Easter Vacation

We spent Easter Break in New England with the Miles Family. They had kindly donated Kelley over their winter break so he could see our Upward program that he started 5 years ago. We drove up Tuesday night but it was actually very early Wednesday morning because Chris forgot to set the alarm. We arrived at 10:30 on Wednesday and spent the day with feet up and enjoying catching up with each other. Elijah greatly improved his sleeping habits our first night there. When we had been up in August nights were a struggle with him and Chris did some serious disciplining with him and he was miserable. Wednesday night though Elijah went to bed in John's bottom bunk happily. Thursday was the big outing. The took us to Maine. Why is this exciting? It gave the kids another state under their belts and they got to see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Here they have never been farther than the Bay. Chris and Jessica were in it for the seafood, not necessarily lobster. Caleb is the only one who likes lobster. The got to the lighthouse and the rocks and it was WINDY. At first Elijah was very hesitant. The smaller you are the stronger the wind feels and Jessica couldn't get him down to the rocks. Meanwhile Rebekah and Caleb and John are pushing the limits of boundaries on the rocks in relation to the surf. Rocks by water...Rebekah and Caleb could've stayed all day even with the wind. Chris finally dragged Elijah down the rocks, which buffer the wind, and he liked it. He also liked that Hannah was with him. Yes, our youngest the girl magnet, our older woman guy. It makes 3 Hannahs for him and he keeps them straight. This Hannah is the only "hannah" though he talks about the other two with first and last name. The tide was coming in and we went back to the cars just in time becuase a wave broke over the rocks we had been playing on and that water is COLD. So we went in search of food to let the tide go back out. Well, turns out early April is stillo ff season in Maine, who'd have thought with the wind and the chill? I mean did you notice that everyone is we wearing winter garb and some of us hats? This being our first trip to NE in April we were prepared because it was still cold at home. Our expert friend who was coming up to the Cape forgot her coat and was miserably cold. We felt for her. Spring Break speaks certain things--winter coats is not one of them. Back to the off season. It was Thursday and nothing was open. There were some delis and hamburger joints open but Jess was seafood focused and she doesn't count lobster rolls as seafood. So we ended up making Kelley be spontaneous and adventurous. After 3 attempts of menu checking whihc included one restaurant that had open their window but wasn't open, we found a family style restaurant well off the shore. Bos'uns was a good fit for the family, paper napkins is always a promising sign. Now the food. It was nothing fancy but it was excellent. It's Chris and Jess' kind of place--baskets and combo platters, sides of fries, rings and slaw. The kids split 2 baskets of shrimp, cole slaw, and fries and there was a lot of food in those baskets. Chris had order onions rings to start and they were some of the best we've ever had. The onion was thin and sweet not bulky and sharp like at cracker barrel. The crispness was the clencher. You could bite the onion ring and not have the whole onion slither out of the batter on the first bite and have to eat two more bites of batter. The fries shared that batter. Chris and Jess split the combo platter with shrimp, haddock, and clams plus a baked potato for Jess. Jess is not a clam person. You know clam strips--they are little and skinny and chewy. This is not what came on the platter. One of these clam strips equalled probably 4 of those piddly little things. They were wide and meaty and had CURLED when they were fried. Jessica ended up helping herself to more off Chris' plate. The had some happy Shullys after that meal. Oh, we are easily amused by signs if you can tell by the pictures. The kids LOVE watertowers for some reason and these had a lobster on them. Then the bathrooms up there were buoys and gulls.

After lunch we went to walk the shell-less beaches and feed the gulls. Chris and Christine found that you could get them to catch the bread in the air. Christine and John got the birds to take it out of their hands. Elijah and Mary Beth were content to throw the bread to the masses.

Friday we went to a free Christian movie festival. We got to see Abe and the big promoise (a lesson in patience) on the big screeen. It was followed by an evangelistic pre-teen flick about making good choices, something about Beyond the Sky. The premise was these two boys never make good choices and the class is on a field trip. One steals a sovenior and leads his friend on a galavant through the science museum finally being chased by security. The museum goes dark and a "night guard" confronts the two boys. He talks to them about the creator and choices and God and Jesus who neither boy believes in. They're given the chance to walk across the great divide on a skinny little cross. By this time Caleb is in tears and curled in Jessica's lap. One boy crosses. The other (the follower) refuses. Caleb can't stand it; he's getting loud and wants to leave. Jess carts him out to not distract others. Out in the hallway, Caleb is very aggitated and distraught. Jessica is able to get him talking about "what's wrong? what bothered you?" "Mama, the boys wouldn't make good choices." "Oh, well what kind of choices did they make?" "Mama, they didn't follow directions, they didn't stay with the group they were bad." "Yes, but one of the boys made a good choice didn't he?" "Yes." "Which one and what did he choose?" "The boy in the blue he chose to have Jesus in his heart." "that's right and isn't that exciting?" "yes, but, Mama the boy in the red DIDN'T WANT JESUS." and our Caleb just broke down in sobs so grieved that someone would refuse his Savior. Caleb continues to astound us with his sensative and discerning spirit.
After the movies we headed to a park for a picnic and to let the kids enjoy a very beautiful day outside. We did decide to come home Friday night to much protest from the kids. Chris and Jessica were just concerned about Easter Sunday logistics if travel didn't go right. We were treated to watching 3 episodes of the Muppet Show before we left. Caleb found it quite entertaining! We left happy and relax and with a pilot of Amish Friendship bread (thanks Hannah).
Saturday allowed us to do what we've needed to do for a while. Pick up Rebekah's glasses. She failed the test last year but it was not letters and we chalked it up to a lot of "Being 5".At her 6 yr check up she flunked the letter test and it was recommended to get glasses. Yes, we have insurance but Chris and I have struggled with the plan at our former doctor's. We had let it slide because we hadn't checked with the insurance. Well, we had the same doctor for caleb's 5 yr check up and she looked at Rebekah and then asked, "Have you gotten glasses yet?" Yup, time to go. So Jess finally got on the internet and found a list of local places that took the insurance and chose For Eyes with "Dr. Gilligan's Eyeland" on 40. Rebekah passed the color and depth parts. We go into the room she gets in the chair, Dr. Gilligan put the light on in the mirror and puts up the 3rd row or letters on the chart. The BIG part of the chart. Rebekah just sits there. She can't see them. She can see the 2nd row, kind of. The BIG E, she did gget the BIG E. Dr Gilligan asked where the sight came from and just not thinking Jessica claimed responsility but added she wasn't THAT young. When the exam was over and Rebekah was 150/20 Dr Gilligan told Rebekah she'd be "able to see the leaves on trees." Ugh, poor thing, but Jessica knew that "oh, she gets her eyes sight from her Pah." Same situation, he didn't know there were individual leaves on tree, he just knew trees were green on top. Rebekah found a lovely, smart looking pair or glasses that both she and Jessica liked. The whole ordeal cost $15. Even better Rebekah gets one replacement a year should a lense go or frames break. They adjust for free it is repairable. Ah, Chris' job is the best! We count ourselves blessed and Rebekah is very happy.