Beach Times

We went to Wrightsville Beach for a long weekend. We stayed with Elysia and her family the same as we did last year and had so much fun. The kids loved the beach, of course. C is even more of a water lover than I have ever seen before. He would swim out to the big waves turn around and catch the waves in on his boogie board. We loved traveling with them as the kids get along great, it is always nice to have friends on vacation and we just get along with them great. Even Elysia’s little boy went from just a little timid in the water to letting the waves crash down on him and him going really far out. Her little girl got pounded by a wave once and wasn’t too keen, then I took her out and I think may have scarred her for life against the water when we got slammed with a wave. I did hold on, but she didn’t like it at all.

I loved Wrightsville Beach, it is so nice and the waves aren’t too bad and not a big under tow like we had in the Outer Banks. The house was about a block and a half from the beach, but an easy walk and well worth it. We mostly cook for ourselves on vacation, kinda ironic since I rarely cook at home, but I just have more time and it is easier while on vacation. I made big breakfasts a few days as I love making/eating a good breakfast while on vacation.

We did go out to eat once in Downtown Wilmington to Front Street Brewery and it was super yummy. We then walked around in downtown and got ice cream at Kilwins, which is soooo, sooooo good!

Here are the wonderful kiddos (with their friend Katie):

Here is bubby trying to save the kids as I take a pic (I will make the disclaimer again, no one was hurt, seems to be a recurring theme here lately):

The pic I was trying to get (notice C doing Ninja moves he was telling the waves to back off):

Here is my surfer dude:

C and Emma Dancing

We went to a Carolina Mudcats game with our friends and their little girl Emma. They started dancing when the music came on. It was so adorable.

Bye, Bye Summer

Just had to share a shot from our September Beach trip to Wrightsville Beach. Got a picture of the twinkies, Gabby and Derrick, and the dude at the end of the summer after they spent hours in the pool and on the beach. Despite using tons, i.e. several bottles, of sunscreen, they tanned. They tanned a LOT! Christopher went to the Beach with the Twinkies three times and we went to the pool even more, then the camping trip that had a pool. He is so lucky to have such great friends to make such great memories with! So Gabby was okay with the shot, C was trying hard to be modest (for once) and Derrick was trying to show it all!
This is cute!

Park Playdate

We got together with some friends at the park this weekend. The weather was great and the kids had a great time. My entrepreneur son and his friend Aiden started a rock business. They gathered a bunch of rocks from around the playground and were selling them for 79 cents. Not real money, but each kid that wanted a rock had to pretend to give him 79 cents. The kids rode the boat, carousel, and train and played for a long time. We then went and had Mexican Popsicles, Mexican Paletas. They are so yummy. I tried Jasmine Green Tea and Elderberry Lavender. Of course, I got to try other’s paletas, like Pomegranate Tangerine, Hibiscus Strawberry, and more. Christopher had two Chocolate Brownie ones and we even brought a puppy pop home for Calvin, it is frozen chicken stock wrapped around a raw hide.
Here are the kids riding the boat and the train:

Please ignore Christopher's juice stained face ;-)

Our First Family Camping Trip

We went camping at Jordan Lake this past weekend for our first ever family camping experience. Elysia organized the trip for our interracial families playgroup. We had 10 families camp Friday night, 2 families come and hang out on Saturday, then down to 7 families of campers on Saturday night. The area was great, they had tons of room for the tents to be set up, water at the site, we were right on the lake, and there was a playground right there, too. Having the playground was awesome, the kids loved going to the playground a LOT. The bathrooms weren't too far of a walk and had warm water even. There was a huge fire pit and we had a fire going most of the time we were there.
Friday night we set up the tents and then lets the kids play on the playground while dinner was being cooked. We had chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers and a big pot of chili. Saturday morning, we had coffee, cereal, yogurt, fruit, eggs, sausage, and more. The kids played on the playground more, we fished a little (the fishing area was not that great near our campsite, but some of the group walked to the pier where it was nicer). Lunch was leftovers.
Saturday afternoon we had a few more kids and parents come to hang out, we mostly let the kids ride bikes/trikes around the campsite, play on the playground, and fish some. Then we cooked out again, pretty much the same, burgers, dogs, chicken, had pasta, potato, and macaroni salad, and stuff. The kids drank way too many juice boxes. Then we roasted s'mores.

