First Haircut

Max had his first haircut today before we hit the lake. I don't know whether it was the age difference between a one-year old and two-year-old (when Kinsey's first haircut took place) or just a personality difference, but do NOT let this picture fool you. This was the last moment of quiet, still cooperation that occurred that day. It was not too fun!

Wii Love Jack's Birthday!

After a MUCH too late evening out (and even MUCH MORE too early morning with Max) with friends Melissa and Alan last night at their awesome barbeque, Jack woke up this morning to find the Nintendo Wii that I searched high and low for a month for his 36th birthday. It was hilarious to watch Kinsey try to get the hang of it.

My mom and dad gave him Guitar Hero. Who knew I had a punk side. I'm addicted! Against my better judgement, Jack demanded that I post this lovely picture (the outfit is an old Village People costume, I promise!)



Here are some precious pictures of Kinsey and Granddaddy on his tractor from tonight. She was in heaven!

PR

Under eight minutes!!! I never thought it would happen and definitely not this fast. At my 3rd assessment day at bootcamp, I dropped almost another minute down to 7:49 on my timed mile. Just three months ago, I ran it in 10 minutes. Yea!

Hope the rest of the day goes as well. Waiting for the weekend...

A Message for PapaDad...

Love you from your "Monkey-Piggy" (take note the pajamas)

Summer Days

When we are in town, our summer days are all pretty much the same. Wake up (earlier than I prefer), eat and play, nap, pool, eat and nap (soap operas for mom), eat and then sometimes pool again. It's a routine that I've come to fall in love with. Now every day is a little different. Where do we want to swim today? Our neighborhood pool, friends' pools, sommunity pools--it's never the same. And of course who do we swim with? Is it just a quiet morning with the three of us or a toddler-packed playdate? I wouldn't change it if I could. It may seem boring to some, and granted if my summertime extended beyond the two short months that I have off, it may be different, but for what I have, it's perfect.

Last night, we enjoyed an "adult" evening with friends at our fav restaurant/bar to watch the Bulldogs disappoint a crowded and rowdy patio of fans. And as good as an idea as it sounded like at the time, I now know in retrospect that it is NOT in my best interests to consume a lot of alcohol late at night before I have 5:30 AM Bootcamp in the morning. I was so weak and dehydrated, but it was amazing to feel the impact that alcohol has on your body like that.

This morning we were lucky and got to go to our friend Angie's pool. Actually it is her in-laws, but regardless, it is beautiful. Set on about a 10-20 acre farm, the family decided to incorporate the barn in with the pool deck. It is the most peaceful place. Speaking of peace, I FOUND SOME WITH MAX!!! The little booger is a bit of a handful in the pool. He loves the water like his sister does, but does not want to be still and thinks he can swim on his on. He also loves to run around the pool deck along the edge of the pool and scare me to death. But, I found the amazing "swim sweater" and Target and the boy transformed into a content little whale. I wish I had a picture of his big tummy hanging out below the inner tube! It took a bit for him to get used to the idea, but after he did, he just ended up floating and kicking his little chubby self around the pool. GO SWIM SWEATER!

Tweetsie Railroad

For over 30 years now, I have gone to this cowboy-and-indian-themed park in Blowing Rock, NC and this weekend, we took our kids on their annual trip to Tweetsie Railroad. This park is a trip to the past--literally. Everything revolves around a steam locomotive that's over 50 years old. The train takes a trip around the mountain and along the way you visit an old town and a fort and have cowboys and indians fighting on board. There is also mining for gold, a can-can show, rides, petting zoo, a jail and more. We had a wonderful time Saturday with my grandmother and great-aunt, each of us acting like kids again. It was truly amazing to see 60 and 70+ year old women riding rides and playing games. I know they say Disney is the happiest place on earth, but if you've been to Tweetsie, you would agree with me that it comes in close second!

Chuck E Cheese

We let Kinsey choose what she wanted to do for dinner tonight and this is what she chose. Turns out everyone had fun playing games and trying to keep up with the kids.








After supper, Kinsey hit the road for a trip to South Carolina with Nanny and Papadad. Of course I usually miss her when she leaves us for a few days, but I've never curled up in a ball and cried like I did tonight. Could be because it's her birthday, could be because Max woke up at 4:45 this AM and I'm a little exhausted and emotional. Hmmm!

Birthday Girl!

...



So after days of coming downstairs saying "I not four yet", we expected something different this morning. But to our suprise, what we got was a TOTAL meltdown! Kinsey ran into the guest bedroom, got my mom out of bed and yelled over and over "I STILL not four, Nanny". Huh? My mom tried to reassure her that since today was her birthday, she was indeed four, but nothing worked. After hysterical inaudible attempts to explain herself, Kinsey finally dragged Nanny to her room and showed her growth chart and that she was NOT four (feet tall that is). Nanny kindly explained that she was four years but not four feet. I guess she thought she would grow a foot overnight! Precious!

Kinsey loves her new bike, although she did pull out her tricycle after her first attempt on her big bike and the 3000+ piece Playmobil zoo set was a big hit after the 4 hours assembly time!

It's off to Chuck E Cheese for one more celebration...

