When it rains....

....it pours.

So about a month ago in May we got a big rain.  It rained hard and it rained all night and day.  I knew it was going to be wet, but when I let the dog out in the morning I didn't expect to have sudden lake front property.

You can see the neighbor's pool in underwater, but don't worry no water in the house.

There is a pond across the street that serves as a catch/holding from the water flowing from the golf course.  It then travels down a creek/ditch to a series of other retention areas.  Most of the year this pond is bone dry, (we have had a drought here for several years) but in the summer it usually fills as it's the rainy season.  I guess this rain was just too much too fast and the ponds didn't have time to drain out before they overflowed.
By noon the water had receded back  and while it still held in the park area it wasn't covering the road anymore.
So that made for some good play for the dog and the kids...

 This picture is for comparison.  I'm standing in my driveway and you can see the Hubs holding the baby in the distance.  Notice the mailboxes to the left, they had water about half way up.

These two are loving that the water is at this level.  Perfect for running amok.

I love this picture.  The moss on the trees, the ferns, the water and my boy...it looks amazing.  Really makes me wish I had the dream Canon, but for now we will deal with what I have.  I can make it work. :)

"Look, Mom, these two frogs are nibbling each other."   Ha.  That's right, buddy, they sure are.

Now this tropical storm Debby is in the Gulf and she's really dumping a lot of water. We spent most of Sunday the same way we spent the day back in May, playing in the water.

There's our cool neighbor Mr. Bill.  The blur of dogs is our black lab and Mr. Bill's  white fluffy dog.  There were also accompanied by Mountie's brother, a yellow lab, and a weimaraner pup.  I couldn't really get any good shots because they were in full speed play.

This picture is really dark and bad, but I added it because you can sort of see the mailboxes behind my hubs.  And that area behind them is the park that was ankle deep in the previous pictures.
It eventually got too dark to play or take pictures so we had to head in for warm baths.

When I woke up on Monday morning my hubs was still in bed.  I thought maybe he set the clocks wrong, since we had lost power on Sunday for about 3 hours.  I give him a shake and he tells me that he couldn't get out of the neighborhood.   Towards the front the roads were completely underwater.  About 9am, he ventured out again and was able to get the truck through.  So off to work he went.  
I got panicky around noon and called him to come home.  I was afraid that if it kept raining he wouldn't be able to get back to the house.  I mean, I guess he could have parked and walked across the course, but I didn't care, it felt safer with him home.  So he came back, to be with his family :)
The whole neighborhood was out buzzing around.  A few houses got water last time so there were some kind guys getting sand bags from the fire dept and bringing them to those in need.
We heard rumors that the golf course was doing bad.  There are a couple quarry holes that this course is known for on what you golfers would call the "back nine."  I guess all the rain caused some major landslides.  So we went with our other neighbor on his golf cart to check it out.

 

Here I'm standing on one side about the same height up as the house across the quarry.  You can see the small landslides on the opposite cliff.  In front of me is a huge drop off that also ran down.  The water on the left is not supposed to be there, nor all the dirt mess on the fairway.

 What a disaster.  I'm not sure what they are going to do about this.  For now, the course is closed.  I can't imagine the amount of machinery and money it will take to clear this out.  I'm not a golfer, but this is a beautiful area.  I hope they give an effort to clean it up.

Today it seemed that the water was the same, but it had actually receded a little bit.  More people were able to get out and go to work.  And there were men working on the golf course, cutting the grass and picking up debris.  Still along way to go, but things are looking up.

This is the main access for the neighborhood to get in and out.  Right now, only big trucks and SUVs can pass.  I'm hopeful that the house did not get any water.  They had sand bags blocking up their front door.  The land next to them is a vacant lot turned river from all water running off the golf course looking for somewhere to go.
For now the rain seems to be holding off and I believe the storm is making land fall up in the panhandle.
Seems as though Mother Nature heard everyone's request for rain.  She literally opened the flood gates.
Hope y'all are staying dry or playing in the rain.

No sleep till...

