"Summer Should Get a Speeding Ticket"

"What Feels Like the End is Often the Beginning"

I think I say this about every month, season, and year that passes by, but this Summer seemed to pass with a blink of the eye. As sad as we are to see the Summer end, I can't help but be a bit excited for the Fall.

This summer has been wonderful, and different from years past. One big difference was the fact that Aiden had legit summer break for the very first time! During his preschool years, he (like Mady this summer) spent it at the summer program offered at his school, so our day to day schedule was pretty much uninterrupted. This time, the task of finding a good balance of activities and leisurely time at home was a bit daunting.

June:

After school let out, Aiden enjoyed a week of Mommy-camp. We went on trips to the library, visited the Air and Space Museum with Uncle Brian, saw an IMAX movie, and spent time outside. It was nice to have some 1:1 time with Aiden, I often feel that I don't do that enough with either of my kids. Vic and I have come to the realization that Aiden is a homebody, loves just lounging around in his pajamas at home, and is completely content playing on his computer, reading a book, writing stories, or inventing a new game for us to play. But I think he enjoyed the little day trips we took. I asked him each day what he wanted to do and had thoughts of going on bigger day trips to the Science Center or to DC, but he always just said "I don't care, I like spending time just you and me". Made my heart smile, but ache at the same time... he won't always want to spend this type of alone time with me, so I really need to embrace and cherish it right now.

I also gave Aiden a lesson about money, spending and saving. It was quite an eye opening experience for him! He picked some items at Target that he wanted to buy, gave me the money, and I bought it for him... afterwards, he kept saying "are you going to really keep my money... like, for real??". Yes, my love... that money is mine now. ;) I thought the experience was quite a successful one and I treated him to Chick-fila with my new cash.

Aiden attended a couple of Mad Science STEM camps at the end of June and early July. I think he really enjoyed them, he loves learning about how things work and building things himself... the fact that the camp was ALSO at Monkey Joe's helped, I'm sure.

In June, we also continued gymnastics for Mady. She loves tumbling about and jumping on the trampoline. I think it's something that we'll stick with for awhile.

We also started Mady in swimming lessons with Aiden's instructor. She might be a little young for it, I'm not sure we're going to continue the private lessons right now (considering our little princess refuses to get her face or her hair wet), but she does love splashing around in the water and practicing her kicks.

In June we also repeated some allergy testing for Aiden and Mady. Aiden got some patch testing done to figure out what caused a horrible allergic reaction to sunscreen last summer. 

We said he looked like a robot, which made the process a bit more bearable. Alas, this round didn't yield any pertinent results, so we're scheduled to do another round later on in the year- it's quite a process to complete!

We also found out, much to our utter dismay, that our little Mady is allergic not only to peanuts, but to quite a large number of tree nuts as well! Her allergy numbers actually came back higher for cashews and pistachios than it did for peanuts! It only reaffirmed our need to continue to educate our kids to pretty much avoid ANY food that doesn't come from someone who is completely aware of their allergies. This has also greatly increased my anxiety for Mady when she starts public school... her preschool right now is amazing, they keep her classroom nut-free for her, but elementary school will be an entirely different beast. Suggestions welcomed!!

My poor baby's skin test to tree nuts. They almost gave her epi in the office because it just wouldn't stop getting bigger and she was in terrible pain!

Mady started going on field trips with her class this summer, finally old enough! I tried to chaperone as much as I could, and it was a really great reminder of how great my kids are... and how amazing teachers are... I was exhausted and in desperate need of an advil at the end of each trip. I regret not going on many field trips with Aiden, I was working a lot more at the time, so now that my schedule is a lot more flexible, I wanted to make sure I spent the time with Mady. Although... I was asked by Mady's teacher not to go on the last field trip, so she could have Mady with her for that one. I love that her teachers are so wonderful and love her so much!

At Port Discovery

At Roer's Zoofari

Mady does not like farms... or farm animals... :)

July

The biggest change to our summer plans was that instead of going on our usual trip to North Myrtle Beach, we went on a 7 night cruise to the Caribbean! Vic's family are avid cruise goers and they have been trying to convince us to join them every since Aiden was 6 months old. Vic and I never saw ourselves as "cruisers" so we weren't really interested in going, plus we felt the cost was a bit too much, considering Aiden (who didn't eat solids the time) was the same cost as a regular child. We were able to bypass the cruise issue for awhile, since after Aiden came Mady and there was no way we were going to pay for a baby and a toddler, plus with their food allergies it just didn't make sense to maroon ourselves on a boat for a week.

