Our Bald Head Trip

Last weekend was our annual kid-free trip to Bald Head Island with Josh, Anise, Cory, Jennie, Megan, Jason, Megan and Dave. We've been doing this trip for 6 years I think (although we missed one year when Noah was really little). As always, it was so fun!! And a huge thanks to Nana and Grandad for keeping the kids for us! I think everyone had a great time!

We dropped the kids at daycare on Thursday morning, picked up Megan A and took off bright and early. We made it in time for the 11:00 ferry and met Megan and Jason there so the 5 of us were out on the beach by about 2. We spent a few hours out there and the rest of the group trickled in through the night. We ate dinner at the house and just hung out. Press repeat and you pretty much have the rest of the weekend so I'll sum it up quick.... Friday was a huge beach day - we packed lunches and just hung out there all day. Dinner at the house again on Friday night and just more relaxing and fun! Saturday, more of the same except a little less beach time (a little more lazy in the morning) and dinner out at Eb and Flow's that night. We left pretty early on Sunday to get home and see our kiddos. What a great vacation!! Picutres....

Jason and Waylon mid-horseshoe game

The Megans relaxing!

Most of us on the beach - loved this moment were we were all just hanging out together and talking

The girls!

Here I am holding Jennie's baby bump! :-) So cute!!

We can't wait to meet their baby boy in November!

Anise and Megan

Back at the house - Waylon and Josh

Me, Anise, Megan

Jennie and Cory

Megan and Anise

The guys. I think we have a picture like the next two from every year! :-)

The girls

I like this one also

Some shots before dinner at Eb and Flow's on Saturday night...

Caught this one of Jason holding Megan's purse - think it's so funny!! :-)

Our whole group at dinner!

Leaving Sunday morning - tried to get a shot of Old Baldy when we were pulling away on the ferry.

When we got home, Kylie was napping and Noah and Grandaddy were at the pool. We unloaded and unpacked and then Nana and I walked down to the pool to get Noah. It was so nice to see him and Kylie when she woke up from nap soon after. They got a great report from Nana and Grandad so we are so glad it went well.

That evening, my neck went out so that was a little miserable. I couldn't hardly move it and ended up taking half a day on Monday to recover. I was mostly better by Tuesday night so that was good that it wasn't long lived.

Thursday night, Grammy came through town and visited. They finally sold my Gramma's house so she and my uncle were going down there Friday to clear it out (which meant out dining room finally got finished!). Waylon went out with some old coworkers and Grammy and I took the kids to the pool for an hour that night.

Friday, Noah insisted on going to school since he had show and share and was so excited to show off his new spy jet that Nana and Grandad got for him. I tried to talk him out of it but he really wanted to go. So I took him to school and Kylie and I went to the mall with Megan and Ryan. It was nice to just have a day with her alone. Maybe we'll have to do that more often on Fridays - trade off special Mommy days with the kids. :-)

The only shot I got at the mall of the two of them. Several people thought they were siblings and one even asked if they were twins!! :-) They do kinda look alike...

And on the way home....

Last night, we met up with Janet, Frank, Maddie and Mason for a quick dinner. I think I got a few pictures of them running around after dinner but I didn't get those pictures in on time. I'll get them in the next post! :-) This morning has been a lazy morning which has been really nice - no swim lessons today which is a change! Grammy came back through with our dining room stuff and we got some pictures up on the wall, too which is great!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

A Nice week and weekend before our TRIP!

Thursday, Waylon and I are off to Bald Head Island with a bunch of our friends and Nana and Grandad are going to stay here with the kids. I think everyone is excited about the weekend!!

But first - our past weekend.... last week was back to reality after our lake trip. We had a nice week. Wednesday night, Noah had a makeup swim lesson from missing one on his birthday so we spent the evening at the pool. That was a fun.

I worked for a few hours on Friday morning so the kids were in school for part of the day. I went to pick them up right after their naps and we went to the pool soon after with Megan, Megan and Ryan. Waylon and Jason joined us later and we ordered pizza down at the pool. So fun. Didn't get many pictures that evening but did get this cute one!

Afterwards, we came back to our house and Waylon and Jason went golfing. We tried to get Ryan to go to sleep in the pack and play so the girls could watch a movie but he was having none of it. So Megan and Ryan left and Megan A and I stayed up blabbing for a while. It was such a nice night!

