Vacation

So after we survived the earthquake*, and Hurricane Irene**, who left us without power for over a week, we hit the road for the beach!  


We went back to Hilton Head, and this time, we had TWO little ones!  Last year, I was hugely pregnant and Jack got sick, so it wasn't the most relaxing beach vacation ever.  This year we knew we'd have our hands full, so we were so excited that Grams and Gramps were up for making the trip with us!  We were even more excited that the Weavers were also able to join us for a bit.  They are always so kind to let us stay in their beautiful beach house but we don't usually get to hang out with them while we do it.  What a treat!

It SO was nice having extra hands and ears to respond when the little guys needed something.  Taking kids to the beach is a lot of fun, but not very relaxing.  The more hands you have to help, the better!  Kenny and I even got to go to the pool alone a few times and out to eat without kids!  YAY!


Jack is really into superheroes and he decided shortly after we arrived who each person would be.  Tommy was Lizard Man, Patti was Incredible Hulk (!), Gramps was Batman, Grams was Kraven, Max was Wolverine, Kenny was Captain America and I...I was Wonder Woman!  He rarely called people by their actual names all week!


We watched a lot of Spiderman, read a lot of books and worked a lot of puzzles...

It rained a couple of mornings so we went to The Sandbox, their Children's Museum.  Jack didn't want to leave, at all.  He loves it there!

We also spent a lot of time on the deck and in the backyard at the house.  The weather was wonderful...warm and breezy.  Not too humid.  It was perfect deck sitting weather.  September is a great time to go to the beach!  Too bad in just TWO years we'll Jack will be in kindergarten and we won't be able to go then.  TWO years!

The house is on the golf course and Tommy took Jack out to play...in his pajamas! Jack fell in love with being in his jammies on vacation.  I'm not sure what's so uncomfortable about his regular wardrobe but he either wanted jammies or his bathing suit.  On vacation, anything goes in my book (well, most anything anyway!), so he got to play golf in his jammies!

He played with these things on the deck a LOT.  An alligator statue, lots of shells and a bucket full of golfballs and he was entertained for hours.  

 Max took a little more work, but he loves being outside too...

Of course, we also spent a lot of time playing at the beach!  Jack loved playing in the sand and the water this year.  He was just so happy to be on the beach and with Grams and Gramps!  We took a picnic lunch for him most every day and he'd just sit in his chair and eat it all up and go right back to playing.  He loved every minute!  Grams asked him at some point if he liked vacation and he said vacation was SO FUN!  He really was in heaven the entire week!

Max loved it too!  He'd wander around, chase birds, eat sand (the paci was there to help deter that!), drink ocean water, play in the sand and just smile, smile, smile.

I promise the bottle was empty...I'll let him drink ocean water (!) but not beer! :)

Jack and Grams and Gramps found lots of sea creatures...

On the first day, Gramps went for a little walk and came back with 3 squid that had washed up on the shore.  He showed them to Jack, who snatched them right up and began playing with them.  I was amazed - he's not usually quite so willing to touch something he's not touched before.  He played with them for quite some time, just tossing them here and there, putting them in his buckets and burying them in the sand.  Kenny and I watched, in amazement until we realized, he had no idea they were real!  We waited until we got home for lunch to ask if he would touch a real squid and he just laughed and laughed and said NO!  It was pretty funny.





Jack drew a jellyfish in the sand...

They even spotted an alligator in a pond near the beach!

Not only was it vacation week, but Max turned ONE while we were there!  More on that in another post, but we did have a little party for him, of course!  Jack made cupcakes...

And we all waited to see what Max would do...

Not a fan...

But don't worry...he's still happy to be ONE!

And for the record...this one...he didn't want anything to do with cake on his first birthday either, but now...just look...he LOVES it!

It wouldn't have been a party without presents...

It was a wonderful week and I can't think of a better way to have spent Max's first birthday!  Thanks again to Grams and Gramps and of course the Weavers!  It wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun without you!

*Kenny and I were working and Max and Jack were at school when the earthquake hit.  It was a bit disconcerting as it seemed to last several seconds and my building shook quite a bit.  Kenny was in the field but felt it as well.  Jack and Max...we got an email from their school right after it was over that said they were fine and they both slept right through it! 

**Miss Irene was scary.  She hung around a while too and it was a bit challenging keeping everyone entertained in the dark.  We lost power around 2PM, and just after that, a huge tree fell on our street.  Our neighborhood got hit really hard...

