My New School

I've had a lot of people ask how things are going, so thought I'd update everyone at once.  I started my new school last week and it's been FANTASTIC!!!  I cried very briefly the first day that mom dropped me off (not at all unusual, even at my old school), but after a few seconds of that, I got down and was playing with my friends.  I even waved bye bye to mom and ran off to play with Casey (one of my best friends from two schools ago!)  I'm so glad to be in a class with her again :) 

Mom left my naptime underwear (cloth training pants) in my cubby for naptime, but I decided I didn't want them.  I got upset when Ms. Carmen asked me to put them on and told her I just wanted my regular underwear.  That was fine with mommy because I've been dry at naptime for a while now, but my old school preferred pull ups (which mom and dad don't like) or the cloth trainers just in case I had an accident.  Well, wouldn't you know - I've been at the new school for a week and a half and NOT A SINGLE ACCIDENT.  I've come home every day wearing the same clothes that I went in :)  It probably helps that I'm in an actual pre-school room now, not a toddler room where most kids aren't potty trained.  I'm on the young side in my room since some kids are turning 4, but I fit right in and actually speak and communicate better than some of the older kids.  My teachers were really impressed that I already knew how to spell my name (I've known that for a while, though). 

Our drive to school is now less than 5 minutes door to door.  The first week it took a little longer because mommy didn't have her security badge yet, so we had to drive to a different entrance and stop to have the car searched.  She got her badge this morning, though, and it took 4 minutes door to door even including a stop at a red light!  Huzzah!  It's been taking about 30 minutes off of mom's commute each way, up to even 45 minutes in the mornings.  Only unforeseen change is that mom can't feed me breakfast in the car anymore, so we still have to get up pretty early.  But that's ok - it's more time that we have together and at least it's at home and not in the car!  Not to mention that I'm probably eating a little better breakfast since I'm not as limited by what I can carry in the car.  Lots of cereal with milk, yogurt, berries, etc.  Yum! 

Last week, I got to do Fun Fit on Thursday (just like I did on Tuesdays at my old school).  It's a gymnastics / dance type of class.  It's optional, but I've always enjoyed it, so mom always signs me up.  Fridays are WATER PLAY days!!!  So I got to wear my bathing suit to school (though it was too hot to actually have water play outside, so we filled a table with water and got to splash in our classroom). 

We had a fun weekend.  Mom and dad took me to the library on Saturday morning and I got to pick out a bunch of new books and a few music CD's.  I've been loving Raffi lately, which mom tells me she listened to as a child too.  But she had these things called records.  I have CD's - I wonder what records looked like...  We walked to lunch at Baja Fresh after the library and then headed home for a nap.  Mom and dad got ready for a night out while I napped and got ready for Ms. Gulnara to come babysit me.  She was my teacher from the time I was about 14 months until I moved to my last school at around 22 months.  I love her dearly and she is SO creative.  Check out these projects that she helped me with! 

Handprint fishies for mommy, a Beach for daddy, and a Lobster for Sydney :)



Mommy and daddy went to see Wicked on Saturday night!  Mom had been dying to see it, so when it was announced at the Kennedy Center, daddy jumped right in and bought tickets.  They said it was a truly amazing show.  The woman who played Elphaba was incredible, they said.  They brought me back a witch hat to wear as a costume or for pretend, but I told them I didn't like it :(  So for now it's up on a shelf - maybe some day I will enjoy it! 

Sunday was a pretty laid back day.  Mom and I went shopping in the morning and then to lunch before we came home for a nap.  Mom tried to nap when I did, but I woke up about a half hour later because I had to go potty and needless to say neither of us got back to sleep.  Boo :(  We got up and went grocery shopping for the week.  I *love* Whole Foods and mom and I ended up getting the salad bar for dinner!  How many other 2 year olds love things like quinoa, cous cous, black beans, edamame, or chick peas?  I always get some strange looks when mom's piling salad fixings into my "bucket."  I'm a good eater, what can I say? 

