Let the VBS begin!

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Our first day back after our vacation also happened to be the first day of our church's VBS.  The Theme was SKY: Everything is Possible with God.  

 

This was a whole new year for us, as it was Sam's first year to participate in VBS.  Eric and I toiled for a while, we've been participating in one way or the other since before Chris was eligible.  We told the powers that be that we would want a night or two off.  So our job was Officially  - Closers.  Eric and I got to be the Crazies that do the closing skit.  Then Lori asked if I would take "a few pictures"  You know me....

So here's a Top 5 of our first night of VBS.  June 9th.  

This was Sam, happily, receiving his name tag, and signing in for the first time.  If that face doesn't say Joy, I don't know what does. 

Chris in his Bible class with pastor, the big kid class.  

The Preschool "tree house".  They put all the preschoolers in one room, and just did different things with them, rather than try to herd cats all over the church.  Smart. Very smart. 

Chris, too excited to be contained, in his group with his besties: Claudia and Emily.  

 

It is going to be a great VBS!  Everyone is getting set to Fly.  Truly, the Sky is the limit!  

Trip to Wisconsin, Day 5

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Well, it finally came, the day we had to leave Wisconsin.  Our morning was a little crazy.  Packing up always makes us Crazy.  We did Chris's flush in the hotel room before hitting the road.  It was Sunday, and though we'd taken Monday off, just in case we had to stop in a hotel on the road, we were kind of hoping to make it most (if not all) of the way home.  But first:  Reception, Part deux.  Bohl's wedding invitation had said, if you didn't get enough of a Lake Fix, we could come back.  We parked right by this field, and this was the view on the other side.  I have been so taken with the trees in Wisconsin, kind of reminds me of Arizona, such that I'm expecting to see the Grand Canyon at any moment.  But the scoop was that they are paper farms, and the gently rolling hills just lead to more lakes.  Still lovely though.

Christopher couldn't wait to suit up, because, as he put it, "Being at the Lake is AWESOME!" 

Bohl was doing a bit of fishing before lunch.  She didn't catch anything.  I was assured there were tons of fish in the lake by Daddy Bohl, but I didn't see anyone catch anything.  

But I had some sweetboys that couldn't wait to get back into the water.  As it happens, in Wisconsin, the law requires anyone under age 12 to wear a vest in a boat.  I like this law.  However, we weren't prepared for it, so we kept having to borrow vests from friends during our visit.  This was upsetting for our speedboat ride the night before, as we waited through one of Chris's freakouts to find a vest.  He was so upset.  On our long hoof back to the hotel Saturday night, he asked me ever so sweetly with May I's and Pleases, if, for his birthday (in December), I would get him a Blue boat vest.  I thought to myself as I pulled in to our hotel, we're right next door to the Wal-mart, let's stop by in the morning and see if they have any vests for the boys.  That may help them ride another boat, which was their primary goal - Swim and Boat for Day 2.  

Mission Accomplished, and we were able to find matching vests for the boys.  Nice and cushy, they took to the water.  Daddy pulled up a chair to "watch them". 

I found some dragonflies.  This guy must've been young and fresh, because he was soaking wet, and not flying far, he was stuck in the water, so I put him on some of the grass. 

Best picture of the day: 

It's called a Mating Wheel.  But I just happened to catch them in a heart shape.  

What you can't see is Eric, Chris and Sam riding along on the front of the boat.    When they zipped by the second time, they waved.  Hi Boyz! 

After a speedboat ride, Chris climbed into one of the kayaks no one was using, and immediately began using it.  And it started moving.  I think if we hadn't made him stop, he'd have gone out pretty deep, and we may have had to go fetch him. Hmm...natural skills...

While Chris was swimming along, he actually scared the snot out of me.  The speedboat below has a flat back very easy for people to climb right on to the boat, and a nice pole to attach for skiers.  He was swimming in the swimming area by the dock, and he began swimming straight for the boat, which was idling. Meaning the engine was on, they were hooking up with the skier, and under the water there was a blade spinning, and little Mr. No Fear just started swimming right for it.  And he couldn't hear me yell stop.  Blessedly, Bohl's friend Keira on the boat, did.  She cut the motor, pulled Chris up onto the boat, and off they went.  How's that?!  The day before I could barely get Chris on the boat, he was that terrified, the next day, he was climbing up of his own volition, with no parent nearby.   Crazy.  And scary.  Blessedly, nothing happened.  No one had to go running.  And Chris got boat ride out of the deal.  A ride he enjoyed thoroughly.  

