Turning 5

Our first born is now a five year old who will be off to Kindergarten next fall. She is the independent, opinionated child she has always been but is really starting to look like a big girl instead of a little kid. She is quite proud of the big kid she has become. Can't you see the transformation from 4 (pink shirt) to 5 (blue dress)? We celebrated with a Backyardigans party in our backyard surrounded by friends and family. Our adventure took us to the beach where we helped our Backyardigans friends decipher a birthday message for the birthday girl.

Birthday Adventures

For Savanna's birthday trip she wanted to picnic at the airport and then visit the children's museum in Raleigh. It was a beautiful day to be at the airport to play and watch the planes. There were quite a few taking off and landing while we were there. We tried to talk her into the state fair but she insisted on the Marbles museum. It is huge and gave us all plenty of entertainment. Savanna enjoyed designing dog clothes while Sadie wanted to surf and play soccer. We closed the museum down and headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and yummy birthday dessert which we savored for days.

New Tricks

We like to head to the park whenever possible although it is not as often now that we have our own playset in the backyard. Savanna has been practicing on the monkey bars at home and sure enough can make it all the way across most monkey bars she meets. Sadie is a brave soul and will try anything so the big playground in Elon provides endless entertainment for her.

Oh Sadie!

The terrible twos was a breeze with Savanna but Sadie has a different take on the term. She is our child who is into EVERYTHING. To make matters worse for us she is also very opinionated and independent. One of my favorites is when she got out of the car while I was holding her arm. As soon as she stepped to the ground she crossed her arms and said in an I mean it tone "I do it myself!"
Another example, this morning I went in her room to get her up and she is holding up her diaper. Yes, the one she went to bed wearing the night before. Thankfully there were no additional surprises except that she had also put her pajama pants back on sans diaper. As of right now, she is still wearing no diaper and am keeping my fingers crossed that she is not sitting in a puddle of peepee at this moment. This girl is giving us a run for our money!

Crystal Coast

Now that we have found the beaches here we are hooked. Our trip to Emerald Isle was a blast and full of beautiful weather. The first few days were cool, as you can tell by Sadie's stiffness in the water. But by the end of the week Savanna's bookini was just right for jumping waves. We had a busy week of adventures including the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, the Maritime Museum in Beaufort, and Shackleford Banks. Savanna loved seeing dolphins. Sadie had a good time in the water and searching for shells. Thank goodness for tidal pools and this trip provided a large one with hours of entertainment. There was skipping shells with daddy and jumping waves with mommy. There is so much to do while at the beach!

Beating the Rain

We enjoy the zoo and one Sunday we decided to pack up and go. The forecast was calling for rain in the late afternoon so we thought we would try to beat the weather. An early picnic lunch hit the spot and then we headed in to see the animals. We started in Africa, but it did in fact start raining while we were there. We will have to save North America for another time. The rain did take us to the aviary exhibit which we usually bypass on a sunny day. There we saw lots of colorful birds. The girls also liked the vents on the floor. Many times we found Sadie with her head down with the air blowing her hair. The elephants were so close to the front of the exhibit that we could see the hair on their backs. We saw lemurs, gorillas, a lion, emus, zebras, and giraffes. Though our trip was cut short we had a good time with the "amals" at the zoo.