Popham Beach....

On Monday we went to Popham Beach. It's past Bath, past Phippsburg, down to the end of the peninsula. It's a nice beach with SAND!!!!

Maybe I should first tell you, that my kids are spoiled!!!! They really are, and just don't know it. They are used to going to the beach and having warm water! By this time of year in Virginia, the ocean water is pretty warm, by August, it's in the 70's! And, all the beaches in Virginia are sandy. That's not the case in Maine! There are a lot of rocky beaches and pebbly beaches, but not a lot of sandy beaches. In fact most sandy beaches in Maine you have to pay to get to. So, we decided that we'd pay to go to Popham Beach (They charge per person, I might add, not by the car!!!! Maine sure knows how to make money, I guess) Anyway, the kids were so excited to go. We kept telling them that the water would be really cold, but they didn't seem to care...............until they got in it!

McKaylie and Noah played in the water for awhile with Chad, but were pretty content to come play in the sand with me for the majority of the time that we were there. (And yes, I know that McKaylie's swim suit is a two-piece and I should be teaching her that it's not modest......I agree with you......the fact is, when we bought that suit for her, it didn't show her tummy and we didn't realize she'd grown so much until it was too late to do anything about it. So, I let her wear an immodest swim suit to the beach that day! It might be hard to believe, but I have many moments of bad mothering!)

This is a picture of Vance. He's the person below the wave, that you can only see his head and shoulders. He stayed out in the water the entire time we were there. He didn't care that it was cold. He had such a great time in the waves. Myshel's the one standing up in the white shirt. It took her awhile to get out there, but once she ventured out, she stayed out there with Vance the rest of the time.

This is a great beach. It had some great waves coming in, but it was really shallow for quite a ways out. So even though it doesn't look like it, the water wasn't even up to their waists when they stood up.

This is my favorite picture of the day! Myshel's first "taste" of the cold water. She's in the white shirt with the look of shock on her face! Love it!

Here's McKaylie with her fairy house. This is what she worked on after getting out of the water. Fairy houses can only be made with things found in nature. The tunnel leads to the other side which is covered by wood and seaweed. She was really proud of it and I was proud of her! She did a great job!

Scout Camp

Vance and Chad got home from scout camp on Friday, July 4th around 6PM. Vance had a great week, which from the sounds of it, was non-stop fun. He was covered in bug bites, though and had a bruise on the inside of his arm at his elbow that was about 4 inches in diameter. It looked terrible! He said it was from archery and thought that it was pretty cool. Boys!!!! I'm just glad that he had a good week and he did come and give me a big hug and told me that he missed me. We were glad that he was home, too. Even Myshel said that it just wasn't the same around our house without him! We went to see fireworks later that night, too. He was exhausted when he hit his bed that night.

Mary Engelbreit Monday

If you see a friend without a smile, give him one of yours.
---Proverb

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you're all having a great 4th of July and having fun celebrating our independence!

It Makes Me Hurt!

