A chilly beach getaway

It was hot last week.  Not as hot as Dallas, but we still had a day in the 90's.  But it was just our luck that when we had a quick trip to the beach scheduled, the weather decided to drop 30 degrees.  Brrrrr...  It wasn't quite the bask-in-the-sun escape that we had envisioned, but we had a blast.

The view from our balcony.

Love it.

A quick family photo before we head down to the beach.

Look at my crazy hair!

As usual, B-train headed straight for the waves.

The water felt fabulous.

Like a warm bath.

It was this sea breeze when you got OUT

that was a killler.

Care Bear spent most of her time in the sand.

Whit had a good time boogie boarding.

So did Drew.

Not long after we got down to the water, a fellow beachgoer informed me that she'd seen sharks swimming in and out of the waves close to shore.  It creeped me out.  I didn't want to get in any water deeper than my waist.  You can see the rest of the family were willing to take that risk.  And none of us were attacked.

When we were sufficiently chilled, we packed up all of our beachy paraphernalia

and spent some quality time in the hot tub.

Oh yea.

Thankfully our hotel had indoor water parks.

Perfect.

 B played a little basketball.

 The girls loved playing with their daddy.

Caroline was all over the place in her water wings.

It was cute to see her feeling so confident and independent in the pool.

There was lots to keep us busy other than freezing our tushies outside.

 The girls got balloon animals:  a snail and a sword.

They had a great magic show, where the girls got to help with a trick.

C got her face painted.  A shark.  It made me nervous.

We ate LOTS of good food.

We took the kids out for hibachi.

Their first time.

The big kids (including me and Andrew) loved it.

Caroline liked the food, but that fire was a little

too close for comfort.  She wanted out of there.

 Then next day, Andrew took the big kids out for crab.

 One of their FAVORITE foods on the planet.

Drew said he doesn't think he's ever had two meals 

THAT good back-to-back.

After checking out of our hotel,

we headed to Broadway at the Beach.

That place is so much fun.

If you're willing to spend a few bucks.

Which we normally aren't.

But we splurged.

A pretty girl on a pretty horse.

 Ahoy, matey!

 I almost got sick just watching her.

Magiquest!

Double bubble toil and trouble

 B defeated the goblin king.  Woo hoo!

Hold on tight...

 And enjoy the ride!

Care Bear saw lots of other tourists taking their 

pictures in cutouts, so she wanted to join in on the fun.

Pretzel face!

We didn't go in here, but isn't that a cool building?

While it wasn't the tropical getaway we'd anticipated,

we had a fabulous time.

Next time, we'll hope for a little more sun.

A few random thoughts

*Brandon left for school on his bike and just a minute later was banging on the front door.  When I went to see what was going on, he said, "Grab your camera.  I want to show you something!"  The tone of his voice led me to believe it was going to be a good thing.  And it was.  A beautiful full moon still hanging in the sky.  I was so grateful that my thoughtful boy would put off his trek to school to come home and share that with me.

 My picture doesn't do it justice.

*Our artist extraordinaire, Whitney, came home from school with a spring in her step.  I said, "It looks like you had a good day."  She said, "I'm SO proud of myself!"  She went on to share the news that she has two pieces of artwork on display at the county school offices--one in the superintendent's office and another in the Personnel building. 

Way to go, Whitney!

"Miss Fuddle-de-Duddle"

*Caroline is officially giving up her afternoon nap.  I am SO in denial.  She takes "quiet time" in her room for an hour most days, but has only fallen asleep maybe twice in the last three weeks.  She's at that awkward phase, though, where I feel like she still needs a nap.  If we're driving around in the late afternoon/early evening, she almost always falls asleep in the van.  Oh, well.  You can't make someone sleep.  The downside is that I lose some of my precious free time.  But on the upside, we can stay out later shopping or playing.

 Just hoping her lack of sleep doesn't turn her

into a little monster.

*I won the first week of fantasy football.  I was matched up with Andrew.  It was predicted to be a close game, but by the end of Sunday night, he was up by 52 points.  I had two players in the Monday night game, but figured it was hopeless....  Until Wes Welker pulled off a 99 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.  Yea, baby!  I was giddy all day Tuesday.

*Andrew took a business trip to Dallas this week.  It was A HUNDRED AND FIVE DEGREES.  I was once again reminded how grateful I am we got to stay in NC with his job and not relocate.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

Sometimes I wish every weekend lasted three days. 

