Visitor

Amanda watched Brenna yesterday afternoon while Tiffany got some work done. Overall, it went well. However, she and Lily have no progressed to actual roughhousing. Amanda wasn't so big on that, but fortunately no one got hurt. We'll see if Lily wants to roughhouse with Noah in a few years.

Noah and I went out to hunt and gather for food after dinner. The problem was that it kept storming and stopping. He and I seem to have a pattern developing with that. He isn't so keen on the rain, but he does like it when I run while pushing the shopping cart.

Back Home (Again)

We got back safely from the beach on Tuesday. It looks like Amanda and the kids are going to go back on Sunday and come back again the following Wednesday or Thursday. It's hard to pass up a place to stay at the beach after all. The only problem is that this makes for another whirlwind week for Amanda.

The kids had a lot of fun. Noah is becoming even more charming, but he's also becoming even more difficult. He is really hitting the twos with both barrels and is getting into everything he can. His attitude is not what it once was either. It makes for long days for Amanda.

We did have a surprise when we got home from the beach. Our neighbor Michael was standing on our porch crying. When I asked him what was wrong he told me that he saw a lizard and he thought it was a snake. That didn't really explain his hysteria to me, but I also wanted to get the car unloaded and turn him over to Amanda since he knows her better.

We had a message on our voicemail from his mom. It turns out that Michael didn't like something at home and decided that he wanted to live with another family. His mom called his bluff and let him go, but of course she kept an eye out and called around to his likely landing places. We feel a bit honored that he came to our house. I'm a little surprised that Lily hasn't tried that yet. Amanda has a good story of when she did that at 5.

At the Beach

We're having a good time so far. Last night was a little rough as Noah woke up having a fit and wouldn't sleep for about 45 minutes. The good news is that Lily was so deeply asleep that she doesn't remember any of it. The tricky thing with these two is keeping them quiet when they get up first-thing in the morning. It's no small task, but we do have a nice balcony that seems to work. That's where we took our breakfast this morning and I suspect we will do the same tomorrow.

We spent the better part of the morning at the beach. Aunt Claudia got some chairs and umbrellas for us, so it was nice to hang out. Of course, with the kids there was little hanging out. Noah loved playing in the surf and recovered quite well emotionally when he got knocked down. Lily made some friends and had a wonderful time in the surf as well. She is becoming braver. In fact, she didn't even come crying when she got knocked over. He hair was wet, so she must have gone under for a second. Love those swim lessons!

Noah is napping right now. Amanda and Lily are at the pool. I'm getting ready to do some reading for school. All we need now is for Noah to sleep well tonight.

Last Day

We are off to the beach for three nights starting tomorrow, courtesy of Aunt Claudia. That means Amanda has really been scrambling. She cooked and baked up a storm yesterday and has more to do today. That way we will be able to make a good contribution at the beach with food.

I'm really looking forward to taking Lily and Noah back to the beach. They really enjoyed our brief trip to Wrightsville and I think that they will enjoy this one too. Hopefully the weather will settle down. There are some rip currents this morning, so that's not so good for little ones playing in the surf.

Hopefully I will be more regular about blogging from the beach than I was from Cleveland.

Speaking

Noah is getting there. Amanda went through his colors book with him yesterday. She had him pronounce the words after her and he did a pretty fair job. He really struggles with tomato (it comes out "nomado") and a couple of others, but overall he does well. Incidentally, I suggested to Amanda that since we're in the South we could have him pronounce it "mater," but she didn't like that idea.

He still babbles quite a bit when he has something on his mind, but I think that it is slowly coming together for him. He definitely has mastered the word "no." The twos are upon us.

Home Safe

We got back from our Ohio trip today. It was a good visit with both sides of my family. We spent the first three days at my mom's house and the second three days at my stepbrother's house. We enjoyed some good times visiting and some incredible weather. It was tough getting out of the van in North Carolina and getting hit with the humidity. The six-day respite from it was quite welcome, particularly in our morning runs.

It's back to some semblance of the routine for three days and then we're off to the beach Saturday morning for three nights there. Once this is all over we won't have anything else going on until our annual anniversary trip. For that we're camping for two nights near Brevard.

Lily and Noah did well on the trips. Noah had his fussy moments, but overall he was good. Lily watched a lot of videos today and that helped her to pass the time. I just feel exhausted now and in desperate need of a really good night's sleep in my own bed with no toddlers crying or little girls throwing up in the night (we experience both of these things while in Akron).

Arrived Safely

We have made it to Cleveland safely. Last night was a little rough because Noah just would not go to sleep. We ended up having Lily sleep in our room because of it. Of course, he was up bright and early before 7:00 and ready to go.

We're looking forward to a visit with a college roommate of mine who lives nearby. The weather should be really nice today too. It's nice to see Ohio weather at its best instead of when we visit at Thanksgiving.