Author: Doris

Jeremy and I are not huge fans of the beach, but this year we decided to give the shore vacation a try. Families rave about going to the beach year after year and Edda seemed to love the water, especially at the shore. For weeks, I’ve been telling friends that this finally was Edda’s vacation, something she would love and really, really enjoy. Was it a success? Sort of. Vince and pal loved the beach, we got to spend time away from work and with family. However, it was brutally hot and Edda did not love it as much as I thought she would which was a disappointment to me (and to her too probably). We also would have loved it more if they could invent sunscreen that was not so disgusting to put on.

When I complained about how much we were hauling to the beach, my brother, Donald chided that perhaps I did not need to pack the hugh tub of cheese balls.

Edda – a little unsure.

Jellyfish everywhere – but no one got stung!

We’ve been at the beach for the past week – this was our first beach vacation and was very nice in many ways – however, I’m going to start our beach blog with these pictures of Vince in the ER at Rehoboth.

Vince swallowed a quarter after lunch on Friday. As far as emergencies go, this was a low-priority emergency, I’m not sure it wasn’t even qualified as an “emergency” – but where else is there to go after swallowing a quarter? I was really mad at him for doing something so toddler-like. What is an eight-year-old doing with a quarter in his mouth? There was an X-ray taken which confirmed that the quarter passed the esophageal sphincter and the quarter was happily settled into the stomach. The doctor told us that once the quarter was in the stomach, it would be smooth sailing from there on out (so to speak).

The community hospital was fabulous, we were in and out in about 1.5 hours and we are just waiting for the quarter to be pooped out. (No, we are not going to look for it.)

Is Edda excited and having a lot of fun? No, not really.

She did get a nice nap in the sun.

Vince:

On the last day of school, Edda’s teacher sent home these photos. I hadn’t seen them before and they almost made me cry (in a good way).

For reasons completely having to do with work and my own health (I have a slight summer cold, the kind that doesn’t make you feel bad enough to spend the day in bed, but also you don’t feel great enough to be cheerful) I had an exhausting day.

Today was the last day of school. My kids are DONE with 2nd grade and kindergarten.
Vince and Jeremy made oatmeal raisin cookies for the teachers last night:

Edda, Vince and Eliana on the last day of the “morning routine” until school starts in the fall!

8:00 pm

Edda has been having a tough time falling asleep for the past three or four months. She can be happy all day and then as soon as she lies down, the whimpering, the crying and the fussing starts (yes, we have her on reflux medicine). Sometimes it can last up to 90 minutes.

I usually lie next to Edda and we listen to our good night music and I try not to lose my patience (or my mind). Vince has learned not to ask me about anything if Edda’s in one of these moods. I’ve snapped at him a number of times when he’s asking about not having toilet paper or pouting about my failure to pull together a John Lennon or Paul McCartney costume for the next day at school (really.). Finally, I’ve had to tell him that when Edda’s having a rough evening that I’m really on edge and not a friendly person and therefore he should only interact with me if he finds the kitchen on fire.

Sometimes I’ll be struggling to put Edda to bed and Jeremy will have finished up the downstairs chores and he’ll head upstairs and trade places with me and then Edda’ll sigh and turn and fall asleep. Then I feel a little bad. But Jeremy’s magic touch doesn’t always work.

Finally asleep (9:30 pm).