On our day off

We have lost most of our Teacher Workdays because of the weather, but we had one last month.  Love those random days off.  So, what did we do when the kids had no school?  Go to college, of course.  Duke University, to be exact.  Whit had her annual check-up with Dr. Buckley.  Her vision is doing great!  She sees 20/25 in both eyes and her alignment looks good. 

Yippee!  

At this point, we just continue having yearly exams and hope her vision remains stable.

When we finished her appt, Brandon suggested we visit the cathedral on campus.  We could see it from our parking deck, so we started walking. 

Sometimes distances can be deceiving.  

We walked a lot further than we anticipated, but eventually made it there.

And it was worth the hike.

 Catching our breath in a cool alcove.

 I love these doors.

The curly decor makes them girly, 

but the wrought iron is so masculine.

Maybe my dream home will have doors like this.

The stained glass was gorgeous.

I wish we had more of this in our churches.

 They had little handouts with explanations of who all these people were.

The only ones I remember are Amos and Obadiah.

But I'm pretty sure that Lazarus at the top in the middle.

 Christ and his apostles.

Every child's dream:  to peruse hymnals on their day off.

When we finished up in the cathedral 

and took the long hike back to the parking deck,

we decided we needed more exposure to higher education.

So we drove to Chapel Hill for the first time.

And visited UNC.

 We visited Morehead Planetarium.

They had a very cool movie in the dome theater.

But we were disappointed because

they advertise as also having a science center.
But they don't.

They DO have a giant sundial outside.

But it doesn't take DST into account.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--March

3/1--There was a super loud thunderstorm this evening.  Brandon was convinced that the lightning left a strange smell behind.  He would ask, "Can you smell that?  It smells like positive and negative charges."

When he asked Caroline, she said, "It smells like Megamind."

3/2--Caroline's latest aspiration, "When I grow up, I want to be a mermaid."

But she acts more like a monkey.

She does this every time we get in or out of the van.

3/11--While eating, Caroline said, "This banana is so so so so so normal." 

Unlike this picture.

Which isn't very normal.

3/11--Yikes.  Care Bear has reached that stage where she sometimes says things that make me CRINGE.  When we had an overweight checker today, she said, "Maybe that boy has a baby in his tummy."  D'oh!  I hope he didn't hear.

3/13--On the way to church today, Whitney shared one of her greatest concerns of the moment, "Mom, my sweet tooth is loose and when it falls out, I'll only want to eat onions and sour stuff."

 Phew.  So far, the sweet tooth is hanging in there.

3/18--The sage wisdom of a two-and-a-half year old, "Turtles don't fly."  And later, "We don't eat balloons."

 But it's perfectly OK to talk on two cell phones.

At the same time.

3/18--Caroline was talking in her sleep while we were camping and yelled, "I don't need any medicine!"  Wow, wonder what that dream was about.

 She has apparently learned to "Just Say No" to any and all drugs.

3/19--Caroline was making requests for her birthday cake tonight..even though she's got a couple of months to go before her birthday.  "I want a cake with lots of flavors:  sugar and potatoes and Sprite."

 Sounds mouth-watering.

3/21--Care Bear put on these 3D glasses and said, 

 "Mom, do I look super awesome or super cute?"  

Apparently there are no other fitting descriptions.

3/24--We were listening to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and there's a line that talks about dreams coming true.  Whit said, "Well, I don't want to go there.  Once I had a dream that sharks were chasing me and I don't want THAT to come true!"

 PLEASE don't let our dreams come true!

Random pictures of the month:

 Wa ta!

B's new favorite hobby:

dunking in the backyard.

He even suffered his first rim rash.

That's my boy. *wiping tear*

One of the prizes from the treasure box in Brandon's class

is a pass to eat lunch with a family member.  He used his tickets to buy it,

ate with Whit, and Caroline and I joined them.  

What a fun break in our day.

Loved it.

The Potty Train

Choo choo.  We are officially on the potty train.

And sometimes we even play the guitar while riding.

A Family First: Camping

We decided to take the plunge and try our first EVER family camping trip.

And it was a huge success!

Here's why.

