It's Been a While

It has been a while since I posted. Life has been a whirlwind since we got back from vacation. We have been busy every weekend with some kind of activity. A few weeks ago we had our combined worship service for our church, Highview Baptist. This is where all 6 of our campuses come together for worship. This quarter we had an adoption emphasis and had many of the children in our church that have been adopted go up on stage. Many, including our 2, were in their traditional dress from their birth countries. We spent all day convincing Josiah that he should where his Hanbok and that it would make him look like a warrior. He thinks it makes him look like a princess. We did convince him and I think the kids looked great.Another weekend we spent the day in the yard adding flower beds and mulching. Greg got a new rose and planted it with some help. Greg is the gardener in our family. If it were left up to me everything would be dead - no green thumb here!Last weekend we went to Danville KY for a picnic on Sunday afternoon. It was organised by our homestudy agency. The kids had so much fun playing on the playground and touching the animals at the little petting zoo. The big hit for the day for Naomi was the pony rides. She sobbed every time she had to get off and give another child a turn. She also fell in love with a little dog that was there. Josiah would not have anything to do with the pony rides. He was scared to even go near them. The last thing we did before we left was convince him to just sit on a pony. He did and he also did the little ride. He was sad that it had taken him so long to try it out. He wanted to ride more, but it was time to go. He said that next time he will have to be more brave sooner so that he can have as much fun as Naomi had.

Back to Reality

Our week at the beach was so much fun. We had a great time with Dave, Tracy, Nathan and Danny. We also had fun seeing Deb and Pete. This was our first real family vacation and clearly our kids had a blast. Most of the days we spent on the beach, just swimming and playing in the sand. One of the mornings we went to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. We hiked around a lake there and played with crabs on the salt pan. Nathan was crazy as he ran around picking up as many crabs as he could. Josiah would be quite the opposite. He was scared to walk any place there might be live critters. After a short time he warmed up to the idea that the tiny crabs would not hurt him. He even held one and said, "Wow, that's not so bad!"
Another morning we spent playing at the playground just to be in the shade for a while and still have fun. The kids of course loved every minute of it.
On Friday afternoon we went to Harbor Town to go up into the Hilton Head lighthouse. It was just beautiful there. We all walked around the dock and then climbed the 114 steps to the top of the lighthouse. Naomi would not accept help and walked up all 114 steps by herself - you go girl! After coming down from the lighthouse, Greg had to go to the bathroom. He left Tracy and I with the kids. About 3-4 minutes after Greg left Tracy and I realized that Nathan And Josiah were not with us. We were frantic. I stayed with the girls at the lighthouse while Tracy and Dave went looking for the boys. Tracy checked all the bathrooms and found neither the boys nor Greg. We looked for at least 15 - 20 minutes before checking the playground. Greg was there with both boys. Apparently they had seen Greg walk off and decided to run after him. Greg said that he was quite a way from the lighthouse when the boys caught up with him. He figured we sent them after him. Boy that was quite a scare. After our scare we played at the playground then drove across Sea Pine Resort to the Salty Dog Cafe. We had some very good food and then shopped at the Salty Dog T-Shirt Factory. We got the kids shirts and then had ice cream and listened to live music while the kids danced. We got back to the condo late, but it was worth it. The rest of the time we were there we were of course on the beach.
On Saturday morning we got out to the beach by 7:30am and had Tracy take a bunch of pictures of us. We have some really good family pictures that I will have to post later.

Critters and Cuties

Josiah Loves Starfish

In my previous blog post I said that Josiah was scared of anything that was living and new to him. Tracy shot this video of him looking at a starfish. It illustrates my point so well. Thank you Tracy. We are having so much fun here on the beach. We pretty much get up every day go to the beach, eat lunch, go to the beach, eat dinner and then go to bed. Unless something outstanding happens from now on I will just be posting pictures. Enjoy.

Sunburned, Sandy and Smiling!

We left Louisville early Saturday morning on vacation to Hilton Head, South Carolina. WE lived in SC almost 9 years ago and were excited to go back for some rest and relaxation. We drove all day and made it to Columbia, SC where we stayed the night. For dinner we ate at one of our old favorites, Sticky Fingers. It was just as good as I remember. We got up early and had breakfast with 2 of my Physical Therapy School classmates that I have not seen in 9 years. Chris and Wendy were both in my class. They are now married and have 2 very precious, well behaved boys. My kids had each gotten about 6 hours of sleep Saturday night, so I felt like I had the whiniest kids in the place. It was good to see old friends and catch up on life after kids.
We arrived at Hilton Head at lunch time.
Our friends Dave and Tracy fed us and then we all went to the beach for the rest of the day. We ate out at The Old Oyster Factory Sunday night and enjoyed the food very much. Josiah got sick next to our table right as everyone was finishing up and our waiter had to clean it up. I felt so bad for him that when we left I slipped him an extra $10 tip. Josiah was completely fine after that (wasn't sick before or after his one little episode). After eating Nathan caught crabs on the beach next to the restaurant and then chased Josiah with them. Josiah is very afraid of anything alive that he is not sure about.
Monday we went to the beach early and spent the morning swimming and playing in the tidal pools. After lunch, Greg sat on the balcony reading while Naomi took a nap and the rest of us went to the beach - again. We had so much fun. Before coming in for the evening we swam in the pool and Josiah did his swim-float-swim practicing without being asked. What a good end to a fun day.
After putting the kids to bed the adults played a slap-happy game of Scattergories.