him that he can just take them in and give them to her and it's not the same, he wants to MAIL them. I suppose I *could* mail them to the school. Or better yet, he can take them in and give them to her.

There are a TON of kids at the bus stop in the morning. They have all started lining up for the bus (largely because Asher lines up...) and it's a HUGE line. There is a kid on our street that we haven't spoken with away from bus stop yet, he's ten, and almost every day he has some type of creature captured. This morning he had a big lizard and was explaining to the boys that the male lizards have some sort of something on their neck and the girl lizards don't so this one was a girl. My kids think this kid is SO COOL. It's blasted hot walking down there and in the afternoon waiting. Greyson's like "I need the SHADE!" Me too buddy. Good thing there's a big tree where we wait!

Dylan's bus in the afternoon hasn't found an exact time to arrive, largely due to the number of stops changing daily as parents get their schedule set. The bus driver told me earlier on Thursday for some reason and yesterday she told me also earlier on Wed. It's been about 4:15, meaning she's likely on the bus over an hour but she seems to be happy and content, sometimes cat napping, sometimes sleeping the whole time, so it's how it's going to go for now.

This nest was 15 inches form the top, pretty low. See how many eggs are in the rows?

Duncan loved these funny little birds with long legs that were running around the beach. 

This was actually walking back to the car with the ocean behind us. 

Asher - irritated waiting for Matthew's attention. I just loved how he was standing!

Greyson's goggles always look terribly uncomfortable, but he swears they are fine and won't let me fix them. 

I didn't take these... since, for the life of me, I cannot see a LIVE BABY TURTLE. But this is why I keep coming back! Photo cred to Sharon, she has taken some other amazing shots but these are from the nest on the very next night after we went. 

These are all all live little hatchlings running off to the sea. 

She has a video too and it's SO COOL. 

Turtle watch, more school

Duncan, Ian and I went on a little adventure last week. On a whim and by recommendation, we went to the beach where they open up turtle nests for evaluation. There's a volunteer group that maps out turtle nest when they are laid, marks them and then walks the beach every morning to watch for signs of emergence, baby tracks leading out to the sea. Once there is an emergence they open up the nest two days later and help any late bloomers who didn't make it out with the pack (and actually wouldn't, because of the weight of the sand). They also count all the egg shells to see how many babies there were. If there are any eggs that are still bright they rebury them, closer to he surface so when they hatch they will make it out.

We went running down the beach like crazy people to find the nest, we were late because Matthew was late getting out of work. They had just started digging when we got there. Ian was totally bored with the whole process so he went off to play in the sand and water. While the rest of us are standing there watching an ugly crab pops up out of the ground where she was digging and scares everyone. It scurried up the rocks and into a hole, gross.

Well, this apparently a very bad sign. If crabs find a nest, they just set up camp down there and eat up the baby turtles one by one. It wasn't long before the diggers started finding dead babies and pulling them out. The good news is that there were enough tracks to count it as an emergence, the bad news is there were a lot of dead ones and certainly no live ones. They did find two good eggs to rebury though. So, not the best turtle nest experience but I would love to go back... maybe without Ian, maybe by myself...

While that wasn't great, we took time to play at the beach for a while. There was a family from our church there and their peanuts were playing in the waves like it was their second home... and it kind of was! It was fun watching how comfortable they were and how much fun they were having. Ian was practically gagging the entire time in the water which was equally sad and hilarious. That family had boogie boards and the dad took the boys out on it and played with them for a while which was great, they loved it. I think boogie boards are going on Duncan's wish list! We went in as the sun was setting.

Back to school this week! It kind of felt like we went for a couple days and just as we started to figure things out it was the weekend and it was over.

Dylan's bus is a bit unpredictable, they all are but hers varies the most. The first day it didn't get here until 5:00 - which is madness but I heard they had some problems actually leaving the school. Still. Oye. The next day it was 4:35, then 4:10 and she slept the entire time. I kind of planned on her sleeping the whole bus ride so I was ending the school week on a high note! This week she was closer to 4 but there were also a few kids not there. I am just happy that they give me a report about how she did on the bus and that there is an aide on the bus to help. This is going better than I anticipated, even though it's long.

Asher only had to go that first day of school since they scatter start their kindies. He looked terrible when he got of the bus bus perked right up and I didn't really think anything of it until the older boys told me he was freaking out on the bus thinking that he was never going to be able to get off the bus. Sad and poor bus driver too! Ian told me he told the driver that they were together and if Ian was still on then Asher didn't miss his stop. Poor kid. Yesterday he did great though... It was Duncan who was a mess.