*On Friday, we met Andrew downtown for another Friday Night Live.  Unfortunately, it started raining.  Boo.  We drove to the Apple store.  This is a new favorite family activity.  We each grab an iphone or ipad and play around with all the fun apps and games.  Brandon says it's funner than Chuck E. Cheese's--and it's free!

*Hurried home for our fantasy football draft.  Yippee!  Andrew looks forward to this almost as much as Christmas.  We let Brandon stay up late to participate live for the first time.  He was hilarious.  We need to work on our draft etiquette.  He kept texting things to our draft-mates that were meant for family ears only.  D'oh.  But the draft was fun!  And we're excited about our teams.

*On Saturday we went to the water park.  The kids LOVE having Andrew there with us. 

Check out the acrobatics they were pulling off.

Yee haw!

 And Whitney tried Daddy-surfing.

And I love having him there because I can ride the scary rides 

that no one else will ride with me.

Wa hoo!

(I'm so bad at self-portraits.)

It was so much fun.

 But Caroline wasn't quite acting like herself.

When I took her on the lazy river, I realized

she was burning up with a fever!

Poor baby.

We took her home and gave her tylenol.

Which she thinks is candy.

And keeps asking for.

*Andrew graciously volunteered to stay home with her.  I'm sure it was just a coincidence that BYU was playing their first football game of the season.  Brandon, Whitney, and I headed out to Kip, Bridget, and Elliot's house for a party.  And let me tell you, they know how to throw a party.

Check out the fruit bowls.

The food was scrumptious.

Andrew and Care Bear missed out.

Whit and her friends made a band and had a parade.

Brisa read stories.

It was wonderful just to hang out with good friends and visit.

Thanks, you guys!

*Sunday the kids needed to stay home from church.  Caroline was acting fine, but Brandon woke up with a terrible sore throat, so I figured we better play it safe.  It was supposed to be my first week serving as secretary for the Relief Society.  So Andrew went to his early morning meetings and then we swapped sick kids after sacrament meeting so I could go to RS.  Yay!  I worked in the nursery for over two years.  I LOVED it and will miss those little munchkins, but I'm excited to try something new, too.

*On Monday, we had a lazy morning.  Then went out for breakfast.  Then met Mac and Diane at the park to play tennis while our kids entertained themselves at the playground.  We were having a great time (and Andrew and I were actually winning!) when it started raining.  We tried playing through it while the kids hunkered down in the van, but eventually we gave up.  And went out for dinner.  Apparently I have something against cooking on holidays.

Earthquake

For the sake of documentation, it should be noted that last month our family experienced our first earthquake.  Actually, Andrew felt several while he was on his mission in Chile.  But the kids and I were earthquake rookies.  And maybe we still are.  Because we didn't feel a thing.  We were at the water park and played around, unaware of any shaking or trembling.  If the wave pool was a little more wavy than usual, we couldn't tell.

But Andrew was in his office and definitely felt it.  When he went to his co-workers office next door, she said she didn't feel anything.  But sure enough, a minute later they heard the news:  there was a 5.8 earthquake in Virginia.

And we came home to find our shed looking like this: 

Yikes.

OK, so this door had some major issues BEFORE the earthquake.  Andrew and I tried to replace it about a year ago discovered that our home improvement talents do not extend to door replacement.  However, it was standing straight up and covering the opening when the quake hit.  Does that mean we can get our insurance to fix it?

The Big Preschooler

I sent my baby off to preschool today.

And she LOVED it.

And I got a pedicure.

And I LOVED it.

In general, Caroline is the most fearful of my kids, so I wondered if she would be my first to have anxiety about going to school.

Well, she proved me wrong.

Check out her poses on our way in.

She was all smiles.

And no turning back.

She has two super cute teachers.

And they said she did really well.

When I asked her about her day, she told me that she, "played with ponies and Barbies and cars and trucks."  She's a well-rounded girl.  

She also said she made friends, but couldn't remember any of their names.  And her favorite parts were playing and eating.  She was very detailed in telling me about snack, "We had those yogurts that are in a paper and cookies and apple juice."  Yum.

I knew they reviewed the calendar as part of their day, so I asked her what day it was.  She very confidently replied, "Nocember!"  

I'm so glad she had fun and am looking forward to playing tennis and volunteering in the big kids' classrooms while Caroline's at school.