October is a great time to go to the beach!

We decided to do a day trip to the beach this week. We weren't feeling quite right about ending the summer without a beach trip so we loaded up the van and off we went. Here are our favorite tips for a successful day trip.
1. The sooner you can leave the better so pack the night before. Bring beach umbrellas/tent if you have them.
2. The morning of, pack a cooler with lots of snacks and lunch so you don't have to leave the beach if you don't want to.
3. Drive around until you find a public beach access with a outdoor shower.
4. Bring a bar of soap and extra towels to shower off with at the end of the day. Warn the children that the shower water is a little cold (like the ocean) and see how brave they can be. Can shower in swimsuits and wash out the suits as well, or hold up a towel for privacy while de-sanding.
5. Bring a big garbage bag to put all of the sandy clothes, towels etc. in.
6. After you de-sand the children, put them in their pajamas for the ride home. They just might be asleep before you get out of the parking lot. :)

Princess Meadow is 2

We celebrated with a small family party. Meadow loved all of her gifts but she may have showed the most enthusiasm over the bag of marshmallows that came with the gift from Cousin Laney :)




The Grill Masters

Preparation

Minus two weeks and counting until our Appalachian Trail adventure. :) To prepare we (mostly Greg until this week) have been getting up early and taking turns hiking about 4 miles with 35 lbs packs on. It feels a little nerdy passing kids and parents waiting for the school bus (Greg usually takes the earlier shift while it is still dark) but necessary. It was a little hard by the end today but it was fun and I was thankful for the cooler weather. We'll be doing 9-10 miles a day for the 3 days we'll be gone but with lunch breaks and stuff. It is fun to take the backpack off when you are done and feel like you're floating :)

Pics for the Grandparents part 2

Fun Times

Celebrate Cary at Regency on Saturday was a pretty fun, free event. There were some performances, a fire engine, a book mobile and lots of different companies advertising and games for the kids to play. I even learned how to make a corn husk doll at the NC heritage display if anyone ever wants to know how! And thank goodness for the air conditioned book mobile. :)


































































































What fun tonight at Chick Fil A super hero night. I didn't have to make dinner and great fun for the kids. Yipee!

What can you do with two trampolines and a basketball goal?

My brothers Shaun and Chance having fun with friends in the Summer of 2007. They filmed it and asked Greg to edit it and make a "movie." Chance just posted this to youtube. Pretty fun. :) The trampoline off to the side has a hole in it, but as you can tell they still use it...

A day in the life of Meadow

A bite for me...
A bite for Woody...
Loves to go to the pantry and ask for a cookie or marshmallows. Notice the hopeful look in her eyes :)

Galloping away in delight with her treat.
A very busy Meadow pauses to sing a song and get upset with her pen when it stops working.
























































Ringing the doorbell is so much fun










































Shouting "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

What brings you Joy?

For Enrichment this week we had performances and displays of things people create or talents they have that bring them joy. After not many people signed up, they sent around emails asking for more sign-ups and I caved. I had Greg film my "rough draft" so I could see what to fix. Here's the rough draft. It ended up being a fun night and there were lots of neat performances and displays like quilts and home made dresses, photography and painting, the fiddle and the violin, singing etc. It was especially fun to have my Mom and Sisters there :) I am glad it is over though because it has consumed my thoughts the past week :)

Big cute kids at School

The second year of preschool has officially begun. Parker and his cousin Laney have different teachers this year but we sure love seeing them in the morning and after school. Parker was so excited that he morphed into Superman. See his cape?