A Night at the Beach

We checked into the hotel, shower off, rinsed off, and were coming hair when I noticed something in Adison's hair. A LOT of something. I don't have to say it, do I? You know what it was. Yes. Lice. Next thing you know, we're at the drug store buying several products and then back to the hotel to begin the painful process of combing. And combing. And combing. We treated Cole as well, just as a precaution.
It wasn't our ideal ending to such a fabulous day, but we still are proud of the fact that we had a great weekend despite that.

And sweet Adison. It was a full 7 days before she was clear, but we combed her hair twice a day, every day. I did laundry twice a day, every day. I had a lice comb overnighted to me because everything in the drug store was worthless. I'm telling you now: buy the metal comb. Order it now, even if you never think you'll need it. I ended up having a few, but not near as much as Adison. That poor girl...how did we miss it? I have no idea. We are constantly washing and combing those curls....but we made it through our first lice successful.

A Day at the Beach

We decided to take an overnighter trip to Wilmington/Wrightsville beach with the kids. I think the last time we went to the beach with them, it was December, Adison was a baby and it wasn't really play-time weather. We planned on spending the morning at the beach as long as the kids would make it, then go and check into our hotel. It was such a beautiful day and the kids and such a wonderful time -- as did we. They just enjoyed the waves, the sand, the breeze, it was truly a beautiful day!

Swimming Lessons

Cole loves being in the water, but in years past he hasn't taken to lessons very well. It might be the nervousness of a new thing, and a new teacher, but we'd tried a few times and never made it through a class.

Since we have a summer membership to a pool, it's been on my must-do list to get both the kids swimming. We missed all the group classes at our pool, so I signed him up for classes at the public pool through the city. He started out very hesitant, as usual, and with a few tears. But his instructor, "Big E" soon got him having fun and he really made some big strides in just one week of lessons. Thanks to Big E's fun attitude and good teaching I think we are one step closer to having a swimmer boy.

By friday I was tired of the pack up, sunscreen up, drive 15 minutes to the pool routine, but Cole went to a new level with his strokes and Adison seemed quite happy waiting patiently for him in the baby pool.

Trigger Finger

Kevin has a wonderful (feel the sarcasm...) habit of setting the camera to 1000 pictures per second and snapping almost as many pictures in a row when he has the camera. I will say he always gets a great picture -- and about 50 not so great ones. While snapping a picture(s) of Carine and I he caught some funny moments. We are laughing in some, chatting while oblivious to the picture taking, bad smiles, a winner, and finally the last one where we are tired of smiling and we honestly look pretty awkward.

See You Soon....

I'm not a fan of the goodbye. I'd rather just say, 'see you soon', even if "soon" is a year away.

Micah and Carine are taking a job in Louisiana and what better way to say farewell than at the fried fish place down at the Farmers Market. It has been such a treat to have their family nearby. After years of them being in Switzerland or Connecticut, we really did not take it for granted to have them a few minutes away. Especially for the kiddos, to have cousins close by who are so close to their own ages, it was a whole lot of fun. The best part of being close in proximity is the spur-of-the-moment get togethers: a walk to Mellow Mushroom, coffee and desserts afterwards, I'm-going-to-Trader-Joe's-Do-You-Need-Anything phone calls. I can say with confidence that we made the very most of the time that they lived near us. Just a few pictures of the crew hanging out and my final shot of Carine in my gift to her: the absolute largest sunglasses I could find at Target.

Fun with Nieces

For literally years I had been saying to Margot and Constance that we should go pottery painting together. (I love doing it, but Kevin can't think of anything more excruciating). So when we found out that Micah, Carine & family would be moving it became top priority to get this on the calendar.

We made a little date out of it, us girls, and it was so much fun. The hardest part was picking out the pottery pieces and the colors. I wasn't even sure we'd have time to paint after that, but we did, and it was really fun to watch the girls really put a lot of thought and care in choosing and painting their items.

When we were finally finished, it was time for some coffee. Decaf, of course, but I sorely underestimated the amount of sugar that comes in a Mocha. We all sipped our coffee like ladies and chatted about life in general until the sugar hit the system and the giggles struck in a big way. Constance in particular, I wasn't sure was going to recover. You could have told her you just chopped your hand off and she would find it hilarious.

I almost hated to take these girls home, we had such a nice time. I often think how wonderfully blessed I am to have ALL my nieces and nephews be such a pleasure to be around, and I'm thankful that my kids have such great examples to look up to.

The Teacher and the Student

One of the things I love most about Cole, is his willingness and excitement to help, especially when Daddy's tools are involved. Cole is not a dress up person, but because a fire man is a real job, then you should put on your fire man clothes when you are doing real man job-stuff. Even if it is July and hot out.

First, the instructions.



Now, the demonstration.


Daddy's proud. Cole owns that leaf blower.

4th of July

Kevin's parents have a mountain house, just near West Jefferson and over the course of the year we have become addicted to getting out of "the city" and driving to quieter, cooler, places. I could go on about what this little house has meant to our family in just a short time but I can sum it up by saying that as we drive down the mountain back home, I find myself thinking each time: I wonder what it would be like to live in the mountains?

This year one of our visits up there was on the 4th of July. Micah and Carine and 'all the kids' (as we call them, not because we think 4 is some insane amount, just because when Adison was younger naming all the names was hard for her so we just summed it up with that little phrase) came with us to spend the weekend.

We had perfect weather, as usual. Cooler than in town, but still sunny and warm and nice to be outside in. The kids just take off and play immediately. Making up games, walking around, and this year picking up all these little beads which we think are little air-gun pellets. (The kids loved it so much we often think of bringing a bag of beads up with us and just throwing them around by the handful).

There was a little festival downtown that was more like a mini-fair, and by the look of it everyone came out for it.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is nearby and it offers tons of different hiking areas and parks. We took the kids on a hike and as usual it offered beautiful scenery and they had a blast.

We packed up the kiddos and took them downtown to a parking lot for a show that took forever to start and then never ended. We actually drove back to the house as fireworks were still going.

These little trips are fast becoming my favorite memories: cool weather, hot food eaten outside on the deck, good friends.