Boat Trip!

As I mentioned in my last post, we went on a birthday boat cruise over Labor Day weekend when the whole family was in town. Now a 2 hour boat ride, with 7 adults and 4 children (including two 3 yr olds, and two not even 1), may seem like a recipe for disaster, but truly it was absolutely great. First of all we had AMAZING weather. North Carolina had THE hottest summer on record - set a record for number of days over 90 degrees - and yet the day we went was sunny with no humidity and a high in the low 80s. Just gorgeous.

Besides great weather, everyone was in a good mood and ready to enjoy themselves. It didn't hurt that Captain Don greeted us with cupcakes and we brought champagne. Everyone needs champagne and cupcakes for a morning boat ride!

One thing we had been worried about was the life jacket requirement for the kids. While they weren't super happy about putting them on, there were no tantrums or refusals. (This was mainly a concern for Hayden). And turns out, one of the benefits of life jackets was a built-in cheek pillow - good for naps and general cuteness.

Basically we just toured around Jordan Lake, checking things out. Captain Don pointed out some stuff, and answered questions if we asked, but generally we just enjoyed being out on the water. The head of the boat was a popular spot for Hayden and Jay.
There were occasional disputes about ownership of the space. Hayden was desperate to control as much real estate as possible.
Even Eliza liked looking out over the water. Can you see how her eyes are crinkling cuz she's smiling as she checks things out with Aunt Katie?


There wasn't much specific to do on the boat, we just enjoyed the sunshine, the scenery and each others' company. And tried on sunglasses.
There was kind of a lull in child activity as we got into the second hour. Eliza actually took a nap, and Hayden wanted some snuggle time in the shade.
Here's a closeup on Eliza's cheek pillows.

And then after the sleepy time, we just had spacey time, with sunglasses and windblown hats.

Just as the kids were really starting to get antsy, there was a new diversion - steering the boat! (You can even see the infamous Captain Don in the second picture.)

And then it was time to head back. Some of us could have stayed out all day, but others were ready to get back to land.

Captain Don was kind enough to take a full family photo of the happy sailors. It could have been a seafaring disaster but I think we all had fun.

After we disembarked, Captain Don headed back out for some solo sailing. Goodbye boat!

PS Hayden did ask if we could go again. And every time we drive over Jordan Lake, she asks if that's where we went on a boat ride.

Playing Catch Up - Labor Day

I still can't quite believe that I never got around to blogging about Labor Day weekend. It was a such a good weekend - that actually started the week before - filled with family, fun and parties! It all started because Mom had a big birthday this year, and Labor Day weekend was when our whole family was able to gather to celebrate. Then we were moving to NC around that same time, along with a good chunk of our possessions, and Lacey came up with her kids to spend the week while JT traveled. Needless to say it was a full house, but we all managed to survive - and even have a little fun. Here's a quick little photo recap of some of the highlights.

First of all, it was the first time that I got to meet my new niece, Charlotte. Though she couldn't really 'do' much yet, she was pretty popular. Eliza would check out Charlotte every time Charlotte hung out in the bouncer. (or maybe Eliza just wanted to reclaim the bouncer for herself - she had a blast climbing into and out of it when it was empty). And Aunt Katie loved meeting Charlotte (and Eliza) and even showed Charlotte how to text!
We threw a sort-of surprise party for mom and invited lots of friends. It was a sort-of because we planned it ahead of time, but did give her a couple days advance notice. I made special boston cream pie cupcakes for the party and we had plenty of good barbecue to share as well. I think we all enjoyed the party, especially the food.


Besides the party, we also got a special cake for Mom in honor of her birthday. It was delicious and so cute. There were stick figures of all her family members on it, plus the words: Live, Laugh, Love. Did I mention it was yummy?

In honor of Mom's birthday, we also arranged for a special BOAT RIDE on Jordan Lake. I'm hoping to do a blog just on the boat ride, so here's just a couple pics to give you an idea.

on the boat

off the boat

There was one other special birthday celebration that weekend as well - Sept 4th is Granma Jane's real birthday. So we all went down to Southern Pines to help her celebrate. The girls even got to wear special party dresses. I think Charlotte and Great Granma Jane really hit it off, since they picked matching outfits!

The rest of the time, there was a little less partying, but still lots of fun. Watching Hayden and Jay together was a blast. There were bike rides...
a trip to the Museum of Life and Science, complete with train ride...

Hayden introduced Jay to her special roll-on bath soap...

Poppop got lots of attention and hugs...

Including a double grandkid send off each morning as he headed to work...

Sand play in a sled (Grandma is so creative!)...

Orange food consumption...
And even snuggles with Daddy when he came back from his trip.

And of course, since it was a family reunion weekend, there were several family photo ops.

