A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

What is up with these waves? Hello, Scot... you should stop taking pictures and come save your drowning wife...

And your drowning son...

Brady: "Help me Mom!"

Me: "Sorry Brady, I have my own problems!"

Go Scot go!

Watch out Brady!

Surfin' Christian!

Fun in the Sun- part 2

You know how on your first day of a vacation how you want to cram all the fun into that day? Forget about the fact that you have an entire week at the place... you must experience everything that first day. At least that's what happens when you have children and they have no idea how to pace themselves.

We woke up early and sprinted for the beach.


Here is Leah getting ready to "boogie board". She was so excited to do this and talked about it all the way down to Florida.

As you can see below, she really didn't get the concept and was wondering why it wasn't more fun.

Leah: "Mommy, is this how you ride it? Why am I not going anywhere?"

Brady perfected the art of the lazy river. Unfortunately, this activity was too sedate for the boys and didn't last long.

Leah loved going down the water slide over and over. She has come a long way. No longer is she terrified of water. It's great to see her new confidence.

Here I am carefully posing with the boys. This is when I still had a healthy fear of the ocean and was trying to stay somewhat dry (unlike the picture in the previous post).

Christian is an expert boogie boarder.. He has no fear and spends more time under the water than on top of it.

Of course, at the end of the day we were all exhausted. Luckily, we had 6 more days left!

Fun in the Sun!

After the last downer post, I thought it necessary to post something more fun and uplifting. We just got back from a much needed vacation (see previous post below...)! We had such fun playing in the sun. My next few journal entries will revolve around all the fun in the sun that we had. But, tonight, I'm tired so this one will be short.

The vacation was really fun, but it was not always relaxing. Here I am in the deceivingly calm ocean water gazing into the horizon contemplating life's mysteries...

And then (as often happens) my child comes up and asks me a really important question like, "Mommy, why is water wet?" We're still in the calm ocean and I'm feeling centered.

As I prepare my insightful answer, this happens:

Needless to say... that question went unanswered!

More pictures to come later!

Moving the Brick Pile.

This has been a tough week. Work has not been great and the children have been bickering. A lot. A whole lot. So much so that I lost my patience with them this afternoon in the car. That might not seem like a big deal, but it really is for me. I have a ton of patience and tolerance with these children. It comes with being a child therapist. But today... I snapped. I'm SO sick of listening to Christian and Leah argue. They argue about the dumbest things. All day. All the time. It seems like it never ends. But what does this have to do with bricks, you ask?

Recently, we had dinner with my uncle. I love being around him because he is so entertaining. On this particular evening, he started telling stories about his childhood (which was very different from mine). He stated that his mother's primary form of discipline when he became too old to spank was moving a brick pile. He and his brother would get in trouble and they would have to go "out back" and move a pile of bricks from one spot to another one about 10 feet away. It didn't matter if the weather was hot, cold, raining, snowing, or sleeting. He would have to move that pile of bricks. And then the next time he got in trouble... he would have to move it back to where it was earlier. I was fascinated by this story. He went on and on about how much he hated moving those bricks. I thought to myself... "Dang! Why don't I have a pile of bricks in my yard? I would so make the kids do that!". Does that seem cruel? It doesn't to me. Okay, maybe moving them in the rain or snow would be a little cruel... But the idea seems so simple, and yet so effective. What child would want to do that? What a great deterrent. I find it so interesting that I went to school for years to learn how to handle discipline issues with children. I know about Magic 123, time out, behavior charts, behavior plans, medications, diagnoses... you name it. But out of all of those solutions, the one that appeals to me the most is the brick pile. I want one! Sometimes I think that with all of the "progress" that has been made in society, we actually go backwards. We give children too many chances and are too lenient with them when what they really need is structure and discipline. The children of today have such an easy life compared to when my uncle was growing up. They are so privileged that they take it for granted.

So, what is my solution? I don't know. I don't have a pile of bricks and I don't foresee getting one anytime soon. I'm sure tomorrow my patience will be back in full force and I'll feel differently. For tonight though... I will entertain my fantasy of having a brick pile. Maybe I'll come up with really awful chores for them to do. It wouldn't be the first time. Or maybe I'll just go to bed early and let Scot deal with them (that's scarier than the brick pile). One thing that I will do in the future is to look for simpler solutions to longstanding problems. My uncle still remembers the lesson of the brick pile. He acknowledges that he deserved that punishment and that he learned from it. He learned that if you make a bad choice, often you will have to work harder to make up for it. That is something that everyone needs to learn. Or... maybe I'll just borrow that stack of bricks at my parents office. Hey, it could happen...

Camping 101

Here are the top 10 things that I learned on my first camping excursion last weekend...

10. You should check and make sure you have enough tents before the day you actually go camping.

9. You should not get up the morning of your camping trip and realize that your children have nothing to sleep on.

8. When camping at the lake, the bug spray "OFF-Skintastic" just does not cut it. You must have something industrial like "Ultra Deep Woods OFF".

7. It is not good to leave the ingredients for Smores outside where the hot sun and ants can find them.

6. Hearing the phrase, "If you get up in the middle of the night, you might want to take a flashlight to look for snakes" does not exactly lend itself to having sweet dreams.

5. The faster you zip the tent, the less bugs you have sleeping with you.

4. If you wake up in the middle of the night to something large sniffing around your tent, chanting the phrase "It's just a dog, it's just a dog..." can be rather calming.

3. Planning to recreate the Cracker Barrel's "Campfire Grill" might be harder than you originally thought given that you don't have the resources of the Cracker Barrel.

2. Watching Scot attempt to direct the children to set their tent up is a highly entertaining activity.

and the #1 thing I learned on my first camping trip is...

1. Never, never, never go camping in Georgia on the hottest day of the year so far! It was SO hot!

Happy Father's Day!

I hope everyone's Father's Day was as good and peaceful as ours! We had a fun day spending time with family!

Summer is Here!

Summer is officially here! We have been doing all sorts of summer activities. Leah had 2 weeks of swimming lessons and is no longer afraid of the water. Woo hoo! Brady and Christian are enjoying down time from not being at school and have started taking "Intense Martial Arts" (how scary is that? Like Christian needs to be any more 'intense'). We have spent the last few weekends at Lake Lanier enjoying the sun and water and sand. We have made campfires and roasted marshmallows...

Brady perfected the art of roasting marshmallows.

Whoa! That's a serious marshmallow stick Christian! Thanks Uncle Tim for making that! Nevermind that he burned every marshmallow that he stuck in that fire.

We also went to the beach at Lake Lanier and played. The kids said it felt like a day at the beach!

Notice Christian is the one they chose to bury... (Actually, all the children ended up being buried).

And finally, Leah (well, all the children) made a new friend... Vicki's foster kitten. The kids loved that kitten. We tried to explain that kittens grow up to be cats, but I don't think they believe us!

It's been a great summer so far! I can't believe June is half over! We hope to keep having fun and enjoying every minute.