2 down, 4 to go.

Semesters that is. I just finished my second semester of nursing school.

In just a few short months will be my pinning ceremony. I'll take a test and become an LPN. It's so surreal. I'm getting so close to finishing this thing up. I started on this road just two years ago. It seemed such a long time to go before I would graduate, now I have less than a year and a half.

This semester coming up will be an exciting one for me. We are finally doing our maternity rotation. I'm so excited. I can't wait to find out what group I'm in and when I'll get to do my rotation.

I got assigned to LaGrange for my Med/Surg rotation. I was hoping for something a little closer to home since LaGrange is a 45 minute drive in good weather. This is winter and it's already turning out to be a rough one. The instructor for that hospital is the main instructor for the class. I was told that if you are assigned to be with her it's because she wants you to be. Some assignments from last semester weren't done right or something. I just hope she wants me there because she wants to get to know me better. It's probably because I wasn't detailed enough on my focus sheets. I hate those things!!

In other news the kids are doing great. Lucas is saying more words every day. It's exciting to see his understanding of the world broaden. We have all been sick a couple of times already this winter. Both times stemming from Thanksgiving/Christmas parties. Lucas and I went to one together on Saturday, I'm just waiting for what we brought home this time.

Ava is still not pooping in the toilet. She had a rough day yesterday. I think she holds her BM's till they get too big for her to handle and it hurts her. It's a vicious cycle. I try to tell her if she holds it it just makes it worse to go. 

She is getting so smart. There really is not hiding anything from her anymore. She picks up on so much. She remembers things from months ago. She remembers them as yesterday however. She just told me today that she wanted Santa to bring her a Chihuahua. She has said that she wants a dog before but now she has a specific breed in mind. 

Midterm

We just finished up the halfway point of the semester. Time is going by so fast! I can't believe this semester is almost over. I'm liking Med/Surg I think a little more than I expected. I feel like I am just passing my classes this semester. I know I have a 3.0 in Peds so far. It's horrible. A students are not doing their best in this class.
My Peds rotation starts in the begining of Dec. Three more weeks of Med/Surg. Then I get the whole week off at Thanksgiving! I'm so excited. I don't know what I'll do with myself. Probably study for finals, of course. And shop for scrub tops.
Last week I got to see a PEG tube insertion. It was very interesting! It's amazing how all of this stuffworks.
I like Med/Surg but I still think I would like to do OB. We'll see next semester.

surgery

Today was a pretty good day.
I got to watch a total hip replacement. It was interesting to see all of the preparation of the room and the dr/nurses/patient. I thought that orthopedic surgeries would kind of gross me out but I didn't have any problems whatsoever. It was pretty cool to see the dr cut off the ball of the hip and pull it out. I got a little blood splattered on me. The dr also had it splattered on the ceiling. lol
I just wish someone was there to answer the questions I had.
Yesterday I was in the CCU taking care of a pt who had had hip surgery and today I got to see it in action.
I still think I'd like to do OB.

mackinaw 08

This past weekend we spent some family time in Mackinaw City and the surrounding area.
We left earlier than usual on friday morning. Jay had to rent a vehicle that was 'bigger' than ours. It really wasn't bigger. It was a smaller SUV. Ava almost started crying when she found out we weren't going to take our car.
It started out pretty good. The kids did decently in the car. A little bit of fussing but not too bad. We still got there late afternoon. We walked around did a little bit of shopping and came back to the hotel for a pizza party with the whole family....MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL and nephew.
Jumping on the bed.




We ate very late, about the time Lucas usually goes to bed. The kids were starving.

We had a tough time getting the kids to bed. Every noise Ava made would arouse Lucas. We really need to get a suite everywhere we go. We still got up pretty early, I get up that early but the kids don't. We were up just after 6am.
We went to get breakfast and the sun wasn't even up.
On the beach way too early in the morning.



Our plan was to visit Tahquamenon Falls. We set out before anyone else had gotten up I think. It was such a long drive but the kids did decently again.
Mackinac Bridge.


We got to the lower falls and it was raining. It was very light so we decided to go see the falls anyway.













