Heaven....Er, Hilton Head

I've been M.I.A. from the blog-o-sphere lately.  Partially due to school finally being out and therefore children being annoying home more, and partially because I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Hilton Head with 5 of my very dearest friends from high school.  Yes, I said high school.

The view off our balcony looking out at the pool/ocean

the beach in front of the villa

We all turned 40 this year (or will be turning 40 soon).  They teased me that having a January birthday isn't quite as great now as it was back in the day.  First to turn 16.  First to get a driver's license.  First to turn 21.  First to legally have a drink.  Now...first to turn 40...first to turn 50...first to need a hip replacement....  Some had the nerve to rub it in that they aren't 40 yet, but their day is coming.  Soon.  Very, very soon, Shelly, Catherine & Katie!!  :-)

Suzanne and I

Anyway, our friend Suzanne has a time share in Hilton Head and generously offered to let us all stay there for our first (annual) girl's beach trip!  It was incredible.  We laughed and laughed and laughed some more.  Some of us were more relaxed than we've been....since before we had kids.  The villa was beautiful.  The weather was almost too hot.  Thank goodness that Suzanne, in her infinite wisdom, rented a cabana for us at the pool for the days we were there or we'd have all certainly come home crispy.

Our Cabana BEFORE we laid stuff everywhere, and completely hogged all the lounge chairs within a 1/4 mile

Our cabana after we junked it up

We played games poolside.  Suzanne and I failed miserably at "Minute to Win it".  Although, I have to tell you that I was seriously given two nearly impossible tasks.  One involved chugging Diet Pepsi (EWW!  I'm a Diet Coke drinker!) and then needing to get the FOUR cans to stand up, tilted on that little flat edge around the bottom of the can...on a not-so-nice table...on a pool deck...right by the ocean...in the breeze.  Uh.  Yea.  Not happening!  After the girls who were running the game realized that this was possibly impossible, they gave me a different challenge -- take your shaking hands after just chugging Diet Pepsi with caffeine in front of a bunch of people, and stack these golf balls...on the same cruddy table...on the same pool deck...in the same ocean breeze.  Uh.  Yea.  Not happening.

the bar and salt water pool - ahhhh, can you say "refreshing"?!!

Shelly, on the other hand, completely dominated at "Name that Tune" the next day.  Sure, we cheated a little with our smart phones.  Sure, we were all working together.  But, what happens in the cabana stays in the cabana!  And, she won fair and square all by herself in a tie-breaker face-off against Cindy from Louisville.  Yea - we weren't making friends that day.  The West Side (Elementary) girls were getting a lot of dirty looks.  We might have been just a tad obnoxious with our cheering and laughing.  Maybe.  Just a little.
 

dinner at Frankie Bones

We went out to dinner every night.  Without kids.  Without worrying about food allergies.  Without schedules or bedtimes or babysitters.  Ahhhh.  Heaven.   We stayed up too late.  We talked about ridiculous things (thanks to the game, Zobmondo).  We acted like immature goofballs (thanks to Suzanne and her surprises).  We also cried together about losing pets and talked about the loss of parents and brothers and life as we once knew it. 

We joked before we went on this trip about how it was going to go.  Would we actually all still like each other enough to vacation together?  Would 5 days be way too long? Would we share rooms with the friend who snored?  Would WE snore?  Would anyone get arrested?  (KIDDING!!)

We all shared a lot of fun times and many years together back in elementary school, middle school, and high school.  Some of us spent some college years together, too.  However, in the years since then, we have all led very different lives.  We totally run the gamete -- single without children, single mom, divorced, remarried, married with 2 kids, married with 3 kids, triathletes, runners, vegetarian, cat-lovers, dog-lovers, grad students, career women, stay-at-home moms, liberal democrats and die-hard republicans.  Some of us talk frequently.  Some of us only once or twice a year.  Some of us are on Facebook; some of us are losers not.  We live all over the U.S. -- Pittsburgh, PA; Wilmington, NC; Albuquerque, NM; Bettendorf, Iowa; and Laurel, Maryland.  Yet, we all still get along.  (Although, we were NOT stupid enough to discuss politics while there!)  We care for each other and have since we were all little girls in small-town, Cumberland, MD.  Friendships really can last a lifetime, across many miles, and ours have!

dinner at the Boathouse

Love, love, loved hanging out with these "old" friends (YES!!  I KNOW I'm the oldest!!), talking about fun memories while making new ones.  Can't wait until we can do it again!  (Seriously.  Can't. Wait.  Like, is next month too soon?)