After all the s'mores (each had 3) and eating, the kids went to bed and the adults stayed up chatting and hanging out around the camp fire. Saturday night we totally got rained on (well at least we stayed dry inside the tent). It was so loud and it seemed like it poured all night. Our air mattress was a bit defective and by the end of the night we were all sleeping on the ground. So next trip we need to make sure we have a working air mattress.
We packed up Sunday and got home by 10:00 am. The tent is drying out in the garage and we all showered for a day of birthday parties (2) on Sunday. C said the best part of camping was playing with friends and eating s'mores. I think the best part was hanging out as a family with our friends, too.

Museum Fun!

We went to the museum today with some of his friends from the playgroup. He saw Malaya, Sammy, Kimberly, and a few other friends. Him and Malaya have been playing together for about 2 1/2 years. I have always joked that he is going to marry Malaya. But between Alina at school, Kimberly, Malaya, the neighbor Leyana, and more, who knows. But we really love Malaya, she is such a sweet, cute, energetic, happy girl. Here is the dude dressed as a fireman and me and then him and Malaya in the sandbox. He is wearing an eye patch he made at the craft table at the museum.

Friday Fun

Today was our monthly Interracial Families play date. We do more play dates than just once a month, but every second (changed this month to the first) Friday night we get together and play at a jump house. The other play dates always change, but this is an every month one that is always on the calendar. The kids love it and it is a small place so the adults get a chance to hang out and talk and the kids play. Some of these kids, we've been playing with for 2 1/2 years, wow such a long time. Some were just babies when we started, like Tera, the cutie with the pigtails!
Here are some pics from today's play date.

Tomorrow is Savannah's birthday. She is the dude's little baby cousin who is one tomorrow. She is the sweetest, cutest, most adorable little girl. He likes to love on her and make her laugh. The funny thing is when he is done, he kind of just plops her off his lap. He still needs to learn to be a little more careful with her. She is walking and babbling and loves to watch him. Here she was 1 year ago:

Bath Time

We are currently in a drought so C rarely gets to use the big bath anymore. But occasionally I will put him in there and he has so much fun. He got to take a big huge bubble bath with his buddy JD the other night. They played with all the toys, squirted each other with water and poured water on each other's heads. This is such cheap and easy entertainment. The kids enjoy themselves while Courtney (JD's mom) and I hang out in the bathroom watching them to make sure they don't flood the bathroom or spray water all over the walls (which they still do even with us in there) and have a glass of wine. C decided to make himself a bubble beard! JD wanted nothing to do with the whole bubble beard.
If he has so much fun in the tub, why does he tell me before every bath that he doesn't like baths? He gives me grief before each tub-a-scrub as we call them, but then gets in there, plays, and does not want to get out. They make no sense most of the time. But still so cute and adorable.

Super Heroes

I think most little boys love to dress up as super heroes. The dude loves them all! He had a little buddy Eamon over last night and they dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Spiderman. They were so cute running around in their costumes. The dude has a buzz lightyear room, he has a nice wall mural with a moon, Little Green Men (LGMs), space ship, stars, Buzz, and Zurg. He has some glow in the dark stars, too. I took the opportunity to take some pictures in front of his wall mural.

Attempt at Volunteerism

Today we were supposed to go glean fields for an organization called Society of St. Andrew. We were going to introduce the kid to volunteerism and it would be a good and fun way to do it. Go pick collards for those less fortunate. We all got in the car, our friend Elysia and her two kids Gabby and Derrick, Chris, Christopher and myself. I was quite shocked and happy with us that we were on our way to the field and were going to only be a few minutes late. Then, the lady called to cancel, it was raining hard, thundering, and lightning. I learned today that , you cannot pick in the fields during lightning or thunder (not that I would have wanted to) because it is dangerous. We are going to try it again in April. I was pretty bummed we didn't get to do it.

So instead we ended up at Chick-Fil-A. I am such a regular customer there it is not even funny! I was just there this past Tuesday for family night where I totally lucked out and got a free cow, free calendar, and the kid made his own Sundae, which I got to finish.
Here are a few pictures of the kids being silly in the play area of CFA. They love to play there.