Camping in the scorching heat and a downpour.

Yesterday, Vince started cub scout camp. Every parent has to volunteer at least once during the week, I volunteered yesterday - I figured I would just extend my vacation one more day. It reached almost 100 degrees yesterday. We were sweltering, listening to nature talks and doing crafts. The kids were restless.



Vince ate three sandwiches. A record.



As we ate lunch, it started raining. Hard. But we were cub scouts, we pressed on with the camp. We were eagerly looking forward to the next station, BB guns. Everyone was willing to get wet to get a chance to fire a gun, although another mom said a sentiment held by all the adults - "My son owes me..."



Then we heard the thunder and we all trundled into the indoor shelter where songs were sun and after a bit, camp was canceled.

Washougal, WA

Finally, Mom & I settled down here at Washougal, WA for the summer. It is very cool here, unlike the weather in Washington DC. But there, we had fun also with all our family members.

After 10 months away from this place, everything is surprisingly in good order. I got my two car tags right today by running around inspection state, motor vehicle dept, etc. Or, otherwise, it is very difficult to drive around with expired tags.

We decide to use-up our Windstar as much as possible in order to make room for another new van. I think it will take a while, hopefully.

Last vacation post.

My first day back at work is tomorrow. I already feel overwhelmed, I remember what I left on my desk a week and a half ago and I'm dreading it all a little. I know, I have nothing to complain about - everything is going great :).

Vince and Edda got to spend time with their grandparents last week. Thank you guys all for coming and hanging out in our messy house and disorganized lives and the unbearable heat.





And just FYI, "Big" (the bigger tadpole) developed back legs while we were gone. Exciting times!

Chincoteague.

Sand crab hole?



Trudy's morning beach walk. She's 98 in dog years, so has a little trouble with the stairs.



Lunch at a diner in Chincoteague:



Took a boat ride and saw the wild horses of Chnicoteague (sorry no zoom lens).

Beach continued.

Dog in water at daybreak:



Enjoying the boardwalk:



Wii dance competition:



Kiki trying out the iPad:



Pizza dinner on the screened in porch (We are helmeting Edda now. She walks well but has had a few too many really bad falls in the past few months. She's using an ill-fitting bike helmet now which keeps falling off her head. We just ordered a rugby helmet which has more exact sizing. Why a rugby helmet? The company sells the rugby helmet on special needs websites for 80 dollars, on Amazon as a rugby helmet for 50 dollars and straight from the manufacturer for 37 dollars. Grrrr on the pricing.):

Rehoboth beach.

Jeremy and I are not huge fans of the beach, but this year we decided to give the shore vacation a try. Families rave about going to the beach year after year and Edda seemed to love the water, especially at the shore. For weeks, I've been telling friends that this finally was Edda's vacation, something she would love and really, really enjoy. Was it a success? Sort of. Vince and pal loved the beach, we got to spend time away from work and with family. However, it was brutally hot and Edda did not love it as much as I thought she would which was a disappointment to me (and to her too probably). We also would have loved it more if they could invent sunscreen that was not so disgusting to put on.

When I complained about how much we were hauling to the beach, my brother, Donald chided that perhaps I did not need to pack the hugh tub of cheese balls.



Edda - a little unsure.



Jellyfish everywhere - but no one got stung!

Vacation at the beach. And the ER.

We've been at the beach for the past week - this was our first beach vacation and was very nice in many ways - however, I'm going to start our beach blog with these pictures of Vince in the ER at Rehoboth.



Vince swallowed a quarter after lunch on Friday. As far as emergencies go, this was a low-priority emergency, I'm not sure it wasn't even qualified as an "emergency" - but where else is there to go after swallowing a quarter? I was really mad at him for doing something so toddler-like. What is an eight-year-old doing with a quarter in his mouth? There was an X-ray taken which confirmed that the quarter passed the esophageal sphincter and the quarter was happily settled into the stomach. The doctor told us that once the quarter was in the stomach, it would be smooth sailing from there on out (so to speak).

The community hospital was fabulous, we were in and out in about 1.5 hours and we are just waiting for the quarter to be pooped out. (No, we are not going to look for it.)

Steak dinner during a blackout.

Summer.

Ruby

Trudy

At the pool.

Is Edda excited and having a lot of fun? No, not really.



She did get a nice nap in the sun.



Vince:

Friends of Edda.

On the last day of school, Edda's teacher sent home these photos. I hadn't seen them before and they almost made me cry (in a good way).

