Challenging July

July has been filled with some great summer fun, but I think the lack of routine has been a real challenge to Ashton, hence a big challenge to the family as well.

To start Ashton had an absolutely lovely time with my niece Lindsey's son Collin.  Ashton was so happy to have a playmate for several days in a row!

Video gaming buddies

Enjoying Crabs with the family

Ashton continues to enjoy playground camp with all his little buddies!

Twins at the Walkersville Carnival

Mid July we went to Bethany Beach with Ariana's family and Ms. Jessica's family.  Genetics was strong on this trip!  Ashton and Ariana where a force to be reckoned with.  They definitely feed off each other and unfortunately NOT in a good way!  The good thing is they really got along VERY well and seemed to enjoy each other's company greatly!!!!

Trouble!!!!

Beach fun!

Ashton said the highlights of the beach trip for him were flying a kite and sand surfing!  I must say I was super proud of him for trying to stand up on the boogie board, I didn't think he would do it, but he did!

"Look mom, I did it!"

Sand Surfer!

Lastly, this summer Ashton begged me to put up our "redneck" pool.  While it was a pain, I am glad I did.  He has spent many happy hours in it!  Plus with a little creativity he and daddy created a "redneck waterpark".  LOL

Redneck waterpark

I usually don't write the tough stuff down in these blogs, but July has really been a whammy.  While at the beach at night, Ashton and Ariana ran away.  Needless to say it was terrifying.  Thankfully they were found at home safe and sound, but for a while there it was pretty scary.  Apparently, they destroyed someone's sand castle on the beach and someone saw them and was going to tell on them, so they ran.

Also Ashton has been threatening to kill himself on numerous occasions.  Some of it of course is just for attention when he doesn't get his way, but one day I actually had to talk him out of jumping from his bedroom window.  That really shook me up!  Needless to say he is back in counseling again!  I hope and pray that learns how to manage his emotions more effectively before the hormones kick in and that he will develop some impulse controls so he is less reactive and slows down to think about the consequences of things.

I am headed to Thailand for two weeks in August so hopefully Ashton does okay with the Nannies and daddy.  It will be the longest I have ever been away from him.

Bring on Summer and 2nd grade!

Ashton had the most fantastic school year at Lisbon Elementary!  We are so super proud of him!  His report card reflected all his hard work!

Last day of 1st grade

By the end of the school year his teacher reported that he caught up to his on grade level peers for reading!  Go Ashton!  In math he continues to soar, scoring in the high average category.  My favorite though comes from science.  One of the special education para educator sent me this little gem from science class a sound and water investigation!

Someday Ashton will find the humor in this!

Olav has been wanting a mohawk for quite some time now, so he finally got his wish!  He does look super cute!

Mohawk dude!

Lastly, all of Ashton's short life, I've always referred back to the book Ruby in her own time.  It's a book about a baby duck who eventually is able to do what all the other ducks do, but she does it on her schedule not anyone else's. This is Ashton to a t.  We've been trying to get him to learn how to swim, but he has been very resistant.  But finally this weekend, in his own time, with some help and instruction from Lily he finally learned how to swim!!!!  Yeah Ashton!  I think he is pretty proud of himself!

Busy May

Our May has been full of fun adventures and a few medical traumas for Ashton.

First, Ashton contracted Lyme's Disease from a deer tick and had to be treated with a 2 week course of antibiotics.  Fortunately he got a classic bulls-eye rash that we recognized and was able to be treated immediately!  Then following that, one night why he was helping me clean the bathroom, he accidentally sprayed Windex ammonia in his eye.  Poor thing!  Flushing out a 7 years old eyes with water is not fun!  But he was a trooper.  However he kept saying between the deer tick and the ammonia that he was "having the worst time of his life".  He even had to do a time line of his life from birth to the present for math class  and his milestones were, going to Norway at age 1, getting an Xbox 360 at age 6 and getting Lyme's and spraying ammonia in his eye age 7.

Mug shot

Bulls Eye rash

On the adventure side, we have taken 3 fun family camping trips with various friends.  Ashton of course has had a blast.  Camping is his ultimate happy place.  He loves riding his bicycle and exploring the woods!

Our first trip was with the Cagle family to Cunningham falls.  We took Ashton's buddy Nathan who had never been camping before.  Ashton and Nathan were quite adventurous climbing up Cunningham falls and throwing sticks into the water.  They also found a dead copperhead snake....ugh grossness!

Our second trip with was with our small group bible study to Gettysburg.  It was a cool damp weekend, but the kids had a blast!   The boys played in the "expanded" creek and even got in the heated pool when it was 54 degrees outside.  Even at 80 degrees they were shivering!  They rode "bikes", and Ashton and Ariana even played together!

The stream was the biggest hit even with the chilly air temperature

54 degrees outside, 80 degrees in the pool, Kids:  Crazy!

Last weekend we went to Killen's Pond with the Henry family.  Ashton and Charlotte were little adventurers, exploring all the hiking and biking trails they could!

Ready to kayak

In school Ashton continues to excel.  He really seems to have an aptitude for math.  Recently he learned how to tell time.  He is really proud of himself!  I think he even moved up reading groups!  One proud mama!

Lastly, every day Ashton's topic of conversation revolves around his next birthday celebration.  One day, he wants a party, another day he wants a big gift like a video game system, one day he wants a party, another day he wants a basketball hoop and so on...

Childhood aspirations

Ashton's childhood aspiration is to be a you tube star, so he can get lots of companies to sponsor him!!!  Dream big little guy!

7th birthday party!

This weekend we celebrated Ashton's 7th birthday party at Stratosphere Trampoline Park.  He had fun playing dodgeball and jumping on the trampolines with all his friends.

He also received his first full report card from being at Lisbon.  He is doing fantastic.  I could not of been more pleased!  He is really growing in skill in math and in reading!  His confidence is soaring!

This week, something else happened that made me realize Lisbon is the perfect place for Ashton.  On Tuesday night, Ashton accidentally sprayed window cleaner directly in his left eye.  Long story short, after multiple flushing treatments at both home and at the pediatrician's office, his eye looked like he had been in a heavy weight boxing fight!  The next morning we went into Lisbon to tell both the school nurse and Ms. Shields.  Ms. Miller the nurse was so kind and compassionate to Ashton.   When Ms Shields saw him, he climbed up on her lap and just let her cuddle him.  He obviously felt safe and loved.  My heart melted.  I thought to myself, "this is why Lisbon".

Branching out

Ashton is branching out and thriving academically.  Today was crazy hair day.  Usually Ashton is not a group activity partaker.  He usually refuses to participate in special school days like pajama day, color day etc... however today without any prompting from me he decided he wanted to style his hair for crazy hair day.  He had trouble getting it up in a mohawk, but was able to give his hair a little style with a little water and gel.  Also his teacher told me today that he has made huge gains in reading this quarter.  He started out in January on an E level and he just passed the G level.  She was super impressed and she is going to move him up to a higher reading group.  So proud.  Also Ashton had his artwork featured in the Lisbon Elementary Art Show Panel at the Columbia Mall.  Again super proud of his accomplishments!  The PE teacher confided in me recently that she absolutely adores Ashton,  he is one of her favorites!  She even got him to square dance and apparently he was even smiling and laughing!

Ashton's donut 2nd from right on bottom

Check out his crazy hair!

His birthday was this week and it was rather quiet.  He didn't really want it acknowledged at school.  We will have a birthday party for him next weekend at a trampoline park in Eldersburg.

Last weekend we had an informal Easter egg hunt with Kodi and Aly.  I think Ashton had a really good time!

Vamos a Guatemala

Ashton took his first trip to Guatemala with the family!  He did very well!  I think he had a really good time playing with Luis Miguel, Pat and Bill's son, playing with their four dogs, Felicia, Pinky, Tres, and Lucy, and playing on a variety of playground equipment in different places!  It was also a good experience of learning to live without internet or tv for a week!

Our first day we visited a park called Florencia Ecological Park, an open and wooded space park/playground with wooden rustic play structures, hiking trails, covered pavilions with outdoor wood cooking called churraqueras.  They also had a 2 small pools, horseback riding, a man made concrete pond with no water and pretty views of the hills.  We spent a lovely afternoon exploring the park!

Ashton had been hankering to climb a tree, since the moment we touched down in Guatemala, so he finally got his chance.  Ashton enjoyed himself on the many tree swings, swing sets, and climbing structures

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The next day we celebrated Easter with Pat and Bill at the Union Church in the city.  It was a pretty boring service, but Ashton did very well.  We were very proud of him.  Upon returning home we did a mini chocolate Easter bunny hunt. Luis Miguel had never done one before.  Not sure he was a fan!

Later that afternoon evening in the pueblo of El Hato we visited Earth Lodge. We had to hike down about 300 meters down to the earth lodge.  There we were greeted with  amazing views over valley and with a little bit of cloud cover some of the volcanoes.  We enjoyed playing on the playground overlooking the valley while eating and listening to some acoustic music.  Of course Ashton enjoyed playing on the playground the most!!!

The next morning we headed to Antigua for our professional photos and to enjoy some time at the Hotel Soleil.  Ashton thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool and playground.

In Antigua Ashton was eager to climb on ruins and go to the market and buy a backpack.  Unfortunately we never made it to a set of ruins he could climb all over. We also visited the Ninos con Bendiciones in San Antonio Aqua Calientes.  I think Ashton found it a bit overwhelming, but I think it was good for him to see.  We decided to sponsor a little girl named Ivanna who is 7 years!

Ivanna with us

The next day we visited Finca Filadelfia Coffee Plantation just outside Antigua, Guatemala.  They had many options for activities.  We took a coffee tour by Jeep.  It was little disappointing, I thought it was going to be more like a Jeep safari tour, when in reality it was more like a drive down the street, get of the jeep, learn about coffee, get back in the jeep, drive a few more feet down the road, learn about coffee etc...If we had known we would of definitely done something else like zip lining or something!  Oh well...next time.  Ashton was not really a fan.  He ended up abandoning the tour after the 2nd stop and opting to play on the playground with his fellow man cubs!  Thank goodness they  had a playground!

This captures Ashton's feelings about the coffee plantation tour

Unfortunately that night we all got really sick and so the rest of the trip wasn't quite as fun.  To celebrate the kids birthday's we visited Grizzly Pizza in San Cristobal, Guatemala.  Ashton enjoyed the large oversized playset for a short while.  We had a birthday cake, but poor Ashton was so sick he had gone to bed early and slept through the night. 

 

Despite the illness at the end we had a very memorable trip, but we were super ready to come home!  Until next time Guatemala!