McKaylie's teeth have always been a problem. We were told in Virginia that she had soft, brittle teeth that were very prone to cavities. She's been to the dentist more times than Myshel and Vance put together. It's also very obvious that there just isn't enough room in her mouth for all her permanent teeth. We knew an orthodontist was in her future.
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She had her initial evaluation a few weeks ago and they started her file. They decided that they might be able to "buy her time" by pulling her top canine teeth. (Is that really what they call them???) That would give her two teeth that are on either side of her front teeth room to come in. They did this in Virginia for her bottom teeth. They'll have to periodically pull teeth that aren't loose yet, to make room for teeth that are trying to come in, until her mouth gets big enough for all her teeth, or they have to pull permanent teeth to make room. By doing this, her permanent teeth will come in straight and the need for braces will be less likely. That's the theory anyway! Did we really need an orthodontist to tell us this? I don't know? But I guess it's good to have him on board through the process.
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The two teeth that they're trying to make room for right now were already starting to come in. There isn't room for them, so they are coming in behind the other teeth. The dentist had to squeeze in an appointment for her this last Tuesday. Chad took her since I was at speech with Noah. He said that they had a hard time getting her numb and she had to get several shots. He said you could tell that they hurt, but she did really great and never cried. They pulled her two canine teeth, packed her with gauze and sent her home. I was here when she got home and she looked so wiped out, but was very proud to show me her teeth.
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One of her teeth was getting a little loose, the other wasn't loose at all. Here's a picture of her teeth. Can you guess which one was loose and which wasn't. I can't believe that root! I was teasing her that it must have been attached to her brain! We have a book about having a loose tooth and it says that the roots of your teeth dissolve and that's why your teeth get loose. My kids used to ask me if that was really true. I think this answers that question with a resounding, YES!!! It makes me hurt just looking at that root and knowing what she had to go through. She's such a tough cookie and she really doesn't complain much about it. She got the gorilla later that day for being so brave. She named it Mindy! McKaylie and Mindy fell asleep that night waiting for the tooth fairy! I checked her gums the next morning and they looked really good! And, her permanent teeth were already moving forward to where the baby teeth had been pulled! I think that's amazing! Before we know it, McKaylie will have 4 permanent teeth on top and you won't even be able to tell she had teeth pulled...........until, maybe, the next ones have to be pulled!

Everybody Loves Bubbles!

Vance bought some bubbles, but not for himself, or for the younger kids. He bought them for the dogs. Nutmeg and Vanilla love bubbles! They'll wait patiently for you to blow them and then they chase after them. They'll even jump up in the air trying to catch them. It's a lot of fun to watch. It was raining on this day, so I let them play with them in the kitchen. (Usually bubbles are banned from the house!) I'm not sure why Myshel is blowing the bubbles Vance bought, though.My dogs are so goofy!

How Could I Forget................

I was reminded that I haven't blog about the gecko-lizard that has joined our household. So, here is Jorge (pronounced, hor-hey). Vance saved up all his money and decided to buy a lizard-gecko and all it's "stuff". He managed to talk us into it to. Jorge is a baby. He's about 4 inches long from nose to tail, eats live crickets and sleeps all day. Jorge lived at our house for about a week. Jorge is now dead. But, it's not our fault! Jorge had a guarantee for 15 days, so when we took his little body back to the pet shop, they didn't act surprised at all. In fact, they told us that they weren't surprised, because that batch of geckos was just too young. WHAT???? Why were they selling them then?? Vance spent a week worrying about Jorge only to find out that Jorge really didn't even have a chance at life. They told Vance that they'd give him his money back or he could get another gecko. Vance opted for another gecko (of course)........... This is Gobi (like the desert) Gobi is also about 4 inches long, eats live crickets and sleeps all day. Gobi is also fatter and more lively than Jorge was. He's also been alive longer. We've had Gobi for about 3 weeks, I think. Vance is much happier now, too. I can't say that having a lizard in my house is exactly what I would have chosen, but Vance is just so interested in snakes and lizards that I just couldn't say no. Besides, I'd take a lizard over a snake any day!

When They're Gone, It's Sad!

Last week Chad was gone. He was at a conference in Massachusetts that the navy sent him to. We all hate having him gone and we miss him a lot, but we're also used to that, unfortunately. He came home last Friday. Vance is gone this week. He left yesterday morning at 5:45AM for scout camp. We're missing him a lot, too and we're definitely not used to Vance being gone. Our house just isn't the same without him. Chad will be going up to join him Thursday night. They'll both be home sometime Friday.

Next week everyone will be home and then the week after that, Myshel and Chad will be gone. Myshel will be going to girl's camp (hopefully) and Chad will be at another conference/school in Florida. That week will seem extra quiet with the both of them gone. There are days around here when it's so crazy that you wish you could send the kids to camp, but when they're gone, even just one of them, there's kind of a sad feeling hanging over the house! I'm glad I have a few more years to prepare myself for Myshel leaving for college!