Wilson’s World

Today is the last day of the last week of Summer Vacation. Preston starts school on Tuesday!! Therefore we went out with a bang ;0). We met JoAnna up at Squam Lakes Science Center. It was about an 1.5 hour drive and definitely well worth it. The kids had an absolute blast!  We were there for at least 4 hours and the kids were so excited the WHOLE time!

We saw all kinds of native animals and birds as we walked through the Science Center. It’s sort of like someone took the forest and put exhibits in it as you walk through. Using the landscape as the habitats. The natural spring ran through the exhibits, so the animals had fresh water flowing through. It was pretty cool. And each animal exhibit had a little “house” type of place where you could go in and explore different things about that animal. Plus there was so so so much hand-on stuff that the kids were never bored. And nothing was chained down. They even got to pick up bones and reconstruct a deer skeleton! Oh and they had this awesome kids area, which was like a big play type area that was themed after the forest. It was two stories with ground hog tunnels that you could climb through(not those plastic McDonald tunnels either, these were all hand made).

They even had a board walk through part of the area that went across a little pond.

It was definitely a great time and we’ll have to make another trip there.

*as before pix are on FaceBook and I’ll add a couple here later this weekend

Yesterday we got out of the house!

We went to the zoo with JoAnne and her crew. The kids had so much fun. It was a great day and we even saw a movie set. They were filming a movie with Kevin James in it, The Zookeeper, I believe. Anyways it was a good day and the two little ones were really good. Little X even took a nap in the stroller and was quite content there.

We even got to see the baby giraffe… soooo cute. And one of the tigers was playing in the water…. love that!

We left around 1:30, Preston went home with JoAnne and spent the afternoon/evening there. I think it was good for him to get away from the craziness. Especially since today he has been asking if Little X can go back to his other home… ha!

We met with my coordinator and Baby K’s attorney this morning. Got a little bit of information on what’s going on with her case but as usual is a waiting game. Waiting to see what happens with certain scenarios. Tomorrow I see her case worker from DCF so hopefully I can get some more info on what’s going on.

Tomorrow we go to Preston’s new school and meet his teacher and wander around. My neighbor is familiar with his teacher and said she is really good with the kids. :0)

I’ll get some photos posted later but if not and you have a facebook account they are on there.

yeah, I’m slackin’.

Little X is in the room with my computer that has pictures on it so those will get posted soon… hopefully.

Let’s see…. Friday I had a Dermatologist appt. Jarod took 3 of the kids to lunch while I took one with me to my appt. All is well, I have a couple things the Derm wants to take off. Well, actually one, I want another one off and she agreed. No Mom, not the mole on my chin… that one is staying. There’s one on my back and my leg. Nothing serious. So that will be taken care of in October.

Saturday we had a Bday party for Baby K. It was a lot of fun. And the rain didn’t hit until the end, so yay! Thanks to those who came and for the gifts!!! She loves everything :0)!!

Sunday, today, I had a “real” day at home with all 4. Well, Jarod and Preston went and played hockey with Jared and Marty in the morning. Oh did I mention Preston will be playing Hockey starting on the 10 of Sept :0). Which reminds me, I have to send out the other half of the payment this week. Anyways, today was crazy. Little X is a happy guy but is not all there. He has a muscle disorder that, from what I understand, is just the tip of the ice burg. There is an underlying condition that is most likely neurological. Like I said he’s happy but he’s almost a danger to himself and others because he has no sense of his self or pain or anything really. So I spent all day on guard making sure no one got hurt. It was EXHAUSTING!! I ended up taking a nap for about a half hour and left Jarod in charge. That was about all he could handle ;0).

So tomorrow we’re getting out of the house and heading to the zoo with some friends. It’s our last week of Summer Vacation. School starts on the 1st!! Preston is ready, or I should say, I’m ready for him to go back. It’ll be weird with him gone all day but it will also be good for him. Now I just have to figure out what I’m doing with Kyla :0)

Today we went to the beach….. and what an adventure it was.

We left here at 9am to Lawrence where we were to drop off Little X for the day. He had a visit and we already had plans for today so Mentor helped me out. WELL, I called the lady and told her we were on our way, all was fine. THEN, 1 mile from her house she calls me and says she can’t do it because her foster daughter didn’t want to go in the car to take Little X to his visit and she didn’t know when she was going to get out of bed. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! I just don’t comprehend that type of situation. I mean seriously whose the parent!!!!

So I was a little peeved and called MENTOR who was also peeved and just had me bring him there and they took him to his visit. After his visit they met me up where we were so I could get him. I’m really happy with the way Mentor helped me out… thank you guys!!

So on to the fun stuff. We met a couple friends and their kiddos at the beach. 12 kids 3 Moms to be exact. It started off fine. JoAnne got there first with her crew and set up “camp” and then we got there and got set up THEN this camp of kids came. Not a small camp either, like 50 kids and where do they sit down, right, NO, directly, NO, basically on top of us. It was high tide and they stopped and dropped their stuff between us and the roped off dunes behind us. Literally like 10feet. The WHOLE beach and they are right behind us. Okay this really isn’t a big deal but what made it a BIG deal is that the kids AND counselors started walking directly across our stuff and not just one here or there groups of them! It didn’t take long for us to start saying something to them. I mean come on, you don’t take a huge group of kids to the beach and park them in a confined space directly behind people. Anyways, even the life guard talked to them. Some were understanding and helpful and others were jerks. But our point got across and finally everything got worked out. Then we all, JoAnna was there by then, enjoyed the rest of our day.

It was a fun day. The kids had a a lot of fun running around in the sand and water. Baby K is a crazy beach bum. She loves it. Little X, after warming up to everyone and the idea of the beach, had a blast too. He really loves the freedom to run and luckily he stops when I call him… well most the time :0).

After our long day we headed out around 5:30 and had dinner and ice cream and then made our way home. I think we finally made it home around 7:30. Got all four in the tub and bed. Even wrapped up Baby K’s presents. She’ll be 1 tomorrow!!!!!!!

Yes, we have a new little one running around!!

We’ll refer to him as Little X. He’s 2 and a bit delayed. He also has a medical condition but is otherwise healthy. He arrived here at 2:30 today and soon fell in love with Preston :0). He’s a happy guy and doing well. We are caring for him while his Foster Mom has surgery. As soon as she is better then he’ll head back. So for now we get to have a crazy house full of kids!

So far so good. The things I was told he needed help on, he hasn’t. I also found it sad that he came to us with just a few clothes that ranged from 3 months to 3 T. I mean seriously, we get paid to take care of these kids’ needs and not only are his clothes all over the place, but his shoes are to small(and they look almost brand new). I don’t get it!

On the brighter side of life, I got to get out for a bit tonight. Met up with some friends at a local pool hall and mainly talked as I was pretty late, but not late enough for a drink and a few shots… of pool, not drinks ;0). Anyways, it was nice to run away for an hour or so, especially after getting 4 kiddos to bed.

Anyways, off to bed. Heading to the beach tomorrow!!!

So it’s been really muggy… gross muggy!

I did some cleaning this morning and then headed out to meet a couple friends at the lake but unfortunately the lake was closed. They had treated it for something and it was closed to swimming. Luckily we are very spur-of-the-moment people and changed plans while driving to the lake. Dawn got there first and saw the signs(barely ;0) and then the phone tree started ;0). We then all met up and drove out to a spray park in a nearby town. Nothing much but the kids had fun and it was a nice change. Plus I got to hang out and talk, which is always nice :0). Oh and it was free, gotta like that :0).

Kyla and Preston had fun in the water with their friends and Baby K hung out eating watermelon… her favorite!

Our site(the sites are huge!):

Fishing:

S’mores:

Pony Rides:

Swiming in the many pools… they had 4 and 2 were heated!

Back at our site making s’mores with our Story House and Tent in the background:

We went camping at Normandy Farms down in Foxboro, MA this past Sunday through Wednesday. It was a good time away. JoAnna and family joined us and another family came up for the day on Monday.

I have to say Normandy is VERY well taken care of. Very clean, organized and roomy. Our site was huge. The staff was wonderful and there was a ton to do. Including free childcare one morning!

The kids had so much fun they didn’t want to leave.

We’ll definitely be going back next year!!!

*the pics are on the other computer so I’ll update that later :0)