Potty Training Part Deux

Remember way back when I potty trained Marie? It was about 17 months ago. I've tried various times to potty train Peter, but he would only pee when I told him to go. Even if it had only been 15 minutes since I told him to go potty, he would have no problem going on the floor. We never managed to have him successfully poop in the potty. I would get frustrated and put him back in diapers. He just didn't seem interested in actually going in the potty--just in wearing underwear.
I planned on revisiting the issue this August when I would actually be home for a while. I had a lot of vacations planned during the summer and didn't want to try to deal with potty training while we were out and about. I did want to get it done in time for him to go to preschool.
However, my sister decided that she would take time out of her life to spend the day with Peter. She helped him come up with rewards that he wanted and helped bring him to the potty all day long. He had an accident that day, so it wasn't perfect. Overall, though, he had a great day. I left the next day for my cruise, so my parents took over for the next few days. I had him for the week we were in CA, but then my parents took over again while we went to Disneyland to reinforce going in the potty. My sister held a "Potty Party" for him at McDonalds and I made him a "brown cake in the black pan" that he requested (That's how Peter asks for a chocolate cake in a bundt pan).
While I won't say we've been accident free, he's finally seemed to catch on. In fact, he'll now even clean himself and his clothes up when he has an accident. He's mostly accident free and is seeming to do well enough at night to be night trained as well.
A big thanks to my sister and to my parents who helped do a lot of the work!

Disneyland!

Didn't we just go to Disneyland? Yes. Yes we did. 

Scott and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary this winter. However, our babysitters are going to be unavailable after mid-August. So, this was planned with only about two months notice. I didn't feel we had time to be gone for more than a few days, since my parents were already watching my kids while I went on a cruise. Plus, we just didn't feel we had time to do research and plan something more complicated. So, Disneyland it was! We enjoyed being able to go on rides together. We enjoyed going our pace and skipping rides if we don't want to go on them. We enjoyed not having to park a stroller. We enjoyed eating at restaurants that we'd never go to with the kids. 

Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids for us. We had a great time!

California

I went to California with my parents to visit my brother's and my sister's families. Scott was gone to be on staff for a Varsity Scout camp. I didn't want to be home alone, and so we went to California! We went swimming almost every day. We went to the park a couple of days, played with cousins, went to the Jelly Belly Factory, went to Fenton's (the ice cream place from Up), and stayed up way too late talking. I love my family and am so glad that my kids got to know their cousins better.

Don't look now, but I have rocks and wood chips in my mouth. Yummy.

Bahamas!

I went on a cruise with my sister. We worked out for my parents to watch my kids so that Scott could keep working. She does not have a significant other to go with her. So, she invited me! We went out of Miami and visited the Bahamas. We went kayaking, snorkeling, and went to Atlantis. I loved all that we did on the shore. We did a spa treatment on the cruise ship. My sister even humored me and we went to the gym a couple of days It's amazing how much easier it is to run at sea level!

We were able to eat dinner with the captain and one other crew member. Somehow we were picked out as one of the 3 "couples" to eat with them. The captain was surprised to hear that we're sisters and that we actually wanted to go on a trip together. I don't know why that's surprising! I love spending time with my siblings. I loved being able to spend some one-on-one time with my sister who lives a few states away. I loved having a break from reality. 

My thoughts on a cruise are that I would do it again. I enjoyed seeing snippets of cool places. I'll never have the money to really give each location its due, so this is a way to see at least a bit of it. However, I don't know if I would have paid to do all of Atlantis, because I didn't have TIME to do all of Atlantis. So, for next time, I would pick something that I felt was more appropriate for the allotted time. The cruise ship itself was fine. Not spectacular. Kind of like a cheap Las Vegas hotel on the water. So, since I don't drink, I don't gamble, and I don't watch "adult" shows, we pretty much were out of stuff to do by 10:30 at night. Oh, except sleep. I do enjoy a good night's sleep.

I'm not sure it's obvious we're sisters. The two of us are not that similar looking.

Happy 4th of July

We celebrated small-town-style like we always do. We showed up to the parade about 30 minutes before it started and still got a front row seat (notice we're sitting right in the middle of the road that comes perpendicular to the street. Yeah, you can do that). We watched a parade that only lasts 30 minutes. Most importantly to the kids, they STILL throw candy! We also watched fireworks the night before. Happy Independence Day!

Aren't I clever to put all my boys in red and white?