Then we headed to the upper falls 5 miles away. There is a brewery there that we stopped at for lunch. I had a pastie and wished I had just gotten a sandwich. Lucas was flirting some women that were at another table. Then he was flirting with a waitress. Ava couldn't sit still.
After lunch we moved on to see the upper falls. The sun had come out and we let Lucas walk. He kept trying to jump in the little puddles.





Although it was all very beautiful we just walked out to see them, took pictures and left again. Except for lunch, it didn't take long at all. We decided to go ahead and go over to Sault Ste Marie to see if we could watch some boats go through the locks. By the time we had gotten there one had just finished going through. They had one scheduled to come a little less than an hour after we got there. We decided to wait and some tour boats showed up. While we waited we walked around a bit and Lucas stepped in front of me, I didn't see him and knocked him over. He scraped his forehead.


The first one was a Canadian boat and the second was an American boat. We knew that the JERK's were on their way to the locks that day but I really thought they would be gone by the time we got there. They just happened to be on the Amerian tour boat we were watching go through the lock.

Ava saw them and said they were sinking. Which they were really.

It was so cold standing on the platform that I told Jay we should just forget about seeing the ship and count the tour boats as our lock experience this time. We stepped inside the building and found that they had erased the time of arrival for the ship we were going to wait for. Yeah, good call. We quickly went into a gift shop so I could do one of those smash penny things and Ava wanted a lollipop. A huge lollipop. I told her she couldn't have one that she had to get something that Bubby could have too. That did not go over well with her. I had to pull her out of the store screaming. Daddy went and got her some fudge. I'm not sure what she learned there.
On the way home, Bubby's 'pavement kiss'.

We got back to the hotel and tried to swim in the pool but it felt too cold. The hot tub was nice but the kids can't go in there. We went to dinner with the whole family again, it was my BIL's birthday. We sang happy birthday and had a really good dinner. Jay took care of the kids most of the time-it really was a vacation for me! We left earlier than everybody else, once again dinner was scheduled way later than we are used to and can stand. As we were in the car and leaving Ava says 'that was the best birthday ever!'. lol
We had a late bedtime and an early morning again. But at least they slept in till 630 sunday am.
We had breakfast with the whole family the next morning and went 'shopping'. All we bought were a couple of slushies. Ava, Rain, Jay and Lucas all played on the little playground the have set up in the middle of the shopping center.
At breakfast, the only proof that I was there at all. Ava took it.




We had a good ride home. Almost no fussing/whining. They slept for the first part of the ride until we stopped to eat.
The kids are adjusting back to their bedtimes. I haven't had a chance to with getting up at 530am the past two mornings. Thank goodness I can sleep in tomorrow, I have my alarm set for 615-I'll probably sleep later than that.

Fun days

The other night Ava woke up in the middle of the night, I don't know what for, and Jay got tired of staying up with her and brought her to our bed. She's been fighting ever since to sleep with us. Tonight was so much better though. She may be accepting that it isnt going to be allowed.

I picked up a free duck costume today just Lucas's size. Ava loves it even though it only comes up to her waist. I tried it on Lucas, he hates it. Maybe it'll grow on him.

I had a really good day at clinical today. It was really exciting/busy for me. I got to see an endoscopy and followed the pt throughout the day doing things for him. He was a very pleasant man. I tried to stay on the good side of the nurse. I think I did okay.

I gave an IM shot today to someone who wasn't a nursing student (not my patient). We had practiced them on friday. I was far less nervous doing those than the subq the week before. When I was preparing to give the shot my hands were shaking. He didn't see it and I did good. I remembered to aspirate. Next week we will be passing meds and doing assessments.

Friday we are leaving for Mackinaw. Lets hope the kids do well in the car for that long of a ride.

The first shot

Friday was lab. We were there to go over topical medications and...subcutaneous injections.

Before we start we have to sign waivers.
If we refuse to recieve injections we can't give injections.

First we practiced injecting air into the vial.
Then pull the 'medicine' from the vial.
Make sure there are no air bubbles.
Inject the 'medicine' into practice blob thing. (the name of it is escaping me)
Easy.