The weather was PERFECT.

 High in the 80's, low in the 50's.

Plus, it's early enough in the year that there were no mosquitos.

Fabulous.

 We had three happy kids who were up for an adventure.

We found a little creek where they could throw rocks.

And pick wild onions,
because what kid doesn't want to do THAT?

The even tied them to end of sticks to go "fishing."
(Grandpa G and Uncle Mark really need to come visit.)


Caroline thought she was big stuff,
walking across this log.
She thought she could do it all by herself,
but she finally let daddy help her.

 Set up not one, but TWO tents.

Brandon got the little blue one all to himself.

The boys got the fire going for us.

 The girls dug for worms.

And found a "cute" little one that they 

kept as a pet for a few minutes.

 We roasted hot dogs.

(I packed myself a PB&J.)

 And marshmallows.

(Love this pic!)

Yum!

The big kids thought it was way cool

to smash this rotting log with a mallet.

Everyone slept great.  Except me.

The girls even let us put them to bed and then we hung out

around the campfire with B-train.

I was such a light sleeper and woke up about sixteen times.  Boo.

We had donuts, fruit, and chocolate milk for breakfast in the morning.

No wonder the kids had fun.

They've never had this much junk food in two days!

It was a very fun adventure.

Despite the face Brandon's making in this picture.

Lessons learned:

*Next time, I want to stay two nights, because it is a whole lotta work for just one.

*Andrew warned me to bring extra socks, which was very smart.  But, I learned that you also need to bring extra shoes.  Because when two of your three kids step in the creek, you don't want to put those nice dry socks into yucky wet shoes.

Any other tips for us rookie campers? 

Lessons in Art

Now that basketball and cheerleading are over, it was Whitney's turn to choose an activity.  I found a local artist who teaches art classes in her home.  W was pumped!  There's nothing like art supplies to get that girl excited. 

Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Bettini.  

It looks like they coordinated outfits!

Once a week, Whit gets to join a few other kids in Ms. Bettini's studio for lessons.  They choose items from her shelves which are full of knick-knacks and toys.  Then the students choose what medium they want to use:  colored pencils, oil pastels, watercolors.  And they get to work.  Ms. Bettini takes turns working with each student, giving pointers and teaching techniques.  It is a little slice of heaven for Whit and she giddily looks forward to every Wednesday.

When we picked her up from her first class, I was surprised to see the objects she chose for her painting:

(click to enlarge)

A dalmatian puppy (very normal),

a plastic bunch of grapes (semi-normal),

and a skull.  (What????)

Even though the content was interesting,

I thought her finished product was really good!

And here she was, set up for her second work of art:

Teapot, apple, teacup.

Much more typical for a six-year-old girl.

And check out the finished product:

I love it!

I especially like the shadows.

I'm so happy we found Ms. Bettini and Whitney can enjoy this time developing her talent.  Can't wait to see what other masterpieces she creates. 

A Step Back in Time

We love the history here in NC and have made several visits to Battleground Park, but this was the first year we had the chance to get immersed (at least for a couple of hours) in the Revolutionary War battle that took place there.

Each year in mid-March, they hold a reenactment.  It is awesome.

Hundreds of men (and a few women) get dressed up in period clothing,

wield their muskets

rifles,

or cannons...

load 'em up

and shoot at each other.

Very educational.

We learned:

*That there were no medics for wars at this time.

You just waited until the battle was over and then

gathered your wounded soldiers.

*That the cavalry from both sides wore green.

How did you know which one was your enemy?

The one that was attacking you.

*This super nice reenactor showed Brandon

and Whitney how his musket works.
This was B's favorite part.

*The soldiers lived in tent cities like this.

They slept on hay and must have been much shorter

because I think Brandon would barely fit in there.

This nice woman taught Whitney all about the life 

of a six-year-old girl in the 18th century.

Basically, she would be a little adult, helping me out

with all of my duties:  cooking, cleaning, taking care of the baby.

She will never complain about unloading the dishwasher again.

One of their favorite parts was getting to play with

old-fashioned toys.  Especially Jacob's ladder.

I know what they're getting for next Christmas!