I had 2 good nights of sleep last week, but it's otherwise been pretty rough. I stall and whine for over an hour most nights and eventually fall asleep by around 10 (I'm in bed anywhere between 7:30 and 8).  Mom has asked my teachers to not let me nap or at a minimum to not let me sleep too long, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.  Mom and dad told me that they're putting their feet down and not coming back in to my room or answering my pleas for more animals, tissues, books, etc.  They've got me figured out and know it's all stall tactics.  But I am one persistent child and can go on for quite some time!  I also wake up in the middle of the night a lot of nights and it's almost like I'm still sleeping, but can't / won't stop crying.  It's truly strange.  But I don't stop on my own unless mom or dad come to help me.  And sometimes I wake up and ask them to cover me back up and won't go back to sleep until they do.  It's all pretty frustrating for all of us and we're all generally tired (I don't even want to wake up in the mornings when mom comes to get me).  I tell her I'm not done sleeping, ha! 

We're two days in to the second week at my new school and I still love it.  Monday morning drop off was a little tough until Casey got there.  Then we were both ok :)  Mom and I were on our own on Monday night since daddy was on a train (I told him I wanted him to take Thomas the Engine).  Bedtime was awful and I didn't fall asleep until 9:45 (at which point mom turned out the lights and went to bed herself).  I woke up 4 other times during the night, so we were both extremely tired this morning.  Daddy got home around 9:15 tonight and of course I was still up, so I got to see him for a little while!  Maybe that's why I was stalling :) 

We have a few more work / school days, then Grandma and Grandpa are bringing kitty home!  I'm so excited to see everyone!  I really miss kitty, though mom says she doesn't exactly miss her being under our feet all the time or knocking stuff off of the counter.  Grandma and Grandpa are coming on Saturday to bring her back and to babysit me so mom and dad can go to the Manchester United game at Fed Ex field!  Mom's company, Aon, sponsors the team, so they're excited to see them play against Barcelona.  Daddy even got invited to the fan club event on Thursday night (ok, well mom got invited because she's an Aon employee, but she managed to get daddy on the list too, huzzah!).  I think he's looking forward to it - the last team event they had, most of the players showed up :) 

Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

It's been hot, but not too hot to blow bubbles!



Curious George is my favorite book lately.



I'm a very good tooth brusher!  Mom sings two songs - one for the bottom and one for the top.  Then we go looking for the food that I had that day to brush it away.  It's a fun game and gets my teeth squeaky clean!



Cheese!



Hope everyone is staying cool in this awful heat!  Hugs till later!

Home Sweet Home

No new pictures to post, but I wanted to let everyone know that we had a safe trip home today.  I had a rough bedtime again last night and it took me over 2.5 hours to fall asleep.  Mom figured that meant I would sleep until about 8 this morning and she was right.  She woke up at 7, though, so had some quiet time again to sit with a cup of coffee on the deck by herself.  And that is the reason we got an ocean front condo on the third floor :) 

After I got up, I helped mom pack up all of my stuff.  We ate breakfast and played games for a while.  Mom cleaned out the fridge and washed and put away all the dishes so we'd be ready to go when dad got up.  Dad took all the trash out and loaded the car (not an insignificant task when you're on the third floor at the end of the building).  Thank goodness for the elevator and luggage carts - we were able to load everything in a few loads that way. 

We checked the condo one last time and didn't see anything that we left behind, so we said goodbye and locked up.  We headed out just before 11 and stopped to drop off the keys and parking passes.  Dad drove for the first leg - we drove a different way than we came in since we weren't going back through Raleigh.  Some of the "neighborhoods" we drove through were really depressing - very run down and poor.  Dad was looking for a roadside BBQ shack, but didn't find one, so we ended up stopping at Burger King for lunch.  I had a hamburger, apples and some milk.  I really only ate my apples, though.  After lunch, we drove for another hour and a half or so, then stopped to get gas, use the potty and switch drivers.  I was still dry when we stopped!!! 