Time to start injecting each other.
Eek!!
I watch the others giving injections.
Toward the end it's my turn.
I have to do this.
I get the injection first.
She is fast!!
I wash my hands.
Start to prepare my 'medicine'.
My hands are shaking.
The instructor is watching.
She can tell, I know it.
I go over to my 'patient'.
Clean my target with the alcohol.
Inject the medicine.
Am I really moving that slow?
She jumps, did I really hurt her or is she messing with me?
Phew, it done.
Some fluid leaks out.
Did I have the bevel on top?
I can't believe I just did that.

Tomorrow is orientation at my assigned hospital.
Tuesday we go into patient care.
Test or quiz on wednesday.
Test or quiz on Thursday. Maybe more than one? I really should write this stuff down.
Friday we go over IM and ID injections.
Excited, nervous, scared.....

Week 3

So I'm now in the middle of the third week of school. We've taken several tests already. I'm not doing as well as I was hoping. I thought I was going to like Pediatrics and I just don't really like it. It's not one that I wanted to get into anyway.
And I've discovered that there are some people in my class that I don't care to have to talk to.
The kids have been dealing with me being away pretty good. When I first told Ava I was going back to school she got excited that grandma was going to come stay with her. Wow, thanks. Lucas is still only really whiney when I'm around. He doesn't do it with anyone else. He does that unless I am holding him or he is sitting on my lap. Making dinner is so hard to do. He is at my feet crying like I'm starving him.
He's getting all of his molars. He doesn't have all of his front teeth yet. Just two on the bottom and four on the top. That is aside from the molars. Crazy kid growing his teeth all wrong. He does so well physically but verbally he isn't. He understands so much but doesn't say much of anything.
Ava is going through a 'princess' stage. Everything is about princesses. Her dolls are named princess. She thinks every girls favorite color is pink and every boys favorite color is blue. lol I guess because of her pink blankets and bubby's blue blankets.
She getting so much easier to warm up to others. She likes playing with other kids. When we are out she waves at just about everyone. She is special. I can't put it into words how happy I am to see her developing into her own little personality. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Ice Cream

We actually went out today for ice cream with my mom's group. I don't know what I have been doing lately that I haven't done anything lately. We ordered our ice cream and sat down. Ava actually sat still for once. Lucas was walking aroung touching the other kids. He walked up to a woman sitting down waiting for her food and did his point and uh, uh, uh. He was a little social butterfly.
We got our ice cream and sat at a table. Iwas trying to feed Lucas mine but he had had enough of that and took the spoon over. He does very well at feeding himself with utensils. He doesn't say many words at all but he is more physically advanced than Ava was at his age.
Today was a pretty good day. Good enough to balance out the bad days we've been having and make me miss being home when I go to school next week.

The weekend

Ava's dance recital was saturday. I really wasn't expecting her to participate at all. We were really going to watch what the other kids were doing. However, Ava found her friend from her class and spent all the time before they went up to perform with her. She actually went up in front of all of those people and did the dance. We recorded all but the very beginning. She did great besides walking around to different positions and she kept looking at the kids off to the side. We are so proud of her. We are definately signing her up for classes next year.
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/JayJenAva/?action=view&current=AvaandLucas748.flv
We left right after her dance even though there were other things going on. Lucas was getting restless and wanted to run around. We went to a family reunion thing on Jays side. I think Ava had a good time. She got to swim a little but then fell and skinned her knee. She didn't want to do anything after that.
Sunday we spent some time with family on my side. Ava had kids her age to play with. I had a hard time getting her to go home. My ear was hurting so bad and I had a headache. When we got home it went away. It must have been the wind.
Of course Jay was working most of the weekend. He got to go to the recital and to his family thing but went into work on saturday night and worked all day sunday. It really is hard to give up the weekends like that but the paycheck is nice. It didn't even feel like a weekend.

I went into school today to drop off my application for a loan. It takes two weeks to process, that puts it right into the week before classes start. Crazy that time is going so fast. I already ordered my books from amazon but I wanted to check on the books in the library, they only had one of them in. And it looks like the prices for amazon are better. With the amount of books that I'm going to have I need a rolling backpack. The bad I have now will kill my back.
I also bought liability insurance today. scary

As for me..