So all that talk of having a wonderful happy baby may have given me the jinx.
Oh, he's still wonderful and happy mostly all the time, but he's totally not falling into any long restful sleep pattern.
I've been successful in working some sort of night time routine.
Bath and a Meal with Bed time following around 8 or 9 every night.  Sometimes we are off by a half an hour or so, but that's fine.  The first sleep stint usually last around 3 or 4 hours, then it's every two hours.  Sometimes less and sometimes he doesn't want to go right back down, so I end up sleep-rocking him.  (By that, I mean I usually fall asleep sitting up while rocking him)
What gives?
He's a chunker so while Boo seems to be the nickname that rolls of the tongue the most, we also like to call him 'The Meat'.
Naturally, The Meat needs to keep up appearances so each of these wake periods he eats...a lot.  I haven't caved with bringing him into my bed and I'm not going to. I know this would give me a few more hours, but I also learned from past experiences that once done, this is hard to undo.
How long could this possible last?
We started giving him cereal and it makes absolutely no difference.
I mean, he scarfs it down, but he's still wakes up wanting to eat at the same time.  I believe I may have created a human garbage disposal.  I'm not even sure if the 'cry it out' method would even work in this situation.  I would probably only succeed in waking the rest of the house.
For now, I guess I'll just see where we end up.  He's almost 5 months, so I think we are still with in the average as far as sleep.

Another little treat The Meat has been testing out is the capacity and limits of his lungs and vocals.  He can make such a high pitched sound that it almost silences out for a few seconds in each yell interval.  He loves it.  It cracks him up. He's totally discovered that voice and must know how far he can take it.
Maybe I'll have a rock star.  :)

Just to keep current with brotherly love...
Ryder has been so unbelievable.  I had hoped that they would like each other, but all my expectations have been exceeded.  Ryder talks to the baby all the time and the baby actually pays attention.  He'll say, "Hi, Boo!" and the baby's eyes will light up.  They smile at each other and get each other cracking up.  When big brother walks around the room, Tyce will follow him around with his eyes.
And sometimes Ryder can calm him down when no one else can.  It's fantastic.
I just love watching them interact with each other, it melts my heart.  (and I can manage to squeeze in a few chores)

I'm amazed every day.

I just love those two boys.

Sea World Surprise

Our oldest son graduated preschool last Tuesday.   What a wonderful experience to see how much he has grown.  He has accomplished so much over this last year. It went by so fast, I feel like he's become a big kid overnight.
On our way to the ceremony our neighbor, Mr. Bill (who I've mentioned in another story here), stopped by to congratulate him.   The exchange of words almost broke my heart it was so sweet.  After some 'wows', 'thank yous' and 'my how big you've gotten', Ryder looks up and says, "And my mom is so proud of me."  I melted.  You can imagine the emotions that ran through me knowing he knows how I feel.  It was a moment all parents relish in.
The graduation production was great.   He received a medal for his knowledge of dinosaurs, "most likely to become a paleontologist."   So smart.  I really have an amazing boy.  A special feature was the whole group singing songs that they had been practicing as a surprise for the parents.  Also, very sweet.
Afterwards the 4 of us, Aunt Cindy, Devin and MomMom went to a celebratory dinner.  Ryder got a some graduation gifts.  One of which was a surprise to both he and I...
A trip to Sea World!!!
Yes!
We visited the park last November while I was pregnant and it was amazing.  Ever since we have been talking about going back.  We think it's a great place to take a baby, because there are so many shows.  Between that and the many aquariums we would be able enjoy it together instead of waiting or taking turns while the other takes Ryder on the  attractions.  Not to mention, Ryder's knowledge of sea creatures is fantastic.  He knows the names of fish I have never heard of.  He's quite enthusiastic to learn more, so, of course, we want to encourage it.

If you live in Florida I would recommend getting the Fun Card.  Basically you pay for a day and can come back all year.  We got one of these and one year pass.  The year pass is about $30 more but you get free parking and 10% of food and merchandise.   If you only use them twice it's worth it.  They offered a free year pass for preschoolers in the beginning of the year, which I had printed up just in case something like this came up.  Bonus.
The Hubs had set it up so we were staying in a hotel Thursday and Friday night,with plans to go to the park on Friday.  We ended up getting to our room around 1 on Thursday.  Since we had the passes we decided to do a dry run to the park.  The hotel offered a shuttle so I wanted to be sure with the bags, the stroller and all the other goodies that come with a baby that we were prepared.  The ride was smooth and so was our entrance to the park.
We hit the Dolphin Show first.  These animals are so magnificent.  I get goose bumps and teary eyed every time I see this show.  It is incredible.  You can't help but smile.

I was up top for this one.  They have a special area for sleeping babies if you don't want to wake them up and take them out of the stroller.  Extra Bonus.
The highlight of the trip for me was feeding these spectacular mammals.  I feel like you can see how smart they are by just looking at their eyes.  They are so fast, yet so graceful in the water.  I just love them.

$7 extra per person.  So totally worth it, we did it again the next day! 