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in fear, but are happy to report we lost no trees and all lived through it.  We were quite lucky.  We didn't have power for what felt like forever...a week is a long time!  We ended up leaving for the beach even though the power was still out after we spent 4-5 days with Grandma. Thank goodness for Grandma!  She housed us and fed us and ket the boys so very happy.  THANK YOU!

Still alive

I know, I know...it's been a while since I've posted.  It's not that I've forgotten and certainly not that I don't have plenty to tell!  It's that little thing called time that seems to be beating me up these days but I promise, it won't be much longer.  We wrapped up summer with an earthquake, hurricane, trip to the beach, Max's big first birthday, and a new room for Jack at school.  Now, we're hoping for a bit quieter Fall, with lots more time for me to blog more about these cute cute boys that keep us smiling...

Max learned a new trick...

Monday night, I went to the gym after work, so Kenny and the boys got home before me. When I opened the door, Max walked to me!  It was so cute!  I'd seen him take a step here and there, but never walk across the room all on his own!  Yay Max!  

Ellwood the Owl's Visit

Jack's class at school had a friend come visit this summer, Ellwood the Owl.  Each Orange Bird had the opportunity to take Ellwood home for the weekend and journal about their fun time with Ellwood.  This weekend was our turn and we were excited to show Ellwood our favorite parts of this town.

Kenny had been out of town for a few days for work last week, which meant Momma was TIRED by Friday night.  Since we had such a fun-filled weekend planned on top of that, we were sure to get to bed early Friday night so we had plenty of energy for the fun ahead.  Jack read Ellwood a book about Spidey before they turned in for the night.

Ellwood brought a few books with him too, which was a lot of fun. Jack's favorite was the journal Ellwood brought that told all about his fun with the other Orange birds.  He asked Kenny to read it twice!

Saturday morning, bright and early, we took Ellwood to the Farmer's Market.  We go most every Saturday morning and we just knew Ellwood would love it.  

As usual, our buddy Emerson was there, so Ellwood got to hang out with him too!   

Then it was time to go home and get ready for our other, almost weekly trip, to the library!

Ellwood found a perfect perch on Jack's bike.

Jack picked out books about sea creatures and shared a few with Ellwood.  It's sea creature week at school this week AND, it's getting really close to beach time for us!

Then it was off to the Science Museum!  We'd planned to take Ellwood and Jack to the Children's Museum to see Spidey but Jack said he didn't want to see Spidey until he was a grown-up.  So we skipped that and opted for the Science Museum instead.  Jack's been asking to go since we went to see an Imax film a month or so ago (Sea Rex).  So we thought it was a good time to go and show Ellwood the museum too.

We had a good time, though the lines to get in were so long we didn't get to stay too long.  That's ok though, we can go back anytime since we bought a membership!  Max loved it!  Yay for the Science Museum!

That was all the fun we could fit into one day for Ellwood but Sunday was fun-filled too!  We'd planned to go for a walk on the North Bank of the River but we woke up to the strange sight of rain!  So we scrapped those plans and decided to check out the Children's Museum instead.  We'd seen how packed the parking lot was the day before when we were at the Science Museum so we hoped that everyone had gotten their fill and the place would be empty.  That wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't so bad.  Both boys had a wonderful time and I think Ellwood did too! 

Jack wasn't a fan of CMoR when he was Max's age so I anticpated carrying Max a lot while Jack played, but I was so wrong!  He LOVED the crawler area and just had a ball!

After a good long nap, we decided to take Ellwood out for one more adventure before it was time for him to head back to school.  A quick stop at the Capitol to check out the boys' bricks seemed like a perfect trip for an owl trying to see the very best of Richmond.

While we were out we hopped over to check out the canal walk for a minute too.  We were so excited to be outside after weeks of sweltering heat!  Ellwood clearly needed to see the river too!

After so much fun, Ellwood was ready for a good night's sleep. He checked out Max's bed before settling in with Jack for one last night with us.  

I was really impressed with how amenable Jack was to taking him everywhere.  He called him his owl buddy and really got into it.  He's not a fan of pictures, so sometimes that was a little challenging, but he never wanted to leave Ellwood behind and was happy to have him tucked beneath his arm.  Monday morning when it was time to take Ellwood back to school Jack said he had some more places he wanted to show Ellwood and asked if he could come back another time!  Thanks to Miss Cristin for this great idea and opportunity.  We continue to be in love with our daycare situation and it's things like this that just remind us how lucky we are to have such a great place to send our boys everyday.


We really enjoyed your visit Ellwood and hope that you enjoyed our favorite places as much as we did!  Thanks for coming to see us and we hope you enjoy the rest of your summer with the Orange Birds!