I'm still ready for school to begin. I have three of the five assignments done. I have my books ordered and am getting ready to apply for a student loan. I'm excited to be starting this next phase but I still can't wait till it is all over.
I just can't find the words to explain my feelings. I never can.

What's been going on......the kids

Ava has been doing pretty good in her 'creative movement' class. She didn't really participate fully with the rest of the class. The teacher had to constantly remind her to come back with the group. I guess that's normal for a 3 year old. She loves the running part, LOVES it. Serena, the teacher, tried to get her to do a skip with a ribbon and go from one end of the room to the other. She runs, she doesn't skip. But when it isn't her turn she stands at that end and cheers the other kids on. She's so sweet.
Today she didn't want to go to class at all. Her last day. I finally told her that I was going and she decided to just go. At first she cried that she didn't want to go. Fine, I told her we were just going for a ride. I drove past the building and she threw a fit that we weren't going. So I turned around and parked and we went up to the class. She had to bring her blanket along. We were late and Serena and the other girls clapped that she was there. I left the room for a little bit and I could hear Serena having to tell Ava to come back to the circle. Since I didn't know what time it was I peeked my head in, she was in the circle with her blanket. lol I went in to sit down and watch and she was just done. We walked out a half hour before class was done. I don't know what was up with her today. They have a showcase on saturday, we'll see if Ava participates then.
She was so cranky all day anyway. She went to bed a little bit early....with underwear on. No diaper tonight. She has been waking up dry in the mornings but not always. She does good going potty when we are home. She won't go anywhere else. But we can go places without a diaper on. Lately she has to completely strip down to go potty. I don't know what that is about but it has caused some accidents when she has to hold it so that she can get her shirt off.
Lucas is getting better and better at walking. He still falls quite a bit. Last week he had a white spot on the front side of his tongue. I couldn't figure out what it was and where it came from. Then I remembered he fell and hit his chin on the coffee table. I bet he bit his tongue when he did that.
The other day he picked up a cup with a straw and was trying to drink out of it. There was nothing in it so I decided to put a little water in it to see what he would do. He tipped the cup instead of sucking out of it like he should. The water spilled in his face and down his front. I took the cup and turned to dump it in the sink and get a towel. He tries to take a step and slipped on all the water on the floor. Of course he cried. Silly kid. He's so sweet.

dance

I signed Ava up for a 'creative movement' class next week. It'll have tumbling, tap, ballet and other things that I can't remember at this moment. She loves to dance. I think she would participate in the class with other kids but I don't know if she will perform in front of others. I can't wait to see. The class will only be two weeks-four days each week. It's a start to get her involved in something. It's a start to get me to get both of them out of the house on my own.

On Aug 9 there is supposed to be some kind of program at the center but we'll see if we'll actually be in that one.

catch up

Let's see, what's been going on?
Lucas turned one. He's 13 months now. The party went great, we had it in the backyard. The weather was nice. The pool wasn't open then but we had a little balloon fight with my neices after eveyone else had left. Lucas did really well. I think he was teething and cranky but he was good during the party. He got lots of stuff. He had Ava and his cousins helping him open his presents. I don't think he knew what to do. He loved havinghis own cake. He whined while we were trying to get people back so we could do the cake and while we sang to him. lol He dug right in and ate the whole thing.

We had my birthday since then. It started at 430am when I had to get up to go to the nursing home. That was my last day there, good and bad. I still don't want to work in one but it was a good expeirence overall. We had cake and then Jay and I went out to dinner. It was nice to get out for once. I even had a drink with dinner. We really skipped out on doing anything else since I had gotten up so early. We were home by like 8pm. lol The next day we went out to lunch as a family. The kids did okay but they still need to work on being in public. Ava never sits still during meals.
I finished up school on the 2nd. It was nice to have time off from school but now I don't know what to do with my time. I found out that I can work as a CNA after completing this class but I don't want to work in a nursing home and I don't think a lot of hospitals are hiring at that level. My final grade for Fundamentals was 3.5 (90-95%) and my Pharmacology grade was 3.0 (85-89%). I was really hoping for higher grades, especially the Pharmacology grade. I make a lot of stupid little mistakes.
____________________________________________________________________

