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Davin starts school tomorrow and so we decided to squeeze in one last outing. We visited the Carolinas Aviation Museum  which is near the Charlotte airport. The museum is now home to the famous " Miracle on the Hudson " airplane as well as several other interesting pieces including a helicopter that was used in Vietnam to rescue 18 wounded soldiers (the captain of the helicopter carried the men through a mine field to the helicopter himself and was awarded a medal for his bravery) and a test plane used to collect data to develop the plane that broke the sound barrier. I know these amazing facts because a gentleman gave us a personal tour, otherwise my experience would have been much simpler (i.e. there are planes at the plane museum). The boys don't have much patience to allow me to read exhibit explanations. After visiting the museum, we went to the airport lookout; you can park your car and sit on a bench to watch the airplanes take off and land. I was disappoint...

I explained what a cochlear implant is three times today. The first time was Rowan's new teacher, the second was a man at the airplane museum, and the third was a guy who walked up to us at the airport lookout. Obviously talking to Rowan's new teacher was essential and I was happy to have her time on the subject. I was happy to share with the other two gentlemen and they were genuinely intrigued and excited by the possibility of giving hearing to a deaf person, though the gentleman at the park (who was an engineering and computer science student) kept trying to "test" the device by talking to Rowan, and the man at the airplane museum showed Rowan the special plane designed for handicapped individuals and let him look inside (not sure if he thought we would relate to the plane for some reason or if it was an easy one to show the kids). It has been an interesting experience navigating the attention that Rowan receives from his unique head gear and admittedly it is som...

Rowan said goodbye to his tonsils and adenoids last Thursday. Apparently they were too large and it was time for them to go. He wasn't too excited about the surgery (he kept informing the nurses that it was my turn instead) but a little happy juice helped his willingness. Rowan is a pretty tough kid, though. He was a little grumpy coming out of recovery but by the afternoon he was bouncing around his hospital room. He and I stayed the night as they felt like he needed the observation time, but by 7:30 the next morning, he was bolting for the exit with an IV still in his arm declaring "ready to go!" (Honestly I was ready too; hospital couches are not that comfy.) Davin decided that Rowan had it pretty good. Not only did he get to stay in the hospital with a room up high and bed with cool buttons, he got ice cream and popsicles whenever he wanted them. Davin complained of "headaches" and told us that he needed a popsicle to make him feel better too. Davin did enj...

The summer is nearly over and we are getting ready to send our boys back to school. We had a great summer doing a lot of fun favorites and some new activities as well! A friend of ours recommended the a boat ride on Lake Norman just north of Charlotte. They gave the kids milk and cookies, read stories, and danced to music. We had a great time! We also discovered the new Discovery Kids museum in Huntersville. We played there for hours! Davin loved playing with the airport set-up and Rowan was a fan of everything. The boys both had a great time with the costumes and the stage.

Last week Davin went to Sports Camp, something he has been anticipating all summer. The camp was run by his PE coach and computer coach from the school he will attend this fall, so I was looking forward to him meeting them to start warming Davin up to kindergarten (which isn't really necessary because he is really excited to go!). When I dropped Davin off at camp, he seemed a little wary of all the different faces, but he soon found a friend that he knew and then he forgot all about me. Later when I picked him up, the coach told me that Davin had a great time playing soccer and the only moment Davin mentioned wanting to go home was early in the morning when he said he had a cramp in his arm. I had no idea what a "cramp in his arm" meant and didn't think much of it. When Davin was climbing into the car, he stumbled a little and started sobbing in an odd way; the same thing happened again when we got home, a moment of strange tears that wasn't typical behavior. It r...

Instead of having a lot of trips this summer, we are enjoying having family vacation here with us instead. Hopefully Hotel Rees doesn't disappoint! We love having guests stay and we were excited to welcome my sister, Amy, for a visit. On our first day together, we took the boys to Zootastic, a private zoo north of Charlotte. We started with a tour from this guy (who proved somewhat unenlightened about 3 and 6 year olds with his lengthy discussion of rabies safety). After ditching the tour, we had fun feeding the animals. The next day the boys had swimming lessons, so we all went to the pool. It was a surprisingly cool day for Charlotte, so we had the pool to ourselves. The boys both did really well with swimming lessons this year! Davin can swim on his own and Rowan is getting close (he loves to spend his time diving for pool toys instead). We took advantage of the cool weather and headed to Latta Plantation Nature Preserve to visit horses and do a little hike. The weather...