Saturday morning - guess.... more pool time! I was almost pooled out by then but the kids had swim lessons so back we went. Savannah, Maddie and Mason all joined us, too so that was great! Got some adorable pictures of them going in and coming out - none actually in the pool though! :-)

Kylie, Savannah and Noah walking in

Hugs for Maddie and Mason before leaving

Saturday evening, Nana and Grandad came over to babysit and do a dry run before having the kids all weekend and Waylon and I went to a cookout at our friends' Jenn and Jay's house. We had a great time!

Sunday morning was a lazy one. We were going to go out to lunch but it became obvious that wasn't a good idea so we decided to stay in. After nap, we took off to Nana and Grandad's house for dinner with them and Andrea, Sean and Savannah. The kids had a blast pretending to be doctors. :-)

Noah kept coughing very dramatically and letting the girls take care of him.

Then Grandaddy's turn

Yesterday evening, Waylon's work had a cookout so we all took off to the park for that. Noah became SMITTEN with Waylon's coworker, John's, daughter - Audrey. It was pretty cute. They both have pretty strong personalities so they were just chatting it up the whole night. Her sister, Chloe, is on the other side and was adorable as well.

On the way out, they were holding hands. He didn't want to hold Kylie's hand - only Audrey's - but Kylie insisted. Then he said, 'Umm. I'm. Not. Sure. We. Should. Be. Doing. This" It was so funny.

And when it was time to leave, he was being silly when she wanted a hug like he was embarrassed a little. Then he gave her a hug and called, with a smile, 'BYE AUDREY!!' It was so sweet!! :-) And you have to admit, she is pretty darn adorable!

We are so excited about our trip! Thanks in advance to Nana and Grandad!

Week at the Lake - LOTS OF PICS!

What a fun week!! We did so much and took soooo many pictures, I'll have to update through them.

First though, I just have to write a little about how big both kids are!! I know I say that all the time but it really just amazes me how fast it happens. Noah is such a big boy and Kylie has just been talking up a STORM. She can communicate anything she wants - *wants* being the key word though. She's definitely getting a little attitude! :-)

We left home at naptime last Sunday and arrived mid afternoon. We went straight to the beach when we got there and had a fun afternoon. I realized I had forgotten Kylie's booster seat and we thought it might be a problem but the kids ate at this little table all week and they did great! (By the way, you can see Noah's boo-boo really well in this shot - it's amazing how quickly it healed, you'll see it disappearing throughout the week - it's completely gone now).

Watching a show and snuggling with Aunt Leah before bedtime

Monday morning, there was a 4th of July parade at the lake. We watched it a few years ago and it was just a few people - this year it was probably close to 100 of us! Grammy brought stuff to decorate their bikes and a wagon and we were actually in the parade! They both loved it and it was so fun.

Helping Grammy decorate!

Kylie decided to ride in the wagon instead

(Strangely enough, Kylie wore this same dress last year at 4th of July. It was a little tight but it worked!)

Waiting for the parade to start - a little love for Daddy

Some group shots

And we are off!

(you can see behind us, some people REALLY get into it!)

Noah did great riding his bike!!

After the parade

After the parade, it was time for a boat ride....

Papa got to relax some while Noah was driving! :-)

And of course Kylie's turn...

She loved the boat this year. Last year she wasn't thrilled so I was glad that she likes it now!

A picnic lunch for the kiddos...

... and a little rest

Noah didn't really sleep but was very tired

Later on in the day, time to play with the water on the porch. Grammy had a water table and a blow up pool but the hose was still the main attraction. :-)

Noah got funny new goggles for his birthday from Aunt Leah - he loves them!

(notice the eyes)

Monday night, we went to dinner at the marina. The plan was to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. We were able to stick with the plan except the weather wasn't so nice. It was raining but we sat out on the (covered) deck anyway and still enjoyed it! After dinner, Grammy and Papa took the kids back home for bed and Leah, Bill, Waylon and I stayed and had a few drinks at the outdoor bar. So much fun!

I'm losing track of days now but I think this next picture might have been from Tuesday. More beach time in the morning, I guess! :-)

At one point (I think it was Tuesday), my dad brought the boat around to the beach area and Noah and I swam out to him and climbed on and went for a ride (Kylie wasn't thrilled about being left behind). We just went for a bit but when we got back, we pulled up to the beach area and I asked Noah if he wanted to jump off the boat. I didn't think he'd really do it but he just went right up to the bow and jumped right in! I was so impressed! He wasn't scared at all.