He's a little hard to see, but he's down there on the front.  

Safe and sound, little brother observes from shore.  

We caught some pretty birds in flight.  I suppose, eventually, I'll play around with editing them, and make them all cool and stuff.  But at this point, I'm content with just pulling them straight off the camera.  

Seagull.  

Great Blue Heron.  I think he may have been carrying something in his mouth.  

Last tootsie dips before we hit the road.  And Auntie formerly Bohl now Mrs. Zwieg comes out to say goodbye to our little crazies.  

It was sad to say goodbye, but really I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed.   Hopefully, we'd make it.  The first hour was hard, all the kids wanted to do was watch movies.  I told them they had to wait until Madison.  They did, but not patiently.  Whatever happened to the days before portable dvd players?  What did parents of preschoolers do?  My kids don't care to play any of the games I love and loved, the alphabet game, or the license plate game.  Chris wants to look on the map, for about 5 seconds then he is done.  He isn't too concerned with the journey, he just wants to get there.  For me, it's all about the Journey.Deep thoughts.  

We made good progress, once we turned the movies on.  They were content as long as there was a movie on.  Sad, but true.  So we made good progress.  Instead of needing to stop for Sam to pee every hour, he made it like 2-3.  We stop for gas, he'd pee.  We stop for food, he'd pee.  He was great.  At the last rest stop in Illinois, they kids had awakened from an hour or so nap.  We had left Wisconsin at 2, they didn't fall asleep until 6.  Then they were awake at 7:30 and Hungry.  So we stopped to pee, and formulate a plan.  Meanwhile, the kids played on the playground.  How BRILLIANT to have a playground at a rest area.  This is the first I've encountered.  Maybe they've had them before, but I haven't seen them.  This was the first time my kids were old enough to need it.   And they got a nice play in before we hit the road again. 

 The promise was to stop at McD's for cheeseburgers.  With that deal, they hopped back in the car, and we made it all the way home in one go, only took us 7 1/2 hours. But we did it.  It was a Wonderful vacation.  

Can't wait to go again. 

Trip to Wisconsin, Day 4

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It was touted as the "Best Day Ever" by my friend, the former Sarah Bohl, now Sarah Zwieg.  Saturday, the 7th of July was her wedding day.  And when my boys woke up they were full of Sweetness.  

he had kindly asked Eric if he would play the family Air Organ, or Melodian, an instrument over a hundred years old, that had revamped and revised.  It was a tiny organ, that used to have a foot pedal to pump air into it, but sometime in the last century, Bohl's grandma 'modernized' it by adding an electrical pump.  So we sat on the balcony while Eric played.  He did a wonderful job.  I got teary when he played Dvorak New Wold Symphony as a prelude.  He used to play that a lot when I was pregnant with Chris, it was instinctively calming...to me.

Bohl had asked if I would take pictures from the balcony. Now you know I took that job very seriously.  I'm not a Pro, but if my friend wants me to take pictures, I'm going to take pictures. I had my big camera out, and the zoom lens, oh yeah, I was gonna get Serious.

But, as soon as the Bridal Party appeared, my kids went batshit crazy. I gave Chris my point and shoot camera to distract him, he took about 20 pictures in 2 minutes, then dropped the camera over the balcony as Sarah was coming. There she was standing on a boat, Beautiful, Breathtaking, like a Greek Goddess on the water,  and crash boom bang, camera goes to smithereens landing on someone below.  They had been so good for so much of the trip, they couldn't handle it, I guess, when it was time to be quiet, they started fighting over the ipad that I had brought to entertain them.  I took everything away, and they flipped out even more. I missed her coming up the aisle because I was putting Chris in time out around the corner. Looking back on it, I should have sent them inside, but I knew that no one was in there, and I didn't want them to wreak havoc.  Instead they did so on the balcony.  Right next to our friend Mike who was videotaping. I hope we didn't ruin the video.  What I saw of the ceremony was Beautiful.

I'm sure, for Bohl, it was The Best Day Ever.  

As the pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Zwieg they had poppers go off.  Everybody set them off.  It was so cool.  I had a popper somewhere, recently found it in my purse, but since I was being driven so crazy by the kids, and trying to take pictures, I didn't break it out to pop it at the proper time.  

