Trip to Florida

We took advantage of the Columbus Day holiday, and drove to Florida to visit Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sandye. The kids did surprisingly well on the 7 hour drive. The Boston Schwartz Family also came down and we all spent a great weekend together. Above, the kids and Uncle Dave enjoying the hot tub at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Abster seemed to enjoy the beach... here she is heading for the snacks.

She is not so sure about the ocean!

Jackson working on a sand tunnel...

Typical Jackson... he met a friend within a few minutes and spent the next hour with him and his family.

Catie also loved the beach!

Here are the kids, hanging out in the condo with Brown Eyes, wearing their possum shirts...

We stopped at a pumpkin patch and picked out several pumpkins. The kids were very excited about carving the pumpkins. They drew their faces, but then quickly lost interest once we started the carving. They chased Mason (Grandma and Grandpa's Scottie) around and swam while the adults worked on the pumpkins. The pumpkins turned out well, but we forgot to get a picture of the finished product.

We all went to a Marine Center and saw various fish, snakes, crabs, etc. This turtle was just walking down the street outside of the center. Many thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for having us and hosting dinner at the house every night so we didn't have to take all the kids out. They had quite a job cleaning up after dinner every night as Uncle Dave and the children are quite messy. Of course, the Boston kids were messier than ours, but who's keeping score?

Abby is on the move!

Well, Abby got herself on the move quickly. She went from a short crawl on Thursday, to moving across the whole room on Sunday. Steve plopped her down by her toys to get on the computer, and turned around to find her missing! She made it to the other side of the room...

It was kind of a slow weekend. Ann worked much of it, so Steve and the kids hung around the house. The kids were making forts with the pillows, and generally making a huge mess of the entire house.

What a self portrait!!

Here are a few of the race pictures from Steve's race last weekend...

The Last Days of Summer

For the last days of summer, we had a weekend of few plans. But, as usual, it ended up being quite busy. On Friday, Steve and Ann celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. We had drinks and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Seasons 52, and had a nightcap by shopping at Target on our way home. The next morning, Steve left the house at 4:30 to pick up Donovan to participate in another triathlon. He was attempting to redeem himself after his last performance. Even with his typical nervous swim, he ended up 4th in his age group. He is ready for another winter of swim lessons, preparing for next year's Half Ironman. On Sunday, we met the Shores at Stone Mountain.

When we arrived at the Stone Mountain playground, we were expecting the usual family atmosphere. Instead, we were surrounded by 6 inmates working the grounds and were a bit uneasy by their presence. However, once we saw Officer Bubba pictured above, armed with nothing and barely able to get up from his park bench, we felt much safer! (And yes, Steve had no qualms about walking up to strangers or even convicts, and taking their picture).

No, this isn't one of the convicts, however, sometimes...

Here's Abby with her friend Ariel. The picture looks cute, but actually, we had to separate them because Abby kept poking her and trying to pull her hair.

The 2 winners! Both managed to get the hole in one on the 18th hole.

Based on Jackson's putting form, we are not planning on a golf scholarship! But, the kids had a great time playing putt-putt with Isaac.

Wonder twins!

Abster update

It has been 2 weeks since Abby's surgery. It is difficult to get a good picture, as she is constantly on the move. Overall, she is doing well and adjusting to her new world. Her main issues now are discomfort with light (still is very light sensitive) and her dislike of the eye ointment that we need to put in her eyes twice a day (a real battle). Anyway, the surgeon seemed pleased with the results and paraded her around his office showing off his work. Apparently, the eyes will continue to "take shape" over the next 6 months or so.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Here is the Abster, post-op day #2. She is looking better as the swelling is going down. However, she has been having a bit of a rough time and hasn't been her usual smiley self... her eyes must itch and hurt as she is constantly wanting to rub them. She also is very light sensitive. And, on top of all that, she is on a hunger strike! She hasn't eaten any solids since before the surgery. But, she has become much more inquisitive and mobile since she is able to see more.

Catie must have enjoyed her vanilla ice cream with sprinkles at the Chattahoochee Nature Center because she walk up to a stranger and said, "Hi, my name is Catie and I had sprinkles on my ice cream!"

A hawk, photograph compliments of Steve.

This was the highlight of the weekend... the kids got to see a real live opossum!! Ann volunteered to help with next year's Possum Trot (a 1 mile fun run), and as a result of knowing people in high places at the Nature Center, we got to see a possum. Jackson kept the naturalist on his toes with all of his knowledge! He reminded him that "possums dig holes with their front paws and then nestle their noses into the ground to get food, like bugs."

Here's the close-up of the little fellow...

Brown Eyes seemed to be enjoying the visit with his relatives.

Here, Brown Eyes is showing the possum how to "play possum" or for you lay people, "play dead."

The kids pose for a picture with the naturalist.

Abby's surgery

Abigail had her eye surgery for congenital ptosis this morning. The procedure was called a "frontalis suspension," where the eyelid is attached to the forehead (frontalis) muscle which will give her eyes a "lift." Abby was in surgery for just over an hour, although it seemed like an eternity to Mom and Dad. The surgery was successful and Abby is doing well. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers these past few days.

Above, Abby pre-op, full of smiles, despite not being able to eat or drink since midnight. Following the surgery, she seemed quite irritated... I am sure that it was confusing for her to have an IV in her leg, bandage on her forehead, as well as not being able to close her eyes.

Here is Abby post-op... poor little thing!! We are told that the swelling will improve over the next 3 or 4 days, and full recovery expected in approximately three weeks. She seems to be enjoying her new view on the world.

Callaway Gardens

We went to Callaway Gardens over the weekend, for our 5th triathlon of the summer. This is a great race, because there are plenty of activities to keep the kids busy. Our friends, the McGees and Somersets, met us there and also competed in the race. Above, Matthew, Jackson, Conner, and Catie enjoying a dip in the luxurious Days Inn pool.

This inflatable slide was near the race finish. Conner and Matthew talked Jackson into going down.

After paying a small fortune for 30 minutes of sliding, Jackson decided that he had enough after one time down. "It was too fast" was all he would say.

Here's Ann coming in from the 30K bike. Ann had a fairly decent race, finishing second in her age group. Donovan and Wendy also had good races. You might be wondering why there aren't any race pictures of Steve. Well, the race swim course went left, and Steve continued straight right across to the other side of the lake...

This is Catie after 2 days of no naps, a 3 AM barfing episode and subsequent bath, a 5:30AM wakeup and five hours out in the sun!

Here's Catie, 2 minutes after the picture above, sound asleep. Obviously she was exhausted as she was sleeping on a downhill grade that could not have been comfortable.

One of Jackson's favorite things about the beach is making roads and a pool for his trucks and boats.

The Abster was exhausted too, and slept by the beach for over 2 hours. On another note, Abby has her eye surgery scheduled for this Thursday. For those of you who don't know, Abby has congenital ptosis (weak eyelid muscles for the non-medical folks) and is having a procedure to "lift" them. We're hoping that she stays healthy so the surgery can go as scheduled later in the week. Please keep her in your thoughts!