Beach Trip Drama

Our beach trip.....where do I begin. It was truly great....until Saturday night. Dylan was laying on the floor sort of gently wrestling around with his little cousin, Kaleb. Gavin then decided to join them, by jumping down on Dylan's neck! Dylan immediately jumped up screaming and crying in pain and holding his neck. He screamed and cried hysterically (calming down off and on only for a few seconds at a time) for almost 25 -30 minutes. I tried ice and gave him Tylenol. He kept saying that he was having shooting pains going down his neck and one time he even said it was tingling. So, I started to panic and we made the choice to call 911. We laid him on the floor and did not let him move his head. Side note: this whole time he could move his fingers and toes and he never loss consciousness. So first a cop pulls up and comes in. Dylan calmed down once he was there. Then an ambulance comes up about 3 minutes later. And then about 5 minutes after that ANOTHER ambulance pulls up. It was kind of like a scene in a movie. Anyway, they check him out, ask us what we want to do, and we said take him to the hospital just to be safe.

So here he is with the EMT before they toted him out to the ambulance. We couldn't help but laugh because he was just so little and cute and all bundled up. Plus the EMT started laughing so it kind of broke the ice and made Dylan smile
So anyway, Dylan had a CT scan and a neck XRay. Everything ended up fine and it was just a neck contusion. So an expensive lesson learned......Dylan is a dramatic child and we could have probably done without the hospital trip. But, on the other hand, a neck injury is a serious thing and you can never be too careful.

Now on to the fun part of the trip. We had beautiful weather the whole time. Our only complaint was the wind was crazy! It was so strong, which made the waves very rough and sand would blow by us and it would sting when it hit you. The boys had a blast running around and playing in the water. Gavin did great this year and was not scared at all. Grace did not enjoy it too much the first two days. She would sit on your lap and touch the sand. She eventually got up and walked around and played. But on the last day, she had a blast. She wanted to be in the water playing. This was brought on by Grace seeing Kaleb in the water and laughing and having fun. Once she saw that, she was ready to play. I have a few pictures from my camera. My mom has much better ones that I hope to get next week. But for now here are some.

My studs, Dylan & Gavin
Pretty girl, Grace
And this is a picture of my weirdo husband and weirdo son! They decided they would sculpt me in the sand. So apparently this is what I look like. :)

Headed to the beach

Dylan and Gavin left Sunday with my mom and dad for our yearly beach trip to Oak Island. Chris, Grace, and I are leaving for the beach today after work. I'm so excited! I spoke with the boys a couple of times and they are having a wonderful time. I can't wait to get there!

Weekend of Camping

We went camping this past weekend with our friends, The King's. We had a blast! I'm generally not into the camping thing, but the boys really wanted to go so I toughed it out and went. The whole trip was very enjoyable minus the sleeping on the hard ground in our tent. I have requested that we purchase a blow-up mattress for the next time we go. Momma won't go again without one and that's a promise! We (or maybe I should say, I) learned a lot from our camper-savy friends, Tony and Amanda. They were so prepared and had everything! I just assumed that since Chris grew up camping every summer with his dad and brother that he would know what to pack and how much to pack. Well, I wasn't thinking about the fact that he has never camped with two kids. We will be much better prepared next time.

Friday when we arrived Chris and Dylan put up the tent. Then we cooked our hotdogs over the fire and hung out the rest of the evening.

On Saturday we went to Chimney Rock State Park and took pictures at 2,280 feet elevation. It was beautiful. We also walked about a mile to see the bottom of the waterfall. It wasn't much to see due to the drought they are in. That afternoon we went back to the campsite and played in the creek the rest of the day. Then on Sunday it was more playing in the creek and packing up our stuff to head home.

Swim Lessons

We have just finished our fourth week of swimming lessons. What a draining four weeks it has been. Monday - Thursday from 6:15 - 7:00 pm. Busy, busy, busy....but it was well worth it! Dylan was not really a swimmer before this. He would not jump in the pool unless he had a life jacket on. So he was never able to keep up with his two cousins, Savanna and Ethan, who are like little fish and are great swimmers. NOW, he can keep up. He is still not the best swimmer but he can do the freestyle stroke nicely and he is all for jumping in off the diving board and doing cannon balls!

