Proving that he is Gifted

It is 100 degrees with 100 % humidity. Nothing can live - our flowers look terrible, our tomato plants croaked, there are smog warnings every day.

I would guess that there is perhaps 1 microscopic cold virus in all of Atlanta that survived all this.

Lucky for us, Thomas found it.

Told you he was gifted.

Swim Lessons!

These were taken during the first 2 days of this week.

These taken today. 
Actually, he jumps bigger with me, but doesn't want to go under the water unless it is with Ms. Toni.

Fernbank

We had a great time at Fernbank museum today. We explored the NatureQuest kids area, saw dinosaurs, a cool shell exhibit and I got to take lots of pictures with my new phone :)

Leaving Camp Today

We were leaving camp this afternoon and stayed a few minutes to chat with Christina since she is now an assistant teacher at the preschool. Because of that, we were one of the last ones leaving the building as camp ended. Thomas' teacher, Miss Kachia was in the hallway as we got his lunchbox and headed for the door.

Thomas: Bye Miss Kachia, I will miss you.

Miss Kachia: Bye Thomas, I will miss you too.

Thomas: But don't worry, I'll come back to visit.

Me: Thomas, you will be back next week for camp.

Thomas: But don't worry, I'll be back next week for camp.


As I'm sure you can imagine, Miss Kachia just laughed as she walked back into the classroom.

Um...what?

On the way home from a playdate this morning.


Me: Thomas, what do you think we should have for lunch today?

Thomas: Well, I smell something. I hope it's carrion. Yep, it's carrion waiting at home.

Me:. Um....I don't think I really want that in our house.

Thomas: That's too bad, meat is what I need.

Me: How about a sandwich instead?



We settled on a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Apparently Dinosaur Train was about carrion this morning. Lovely.

Trip to Forida!

Thomas' marathon stomach bug had infected Mommy, and seriously threatened our only chance to get to Florida at all for the summer.  We ended up having to make the very hard choice to brave the venture without Tara!(  (Who got better while Thomas and I were away, and seemed to make the most of the time catching up with some friends - and, of course, work.)

 We had a picnic lunch on the way down, at about Lake City.  Thomas was GREAT in the car!

 We were able to make good enough time to get to go see Grandaddy on the way into town.  Then the next morning, Thomas found a race car trophy that was my dad's.  I told him a little about it, but he wanted to bring to to Grandaddy so that he could explain it better.  Grandaddy was so pleased that Thomas was interested in it, that he gave the trophy to him.  A very sweet moment!!

 Thomas did a great job of entertaining himself, as well as us, when he needed to.

 And back a Grandmommy's house, he wasted no time settling right in!

 The breakfast table.  While we were there, they boy definitely made up for the stomach issues of the previous couple of weeks.  We could barely get him filled up.

 We went to the beach at Siesta (#7), where we practically had the beach to ourselves to start.  While we were out jumping waves, we saw a little fish jump, then a minute or two later a Dolphin jumped entirely out of the water, then swam along the surface for about a minute (about 40 or 50 feet from us).  After some sand building and a walk, we went back in for more wave jumping and saw what we now believe (based on the biologist that we later talked to at the aquarium - later) to have been a young marlin, swimming by under the water at about 20 or so feet from us.  Since I wasn't exactly sure what it was at the time, we didn't jump a lot more waves right then.

 We had lunch with Grandaddy a couple of days (2 whole PB&J sandwiches!!).

 Then Grandmommy took us to her library; where they have an amazing fish tank!

 It is a TUNNEL!!

 We went to Mote Marine Aquarium and saw their very cool exhibits ...

 took at least one silly picture ...

 and saw them feed sharks!  Afterward, we got to meet up with one of Bruce's hockey buddy's, who also happens to be a senior biologist and head of the shark research laboratory at the facility!  He gave us a special, behind the scenes tour of his lab.  Very impressive! Maybe more so to me than Thomas?

 Then to Lila and Bruce's for dinner, and to meet Bruce's mom, Delores.  Who had a great surprise for Thomas!  Thanks Delores!!

 Thomas helped clean out the pond ...

 feed the fish ...

 try out his inner (and usually quite well hidden) daredevil, both in front of the swing ...

 and on it!

 Then ICE CREAM!

 Time to head back home to see Mommy!  Thomas was very helpful in getting ready to hit the road.

And another "picnic" lunch on the way back.  This time a good bit of the trip was made in the rain, including lunch.  We stopped once for gas, Thomas didn't want to get out.  Then this one stop for the bathroom and lunch, then back on the road.  The boy was a SUPER TRAVELER!  I'm sure that having Mommy at the end of the journey was a very strong motivator.

All in all, it was a really great trip!  We missed having Tara with us, but had a pretty good few days of adventures.

A Very Big Day!

Today was a big day of firsts!  For his first time seeing a movie in a movie theater, Thomas went to see Cars 2.  He was so excited all day - and was so impressed by the whole experience.  We were all alone in the theater until the previews started.  During the movie there were only 4 other people in the whole place.  The movie was also pretty good.

Later in the same day, the first day of swim lessons.  It was a little more active than our house usually is.  There were 3 groups all happening in the same little corner of the pool, and 4 kids in Thomas' group, of varying experience energy levels.  Thomas did really well!! There were a few tears when his face dropped into the water unexpectedly, but he stayed with it and hung in there to the end.  He said he loved it, and is excited to go again tomorrow, so we're taking it as a huge success.

Tomorrow - just the Zoo, errands, some play at home, and day 2 of swim lessons!!  Summer is Great!

Beginning week two of diarrhea!

 

 In Jail!

 Eager for release!

 

Jail Break!

 

 Stomach bug won't let us go to a public pool ... we'll make our own!

 

Mosquitoes are in full effect - but we won't be stopped!

 Lovin' the set-up!!

Water table IN the pool!!

A Letter

Dear Stomach Virus,

First, let me thank you for not being very serious. I appreciate that we are only dealing with one end and that we didn't end up in the ER like last time.

Now, a request.

Go away.

I do have my reasons. My boy is starving and not keeping all that food in his little body. He is going too many times a day. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the fact that he has to go at about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning every single day is GETTING.VERY.OLD? No, I didn't mention it. Well let me now. I am tired. I am done with you. AND.....I NEED to get out of this house. We are no longer having fun. I have heard "Mommy" about 12 bajillion times in the last few days (yes, I counted).

So.

To summarize. Thanks and buh-bye!

Sincerely,

I need a babysitter and a night out

ps- Tell your friend respiratory virus that he/she can take the endless snot and coughing and shove it.