Mom drove the rest of the way home and of course as soon as we got on 95, we hit traffic and were stopped for a while.  There were cops every half mile or so and mom said there were an unusual number of cars just sitting on the side of the road, which really slowed traffic down.  I had been really good the entire way - no tantrums, no fussing.  I just played with mom's iPod, read some books, etc.  Finally, daddy told me I had 5 more minutes with the iPod, then I had to take a nap.  I protested, but ended up falling asleep around 3:15 (really late for a nap for me).  I slept for about 45 minutes, then was up and relatively happy the rest of the way. 

We stopped and got sushi for dinner on the way home since we didn't have any groceries in the house.  I was STILL dry when we got home!  Only 2 potty breaks in 7.5 hours and I didn't have an accident - mom and dad were SO proud of me. 

My dinner was yummy!  I got a warm bath, read a few books with mom, then played and sang in my room for another 2.5 hours again!!!  I'm still stalling big time by asking for water (I'm not *really* thirsty - mom and dad give me plenty of milk and water before I go to bed, so that's not it...).  Mom says she may stop letting me nap because these bedtime shenanigans are getting to be out of control. 

Not much else new to report, just wanted to let you know we got home safely.  Tomorrow is my first day at my new school - wish me luck! 

Last Day on the Beach :(

Unfortunately, today was our last day on the beach :(  We have to go home tomorrow so mom and dad can go back to work and I can go to my new school!  We have a seven hour drive ahead of us tomorrow - hope it goes as smoothly as the ride down here did! 

This morning we had a leisurely wake up - had some breakfast and played games for a while before getting our suits on and heading down to the beach.  Mom also wanted to charge her iPod because she was planning on going for another run.  She changed her mind when we got down there and it was *really* windy - she said she'd rather sit on the beach with me and enjoy our last day! 

I was a lot braver today - mom and dad kept having to remind me to stay in front of them instead of wandering off...it was hard to keep track of where I was! All you can hear here is the wind and for some reason the color is terrible, but I had SO much fun running in the water :)



Here are a few photos from the past few days at the beach.  I really love building sandcastles.  I'm convinced that to be a sandcastle, it has to be built out of this purple castle.



These are two of the helicopters that flew by yesterday (not the Apache's, though).



My new Penn State dress from Grandma and Grandpa Coble!



The moon was nearly full last night.



Mom says I look like I'm surfing here.  The wave caught me by surprise!



I had to go potty right around lunchtime today, so mom just brought me up to the condo and gave me lunch.  I took a nap pretty easily and fell asleep by 1 (pretty early for me!)  Mom worked on some photos for a while, then took a nap herself.  We are on vacation after all!  Dad read his book on the deck and listened to my monitor so mom could actually sleep :)

When I woke up, we got dressed and went to a little town called Beaufort (or as I said, a little "Talon").  Think I'm obsessed with DC United at all???  It is the third oldest town in NC and we got to see a glimpse of it in the rain last year.  Dad wanted to go to the Maritime Museum because they have a display with a lot of the remnants from Black Beard's ship.  I was sort of restless when we got there and wasn't listening very well - I wasn't doing so well about looking with my eyes only - I kept wanting to touch and run away from mom and dad.  So mom took me outside, slathered me with more sunscreen and told me to run around for a while.  I was very happy to do so! 



There was a fishing tournament going on today, so we walked along the docks and got to see lots and lots of huge fishing boats.  There were even men cutting apart the fish so people could eat them!  I had a really great time.  We walked for a bit, then stopped for an early dinner.  After dinner, we stopped to get me some ice cream!  I debated between strawberry and vanilla and strawberry won.  Luckily, mom thought to grab a cup because I couldn't keep up with the cone and my ice cream was melting everywhere! 

