What a day! What a day! A happy, happy 7th birthday to my baby girl Ally. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Allyson, Happy Birthday to you! The day started bright and early watching a beautiful sunrise. I took the birthday girl and Joey out to the beach early this morning for one last seashell expedition. Vicki wanted to stay in bed. And so did Daddy. (Vicki, in general, doesn't sleep very much, but she sure does enjoy her snuggling under the blankets in the morning time. Joey, Ally, and I had a really nice time at the beach. And I feel a so guilty sometimes... when I have the passing thoughts of 'oh... this is so easy. This is so carefree.' :( I love it when my whole little family does stuff together. But, once in a while, I get a glimpse of how easy is it, and I feel so so guilty for thinking that.
Anyway... we got a few surprises again with our shells. :) In case you followed my blog last year, do you remember Bob and Larry, our big salt water hermit crabs we found in our shells last spring break? Well, they are still going strong! And now they have some new friends. We found a big 'eye' looking shell, who we named Vlad (a.k.a. Mike Wizowski, the eyeball). And Jerome and Libby. Oh, and Snot the slug. They met Bob and Larry when we got home tonight. The verdict is still out as to whether they will become fast friends or fast foes.
When we got back to the hotel room, we finally coaxed Vicki out of bed. Vicki did surprisingly well with leaving the hotel room. Of course it helped that we went out for a very fun brunch. A buffet breakfast. Yummy! And Vicki was quite happy with that. We really have to be careful with buffets with Vicki... but doesn't everyone have to be careful at buffets? :) Because Vicki wants a little bit of everything, and then wants a little bit of everything again. It was cute, there was a booth full of older ladies next to us and one of them came up to Vicki and told her how pretty she looked in her purple dress. And Vicki looked up at her and said thank you, unprompted. Awww..... love it. Then, of course, little pink birthday princess whispered to me, 'but mommy, I have a pink dress on, why doesn't she like mine?'
We had a minor meltdown, well, it would have been major if daddy wasn't with us... But on Vicki's schedule, we put a picture of 'row, row, row your boat' and Vicki has loved boat rides and canoeing in the past, but today as we were walking to the docks, she kept saying, 'no boat. no boat. no boat.' And I was walking with her and she plopped herself down , close to the side of the road and I couldn't get her to stand up. It scares me. Anyway, between daddy and the boat sightseeing company we made it. The company was amazing with Vicki; they were so accommodating and so nice. They let my husband take her on the boat first before everyone else boarded so she could get used to it. Have I said how amazing my husband is with Vicki? He got her to sit in the boat, and, yippi, we got the front 2 rows! Vicki plugged her ears for a while in the beginning and kept her head down, but by the time we were going full speed on the Atlantic, she was loving it. She looked so beautiful with her braids whipping in the wind and her dress blowing behind her as she would throw her head back and smile. So beautiful. I love having that snapshot of her etched in my mind. My husband would hold her arms out straight and she would stand up and stretch forward, it was like the Titanic scene. Vicki was having so much fun she kept trying to sit on the front of the boat as it was going fast. (Arghhhh.... my nerves!) And the boat crew announced Ally's name on the loudspeaker and we sang Happy Birthday. Best of all, we got to see at least 20 or so dolphins on this boat cruise. I was very impressed that all 3 kids lasted the full hour and a half!
So I just have to say how much I love little moments with the kids that make my heart swell. We stopped at a Chuck E Cheese for Ally's birthday dinner. It was not as painful as trips to Chuck E. Cheese usually are, surprisingly. I know I said this before, but I swear Vicki just wants to fight lately, such a pre-teen! She kept saying, 'dinner. dinner. dinner. yes! dinner. ' So we set a timer for her in the van and she settled down and said, 'first timer. then dinner.' Anyway, we got to Chuck E. Cheese and she didn't want to get out of the van. More of the stutter stop stepping. So, back to my heart swelling moment. Since it was Ally's birthday both Joey and Vicki gave Ally all of their tickets from their game tokens. Awww.... :) (And may I just make an observation here... the person who thought of the ticket thing at Chuck E. Cheese = brilliant. It's like the tickets are gold bars. The kids get so excited as the tickets come out of the machines... And, seriously, 100 tickets for a rubber frog? And they take hours and hours to pick out the perfect pieces of junk. It's like they are buying a new house or a new car.) Anyway, Joey and Vicki gave Ally their tickets for her birthday and then Ally decided that she would use some of her tickets for a toy for Joey and Vicki. :) But I did feel bad, Vicki was having a rough time at the end and Ally took a long time picking out the perfect sensory toy for Vicki and Vicki whined when Ally gave it to her. She kept saying no and pushed it away. (I think Vicki wanted a giant lollipop.) Ally looked sad. :( But she got over it quickly.
No one likes the end of an amazing vacation. Especially Vicki. It is heartbreaking. She is very good with directions and as soon as she recognizes that we are headed home, she starts, 'No home. No home. No, no home. Trip. Hotel. Yes! No home. No home.' And then she wails, 'No home please.' I feel the same way Vicki.
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