The Presents Keep Coming

James had such a fun birthday in July and the presents keep coming!  We saved some of his birthday money to use when the new toys got a bit old and we needed something new.  When we went to Wings to Fly James fell in love with the slide and now he has a slide of his own!

Learning to bend his knees!

"More"!

It is much easier on his muscles to go down head-first.  His core still isn't quite there.

Rita's turn!

He thought she was funny at first, but bored quickly.

James' turn again.

Using those core muscles!

 With love.

First Day of School Selfie

James had a good first day of school.  He came home with marker all over his shirt.  Hopefully by the end of the year he will draw on paper instead of his belly.

He didn't get to go his second day because he was sick, he went back for day 3, and now this morning is looking pretty sick again.  I hope this year won't turn into a disaster.

With love.

James Graduated!

So much has been going on, I am behind on my posts!

James graduated from Early Intervention, the county's therapy program for infants to 3 year olds.  They had a really nice graduation party for the kids a couple weeks ago.  James spent most of his time at the bubble station.  Thank you to Chantell for the following snapshot.  We are hoping to do a full session with her soon!  You can find her at Stills That Speak.

I was so glad the party occurred before Erin left.  We owe a lot of James' progress to her hard work.

He did it!

Saying "hi" to everyone.

We also owe a huge "thank you" to James' physical therapist.  She was such a wonderful support for us.  Not only did she get his exercises going, but she was wonderful to help us find the equipment and specialists James needs and listen to all my ramblings.  :D

With love.

Beach Trip

We hoped to go on a vacation this summer, but it just wasn't in the cards.  When Mark finally had four days off from his DC job and the wine job was in the calm before the storm of harvest and crush we decided to try a small vacation to the beach (yay for credit card points!).

Everything started well:

A very happy child, listening to his CD.

A sleeping child!!!  They both have their balls.  :D

 We even stopped to feed Rita and it didn't set us back much.  She even offered to drive.

They even enjoyed conversing in the back of the car.

We got to the hotel and things quickly went downhill.  They didn't try to get us into the room early like they had said, the two pack and plays turned out to be one, and the suite's bedroom door wasn't a full door.  Naps didn't happen.  We finally just had to get out so we went to the boardwalk:

The boardwalk was ok because Rita liked bouncing over the boards and James liked seeing the people. We were a little less than impressed, but it was Labor Day.  The rest of the night went downhill as we tried to make dinner in  the "fully stocked" kitchenette and get the kids to bed.  It didn't go well.

The next morning the nap situation was just as bad so we decided it was time to check out and just go home.  We wanted to make the most of the day before we left so we went to the beach.  Luckily, Rita fell asleep in the car and slept for most of our hour on the beach.  James liked the water until the cold waves splashed him.  We played in the sand, burying him, which he thought was fun for about fifteen minutes.  Then we played soccer which he loved.  He threw a FIT when it was time to go.  

Since we didn't have access to a kitchenette anymore the food we packed was defunct.  We found a nice restaurant on the harbor with local/organic awesome food, $6 deals, and a view of Assateague Island.  

Shark on the Harbor

 Rita stayed pretty happy during lunch and James found a girlfriend at the next table.

She needs to teach her brother how to use this.

Too cute a pouty face not to share.

She looks straight-up Naughton here.

I have always wanted to go to Assateague and see the wild horses so we drove there after lunch and BOTH kids fell asleep in the car!!!  And I got to see a small herd.  :D  With the kids still sleeping we drove the public areas of the island and then headed to a nearby town called Berlin.  I think Berlin was the highlight of our trip.  It was the cutest little small town (with the awards to prove it).  We got awesome coffee at the local coffee shop/roastery and walked the main street that boasted a slew of antique shops.

Awesome safe.

I didn't expect Rita to like this rocking horse as much as she did.  Her face lit up as soon as I put her on it.

We stopped at the main street sweet shop and got beautiful desserts.  I am still dreaming of the salted caramel dark chocolate.

I wanted to take James on the boardwalk rides, but he wasn't having any of it.  As soon as we walked past the rides he started screaming and trying to turn away.  So we just got them each a small toy and headed back to the beach.

This makes me think "When Summer Comes Around."  Maybe next year we'll have a real vacation.

We tried to get a good family picture.  This is as close as we got.

Rita and her new doll.

Before leaving we hit up another place for dinner and got to eat at their rooftop bar.  Their burgers were phenomenal (grass-fed! and piled with veggies - I can't tell you how exciting it is to find places my stomach can handle).

We headed home and made good time with two sleeping kids, content with their new toys.

 Even though we are more tired than when we left, it was great to go to the beach!

James starts school on Monday.  Say a prayer for us!

 With love.