Lucas is starting to walk. It is so cute to see him toddle around. He is getting better everyday. Everyday he walks a little more. He looks like a little drunk man. He's got 4 teeth now. The exact opposite of the way Ava got hers. He's got his bottom two incisors and then his top two lateral incisors. Ava got her top two lateral incisors first then the bottom teeth. He is so much more challenging than Ava was. She was pretty laid back. He climbs everything. He scares me so much sometimes. He's got bruises on his head/face from running into things.
Ava is doing okay with the potty training. Not much progress at all. She has to have a diaper on to poop and she wears a diaper at night. During the day she'll usually go without anything. A couple of times last week she peed on the bathroom floor. It's like she holds till she can't anymore. It's interesting to see her discovering her world. I wish there was something around here I could get her involved in. She loves to play with other kids. I discovered yesterday that she can say marshmallows. She used to say sna snos.
I took the kids with me to the store and Ava kept waving at random people. She won't talk to them though. Lucas was smiling at some of the workers too. Silly.


Ava took this picture when we were waiting for fireworks.

My first clinical

Yesterday I left an hour and 10 minutes before I was supposed to show up. I got there a half an hour early. I was in good company, there were a few other people that were already there. I realized on my way there that I had forgotten to grab a water. Not good.
First we met in the conference room and went over our the homework that was due. Then we toured the nursing home. It's pretty big, I don't know if I'll be able to find my way around. We went back to the conference room and the director of nursing talked to us then the speech therapist. Then we had to follow the assistant of maintenance to show us where fire extinguishers and water shutoffs were. It was so warm and dry in there I really needed something to drink. We got a break for lunch at about 1030-11am. It was so nice to have a bathroom break and some water!
After we had that small break we went to the physical therapy lab and learned some body mechanics. Then we went back to the conference room for the administrator to talk to us.
After that one short day there I now know that the nursing home is not going to be for me. There is only 5 more weeks left. I'll just try to enjoy it while it lasts.
I got home and decided to take the kids out by myself to pick up some birthday supplies for Lucas's party. I even took them to a restaurant by myself. They did pretty good. I ordered Lucas his own meal since I didn't bring baby food. Chicken strips and applesauce. He did really well. I didn't have to give him anything else at home. They both slept a little bit on the way home. Lucas didn't want to go to bed at 630 like he normally does. He went down at 730. But he didn't wake up at all last night and he slept in till 745am!
Today was a nice day off but I am so tired. I spent last night doing some homework. I may have to skip tonight, I hope I don't regret that. I have my haircut and a baby shower tomorrow. I'm doing both kidless! Woo

Things are better

I feel so much better today. Maybe because I got decent sleep last night. I hope it means that Lucas really is going back to sleeping through the night. It's so hard to do this while doing everything else.
I'm getting so excited about doing clinicals on thursday. It's just an orientation this week but it should be interesting. I love the lab group I'm in. I think we are all going to do good together. The lab instructor and the clinical instructor both seem very sweet women. Our clinical instructor has a very soft/quiet voice. Just what people tell me I have. She does OB and Peds too, she sounds like she is really excited about that part of it. She asked us to introduce ourselves and tell our family status. If we have kids or not. Unfortunately, next semester we'll have an all new group.
Now it is time to study for the Pharmacology quiz tomorrow. I also have to do my homework for clinical. They really pile the homework on.

Not so relaxing "weekend".

