FABULOUS Day!!!

What can I say? I learned my lesson yesterday (hopefully) that it pays to listen to mom and dad - makes for a much more enjoyable day for all of us! Daddy went diving again today, so was already gone when I woke up and got mom up. We had a quick breakfast, I played a little, and we got sunscreen on and brushed our hair - I asked mom for a messy bun today, lol. I didn't want my hair to tickle the back of my neck while I played. Then we headed down to the beach. It was about 9am and there was NO one else there except one other family with a little kid. Pretty relaxing! It wasn't as windy today, so mom put up the umbrella and I played in the shade while mom got to relax and read her book for a while.

While I was sitting there playing, a gust of wind came by and our umbrella went FLYING half way up the beach! Mom dropped her book and ran after it. Guess she should have used the anchor today! We ended up just putting it away and putting more sunscreen on.

After about a half hour, mom saw something wash up on the shore. The other family was standing at the waters edge and backed away from it. From afar, it looked like a turtle shell or something. We got up and walked toward it only to realize that it was a live stingray! Two older boys who were walking by stopped and helped it get back out in the water. After that, mom didn't exactly want to take me in the water! She's a little bit of a nervous nelly in the ocean in terms of running into fish and what not, so she really didn't want to take a chance of running into a stingray :) So instead of getting in the ocean today, we went for a long walk with my bucket and collected sea shells. Mom showed me how to look and see if they were broken or not and we only picked up the ones that weren't broken. We even found some sea glass that mom says Grammy will like, so I'll be sure to give those pieces to her the next time I see her.

When we got back, I dug some rivers with my shovel and filled my bucket with water to fill the rivers. The water instantly soaked into the sand, so it wasn't exactly what I had expected. Mom suggested that we move a little closer to the water so I could play with the wet sand and she could sit and watch me. I had fun filling my bucket with water and dumping it on mom's feet :)

I even wrote a bunch of things in the sand! Hard to see it, but I wrote: SYDNEY   MOMMY   DADDY and CAT (can't forget Razzy, can we???)



We figured we wouldn't be back down at the beach, so we loaded up the cart and headed back up toward the house. Mom said that since I had listened so well all morning we could stop at the pool before we came up for lunch. We got in the big pool since all of our pool toys were upstairs, so I sat on the steps and did bobs, but I didn't want to swim to mom. I listened extremely well when mom told me it was time to go. We had some leftovers (fried shrimp for me, mahi mahi for mom) and then I took a rest in mom's room. I told her I wasn't tired, but I think I was wrong. What do you think?



Mom read her book while I slept and we put on more sunscreen when I woke up before heading to the pool. There was only one little girl in the kiddie pool, so I played in there until daddy got home and met us. I pretended that my swim ring was a hula hoop. Didn't work quite so well, but mom and dad got a kick out of it anyway.



We all got in the big pool for a while before we came home to change clothes for dinner. Since I had been so good all day, we went to a restaurant for dinner - I had a delicious and HUGE slice of cheese pizza. We even got to walk next door to the ice cream parlor and I got a scoop of peanut butter cup ice cream afterwards. I ate every last drop - couldn't bear to leave any behind!

Mom and I walked to the grocery store from there (it's in the same complex) so we could get more sunscreen and some snack foods, and dad moved the car. We were going to stop at a book store on the way, but they closed early (boo). I took a bath when we got home and was STILL listening really well, so mom and dad let me stay up and watch a video of dad's dives from today. It was pretty phenomenal - he saw lots of sharks and barracudas! I kept telling him I didn't want to swim in the water with sharks, but he assured me that these kind (sand tiger sharks) were ok for divers to swim with. It was really awesome to see.

Mom read me chapter 9 of Ralph and the Motorcycle and now I'm talking myself to sleep in bed. The daily naps while we're here inevitably delay my bedtime, but I'd never make it through the days here without them. And I think mom enjoys napping while on vacation, too :) I don't blame her!

Mommy and Sydney Day

Daddy had his first day of diving today, so mom and I were on our own till dinner time. Dad left long before either mom or I got up, even though I got up pretty early. Mom says I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but I don't really know what that means. She says it means that I didn't have my listening ears on today, but I don't understand the connection with getting up on the wrong side of the bed...

