Henrys Commentary on Frogs

You may have seen this on my facebook page or on a mass email that Joe sent out but I couldn't resist, it's too cute not to share.


We went on a walk this evening and while out we discovered that the frogs are indeed still out (we were wondering just yesterday if frogs hibernate). Anyway, we decided to hunt frogs. Henry spend at least an hour chasing several different frogs. When they got tired enough they let him catch them. This is his commentary upon catching one that his gleefully named "Silly Billy". I hope you enjoy the video as much as we do!

Personality

As many of you are keenly aware, I am seriously disappointed in the preschool options available where we now live. I shouldn't be shocked, I guess. Everything is inferior after you have learned the "Challenger way". Everyday when I pick up Henry from preschool I have to tell myself, this is better for him then sitting at home with Amelia and I and it's better for me to have a short break each day. Then we go home and do a few minutes of accelerated learning on our own.

Henry can read whole Step1 books with some help and lots of pushing (his attention span is really where we struggle with reading). Henry can do basic math (addition and subtraction). Henry loves, loves, loves science projects.

Anyway... I digress.

I am shocked at what he is learning by going to preschool in a more socially enabled environment. Henry is learning how to role play and for the first time in his life he actually plays with his toys - something he has never done without prompting from a friend. Because he is encouraged to play with a purpose at school (part of the curriculum is learning through play or other interaction) he is excited about playing with his toys in a meaningful way.

Why am I excited about this?

His personality is beginning to shine more than ever. I am excited to see him assign character to his toys or to take on a character of his own each day when he plays. His voices are hilarious. His animation is adorable. I can see that this experience, while it is frustrating for a mom who wants a brilliant son, is perfect for Henry. It is helping him to develop into a more independent child. It is encouraging him to be more social (if that's possible) and establishing his perfect little personality.

So, here's to an imperfect preschool program that is encouraging my son to develop more wholly.

Friendly Visit

Our friends came to visit. Here are some of the fun things we did while they were here.

Joe and Henry playing with the shark Joe and Kevin caught on a fishing trip.

Joe and Kevin caught this shark on their fishing trip.

Muscle man!

On a small hike at the natural springs.

The boys at the natural springs.

Isn't she gorgeous?!!

Kevin and Tori have an amazing camera. This alligator picture was taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. A very cool place to visit if you want to see and learn about American alligators and other similar creatures.

Henry watching alligators at the farm, which is actually a zoo, not a farm.

Henry at the Alligator Farm.

Joe and the kids at the St. Augustine lighthouse, unfortunately the kids weren't allowed to go to the top which was a huge disappointment.

Outside River Grille, one of our favorite restaurants, located on the Tomoka River, down the street from our house.

Joe and Henry floating the spring river.

@ the spring.

@ the spring.

@ the spring.

The gang at Magic Kingdom.

Minnie lovin' Amelia. Henry and Pluto, his favorite non-planet.

My fabulous family.

Beach bums.

Beach bums.

Joe and Henry boogie boarding.

Drip castles.

I wonder if I can fit my foot and my fist in my mouth at the same time?

the girls. Not proud of how old I look, I'll be honest.

August & September in Picture

 

Amelia @ the beach. She is growing and changing very quickly now. She is no longer content to sleep in her car seat while we play, instead, she joins us in the water and in the sand.

On the Halifax River, down the street from our house.

Sunset on the river.

Playing on the underside of the bridge over the river.

Several weeks ago we took away Amelia's binki because it had become a nuisance in the night. She now soothes herself with two fingers... just like I did when I was young.

First day of school.

Henry LOVES Amelia, but remains unable to be gentle with her.

Amelia eating carrots for the first time. She was not impressed.

 

Isn't she beautiful?!!

Amelia loves jumping! She will jump in this until she falls asleep, waking up for moments at a time to jump some more.

FISH

One of the first times we went to our community pool Henry floated off the bottom step and sunk to the bottom like a brick. Joe jumped in, fully clothed and pulled him out. He then exclaimed, "Mom, I drowned!" For the next couple weeks Henry wore a life jacket every time he got in the pool. Then we bought him goggles and he didn't want to wear the life jacket anymore. Now, see for yourself his amazing progress. I'm wondering now why I enrolled him in the swim lessons for non-swimmers which started yesterday.

