If you can, say a prayer for Emma today.  She's getting phase two of her orthodontics today, the palate expander.

It will look just like this

Twice a week we will turn the thing in the middle and it will slowly push her palate out.  She has a high arch palate (higher than normal, but thankfully not cleft), and this will also bring that down.  Her prominent buck teeth will have room to move back into alignment (with the fixed braces that come next), and will hopefully correct her overbite.

She's nervous.  And we don't know how much her speech or eating will be affected.

So, prayers if you've got 'em!

Fore!

We have become a mini-golf family!  We played 3 times in 4 days, and on one round Emma got 3 hole in ones when the rest of us didn't!

We also made some time for the great playground!

And some ninja warrior training!

We also hit the rides on the boardwalk again, and Scott took Emma on the log flume - toby refused to go on, so we just watched!

Snap happy

I must've developed a love of photography from my dad, and I indulged it big time this trip, taking pictures of the bay, dunes and beach.  Here are my favourites, that will probably go on canvas for my wall!

Emma's and my footprints in the sand, reminding me of my Gran's favourite poem

All of these taken on my [old] iPhone!

Ahoy Mateys!

On one day of our mini-break we surprised the kids with a pirate cruise.  We weren't sure what to expect but figured that Toby's love of fighting and Emma's love of the dramatic it had to be a winner, and it was!  We all had a fun time as the crew acted out a story, involving the parents, treasure and an attack on the high seas!  Toby got to help raise the flag, and Emma pulled it back in.

Toby refused to even look for this picture!  He was acting tough around the other boys!

Time for a quick family picture too!

Emma said this was her favourite memory of the whole trip!

Beachy

After the first day, toby refused to go in the water again until the last day of our break!  

Here are some more pictures from our beach time, including Friday evening, when we didn't get to the beach until the place was largely deserted!

Chasing seagulls!

And singing to the ocean!!

We were there until the moon came out!

Epic sandcastle/lair/ball drop

Kept getting bigger!

Everybody was boogie boarding by Satruday, including me!

Emma graduated to diving into wave with Scott!  First hanging on his back, then going for it herself - only where she could stand.  I can't say I was ever totally comfortable watching her dive under a wave, but I was very proud!

Mini-break

Scott's been working 6/7 days a week all summer, so we weren't sure we'd get away for a vacation.  With the pool membership the kids have had plenty of fun in the sun, but we wanted to get away just the four of us, no competing issues.

As Scott's building nears completion he felt able to get away Wednesday-Friday.  We decided not to let the kids know there would be a change in our routine!  When Scott came home Tuesday he said we should extend the trip into Saturday, so we added a night at the hotel.

We put the kids to bed as usual, and set up a hint that something fun might be coming for them to find in the morning:

They didn't get it at first, thinking they were pool toys, nor did they pick up that Scott was home on a Wednesday!  Anyway, when we told them we were taking them to the beach for the day they were so excited.  We usually go a few times each summer but this would be our first of the year.

Scott built an underground lair for Tobys turtles!

We buried the kids

We managed to get Toby in the water, he had fun but it would be two more days before he'd try again!

Then friends of ours who were in town stopped by for a quick play date!

At the end of the day we told them we were staying three more days and staying at a hotel.  They were crazy excited!

The hotel was on the bay side of the city, so we had some pretty great views

We also hit the boardwalk for some fun on day one!

I'll post more after I get the laundry done and we are back to normal!