South Padre Isalnd 2017

Several months ago, my parents showed us pictures of the place they would be staying in this winter during their trip south. It was a pretty fantastic 4 bedroom house across the street from the beach in South Padre Island. Wowzas! They sure lucked out with this fabulous find. We were excited for their adventures.

Fast forward one month: they were not only inviting us down to their place for a vacation, they gave our entire family the trip for Christmas gifts! To say our family was excited doesn't even come close to how everyone felt! We narrowed down dates, and though it wasn't going to coincide with our (ridiculously late) spring break this year, we jumped on the opportunity to spend 6 days in the sun!

My mom and I started coming up with activities and adventures, Ryan mapped out a plan to golf a couple of times (nervous from his recent knee surgery) and of course, we knew we had to spend time daily at the beach!

Last time I brought the kids to SPI was in 2015 and it was C.O.L.D. Not the ideal temps. So when our forecast this time was low 80's, we packed our swim suits and shorts and set off to catch some much needed Vitamin D.

We found all sorts of creatures on the beach: from tiny crabs to small oysters that squirmed when we would open them which only caused me to scream! We collected sea shells and Lincoln tossed shell after shell back into the ocean. Watching him play on the beach was always the most entertaining. The first two times we went, he ran in and out for over an hour, never stopping. He was having the time of his life!

My mom found some touch tanks for us to visit and the girls got brave and held some hermit crabs and touched this "big huge frog" (aka: turtle). Lincoln would get close and then run away and squeal that it was chasing him. It moved faster than we thought and after the girls got a chance to feed him some lettuce, he did actually 'chase' Regan around the small room ;)

We saw beautiful sunrises come out of the ocean from my parents deck. And were lucky enough to see just as beautiful sunsets. The island is all of 3 blocks wide, and the sun rises on one side over the Gulf and sets on the other side over the bay. It's pretty darn incredible to watch.

One of our big adventures was to go horseback riding on the beach. Because the minimum age was 6, we had to leave the men behind with Lincoln. My mom and I braved any fears inside of us and saddled up beside the girls for our 2 hour ride. I'll be honest, we were pretty scared for this. I blame my fear on the fact that I've had patients with serious injuries following horse accidents. And it sure didn't help that my horse was afraid of the tide and would scamper away when water hit her hoofs; and then would head-butt the horses in front of her only to be kicked in retaliation. Let's just say it was NOT a peaceful ride for me!

On the contrary, the girls were in their glory! We lucked out in that their horses were buddies and walked easily side by side the entire time. They giggled at the end, saying how scared they initially were but how  much fun it was. Sidney announced "when we come back next time, we HAVE to do this again!".... 

...I responded that Ryan would be taking them next time :)

While us girls were riding along the beach, Lincoln was able to take a nice pony ride in the pen and play/feed some barn animals. He loved his horse and does not want you to tell him it was a pony...."no!, my big huge horse!". Ok Lincoln. He got to ride around until his horse was tired and decided it was done.

It's almost a requirement to stop at the iconic sign entering the island and take a picture. To get to the island, you cross a 3 mile bridge and this sign is the first thing you see.

While we were there, I climbed up on top with the kids to take a picture of the sun setting over the bay side. Boy are there some pretty sights!

As a tourist destination, there are stores upon stores with all sorts of beach paraphernalia including clothing, swim suits, toys and boogie boards. Most stores have normal doors to enter, but this one caught Lincoln's attention and he wouldn't quit talking about it until we stopped one evening. He insisted it was going to be a shark ride, despite our pleas to inform him otherwise. At least he wasn't disappointed when he realized it was just an entrance to another store! He loved all of the teeth and being inside the shark!

Sidney saw a sign for sushi somewhere along our adventure and just had to try sushi one night. So we picked up some California rolls and brought them home. Her and Regan sat there, with fear and excitement written all over their faces, just trying to muster up the courage to try it. Eventually they took a tiny bite and announced they were finished and never planned to eat it again. But at least they tried!

Beaches make for some fun backdrops and both my mom and I brought our cameras to the beach almost every time so we could take more pictures. Sorry for the beach overload!....

The short walk from grandma/papa's house to the beach included this trail from the sidewalk onto the sand. Most days when we got to this point, Lincoln (and the girls too!) would take off running not looking back feeling so eager to start their fun!

I honestly think that Regan could have spent all day everyday playing in the water. She learned to body surf, which prompted us to buy a boogie board and then she learned to boogie board! I'm thankful that she would take a break every once in a while to play with Lincoln in the tide.

We dug holes and built sand castles on the shore. The only thing I wouldn't do is bring snacks. Those seagulls are relentless and would practically sit on your shoulder if you were eating. Multiple times I could be found dodging birds, hiding behind whoever was closest to me; those things give me the willies!!

On our final night, we grabbed dinner outside at Louie's and as we wrapped up our meal, a staff grabbed the kiddos and led them, along with a plate of scrapes, to the railing offering them to feed the catfish in the bay. We thought maybe one or two catfish....

boy were we wrong!! There had to be hundreds of them-actually a little gross!

We caught Lincoln lounging one morning on the deck. No one is really sure what he was doing out there, a truck in each hand, talking to the sky and making sure we left him alone. I snuck this picture of him through the window as he basked in the sun.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for bringing us down to your winter getaway!! We had the best time and none of us wanted to leave!

Happy Birthday Regan

With her birthday on a weeknight, we didn't get to do much celebrating for Regan's recent big day. But we did try our hardest to make our oldest feel special when she turned 11 earlier this month. She has a good taste in food and picked Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then we came home, took a few pictures (photo bombed by Lincoln) and face timed with Grandma Jan in Texas as Regan opened gifts. I think it's safe to say that she was pleased as punch with her birthday celebration and happy as ever to be 11!

