The Fourth

After so much fun at the Eno, we rested up and then headed over to Grandma and Popop's for a cookout. Again, it's been so long, I can't remember what we had, but I know it was delicious and we had fun.  There wasn't too much else to tell, so I'll just share some pictures.

My stripey baldy cuties!

Admiring her curls while she watches the fireworks at the neighbor's.

spikey hair and nose wrinkle - a perfect combo!

Watching the fireworks at a distance.

Hayden tries a sparkler. Not quite at the wave-it-around-while-dancing-phase. More the why-are-you-making-me-hold-a-flaming-object-you-are-crazy phase.

Family photo in our festive fourth clothes!

Look, even her diaper was festive!

Happy Fourth everyone! Hope you had a good one!

Festival for the Eno

So here's a second installment of the backlog of blogs - Fourth of July at the Festival for the Eno. Two things that are important to know about the Eno Festival - it is always busy and always HOT! This year was no exception. We did our best to get there as early as we were allowed and took one of the first buses over to the festival around 10 in the morning. It was ALREADY hot, and once we met up with Popop he treated the girls to breakfast popsicles from the Locopop stand. Yum!

I think she was eating cherry lime.

This one was strawberries and cream. And difficult to get a taste!

 We had Molly in the stroller as we walked around - hoping to keep her and me cooler than if I wore her in a carrier. And bonus - she took her morning nap! I guess she didn't find the Festival all that exciting, especially since she didn't get a breakfast popsicle.

 We checked out the sandcastle tent which was just getting started (so no pictures) and headed down to find the kid area. We stopped at the animal booths to learn about creatures around the Eno.

AHHH! SNAKE!! (don't worry, the one in front isn't real)

 The kids weren't too interested in the creatures, so we headed over to look at the old mill. Always fun to check out what's in the water. Plus this year they actually had the mill working! So we got to watch the wheel turning, and then go inside to check out a very old timey mill store. Love the dusty old smell in the building, but man it must have been hot before air conditioning!

Eliza concentrates on the next move. (She's playing herself.)

Hayden heads across the walkway over the water wheel.

 After mill time (not to be confused with Miller Time!), we went for some river time. The girls waded into the river (along with lots of other kiddos) and cooled off a bit. Molly and I were in at first, and then we headed up for Molly snack time. Despite the heat, she was still willing to nurse, and then pose for pictures!

looking for crawdads and salamanders!

Full belly equals happy patriotic baby!

After cooling off in the river, it's time for a lemonade break.

 Now it was still hot, and getting hotter, and time to find some lunch. We tossed newspapers on the stoop at the N&O tent, and then stopped in the mist tent to cool off. Then headed up to one of the best parts of the Eno - The Food Court! At this point, I can't quite remember what we even picked.  We did manage to find a lovely shady spot to eat our food and listen to music. Hayden got a hotdog which quickly disappeared. I hemmed and hawed and finally went with my traditional chicken gyro. Jason had a pulled pork BBQ sandwich and some mexican torta sandwich thing. Plus there was some delicious ribbon fries! And then of course, there was more ice cream!

Eliza didn't want to do the mist tent (hence the carrying) but Hayden loved it.

Lemonade and ribbon fries, what could be better? Even Molly got some ribbon fries.

Ice cream part deux. You can practically see the ice cream melting.

 The kids rallied after food and had a good time exploring the music tent with little guitars with Grandma. And I got to talk to one of Grandma's friends who was starting up a music class with the program we like. We did the summer class with her and had a great time!

Of course she wanted to try the pink guitar, did you really expect something different?!

Just the right size for Eliza.

At least 3 hours in and still smiling - Yay!

 And then it was time for the parade! We stumbled upon the Paper Hand Puppet Intervention parade last year by accident, and really enjoyed watching it. This year, the kids were very excited about it. We heard it coming with the drums, raced across the meadow to watch it go one direction and then circled back to watch the parade come into the main area. I don't know why it's called the Hand Puppet when the puppets are so BIG, but it's a really cool spectacle. The girls watched, mesmerized.

I worked very hard to get the crane in perfect frame with the festival sign on the stage.

