Seagrove Beach

We are back from a great vacation at Seagrove Beach! But first..

Two days before we left, Sydney kept complaining of a stomach ache. I didn't think much of it until Maddie complained that her mouth hurt. I immediately thought both kids had strep and loaded them in the car for the pediatrician. We got buckled, reversed out of the drive way and Sydney threw up. In the car. Everywhere. This is how the kids actually looked while waiting for the doctor. PJs - check. Vomit bag in case of emergencies - check. Full on MISERABLE - check. 

Turns out, neither kid had strep. Sydney was diagnosed with a stomach bug and Maddie had a terrible ear infection that was causing throat pain.  We quickly dropped off Sydney at my mom's so that Maddie and I could keep our date at the Derby Dinner Playhouse to see The Little Mermaid. It was spectacular! The best play I've seen there. 

We were totally digging it until Maddie's friend threw up. At the table. Everywhere. SO, if you're counting, this makes 2 vomits in about 3 hours where Mads and I were in the immediate splash zone. 

But, I digress. 

Miraculously, Sydney got better (and none of us caught the bug!!) and we drove safely, without incident, to Florida. We were so excited when we arrived at the beach house and, not only was it beautiful, but it had an incredible pool. The kids jumped right in!

It went downhill a bit from there. Maddie woke up the next AM complaining of ear pain. I'll keep it PG here but, suffice it to say, her ear looked like something from a horror movie. She had a horrible case of swimmers ear that we had to get drained at an ENT and her follow-up care was no going under water. We were on DAY ONE. At the beach. In a house with a private pool. She was pretty bummed to say the least. Gone were the plans to dive for sand dollars with her cousin and do hand stand contests with her sister, but we made the best of it! 

One on of our THREE trips to Destin for an ENT. Since Maddie couldn't be submerged we had to come up with something that would block her from bacteria getting in her ear.

We shoved cotton in her ear and then covered it with this. She was a little nervous what people would think of her but one lady came over to tell her she really liked her head scarf. That made her day!

We had some fun in the sun on our beach days!

This one, for the first time, LOVED the beach. I mean she LOVED it. We've had some rough years with here (not liking the sand, scared of the water, etc), but THIS was her year. She loved swimming and boogie boarding and didn't mind the waves knocking her down. 

Sometimes it's hard being the littlest cousin.

We had lots of matching outfits!

Be still my heart.

 When they love each other, it's amazing. But when they don't...it's exhausting! :)

We had a rainy day and went bowling. Sydney was surprisingly REALLY good.

 

Celebrating her spare!

The cousins had so much fun just being together!

What a great week with family!

bye bye beach!!

Thank you nana and grandpa for treating us to such a fabulous week!

Girl Scouts!

At the start of the school year, Maddie's friend Rayne asked her to join Girl Scouts. I was a little "meh" about it, if I'm being honest. I was never a Girl Scout and it really just wasn't something I was interested in. I let Maddie decide and, being the social butterfly that she is, said that she wanted to participate. 

We signed her up, got her a vest, and started going to meetings. It has been AWESOME! Each month we have one meeting where the girls learn and earn a Daisy petal for their vest. Our two summer meetings have been awesome! 

We visited the South Oldham Fire Station and took a tour of the facility, met some firemen, and got to see their trucks. 

After touring the facility, we got a fun surprise!

Our next outing was to a butterfly farm in La Grange. The girls learned how to find monarch butterfly eggs on milkweed eggs. The girls each picked some eggs and caterpillars to take home. 

Here's Munchie. Munchie eats A TON of milkweed and we can't wait for him to become a butterfly!

Sydney has gone to a couple of Girl Scout meetings and is now so anxious to be in a troop of her own.

Fourth of July Festivities!

We had a great Fourth of July with our friends and neighbors! A few things first...

During Sydney's Kindergarten eye exam, we went ahead and did an exam for Maddie. I was watching her watching Sydney. She seemed really surprised that Sydney could see and identify so many letters in the chair. She finally came over and whispered to me that she couldn't see. 

So, it was no surprise, when our optometrist said it was time for little miss to get a pair of glasses. She was so excited (and Sydney was so jealous!) 

She looks pretty cute in them! She only has to wear them to see the board at school so we haven't gotten too much use of them yet. 

We had a zoo day with our friends and had so much fun! 

 Maddie is little but man, she can be a work horse. I think all of those gymnastics conditioning sessions must be paying off!

We came home and had some water fun with another set of friends!

*******

We kicked things off on the 3rd with our friend's "little get together."  We knew better this year! Last year we were invited to a small party and it turned out to be massive. Multiple families inviting friends and sharing their backyard space. They had several inflatables, tons of food and a great fireworks show. It was a great combination of neighborhood and Kenwood families. Chris and I chatted with friends while the girls ran themselves ragged.

Maddie and sweet Karis. Karis has been one of Maddie's besties on the school bus the last two years. She's going in middle school (hence the heigh difference - haha!) and Maddie sure will miss her! 

The next day we had lunch with K and D at nana and grandpa's pool. And...I failed to take any pictures. Sigh. Big blog fail. We had a blast though! We came home and headed straight back to our neighbors for their Fourth of July party. 

Chris was getting in some puppy snuggles from Woodford...he didn't hate it. 

More fireworks! (No joke, our neighborhood has some of the biggest fireworks lovers I've ever met)

I brought Syd home a little before Chris and Maddie and I told her I would snuggle with her. Except...after about 14 seconds she was OUT. 

After two long fun days, girlfriend was beat. She slept until 9:30 the next day. I didn't even know what to do with myself.

On Friday, the girls had haircuts at Z Salon. At the age of almost 5, this was Sydney's FIRST haircut. (On account of her having approximately 59 hairs on her head!) She LOVED it. 

Where was Maddie you ask? Well, poor thing woke up with a bellyache, which turned into a fever, which turned into a headache...

Which turned into STREP THROAT. Again. Twice in 2 months. Lovely. She was MISERABLE for 2 days but once we got our strep diagnosis and got her antibiotic, it didn't take long for her to bounce back to normal. 

 We've been spending lots of time in Norton Commons lately. Our good friends moved back there so we swim or eat with them quite a bit. They love on our girls so much!

On this particular night, Tara taught the girls what a Wet Willy was...and it totally backfired on her. 

We're big fans of the gelato back there as well too!