New School Luau

Busy day today.

Daniel had Olympic Day at his current school.  (Yes, my children are STILL in school due to the Bethel Park teacher's strike!)

Markos got his first haircut since joining our family. 
Much like every other aspect of caring for Markos' hair and skin, this required a little research first.  (If you haven't noticed, his hair is a *little* bit more curly and dry than ours.)  After checking with Google and watching a few YouTube videos, we were pretty sure that Eric could handle it, so he went ahead and broke out the Wahl.  Markos handled it very well and told us all about getting his hair cut in Ethiopia.

Then, this evening, we went to a Luau at the new school that Daniel is being redistricted to next year.  It was nice.  They had different stations with games and crafts and food, scattered throughout the school so we could see the new school and start to learn our way around.

Markos had a blast!  It was the first time that he has been in a fairly large group setting where he jumped right in and participated without acting shy.  He loved playing musical chairs.  He amazed me with how well he could string beads and make a beaded bracelet!  I would have never guessed his fine motor skills would have been that good.  He was fast about it, too.  Again, he told me that he had done it in Ethiopia before.   (Have I told you before how wonderful the care was that he received in the orphanage there?  There are so many things like this that he has obviously had experience with before.  When I ask him about it, his answer is always the same, "E-tee-opia.  Markos do this, E-tee-opia.")

He and Daniel did several games involving tossing various things into other things -- balls in pools, bean bags in pineapples, etc.  They "fished".  And, they hula-hooped.  This was, by far, the most fun to watch...for a short while....then I felt a little ill watching.  You must see it for yourself -- Markos' style of hula hooping!  *This* he had not done before.  Obviously.

No Fear!

It was HOT today!  Like, really, really, miserably hot.   Eric and I decided to take the boys to the pool after Daniel got home from school.  (Mackenzie was already at a friend's house swimming in their pool.)

It was pretty clear that Markos LOVED the pool.  It was also pretty clear that Markos doesn't have a single speck of fear of the water.

He continually attempted to walk to the deep end of the pool, despite Eric having already showed him that he could not touch the bottom without his head being under the water. 

He continually stuck his face under the water.  Sometimes he'd close his mouth and not breath the water in.  Sometimes he wouldn't.

He continually begged for us to let him go down the water slide....into the big pool...into the deep water....and couldn't seem to understand that he would have to SWIM to the side when he landed in the water.

Even when he'd slip under water, while jumping around acting like a fool, he still never seemed panicked to get himself up out of the water.  (I, on the other hand, was feeling panicked to grab him and yank him up out of the water!)

On the bright side, he will not be one of those children (like Daniel was) who freaks out every time another kid splashes water in his face, then immediately needs a towel to dry his face off.    He will also not be one of those children (like Daniel was) who completes a few sessions of swimming lessons before he will finally put his face underwater.

On the not-so-bright side, this does not look like it is going to be a summer where I can relax pool-side on my lounge chair with my book while occasionally looking up to watch the boys play in the pool.  (Darn it!)

And, yes, I've already enrolled him in swimming lessons.  Hopefully, they can help me to keep this kid from drowning this summer!

Wet n' Wild

No, not that cheap nail polish...

MY BOYS!  

Today, for the first time, we got out the new Slip n' Slide that I bought on clearance at Kohl's a few weeks ago.  Oh.My.Goodness!!  I thought for sure we were headed to the hospital at some point with broken bones (or worse!).

Initially, I thought that I'd set it up, take a few pictures then go in the house and enjoy the peace and quiet.  Then, once I watched them for a few minutes, it just didn't seem responsible not to be right there, with cell phone in hand, ready to call 911.