As we were at the stop yesterday and everyone was gathering Duncan had a straight up melt down. He said he was so worried that the other boys missed the bus that he was freaking out and I think when he saw them all get off he was just so relieved he let it all out and took a minute to calm down. I told him I loved that he was so concerned with his brothers but he was only supposed to worry about himself, that there are a lot of adults around to worry about the younger kids. Poor dude. I hope the talk helped. He just needs to see that Ian and Asher are capable little people and actually can make it happen. Welcome to being a parent... and nothing you should have to worry about at 8!

Dylan's school has a wheel chair swing. The kind with a little ramp where you push the chair up, then lock the chair and the ramp up and then push the whole thing? They had me bring in her clamp-on umbrella and a battery powered fan and they sent me an awesome video of her swinging in her own little oasis. I loved it! They seem to be enjoying her which is awesome. She also seems to like it there. I keep in touch with her teachers and paras and I just love her little classroom.

Before bed we started having family meetings where the kids talk about their favorite thing about the day. With the added disclaimer "...that doesn't have to do with video games", mainly for Ian's sake. Duncan said he didn't know what his was an got embarrassed but finally he said something about not getting carried away, school is not his favorite thing all the time... but today it was.

The schools here are all constructed with lock downs in mind and it trips me out! I am used to the schools in Utah, you walk in to a main hallway and then there is an office on the side. Not here... and probably in not in any of the newer schools. Here you walk into the office and then you actually have to go through all the administration offices to open a door and then it opens up into the typical school setting. In the boys' case it opens up into the great hallways I had mentioned before, in Dylan's it's a normal hallway, very long, that splits off in different directions.

The classrooms are configured through double metal doors and around a 'commons' area. What happens in these commons areas? There are tables... I think it's where they might gather for their snacks and specials? But I am not exactly sure. The coats and back packs go in open locker type shelves outside of each classroom and there are windows to the commons on one side and on the other side to the outside.

I still don't feel like Greyson and I have freedom during the day. Last week I had to run in and out of Dylan's school a bit but didn't on Friday, but remained at the edge of my seat. Yesterday I had to clean after the weekend which got a little out of control. At some point I will hopefully feel like I can run to the store, or the beach, or the community pool, or a library... but it's not quite yet.

That, and my phone is broken. Unless people have apple and messenger I likely have every intention of getting back with you but my phone won't allow it. I can see you texting me... I just can't do anything about it. I should probably get that under control before I feel like I have freedom a) so I can have my GPS and b) in case something comes up.

Only took a few pics before it broke.

Dead babies on the top, broken eggs int he middle, whole eggs on the bottom.
See the bright one?

She's telling everyone about the eggs.

First day of school!

Phew we made it! All my kids back under one roof again after the first day of school.

I woke up at 5 in the morning, earlier than my alarm... of course... so I got up and did my run. It was dark. There were stars. And lots of them since we aren't in the city. Looking up was lovely, looking down was... dark. I had brought along my light because it was in my (fancy new and amazing Orange Mud) vest from our long runs and I had to pull it out. I couldn't see and it was quiet!

As I was running something took off in the trees running parallel to the side walk and we were both basically running away from each other. Holy smokes! I do not know what it was. I have seen armadillos and possums and it was one of those things but I was too busy running from it to actually see it clearly. Egads. When it was a little bit lighter outside I was started by an armadillo that decided the best defense was for it to look like a rock so it held still. I warned a couple of women walking toward me that he was hiding under there so they didn't have the same startle as I did!

Figuring out Dylan's feed with school was a little tricky, they only had to give her one feed last year but with her getting on the bus for the ride home we needed her to have a full belly. She basically made her own suggestion when I came in from running and she was awake and ready to go at 7:00. This means she would get two feedings at school but they won't have to mess with her pump to do a partial feeding except on the early release day. We will tackle that in exactly one week.

I have to lay the kids' clothes out the night before so the big boys came down and got ready but actually had to wake the little ones up. Of course, because the only days they like to sleep in are the days when they are supposed to be UP.

We were still deciding about what to do with Asher last night. He told us that he didn't want us to be there and he was confident that there would be a lot of people there to tell him where to go. I shared my concern with Matthew that when he got there and saw the other kid's parents he might want us to be there. So it was decided, Matthew would go. Good thing because while we were having our family meeting before bed Asher seemed to show more concern than he had before. Matthew left before the bus came on account of the traffic concerns.

