Back from the beach!

So I realized that I never posted this, which I typed up after we got back from the beach because I was having some difficulty with pictures.  So a month and a half later, here you go.  Hopefully I can get up Colin's birthday post faster!

It's been a whirlwind of a summer here.  I taught during the summer for the first time (Boo), and I kept the kids home with me two days a week (Yay!).  We did things like go to the pool, visit the zoo and the museum, went to a farm, picked blueberries, and generally had a good time.  It was nice to have some 1-on-2 time with them, if not a little exhausting.

This past week we got back from visiting Emerald Isle in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for our first family of 4 vacation.  We drove from Indy to High Point, NC to stay with the NC Nichols overnight, and it was a smooth trip.  We went 8 and a half hours with a potty-trained 3-year-old and only stopped ONCE.  We got to spend the night with GGCR, and the kids were able to open our birthday presents.  Looks like Rhys and Colin will be in separate grades, despite only being 7 weeks apart in age due to the lovely age differences between IN and NC.  Colin has to be 5 by August 1st to go to kindergarten, so he'll be one of the oldest in his class here.  Colin got to have his first sleepover, sharing an air mattress with Rhys, while Cora took the bed.  It took a while for them all to go to sleep (and provided some entertainment to the parents), but the night was blissfully quiet.

Mid-morning we headed off to the airport to pick up the rest of the clan and trekked to Emerald Isle, where we joined the Wintrode/Eicholtz gang (+8 people) for dinner and more craziness.  Thankfully with the aid of wine (thanks Uncle Gary!)

The boys!

 Quite possibly the only time she smiled the whole trip.

After the storm

The rest of our days were spent at the beach, and with one morning exploring the aquarium.  We got in lots of cousin time, as well as lots of second cousin time.  We were joined at some point or another by a majority of the Nelson crew (+7 people) and Uncle Geoff.  It got a little crazy for a while.  There was a lot of tie-dying, cake-eating, and performance-watching (due to 2 lovely 5-year-old girls!)  We were fortunate to get to have a dinner out with Peter's cousins and spouses, which is always fun, even if we were missing four of our gang.  Green margaritas were enjoyed by all, and we even made a pitstop for ice cream.

I unfortunately had to detour to Orlando Thursday-Saturday for work/volunteerism, and while I was able to revel in my introvert self, I missed the family time.  If the opportunity arises the next time, I will be more likely to pass it up.

Our drive back was more eventful, with lots of bathroom stops for the toddler.  Claire cried most of the way through Virginia and West Virginia, which we can now attribute to the hills and her lingering ear infection.  She measured in at just shy of 25 pounds (90th percentile) and just over 31 inches (80th) percentile at her 15 month visit, on top of a lingering ear infection and eye infection.  She also hated everything about the beach (sand, water, wind, chairs, people) unless she was being held by me or her dad pretty much.  She did like the naps that resulted.

Colin did awesome at the beach.  Despite being initially afraid of the water (very concerned about sharks...which it turned out he did have some basis for that fear), he allowed Peter to take him out into the waves and then decided only Geoff was good enough for that job.  He loved jumping at the water rushing onto the beach and playing in the sand, and he was exhausted at the end of every day.  It was just what I had hoped for!

We're now preparing for Colin's birthday (four!!)  He was very set on a mermaid birthday party, then a princess birthday party, and now he seems set on a Captain America/Avengers party.  I'm just going to go with that one, since the cake is a much easier choice.  He is whipsmart as always, quickly memorizing passages in books (can't ever skip a page; he knows, even if you haven't read the book in a month).  He loves to read and make up games with complex stories.  He is awesome with Claire.  He always hugs her at the end of the day at daycare with a "Hi Claire-ee" or "Claire Bear!"  He plays with her at the house, letting her tackle him by saying, "Come get me Claire Bear!" and then just laughs when she lays on top of him.  He has so much to say, and surprisingly, my sister and I were noticing that he can pronounce all of his letters...no W in place of an R, solid Ls and Ss.  The first grade teacher was proud.  He moved up to the last pre-school class at daycare, but he'll likely be there for two years.

Claire has been going through some rough patches, with teething and the ear infections.  She is a Daddy's girl through and through.  She has only recently started saying Mama, despite practically saying "Daddy."  She doesn't have very many words, and she uses the sign for "please" for almost anything.  She knows lots of animal sounds, and her elephant is incredibly realistic.  So we're working hard on sign language, to help reduce some of everyone's frustration in understanding what she wants.  She loves to play with Colin, and says "Bubba" every time he's around (or when he's not).  She refers to all animals as Ella and reliably says All Done, but that's about it in the words.  She clearly understands a lot of what we're saying to her, and she's starting to nod yes with her whole body when she wants something that we've asked her.  She's moved up to the youngest toddler room at daycare and seems happy in there.