They had an absolute blast though.  Both suffered brush burns in various locations, but other than that, miraculously survived unscathed.  I think it might have been the nicest that they've ever played with each other, too.  No fighting.  No whining.  No bossing.  Just taking turns, laughing with each other, helping each other.  It was beautiful!  :-)

Poor Markos could NOT seem to stay on the slide.  No matter how hard he tried, he kept going off the side into the grass.  (Hence the brush burn on his entire belly from sliding on the grass most of the time!)  He was so funny.  He'd try to go slowly (thereby making it worse!), and use his foot to try to push himself back onto the slide.  A few times (when I had Daniel grab Markos' feet, straighten his body out, and push him really fast), he managed to stay on the slide all the way to the bottom.  Unfortunately, he wasn't used to actually making it to the end, and would then end up with either a mouth/nose full of water, or would somehow manage to do a face plant in the mud at the bottom.  He had grass all over his face, including tangled in his eye lashes, for a long time.  It was driving me nuts.  After about 20 minutes, I finally had to call him over and point it out and ask him if it bothered him that he had grass IN.HIS.EYE.  It didn't.  Go figure.

Daniel was a maniac.  He started out a little slow, but minute by minute grew more and more brave, until he was going down on his stomach head-first, on his stomach feet first, head-first-backwards, on his knees, etc. - all as fast as he could possibly go.  The slide is supposedly 18 feet long.  However, if you add in the muddy path that Daniel's body followed after he flew through the pool at the end and continued on down the hill, it was more like 25 feet long.  Wild child, that one.  (I continue to marvel at the fact that he has yet to break a bone.)

Lest you think I'm exaggerating, a short video of their shenanigans on the slip n' slide for your viewing pleasure!

Weekend at the Lake House

Because summer is almost upon us....Eric had a 3 day weekend...it was a holiday so we had no hockey or lacrosse games....the stars and planets were perfectly aligned, we finally had a chance to take Markos to the lake house at Alpine Lake for a weekend.  Somehow visits to the lake house are not nearly as relaxing for me as I would like, but the kids had fun and I guess that's what is important (for now).  ;-)

We arrived Friday evening, after dark, and got settled in.  Daniel eagerly showed Markos the loft bedroom where the kids sleep.  Markos liked it up there which was a relief to me because I wasn't sure how he would do with sleeping upstairs while we were downstairs.  Unfortunately, he did wet the bed 2 of 3 nights and I suspect that might have been partly because once he was up there, he was afraid to come downstairs at night by himself because he rarely ever does that at home.

After getting up and having breakfast, the boys headed off into the woods to play.  I gave my standard (useless) plea, "please don't get in that stream and get all muddy".  Yea, right mom.  Like THAT'S going to happen!  They promptly went to the little stream in the woods behind the house and got all muddy.  Daniel showed Markos the huge rock that is beside the house, only to discover that Markos is too short to get up on the rock by himself (thank goodness!).  I eventually went out and helped Markos up onto the rock.  It was yet another time that I'm a happy that Markos has a fear of heights.  I'm pretty sure that might save his life someday.  ;-)

 

We went down to the lake shore and Eric did his usual golf ball and snake hunting, immediately finding a ring-neck snake that he was super happy with.  Daniel held the snake with no reservations.  Eric insisted that Kenz and I touch it.  Although we didn't really want to, we obliged.  Markos, on the other hand, really wanted to, but just couldn't make himself do it!  He would get all set, with his hands cupped to hold it, then the second Eric would get ready to put it in his hand, he'd panic and open his hands and jump away.  I suspect that by the end of the summer, he'll be holding snakes too.  (yea.)  Speaking of snakes, Daniel made Eric very proud by finding and catching a snake all by himself.  (oh joy.)  Thankfully, before he attempted to pick it up, he did ask Eric to check and make sure it was ok for him to pick up that particular snake.

 

 

 

 

The boys played along the shore for a while - throwing rocks and splashing the water with big sticks.  They asked to get their feet wet.  They ended up completely soaked.  Again, no surprise.   Mackenzie and I sat in our chairs and read, looking up occasionally to ensure that they were still there.  Lily laid under our chairs to stay out of the sun.  Smart dog. 