The highlight for the Hubs was feeding the sting rays.  They are in a tank were you can pet them and they come up to the side if you have food or not.  But, after feeding the dolphins the interaction was too hard for the boys to resist.

Ryder had a lot of favorites.  On his list along with feeding the dolphins and sting rays was Shamu's Happy Harbor.  They have a huge rope/slide/play/obstacle/climbing area that is probably 3 stories high.  Like a pumped up fast food playground, all kids love it.  Add a splash zone, carousel, mini roller coaster, and several other kid friendly rides and what child could resist.

 He also loved Turtle Trek, which is a new attraction.  You follow the journey of life with a sea turtle in a 3-D dome.  It was very entertaining for all of us, even the baby.  Although he did not wear the glasses, he was so alert, really taking in all the images and sounds.  On the way out there is an interactive video game and a view of the live turtles and manatees you saw while waiting for the show underneath.  More reasons to love it.
 
Besides offering a shuttle, another awesome perk of our hotel was that was got a quick queue card with out stay.  The quick queue is Sea World's version of the fast past that is offered at Disney.  Although, in my opinion,  Sea World's is better because you get one card to use for the whole day on all rides applicable at any time.   I'm so glad we decided to get them even though we weren't sure if we would use them.  After walking under Manta a couple of times, the Hubs wanted to check it out.  The baby was sleeping and Ryder was entertained with a stuffed sting ray he won so it was perfect timing.  He headed up the quick queue line and discovered that they also have a single rider line.  Which basically means no line.  He came out so fast, ranting and raving about how awesome it was.  Obviously, I headed right in.  Another girl was walking up with me and I guess the guy thought we were together so we got to ride in the same row.  Whether you are two or more you should always check out this line, you may get to ride together anyway. I feel like this is a huge secret that no one knows about.  The Manta is such a system overload that you aren't talking or even looking at the person next to you anyway.  No line. What an amazing discovery, right?!
Although, I'm not sure I can really give a more accurate review of the actual ride.  System overload is my best description.  When you get in you are sitting like a normal roller coaster.  By the time you realize your legs are pinned, the floor drops out and the whole coaster is tilting until you are laying face down at the ground.
Laying.
Face down.
Staring at the ground.
Totally freaking out on the inside, trying to look cool on the outside.  Once that baby starts down the first drop, Boom, system overload.  The G-forces are indescribable.  You can't help but scream/yell.  It's a mixture of excitement and fear so intense that I hope I can bring myself to ride it again.

So as you can see the trip was a huge success!
What a great surprise for all of us.
And this is a short list of all there is to do.  
Oh, and if you are curious what Tyce did most of the time....

But he was sure to flash his happy baby smiles at everyone and anyone who would accept them.  He was quite the entertainer in the few lines we did have to wait in.  I wish I could capture more of them on video, but lately every time I aim the camera at him I get a look like this...

But don't worry, I'll keep trying.  The Meat is hilarious when he really gets his arms and legs pumping while giving belly laughs.

So, Congrats again to our Grad!  We love you so much and couldn't be more proud!  You definitely earned your trip to Sea World and the many more to come!

Update:  I have not seen the movie Blackfish and these trips to SeaWorld were well before it came out.  But I am an animal lover and felt obligated to comment.  I don't plan on watching because I know it will be horrible.  And for the record we have not been back to the park or renewed our passes. Just hearing about it was impact enough for us.  The reason I loved SeaWorld was because I felt like it was such a huge educational experience for the kids.  The shows are great, but Ryder got much more out of the aquariums.  He loved walking though ALL of them and reading up on the creatures.  He loves anything to do with the ocean and is constantly giving us fun facts about different marine life.  They did a wonderful job with constantly talking about recycling and educating families on the effects that litter has on our oceans.  Did you know that sea turtles eat jellyfish?  A discarded plastic grocery back looks just like a jellyfish when floating in the ocean.  It kills the already endangered innocent turtle looking for a meal.  All improperly disposed trash eventually makes it to the ocean, even if you live in Kansas.  We learned that and other great information watching the 3-D movie Turtle Trek.  They also have a manatee rehabilitation center.  This is huge in Florida because manatees are such slow moving creatures that they often get hit by boats.  There are many of these centers scattered throughout our state.  Many people would never know that because they don't visit our local Wildlife refugee park, they go to SeaWorld.  I always felt that even if a fraction of the people at the park on any given day absorbed one of the positive conservation messages or started recycling when they went home that was HUGE.  Getting such an important message to such a large scale of people should not have to be at the expense of such magnificent creatures.