Anyway, we ate breakfast and headed down to the beach to play. We were the second people to get down there, so we had our choice of spots. It was really windy today and as we were setting up our chairs, a group of seagulls almost attacked us! OK, that's probably an overstatement, but that's what it felt like - mom's worst nightmare - she grabbed my hand and we ran towards the water just to get away from them. Turns out someone had left bits of food in the sand behind us - I will NEVER do that myself!

About a half hour later, a group of kids pretty rudely put their chairs about 3 feet from where we were sitting and proceeded to kick a soccer ball rather haphazardly in our general direction. Mom was pretty annoyed and I couldn't understand why they didn't take one of the empty spots on the beach. There was no parent with them which was also pretty annoying. We made the most of it and I played with my sand toys and made a castle around mom's feet so she couldn't get out. We ate a snack of frozen grapes (perfect beach snack!) and headed out to the water. I was really brave and even intentionally let a wave knock me over. I laughed like crazy as we were walking back to our chairs as the sand bar dropped off and the water got really deep all of the sudden. I was able to swim for a bit before it started to get shallow again.

We went in for lunch when I had to go potty and left our chairs and cart at the beach so we could go back later. I wasn't listening very well to mom, so she asked me to lay down and take a rest after lunch. I ended up climbing in the bed in mom and dad's room, climbed under the covers and fell asleep. PERFECT!!! Mom decided she'd take a nap with me. It wasn't a very long one, but I think it's just what I needed.

After putting more sunscreen on, we headed down to the pool. This time I didn't really want to go in the big pool. There were a lot more people there and I just wanted to sit in the kiddie pool and play. There was a little boy, Brock, around my age and he and I were playing pretty well. A few other kids came in and were a bit rough, so I stayed away from them. Once again, there weren't any parents around, which really irritated mom. Especially in the kiddie pool. One kid, who looked to be about 5 or 6, had a life jacket on and was running around, trying to push his cousins heads under water and literally no adult said anything to him. I even told mom that I didn't want to play near him. I think it was more crowded today than yesterday because most rentals here are Sunday to Sunday, where ours this year happened to be Saturday to Saturday.

Dad got home around 4:30 and met us at the pool. I was still playing in the kiddie pool (with some other kids toys) and *really* didn't want to leave. We decided we weren't going to go back to the beach today, so mom went to get the cart and dad gave me my five minute warning. Needless to say, a total meltdown ensued when mom came back and it was time to go - she had to pick me up out of the pool and carry me back to the elevator where I proceeded to shriek, cry, and carry on until I got to time out at the house. Mom told me I had to calm down or we wouldn't be able to go to the pool tomorrow, so I immediately stopped.

We had dinner (sloppy joes and corn on the cob, yum!) and I even got a popsicle for dessert - not sure that I actually deserved it after my awful behavior, but mom gave me one anyway (I think mostly because she wanted one too).

I was doing some work and sending mom and email while she got dinner ready the other day.



This is the view from the deck off of mom and dad's room. There's another deck off of the living room that's screened in, so pictures from there don't work so well.



I brought a fun "learning" book with me to practice writing letters. I finished my bath a little early, so dad helped me with a few pages. I'm working hard!



Swimming in the pool by myself with the swim ring. So much fun!



See how windy it was out there - my chair didn't even stay up!



I didn't really need my swim ring in the kiddie pool, but I was having fun with it anyway.



It was definitely a fun day, but I need to work on listening a little better - hopefully tomorrow will be better! Daddy's going diving again and hopefully he'll get to see the U-Boat like he did 2 years ago!

Beach Day 1

I had a pretty rough day yesterday - I never quite found my listening ears and refused to nap or even really rest for that matter. Thankfully we were able to check in to our house early (check in is supposed to be 4, but we got in before that) and daddy and I tried to take a rest while mom went to the grocery store. We ate dinner at home and then went to the beach for a quick walk before bedtime. Mom and dad let me dip my feet in the water, but we didn't have bathing suits on, so we couldn't go in too far. Here, daddy and I were waiting for the water to come tickle our toes :) The water came up and got me all wet - my dress got wet and even daddy's shorts got wet. But that's ok!

All of the other places we've stayed here had beach chairs that we could use, but this condo doesn't. There are plenty of pool noodles and boogie boards, but no chairs. I actually treated mom to a bit of a sleep in this morning and didn't wake up till 7:40! She woke up before me and contemplated getting up and having a cup of coffee on the deck watching the ocean, but in the end decided that sleeping a bit more was the way to go :) I ate breakfast after I got up and mom and I went to go buy some chairs. We found some good ones for mom and dad, and mom bought me a new sand toy (like I need any more - we don't even have a bag big enough for the ones I already have!) We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get a chair for me - mom had seen a lady bug chair for kids that she thought I would enjoy, so we got that.

