The Big Apple

 Mommy's birthday field trip was with the family to New York City. What an exciting way to spend her birthday weekend. Our flight up was delayed but we made time to visit M&M world before a LATE bedtime. The next day we were off to explore the big city. We checked out the Central Park zoo and Central Park itself, where we found this Alice in Wonderland statue. It was fun to climb!

The next day we took the Staten Island Ferry across to catch a view of the Statue of Liberty. WOW! Here she is in the background from Battery Park. On this day we also explored Chinatown and Times Square. That ferris wheel in Toys R Us was so much fun!

Quirky and Fun-loving

Our sweet Sadie bug just turned 3 years old. She is growing up way too fast for my liking. I know that EVERYONE says this but I really feel it with my second born. She is so easy going (most of the time) and easy to please that I feel like time is flying by with her. Drawing is the favorite past time at our house and her favorite thing recently has been to draw smiley faces. What a perfect party theme! She designed her thank you note cards. Planning our parties is as much fun as the parties themselves.

The Windy City

We were so excited to get away without children in October. Noah had a class in Chicago and I love to tag along. It has become a trend (and a joke) that we vacation with the marathoners. We were in Disney World for their marathon in January 2010. The weekend we visited was the weekend of the Chicago Marathon. I was excited to get in on the action by watching the first several finishers cross the finish line. It was all the talk around town that weekend and our hotel was close to the start/finish lines so we were fairly knowledgable by race day. Not being a runner, I can only watch in admiration as these people push themselves to run such distances. The signs of support were awesome! People were cheering on everyone and providing encouragement along the way. The morning was a good life lesson as well! My goal on this trip was to explore different neighborhoods. This is what makes a big city so appealing to me. Success!!! I visited Chinatown, Obama's Hyde Park, Greektown, and accidentally, a little piece of the "hood". Oops! We agreed that this was our best visit to Chicago yet. Can't wait for the next class!

Beach bound, AGAIN

I LOVE the beach! Anytime of year you don't have to twist my arm to spend time listening to the ocean, looking for dolphins, and playing in the sand. This place brings me peace. We don't need an excuse but this time we had one. We had to stop on our way down and back home to love on our newest family member, Ava. She is better known as baby Ava at our house and the girls were as smitten as I was. Even Noah couldn't wait to hold her. I thought it would be a while before I was Aunt Carrie but I love my new alias. We spent the weekend at Emerald Isle seeing beautiful sunrises, visiting the aquarium, and the Seafood Festival. Our stay at the festival was just long enough for Noah and I to get our seafood festival lunch. It was way crowded and not much fun while trying to keep up with 2 short ones. The boat show was the biggest hit for the girls. Savanna has even chosen the "perfect" boat for her. 

The Fair

The girls enjoy going to the Davidson County fair with Nana and Poppy. Each fall we head over for good food, rides, and games. The weather almost didn't cooperate this year but it worked out perfectly. We learned that roller coasters are more fun for Savanna but Sadie enjoys the swinging rides. The hot air balloons were the big hit this year with the absence of the big slide. Savanna also likes the big ferris wheel. She starts looking for it as we enter town. Thank you Poppy for braving that TALL ride. We also had to have a picture of the girls with their "Nanny goat" as we passed through the animal barn. Sorry mom! It makes for a long night and we were probably late for school the next day but fun memories are so worth a couple of minutes of tardiness.

Preschool bound

This has been the smoothest transition yet! Sadie loves, loves going to school. She is in playschool 2 days a week and it has been wonderful. She talks about her new friends and sings her songs. There is an excited cheer when she is told that it is a school day. I hope this enthusiasm will continue!

Kindergarten, Here I Come!

Look at this big girl! We were all so excited for her first day of Kindergarten. I knew she would love it! Although, amidst the excitement, I still had some difficulty letting go of my first born. Her first day was wonderful and so have the few weeks that followed. She is learning and making new friends. I love her eagerness to learn! She just soaks it in. Her teacher is an old pro so I am confident that she knows what she is doing. She runs a tight ship which seems to suit Savanna's personality but I will admit that it is taking me a little longer to adjust. All in all we are having a great beginning to our Kindergarten year! 

Born and bred

My cousin, Matthew, is a freshman at Carolina. I have a special place in my heart for that university...a long family history, an important history of the university itself, and my own exciting college adventures in and around its campus. He shares the family history and I am so excited for him to be living out his college adventure there as well. We headed to Chapel Hill to make sure he was getting into the swing of it all. It seems he is adjusting well to the challenges of college and a new social environment. I look forward to visiting him again!

