On June 11, we took the boys to see Thomas the Train at Tweetsie Railroad as an early 4th birthday gift for Houston. Since the amusement park is located about five minutes from Uncle Adam’s house, we stayed the weekend at his mountain cabin.

That first night was a rough ‘cause both Zeke and Gabriel woke up with coughing fits. Since then, we’ve upped Zeke’s allergy meds to include both Singulair and an inhaler, and have also been giving Gabriel some nightly antihistamines.

The birthday boy strikes a pose w/ our beloved Thomas.

Thus far, these medicine tweaks have helped with their cough-variant asthma (yeah, we’re pretty sure Gabe has the condition, as well, but we won’t know for sure till he has his allergist appointment later this month), but unfortunately, we didn’t have those extra prescriptions on hand while in the mountains.

Despite sleep interruptions on Friday, the boys were raring to go on Saturday. Adam went to Tweetise before us so he could hook up with Mr. Willie and his kids, Jack and Lettie (also twins). They’re our pals from Charlotte, who we don’t get to see that often, but they were able to make the trek to celebrate Houston’s birthday.

We were also treated to a visit from Granny and Grumps, who came to town for the occasion. Granny did Tweetsie with us, while Grumps vegged out at Adam’s.

The kids’ first ride was the merry-go-round. Houston and Zeke were comfortable, but Gabe was a white-knuckled about the whole thing. Next, they “drove” the racecars. The one Zeke and I were maneuvering broke down, so the lady in the car behind us actually had to push us into the finish line. Zeke thought that was way cool.

The 3 Amigos fly on the airplane ride @ Tweetsie.

The airplane ride was a huge hit, but the tilt-a-whirl was a bust. Everyone hated it, except Houston. “Too fast,” Zeke told Daddy, while Gabe shrieked and clutched me as we rode the seemingly endless torture machine. I was never a fan of the tea cups, so I don’t know why I thought I could pull this off. Luckily, no one hurled.

Our train ride with Thomas was much more pleasant. As the high, lonesome whistle echoed through the mountains, the boys settled in for their locomotive adventure. There was a welcoming cool breeze blowing through the train cars, and the smell (and gritty feel) of coal permeated the air. The ride featured a cowboy-and-Indian skit and some passenger-participation hijinks. What a blast!

After that, the kids had ice cream, met Sir Topham Hatt, rode horses and relaxed in a stage coach. The good times continued once we were back at Adam’s, where the 3 Amigos, Jack and Lettie shot bad guys with their new guns and played to their hearts’ content.

Zeke loves his & brothers’ first-ever ride on the merry-go-round.

That evening, Granny and Grumps took the boys back to their house so Stephen and I could spend some kid-less time with Adam. It was a lovely respite after our day of Thomas fun.

Other June stuff: Houston’s actual birthday was June 26, and we had a small pool party for him (details and pics in the next blog).

The day before our neighbor, Miss Heather, and her kids, took Houston to see his first movie at the theater: “Cars 2.” And earlier that day, Heather and her girls entertained all my boys at their house for hours on end so I could get some shopping done for the birthday shindig.

Moms Club had a playgroup at a “spray ground.” The free facility features geysers, huge water guns, falling buckets of water, arching fountains, misting sprayers, etc. It was a fabulous way to cool off after working up a sweat on the park’s climbing equipment, and all three boys were adventurous on this aquatic outing.

Granny & Gabriel get serious about driving their cool race car.

Houston’s swim lessons were a smashing success. They finished up on June 22 and his coach, Miss Bethany, gave him a positive final report card. Houston’s progress was amazingly fast. He now feels comfortable in the water and understands the basics: paddling, holding your breath under water, floating on your back, pool safety, etc. He is at the point that he’s willing, able and excited to learn even more about swimming.

Houston also likes showing off his new skills to Gabriel and Zeke, who absolutely love imitating anything and everything that big bro does, so hopefully Houston’s knowledge will rub off on them.

This was evident the last time I took them all swimming at the Y a few weeks ago. Daddy met us in the pool after his workout and the twins were drastically more at ease in the water than they had been the two previous times. Thus, it was not near as stressful for me – always a welcome thing for any mommy.

More good news re: Houston comes from his annual eye appointment. You may recall that Houston has Horner’s Syndrome – damage that occurred to his sympathetic pathway while in the birth canal – which in turn affects the muscles in his left eye. The congenital condition gives him slight ptosis of this eye lid and causes the eye to be hazel, not brown like the other.

Houston & Gabriel enjoy the view while riding on Thomas.

In fact, the doc said that his Horner’s eye will probably continue to lighten as he ages ‘cause the lacking sympathetic stimulation interferes with melanin pigmentation in the eye. The doc added that he wouldn’t be surprised if Houston had one brown eye and one blue by the time he was an adult. Are the ladies gonna love this or what?!

Houston was courageous and polite at the appointment – a total 180 from his abhorrent behavior from his previous visits – and has, thankfully, overcome his fear of the eye doctor. We are quite proud.

But the best part of the visit was that the check-up couldn’t have gone better. See, Horner’s can oftentimes lead to astigmatism, damage to the lens and/or cornea, and all-around bad vision. But thankfully, Houston’s eye sight is great and the doc sees no signs of any of that other bad stuff. So, if his appointment next year is as good as this one was, the doc said that he will only have to have eye exams every two years.

June also entailed a visit from Granny and Grumps. As always, they freed us up to get things done around the house and yard. But it was an especially timely visit for me since I was trying to heal a sprained ankle I got from tripping over Zeke and landing on my foot weird while trying not to crush him.

Ride ’em high, cowboys: Daddy offers encouragement to the dudes.

• Some twin notes: Neither Zeke nor Gabe has mastered the fine art of spitting. But what’s especially funny is Zeke’s version of “spitting” while brushing his teeth: leaning forward dramatically while exclaiming “dobby.” Yep, he’s a nut.
• Gabriel has officially stopped saying “gock” and instead uses “yes” like a pro.
• Both Gabe and Zeke are asking lots of questions, which pleases Miss Pat. “What that sound?” is a favorite of Gabe’s.
• Zeke’s new fave statement is “Me need some-den.” He never knows what that something is, but he finds great pleasure in asking for it.
• The kids have finally memorized our one Veggies Tales CD from beginning to end. I do believe it’s high time to invest in a new album of ditties by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.
• The 3 Amigos are also making great strides in learning their nighttime prayer. I’d say Houston’s about half way there, while the twins are excellent at yelling out a few words here and there, most notably the final word(s) of each refrain.

Click the helicopter photo to check out the part 1 pics from Tweetsie and the above photo to see part 2. Lots of June pics, including birthday and spray ground shots, are forthcoming, as well as many other visual goodies.