Missing Home

Henry has told me several times now that he's ready to move back to Utah. He misses his family and friends. I think he's longing for something familiar. He wants to play with his cousins. Have a play date with his friends. Eat dinner at his Grandma an Grandpa's. Play the Wii with his aunts and uncles.

Can't say I disagree.

I was sitting in church today pitying myself... thinking how sad it is that I haven't had five minutes to myself in the past six weeks. Thinking how much we left behind and how long it will be before we get to see people again. I was feeling sorry for Henry and his lack of a little best buddy to play with. I was thinking how weird our ward is and how smelly the building is. I was sad that Joe was at work again and sad that we can't have a date night because we don't have a babysitter. And frustrated that I'm not wealthy enough to furnish and decorate our house.

And then the talks were about the pioneers and the sacrifices they made to come to Utah to establish Zion. One of the speakers told stories about a pioneer woman who began to cross the plains with a large family. She was forced to leave one of her children in a shallow grave somewhere along the way. Every time she heard a coyote she retched at the thought of what might happen to her son's remains. She lost two other children to mountain fever and her husband grew weary from the condition as well. She prayed every night that he would not die and leave her alone.

Theses same pioneers were likely feeling similar to Henry and I at the outset of their journey. Sad to have left the comforts of home. Missing their families. Missing their friends. Missing the familiarity of the place they called home. I can tell you that this alone feels a bit depressing at times. But this was the least of their worries. The pioneers continued to endure through physical hardship as they crossed treacherous terrain often while attempting to manage untreatable medical maladies. And for those who arrived at their destination safely, they did not unpack in a beautiful home, sleep on a comfortable bed and take a warm shower. Instead they endured continuous hardship.

Today I am more grateful for the sacrifices of the Mormon Pioneers than I ever have been because now I understand a minuscule portion of the loneliness they must have felt along the way.

The pioneer anthem, Come Come ye Saints beautifully portrays the pioneer spirit of enduring hardship with vigor.

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!
We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!
And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!
 
I don't pitty myself. I have arrived in beautiful, fun, sunny Florida with my healthy beautiful family and I am more than happy to be here and more than grateful that my journey did not include any real hardship to speak of.

I am grateful for the pioneers and grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the foundation of my nearly perfect life.

I still miss you all terribly.

The English Language is Impossible

Henry and I play scrabble. I spell a word and he reads the word and then he spells a word I read it. Typically I spell words that he can read like car, dog, pig, hat, dad, etc. Typically he spells words I can't read like jrzq, abif, tygh, etc. It's a fun way for him to learn to put the sounds together and a fun way for me to attempt to figure out how to teach him the many various sounds letters make when they are placed together.

The other day Henry and I were finishing our game of scrabble and just for fun I spelled:

Henry asked me to tell him what it said and when I told him that was how to spell Amelia he insisted that I was wrong. U says "uh" and A says "ah" so of course, he insisted Amelia is spelled like this:

Sometimes I think he is too smart.

ROAD TRIP

There's a pretty good chance you will think that we are crazy when you read this post. But before you make any judgments you should know that we had a fabulous time exploring a part of the country that we have never really seen before. I am not a big fan of road trips, or at least I wasn't before our most recent road trip, but this was a seriously good time!!

Joe had an "away rotation" or as I like to call them, extended interview, scheduled in Gainesville, Florida for the month of September. Flying was almost never an option for Joe because he needs a car in order to get to and from work and to rent a car for a whole month is $700+ which might be bearable (gasp!) for one month but he has an away rotation scheduled in Omaha for the month of October and there's no chance that we could afford $1400+ just for a dumpy rental car. So, Joe decided to drive.

Henry and I were on the fence for a while about whether or not it would be smart for us to join Joe on his away rotations because we knew he would be expected to work far more than normal; all this in order to make a good impression. Ultimately, however, we decided that we would rather sleep in the same house than not for two months. When Henry and I decided to join Joe the long road trip became somewhat concerning. What should we do? The solution: take a whole week to drive to Florida and stop frequently. Then somehow this plan morphed into Joe and Heidi wanting to stop in lots of different cities we have never been to and suddenly our semi-straightforward route became something a little more convoluted.