But my kids were done as soon as the wedding began.  By the end I was a crying mess.  You know how you reach that point, when you're so done, that if anyone is too nice to you, than you erupt in a volcano of tears.  Yeah that was me.  So we threw the kids in the car, and attempted to squeak out, back to the hotel to put them to bed, the only thing we could think of was they were exhausted, and get back in time for some of the later lake reception fun.  However, as we were loading the kids up, they started serving lunch.  I realized we were probably all hungry.  I asked the kids, but they were so busy melting down, neither would listen.  Since they are related to Me, that was my cue, that perhaps they needed to eat.  Unfortunately, I can get pretty ugly when hungry.  And Sam gets that from me in a big way.  Usually Chris doesn't have that problem, but he did on this day.  I burst into tears, again, as I was trying to buckle them up.  And my kids stopped, shocked at my crying.  I cried, "We came up to Wisconsin to be with my friend on her wedding day, and you're ruining it for me."  I must've been exhausted and hungry too, because I never yell at the kids like that, I try not to blame them for being kids.  But I was done too and slipping into upset selfishness.  Surprisingly, Chris listened, and immediately apologized.  That surprised me, moreso when Sam followed suit.  Amazing.  I asked if they wanted to stay for lunch, there would surely be something yummy.  There was, fresh fried fish that both boys went wild for.  I put mine on a bun to make a sandwich, but the kids like their buns plain with their fish on the side. Once they started eating, their moods changed entirely.  They were sweeter, happier, and calm so I could get a few pictures of the Reception activities.  We even stayed long enough for Cake Cutting!

It was an angel food cake covered in fresh fruit: red, white, and blue.  Delish! 

The kids started to have some fun playing with some of the other kids.  So we stayed a bit longer, long enough for the first dance.  They danced to Huey Lewis' Power of Love.  It was so sweet. 

Then the kids started to get a little agressive in their play, a little too vocal if you know what I mean.  Giving me the clue, that exhaustion was probably a culprit too. So we popped back to the hotel for naps.  The hotel was about 30 minutes away, so popping wasn't exactly the most convenient, and Bohl had so kindly set up a room  for naps, but I could just tell, that no child of mine was going to sleep by the lake when there was Fun to be had.  So we left.  Probably the wisest move for the boys.  Because the moment we returned, they were gearing down for supper.  So the boys had a couple snacks, and hit the water.  Even the bride was all geared up for lake play time.  We apparently missed her waterskiing in her veil.  That would have been an awesome sight to see.  But the fun was still going when we returned. 

The boys went down to the water, which was blissfully shallow, to play.  

Christopher desperately wanted to go on a boat ride.  Just about the time he was getting annoyingly whiny, he was thrilled to learn that Bohl's brother was taking someone out to teach them to ski.  However, when it was time to get on the boat, Chris started to have a tantrum.  He was freaking out that there weren't enough vests, and that he didn't want to get on the boat, I don't even know what all.  It was one of those big ones, and I tuned out.  As soon as he started, I grabbed Sam who also wanted to go, and we got on the boat.  It took Chris quite a while to calm down.  Luckily, Steve stayed near the dock long enough for Chris to calm down, so he was able to join us.   The stars aligned so that we were parked long enough for Chris to get comfortable and adjust to his surroundings.  

It took us a while to get going, the boy who was learning was experiencing technical difficulties too, that blessedly he triumphed over the next morning.  He was a tough kid, and kept trying and trying and trying.  My kids were getting antsy.  But just when I started to wonder if we'd ever get moving, or if my boys were going to lose it, we started going.  And we started going fast.  Chris loved it.  In spite of being nervous to get on the boat, he was afraid it would be too fast, and too bumpy, once he was on and it was going, he LOVED it.  

This was our last turn as we were coming back in, and he raised his fist, and yelled, SPEED BOATS ARE AWESOME!!!!!  His voice lost in the wind, I only know what he said because I was close, my arm was wrapped around him the whole time.  It was another one of those great Therapy moments, when his Joy triumphs over all the weird sensory processing stuff going on in his head that make him tend to lose it sometimes.  He won.  He found the Joy.   Hooray for Speedboats!  

One last quick dip as the sun set.  

