Rocky Mount Children's Museum

We are having a fun time in NC. My sister and I met my mom in Rocky Mount to hang out with her. Suz found a Children's Museum that was about halfway between us. It was so much fun.

There was a section about the universe, germs and diseases, parts of the body, and an animal exhibit. There were a few real animals - the largest python I've ever seen, so big I wanted to throw up, a small alligator, and a touch tank with fish, horseshoe crabs, sting rays, and other sea life.

The stuffed animals must have had a sensor so that when you got close it would make the sound of that animal. Lucy would walk towards the alligator and when it would start to growl (?) she would just sit down. It was pretty amusing.

The highlight of the animal exhibit was the friendly stingray.


The first time this thing "waved" I screamed. I thought it was going to come right out of the tank.

At the parts of the body section there were models of several organs (stomach, brain, nose, eyes, etc.) I was showing them all to Leland. When we came to the nose I said, "This is what it looks like inside your nose." Leland says, "Oh that's where all the boogers are!"

The upstairs portion of the museum had mazes, foam pads to crawl on, a pony to ride, and lots of different toys. I usually don't put money in rides, but this one was only 10 cents. Leland loved the cowboy hat that she got to wear while riding the horse. This horse gave them a wild and crazy ride. I actually took Lucy off before it was over because I thought she was going to get whiplash.

We had such a great time. Thanks for meeting us Mom!

Queen Adventures

Chuck headed to NYC earlier in the week for a few days for the ABA national convention. After I dropped him off at the airport I headed down to NC to visit family.

For the first few days I stayed with my sister Suzanne. It was so fun to watch her daughter Emily (22mos) and my girls play. They are so hilarious chasing each other through out the house, playing peek-a-boo, and just playing. It's fun to watch cousins who haven't seen each other in a while just go right back to constant friends like they see each other every day.

We decided to test and see if we could fit all 3 carseats in the back of her car. They barely fit and it was so nice to not have to take 2 cars everywhere. The first few times we drove with all 3 girls in the back, Leland would start to yell the same phrase over and over. My sister and I could not figure out what she was saying. It sounded like "Queen of Bitches." I obviously was concerned because everytime she would yell it she would laugh and flail her arms around and kick her legs. She thought it was the most exciting thing to yell. My sister and I were trying not to show her how hilarious it was because I thought she knew she was saying something inappropriate.

Finally we figured out she was saying Queen Adventures. I guess something about all 3 girls being so snug in car was adventurous to Leland.

Feels like Home

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a wedding reception of the little sister of some good friends of mine from growing up. The reception was at the church building that I attended every Sunday for the first 18 years of my life. Some of the people that I was able to see were close friends while I was a teenager and had not seen in several years. Obviously most of my childhood friends were not there, but their parents were. It was so nice to visit with them.

The 2 older sisters of the bride are younger than me. While growing up others would often think that they were my little sisters because we all look alike. I am the youngest child so I loved the idea of having little sisters. We often would tell strangers that we were sisters.

As I was driving back to my sister-in-laws house I became a little emotional. I was thinking that it was the first time in a while that I felt like I went "home". There is something special about the home that you grow up in. Consider yourself lucky if you lived in the same home for the majority of your childhood and your parents still live in that home once they are empty-nester's.

When I was 20 years old and away at college my parents got divorced and sold my childhood home. Now when I come "home" it's to visit their home, not my home and I am just a visitor/intruder. So I do not have the "being at home" feeling when I return to NC. It's a difficult feeling for me to explain. I think no matter how old you are it's nice to have the comfort and relaxation that home gives. It's the feeling after a really long vacation to be able to curl up on your own couch or sleep in your own bed.

Chuck and I have lived in 6 apartment/houses in our 4 years of marriage. I hope this rate does not continue. I'm ready to have a house to live in and stay in for a really long time.

Camping Fun - Part 2 of 2

Saturday morning we had the intention of renting a small fishing boat to go out on the lake for an hour, but the weather had other plans for us. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and got everything cleaned up just before the rain started. For the record, the Weather Channel predicted only 30% chance of isolated T-storms from 4am-7am, it was now 9am and it was the craziest thunderstorm. The longest and loudest thunder I think I've ever heard in my life, lightning, and a down pour of rain. The 4 of us spent an hour inside our 10x15 tent. After about 30 minutes Chuck thought a few hours had passed. We sang songs, wrestled, and were monsters. Not exactly how we planned to spend our Sat morning, but great quality family time that made some memories.

Some of our extended family spent the weekend camping at a family reunion in Arizona. I guess we were there in spirit - camping and sporting our Bodell T-shirts.

When the rain cleared out we took the girls to the Discovery Center for some info and crafts about turtles. We then went fishing and playing in the river. Leland LOVES to go fishing even though she's only gone a few times. We didn't catch anything, but still enjoyed ourselves. Lucy loved playing in the rocks and on the edge of the water. She was soaking wet and covered in mud by the end.

Remember to click on the picture to make it larger. I absolutely love these pictures.

We had to leave at lunchtime on Saturday to make it to a Ward picnic. That was fun too, even though we were 2 hours late and completely exhausted. The fact that we didn't even take pictures shows how tired we were. The picnic was at a man's farm with 150+ acres. There were 4 wheelers, homemade slip-n-slide, and swimming in the river. Leland and Chuck went in the river while Lucy and I hung out on the bank. It was a gorgeous piece of property.

Camping Fun - Part 1 of 2

This weekend we went camping at Douthat State Park. It was so much fun. This was sort of a trial run because we are going camping in a few weeks at Harper's Ferry (3 hrs away). We had nothing planned and we have never taken our kids so we needed to test the waters a little bit. They did great and we had so much fun.

Chuck took off a day from work and we left early on Friday morning. Douthat is less than as hour away so this would give us most of the day on Friday to enjoy the Park. We would have loved to stay in the Lakeside campground but they were full. Whiteoak was a fine option because the sites were very spread out. We chose our site and started setting up camp. The girls loved climbing in the tent. Leland called it her castle for a while. The bad part was the sites were all loose gravel. The girls have bruises on the their shins and knees from crawling around in the tent. Lucy even got a big knot on her forehead from diving off the air mattress.

Quote of the weekend: We had been there maybe an hour and Leland says, "Mommy how do we watch television in the forest?
Note to self: Turn on the TV less, go camping more.

A river runs through the park and has some gorgeous dams to create the lake. As we were driving around checking out the park we saw a baby black bear running through the forest. We watched him for a little while but could not get the camera out to take any pictures.

We (actually Leland) decided swimming was # 1 priority once she saw the beach area. It had a playground on the sand with buttons on several poles that would turn on sprinklers on the equipment. Leland enjoyed being in the lake a lot more than the slippery playground. There was also a platform out in deep water with a slide and diving board. Leland and Chuck enjoyed playing in the water while Lucy and I hung out on the beach. Lucy was extremely tired but put up with us dragging her around very well.

Lucy finally got to take a short nap in the car while Leland played on a playground and Chuck tried to do a little fishing with Leland's Barbie fishing pole. With no success fishing we headed back to our campsite for dinner.

We cooked hot dogs on the campfire which I think is one of my favorite things to eat. We took a walk to the small river that ran next to the campground to take a few pictures. We then enjoyed some roasted marshmallows and S'mores.

Leland went to bed just fine because she was so tired. Lucy on the other hand thought it was so fun to be by us she just wanted to play. We will take her pack-n-play next time and I think she will have an easier time sleeping.