View Larger Map

Our original plan included stopping in Denver but we scratched that because our planned activity was closed. It turned out to be a fabulous idea to scrap Denver because it gave us more time in the South East. Instead we drove straight through (mostly anyway) from Salt Lake to St Louis, MO. Henry did a really good job driving for that long without much stopping to play. It helped that he had a box full of new toys from his birthday celebration the day before.

Stop #1: Kansas City, MO
We were really just driving through but by the time we got to Kansas City we were sick of driving so we stopped at a community pool to play.

Stop #2: St Louis, MO
St. Louis was my favorite stop. We saw the Gateway Arch, took a helicopter ride over the city and went to City Museum. City Museum is the coolest museum I have EVER been to. It's technically a childrens museum but it puts the childrens museum in Salt Lake to serious shame! I used to think that the childrens museum in Salt Lake was cool, now I know that it's just GHETTO!! City Museum is a labyrinth of wire mazes connected to cool structures, slides and climbing structures. It has an indoor train, a ferris wheel on the roof, a giant ball pit, an aquarium and lots of other fabulous activity based areas. I have never been to a place that encourages so much creativity. There are at least three ways to get to every destination within the museum - a wire tube, a windy stair case or through the airplane in the sky. If you have a child and you visit St Louis, do not miss this museum. If you do not have a child and you visit St Louis, do not miss this museum. Joe and I played so hard that we were seriously sweating when the museum staff kicked us out because they were closed. I never play at the childrens museum in Salt Lake because it's not fun for me, this museum was fun for me and more fun for Henry because I was far more interactive.

Gateway Arch
Helicopter Tour

City Museum
City Museum Rooftop slide
Super fun!

Stop #3: Nashville, TN
We went on a riverboat cruise and to Parthenon park. The Riverboat cruise was a good time - it was food and entertainment on a paddle wheel boat. After the boat cruise were kind of at a loss for things to do in Nashville. Joe really resisted the country music hall of fame which we hear is really cool and by the time he agreed to go I didn't want to anymore because Henry was tired and not very pleasant.

Cpt. Henry

Stop #4: Atlanta, GA I have been wanting to go to Atlanta ever since I saw a special on the History Channel about their aquarium. Did you know that the Atlanta Aquarium is the only place in the US you can see a whale shark in captivity? (There are also whale sharks in captivity in Taiwan). The Atlanta aquarium was a serious good time. Again puts Salt Lake to serious shame - but I expected that! We love aquariums!!

Henry, Heidi and a beluga whale.
We lost our camera battery so this is the best we could do!

On a whim, and because I'm a dork, we took a tour of CNN's headquarters. This was more touristy than I had hoped but at least we got to see the studios. I should work for CNN someday I think. :)

CNN HQ

Stop #5: Savannah, GA
If you didn't notice while looking at the map, this is the place where our trip diverged from a logical course and into the - oh we should go there, it's not that far - trip. I'm glad we took this divergence. Joe has wanted to go to Savannah ever since he read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Apparently, he's not the only one, this book is a major part of the tourist industry in Savannah. Anyway, Savannah was established in 1733 and has many fabulous homes and businesses that date that far back that are still in great condition. Savannah is also thought to be one of the most haunted places in the US. We took a haunted Savannah tour the night we arrived and didn't see any ghosts but the tour guide did spend a lot of time pointing out "orbs" in photos people took with their digital cameras. Joe and I appreciated the stories behind the ghost stories and the architectural marvels where the ghosts were housed. The next day we mostly walked around the city checking out the cool, beautiful old places before heading to Tybee Island for a bit of ocean fun (which Henry had been begging for since we got in the car in Salt Lake). I bought Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and will be reading it while in Gainesville!

Cemetery. The large thing on the right is a crypt.

Tybee, Island

Stop #6: Orlando, FL
Disneyworld. Need I say more?

Stop #7: Clearwater, FL
Ocean fun!

Stop #7: Gainesville, FL
Home for one month!

I had so much fun on our journey that I'm doing it again. My sister and my Mom are flying to Atlanta to help me drive to Omaha (Joe will be flying because he only has a few hours to get there before starting his next rotation). We will be stopping in Birmingham, Memphis, St Louis, Little Rock, Nauvoo and Omaha (and maybe Chicago???). You know you're jealous!