Smile....

it is August birthday time at our house! Sadie wanted to have a smiley face birthday and we had a good time with it. My dad and brother also have August birthdays so we combine the party to include them. Our baby turned three this year. She is a quirky, laid back, energetic, independent kid who just brightens our day. It rained so we had to keep the party indoors this year. This was the first time in 6 years of birthday parties that we have had to be inside. A hurricane was dictating the weather that day. Sadie has really been into drawing smiley faces so we thought it would make for a fun birthday party idea. Don't you just love the cute balloon she chose? Uncle Forrest was unable to attend this party so we celebrated with him a little later in the month. Here they are with our "Sam tree" as I call it. My grandfather, Sam, also had an August birthday. Sadie adds some spunk to that sweet group of men in our family and I don't think Sam would have minded a bit to share his birthday month with her either. Happy birthday Sadie bug!!!

Trailheads

One Saturday in August we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to Fairy Stone State Park in Va. What a fun adventure! This place has lots to do but all we had time for was our picnic and a hike to the dam. It was a little hot but the trail is mostly shaded. We put our feet in the water at the end to help us cool off. The girls were such troopers that day. We heard some whining but we all made it. There were dogs and horses along the trail, beautiful views, and different paths to take. The girls lead the charge to the dam and we got there with no problem. We will definitely be back to swim in the river but this time it was closed as we finished our hike.

Gaps

   Savanna has always had gaps in her teeth. It is a good thing we are told but she now has a gap where her first lost tooth once stood. Shortly after school started she lost one of her bottom front teeth! She was so nervous about losing that tooth! She would not let me pull it because she was afraid it would hurt or bleed a lot. Even when it hurt being left alone she refused. One day she was in her room playing and came downstairs with her tooth. She had pulled it herself and survived!

Updates

We have been dealing with the malfunction of our external hard drive for the last couple of weeks. In other words, it is DEAD! Meaning we are without pictures and video from the last part of our summer. So....there has been a gap in blogs and I apologize because there is a LOT to catch up on lately. I will do my best to fill you all in on our latest happenings.

Still waiting.....

We decided to plant a garden this summer or it might be more accurate to say that we stumbled upon this gardening project. We have talked about planting one for a couple of years but there was always something holding us back.....brown thumbs (mine), vacation time (veggies need lots of attn.), and laziness to name a few. The girls came home from a fun day at New Garden Nursery with a green pepper plant as well as a tomato plant. Good veggies to start with we thought so Noah got started building a small raised bed and we added basil and jalapeno peppers. There have been many hot peppers and basil in our kitchen this summer but we cannot do anything with the others. I am not too concerned because others I know seem to be having similar problems with some of their plants. Maybe it is not us! We fertilized the tomatoes and that has spurred its growth but we have yet to eat a tomato from our gigantic plant. Yes, it is huge but not producing red tomatoes. Everyone is in on the watering and Sadie could not contain her excitement the other day when we saw 2 red tomatoes. We are going to enjoy those tomato sandwiches yet!!!!

Cherry Grove

It is tradition in my family to travel to the beach for a week. We happened to be there for Granny's 86th birthday and several rainy days. But, we made the most of it. With a break in the downpours Granny, the girls and I ventured to play putt putt. You may have noticed that this was not our first go at the game. Sadie only lasts a few holes but is perfectly content watching the rest of the way. We ended up at Molten Mountain. They have 2 courses, 1 outdoor and 1 indoor. We played both and it was perfect. When the drizzle stopped it was so humid we were glad to be indoors. Sadie wasn't thrilled about the occasional volcanic eruption but if we covered her ears she made it through. Again, the tidal pools were a big hit but once we got the floats out Savanna loved riding in on the waves and Sadie was perfectly content jumping them. We even walked across the water to a sandbar at low tide.

The Crystal Coast

Our first week long vacation of the summer began at Emerald Isle, NC. We have really enjoyed this beach in the summer and fall months. It is full of beach houses and not many of those big high rises so the crowds are tame. This makes for a relaxing week at the beach. What a beautiful week it was! The kids enjoyed playing on the beach or right at the water's edge. The waves were rough while we were there. We only had rain on our last day but it turned out fine. We visited the Maritime museum in Beaufort to see the Blackbeard exhibit. Our trip would not be complete without a trip to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores as well. These excursions were balanced with beach time and hang out time with some of our dear friends. I hope we will continue to be able to enjoy this week long beach adventure for many years to come!

