I'm Ready For Summer!!

We went camping this last week. It was incredible! We stayed in an RV, so I'm not sure if you really consider that camping, but we had a great time! The girls built a fire, roasted hot dogs & marshmallows. We played games by the fire with the assistance of a big light and a bowl for the dice. We also played games inside. The girls taught me a new game that they had learned at school, Mancala. That was a lot of fun. The RV had a blind that separated the master from the living area where the girls were sleeping we turned the light on in the master & we made animals out of our bodies while the rest of the family tried to guess the animal (sort of like a really big shadow puppet or like shadow dancing). The girls' great-grandmother lives not too far from where we were staying so they also got to spend more time with her which was great too! They also got to see some of their cousins that they haven't seen since Christmas.

We also flew kites. This was fun, we had our "usher" moments when Rebecca couldn't see hers because it was too bright so we just explained it to her. She still enjoyed herself and was proud that the string was all the way out.

When we were at the Texas/Oklahoma border, the girls got out next to the Texas sign and did several poses together and separately. One of the poses, Rebecca signed love & Jasmine made the "x" like she was signing Texas. I love it when the sign in pictures!! We have pictures of family members signing in our house - mostly ILYs. I just love it because it is like they are talking through the pictures - it makes them much more memorable.

We had to come back early because a nasty storm was headed our way, but I was grateful for the time that we had. Rebecca's school audiologist also said that she noticed Rebecca's non-implanted eardrum was red, so we had an ENT appointment late that afternoon. We came home, unpacked, watched a movie, the girls took naps & then we went to the appointment which was pointless - her eardrum was fine. This was her first time at this ENT and the only information that they gave me was that she was profoundly Deaf - "really!" I wanted to shout! I'm shocked!" Anyway, I didn't, it was just a total waste of time but I was relieved to hear nothing was wrong with her eardrum. I was glad that I was already off work and that Rebecca didn't have to miss any school for this appointment.

The last day of our spring break together I took the girls shopping for their summer swimsuits and then we went to an indoor water park and let them have fun for a few hours. The one thing that I do not like about this park is that their lifeguards rotate every 20 minutes or so. I try to let the lifeguards near the deep end and around the areas that I'm most concerned about the girls know that Rebecca is Deaf so that they won't keep yelling at her if they need her attention. I am always within distance, but she's 10 and needs some space. I also have her sister stay close. One area that I tell is at the slide because we can't all go down together. This is difficult when the person changes every 2o minutes. I ended up having her sister go up with her and then staying down at the bottom. After swimming we went to the girls favorite hot chocolate place and had hot chocolate and rice crispy treats. Then we went to go see Horton Hears A Who. There are no captioned theaters in our area, but Rebecca seemed to be fine with this movie. I've noticed that cartoons are more difficult for her because she can't read the lips. This movie seemed to be fine and she understood the point. It was another great day and the girls were wore out by the end of it.

I can't wait until summer and spring break has gotten me antsy! We have to decide on a summer program for the girls and plan our summer. During the summer we will go to Sea World San Antonio, SEE2 Conference, Sports Camp, Rebecca will to go to a hearing camp, both girls will go to a foster/adoptive camp in East Texas, VBS & Rebecca will be adopted somewhere in this summer (hopefully towards the beginning). Last year it worked out that there was something every 2-3 weeks. We will also try to fit in more camping (of course).