More NC Fun

We had so much fun in NC visiting everyone. We stayed one night with my Dad before heading down to my Mom's house. Leland enjoyed playing with my lil' sis Layni. Lucy loved the little TV and figured out how to turn it on all by herself.

We were at my mom's house for 7 days. We had so much fun. We enjoyed the pool which is the first for us this summer. Leland only wanted to be in the big pool. I kept trying to get her to play in the little pool with Nick, but she wanted to be a big girl. When she did go in the big pool she never even got off the stairs. She had fun though and still says that the big pool was her favorite thing about the whole trip. The kids also spent a lot of time in the sprinkler and slip-n-slide.

We visited the NC Estuarium in Washington, NC. It is an educational center about the coastal waterways. It is a fun place to visit. I especially love Washington. I would LOVE for it to be our next place to live. Population wise (10,000) it has more people than where I live now, but it has a smaller downtown area. Things I love about Washington: 1) it is on the water, 2)the closest major city (Greenville, home of East Carolina Univ.) is only about 30 mins away 3) Close to family. I will be focusing my job search for my husband in that area.

In Washington, there is an awesome boardwalk that we walked along a few times. We saw lots of boats, turtles, frogs, a momma duck with 2 ducklings, and a great view of the river. We also had to make a stop at the ice cream shop. I love a good storytime so we checked out the library storytime and made butterflies.

I want to live here! Quiet coastal town on the water = Heaven!

The Crofts come to visit

On Saturday, July 5, Tyler and Cecia Croft came to visit Lexington for the day. They live in Charlottesville, about an hour and 15 minutes northeast of us. It was lots of fun to have them here while the McBrides were here too.

We started the day at Boxerwood Gardens. It was very peaceful to sit and relax in the natural setting while the adults chatted and the kids played. Tyler and I got caught up in playing in the creek with the kids. Here are some photos of the kids playing.

After Boxerwood, we went to get homemade ice cream at Sweet Treats. Then we went to see Lee Chapel on the Washington and Lee University campus. We took the obligatory picture with General Lee and the historical Confederate flags.

Hale was especially interested in Traveller's grave and the student tradition of leaving gifts at the grave to provide for Traveller. Students believed that if you left Traveller a gift, you would do well on your next exam. Originally, carrots and apples were the gifts of choice, but eventually, the tradition evolved into leaving coins. If you leave a penny, it should be left tails side up because Abraham Lincon is on the other side (not really meant to be as disrespectful as it sounds). A quarter (Virginian George Washington and namesake of the school) or nickel (Virginian Thomas Jefferson) is to be left face up.

Family Pictures

While we were here in NC, we took some family pictures. All 7 grandkids ages 8, 6, two 3 yr olds, 21 months, 19 months, and 13 months. You would think it was crazy and chaotic, but it was surprisingly smooth. We went to a place called Portrait Innovations. I'm not really in to taking my kids to a studio for pictures, but I loved this place. We had 3 guys just helping our group. They were awesome. We took 99 pictures!!
All the children were cooperative. We only had 1 crying child, which was my Lucy. The guy who was trying to get the kids to look at the camera and smile had a stuffed bunny "kissing" all the kids noses. You would have thought the bunny bit Lucy's nose off. She lost control and was not the same after that.After much deliberation about the attire, we decided to go with each family in one color shirt and everyone in khaki shorts. Of course my girls both had solid pink shirts, and of course I did not. My sister graciously let me borrow her pink shirt. I HATE pink, I have always hated pink and now I have a professional picture so that all will see me in a PINK shirt. I am a good sport and tried not to make a big deal about it, but my sisters thought it was pretty hilarious.Just to make it worse they made me lay down on the ground sprawled on my side for a picture. We all thought the guy was kidding when he suggested it. Luckily most of my body is cutoff so you can't tell.This is my favorite. The pose was MY idea. My mom was out with the kids and did not see us take the picture. she cried when it came up on the computer screen when she was reviewing all the shots.

Buddies, Bats, and Burns

We are having a fun week at my mom's house. All 7 grand kids are here and they are having a blast playing together. Nick and Leland had a hard-boiled egg eating contest (their idea). They enjoyed the first egg and the next half was tough on both of them. It ended with Nick gagging.

My mom has felt that she has had a bat problem for some time. While sleeping in the bonus room, Christine kept hearing them at night. The last straw was when she saw a bat's legs hanging out from under the shutters. Larry (My mom's husband) decided to bang on the shutters to scare them. 25 bats flew out!!!!! It was crazy. No one could get their camera out fast enough to catch any pictures.

It only took 4 days with 7 kids in the house for a visit to the ER. Sadly it was the youngest, my Lucy who required the visit. We were all getting ready for church which was crazy as you could imagine. It was almost at 8:30am (which was the desired departure time). My girls and I were ready to go. I was cleaning up Leland from breakfast when I heard Lucy crying. My mom went to find her and started to yell. She was sitting next to an iron on the floor in the corner of the dining room.

My sister Christine left an iron on the floor. All of us, especially her, are still wondering why she was ironing on the floor and why in the world she left a hot (unplugged, but still hot) iron on the floor with all the little kids running around the house. Lucy had crawled over to it and we think it knocked over on top of her hand and arm.

She ended up with 2nd degree burns on her hand and arm. It's luckily on the top of her thumb and pointer finger and not on her palm side which would have been a lot worse. There also is a burn in the crease of her arm where it bends. I changed the bandages tonight because they were covered in food and dirt. The blisters are still huge. I want to try to get a picture later. I am grateful because it could have been a lot worse (KatieB I thought about you and Avery a lot this morning while in the ER).

It just broke my heart to see her cry so hard while in pain. I think my sister and I actually cried more than she did. She was amazing in the ER and afterwards so happy and playful, even more happy than usual. It is probably because she is being pumped with Motrin.

We have 3 more days of our vacation so hopefully there are no more visits to the ER.

We miss you Chuck (Daddy)! We are excited to see you soon.

4th of July - Part 3 of 3

While we waited for the sun to go down, the kids played and the adults talked. A little later we ate yummy chili dogs and ice cream - the perfect all-American dinner.

We also bought some light up bracelets... and Tara used hers in amazing ways.

The Virginia Military Institute barracks looked really cool as the daylight faded away and the fireworks exploded overhead. They played great music from speakers. It wasn't the Washington Monument in DC, but it was pretty patriotic nonetheless.

Together, we had a great Independence Day shared with family.