Summer Vacation

Our beach bums

Aren't these photos precious!!!!

The swings were a hit at the park!

We packed up and headed to the shore for a week of vacation and it couldn't have come at a better time! I'm not much of a vacation planner and tend to take them on a moment's notice, but it's not as easy when you have a husband and two children as well as GOBS of stuff for the children along. So, recently I've conceded to go on some vacations planned more than a couple weeks in advance.

Chris planned this month's vacation to the Jersey shore back in March, so it's nice how the timing worked out - we left right after my last day of work from a career that spanned 13+ years at my employer before I was laid off. So, for me it was nice to head out of town to relax with the family. And, this got me thinking that this isn't our only recent pre-planned vacation that might not have happened if not planned well enough in advance. Back in Dec. 07 we headed to Orlando, FL right after we received Emma's profound hearing loss diagnosis. That trip was a brief calm before the storm and since that trip we've embarked on a crazy new journey of cochlear implants, cerebral palsy, insurance disputes, and a lot of therapy so it's nice to kick back our feet a bit.

This year we rented a second floor house in Ocean City, NJ and were pleasantly surprised to learn that our deck had a great view of the fireworks for July 4th. What a treat! The fireworks were beautiful and both Julia and Emma enjoyed watching them and then didn't put up much of a fight about going to bed right afterwards.

We didn't have any real plans for the vacation and it was so nice to fill our days with what fancied us that day. We spent a few lazy days at the beach, an afternoon at the zoo, a morning at a fantastic park that had most of the play stations available to those in wheelchairs (YEAH!), took a lot of walks, cruised on a sunset dolphin boat ride, enjoyed the boardwalk scene with the rides, Chris went for a few 5 mile runs, and we even got a chance for just me and Chris to go on a dinner date. Both sets of grandparents joined us for some portion of the vacation and the girls were in their glory with everyone around.

Aren't we lucky that the girls grandparents were able to help us enjoy our vacation!

It was so nice to just relax. Our weeks are so busy that it is nice to take time out to recharge our batteries. I read a book. Chris went for some runs. Emma got a much-deserved break from therapy. She works SO hard every day and this was a chance for her to just relax with Mommy, Daddy and Julia. The only therapy we worked on while on vacation was her acknowledgement of a certain 6 sounds (called conditioned ling sounds) since we are hoping she will remember this for a good CI programing session planned for the Monday after our vacation. Julia took a break from school and camp, but she hosted circle time and group time each day. We all took turns as Miss Julia's helper :-) When told on Friday that we were going home the next day, Julia jumped up and down shouting YEAH, do I go to school then? She calmed down a bit when we told her she had to wait until Monday, but was excited again when she found out that we would pick Finnegan up on Saturday. It's a good thing I wasn't expecting tears from her that our vacation was ending!

Julia got her hair wrapped on the boardwalk.

The boardwalk was a HUGE success with the girls. Julia loved the rides and the ice cream. Our last night there, we did some shopping on the boardwalk and then Julia went off for a Daddy/Daughter event of mini-golf and won a free game! I'm sure we'll be back to collect on it. Emma loved all the people watching on the boardwalk and also enjoyed some rides. We were able to take her on quite a few and Chris and I rotated taking the girls on the rides. Emma loved the wind whipping through her hair on the rides and it seems that she is a bit of a thrill seeker! She also caused quite a stir on the boardwalk. Chris designated her a local celebrity as so many people walking by her stopped to wave or talk to her. Emma's gorgeous blue eyes and winning smile just draw people to her.

The rides were a huge hit with the girls!

Now, I'll leave you with a photo that tugs at my heartstrings - Julia loved holding Emma's hand while walking the boardwalk. Sometimes Emma didn't want to hold hands and Julia didn't appreciate that one bit! The conversation between them on these occasions made me laugh out loud. How lucky they are to be sisters, how blessed we are as a family!

Our recent adventures

We've been a busy bunch lately. The weather has finally started to act like summer and we've been spending a lot of time outside enjoying it!

Here are things we've been doing recently:

1. I finished up my last month at my job and now officially unemployed. I'm going to take a bit of time to relax and enjoy the summer before I jump into something new.
2. Julia started camp and LOVES it. Every Tuesday they have a field trip and last week she went on the school bus to the Can Do Park. The highlight of the trip? The school bus ride, of course! She's been wanting to go on the school bus ever since she realized what they were - with a school bus stop in front of our house, we have to watch and wave to the kids every morning.
3. Chris finished his second 5K run - the Victoria Flick Bubble Run/Walk. The proceeds go to help purchase durable medical equipment for children, which is a cause we align behind! Chris shaved more than 4 minutes off his previous 5K run time and came is 3rd place for his age group and 17th place overall! We are so proud of him!
4. Emma continues to be a shining star. Every night she loves to stand on our lap and walk up our chest while she laughs like crazy! She is also very, very close to sitting unassisted. Her fine motor skills are getting better and she is now grasping objects between her thumb and forefinger. She has also pointed with her forefinger once or twice! Water continues to be her favorite thing to play in, and with the nice weather we've been having she's been spending quite a bit of time splashing in the pool.
5. Finnegan will celebrate her 7th birthday on July 4th! Happy Birthday, Finnegan! We love you for the joy you bring to all of our lives, the way you let the kids walk all over you without any protest, and the delight you find in fetching the ball incessantly!

