Vacation and Meet Up with Friends – 2010

Our much needed vacation came and went quickly and started off with a BANG – literally.

We drove 7 hours to Crossville, TN to stay at Mariner’s Pointe Resort on Lake Holiday.  Once we arrived, we launched our boat, took our belongings in to our condo and then headed straight to Wal-Mart to buy our out of state fishing licenses.  On the way back to the condo we were rear-ended by a young driver.  Fortunately, no damage was done to our truck, since he landed on our hitch and the fellow only scuffed his vehicle up a little, so Troy shook hands with him and we left.

The rest of the week went much better!  We spent it fishing and swimming, fishing and swimming!

Saturday several families were able to drive out and meet up including Carey and Norman and their 3 children (private blog), Jenny and Randy and their two boys (private blog), Becky and Andrew, and Karen and Ilya.  We hung out at the resort pool, had lunch in the condo together, played mini-golf and then went out for pizza afterwards.  Eight children, 6 of which were Russian born, and we had no major incidents.  In fact, all the children were fantastically well behaved!

The following Monday we were able to spend more time with Jenny’s family at the zoo in Nashville, followed by a visit to my grandmother.

At my grandmother’s place we were able to meet a lady who works there in the office named Asya (Ah-sha).  She was born and raised in Russia and then lived in the Ukraine before coming to America.  She wanted so badly to meet us and Daniel.  Unfortunately, Daniel was sound asleep after the zoo visit, but we got to enjoy talking with her for quite a while.  Daniel finally woke up but was not the least bit interested in talking to her.  She understood and she just hugged and hugged Troy and I and kissed me and kept saying “thank you” over and over again.  I tried arguing with her, telling her we were the ones who were lucky and we were the ones who were thankful, but she wouldn’t have any of it.  Finally Troy and I just said “your welcome”.  She was a really interesting lady and I appreciated her tact with Daniel and the fact that she never tried to speak Russian to him or force anything on him.  We did say “pa-ka” to her when she left, which she loved!  I hope we meet her again.

Wednesday evening we were also able to spend more time with Carey’s family at the resort eating pizza and swimming.  We had a great time! 

Daniel woke up every morning asking “Where are my friends?”

It really made our vacation to see so many of our friends!!

Other events we enjoyed were a tour around the lake on the “big boat” as Daniel called it (the resort’s pontoon boat), an ice cream social with other vacationers, a fishing competition (which Troy got 2nd place in and a $10.00 gift certificate to a local bait store – he had a nice large mouth bass, but got beat out by a catfish!), a visit to an 8,000 square foot tree house (which we climbed ten stories up to the bell tower), a few shopping trips, and some air hockey!

We really had a great time.  I can’t believe it’s over and we’ll be headed back to work this week.

Enjoy some photos from our week!  The first set of photos is what I like to call the call the “good, obligatory photos” – and the second set are what I call our “reality photos” – You’ll see why!   

           

And here is the reality!

Tongue Out!

Not one, not one is looking at the camera! 

Apparently Pumba was hungry 

The buoy was more fun than fishing. 

Anything was more fun than fishing. 

At least he caught a fish that time.  He reminded me when I told him both he and daddy caught fish, that “you (meaning me) only caught seaweed!”

No need to say anything!  

4 Year Old Well Check-Up Results

Friday we (finally) had Daniel’s 4 year old check up.  I called two months before his 4th birthday and they still couldn’t get us in until just this past Friday, nearly two months after he turned 4!

Anyway…

I was surprised and pleased by how in depth they were – to spare you the reading, I’ll just summarize.

Height & Weight:  41 inches and 38 1/4 pounds.  He fluctuates between 38 and 40 pounds.  Just can’t quite get him over the 40 pound mark, but that’s okay because…

On the Charts:  Daniel is in the 50th percentile for weight and in the doctors words “a smidge over 75th percentile for height”!  She was excited by his height growth!