 

 

 

Lily was not a fan of the water, nor is she a fan of walking.  She is, however, a huge fan of simply being where we are.  She would want to be down at the lake with us, she just wouldn't want to walk down there.  So, Kenzie usually carried her. She is the cutest, sweetest (soon to be most spoiled) dog, EVER.  We took her crate with us, so she slept fairly well for being someplace new.  Granted, I had informed Eric before we went that I was taking the weekend off from night-time dog duty, so I forced him to get up with her throughout the night even though he was sick (no rest for the weary - I don't get to be sick when it's a weekday and she needs to go out!).  I did get up once or twice and take her out, and I was glad that Eric was primarily doing it because it's a little scary at night to take her out up there.  It's very dark out, and I kept envisioning a bear or some other large animal jumping out of the woods at us.  Lily wasn't helping my overactive imagination and fear any either.  She is very jumpy and afraid when she's outside and hears ANY noise at all.  I hope that as she continues to grow, she gets a little braver or she's going to look ridiculous - being a large hunting dog and all, afraid of a bird.

We had a fire Saturday night and Markos was able to try his first S'mores.  It was no surprise to us that he didn't like it.  The boy likes nothing sweet except twizzlers and cinnamon coffee cake.  Didn't like just the plain marshmallow.  Didn't like just plain chocolate or even the plain graham cracker.   After trying and then whining, "I don't like it!", he settled for sitting by the fire with a bowl of jalapeno tortilla chips -- his favorite!  Daniel enjoyed chocolate and safe-for-him organic graham crackers that I found.  The rest of us ate S'mores (and then felt sick - a little s'mores goes a LONG way!).

 

Sunday was Mackenzie's 14th birthday.  YIKES!!! 14!!!  How did THAT happen?!

We got up and did the usual - boys playing in the woods, playing by the lake, Eric catching snakes, Kenz & I sitting in the sun - until lunch time.  The kids did swing on the tire swing for a while.  Markos was excited and couldn't wait for his turn, but he quickly discovered that he wasn't a fan when Kenzie gave him his first push.  I was taking pictures and kept saying, "smile", despite his terrified expression.  Funny thing was, he would stop whining and smile every time, but it was such a forced, get-me-off-of-here-smile, that I kept cracking up laughing at him.

After lunch, we all got much needed showers and got ready to go out to celebrate Mackenzie's birthday.  We started by playing mini-golf over at the lodge at Alpine.  It was Markos first time playing.  He lost interest in attempting to actually learn to putt very quickly, but thankfully, we had the place to ourselves so he just ran around and played whatever hole he wanted, without having to endure the painful waiting his turn while playing with the rest of us.  We stopped keeping score because Daniel fights too much when keeping score and it was chaos anyway, (but I'm pretty sure that I won).  :-)

After mini-golf, we loaded into the van and drove over to Deep Creek Lake - about 20 miles away - to go to dinner at Uno's.  A friend of ours (and one of Mackenzie's teen girls' group leaders at our church) called Uno's and had them surprise Mackenzie with dessert.  It was huge and she ate almost all of it.  When we were finished, we played outside Uno's for a while.  This Uno's is on the lake and has a pirate ship, whale, elephant, giant patio chairs, etc. to play on out in the grass between the restaurant and the lake.  Markos had been excited about the elephant since Daniel mentioned it the day before.  I think he might have mistakenly thought it was going to be a real elephant, but he was still excited to sit on the fake elephant.  We watched the ducks down by the docks and took a ton of pictures.  It started to get really crowded (holiday weekend at the lake - go figure!) so we headed back to Alpine.  I took the kids to the playground at Alpine when we got home and we stayed until dark.

 

 

Monday, we got up and I started cleaning up and packing up while the kids played with Eric.  Same stuff, different day.  Aside from taking a hike to the Memorial rock, which is Daniel's favorite rock there, we pretty did the same thing we did every other day during the weekend - sit by lake, catch snakes, take walks, play in woods. We headed home late afternoon and make it back to Pittsburgh before dark.

  

 

 

 

 
All in all, it was a nice weekend.  The weather was beautiful, and after all this rain that we've had, that was a welcome thing!  Unfortunately, we all arrived home with bad sunburns because this momma wasn't even thinking about sunscreen yet (because of all this rain that we've been having!).  Oops.  Sorry kids.  Thank goodness for Solarcaine spray.

Stay peaceful lake - at least until we return again anyway!