Beach Fun

Sure, this is late being posted and I considering just skipping over everything that happened in the last month and taking care of current news, but I just couldn't! We had such an incredible time at the Outer banks that I HAD to share some of the photos. We had a ton of laughs (see the hair-dying pictures), some excitement (see the hang gliding), lots of fun in the sun, some shopping, some game playing (Tim and I rule at Horse thief!) and of course, LOTS of good food. Without a doubt, we all gained some extra pounds during that week!

Allan's highlight was probably deep sea fishing. I didn't review this with him before publishing, but it is my guess. He went out with Uncle Steve, Tim and Eric. They brought back a big bag of cleaned (thank goodness!) blue fish, which weren't even blue. Go figure! Nonetheless, they tasted incredible! Someone shared a tip with them to soak them in buttermilk for a good while before cooking them. It must have done the trick, because they were some of the most mild fish I have ever tasted. We had them with boiled shrimp and grilled scallops. Does it get any better than that?!

My highlight was hang gliding. I opted for the tandem flight. I did this to avoid 3 hours of lessons and because I got to go higher. We were actually taken up by an airplane and then I squeezed the release bar! Wahoo! What a rush! I felt just like I do when I fly in my dreams. We all have those, right? Where you are flying like a bird everywhere.

Will and Emma's highlight was the swimming pool at our house. While I believe they enjoyed the beach, they clearly LOVED the pool. Now that they are both swimmers, it was so much more fun. And of course, they had someone's attention at all times.

Jack was a real trooper and I am not sure what his highlight was. He wasn't too sure about the beach with all of those gigantic waves coming at him and knocking him down. He did enjoy the pool table and hanging out with Eric. He also entertained everyone with his knowledge of the alphabet and made popular the phrase "what does the E say?"

It was just a great vacation with great family! We're ready to go again!

There are TONS of awesome pictures from the week, but to avoid overloading the blog, here are a few of my favorites......

Here I am ready for my first flight!

Eric, Brittany, Danielle and I were the only ones brave enough to try hang gliding.

This is the whole group at the beach our first day.

Jack hams it up for the camera

The color of the week was ORANGE (our family favorite!).

We had breakfast at Bob's Grill (check out the full name on the sign).
While I would love to publish some of the pictures taken during the process, I thought I would be nice and simply post the end results. Believe it or not, this picture just doesn't capture the true color of red that Nana's, I mean Bozo's, hair turned out to be.

Will was in heaven at the Wright Brothers Museum.

Jack is such a stud! Can you tell we were all sad to leave?

Beating the Heat

Hel-lo! It has been hot here lately! So hot, that I haven't even been allowing the kids to play outside except after dinner for a short time. To avoid a high stress level (mine and theirs), I have had to think of ways to beat the heat (yeah, me!). I took all three kids to the pool, by myself, for the first time ever. This may not sound like a big deal, but prior to last month, all three were non-swimmers. Ever try to watch 3 kids at one time, in a crowded pool, when any of them could drown at any minute?! I call that a nightmare, so we basically never went swimming without Dad. Now that Will and Emma have completed their lessons and are able to swim without life preservers, I braved the pool ALONE. It was AWESOME! Will spent the whole time in the deep end, going down the slide or jumping off the diving board. Jack stayed at the "baby" end and poor Emma spent time between the two, but was never allowed in the deep end without me. She is a good swimmer, but I am still nervous about letting her go alone. We all had fun and stayed cool, so that is what matters most.

Another fun activity that we tried was the Children's Museum. What a hoot! The kids LOVED it. I had a blast just watching them. They were so excited, they didn't know which exhibit to try first. :) Will's favorite, hands down, was the Krispy Kreme doughnut factory. Like his dad, he was completely geeked out over how everything worked and probably spent an hour "making doughnuts". Emma and Jack loved the grocery store. Jack couldn't' get enough of filling and emptying the carts and Emma liked being the manager, helping everyone get their jobs done (even kids she didn't know!). I enjoyed yoga story time the best. We listened to a story about a starfish and then did yoga positions to mimic the sea creatures in the story. It was a riot watching Jack close his eyes, inhale and then stretch his legs out like a starfish. I was really impressed by his ability to listen (yes, I am talking about Jack) and then follow directions.

After spending 3 1/2 hours in the museum, we went out for lunch, where Jack went back to his normal behavior. He tried playing with a strangers silverware while I was ordering at a counter, tipped over a bud vase that was full of stinky water while I was getting everyone drinks and wanted to touch everything in the dirty bathroom while the rest of us were getting our business done. I guess even Jack has his limits of how long he can behave! Take note, Mom.

A Weekend Away - For Everyone!

The time finally came for a "girls' weekend away"! Just as plans were firming up, I got a call from a friend inviting us (the family) to come and spend some time with her family at Hilton Head. Drat! It just wasn't meant to be for me, but after a LOT of coaxing and pleading, my friend and I talked Allan into taking the kids there himself. So, early on a Friday morning, Allan and the kids hit the road for Hilton Head and my friend, Rhonda and I hit the road for the mountains and Asheville!

What a riot it was! First, we had to drive the Civic, which I had not driven in almost 6 years. Allan had it all spiffed up for us and I thought I was good to go. HA! I guess I had forgotten what it was like to drive the little box of zero horsepower. Not only that, but I had not considered what it would be like driving the 5-speed in the MOUNTAINS! I will just sum it all up by saying my legs should look like those of an athlete after a weekend of driving in a mountain town with a 5-speed! OK, so they don't, but they SHOULD!