A Tribute...

...Nah, not really! My husband never reads our blog. I mean NEVER! The only time he had ever even seen it is if I make him look at a picture that he hasn't seen. Regardless, he is a wonderful father and we had a great time honoring him yesterday. Max gave his daddy a backback carrier for "hefty" children. In fact, my father, who was in town for the weekend, misread the brand Kelty Kids as "Hefty" Kids!!! We have a backpack carrier, but it is getting old and Max really IS pushing the limit on the weight. In fact, now there is only about 2-3 pounds difference between Max an Kinsey! Kinsey gave Jack and ball and glove (the infamous "stolen" baseball) and I made Jack a video montage that I will post soon. We decided to pack aa picnic lunch and take the new backpack carrier out for a new test-drive. Papadad also got to fly his airplane for a few runs until the wind picked up. Jack's parents came over for supper and brought a yummy homemade strawberry cake. After cleanup, we all enjoyed our last evening with our little three-year old!

"Not Four Yet"

This is the statement that we have been waking up to for the last three days. We have one more day to hear it and I am so sad!

Yesterday, my parents came in town for the long weekend to help celebrate Kinsey's 4th birthday. We went to our fav seafood restaurant and enjoyed buckets o' beer and a little music on the patio. This morning, just like every other birthday party morning in our family, the focus was the birthday cake. Jack and my dad spent a few hours baking, designing this year's cake (actually there were two) for her party at the ice cream parlor this evening. It was yet another work of art. I swear, they need to go into business making cakes. After my sister and her family got to town and we played a while, we all went to the burger joint for supper before the party. The party was great--certainly sugar-filled, but fun. The kids did great decorating cookies and eating cake and ice cream. I personally had to end my night with a little run to curb the guilt from the calorie-fest I had today. Doubt it helped much.

Fancy Nancy

Kinsey is a huge fan of the Fancy Nancy stories so today we went to a soiree at a local toystore while Nan stayed home with Max. We had a great time together, but my favorite part of the day was watching her decide what to wear to the party.

Criminal Record

Here is a picture of Kinsey first shoplifted item. Yesterday, the kids and I went out to do some Father's Day shopping and two funny things happened. First, we were looking for some golf stuff (which I am not very proficient in). I saw a young shopper in the golf section who looked enough like a golf pro, so I turned to him and said, "Excuse me? May I ask you a golf question?" I cracked up when Kinsey turned around from in front of me and replied, "Sure, Mommy, go ahead, what is it?" Thank you my little "pup-pup" enthusiast, but I wasn't talking to you!!!

When we had checked out and were headed out to the car, I started fumbling through my much-too-messy bottemless pit of a purse looking for me keys when I ran across the baseball. Shocked, I held it up and ask Kinsey how it got in my purse. She innocently replied "I put it there, Mom". I asked her if she had put it in before or after we paid and she honestly answered "before". We had a quick (and embarassing) lesson on shoplifting as we walked back inside to pay for our goods!

Beach "Vacation"

I use the term vacation lightly, as most of you know or remember well what it was like to take small children to the beach. Last night we got home from an adventure-packed week-and-a-half trip to the Carolina coast. We started off the trip at Myrtle Beach, enjoying a lot of time with my mom's side of the family. Aunts, uncles, cousins and of course Nanny! We missed my mom's youngest sister, Shelley and her family this year as they are always such fun to be around. Some of the highlights at Myrtle were lunches at Mrs. Fish (if you ever go to MB, you have to try this restaurant), sunset dinners on the lawn and our "cousin's night out" which amounted to most of us cousins mustering up enough energy to take the twenty steps out to the beach and drink one beer, just to come back inside and go to bed. Getting old stinks! Some of my personal "non-highlights" were Max's desire to hit the beach at 5:30 AM toward the end of the trip and his constant motion. The little devil would run into the ocean ALONE, fall face first in the water, be tumbled two or three times, get up and look at me before giving me a evil, scary little giggle and do it all again. My other adrenaline junkie blew me away when she and I got to go on a date to Myrtle Waves and she rode EVERY SINGLE water slide in the park. I'm talking 20-story-high, pitch black tubes, corkscrews and drop-offs--everything. And most of them, she had to ride ALONE! Go here to see some of these slides--Especially Arooba Tooba and Turbo Twisters and Riptide Rockets. To my amazements, there was no height minimum?!?





On Thursday, Jack drove up and we all went to Sunset Beach, the southernmost beach in North Carolina. While not as hoppin' of a town as Myrtle, we still had a busy time. Sunset had wonderful tide pools which made for some fun beach time, although Max still preferred the big ocean. Kinsey became obsessed with playing "Pup-Pup". Take note of her wonderful form. And I do sense a competetive nature in this child. I do not know where it may come from, though! ;) Max did NOT appreciated the million-degree weather from inside his black suffocation unit. We also went to Barefoot Landing one night to see the tigers but ended up getting distracted by the bungee trampoline.







Now we are back home, readying for Kinsey's birthday party and Father's Day. I am so looking forward to every night this week because the kids will be at Vacation Bible School which leaves me in the most sacred place I know--a quiet house!