 We finally tore them away from the parade watching as it headed off into the distance, and straggled back to the bus stop. The cool of the bus air conditioning was wondrous. Amazingly, everyone was still in a good mood after a long hot trip to the Eno. So glad  we got to have such a fun true Durham experience!

Still smiling, mainly because of the bus AC!

For reference, here's the BEFORE picture, all dressed for Fourth Festivities.

 

And here's the AFTER!

 

 

Yay for Dads!

As the first installment in the backlog of summertime blogs, I present you with the Father's Day blog. Since it was so long ago, it won't even be that long a blog entry. :)

We had a lovely Father's Day this year. Jason was treated to homemade waffles with peaches and whipped cream on top, plus a stack of presents with homemade wrapping paper.

Mmmm, whipped cream and fruit on waffles, my favorite. (It took several weekends to get the girls to stop asking for whipped cream on waffles/pancakes, they thought it was so yummy.)

What is inside such beautiful presents, you ask? Something wonderful for sure.

Then in the afternoon, we headed out to one of the Eno River state parks for some river play and then a cookout. It was wonderful. Perfect weather, not too crowded, good food, and the girls had a blast playing in the river. Even both dads involved had fun! The one bad moment was a serious head bonk for Eliza when she slipped on wet rocks and hit her head, but she recovered okay.

Ready for anything with her trusty red bucket in hand.

Wading with Grandma and Daddy to the deeper water.

Checking out the waterfall rocks upstream. (site of the head bonk.)

getting Molly's toes wet. She wanted to eat the rock in front of her.

I want to touch it!

Sister quiet time and nose honks on the river bank.

Notice the appropriately themed shirt!

Contemplating a return to the river after the headbonk.

You're the best daddy!

 

Goofy grins all around before dinner.

Molly was quite entertained on a blanket with a spoon. This seems amazing now, since she has since learned to crawl and generally spread baby havoc.

 Happy Father's Day to the two best dads I know!

Teeth and Rainbows

I have SO many blogs to write about all our summer fun, but just haven't had the time. And we're headed out of town tomorrow, so it might be a little while. But for now, here's a few quick and funny photos to show you a bit of what we've been up to.

1) Hayden lost her first tooth! One day I noticed that her tooth looked weird, and initially I was worried that her teeth were really getting out of whack because she is still obsessively sucking her thumb. But when I asked her about it, it turns out that it was just wiggly! The very next day, she told me "my tooth hurts" after eating lunch. Just as I was mentally debating what to do, since I didn't think suggesting pulling it out would work with my child who freaks over pain, she suddenly says "here Mom, it came out!" I was ridiculously excited about a developmental milestone that doesn't even involve any skills! We tucked it under her pillow that night and the toothfairy brought her a gold dollar. Now from time to time she asks if any of her other teeth are loose, apparently missing the point that she will probably be the first to know that, not me!

The first couple days, she would exclaim " I can't believe my mouth has such a big hole in it!"

2) We had a rainbow sighting last night! A big thunderstorm rolled through around dinner time, and just as we were putting the girls to bed, we went outside to check for a rainbow. Low and behold, there was a big, bright one! So the girls stood outside in bare feet and pajamas, and marveled at the rainbow with me. I had to bring them inside when Eliza started trying to go puddle stomping.

3) Molly turned 11 months today! I can't believe she is almost one. It's so cliche, but time certainly does fly.  Her newest trick is pulling up. She is getting into everything, and not afraid to "taste" anything (large or tiny) that she comes in contact with. Luckily she's just getting cuter every day, so all her mischief is forgiven.

Sampling pancakes for breakfast. We tried a new recipe this morning and she heartily approved of it!

Showing off her new pull-up-to-standing trick.

3b) Also, Molly would like to point out that sometimes being a crawling-all-over, blueberry-munching, balloon-batting, sisters-laughing, adorable little baby is very, very, very tough.

She really truly fell asleep like this, propped against the crib bars. She didn't sleep long though and had huge red marks on her forehead, surprise, surprise.

Naptime face plant!

  Happy 11 months!