Blood Pressure:  Normal

Hemoglobin and Lead Reading: (Didn’t know they planned to prick his finger.  Good thing Troy was able to go, because I hate that!  I digress…Normal

Urine Sample:  Normal (Yay – due to his ongoing medical condition)

Hearing Screening:  Perfect – We have now confirmed he truly does have selective hearing.

Eye Sight Screening:  The doctor suggested possibly having a true exam done sometime in the next six months as he was reading at 20/40.  HOWEVER, 2 of the shapes on the 40/40 level I don’t think he even knew, because I sure didn’t until I was 2 feet in front of the chart (Note to self: Maybe I need an eye exam?)  The doctor did assure us, it was a screening, and sometimes they don’t get a true reading until they are a bit older.

Questions we asked:

Daniel is still using both hands to write/eat/etc.:  Doctor said this was still okay even though by Daniel’s age most children have “declared” themselves as to which hand they want to use.  We believe almost 100% Daniel is truly a lefty, however the doctor mentioned the possibility of him being ambidextrous because he did use both hands to draw for her and did well with both hands.  My grandmother is am/…another sign God chose him for our family!

Daniel suffers from nosebleeds.  Sometimes rare, sometime 3 in a week.:  It’s okay, more common with little boys than girls and not unusual.  She checked his nose out and the right side does have close capillaries.  Saline spray was recommended when he has trouble.

He has a small mole on his arm.  Is it okay?:  Looks perfectly normal.  (I think she thought we were being a little picky at that point because, well, it’s tiny, but I’m a paranoid parent!)

The ending:  TWO updated vaccinations.  I didn’t realize it but anything after the age of 4 counts towards Kindergarten shots.  Since we plan to start Daniel next fall, the shots would count.  However (because once again I’m paranoid and picky), I only allow Daniel to be given two shots at a time in one visit.  I refuse to do all 4 or 5 in one sitting.  So after being questioned by the doctor why they can’t do all of them, we decided on a mix of two we had done together before.  DPT booster and Polio booster. 

This time they did them in Daniel’s arms and when the stuck him he said very loudly…

“Mommy, I did not ask them to do that”.

Everyone laughed.

Daniel ran a small fever last night, and his arm (tetanus side) swelled up and turned pretty red all over.  He woke me up 3 times during the night (even with Tylenol).  Poor thing.  The first time he woke me up he came in the room crying a bit and said “Mommy, someone broke my arm”.  Talk about a mild heart attack.  I had one!

We called the doctor and they assured us this was okay, but we may have them look at it tomorrow if it’s not better.  Apparently the 4th or 5th booster (this was his 5th) causes this type of reaction more often.  Since this was the first one in the arm, we had not seen this reaction before. 

So far tonight he is sleeping soundly. 

All in all, a good check up!

Another Friend Adopting!!

We have yet another wonderful friend adopting again. They have two biological children and one son adopted from Russia (December, 2008). They are adopting from Russia yet again!

Check out their page (by clicking the picture in this post) and if you can, make a tax free donation to them.

Swim Lessons – Round Two

The past two weeks, Daniel has been in Round Two Swimming Lessons. This class was a step up from his last class. I was a little disappointed because I thought they went through the strokes and kicks two quickly and covered WAY too much for a class with a 4 year old (Daniel) and 5 other 6 year olds.

They taught a stroke a day, which meant only half an hour on each stroke. None of the kids got it.

The only thing I think Daniel really got out of this particular class (besides lots of great exercise and fun swimming with mommy before and after class) was that he did learn to tread water in the deed end. He can’t keep himself up forever but he can for a good 10 seconds before he starts to go under. He’s also a “slicer” (arms moving side to side) versus a doggie paddler (that would be me!).
Of course on the last day he got to jump off the diving board, his favorite thing!

While we’re done with swimming lessons this year, I think we’ll repeat this class next year before moving up to a different class regardless of what they say.

Enjoy some photos from Round Two – The Jellyfish Class!