BEACH TRIP UPDATE from Mike

I'm back home preparing for a busy week of work while Brooke and the kids are staying at Hilton Head for another week.

Last week was a lot of fun and we enjoyed friends, beach, pool, putt putt, and many other things.. Kids played hard and the adults chased them by day and played board games by night.

As I headed home I looked forward to a quiet week (besides work) a lot less than I thought I would. The last thing I saw while leaving was Eli having a full blown meltdown which broke my heart...

Ella continued to improve from her marathon GI illness....dramatically... She has gotten some of her weight back and her energy and mood are better (most of the time). She is in one of those phases where she really likes her Dad, and she colored me at least 10 to 15 pictures for us to share.... Each had her name and my name on them. She really liked the pool and the beach and as the week went on she became more and more independent. We started the week with me having to be in the pool right beside her or even holding her, and finished the week with her comfortably swimming around the pool all by herself (well...with her water wings). The final advance was her swimming with her face underwater... I didn't even expect that after all the screams I've endured every time a drop of water hits her face in the bathtub. To top it all off we went to an outdoor show for kids and the singer /entertainer had all the kids come up on stage. I wouldn't have given you $10 that Ella would even go up there, but not only that she raised her hand a volunteered to sing a song in front of a hundred or more people! Her put her on his lap and asked her how old she was and she said "fwoor" and then he asked her some other questions that were beyond cute. Then he asked her what song she wanted to sing and she belted out the "ABC's song" right in the microphone... She sang beautifully !!! In summary, she's eating constantly swimming like a fish, and surprising us all the time.

Eli was classic Eli all week ... lots of entertaining, kissing everything, lots of hugs and smiles....fearless as ever! He's digging the pool as well.

Landon swam, rode waves and played a lot of Wii with his friend Jason. He was very well behaved all week, and just went hard everyday and slept hard every night.

Pictures will be coming soon ... There are some good ones...

Please pray they all stay safe, and for Brooke to have the energy to handle them by herself on the beach and everywhere else.