We left there and headed over to the dive shop that daddy had used.  They have a big statue of Neptune that daddy wanted to get a picture of. 



I even got to see the boat that daddy dove on again.  Pretty cool, huh?  All those tanks are for the scuba divers so they can breathe underwater!



We left there and had enough time to go to the pool before bath and bedtime.  It was really cold, though, so I didn't spend much time there.  A warm bath felt great, then we got jammies on and went to bed.  Tonight was another tough bedtime and would you believe it took me two and a half hours to fall asleep???  Mom says she thinks naps are going to have to end soon if this keeps up.  And I can't even sleep *too* late tomorrow because we have to get up and pack the car.  Fingers crossed for no more wake ups tonight, though. 

Till later - hope all is well and we'll write more when we get home!

One more hello from Atlantic Beach

What a wonderful week we've had!  I'm going to try to keep this short so we can head out to the beach for our last full day here. 

The weather was a bit overcast on Thursday after a big storm rolled through on Wednesday night.  Daddy was diving and I really just wanted to hang out at the pool, so that's exactly what mom and I did.  There was no one there most of the time and a little girl and her grandma joined us right before we had to leave.  Mom didn't mind not having to drag ALL of our stuff down to the beach only to have to turn around to bring me back to the house to use the potty :)  Pool is a little easier! 

I picked out my ladybug hat to wear in the pool.



After nap, daddy came home and he brought me a few things from his dives again!  He got a really cool shell and a piece of coral that had broken off and was lying on the bottom of the ocean.  We left them outside to dry off a little.



The aquarium is open late on Thursday nights and it was PIRATE night!  We decided to go for a quick visit before dinner. 

Do you love my outfit?  At one point I also had a bright blue headband on and my socks had the heel part on the tops of my feet. 



I spy with my little eyes a toad!  Do you see him?



A river otter!  There were three of them and they played and swam around under the water.



I wasn't so sure about the shark.



I loved the ray tank!



This was the exhibit with the replica of the U-352, the U Boat that daddy got to dive on last year.  There were sharks in the tank and a giant turtle!  I like the sharks the best, though.



Color's off on this one, but this was one of the biggest sharks in the tank.



We went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant right on the water.  It was a bit windy, but it was nice to sit outside.  I got to see a few fishing boats drive by and I waved at all of the boaters. 

Because I ate a good dinner and we're on vacation, mom and dad let me get a cupcake for dessert!



Look at the awesome moon!



I had an AWFUL night going to sleep on Thursday night.  I wouldn't settle down and finally fell asleep after about 2 hours.  Then I woke up about an hour later and it took another hour for me to settle down.  I was finally down for the count around midnight - far too late for a not quite three year old!  I slept until almost 8 on Friday morning, but mom woke up around 7, so she had some quiet time to sit outside and watch the ocean with a cup of coffee. 

We spent the morning on Friday at the pool (or tried to at least).  Mom went for a run, so dad took me to the pool.  I had an unexplained tantrum and had to come back to the house.  I wouldn't stop crying and wouldn't tell daddy what was wrong, so we had to leave.  We ended up having an early lunch and early nap.  When I woke up, we went to the beach for a while and I had a GREAT time.  I was a little more independent this time and wandered down to the waters edge and let the ocean tickle my toes.  I sat and made sandcastles for a while and sifted sand - who knew that could be so exciting???  I got to see two sets of helicopters flying close to shore - I waved at both of them.  Daddy told me the second set was an Apache helicopter!  They were pretty awesome. 

We had to shower before dinner because I had SO much sand in my hair.  Even now, I don't think it's all out, but mom did the best she could.  We tried to stop at a seafood restaurant, but the line was way out the door and we didn't feel like waiting, so we went back across the bridge towards the dive shop and went to a Sports Bar type place that we had been to before.  It was much quieter and we sat right down.  I had some chicken fingers and mom and dad tried the conch fritters.  They said they were awesome, but wouldn't let me try them :(  Maybe next year. 

