The week is over, and it's been fun!

Daddy comes home tomorrow from his kayaking trip. Actually, we'll be going to pick him up in Staniel Cay. Me and the boys and our good friend Joel (Daddy to all the boys next door) will be taking the Mako up the Cays tomorrow to retrieve my man :) He's had beautiful weather and a much easier paddle on this trip than the last one. 

Early in the week we read Curious George Goes Camping (like Daddy is of course) and then we got the idea to put up our tent that Jeremy & Heather gave us a while ago. The boys thought that was pretty cool, and they've been playing in it all week. This may become a routine thing for trip weeks now..."Camping like Daddy!"

I couldn't have asked for a better week with the boys. We had a lot of work stuff we had to do this week and it had me a little nervous. It's usually stuff we try to take care of before Dallas leaves, but for various reasons it just couldn't get done this time around. 

Joss has been wanting to wear his Big Boy pants a lot lately, but he still isn't quite ready to wear them (meaning he still doesn't go to the potty when he needs to GO). He's getting closer though, and I think he's just going to kind of be like, "okay, I'm ready to use it now!" but we'll see. It's really hard for me to believe that this is Joss in this video. He looks very similar still (grown up more of course), but he is talking SO much now that it's hard for me to remember him like this. So, this time last year (Emit was still in my tummy)...

What cracks me up now is that as I was choosing the video to put up here Joss was sitting in my lap. When he saw himself throw the balls over the wall he would say, "OH NO, better get it!"

So one of our tasks for the week was to get the trailer fixed so I could take the boat out of the water. I needed to take the boat out of the water so I can haul it out to Barretarre to put it back in the water tomorrow to go get Dallas (may not sound like it makes sense, but it does). I don't do a lot of the running around for stuff like this because it's just not fair for the boys to have get hauled all over in a hot truck running errands. But as moms know... that's not always avoidable. They were great little helpers though and made momma proud :) 

Of course the guy that usually does the welding on our trailer was off the island for the next two weeks, so I had to find someone else to fix it. Once I tracked someone down we hauled it down to the shop. The guy there wasn't the most pleasant natured man, and when I asked him where he wanted me to park it he showed me a slim fitting gate I had to back-in and then maneuver around all these cars that were getting fixed. So I replied with a kind of humorous and trying-to-loosen-him-up comment of "I'll try!" And his smart-ahhhhh reply was "Ain't no tryin' to it... you the driver...you betta get it where it needs a go!" Okay, so now I'm a little nervous because I don't think this guy will like it if I just drop this big ole thing right in the middle of his yard and say FIX IT, BUD! With less than an inch to spare in either direction I finally got it to where he was happy. One thing I did appreciate was how quickly he said he would have it ready (that day or the next-- and he stood up to that). 

So the next day I went back down there to pick it up and I was just kind of preparing myself for his "pleasant" attitude again, which he failed to disappoint and displayed in all his glory. Then when I had to take the trailer out I had even more obstacles (cars) to navigate around--UGH. But once I got it out with about 5 guys around me yelling for me to "Go Back, Hard Right, Soft Left, Straight, Whoah....." I was FREE :) And as I was leaving the guy yelled, "Well, after that drivin' you've earned license!" (The nicest thing he'd said all along)

After we got the trailer fixed we needed to get the boat out of the water. We decided that we would give the WOMEN of EXUMA a crack at doing this all by themselves :) Me, Lyndsay, Ann Ligon and all our boys (Joss, Emit, Caleb, Mason & Haegan) all packed up in the boat and headed to Stocking Island as a pit-stop on the way to the ramp (where I had dropped the truck and trailer earlier). 

The boys had fun getting out and doing something a little different. It made me pretty nervous to be in charge of the boat and all that precious cargo on board, so we went at a nice leisurely pace :) The boys had fun finding starfish, hermet crabs (Joss let one bite him on the lip... a crab that is) and for a few minutes Joss was having fun jumping off the boat. I hate that there is a drop of water right in the middle of all of these, but he didn't give me any time to wipe it off, and I'm glad I got this one.. this was the last time he did it :)

Just so you know... that was all Joss' doing (jumping off the boat). I didn't ask him if he wanted to do that. I'm sure he saw one of the older boys doing it and he wanted in on the fun too. 

After a fun afternoon at the beach we took the boat in and got it up on the trailer. It only took us adjusting it one time for us to have it where we wanted it-- for three USA gals, I don't think that's too bad! The trailer then decided to have a really, really low tire which I had to stop by a place (prayerful the whole time that they would still be open) and get a friend to put some air in it for us. Ahhh... there's never a dull moment (or stress-free) when you are running your own company on an Out-Island. 

Today was the most challenging day all week and it's probably because we stayed inside all day. I kept asking Joss if he wanted to go out and he kept saying "No, stay in here." So... I wasn't about to fight him and go sweat outside, but that meant they didn't run around quite as much as they usually do... so they were a little irritated at times and got a little fussier than they have been. It still wasn't a bad day though. See below...

They were having fun going back and forth across the room holding hands. And then later during the day we learned how to do front rolls... and Emit was even getting in on it. I would point to the ground and tell him to put his head down and he would do just that. Then I would give him a little boost :) Joss picked it up in no time and did it for at least 20 minutes straight. 

Emit got up earlier than Joss from their nap... and here's how he and I were playing then...

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better week on my own (doesn't count weeks when I have some helping hands from CC & Bev--those are the best). The boys were fantastic and I was able to get enough accomplished that I didn't feel completely helpless. Hope to post a very easy pick-up and tow-back day with Dallas tomorrow!