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Vacation Top 10

We just got back from a week of fun in Florida. We went to St. Augustine, Miami, and The Keys in that order! We had a ball! This was our first family vacation for just the 4 of us, planned by us, and executed all on our own! It's funny how you can hang out with your family day in and day out and then learn completely new things about one another when you change the setting. Here are the 10 things I learned on vacation!

#1 - My husband amazes me! He is so great at managing our money and using it on the things we need and skipping the things we don't. He did an awesome job at planning this vacation on a budget!!!

#2 - You can only spend a few nights at a time in a hotel with children without going insane or driving those in rooms around you insane.

#3 - Cade loves history. He doesn't love everything that is educational, but he has always been so enthralled with places, times, and lifestyles in the past. Our first stop at The Fort of San Marco in St. Augustine was perfect for him. Personally, I was bored to tears (you've seen one fort, you've seen 'em all) but he LOVED it so much he and Rob went back twice!

#4 - Cora loves to eat out! She never tires of it and after each stop when we asked her what her favorite thing was she said "going out to eat."

#5 - Hotel beds are apparently made for one purpose-- JUMPING!

#6 - I have a real problem with fearing for my children's lives in any given situation. I am not sure if all mom's have this or not, but I will say mine seems to be really severe. It almost hinders me from having fun in certain situations. I just can't let go. Here are some examples from this past week. Cade falling of the top of the fort, Cade and Cora falling off the walkway through the rails and into the ocean, Either of them getting run over in a parking lot, Either of them drowning, Cade snorkeling around rocks where a small yet deadly sea creature is lurking and it lurches out for him, Either of them getting snatched by a maniac at the very crowded Miami Sea Aquarium, Either of them falling off the top of the historic Bahia Honda bridge in Big Pine Key, etc, etc....you get the idea, the list goes on and on! What are the true odds of any of these things happening??? But seriously, my three year old has cancer, the odds don't always seem to stack up in our favor!

#7 - Cora wants to be the lady that rides on the killer whale's nose when she grows up!

#8 - Cade loves anything fast paced! He loved riding the metro in Miami, wanted to be the wettest one in the audience in each show at the sea aquarium, and wanted to jump or swing off anything that would allow it! If only I could grow a banyan tree in my backyard. He'd never be bored!

#9 - The fishing really is better the further south you go. My poor husband is misplaced in Savannah. He LOVES to fish!

#10 - Cade will never be a transvestite after the look on his face after his first glimpse of some in Key West. He didn't even have any words!!! The look was priceless!

The Princess's Birthday

Yay!!! What a year it's been! It was hard work getting Cora Garola to age 3, but we made it!!! I can't tell you how glad we all were to celebrate Cora this weekend! It was the end of her steroid week, so she was not feeling great and pretty grumpy, but she had a great time! We're not super into usually overdoing our kids birthdays, but WE TOTALLY spoiled her. (and Cade wasn't forgotten either) She go her pink Barbie Mustang that she's admired for ages, had candles on each meal on Friday, went out to dinner, and had a "Princess Ball!" Mommy also made what was probably my tackiest birthday cake yet (simply because Cora picked it from a book). She thought it was beautiful!

Go Fish

Cora is addicted to Go Fish! A few years ago, my mom gave us some Go Fish cards that were perfect for Cade at about 3. They are strictly colors. You make color pairs by asking your opponent for a specific color or drawing from the "go fish" pile. Cora loves it. She wants to play it all the time with whoever will play with her. So as I was preparing for our clinic trip tomorrow morning, I packed the Go Fish cards in her bag unbeknown st to her. The visit started off much better than our last sucker throwing visit. She was sweet to the nurses and staff and didn't cry when her port was accessed. Her counts were good, her ANC was 1500 which is down from last time but right where the doctors like to keep it. We were waiting for her chemo to come from the pharmacy and to see the doctor. She was bored with her dolls, so I busted out the Go Fish cards. She was so excited. We got the cards all set up and each had five in our hand just in time for Dr. Johnston to walk in. He greeted us and he and I started talking while Cora started nagging about who's turn it was. I told her the game would pick up in a minute after Dr. J checked her quickly. That was it! He had interrupted our game and she was having no part of it! The kicking and screaming ensued and Dr. J got the Go Fish cards thrown at him! This continued through her exam and until he left the room all the while with me whispering bribes and threats in her ear with no luck. My daughter is so sweet sometimes and so so so completely naughty others! I was so embarrassed that for the second visit in a row she is kicking one of the men responsible for curing her cancer! When he left she sat in time out, calmed down, and decided to apologize to him later all on her own. We did apologize and hug as we left, but still, I am not sure how I can continue to show my face in there never knowing what my daughter may do next! But the good news is...she is good! She looked great, is handling her new meds with little side effects and feels good enough to throw fits. We started her on her five days of the dreaded steroid and don't go back for 2 weeks! Her birthday is Friday! We are having a "ball"...like Cinderella on Saturday morning. This will be her fifth day of steroids so I am hoping she doesn't make a scene at her party, but she is very excited! Stay tuned for those pics!

Cade on the other hand, is depressed! While were were at clinic he and daddy went to the dentist. The dentist told him yesterday that he needs to stop sucking his thumb because it's pushing his teeth forward. Both of his front top teeth are loose so once they fall out sucking the thumb will push permanent teeth forward. He is so upset. He says he just can't stop and anytime he touches his softie dog he has to suck his thumb. He's so dramatic he went so far as to say "just throw softie dog in the trash, it's no use!" By bedtime he had decided he couldn't do it, he'd just continue to suck! Rob went through the whole scenario with him about how his teeth would stick out, he'd have to have braces, and maybe even surgery on his mouth if the bone starts to move forward because of it. Cade's response was, "Will they put me to sleep if I have to have the surgery?" Rob said, "ya, probably." And Cade said, "fine, I'll just get that." and rolled over and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

As usual, we've got lots of work to do around here!

Boring

Look I dressed myself completely perfectly today!


Well, almost perfectly!


Cade has become half fish this summer!


Cora's favorite part of the pool!


Happy to report that things around here are pretty boring.
It's been totally lazy summer days lately!
Pool time!
Beach time!
Lots of reading!
Lots of grilling!
A garden that ALMOST has veggies ready! (this is our first garden so that makes it extra exciting)
A house that can't seem to keep clean no matter how hard mommy tries!
Cade's attempting to learn to ride a bike with no training wheels (that's not going so well!)
Cora's been playing lots of doctor and vet and she continues to think she is about 15.
Rob's building a fence along one side of the house.
And doggy Leia's happy that Rob has committed to jogging with her nightly!
Boring, normal, fun, PERFECT!
We are so thankful!