There were a hundred million kids on the bud this morning. It was PACKED! Asher was stopped as he got on the bus to sit at the front with the other Kindergartners, cute. I watched as poor Duncan went to the back of the bus looking for a seat and then slowly made his way back up the front. I had a serious mom moment... he's my anxiety kid, this could happen to any of the kids but not Duncan! She had him sit in the seat behind her thought and they were off.

Greyson and I came back to the house to load Dylan up in the car. We were running really late so by the time I got to the school the whole drop off was over. It was not a realistic indication of what tomorrow's drop off will be like. The Assistant Principal actually greeted me because he was out there and ended up helping us get to the room because I had her box with diapers and wipes and everything and managing it all an Greyson would have been tricky. Grateful to have his help.

As I got home Matthew asked about Dylan and I asked about Asher. He said that Asher looked nervous until he saw him and then he didn't want to have anything to do with him. Typical Asher. He sent me a picture that he took of him through the glass and an added bonus of one he snapped of Ian on his way by Ian's class.

Greyson and I went back to Dylan's class at 11 to get her feed started and to talk about the pump. I LOVE her set up here. They have the kids like her organized into two developmental groups, basically one for under about 2nd grade and then the other for the kids who are developmentally a little older. Last year, it was all the severe kids in one class so it really ran the gamut. This is more of a cluster program so everyone in the room seemed to be more like Dylan. The other kids were great. It was basically like a fun preschool... and... awesome.

Not to mention her teacher and the paras are like.... my people. I like them a lot and have a great feeling about this program which really eased some of my nervousness about this whole separate school thing.  They let Greyson play with the other kids while we got her food started and I answered questions. No big deal, very capable and caring people, piece of cake.

We went back at 2 and I was running a little late and as I walked in there were celebrating that they had hooked her up all on their own. They wanted to make sure to get her started so she was done before she was supposed to get on the bus!

I then showed the nurse how to cath her, but it was fine, the nurse has cathed kids before and that's also very easy so it's the little details specific to Dylan and her parts that just needed to be talked over but over all, easily done.

I will go back again tomorrow probably just to make sure that everything is okay but I am sure they have it all under control.

Greyson and I were at the bus stop waiting for the boys at 3:05, it was supposed to get there at 3:10. It was a little over 30 minutes late! Welcome to the first day! If Greyson didn't have my phone I would have seen that we got an email that the buses left the school at 3:30. A for effort on their part. it was HOT waiting! My word!

All of the boys had GLOWING reports of the first day and were super excited. And super tired! Poor Asher looked exhausted! He told me all about school the whole way home and by far shared the most about his day so far.

Their bus being late had me a bit worried about Dylan's bus! Her bus was supposed to get here at 3:50 and it's door to door so I was watching the security camera like a hawk... 4:20... 4:30... 4:40. And finally I saw it drive by to turn around! An hour late! Not going to lie I was a little concerned!

The bus driver was very nice, she said they were late because she wasn't expecting her to be in a wheel chair but rather a seat so she had to shuffle things around. After we get going smoothly she will give me all of her contact information in case anything comes up. She mentioned that Dylan was laughing at the bumps which is so very Dylan. She laughs hysterically on bumpy roads so the bumpy bus is the perfect place for her!

Dylan was in a great mood when she got home and seems to have had a great day!

So yay! Day one out of the way! Greyson and I were even able to run to Target to get Asher's school supplies and a few extra things that the teacher added for Ian. (I hate having a to-do list!) It's going to be so nice when we get the hang of this! One of my kids might actually know what a library is before starting school!

Waiting for the bus after school - First because it's an adorable face. 

Honestly, Asher is the KING of not looking at the camera. For the love kid... 

Being on the step alone made her nervous and I can tell in this picture but she's still cute.

Waiting after school!

A neighbor brought her little guy in a wagon in the morning and I decided it was the best approach so we totally copied her! Asher and Greyson rode together on the ride home.

Back to school day anxiety

Not the kids. They are SUPER excited! Me! I have anxiety!

Today was back to school day for the kids and it was CRAZY! I has to take Duncan over between 8:30-10, be at a different school for Dylan by 10, and then go back and pick up Ian and Asher to go back to the first school between 10:30-12. I was running late and it was madness.

On top of it, everything that back to school entails... lunch money, figuring out buses, meeting teachers, sorting supplies, doing the cute activities the awesome teachers put together. Needless to say, I am a Wolf Greeting Failure. In my haste I missed a few things that Duncan needed to do, like find his cubby and look at the 'giving tree' for additional donation ideas. I ended up just emailing his teacher admitting my failure and asking her what she needed or if I could just do a gift card. Gah! She said she was the oldest of four so she understood but geez. Bad mom.

My to-do list when I got home was a mile long! I was incredibly overwhelmed but can't do my normal overwhelmed coping mechanism of binge watching Netflix and binging out on ice cream. Apparently these little people depend on me. I need more doctor notes for Dylan, I need water bottles for the kids, some of them need changes of clothes, forms that I should have brought but accidentally left home, all of Dylan's supplies for school. Cleaning up dinner from last night... ....

I am just at a loss as to what to do with Dylan and the bus schedule. The whole reason I was driving the kids to school last year was because she was going to have to be on the bus for over an hour on the way home. Guess how long her ride is here? Ding ding ding, you got it... over an hour. They want to pick her up at 6:50 am (school starts at 8:30) and drop her off at 3:50. Seriously? An hour and a half before school starts???  Meanwhile I am supposed to get the other kids on and off a bus so is taking her in really an option?

So I was debating about it, I had actually decided that I would take her in and just have to get to the school early to be able to get home in time to meet the other kids from the bus. That's it, I would have to figure it out. Then I got word that the school traffic lines are HORRIBLE, no good and AWFUL, and my time would be taken up in the line where busses get to bypass the car line. So like, she might make it home on the bus before I could even get her. Ugh. YUCK! Welcome to rural! I thought maybe I would be THAT mom and tell the school to plan on her being a half hour late every day and leaving a half hour early and that's that but I talked to the assistant principal again and he chatted with me a bit and we came the compromise that I would see the boys off on the bus and I would bring her in but then she would ride the bus home from school.

I am still not terribly comfortable with the arrangement but I guess we can see how it goes and change it. The VP said they might even be willing to keep her for a little while after school so I could get my kids off the bus and then go get her. It's really nice of him to be willing to work with me on it. At least here the bus driver has an aide, the buses in Utah didn't. We will have to figure out how to strap some toys to her chair so she can reach and not be too bored. Boooooo.

Meanwhile Asher is in Kindy and his teacher has asked that they ride the bus from the get go which makes him SUPER EXCITED but make us feel like neglectful parents for not taking him in (or even having the desire to do so honestly...). Matthew and I will decide if Matt's going to follow the bus into the school and help get him to his classroom or if we will just leave him to the wolves. (Note, unintentional humor... the mascot is the wolf!)

We just got his supply list today (!!) so we have a bit of shopping to do which I will probably do online because I am lazy like that. Though with just Greyson... maybe? Certainly not tomorrow.

So... tomorrow... I have to run 7 miles according to my training plan. Do you know how long that will take me in Florida? A long time. It's hot here. So I get up early, run, come home get all the kids ready, see off three boys on the bus, see off my husband to chase the bus (?), get Dylan in the car and take her to school with Greyson in tow. I will then go back to the school at 11:00 to show everyone how to feed her, and then possibly back at 2 again for a partial feeding and her cathing. Then I have to get ready for scouts (Webelos, holla!) that night and prepare whatever it is I am supposed to be "teaching" them. So basically I am not looking forward to tomorrow at all.

Deep breaths.

Wish me luck.

Apparently the only decent picture that means anything since the last time I blogged.
Photo Documentation Failure. 

To the beach!

Grandma came down for a a few days and my family loved it! She was willing to swim and play whenever anyone wanted! She was also willing to feed them whenever they wanted… mom is not so nice. Seriously, do they want to do anything else when they are home all day? Eat, eat, eat. I actually saw a fun summer sign the other day with summer rules and it said “The kitchen is closed, eat a piece of fruit, chew gum, drink water, you will not starve!” It totally made me laugh because it’s so true!

We all attempted to go to the beach too while she was here and I had the extra hand. Dylan HATED it. She hated the sun, she was hot, she was bored. Mom and I spent our time counting heads in the water… Two that were fine, one that thought he was fine but wasn’t quite, and one that would run in and out and up and down the beach. Would it have been a bad idea to tie them all together? Yes?

The waves kept pushing the boys over on the beach so I had to keep waving them back over in front of us but that didn’t last long as they floated back away.

Dylan lasted about an hour before she lost her mind and it was time to go. Mom took the boys to the little beach showers and i loaded Dylan in the car. I am pretty sure Greyson actually sat (or fell) down in the sand after she tried to shower him but we did wha we could and piled in the car.

There was sand EVERYWHERE! Oh my word. The worst! We drove through for lunch, they ate outside and then I hosed them off before they jumped in the pool. I had also hosed myself off and jumped in and good golly, the pool never felt so good in my LIFE! Clean! in spite of our rinsing efforts there was quite a bit of sand in the corners and along the edge of the pool. And the CAR, ugh… wowee.