Waylon left on Tuesday afternoon to head back home so he could work Wed, Thurs, and Fri and then came back to join us early Saturday morning.

Tuesday night, Grammy's new iPad read the kids a book before bedtime. :-) Too funny.

Wednesday morning, getting ready to go somewhere (a walk maybe? - it's so hard to remember!). :-) Noah loves to say, 'ALL SET!' and jump to this position and Kylie had to copy him of course. :-)

Wednesday morning, Papa and Noah tried out the kayak!

Naptime means relax time for Mommy!

Noah woke up from his nap and came down to the beach with Papa to fish. He looked so sweet sitting here fishing....

Bill cooked two chickens with all sorts of fixins' in cast iron pots down on the beach. It was so yummy and fun to have a little party while it was cooking, too!

Bill and Leah

Snack time for the kiddos

My ditter and me!

Sweet Kylie-girl

Kylie LOVES the water. She kept wanting me to throw her up in the air (wun, twooo, FREEE!!!). And they would say, 'a-GAIN!'

We tried for a long time to get a shot of them both wearing these glasses. This is the best we got but I think it's adorable anyway!

Thursday the kids, my parents and I took a ride on the boat down to the marina for lunch. Leah and Bill stayed back to do yoga on the dock so they drove my car over and met us. Afterwards, my parents took Kylie back to take a nap and Noah rode back on the boat with me, Leah and Bill.

Feeding the fish with Grammy

Mommy and her girl

Kylie was being silly trying to feed Noah french fries. They are so cute together!

After we got back, Noah was exhausted so I put him to bed and I took Leah and Bill tubing and wakeboarding. We had so much fun but only managed to get a few shots of Bill tubing.

This is one of my favorite shots that Leah got of him.... :-)

Friday morning, I took off to the grocery store by myself (a treat in itself!) and put together enchiladas for dinner that night. While I was doing that, Kylie and Grammy hung out riding bikes and Noah and Papa went fishing. They caught quite a few fish but two decent sized ones and Noah was so proud and excited!! They decided they were going to eat them for lunch and I was a little nervous about how that would go but Noah was really excited. He wanted to watch my dad clean the fish and I tried to steer him away but he really wanted to watch and was completely okay with it - even watched him cut the fish's head off!! Ugh. I could hardly watch myself. Yuck.

So proud!

Watching Papa clean the fish

Eating the fruits (or fish?) of his labor

After dinner on Friday night, we went for a quick boat ride and took Papa's homemade ice cream out for the kids. They loved it and we all loved the evening ride.

Again - so sweet together (most of the time anyway!) :-)

Papa's girl (she loves the men in her life)

Early Saturday morning, Daddy came back! Yay!! We were all so happy to see him but the kids were just SOOO excited. They were fighting over his attention and affection and wanted nothing to do with me! It was very cute.

Later in the morning, more beach time. I got my mom to french braid my hair like she used to do all the time when I was little! She'll have to teach me how to do it on Kylie someday...

Fishing with Grammy

The both kids wanted to jump off the dock. They both did it several times and Noah didn't even need to be caught.

Kylie is fearless, too. She jumped right in also!

While the kids (and Waylon) were napping, Leah, my dad and I went out on the boat for more tubing and wakeboarding. It was the first time I've done either in a long time but it was so much fun!

Soon after we got back, Noah woke up so we decided to try out tubing with him!! We went pretty slow at first but he kept wanting to speed up. We went a good speed at the end and he LOVED it. He keeps saying that was the best part of the whole week. That's my boy!!

Then he jumped off the tube and even jumped off the boat a few times and we just played in the deep water for a while. He LOVED it and so did I!

Back at the house, bubbles and more water play....

Leah and Bill took off that evening to head back to DC and we had more ice cream and then another evening boat ride. Got some more good group shots, too!

Beautiful sunset!

This morning, we just played around the house, cleaned up, packed and took off to have a quick lunch out with Grammy and Papa before heading back home to Cary.

What a fun, fun week! Thanks Grammy, Papa, Leah and Bill for making it so perfect!