Wordless Thursday

Library Outing

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and I've always wanted to share my love for reading with the girls.  I got lucky in that it didn't take much coaxing from Mom or Dad to get the girls interested in books, they naturally took to reading!

As far back as I can remember, Julia has been obsessed with reading books.  When she first learned to crawl we always knew exactly where to find her if she wasn't next to us - in her room taking all her books off her bookshelf.  As she got older, she started taking as many books as she could manage into her bed with her at night and continued to read them all night and was often told to stop reading and go to sleep when we were going to bed.  Finally, we had to limit the number of books she could take into her bed with her at night when we thought it might collapse from the weight of all the books - well, not really, but you get the point.  Lately she has been spending a lot of her time reading books to Emma and her stuffed animals and there is rarely a day that goes by that we don't have a treasure trove of books scattered around the house from her daily wanderings.  Her current favorites are Pinkalicious (a great gift from Daddy!), the hand-me-down Muppets books that are probably out of print now and the collection of books on many different animals that she received for Christmas.

Emma also loves books.  In the beginning, it was always books with mirrors in them so she could see herself.  Then her interest turned to any books that included animals.  Then to most of the priddy books, which were also Julia's favorites at that age.  Now she really likes the touchy-feely board books by Usborn. We have That's Not My Fairy and it's a big hit and it's actually one of Mommy's top 5 favorite books to read to the girls.  It's a great book since we can talk about the textures on the page - soft wings, bumpy shoes, etc. - to reinforce all the work we are doing in her auditory verbal therapy.  I just did a search online and see they also have That's Not My Pony in this series and I think we'll be adding that to the collection soon to help Emma bond more with ponies.  After all, she does ride one every Friday evening, so the book is perfect for her!  

As for me, I have always loved reading and I read almost anything I get my hands on, but lately I've been focused on books to help Emma.  When I do get the odd minute of free time I read an article in a magazine since I can't commit to reading many novels lately.  I'm looking forward to our vacation in two weeks so I can read a book - or two or three.  I'm a quick reader, so I'll pack a few books in the suitcase and see how far I can get. 

Last week's adventures included a visit to the library to sign up for the summer reading program.  The girls receive a prize each week they visit the library and also receive a free scholastic book after a certain number of hours read.  We track the reading on the sheet they gave us, which I have to find before our next visit as they seemed to have vanished in my never ending sea of paperwork, but I digress.....  Here are some photos of the girls enjoying the children's section of the library.

If you have any book suggestions, please leave them in the comments section.  We're always looking for good books to read!

Happy Daddy's Day!

Happy Daddy's Day!  There are so many reasons why we love you, and here are just a few -

• We love when you let us ride on your back while you crawl around on your hands and knees and when you put our bellies on your feet and fly us through the air
• When Mommy isn't home, you always take us out for fun stuff like ice cream or trips to the mall to throw pennies in the fountain (and ice cream afterwards!)
• You help make the best forts out of our furniture cushions (so we can hide from Mommy)
  
• You show us fun videos on YouTube
• You let us stir the brownies and lick the bowl and not worry about the mess at all!
• You spend gobs of time on the floor playing with us and make us laugh until our eyes tear up from so much laughing
• You show us how to do new things, like bowl and ride our bikes and cheer us on as we succeed
• You kiss our boo boos when we are hurt and tuck us into bed when we are tired
• You get us the best books and read them to us any time of day, not just at bedtime
• You never make us stop to get things like smocks or drop cloths when the artistic urge hits us (even though Mommy thinks this is crazy!) - you let us dig in and let our creativity flow when the moment hits us!
• You do cool stuff like buy balloons, make a cake and sing Happy Birthday when we wanted to celebrate puppy's 2nd birthday
  
• You are never too busy to be there for all our important moments
• You make Mommy laugh a lot and that makes us all laugh a lot
• You take good care of yourself with diet and exercise so you will be able to see us grow up

Oh, and Finnegan is lucky, too.  She asked us to let you know that you are the best ball thrower on the planet!

Most of all, we love that you are just plain silly and we can be just as silly when we are with you.  We are so lucky to have you as our Daddy.  Happy Daddy's Day!

Love, All your girls