We came home and gathered up our stuff to head to the beach. Thankfully, mom and dad got a beach cart this year - it's too hard to carry chairs, towels, toys, snacks, etc. when only one of them is going down with me. It made the trip down to the beach a little easier. We set up our chairs and I played in the sand for a while. I made sandcastles, sifted the sand, and made some pretend chocolate pudding for mom in one of my buckets. When mom and dad got too hot, they took me in the water. It's really shallow, then gets a little too deep for me to stand, then gets shallow again, so mom held me until we got out to the sand bar. I had so much fun and wasn't afraid at all - I jumped over the waves as they came in and even got knocked down by a few. I told mom that my lips tasted salty and she told me it was because the ocean had salt water in it.

We came in for lunch (and for a potty break) and then went down to the pool. It's a pretty nice pool and there's even a kiddie pool that I can splash around in all by myself. I had a blast with my swim ring for a while, then I told daddy I wanted to swim by myself. Check it out! Dad hadn't seen my last round of swim lessons (without a parent in the water with me), so he was really pleasantly surprised!

I took a little break from the pool and played in the kiddie pool while mom and dad got some reading in (don't worry - they were right there beside me). Then mom and I got back in the big pool and splashed around for a bit before coming back up to the house so she could change into running clothes. We met dad down on the beach and mom went for a quick run, but didn't go too far - her foot was really hurting her and the tide was too high, so she had to run on a slope, which wasn't good. We played for a bit and dad and I made a HUGE sandcastle that eventually got knocked over by the water.

We came home, showered, and took daddy's dive stuff over to the dive shop. Apparently, the past two days have been absolutely perfect dive conditions here, so dad's hoping that trend continues tomorrow and Tuesday when he's diving. Mom and I sat and watched a slideshow of some really awesome photos from some recent dives - lots of shark sightings and pretty neon fish - kind of like Nemo!

Mom and I went out to the docks while dad got his stuff for the dives ready - nitrox tanks, BC, regulator, fins, mask, etc. There's an awesome statue of Neptune there, so I sang a few songs for him. We got to watch a bunch of big boats drive by and I waved hi to all of them. After dad got his stuff settled on the boat, we drove to dinner. A few years ago, mom and dad found an awesome restaurant at the recommendation of the dive shop. It's in an old house and they never would have found it if it hadn't been recommended, but the food is AWESOME! We had fried oysters (mom and dad told me they were oyster nuggets and I *loved* them!) for an appetizer. Dad had shrimp and grits, mom had mahi mahi (I picked it for her since she couldn't decide what she wanted), and I had fried shrimp. This is the first year that we've come to the beach that I could have shell fish (mom wouldn't let me have it until I turned 3) *and* dairy, so that makes it MUCH easier to eat in restaurants! The food was amazing as always and we ended up bringing half of it home (plus a piece of key lime pie which mom doesn't want to share with me, hmmpf).

We came home and got ready for bed - I was pretty exhausted after not having a nap today, but all in all, I had a fabulous day. I found my listening ears and that made the day go SO much better.

Mom and I are on our own until the afternoon both tomorrow and Tuesday while daddy dives, but I think we'll have fun at the beach and pool anyway :) I know I'm going to miss my friends and teachers, but a week of this is going to be really, really nice!!!

Vacation Bound!

We left bright and early this morning to start our vacation - I can't wait! We left pretty early in hopes of missing the horrible traffic that seems inevitable on 95. We still hit some of it, but it was significantly better than in years past. Daddy packed the car in the rain and they got me up just in time to go potty and climb in the car. They hoped I would go back to sleep, but no such luck. I played with mom's iPod for a bit and finally I fell asleep. Mom did too and we both woke up in North Carolina! We still have a way to go, but we're making good time.

 Thought you might appreciate a conversation I had with mom and dad (after talking about our neighbors dog, Butters):

 Me: Mom and dad, I know how to make butter.
Mom: Oh yeah, how?
Me: You put milk and some ingredients in a bowl and mix it up lots and lots and put it in the fridge.
Mom (laughing): How did you know that?
Me (very matter of factly): I'm three years old.