Bedtime was MUCH better last night and I woke up around 7 this morning, so not too bad.  Now we're just waiting for mommy's iPod to charge so we can go down to the beach again.  Mom wants to go for another run (how many times do you get the chance to run barefoot - or at least with Vibrams - on the beach???)  She wants to take advantage of the opportunity! 

Hope everyone is doing well! 

Vacation!!!

We are on vacation!

Last Friday, mom took off to take me to my new school orientation (more about that in a minute) and to finish getting things ready for our week at the beach.  Long story short, I have been on the "waiting list" to go to a new school for a year and a half.  I really liked my last school in Rockville, but mom didn't like how much time we were having to spend in the car :(  It added between 30-45 minutes to her commute, so she was ready to have me somewhere closer to home.  We found out a few weeks ago that our school of choice had an opening for me starting July 11th!!!  Of course that's the week we're on vacation, so mom said we'd start on the 18th.  I finished up school in Rockville last week, will take this week off with mom and dad and will start at the new school next Monday.  I was a little apprehensive at the orientation, but I think I'll be ok.  I know three other kids in my class and Zachary is in the next older room, so there are plenty of friends to look out for me.  I did cry while mom was doing the intake conference with my teacher, Ms. Martha, but I was fine once mom came back for me :)  I'm very excited about the upcoming year and know that I will learn a lot.  It was sad to say goodbye to my friends and teachers, but I think we'll stay in touch! 

After our orientation, Grandma and Grandpa came to our house so they could spend some time with me and pick up Raz.  Raz is going to spend a few weeks at their house so mom and dad didn't have to send her to the "spa" (aka the kennel).  I'm going to miss her, but I know she's having fun.  Mom told me that Grandma and Grandpa have a kitty that looks exactly like Raz.  Grandma and Grandpa brought me lots of goodies to take on my trip!  Here's me in my new hat, looking at my bathing suit and Penn State dress!



Mom bought me a new Fox in Socks puzzle and I really enjoyed putting it together with Grandpa.



I got to play with Grandma and Grandpa a little on Saturday morning, then we left to drive to Raleigh to visit Jeff, Kathryn, Carson and Sienna.  Mom got up really early and woke me up around 6 so she could do another load of laundry before we left.  I played with Grandpa and she got everything else ready for our trip.  We loaded kitty in the crate and said goodbye around 9:30 and then mommy, daddy and I were on the road around 10.

We hit some traffic driving south on 95 - same place we hit traffic last year, so it took a little longer than expected, but I did really well.  When we got through that, I had to go potty, so we stopped and ended up getting lunch.  I ate my lunch and took a little nap in the car.  Mom did too :)  When I woke up, we weren't far from Jeff and Kathryn's house, hooray!  We made one more pit stop so I could use the bathroom and mom and dad could get a quick bite to eat.  And the best part (or so mom and dad say) is that I stayed dry the entire time!  No accidents and only two bathroom stops!  Not bad for a 6 hour drive :)  I kept myself busy the entire trip and read books, played with my laptop (Thank You Great Aunt Jenny!) and played with my new sticker books that mom got me.  Mom and dad didn't even have to turn on my DVD player (which we haven't used at all since we got back from Seattle).  I was SO excited to see Carson and Sienna and hopped right out of the car and gave them all lots of hugs.  They had so many fun toys for me to play with - now mom and dad have some good ideas for my birthday this year! 

Riding the horse - check out my hair!



Sienna's turn!  She looks so serious!



And Carson's turn!  He jumped SO high on the horse.



We had a yummy, yummy dinner Saturday night - kabobs and fresh peas - I ate a lot!  I got to sleep on my cot at Carson and Sienna's house.  I didn't go to bed too well (as usual) - mom and dad took bets on when I would actually fall asleep.  They put me to bed at 7:30 and mom won the bet with me falling asleep at 8:45.  Dad said 9, but he lost...