Dylan jumping off the diving board

Dylan practicing his strokes

Gavin was frightened when we started swim lessons. He would never get in the water at Grandma's house except for on the stairs and when you hold him in the water he grabs your neck so hard you can barely breathe. Well, he did the same thing the first week and a half of swim lessons. This kid cried and screamed and was petrified. I literally would have to pick him up and throw him in the water to the lifeguard. I was finally told that I couldn't watch and I had to go hide somewhere. The day I did that he quit crying and tried. The next day I was allowed to come back and watch and he has been great since then. He still cannot swim, but he is not scared at all anymore. He enjoys jumping off the side of the pool and off the diving board to you and he will kick his feet as hard as he can. He still has not mastered moving those arms though. This was the last week for swim lessons at the Cramerton pool so we will continue with them again in the Spring and hopefully he will pick up on it then.

Gavin - clinging to the lifeguards neck as they jump in the pool (1st week) Gavin practicing his kicks

Gavin getting ready to jump off the diving board by himself!! (3rd week)

Grace - walking around the pool

Today Is A Good Day!

Dylan is officially a Maynard! We received the letter yesterday in the mail that Chris' adoption of Dylan has been completed. Now all we need is a new birth certificate. This is so exciting as he will be able to start the 3rd grade with his new last name. We always sign him up for sports with Maynard, but the school would not let us do that because it legally was not his last name. Dylan is so excited also!!

Dylan Maynard
A couple of weekends ago we went went to the Belmont Festival with our friends Trent, Ragan, and Tatum. We had a wonderful time with them. The boys (big and little) loved all the rides. These rides tend to make me nervous because well it is a Carnival and you must wonder how safe these beat-down looking rides are. Let's face it, this is no Carowinds. Anyway, here are some pictures from that evening.

Me, Grace, Ragan & Tatum

Gavin riding the airplanes, which Ragan saw a few days later stranded on the side of the highway. I assume the trailer it was carried on was broken or something. Weird!

Dylan riding the bull

Chris and Gavin riding some kind of spinner Trent and Dylan riding an airplane

Grace and Tatum - Friends!

And a cute one of just Grace in her pigtails that I am now able to get her to leave in!

Gavin and his.....I don't know what to call it

Gavin makes me wonder sometimes. This child truly knows how to test you and I don't always know how to handle him. One day he is so sweet and wonderful to everyone, including Grace. The next day he is as mean as a snake and only wants to hurt or aggravate you, especially Grace. I think, well actually, I know at times he gets jealous of Dylan and Grace. Grace, because she's the baby and she needs "special" attention. This has been going on since she was born. Dylan, because he is older and gets to do the cool stuff, like go to Carowinds with his friend Braxton. Evidence of that jealousy was just found this weekend when Gavin decided to take a permanent magic marker and mark out the picture on a keychain of Dylan and Braxton when they were on the rollercoaster at Carowinds. This picture was one you buy from Carowinds and was a big deal to us and Dylan because it was his very first rollercoaster ride. Now it is ruined. When we talked to him about it he was truly sad and embarrassed and understood what he did was wrong. He really felt bad. I think I need to do some research on "the middle child syndrome" or whatever it's called. Maybe I can get some insight on what to do differently or maybe I should just pray a little harder! :)

Speaking of God......this Sunday after church Gavin just melted my heart. Every Sunday Chris and I ask both Dylan and Gavin how Sunday school was and what did they talk about. Neither of them really like to talk about it and just give me the typical 'it was fun and we learned about God'. It's very frustrating at times. They do the same thing with school also. Anyway, so after Sunday school Gavin says to me "God is with you, even when you are by yourself." I was completely caught off guard because I hadn't even asked him about Sunday school, but I'm elated that he even brought it up and tell him that is true and I'm so proud of him for listening in class. He then says "So, can I go somewhere by myself now, because I won't be by myself, He will be with me!" Hahaha....now that made us laugh. We told him he still had to be with an adult until he was older.

I hope to have pictures soon of the boys and their swim lessons. That has also been quite an adventure for Gavin!