Party Time

Ever since our wedding weekend in Atlanta these girls want to throw a party. This time came complete with music, Taylor Swift to be specific, and decorations. We used silk flowers in a clean honey bottle from their kitchen for a centerpiece. Savanna insisted we dress up and put on our jewelry. That girl doesn't miss a detail. Since I prefer to be barefooted I just assumed I would do so but she had other plans for my feet. High heels it was. Sadie opted for a purple slip without the beautiful dress. After pictures and compliments galore we broke it down and then invited Noah to join in as he arrived home from work.

Swim Nazi

In one week Savanna went from being a timid swimmer to a confident one. She feels safe enough to jump off the diving board without someone in the water with her and she has learned to get her arms out of the water when swimming. She is well on her way to a freestyle swim. Janet Fleming, aka Swim Nazi, does a great job of teaching the children to be safe and to help others in the water. That was a perk for me as I didn't realize that she was teaching basic safety as well as swimming. We are so proud of Savanna for learning to swim with Miss Janet! She was so excited to show off all that she had learned too.

Father's Day

This day served double duty as it was the baby party day and the cookout to celebrate Father's Day. Tradition is that we let our fathers do their own thing for their day. All of the children and their fathers were in town so we just extended the party. Hamburgers and hot dogs were on the menu in addition to party leftovers. The next day we celebrated as our immediate family.

Baby party

All in the family...

Sadie is proud of her creation.

Lydia is having a little girl in September and my sister in law, mom, and I held a shower for her in June. My girls decorated little onesies for baby Ava and the guests followed by decorating onesies and burp cloths. It was so fun to see Noah and Alan (Lydia's husband) get in on the decorating. Everyone at our house is anxious to meet her and give her our love.

Girls getaway

The girls and I got away to visit my brother in Asheville for a weekend in June. It was time to get away and we were anxious to see his new house. We had a good time visiting with Forrest and got to see one of Savanna's friends who moved away last year. The girls enjoyed helping with Phoebe and I really enjoyed hanging out with my little brother. Thanks for having us. We cannot wait to come back to visit!

Hotlanta

And it was HOT! We crammed a lot of fun into a long weekend with our Nana, Poppy, and Uncle Forrest. We visited the World of Coca Cola, Zoo Atlanta, and the Georgia Aquarium. Our girls were so excited to see the animals that they were telling everyone they saw about it the week before. We took lots of photos.

Atlanta displayed several dolphins created by local artists around the Centennial Park area. We enjoyed seeing all of the interesting interpretations of these statues. Dolphins are one of the girls' favorite animals.

Zoo Atlanta is home to quite a few animals that we cannot find at the zoo in Asheboro and that was our mission...to check out those we couldn't see at home. Our mission was almost accomplished as we observed orangutans, pandas, kangaroos, and a sloth. We weren't able to see the tiger because she was a week shy of giving birth. Needless to say, she was resting when we were there.

I couldn't decide which picture to put up from the aquarium. We got a lot of great shots of some amazing animals. Everyone, including the adults, could have stayed at the aquarium all night. Lucky for us we were able to stay late and got a surprise behind the scenes tour. Highlights included the beluga whales, whale sharks, and dolphins. The little one was excited to touch the sting rays but her arms weren't quite long enough while our big kid was afraid to touch them.  

The World of Coca Cola was best for the big kids in our group but our girls were troopers and endured a bunch of grown up info to get to the end.....the tasting room. There were some interesting flavors from the European drinks! We attended a wedding at the end of our adventure and it was just as much fun as the city adventures. Thank you Spencer and Julianna for getting us to your wonderful city and hosting us at your fantastic wedding!

Happy Easter

Savanna designed this hat for her Easter hat day at school. We glued Easter grass all around the brim of the hat then placed Easter eggs with dinosaurs hatching out of them all around. There was even a stick with a leaf to represent a tree for the herbivores. Dinosaurs have been our interest this year.

Easter in Lexington is always fun and what a beautiful day to be at church then head to Nana and Poppy's house for lunch, paper airplanes, and time in the creek. The girls have such a good time with John and Uncle Forrest. They will explore anywhere!