Next, I want to point out that I nearly ate my way through that town. Maybe that is what negated the leg exercises in the Civic. Hmmm.....anyway! The food was awesome! I really could have eaten at McDonald's all weekend and still enjoyed it, but we really hit the jackpot on some good food. What a joy it was to sit down and have quiet conversation while deciding on what to eat. I didn't have to read the menu to Rhonda, which was a plus. And then! The best part is that I didn't have to cut up Rhonda's food when it came! This allowed me to eat my food right away, which meant it was hot! Hooray! Our best meal by far, was at the Lobster Trap. It was so good that I had to take a picture of it. I dined on pecan-crusted Mountain Trout, Asian string beans and lobster macaroni and cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Other than eating, we shopped at lots of little boutiques and hit a "few" bars. Our favorite bar was Jack of the Wood, which was an English pub that had a live band at night. The band didn't live up to anyone's expectations, but the pub was fun and we scored a couple of cool t-shirts.

On Friday night, Asheville had a street fair of sorts with beer and wine vendors and lots of locals running around. We had a great time there and made some new friends. We even went dancing at Magnolia's and did the old drinking days routine of hitting the Waffle House for breakfast before heading home.

Another highlight was hanging out at the hotel pool. I believe I last did something like that back in high school! It was just nice to lay around and not have to worry about a thing (or someone). It was also the perfect activity for "the day after".

As for Allan and the kids, I can pretty much sum up their activities for the weekend: swim. They had a GREAT time swimming in the ocean and the beach. Other than that, they simply had a great time being with our friends.

Good Friends, Good Times

We spent the week of July 4th with good friends from Ohio/England. What a great time we had! We more or less toured North Carolina, hitting Raleigh, Blowing Rock, Winston-Salem and Seagrove. While it was fun to visit all of these places, what made the week, was spending time with good friends. Every night, was a "party on the deck", complete with cigars, yummy drinks, candles, and tiki torches. I can't tell you how much I simply enjoyed talking, drinking, laughing, drinking and laughing some more! It was a great time.
Good friends, good stogies
Allan tries out his new bottle opener from the Raleigh flea market
Allan after a few Jackie Daniels
My hottie

Fourth of July

Now that it is almost the Fourth of August, I thought I had better take a few moments to post our pictures from the Fourth of July. We were lucky enough to have our friends, Mary Jo and Allan down from Ohio and a last minute visitor, Nana.
Allan, Allan and Will took off in the morning to go fishing at a nearby park that has a pond. Will LOVED the adventure and Daddy enjoyed it so much that he has been trying to squeeze in some family fishing during the weekends, but they just end up being too busy. Nonetheless, it was a great time for the guys even though the fish count cannot be posted due to embarassment.
While the guys were fishing, the women shopped! What better activity for a lazy holiday?! When we all regrouped, we ate like piggies and relaxed around the house (well, as much as you can with three kids running around). At dusk we went to a nearby parking lot on the suggestion from a neighbor to watch the fireworks. What a bust! All we saw were the tops of trees with a little color above them. We couldn't even hear the booms and crackles. From here on out, we go with our gut instinct and sit UNDER the fireworks, even if it means fighting a crowd afterward. We made the best of it though and were clearly the most patriotic folks in the whole parking lot - maybe even town! Here are some shots of the celebration.....
Even the Brits can celebrate - kind of!
The festive family
Emma with Nana
I'm not sure what I was grabbing for!

Dedo

While our good friends, Mary Jo and Allan were visiting, we took them to Raleigh to the State Fairgrounds flea market. It is quite a place with lots of interesting things to look at. After walking up to the first booth, we knew we had found our treasure of the day.

His name is Dedo and there is a story behind him. The following is what we found on the Internet:

The "Legend" of Dedo
"It all began in Paris when the Notre Dame Cathedral was being built, rising majestically stone by stone towards the heavens. It was custom to top each structure with a menacing gargoyle, who protected the cathedral by warding off evil spirits.

Marie Therese, a nun from a tiny convent in Provence, disliked the evil-looking gargoyles on the new cathedral, sitting so close to the heavens. Disguised as a man, she trekked on foot to Paris, entered the work site, and quickly carved a small block into a lovable, protective creature. She placed her creature, with its pointy ears and human-like feet, on the highest roof, visible only to God Himself.
It was undiscovered for centuries until a small boy, lost in the labyrinthine structure, stumbled off a ledge and rolled down a roof into the arms of the littlest gargoyle, perched quietly on a ledge. Since that time, Marie Therese's creature was affectionately known as Little Dedo, the gargoyle with the crossed toes."

So, we now have little Dedo watching over and protecting our children while they play in the driveway. Too bad he wasn't around when Emma fell off her lawn chair.......

Jack refused to pose with Dedo, so here are Will and Emma with their new protector.

Thoughts of a 4-Year-Old

Yesterday, we were on our way to swim lessons and Emma started thinking out loud. She was wondering how people learn to be mommies. It also intrigued her to think about how adults just "know everything". We talked about those things for awhile and then she started talking about being a mommy herself and that she was going to have a little girl. I asked her how many children she wanted. She decided that 3 was the best number for her. I asked if she wanted all girls or if some of the 3 could be boys. She thought for what seemed like an eternity and then proclaimed that she would let "God decide" what each child would be. Great answer for a 4-year-old, I'd say!

On a side note, Will has decided that he wants 10 children. This has been his number for quite some time. He has also decided that we should have more children in our family. It is hard to disappoint children, but sometimes you just have to!