The Happy Couple as they head out to enjoy fireworks in town, we didn't end up staying for that, once the sun went down, we packed up and went back to the hotel and to bed. Being on the water wore us all out, whether we were actually in the water or not. The Big Boys wanted to do a little authentic Wisconsin beer drinking after the yahoos went down. ;) It ended up being a Great Day.

Trip to Wisconsin, Day 3

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Friday in Wisconsin was a day of Transition for us.  And you know, now that I think about it, we don't do too well with transitions.    I hated the thought of packing up from our lovely oasis with Nancy, and leaving.  On the other hand, going to the hotel, and to Bohl's lake house was destined to be Awesome, and kind of the whole reason we were invited to Wisconsin to begin with, so I was happy to go.  Just the thought was Exhausting.
So we procrastinated a bit, starting our morning with a fabulous breakfast, Nancy calls it the Camelot Breakfast.  Fit for a king all righty!  Once again, the coffee was flowing freely, and I was greeted with eggs, various meats, fresh fruit, and fresh blueberry pancakes.  Oh so yummy.

So in a fabulous state of denial, the boys hit the lake as soon as we were done with Breakfast.  

I love these of Sam.  Sam was having a great time just playing along the lake line, wandering in the sand, looking for floating toys, and just exploring.  Actually, his favorite part may have been peeing on trees.  The big boys were doing that, the lake out in the woods, it's kind of like camping, so running out of the lake to real quick pee on a tree seemed logical.  To Sam, it just seemed like Fun.  

Here's my handsome eldest miracle baby.  Probably my favorite of him from the whole trip.  

Paired with the one below, it's probably one of the best moments for me of the trip too.  In this picture, Chris is Swimming to me.  Not touching the bottom, not wearing some flotation device, just plain Swimming.  True it was a bit of a dog paddle, but he was going, under his own steam, from Daddy to me.  That is Huge.    Getting him to just Let Go, to trust us, to use his own strength and to be comfortable in the water, has been a battle for us for 4 years, since we first started swim classes.  He's hated to be out of our arms.  He hated to get his face wet.  Now we can't keep him out of the water.  He has Sensory Processing Disorder and he's on the Spectrum, so as much as he wants to be in the water, he was terrified of it. If I had known that a 6 year old named Max would have been a much cheaper physical therapist, I'd have gotten these two together a long time ago.  Max was like part fish the way he swam and darted all over the place.  He is a great swimmer, and to keep up with his friend, Chris had to lose the fears.   It was an amazing transformation in 3 days.

I am so Proud of him.  And so grateful to Max, Nancy, and Mor Mor for helping us out more than they probably will ever know. 

So we did laundry, and packed up, and headed out.   Bittersweet.  Great to head on to the next phase, but this was such a relaxing stay, we fell madly in love with the place.  But we went from Camelot Lake to Buffalo Lake, arriving with time enough to spare for a bitty power nap before heading to the Rehearsal. 

Our friend Sarah giving instructions to the bridal party, who was going to be arriving on the dock by boats, and then coming up the dock and stairs to where the wedding was going to be, on top of the boathouse.  

The kids did great during the rehearsal, playing happily with the ipad.  Almost taking turns even.  

But we took the party indoors after a bit, and Mike taught Chris to play blokus.  Sam tried to play along too, but it was not meant to be.   There was some sort of hysterical PG-13 commentary going on about not letting other peoples stuff touching, that sent the 12 year old minded adults into hysterical laughter.  But maybe we were just tired.  But it was a good laugh, and it a good note to end the evening on.  

The kids and I headed out and went back to get ready for an evening swim at the hotel.  Only by the time we got down there, it was 9 p.m. the place was crawling with older kids.  It was hideous: busy, noisy, super hot, the water was so warm, my bathtub was cooler.  So we didn't stay long, just long enough for the kids to jump in a couple times.  I was Blessed that Chris didn't flip out because so often when I pull him out of that kind of loud insanity, he flips out.  I was anticipating it, and he didn't.  He didn't like it either.  Maybe it's not so much that he loses it in those places that makes me stress out, but that I hate that sort of head pounding noise that makes me stress out and lose it too.  I came out of there thinking, oh my, now I know where Chris gets his massive amounts of intolerance for constant hammering noise.  But he did wonderfully.  All in all, I was very proud of my boys on this day.


A little bedtime video to make you smile: