Week 25

Wow, we had another great week that went by very fast. Time is ticking for me to get all my projects done. So many of them have to be done at the last minute though (paying the boys next door to wash the truck, touching up all the paint on the house, party stuff). This week we just focused on having fun and tackled our everyday chores.

On Monday we went to the Aquatic Center again and met up with Colton and Amber and Mabel, Luke, and Jen. This time we went in the afternoon when it was much, much warmer and the water was actually refreshing instead of chilly. So I made sure Corinne had a good morning nap and fed the kids lunch, then we headed to the pool.





















Of course Lincoln wanted his usual Cheetos treat during his swim break.















Here is a good shot of Colton, Amber, and baby Weston...due any day now. This was sort of our last blast with the Justus gang, since Amber doesn't want to venture too far from the hospital next week. We can't wait to meet this little man---although if he follows in his brother's footsteps it will still be weeks away!




















Since we did the pool on Monday and were headed to the beach on Tuesday I decided not to wash Corinne's hair since I knew she would be a sandy mess the next day. So she was left with crazy hair after swimming and was not too appreciative.





















We monkeyed around for the rest of the day. I was hoping the kids would fall asleep on the way home from the pool and that I could just peacefully transfer them into their beds. I was not so lucky. Lincoln decided to play bridge that evening and Corinne really enjoyed running under it.





















We have been blessed with super mild weather so far this summer (minus one week in July). I am super thankful for it, as I know Nathan is too (He was the AC Nazi last year--insisting that the AC gets turned off when it was under 80 degrees outside, after we had a $450 electric bill). It makes for some very cool temperatures at night (high 50s), allowing me to open the house up--but it is kind of chilly at breakfast time. So we decided to break out the robes I made the kids for Christmas last year, and Corinne's finally fits!




















Snuggle time on the couch.















Regardless of the cool temperatures in the morning, it was supposed to heat up to 79 at the beach, so we headed down to Carlsbad. After a long drive, we could not find anywhere on the coast that didn't have a "no swimming" sign up. I am not particularly fond of jumping in--that water is cold! But I wanted the kids to be able to wade in if they wanted to. After a few tries, we headed to base.















This time we set up near the shore so we could keep an eye on the kids building and refilling their buckets.
















Lincoln could care less about a cloudy day at the beach. It is all the same to him. Sand + Water + an open area to run = one happy kiddo.















Plus, I feel like when you are young, you are immune to feeling super hot or super cold. As long as you are having fun the temperature doesn't really matter.















All the kids got to work on "a birthday cake" made out of sand.
















Once Corinne started to get sandy, I decided to let her have a topless day at the beach. No sense in getting her changed just to get another outfit filled with sand. I am not sure what Daddy will think of this, but I figure it is best that we get it out of her system while she is young.
She did a little mock boogie boarding,





















digging for lost treasure in the sand,















and finally was able to soak up some rays when the sun came out.





















By the end of the day both kids were covered from head to toe in sand. I must say that I am pretty proud of myself for successfully getting everything back to the car, the kids showered and de-sanded, and everything packed up with fairly little stress.















In honor of "Shark Week", Linc donned his shark jammies and we spent the night wrestling on the floor in the family room. My kids are now officially addicted to Shark Week. Corinne would clap every time a great white would breech chasing prey and Lincoln would say "It's not bedtime, I am just watching this shark show!" Growing up without cable left me somewhat deprived of the Discovery Channel back then. However we somehow always managed to take our family vacation during Shark Week, so I rarely missed this special event each August. I know this makes me a huge dork, but I love it just the same--and now so do my kids!
















The kids fighting for/sharing space on my lap.














Corinne was victorious here!
















And nothing beats a little collarbone tickles.





















Lincoln was ready for some airplane action.















He asked me to throw him up to the ceiling like Dada does, but I told him I didn't have big enough muscles. He seemed content with that answer and just asked for more tickets for the airplane.
















On Thursday we headed to swimming lessons. Colton switched to Tuesdays, so we had a new friend to swim with this week---Jordan. He was all by himself last week and was hesitant to get in the water without a friend.




















After some coaxing and watching Lincoln he decided to jump in and join them.















Miss Rebecca will be headed to school next week, but she got one more swim session in with Linc.
















Jordan is a big fan of "knuckles". So he swam over to Linc multiple times to exchange fist bumps.















At the end of the lesson Lincoln swam under water and retreived a ring from the bottom of the pool. I was in utter shock, but he went right under and popped up with a smile at his big accomplishment--all without choking!

Later that day we decide to have some splash time out back. I used to call this swimming, but now that Lincoln is actually learning to swim, he is not as impressed with the baby pool.





















But Corinne loves to dive in and take a spin on her belly.
















Lincoln spent the afternoon digging in a muddy hole with his excavator/dump truck.
















When it was time to clean up, he hosed it off and I started picking up the other toys. Then I flipped it over for him to get the other side and continued with the clean up routine. Then Lincoln yells, "Uh-oh, Mama there is a spider. Come squish it." We had a talk about squishing bugs earlier in the week. I told him he can squish ants, but leave the bee and spider squishing to Mama because some of them can hurt him. And I am glad we had that talk, because sure enough a black widow climbed out of one of the tires on his truck. GRRRRRRRRRR! I can't even begin to imagine how disasterous this could have been. I had checked the truck when he first started playing with it and even reached my hand in the underside and cleaned out the webs. I immediately grabbed both kid and locked them up in the side patio with sidewalk chalk while I grabbed the spray. About half a can of spider killer later, it was dead. But it scared me enough to not want to go outside the rest of the week. I need to look into a service to get rid of these nasty things once and for all. Anything you buy over the counter is just not strong enough to kill the black widows. Time to call in a professional! I gave Lincoln lots of praise for doing the right thing and telling me about the spider and not trying to tackle it himself. You can bet he earned a lot of beans for that!


Friday was "Family Day" for the battalion. We headed down to base for what we thought would be a great BBQ lunch and lots of activities for the kids. On the ride there Corinne threw up in the car. (I had forgotten that she doesn't like to eat and run) So after a quick haircut for Lincoln, we headed to the PX for a new outfit for Corinne. Lunch at the party was more than disappointing. They had 3 kids of nasty pasta, rolls, and cookies--not the hot dogs, burgers, fruit, veggies, desserts, and chips we grew accostumed to in Okinawa. Lincoln was not that concerned with the food, he was just ready to get in the bounce houses.
















Then he decided to take a turn on the rock wall.





















He is a natural monkey, but needed a little help at first because he didn't weigh enough to hold the rope down.




















But soon enough, he was latched onto the wall, making his way up little by little.





















He got about 3/4 of the way up and decided that was high enough and that he was ready to come down.






















He liked "flying" down as well.






















Corinne and I watched and then I took a turn. I will spare you all the pics of my butt hanging in the air, but it was fun to get in on the action for a change. And of course Lincoln was my cheer team yelling "Go Mommy, Go!" and "Oh, good job Mommy!" the whole time.















Corinne was mostly content snacking in her stroller.
















Lincoln loves to help feed Sissy!
















Then Linc ran off with the older kids for more bounce house fun.

















Emily helped hold him back until it was his turn to race though the obstacle course. It is so nice having older, helpful kids around!





















The biggest bonus to family day were the balloons they handed out. Both kids skipped a nap on Friday, which made for an exhausted Mommy and grouchiness all around.
















But we recovered soon enough and I decided to make a countdown chain with Lincoln to count down the days until his party with Dada. I would do a "countdown until Daddy gets home" chain, but I would hate to run out of links and him still be gone---so I figured this was a safe bet. Lincoln was the gluer and I was the linker.
















Ta-Da! It was exactly 50 days until the party when we did this. That sounds like a lot when you put it in terms of days, but to me that is 7 weeks and less than 6 until Nathan shows up. Time to get to work!





















We had a relaxing Sunday and the kids entertained me with a "Monster Truck Show" after church. They were cracking me up with their car sounds, revving their "engines", and then Corinne doing tricks.
















We headed to bed early on Sunday to prep for Corinne's eye surgery to unclog her tear duct on Monday morning. And speaking of eyes, it turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. I am not a seasoned contact wearer, but by no means a professional. There is no popping one in my mouth and slipping it back in my eye without a mirror action going on quite yet, but I am told I will get there one day.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Quote 1: Completely random after dinner one night.
Lincoln: "You don't know how to fight the bad guys, but Dada does! You are Dada's wife and I am Dada's son. We are you and Dada's kids. Dada has strong muscles like I have strong muscles."

Quote 2: At my "female" doctor's appointment.
Lincoln: Looks at me on the table during my exam. In a very concerned voice, "Are you okay Mama? Does that hurt?"
Me: "No, I am fine. It doesn't hurt."
Doctor: "No, but thanks for asking. How nice of you." Looks at Lincoln and winks...this next part is hilarious, yet borderline totally inappropriate. "Gotta get your mom ready for Daddy to come home right?"
Lincoln: "Yeah!"
I am not so sure how I feel about his bedside manner, but I suppose that is what I get for bringing the kids with me. But what was I supposed to do--all my sitters were on vacation.

Quote 3: During a bathroom trip before swimming lessons in the single boys bathroom that has a urinal.
Lincoln: After going pee, turns around and tries to sit. "I need to poop!"
Me: "No if you have to poop, you have to use the real potty. Come on, let's go over here."
Lincoln: While sitting. "I want to poopy in that one!"
Me: "No, did you see how tiny that hole is? It is for pee only."
Lincoln: "Oh I have to make a little poopy to use that one and a big poopy for this one."
Me: "No, you never know what is going to come out. It is for pee only, no poop--ever!"

Quote 4: While cleaning up the playroom right before skyping with Nathan.
Me: "Hurry up Linc, I don't want to miss Dada."
Lincoln: Looks at me with a sad face and says in the sweetest voice ever. "Oh Mama, you do want to miss Dada. You are his wife. He loves you very much. It is nice to miss him!"
Me: "Oh don't worry, I miss him. But I don't want to miss his call, that would be a bummer. Let's hurry up and go upstairs so we can talk to him okay?"