The Summer Keeps Rolling Along

Our week was a very normal week.  Jip got home mostly at normal times.  The kids had their normal activities.  We had our normal hot July weather. 

Ryleigh tried the steep slide at Gator Pool this week.  Of course, I have no pictures to prove it because she insisted I needed to be in the water so she could swim to me after she splashed down.  You'll just have to trust me that she did great.  At least they let me take a picture of them having lunch.

Sunday, we tried to soak up some Jip time, as this week is going to be crazy for him and we probably won't see him much thanks to a big inspection of the shipyard by some folks from DC.  So, we all sat down for some rummy.  We are still trying to figure out which rummy rules (drawing deep from the discard or not, scoring all cards or just the losers' cards, etc.) work best for our family.  We're having a good time with the various experiments.

It is the last week of swimming lessons for the year.  RJ has his birthday party at BrickHeadZ.  And, we have our usual activities.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Happy Birthday, RJ!

The Big 9!

Jip was able to delay going in to work on the morning of RJ's birthday so that we could enjoy some donuts and open gifts.  Everyone spoiled RJ rotten, as usual!

In the afternoon, we went to Funville to play for awhile.  We ended up seeing one of Ryleigh's classmates there--and her older brother, who is RJ's age.  The four of them had a great time!

We then headed to Chili's for RJ's birthday dinner.  Jip met us there and we enjoyed "our usuals" as RJ told our server.  RJ wanted to skip their singing and head home to eat the dinosaur fossil cake he requested.  He told me the theme, and I did my best to make it look like an archaeological site.

RJ's birthday party with his friends is on the 27th at BrickHeadZ.  As usual, pics to come.

Happy 9th Birthday, Buddy!

So Glad THAT Week is Over

I think we are all so glad this last week is over with.  Everyone had their reasons to say yay when we got to start a new week today.

Jip didn't get home until nearly 9 pm Wednesday and Thursday, and he spent a good majority of Saturday working from home.  Hopefully this week will be somewhat normal for him, but the following week will probably be more late nights every night due to some DC bigwigs coming in to tell the shipyard what it is doing wrong.  

I was glad to see the week end because I was ready to see the rest of the family have their not-so-fun weeks end.

Ryleigh didn't have much fun in swimming this week because the water was pretty cold and because the overnight rains made the water higher, and thus harder for her to put her feet down.  She found herself having to hang on to the side to keep her head above water, and that just gets old.

RJ had his minor oral surgery on Friday.  He needs to stop growing extra teeth!  This tooth wasn't as long as the one he had to have removed two years ago, but the stitches and the accompanying swelling was worse this time.  But, he didn't have to take any pain medicine afterwards, so it must look worse than it feels.  And, the tooth fairy rewarded him for his bravery.

On the plus side, RJ started hip hop again, and he, with his 6 months of classes, has the most experience in his summer mini-session.  It made him feel pretty good that he knew what Brandon meant whenever he asked them to do a move.  And, even better news--RJ passed Level 2 swimming, so now it is on to Level 3/4 (the instructors we use combine the two levels).  He will start working on diving and the breast stroke and building up endurance to do lap after lap of front crawl.

Jip didn't get stuck at work on Tuesday, so he was able to take Ryleigh out for dinner while I was at hip hop with RJ.  Jip didn't have time to change out of his CNT (khaki) uniform after his morning meeting in Newport News, so Ryleigh got to enjoy his garrison cap at dinner.

This week finds us starting the next session of swimming lessons and celebrating RJ's 9th birthday.  A separate post will be coming for the birthday boy.  Jip is taking off a couple hours in the morning so RJ doesn't have to wait ALL day to open gifts.  We'll enjoy donuts before sending Jip to work and heading to swimming lessons.

As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Summer is Going Swimmingly

We started swimming lessons back up.  And, we hit the base pool for recreational swimming for the first time this summer.  RJ finally gave the steep slide at Gator Pool a try.  And Ryleigh gave the big circle slide a try at swimming lessons. 

RJ's friend Greer spent most of Saturday here and spent the night.  The three kiddos had a great time together.  On Sunday, I just wanted everyone to relax.  I convinced the kids to watch The Sandlot.  Ryleigh made it all the way through and then declared she wanted to practice some baseball in the backyard.  Jip obliged.  After Ryleigh got smacked a couple of times with the soft baseball we have from their t-ball days, Ryleigh requested to go to a tennis ball. 

This week is more swimming lessons.  Summer hip hop class starts again this week.  And, RJ is having a minor oral surgery on Friday to remove another extra tooth they found on his last x-ray.  We've been practicing swallowing pills so he can take a Valium before the surgery to relax--the last time around, crushing the Valium and adding to yogurt did not go well.  I'm guessing the pill swallowing will be the hardest part of the whole day.

As always, pics to come of all of our summer fun.  Until next time, cheers!

Playa del Carmen 2018

I'm sure some of you noticed I skipped a week.  I've found that blogging from my phone is annoying, and I was nowhere near a desktop since we were in beautiful Playa del Carmen on my normal blogging day (or close to my normal day).  So, to fill you in--the kids went to BrickHeadZ camp for the first week they had off from school.  They had a marvelous time, as usual.  Ryleigh, in particular, loved it because the afternoons were all about American Girl dolls and she got to hang out with Camille and other girls and their dolls.

We had a great time in Playa del Carmen.  The seaweed is crazy bad this year, so we only did one day on the beach.  But, the kids loved the pools.  RJ enjoyed snorkeling again and Ryleigh gave it a go a few times, too.  The kids made some friends that loved playing with the water guns.  Ryleigh got her nails done and Jip and I each enjoyed a little time at the spa.  Jip and I each read a whole book.  We traveled to Tulum, one of the smallest known ancient Mayan cities.  It was a perfect trip because it was only an hour from our resort and didn't require as much walking as the Chichen Itza tour Jip and I have been on.  We also enjoyed Xel-Ha, an ecotourism park, where Ryleigh and RJ both got to do open water snorkeling where a river meets the ocean, and they got to see lots of fish and a sting ray. We also floated on a river, ate at one of the various buffets, and of course brought home souvenirs.  It was a good vacay!

You all are probably sick of me making videos, but I have fun doing it, so you'll just have to deal with it.  :)  For those of you with digital picture frames, be on the lookout for some of the pics of our trip to show up soon!  Now for the main attraction:

Now it is time to get back to the business of summer.  This week holds swimming lessons, registering Ryleigh for school, haircuts, library time, and a play date or two.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!