Long story short, we finally gave in and decided to give it a try. We did a lot of research, since we wanted to make sure we picked a ship that would have a ton of things to do for the kids. As long as they had fun, we knew we would have fun as well. We settled on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, which all reviews said was similar to a Disney Cruise. We had a fantastic time!!!

To avoid sounding like a Cruise review, I'll just give the highlights. We had an amazing suite on a very conveniently located deck with TONS of endless of activities for the kids, endless food options, and the icing on the cake was that they were absolutely AMAZING with my kids' food allergies. I'll admit, I packed an entire suitcase filled with food that was safe for my kids to eat, but we barely had to touch it. I was so impressed with the handling of their food!

Here are some pics from the cruise:

Bon Voyage!!!

Approaching our first port stop, Labadee, Haiti

Barefoot Beach was gorgeous!

First formal night

My heart <3 p="">

The kids loved the towel animals in our room each night!

2nd Port stop, Jamaica!

The Boardwalk on the ship came fully equipped with a carousel!

The kids enjoyed character breakfasts with the Dreamworks characters on days at sea

So excited to meet Po from King Fu Panda!

2nd formal night

I think meeting Princess Poppy was one of the highlights for Mady

Vic went ATVing with his sisters and dad in Cozumel, Mexico

Grandma and I took the kids on a dolphin excursion in Mexico!

Tiny kids, humongous ship!

Grandpa convinced Aiden to try mini-golf and he was hooked! Played every night!

By the looks of these sleepy children, I'd say they had a great time!

Aiden proclaimed this trip his favorite thus far. When I asked him if he preferred the cruise or Myrtle Beach, he said the cruise... when I asked him if he preferred the cruise or Disney World, he said.... the cruise!? (This cannot possibly be my child...)

Vic and I will admit, we have a completely different outlook on cruising now. While I don't think we're quite hardcore cruisers yet, we all had an amazing time and it was a great way for the kids to see several different countries in one trip.... we've already booked our next one! :)

August

August is like Sunday for summer. The kids were in a regular routine of summer camp and other activities. Aiden attended a half day robotics LEGO camp, which allowed for he and I to have special lunches every day. Vic and I wanted to make sure that Aiden got a good mix of academic and sports camps this summer, so he also attended golf camp for 2 weeks. We were happy that he took to mini golf on the cruise and were hoping that he'd love the regular game of golf as well... and he did... he fell in love with it.

Look at my adorable golfer!

I think Aiden was quite good at golf, for a 6 year old, or at least he was extremely enthusiastic about it. He initially was going for one week of golf camp, but loved it so much we tried to see if he could go the following week as well. The camp he was currently at was already booked, but the golf pro that taught it invited Aiden to attend his golf camp at Needwood Golf Course, which was for kids 7 and up. He had a blast!

Mady also continued with ballet this summer. She getting the dance terminology down pretty well! :) She loves dressing up as the princess of the day at the end of class, I think her favorite thus far has been Moana! 

On August 21st, the kids and I made solar eclipse viewers out of cereal boxes and we all watched it together... well, it was actually pretty hot outside so I sat outside until it was at its peak for our area and the rest of the clan clambered out to see. I'm not sure the kids really understood why it was so amazing, but at least they appeared to be momentarily interested.

Aiden lost another tooth. 

Vic assisted with extraction this time. I think I have post-traumatic teeth pulling syndrome from my dad tricking me into letting him yank my loose teeth out. The tooth fairy wised up this time around, she left him $5.

We also celebrated Grandpa Gordon's 70th birthday!

The rest of August was spent enjoying the summer sun.

School starts tomorrow (hooray!), which means for the most part, summer has come to an end. Sad as I am to see it go, I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures and what's to come. I read a great quote the other day, "don't look back, you're not heading that way"... I'm trying to make more of conscious effort to let go of things that I wish I had done differently and time that I wish I cherished more... and make the most of each day as they come.

Just an aside, today is my dad's birthday. Wishing he was still here to celebrate with... happy birthday, Daddy. I miss you.