I didn't wake up until 8:20 on Sunday morning!!!  Kathryn made the best pancakes ever, so I ate a really good breakfast.  Then daddy and Jeff took us outside to play while mommy and Kathryn got our stuff packed up for the beach.

I got my first driving lesson - a Jeep, just like mommy's!  Ok, not *quite* like mommy's, but close...  Mommy's working on getting the video uploaded, but she says the file is pretty big and it's taking a while.  So you'll have to wait for that one!

We got a snack after all that running around and we all hit the road around 11.  Jeff, Kathryn, Carson and Sienna were able to join us at the beach for a few days - I'm so glad it worked out!  It was a few hour drive from their house to the beach, so we figured we'd stop for lunch along the way, then hopefully we would take a short nap before we got to the beach.  We stopped for lunch, I didn't eat a single thing, then we hopped back in our cars.  None of the kids actually fell asleep, but Carson and Sienna had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped about an hour outside of the beach - I finally fell asleep as we were pulling in to the rest stop, so mom and dad just let me sleep.  I woke up about a half hour later and cried hysterically for no apparent reason, but I finally calmed down.

We got to the beach around 3 and check-in wasn't until 4 - we decided to stop at the rental office anyway just in case.  They gave us the keys and we were all set!  It was about 6 miles from the rental office to the condo, so we were almost there.  Thankfully, our house this year has an elevator, which made it significantly easier to unload the cars.  We're on the third floor and have an ocean front view which is pretty cool.  The place has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, so there was plenty of space for all of us.  We basically dumped our stuff in the house, changed into bathing suits and ran down to the beach!  We had a few hours to check things out before dinner time.  I wasn't very timid this year and walked right up to the ocean - mom was very pleasantly surprised!  She even picked me up and walked way out with me and let the waves hit my back - it was so much fun!  Mom and dad were so glad that I wasn't as afraid as last year.

We hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, so we went out to dinner - we stopped and got some pizza, then had some ice cream as a special treat!  I thought I wanted mint chocolate chip, but settled on vanilla, my all time favorite.  Thank goodness I can have dairy now - it makes vacation a whole different experience for me!  After dinner, mom, dad and I went to the grocery store while Carson and Sienna came back to the house to go to bed.  My bedtime is a little later than theirs, so it worked out really well.  We got enough food for a few days worth of lunches and dinner.  Mom and dad put me to bed in their bed that night and moved me to a different room when they went to bed - the fourth bedroom here is a loft, so they didn't want to put me there until everyone had gone to sleep.  I ended up waking up in the middle of the night and mom moved to the second bed in that room to keep me company.  We woke up pretty early on Monday morning and were ready to go!

Here's the typical beach decor in the house.  Background's blurry because of the lens mom had on the camera, but you get the idea.



I ate a good breakfast and then hung out with dad while mom went for a run on the beach.  She didn't even take her shoes with her - how silly is that?  When she got back, we got our suits on and headed down to the beach.  We had so many beach toys that Carson, Sienna and I were able to keep ourselves occupied for a long time!  Mommy didn't take a camera that morning, but I think Kathryn got some good photos.  When daddy and Jeff came down, they taught me how to make sandcastles out of my toys.  I think I made 87 castles with daddy and really enjoyed knocking them down :)  Mom and dad both took turns taking me out into the waves and I had a great time again.

Happy kiddos...





We all took pretty good naps on Monday afternoon.  I didn't sleep as long as Carson and Sienna, but we all felt so much better after nap.  We went back to the pool / beach in the afternoon after we woke up.  We took my kite in hopes of flying it, but realized when we got to the beach that we had forgotten the string to fly it at home!  So we just played for a while, then daddy came back home to make dinner.  He made spaghetti carbonara which was yummy!  You could smell it coming down the hallway :) Surprisingly, we all went to bed pretty well on Monday night, even with the late and long naps that we took. 