It hasn't really felt like a weekend at all. Jay had to work all weekend. And he's gone back to 2nd shift-that's stressful in itself. I feel so isolated as it is when he works 2nd then he's gone all weekend. Today wasn't even required he volunteered. Just because he wants more money. We do need it, yes, but there are some things he can cut back on that he isn't entirely giving up. We dropped the cell phone but it's mine. He still has his through work. He was supposed to reduce the satellite but he hasn't and he only agreed to let go of a few channels.
I needed my evenings to study/get homework done. Friday night Lucas wakes up at 845pm and I couldn't get him back down till 1000pm. That's an hour and a half that I can't do anything! I'm staying up past 11 to read and I'm fighting sleep so that I can. Last night he slept fine and I got some more reading/homework done. Great! But he wakes up at 330am! He didn't go back down till after 5 am and back up at 630am! I didn't really sleep in that time anyway. I don't know what is up with him. I think he is feeling the stress too. I did get a little bit of a nap on the couch with Ava when he was napping. I had a hard time getting him to bed tonight too. I called Jay to come home to help me out. Yeah, he went right back to work too. He wasn't happy with me. He told me to call his mom to help me out! I don't believe that it is HER responsibility to help me with the kids-it's his! Apparently it is all mine.
I must be getting back to studying- test tomorrow and I haven't been able to do that yet.

It's been a long week.

I can't believe it's friday, it feels like saturday except that Jay went to work today. He's going to work tomorrow and sunday too. No off time for me.
School is going good. This week felt so long but we are already having a test on monday. So this weekend is going to be spent studying. I have homework due on monday as well.
I think the stress is already getting to me. On wednesday night I did my homework that was due on thursday. Apparantly I didn't pack that notebook in my bag! I can't believe I did something so stupid. That's my fear - the stupid mistakes hurting somebody. I somehow remembered what I wrote from the night before and scribbled something down real quick. I am upset that I am already that student who doesn't take this seriously. I want to do better than that.
I was doing dishes last night and cut my thumb pretty bad. It didn't bleed long but I can't believe I did something so stupid. Jay said he was going to finish the dishes but he didn't. I had to do it this evening.
I feel like there are way too many things on my plate right now. I can't keep up with housework when I need to spend my nights (when both kids are sleeping) doing homework and studying. I don't get much time during the day to do it. I did manage to get Ava's room cleaned up, she pulled all of the clothes out of her drawers and threw them all over her room. So frustrating. I know it wont take long for the cleaning I did manage to get done to be undone.

I don't want to jinx anything but I will say it anyway. Ava wore panties today (she asked to wear them!) we were upstairs and I asked her if she had to potty. At first she said no, then she said yes but wanted to go in the little potty (downstairs). She pulled her underwear and pants off. She has never done that before, she's always just peed in her underwear. She got to the potty but she started to go a little bit before she got on the seat. There was a little mess on the floor. I'm so proud that she initiated going potty while wearing panties. She went to bed without going potty first tonight. She has been getting up and peeing through her diaper. This morning she cried for me to get her and I picked her up. It felt like her diaper was dry. Then she stood in front of the computer and peed on the floor through her diaper. Not long before that I asked her if she had to go potty. Nope.

Days 1 and 2

So far so good. I am really enjoying school right now. Yesterday I had a four hour class, it kind of went fast. Then i had a two hour lab. That went really fast! We washed our hands and learned how to take off gloves. Very basic stuff. My lab group is great!!
Today I had a two hour class then a two hour break then another two hour class then a two hour break then my two hour lab. Tuesdays are going to be long days. I hung around at school for the two hour breaks and studied. Lab was great as well, we changed an unoccupied bed. Next week we are changing occupied beds and giving bed baths, on each other.
This morning a girl was sleeping in class. Right in the front row. It's sad that she gota place that someone else could have taken. Someone that would have been more serious about this. Now it's too late.