 

 

Although she can be dramatic and emotional, we love her to pieces. She (can be) incredibly patient with children, has a heart of gold for animals and her deep belly laughs are simply THE best!

Happy 11th Birthday Regan!

Allergy kid

Ever see the movie Gremlins? You know, the movie where the cute little cuddly critter turns into a monster?! Sometimes living with a child with food allergies makes me think of that movie. We're constantly thinking "don't feed him" (without checking ingredients)!

  

We spend our days reading labels, scouring the internet for a better understanding of terms, and educating people in our circle. I am a member of several facebook groups that offer support, receipes and even suggestions for dining out. We've learned what foods have hidden dairy, I even have screen shots like this on my phone for quick reminders:

I know the FDA rules for labels, and that we have to be cautious because it's not required to label for cross contamination, shared lines or "may contain" but could prove just as deadly to consume such a food. And then there's this....

 We shop around the perimeter of the store more than we ever have in our entire lives. Almost all of what we eat is made from scratch, I can't tell you the last time I prepared a boxed meal. Yes, it's better for all of us. But darn it, sometimes a box is just more convenient. Not to mentuon I'm frequently making him his own modified version of our meal. 

It pains me that I have to be mindful of cross contamination, not just in a restaurant, but also in our own home. Did I put that spoon into our pot of food, or his pot of food? I've had to throw out an entire pan of food because of this error. We joke when I find reciepes titled "One pan...." because inevitably it's always at least 2 if not more.

We've debated buying this shirt for Lincoln to take some stress out of gatherings.

Thankfully our friends are amazing at asking permission, and Lincoln is pretty darn good at asking an adult if he can have something, rather than just grabbing. Just last weekend a dear friend asked if he could give Lincoln "cream" soda, fearing it may have milk. I love that our friends take things as serious as they should be. But if an adult places a food near him, he is going to assume it's ok to eat, and it has given us some scares of accidental ingestion.

The girls are on just as much of a high alert. The other morning Regan called to  me "I think Lincoln has hives".....not how I wanted to start my morning. They check labels, they always say "go ask mom" but more importantly, they keep an eye on him to be sure he's only eating something we approve.

It's getting a little easier but will never be easy. Fingers crossed that he grows out of these allergies, but in the mean time, we won't be letting our guard down.

Happy Birthday Party Day Regan!

February is a month that can sneak up on us and be over in the blink of an eye. So in anticipation of a fairly busy month, we opted to sneak in Regan's birthday the first weekend. We sandwiched in a movie and a slumber party between a visit from my BFF and a super bowl party ("go big or go home" is my new mantra). So we invited a few of her close friends (she could have picked any of her 100 friends so it was super hard when we limited her to only 3!) and had pizza, ice cream cake and loaded up to see A Dog's Purpose at the theater. I cried, so did some of them, but we also laughed and got that 'all good' feeling at the end.

I was sad that I limited her to 3 friends, but super happy at the same time. Seems like 5th grade was the right time to have her first slumber party, and with keeping the numbers low, we kept any drama totally at bay. These girls are lovely, kids that I have known since they were 5, and I love each of them dearly.

They slept (fairly) well and were up around 7:30am ready for more food and girl time. I love that they included Lincoln and Sidney and didn't bat an eye at playing Hide 'n Seek with them for an hour :) Sweetness won my heart as he picked his favorite girl and followed close behind all day and night.

Although her actual birthday isn't for another several days, we got a good start on celebrating and have a full month ahead of us!

Winter show 2017

The girls are fortunate to be a part of a dance studio that has some pretty great values of fun over fame and inclusion of all kids. (Granted there are a few things that Ryan would like to change about the studio, but I'll leave his rant out of this post).

This past weekend they took part in the annual winter show. I'm so grateful that this (Christmas themed show) is held after the holidays or we may not get a chance to be a part. With all of the busy-ness of the holidays, adding extra weekend practices and a crazy show week to the mix would likely put me over the edge.

So after much anticipation and a lot of practice, we headed to a new local theater for dress rehearsal in a packed house! There were nearly 400 people at dress rehearsal alone; I'd say that was pretty good practice.

Each of the girls take part in 3 separate classes.

Regan does ballet, lyrical and danceline.

Sidney does acro (more on that in a bit), jazz and tap.

Regan got some compliments on her high kicks after her number at each show. She bashfully blushes and gets high on cloud 9 to know she is doing well on stage. Those legs of hers are l-o-n-g!

And this little one knows how to shake it up there. I chuckled that 2 of her teachers must have choreographed the dances with Sidney in mind. She sure can shake her hips!! I have a video of her at age 3 up on stage shaking away....she's a natural :)

This is her first year in acro (and only the 2nd for the studio). It's a class that combines gymnastics and dance. And she LOVES it! Might have something to do with the fact that during the winter show the younger class was combined with the older kids, or the fact that she aspires to be an Olympic gymnast one day.

Check out that tuck jump!

For weeks upon weeks, all that we heard was "I get to climb under Sarah!". We didn't exactly know what that meant but it meant the world to her to dance with an older girl.

This was show #2, just look at how cute and happy she was!

I love it :)

These girls put in countless hours of practice leading up to the show. There was some blood, sweat and tears and yet they adored every second of being on stage.

In the end, they were in 3 shows, dancing a total of 9 dances each spanning across 12 hours! Talk about a long day. We were all exhausted!