Woke up bright and early again on Tuesday and no one else was awake / here!  Carson and Sienna had woken up before me, so Kathryn took them for a walk on the beach.  Mom and I had a pretty quiet morning and ate some breakfast until Jeff got up and Kathryn and the kids came back.  I ate breakfast again while they ate.  Mom headed out to the beach for a run and daddy took me to the kite store to get some string for my kite.  I also got a toy boat to play with in the pool - how cool is that?  Mom was done with her run and had showered by the time we got home, so we got our suits on and went down to the pool.  We played there for a few minutes, then headed down to the beach to fly my kite.

We all got to play with iPods / phones before we went to the beach.



I wasn't quite as enamored with the kite this year as I was last year, but I still had fun.



Jeff and Kathryn had to leave after lunch, so we headed back to the house for some sandwiches, then I had to say goodbye :(  We had such a great time with them and can't wait to see them again!!!  I took a good nap when they left, then we all went over to the dive shop so daddy could pick up his scuba gear and get ready for his dives on Wednesday morning.  I liked seeing all the scuba stuff in the shop and got to see lots of boats outside.  Mom tried to take my picture with daddy's dive boat, but the camera lens was pretty foggy - a pretty common problem here since it's cold inside in the air conditioning and very humid outside!  Just have to wait it out until the glass clears, but we didn't have enough time... 

After daddy got all of his stuff set up on the boat, we went to a restaurant for dinner.  It was pretty crowded and the food was delicious.  I had fish and chips, mommy had a yummy tuna steak and daddy had pasta with shrimp and scallops (I'm not allowed to have shellfish yet, so I couldn't taste any of daddy's).  Mom and dad even got me a yummy strawberry daiquiri (no alcohol, of course) and a piece of chocolate mousse pie - hello sugar rush!  Mom had a piece of key lime pie and I liked that too.  Once again, it's SO much easier now that I can have dairy. 



Daddy went diving on Wednesday, so mom and I were on our own for the morning.  Dad had to leave around 5:30 and of course I woke up about 10 minutes after he left.  Mom and I were without a car, so we got dressed and took ALL of our stuff down to the beach.  I wanted to stop at the pool first, so we did.  As soon as we got all set up at the beach, I told mom I had to go potty, so we had to trek all the way back up to the condo.  Mom grabbed some Italian Ice's for us to eat when we went back down to the beach.  We ate those then went for a walk to find some shells.  I was a little apprehensive about the water without holding on to mom's hand, but I eventually wandered in and splashed and kicked the water a little.  I really wasn't feeling the beach yesterday, so we ended up going back up to the pool and leaving our chairs, blanket and toys down at the beach.  We swam for a bit then came back for lunch and a nap (mom and I *both* napped since I had woken up so early). 

We were still asleep when daddy got home.  After I woke up, he gave me a few really special presents from his dives!  On one of the dives, he picked up two HUGE sand dollars for me!  He found them on the bottom of the ocean - how cool is that???  And one of his fellow divers gave him two sharks teeth for me - he found them on his dives that day as well.  I'm so excited to have these wonderful things!!!  We let daddy nap for a little while because he was so tired from diving, so mom and I played with my bubbles on the deck.  Mom tried to go for a run when dad woke up, but the water was too high and there wasn't enough hard sand to run on.  So she just brought our chairs and blanket back and we all went down to the pool.

Sand Dollars



Shark Teeth!



I've been working on letting go of mom and dad and have been getting a little braver.  This is a good pool for me because I can stand in most of the shallow end.  I have a vest that I can wear if I want, but mom and dad want me to swim without it.  Sometimes I like to wear it just to float, though.



Practicing my  kicking



Ready to go for a swim with dad!





With that, I'll end this incredibly long post, put my swim suit on and head down to the pool!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!