Finally getting around to this

Tomorrow is the big day. My first day of nursing school. I'm so nervous.
I have one of the homework assignments finished. The next one is due on Tuesday but I will have plenty of sitting around time at school on tuesday. Clinicals don't start till next week. It's so exciting!
Ava is doing pretty good. She doesn't listen half the time but that is a three year old right? She will push Lucas for fun. He doesn't think it's funny but she does. She has been wanting to hold him a lot lately. She likes to get her picture taken. But she holds him and doesn't let him go. He gets mad because he can't move. Fun times!
Lucas is pointing at everything now. I'm not sure what he's pointing at most of the time, I hope I tell him the right thing. lol He was clapping when we would say 'yay', it was so cute. He doesn't do that anymore. It only lasted a short short time. He is cruising and crawling everywhere. He gets into everything. He isn't walking yet, not very close to it either. I was hoping that I would be here when he started to do that. At least Jay will be.
Our schedule is a little crazy right now. Jay sort of got a new position at work, he can make his own hours. In order for his hours to work with my classes he has to work 2nd shift. We won't be seeing each other much. :( 2nd shift is not my favorite time for him to be working. This semester is only going to last till July so the rest of the summer will be free and Jay can go back to working during the day. I will get plenty of alone time.
I'm starting the process to wean Lucas. I'm not sure he is ready, I think this will be hard.

Home again

Last wednesday we started the very long drive to North Carolina. The kids did really good, it took a while for Lucas to fall asleep but he didn't cry at all. Ava was out after only an hour. They would occasionally wake up when we stopped but would go right back to sleep. Jay and I stayed up almost the entire time. We got into town butour room wasn't ready so we stopped by Becky's for a while. After some time we decided to just go to the hotel even thoughour room wasn't ready and go to another floor. The room was a suite. It was so nice to have the two rooms. Jay and I got our showers in and took the kids down to the ocean. Ava loved it, Lucas not so much. Jay took him back to the room and put him down for a nap. Ava and I stayed at the beach a while longer.








Ava and I came back with sunburns. I goofed up on that one.


Later that night we went to Becky's for dinner. We had spaghetti and banana pudding. Lucas looooved the pudding. It was Dad and Lori, Mom and Nathan, Becky, Jeff, Kaitlyn, Breanna, Michelle, Makenna, Lauryn, Charlie, Izabella and Aunt Jackie (surprised me, I didn't know they were coming.) Full house. I didn't get many pictures but these are the ones I did get. Kaitlyn loved Lucas, she was walking him all around.








A quick photo op on friday before Lucas's nap before all the days activities. Ava never wants to have her picture taken this was a treat.








Friday the guys went out golfing while we had all the kids. We decided to go to the aquarium and then to the beach. We had to go get some bathing suits and beach toys first. We had lunch then went to the aquarium with Aunt Jackie, Aunt Pat, Chris, Michele and her kids. Lori stayed at the hotel with Izabella to stay with the dog who the hotel had had 3 complaints on. It was a big group but it was nice.





Ava pointing something out to Lauryn.





Aunt Becky holding Lucas.





Crabs











They got to dig in these rocks to try to find sharks teeth. Some of the kids found several and were nice enough to give to the others who didn't find any. Ava was just playing in the rocks. Makenna gave her a sharks tooth and she dropped it somewhere. She just doesn't get it. She didn't get collecting shells either.





The beach was a big haul too. Carrying all of our stuff plus all the kids was a chore.


Lucas and Izabella sat down to give kisses. I hope they can be this loving forever...








I can't believe how old this girl is now. :(





The water was cold but they were having fun!





Kaitlyn.





Lauryn laying in the water. lol





That night we went to a Mexican restaurant for the 'rehearsal dinner'. There really wasn't a rehearsal though. The kids did pretty good. I ordered some burritos but they were way too salty, Jay and I switched, his was much better. I had a margarita at dinner. It's been so long since I have had a drink. We stayed out way too late for the kids but we had fun.


Ava on the deck with the girls.





Jay and Lucas. He got sunburned while golfing that day.





Saturday was the wedding, it was at 11am so we had to rush a little bit. The wedding was on a little pavillian overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful place. It was very windy though. I asked Jay to get pictures but he didn't.
Before the wedding with all the girls. Ava didn't want to get into the picture.

Becky and me, my hair was seriously windblown. I should have brushed it out before the reception.

Charlie and Izabella, Matthew, Me and Ava, Becky and Lucas, Kaitlyn and Breanna.

Ava after the wedding on one of our balconies.

A view from the one balcony.

Another view from the balcony

We left at about 11am on sunday. It went pretty good. Of course we had to make a couple of stops for dinner. We didn't get home until 5am monday morning. Ugh, we were so glad to be home.