Brookgreen Gardens Part I

On Sunday, we all traveled down to the Myrtle Beach area. First stop? Brookgreen Gardens. Dad talks about this place all the time...how great it is, how pretty it is, etc. I've never really been to botanical gardens (unless the Swamp Gardens in Charleston count), so I wasn't sure what we were in for. Well, it lived up to the hype. Even in the hottest weather and worst humidity ever, it was amazing. I absolutely loved it. And...if Amber's game, this is where she will be getting married :)

A teepee in the Children's Garden:

Owen chilling on a low branch:

A butterfly I caught...I can't believe I actually got the shot!

My favorite fountain in the entire place: it's statues of the Muses - each represent a type of art.

Holden Beach

Since dad lives about 5 minutes from the beach, it's always something we do several times while we're visiting. However, it's way different going to the beach when you've got two kids and two tons of their gear to tote along!

Day number 1 at the beach was just Amber and I. I have to say, I am pretty proud of the way we got everything down to the beach in one trip. We'll forget about the fact that poor Owen was clinging onto Amber for dear life as he slipped further and further down...no one fell, and that was an accomplishment. We did realize, however, that we aren't very adept at putting up a beach umbrella. Luckily, the beach there doesn't get very crowded; it took off in a gust of wind and wound up mangled beyond recognition.

The other day we spent at the beach we had Dad and Shirley to help, so things went even more smoothly! The kids loved playing in both the ocean and the sand. One thing I will never get used to...sand in all areas of my body from having them crawl all over me. Some pictures of our time at the beach:

Owen playing it up

Emily hard at work
Owen's first real time "jumping" waves
This girl couldn't get enough of the ocean
Dad and Shirley with the little man

North Carolina - In the Beginning

The kids, Amber, and I spent July 15-20 in North Carolina with Dad and Shirley. Amber came along to help me out with the kids, since Dan thought he was out of vacation days. Thank goodness she did...I don't think I could have made the drive or stayed sane during the trip without her!

We got started a bit later than I first planned...8:00 Thursday morning. By mile 61, Emily had thrown up in the car. So disgusting. The sad part? She warned us, but I figured it was just her being silly (sometimes she likes to pretend she's sick). Minutes later, we were in the vomit-mobile. Other than that incident, our drive was pretty fun. Amber and I got to see the booming metropolis of Mineral, Virginia, and we met these fun guys at a gas station in North Carolina.

The best, though, was in Mt. Olive, NC. Where else would you see a gigantic (and I do mean gigantic) billboard asking: Could you have SYPHILIS? I think we almost crashed while we did double and triple takes! The town mascot, Seymour Johnson (and I'm NOT making that name up) would have been proud :)

The kids, for their part, did a great job on the 10.5 hour ride. They entertained themselves and each other by playing with an empty bag and empty water bottles. Their favorite activity, by far, was sucking on their toes and screaming with glee. This was my favorite activity:

We arrived in Supply, NC stiff and tired, but ready to have lots of fun. More to come soon!

Owen's 15 month stats

Owen hit the doctor's office Thursday for his 15 month checkup. He seems huge to me in comparison to Emily, so I was excited to see his stats. He now weighs 21 pounds 12 ounces, which only puts him in the 15th percentile for weight. Crazy, since the kid eats CONSTANTLY and will eat anything. It's actually sort've amazing how much he eats. But, the doctor says he's on the light side, so to keep giving him whole milk to fatten him up :) In length, he's 32 inches, which puts him in the 77th percentile for height. Looks like we have another tall skinny kid, although Emily stopped with being so tall for her age about a year ago.

He also got three vaccines, which for the first time I was nervous about. I don't know if it's all the reading I've been doing about supposed reactions from vaccines, or because he's a boy and I worry more about autism with a boy than a girl, but I did think about asking the doctor to spread the vaccines out. Then I remembered that Emily was fine, and most recent research doesn't see a link between vaccines and autism, so I just let them do the vaccines on schedule. So far, he's been a champ...no fever, no fussiness...just his smiley self.

Little Mermaid

We took advantage of the super warm weather to head over to mom and Ron's pool last Saturday with the kids. While Owen took a nap, Emily donned her new swim vest and got braver and braver! She was jumping for what seemed like hours on end - she'd jump in (going under the water!), then swim to the steps, get out, and jump again. I hope to get her into swimming lessons this fall or winter to help her improve her swimming basics, but for now, I'll just continue having fun catching her.

The next day, we had stuff to do around our house, but the kids still got to have some water fun. We set up the pool in the front yard, and they had a ball while we worked on hanging flower baskets and doing other yard maintenance.

Adios for now!

Today marked my last day as a guidance counselor, and although I'm starting summer break officially tomorrow, I'm pretty sad I won't be returning to that job next year. It's back to teaching English for me, since the counselor who was out on maternity leave is coming back. I am hoping to return to guidance eventually, but for now, I suppose I simply have to be thankful for the experience and the break from the classroom.

Picture Time!

We spent our Father's Day getting some pictures of the kids. Emily was due for her 3-year-old pictures. What I most hoped we'd get, however, were some pictures of the kids together. The last time they posed and cooperated together was last year when Em was 2 and Owen was only 3 months. Even then, the shot we got of them was a total accident...it sort've looked like she was kissing him, although I think she was actually trying to chew on his ear. So...we had high hopes for today. With some thought put into the scheduling time and fruit snacks as bribes (yep, I resorted to that), we got some decent pictures. Enjoy!