Exhausting day.

For reasons completely having to do with work and my own health (I have a slight summer cold, the kind that doesn't make you feel bad enough to spend the day in bed, but also you don't feel great enough to be cheerful) I had an exhausting day.

Today was the last day of school. My kids are DONE with 2nd grade and kindergarten.
Vince and Jeremy made oatmeal raisin cookies for the teachers last night:





Edda, Vince and Eliana on the last day of the "morning routine" until school starts in the fall!

Edda has a tough time falling asleep.

8:00 pm



Edda has been having a tough time falling asleep for the past three or four months. She can be happy all day and then as soon as she lies down, the whimpering, the crying and the fussing starts (yes, we have her on reflux medicine). Sometimes it can last up to 90 minutes.



I usually lie next to Edda and we listen to our good night music and I try not to lose my patience (or my mind). Vince has learned not to ask me about anything if Edda's in one of these moods. I've snapped at him a number of times when he's asking about not having toilet paper or pouting about my failure to pull together a John Lennon or Paul McCartney costume for the next day at school (really.). Finally, I've had to tell him that when Edda's having a rough evening that I'm really on edge and not a friendly person and therefore he should only interact with me if he finds the kitchen on fire.



Sometimes I'll be struggling to put Edda to bed and Jeremy will have finished up the downstairs chores and he'll head upstairs and trade places with me and then Edda'll sigh and turn and fall asleep. Then I feel a little bad. But Jeremy's magic touch doesn't always work.

Finally asleep (9:30 pm).

Summer pool.

I have been dragging my feet for 2 summers now and have not joined a neighborhood pool. Jeremy really doesn't like pools (or the beach for that matter), he gets sunburned and he likes to putter around at home and there is really no puttering around at a pool. So I understand that going to the pool would mainly be for me and the kids (or on work days, Eliana and the kids). In the past, I haven't liked taking both kids by myself to the pool because 1. Vince couldn't really swim and he was fearless and I couldn't track him that well with me taking care of Edda and 2. Edda does not love the water like 95% of Rett girls. So on two counts, it was a hassle. But this year, Vince has swum a lot in camps and can at least swim 20 yards and Edda is more patient and less prone to screaming in the middle of an outing, so this year, I am prepared. There are 3 neighborhood pools and I followed the recommendation of our neighbor and went to the smaller one with a little more shade (which I know my parents will say WHAT!?! because it isn't the pool we've ALWAYS gone to and where I learned to swim myself).

Edda did what she does when faced with something she doesn't want to do. She fell asleep. We did manage to get about 15 minutes of swim time in with Edda. As predicted, she did not seem to like it that much.



We are "trying out" the pool, but I had a really nice time there today - we ran into three families from the neighborhood and Vince found pals he recognized. And Edda will learn to LOVE the pool. Maybe. At least dangling her legs into the pool was pretty OK today.

MD Rett Syndrome BBQ.

We hosted a summer kick-off potluck BBQ at the house today for MD/VA/DC families who have kiddos with Rett Syndrome. Most of the families were from MD; it's nice to get together and form a little group. We have a really nice group of families in the area, it's just been great getting to know everyone.



Someone came with a MyTobii, (an eyegaze system), and a lot of the girls got to try it out and I got to try it out.



After the party:

Friday night round-up.

Jeremy's been in California all week - due to be home at midnight tonight. He was at a work "retreat". I'm sure they toasted marshmallows over an open fire.

I am exhausted. Last night I went to a planning meeting for this fall's Rett Syndrome Stroll-a-thon which put me at Metro Center downtown at 10:15pm. Got home at 11pm and was too revved up to sleep until 1 am. Tried to put in a full day of work, but it's hard to think with 5-6 hours of sleep.

Vince had a bagel and pepperoni slices for dinner tonight, it's just how we are rollin' today. I just told him I'm going to bed (it's now 8:15 pm) and that he'll need to put himself to bed. He nodded yes while noshing a pepperoni slice and watching a (hopefully age appropriate) youtube.com video (have you seen the new Lady Gaga video!?!).

Edda had avocados tonight for dinner. She both loves them and hates them. Loves them going in, not so much going out. We all have our vices. I'm thinking Edda might need a helmet as her head is getting further from the ground every day. It needs to be cute.

I'm missing my quilting fix tonight.

I'm at home tonight - missing my quilting group's meeting. I have some photos from a meeting a few weeks ago. It's going to be a beautiful quilt.



Look at this amazing ruching: