2 beach trips and 2 seizures

Thursday 1st Jan 2015. A new year, a new month. So our monthly children's photo tradition continues into a next year. What a lovely little grin from Asher.
The children have "discovered" the sand pit again recently and Brooke came over to join them in their games today.
Friday 2nd Jan. Brendon surprised me by taking the day off (the 2nd is a public holiday in NZ).
So we decided to head down to the beach. Asher just loved the feel of the soft sand on her feet. It was so sweet to watch her.
The older children went exploring the little hill. Ruth being a great big sister and making sure that Hezekiah could manage.







Below: A good opportunity to take a family photo before heading down to the water.
Nice that Asher at least knew to look at the camera. :-)

Once Asher spotted the sea she started running. Brendon had to keep holding her back as she just wanted to go right in. It is so sweet to see her excitement and joy.
And then Asher got quiet. Up till then she had been giggling and continually walking towards the waves, so Brendon picked her up to check her. She was having a vacant seizure.
Brendon and I quickly ran up to the surf club and got her face washed off so we could see the colour around her mouth better. Thankfully it only lasted a couple of minutes and then she slept.

I am glad the other children had already had a lovely time in the water. Lovely memories made today.
I had made lunch for us all to have in the car on the way home. Asher even managed to eat a little bit before she fell asleep on the trip.

Asher just went straight into her afternoon nap when we got home. So she was up earlier than normal. Thankfully Dad was home to keep her entertained outside. She had a fun time "helping" him.
Below: Saturday 3rd and I was pleased to get Hezekiah's hair cut today. I only thought to take a photo later (it looks really nice when it was wet after his bath). This time it was short back and side (like Dad) and then I used the scissors on the top so that it was not too short.

It was nice to see how pretty the girls hair looked in the evening - ready to go to church. So nice how they help each other too. Now to just work out how to help them learn to balance "dressing nicely" for church and not being vain.
Sunday 4th. I had seen that there was a sand castle competition at the beach on Sunday morning - so we headed back to the beach.

This time Brendon went right in with them. First Asher got her wish - going all the way in. :-)

Then Hannah asked to go in too. She got really scared as she thought the waves would make her go under (so she shed a few tears). She would do it again though - so the fun of it did triumph. Rachel and Ruth helped with Asher so I could take a few photos.

Hezekiah was braver than Hannah and although he said afterwards he was a bit scared with the really big waves - there were only smiles from him.

Ruth walked in as far as she could and then Brendon picked her up when they were deeper than what she could stand. She loves water - so she had a great time.

Rachel had tried to go in with Brendon and Ruth, but felt a little bit nervous. So she waited her turn and then headed in with Dad. He even managed to get her to try out body surfing.

She had a great time.
Unfortunately the excitement of the day seemed to get to Asher again. When I took Asher from Ruth (after getting all my photos) she was not herself. At the time we were not sure if it was a seizure, but looking back we think it must have been a mild one. She just wanted to cuddle in my arms and have me hum her sleeping song to her. She didn't actually sleep but it took her a while to get back to being her happy, smiling self.

We stopped at a local shop to get some hot chips. The kids have always longed to stop and play on this "castle" - so it was another special day with special memories. Even though the outing was cut short (because of the seizure) and they didn't get to see the sandcastles (as we had arrived too early), it was still a fun filled morning.
We ate hot chips on the way home and were pleased to see Asher feeling better and enjoying the chips too.