 More later from the beach!

Daddy's First Triathlon!

What an incredible weekend (again!)  Yesterday I got to go to my first gym class.  Arabelle is also in my class, but she was out of town this weekend.  I had a blast and it really tired me out.  Mom and I stopped and had lunch afterwards, then had to hurry to get to her eye doctor appointment.  Daddy made his yummy pre-race pasta for dinner in prep for his first triathlon today.  Mom even let me take a bath in her tub, which is really more like swimming than taking a bath.  When I was almost done, though, I was pretty tired and started fooling around and not listening too well.  I slipped and narrowly missed the edge of the tub with my chin.  Mom told me to stop it and to be careful, but I didn't listen.  I stood up and was fooling around, slipped again and this time didn't miss my chin :(  I knocked my chin off the side of the tub and slid all the way in (the water was almost drained, thankfully).  Mom was right there and moved really fast and grabbed me out of the tub - my mouth was bleeding, so she wrapped me in a towel and we tried to figure out where the blood was coming from.  Turns out I just bit my tongue and it was bleeding pretty badly, but OUCH that hurt!  Of course mom grabbed a white towel to wrap me in, but oh well - I'm ok and that's all that matters.

Today we had to get up REALLY early.  Daddy's first triathlon was today and it started at 7 and was an hour away.  Mom and dad got up before 4am (told you it was early) and got themselves and the car entirely ready and packed.  Dad's bike was already in Columbia, so at least we didn't have to deal with that.  Mom got me out of bed just as we were ready to leave, she took me to the bathroom, and carried me to the car still in my jammies.  She had clothes packed for me, but figured it would be easier to stay in jammies at least until we got there in hopes that I would fall back asleep on the 45 minute drive.

I was a real champ, but never really fell back asleep in the car (we left home at 4:30).  While daddy got his stuff settled at the transition area, mom and I hung out on our blanket and ate breakfast.  All the race officials kept talking to us and commenting on how early we were out. I was very friendly and was just happy to eat my bagel with peanut butter.  After daddy got everything set up, he came back to us and we walked over to where the swim started and run ended.  Mom and I hung out there until daddy's wave started the swim. We're pretty sure we saw dad, but it's hard to tell - everyone looks the same with the same color swim cap (colors indicated age group) and goggles!  Daddy's beard helped, though, so I'm 99% sure we saw him.

After he passed, we walked back to where the swim ended and the transition area. We were expecting daddy in about a half hour (0.62 mile swim) - that's what he told us, so that's what we were looking for. We sure were surprised when we saw him at just over 20 minutes!  Mom tried to take a photo of him running into transition, but didn't realize that the camera was set to video...  It's a funny video of dad running for about 2 seconds and then the ground and sky until mom figured out what happened.



We walked around the corner in hopes that we would get there before daddy started out on the bike. We got there just in time to see him start out.  I yelled really loudly, but he didn't hear me. It was a 17.5 mile bike and daddy told us it would be 1:15 to 1:30.  Once again, we were surprised when we saw him come back in just over an hour!  Mom told me he was coming, but I was busy playing with her iPod, so I yelled "Go, daddy, go!" but I didn't actually look up to see him.



Mom and I had a nice rest while we were waiting on the bike. We sat next to a mom who had 5 kids under the age of 6, all by herself!  Her husband must do a lot of triathlons, because they seemed to have done this A LOT.  While we were waiting, another dad and his two kids came by waiting to see their mom. The little girl had fallen and scraped her knee, so the dad asked mom if she had anything to help clean it up.  We had baby wipes and bandaids, so gladly gave those to her. About halfway through, a bright yellow helicopter flew over - the mom of all the kids was worried that someone had gotten hurt, so she asked the police. They said everyone was ok and that it was just a MedStar helicopter (one of the race sponsors) and that they were going to park it on the hill so the kids could look at it!  So after we saw daddy finish up on the bike, we walked up the hill, stopped to see the helicopter, then walked back down to catch the end of the run.



The pilot was nice enough to even let me sit in the helicopter!



We saw daddy come by just before the finish of the run and he was still going strong!  I was so proud of him!



We had to wait until the bike course was closed at 11am to leave (the roads were closed, so we couldn't get the car out), so dad went and got a free massage.  That seems to have really helped how sore he is afterwards.