It was a busy weekend but lots of fun. All mom asked for was to have all of us together - and she sure got it ! Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma!

Playing Catch Up - Halloween edition

This is embarrassingly belated, seeing as how we have our Christmas tree up and decorated, and there's actually snow on the ground outside, but this post will be about Halloween. Photo uploading and blogging got lost in the busy transition into our own house, so I'm only just getting around to it. While I could skip a Halloween blog all together to try and save face, I just love pictures of pumpkins and costumes too much to let it slide. So here's a quick narrative through 20 pictures of the way we celebrated Halloween this year.

#1. We went to a second pumpkin patch, one where you could pick your own. Hayden was excited and wanted to walk the length of the patch.

#2. Eliza amongst the little pumpkins in the patch. We were kind of late in the pumpkin picking season so most of the pumpkins were pretty small. And I think there were some pumpkins that had been "planted" (if you will) in the patch for latecomers.

#3. Hayden very carefully selected her perfect pumpkin.

#4. Eliza amongst the BIG pumpkins. These were not in the patch, but on display. And such a perfect photo op. I think Eliza was checking to see if the one next to her was bigger, or maybe she was trying to figure out an escape route.

#5. While you may think I annoy my children by various "photo ops," in this case, I think Eliza liked posing on a giant pumpkin. Once we took her down, she wanted to climb right back up. No mountain (or pumpkin) is too big for our little mountain goat!#6. And after failing to climb Mt. Pumpkin, Eliza discovered that it made a good drum.

#7. Then she explored the mums with poppop. She's a busy one.

#8. Hayden poses with Daddy. Yes we had to bribe her to smile for the picture. (what was the bribe you ask? playing a game on Daddy's new iphone.)

#9. The carved pumpkin! H selected the shapes for eyes and nose. And she insisted on it having a sad mouth. I don't know why.#10. As part of our Halloween-related activities, we made cookies! Grandma was nice enough to mix up some yummy cream cheese cookie dough, and Hayden and I did the rolling, cutting and decorating. (and much of the eating as well!)

#11. Don't they look great?! Which one would YOU pick?

Then there was the trick-or-treating (hereby known as ToTing). We ended up in an situation where Hayden wasn't going to get to go "real" ToTing, because we were headed to State College to move out of our house on Halloween weekend. Durham doesn't move ToTing but we weren't going to be in town. State College moves ToTing when it's on a weekend(don't want to mix little kids in costumes and drunk football-crazy undergrads!) but we weren't going to be in State College in time for the designated night. So we improvised. Grandma was kind enough to recruit 4 neighbors to "practice" their ToT routine. We dressed the kids in costumes and headed out. Hayden was a clown, Eliza was a giraffe.

#12. At first Hayden was an angry clown. This is her "don't take my picture Mommy!" face. She was going through a phase.

#13. One of the great things about doing ToTing on an offnight- everyone gets to go out, because no one has to stay home and give out candy! I think we might have confused a couple people who were out walking that evening.
#14. Can you tell that Hayden is still in "no photos" mode? It's hard to shoot eye daggers at mom while sucking your thumb for comfort and wearing an adorable clown costume!
#15. Caught in the act of ToTing.
#16. Finally! A happy clown! (Yes we bribed her. With her Halloween candy.)
#17. More happy clown - this time with a giraffe as a pet!

#18. Isn't the giraffe the cutest?!!! (Eliza was a trooper. The costume was fleece-ish and it was over 80 degrees. But she didn't seem to mind.)

#19. At the end of ToTing, I ran home to dress up silly so they could ToT at our house. This caused Hayden to get upset ("wait for me Mommy!") and turn back into "no pictures" mode. So it was just me and the giraffe for a family halloween photo by the pumpkin.

#20. The clown eating her bribe. In Hayden world, closing her eyes means I can't take a picture of her. Ha! Little does she know.

Happy Halloween!

Hayden's first haircut

Amidst the craziness of moving (we close on our house tomorrow!), we found time to finally get Hayden's haircut. She had never, ever, ever had her haircut before. We've been talking about it for a while. We've read a book about Elmo visiting a hair salon (he gets his hair turned blue!). She admired Jason's recent hair trim. But we hadn't quite gotten around to it.

But today, we finally took the plunge and got her haircut.

Here's BEFORE and AFTER shots.



She was very nervous. She wanted to hold my hand the whole time. She really wasn't sure about getting her hair blowdried. But she was "very brave" as she announced at lunch afterwards. Plus, she looked awesome with her sparkly red shoes peaking out from the cape. She even got two lollipops from the stylist as a reward.

Doesn't she look great, post-cut? (yes it's hard to tell much difference, but it is shorter and more even...)