I talked to a mom at church and she said you really give up on the car and gave me a few tips on minimizing the sand that comes home. We will see. I called a neighborhood girl to come meet Dylan and maybe we will attempt the beach again, sans Dylan, before school starts. Maybe not. Maybe I will go alone… I want to go alone…

Needless to say, there were no beach pictures this time.

Someone posted on our church Facebook page last night that there was a turtle nest that was just starting to hatch at the beach that we went to. I would have loved to have run over to see! I am just hoping there will be many opportunities like this.

There is a beach church event in a couple weeks… we will have to see if we want to participate. My guess is we will probably miss this one or maybe Matthew can take the two older boys. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach! Unlike Matthew, who doesn’t… I am just not sure I love it with little kids. Way to go moms that take one for the team in this area. For now we have a water choice and we won’t choose the beach.

The boys’ school had a little open house for families new to the area and they did a back to school meeting on a smaller scale than the one we have to go to next week. When you go through the office and through the back doors it opens up to a HUGE hallway, longer than two football fields! It’s enormous. The school is for K-8 and there are 1453 student in the school so far. That’s a whole lot of kids!

They have 28 relocatable classrooms in the back, this is where Duncan's class will be located. We also got a tour of the rest of the school. Ian especially seemed to be a bit more chill about going since he had confided in grandma that he was a little nervous. I paid my PTO joining fees (which were way more than Utah…) and did what I could while I was there, the rest I will do at the, what I hear is chaotic, back to school night next week. The kids will all meet their teachers at this point.

As we were walking out I had to check and see if they got back the back ground checks for Matthew and I so one of us could walk Asher into school on the first day. We waited for a while after a lot of others and when it was my turn the other lady at the desk who was there when we registered said something quietly, apparently our reputation preceded us! She’s like “Oh, that’s you! Yes, I heard all about you!” So funny. Apparently they had all gone to lunch the day after i brought all the kids in to register.

I asked Asher who he would like to take him to school mom or dad and he said “the bus”. I explained to him that on the first day it’s special and he gets to have a parent go with him and it’s the only day that parents are allowed to go to the first day of school. He still said the bus. Matthew resorted to actually asking him if he could take him. We will see where we end up. Chopped liver!

I also met with the Assistant Principal at Dylan’s school to get her going. They needed a prescription for physical therapy from a Florida doctor and he asked me what her set up was like last year. It was easy and fast and I need to follow up with him and make sure he got everything he needed to get that going.

My new absolutely favorite thing in the whole world is getting home from a run and jumping in the pool for recovery. Oh my word, it feels SO GOOD. Not only because the temperature but all the weight off my body. A few times I have just jumped in in my workout clothes just because it's easy. inevitably, a few kids end up joining me for a pre-breakfast swim.

I ran almost 14 miles with my new running friend this past weekend. I came home and drank a 28 oz gatorade (I didn't even know I could drink that much) and hopped in the pool. It makes the rest of the day feel so much better! Even though there was a still a lot of lazy happening on Saturday.

The pools a lot of work, it seems like every weekend Matthew has to mess with things, add chemicals, clean something, keep it just right, but that's what you get when you have a pool. The whole family really appreciates his efforts!

Speaking of which, they all basically graduated from swimming lessons. They are all doing awesome and can swim without floaties. Asher is working on diving and swimming under water and Greyson just gets mad that he can't do it yet. I mean, a month an a half ago he was almost drowning, he's doing great but that's not good enough? Never.

While mom was here we did a ghost tour in Old St. Augustine. It was VERY touristy and it would have been fun to have a bit more history so next time I am able to talk someone into going with me we will do the walking history ghost tour. I think maybe Greyson and I will go see more of that city when the others have school. Boring for him... but still moving so he might like it?

I also finished a portrait - first time I have actually drawn a face which is awesome. And it even kind of looks like who it's supposed to which is great too. I don't have a lot of time to draw, I just did it at night, when the lighting isn't that great, but at least a fire was lit again.

That’s pretty much it for this update… not too exciting!

The only picture I got of grandma (except 8 more like this with one or more kid looking away, closing their eyes, looking at other people, making a face, etc.)

My fully clothes swim after my Saturday long run.

Ian didn't get n with me like the littles. He just wanted to chill in the morning sun I guess. 

Bea!

My next attempt was meh... we will see.

Four boys.

Greyson the fish. You know how little kids run with only one arm swinging? I have caught him swimming with just one arm more than once. 

Ms. Jill teaching the big boys. 

My tiny friends. I caught one for Jessica the other day. She wasn't interested.