We stopped at Dogfish for lunch on the way home, then mom and I went for a run at the lake while daddy took a nap.  It was VERY hot by that time, though, so mom and I only did 1.5 miles.  The playground was even too hot to play - the slides were super hot!  My bike was in the back of mom's car, though, so she let me ride around the lake - it's 1.25 miles the whole way around and I rode my bike the entire way! I'm getting a LOT more confident on my big girl bike, but still want mom to hold on while going down hills.

Mom and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, then she finished her run on the treadmill while I watched Dora. It was a busy, busy weekend, but it was so much fun!

Cake for Dinner!

No, mom didn't let me *actually* have cake for dinner...it's a band and we went to see them tonight!  Dad found out that they were playing a free concert at the Strathmore, which mom has been dying to go to.  Dad already had tickets to the Counting Crows at Wolftrap (mom can't stand them, so didn't want to go), so mom asked my friend Rheeya and her mom if they wanted to go with us.  I first met Rheeya at my school in Rockville and I'm so glad we have stayed in touch, even though we're in different schools now.

The concert was supposed to be outdoors, but because of the heat, they moved it indoors to the concert hall.  I had a great time and even got on stage to help sing my favorite song, Flea.  Mom was surprised that I went up on stage so easily, but I didn't want to get down!  I danced and danced and danced.  They even told us that we were allowed to use outside voices - how cool is that?  For the song Tumba, we got to shout "Hey!" a bunch of times.  Rheeya thought that was fun too :)

We ended up leaving at intermission because it was already bedtime and we still had to drive home.  We ended up stopping and getting a scoop of ice cream so mom and Rheeya's mom could actually talk for a few minutes, though.  I had mint chocolate chip (it wasn't green, what's up with that???) and ate every single bite.  The sugar definitely caught up with me because I lost my listening ears somewhere between where we were eating the ice cream and the car.  I ran through the parking garage and mom was NOT happy with my behavior.  By the time we got home, I was still pretty wound up.  I kept telling mom that my brain was telling my body that I was tired, yet I kept telling mom stories over the monitor.  Why is it so hard to go to sleep when you're so tired?  I know I'm going to have trouble waking up when mom comes to get me in the morning, but hopefully the promise of water day at school will help get me moving!

Along those lines, I have three days of my new school under my belt and it's going extremely well so far!  I haven't been sad at all and have made new friends and really love all my teachers. My first day, mom took me a little later than normal so she could be sure I wasn't the first kid there.  She stayed with me for a few minutes so I could get acclimated and I decided I wanted to draw her a picture to take to work.  Mom called at lunchtime to check on me and my teacher said I was eating and telling her all about my soccer class.  My first morning had been really good.  When mom picked me up on Monday night, my class was just about to go outside on the playground - I asked mom to pick me up later on Tuesday than she did on Monday because I wanted to go outside!  Mom took that to be a good sign that I was enjoying my new school!

Mom picked me up on Monday and we headed right to the Soccerplex for my first soccer class of the summer.  Mom and dad signed me up for Monday night classes, so that makes Monday a long day and means that we need to eat a snack in the car between school and soccer.  I met a new friend, Tom, and mom met his parents. They all seem really nice and I hope we get to spend more time with them.

Tuesday was another fun day at school.  It was beach day and I wore a floral print shirt.  My teachers gave me a lei and we went on a whale hunt (we made binoculars and searched for whales in our classroom).  Mom even let me go outside after she got there to pick me up, so I got to show her the new playground.

Today, we had a visitor come to school - a pirate came and did balloon art for us!  Kids under the age of 4 have visitors come to school and kids 4 and over go on field trips.  The pirate was pretty cool and there was even an octopus baloon animal sitting at the sign in/out counter when we left.  Tomorrow is water day, so I get to wear my bathing suit to school. It's supposed to be 100+ degrees tomorrow, so it's a good day to cool off with a sprinkler!

Hope you're all well and we'll send more updates soon!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day everyone!  We had a great day here :)

Started with my last swimming class.  Then lunch at Dogfish...



Then a nap in the car.



Then FISHING from a boat :) I got to test out my new fishing rod.





Then we steamed some crabs and grilled some corn for dinner.  Yum!  I got to eat all the claws and had so much fun cracking them open with my hammer.



More later, but thought I'd at least share our day in photos (pardon the quality - most are from either a cell phone or point and shoot).

Happy Father's Day!