Summer Updates

New posts about our summer in the month of June.

Camp W part 1

Camp W part 2

Slowly catching up!

Beach Getaway

Just before Elizabeth was born, Mike and I were able to run away for the weekend, just us, no kids. We left Lenna, Andrew, and Rebecca with a good friend, Rosetta, and headed out!
We drive a few hours to Hilton Head Island- a beach town in South Carolina that I had been wanting to visit before we left Georgia. You see, I needed a Salty Dog Cafe t-shirt. Everyone I knew had one, and I felt like I couldn't really be a cool Georgia person without one of my own shirts featuring the wet dog in a yellow rain hat. So Hilton Head it was!
We stayed in a pretty little hotel called The Main Street Inn. Definitely a place I would love to stay in again, but not a place I would bring my kids.
After we got settled in we made a quick trip to the beach then had dinner in a grown up restaurant after our kids were supposed to be in bed. We spent the next day exploring the town and the beach. Sadly, it was January and the weather wanted to remind us, so our day on the beach was accentuated with snow flurries and icy wind! But it was nothing a few hours of window shopping and several cups of hot chocolate couldn't fix. Funny, one of the best parts was the driving there and back, the chance to just be together and talk in complete sentences without being interrupted.

It was so nice to get away and spend some time together before our lives were turned upside down with a new baby, new job, and a big move! I will forever be grateful for good friends who make things like this possible for us. Thanks Dobbins family!

Thanksgiving vacation

For Thanksgiving vacation we:
took a trip to the library
spent a day with Chuck E Cheese
made a Robin mask and some bamboo for a hungry panda sidekick

made root beer

made a present for grandparents

made a present for aunts and uncles

watched the construction workers pour cement in the neighbor's yard

drove a long way for a too-short trip to Nana's house

We need a vacation to recover from this vacation!

Thanksgiving 2010

This year I am thankful for:

Recliner chairs,

Good food,

Cousins,

Turkey,

And really big, full dining room tables.

And family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Beach Trip Fall 2010

When I get old and rich (or maybe sooner,a  girl can dream) I am going to buy a condo on this beach and visit as often as I want.
Until then, we will keep going as often as possible. This time, off season so we could afford beach-front accommodations with a great view, a balcony, and a private beach.
Highlights include:

watching the cargo ships come into the harbor, the lighthouse at night, the invading pirate ships acting as promo for upcoming pirate week, collecting shells, swimming in the ocean, watching the fog on the beach, ice cream on the board walk, no crowds in the great local restaurants, not catching the flu, doing nothing, and having so much fun you forget to take any pictures of yourselves having fun on the beach.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

At the beginning of August, Rebecca and I took a trip out west to visit with my family. It was a wonderful opportunity to see all of my brothers and sisters, my parents, grandparents, a even a few cousins thrown in here and there. I wish Mike and the kids could have been there as well, but they had to start school that week and Mike really didn't have the vacation time to spare, so he held down the fort at home while Becca and I traveled.
I forgot how much fun it is flying with a toddler, across three time zones, while pregnant and battling morning sickness, with said toddler flying as a lap child. Let's just say it isn't something I look forward to doing again any time soon. We got lucky and found a flight with just one stop in Dallas. On the way there, our plane was late taking off so we missed our connection. Unfortunately it was the last flight out that night, so we had to wait until the next day to finish our journey. However, the airlines did a good job of taking care of us- they put us up in a very nice hotel, fed us for 24 hrs, and shuttled us back and forth for free.

 This is the lobby of our hotel in Dallas, and below is poor Becca, up three hours past her bed time, but the desk clerk gave her a cookie, so it was ok.

There was a little play area in one of the terminals that we spent about an hour in waiting for our flight. it was much better than those rows of chairs!

The next day we had our choice of three flights- and it just so happened that my brother was connecting through Dallas that day on one of those flights- how cool was that? So I had some company and someone to carry my luggage (I'll be honest, it was a nice perk!) and Rebecca had a head start on making friends with strangers who kept trying to hug her. He sat in the row behind us and Rebecca kept peeking over the seat to take a look at him, as long as he wasn't looking back. The last hour of that flight was particularly long. She had eaten her snacks, played with every toy, colored every picture, and exhausted the patience of every friendly stranger around. Can you tell I was desperate? We finally landed, claimed a rental car, and made it "home." Then we commandeered the extra bed in my parents' hotel room and went to bed at dinner time.

The most interesting thing about our trip was the scenery out the window. The first day was green- all you could see out the window was green. Trees in the east, farms fields in the Midwest. The next day from Texas to Nevada was brown, red, and gray. I took some pictures of the nothingness, with one lonely river breaking up the desert. Any guesses as to what it was?

The trip home was unremarkable- unless you were the poor soul seated next to us. Rebecca cried and laid on the floor in the aisle the entire flight home until she fell asleep as the landing gear came down. I was too tired to take pictures, but we were very happy to see Daddy and Lenna and Andy at the airport!


And since I was talking about scenery, here is what home looks like. I thought it would be interesting for my East Coast friends who have never been west of the Mississippi to see what people mean when they say "big sky country" or "Way out West".

Camp W Finale- Back to School Bash

To wrap up the summer and as our final Camp Wannalaffalotta activity, we had a back to school party. I sent out electronic invites, Lenna planned the activities, and we invited a bunch of people to pot luck at the park with us.

For your first homework assignment of the year, a little addition problem:

Two minivans carrying five passengers each, are traveling in opposite directions at an average of 25 miles per hour, and they meet at the local park with six other families with 2-6 children each, and everyone brings something to eat. 36 hot dogs, 27 juice boxes, 8 bottles of water, 3 bags of chips, 2 dozen doughnuts, one chocolate sheet cake, and one pinata full of candy have all been eaten. There is one parade that lasts 4 minutes and features 2 pairs of roller blades, 5 bikes, 2 scooters, 2 strollers, 3 tricycles, and 23 musical instruments. There are 2 playgrounds and 1 splash fountain that result in 1 sprained ankle, a scraped knee, and 1 bruised forehead. In the 3 hours the group occupied the pavillion, what is the total amount of fun had by all?

Answer: A whole bunch!

Next summer is going to be even better! You are all invited to join Camp Wannalaffalotta season two premiring in May 2011.

A Trip to the Country- WV 7/10

What do you do when it is hot and humid outside, your A/C isn't working, your morning sickness gets worse with the heat, and the kids will tear the house down if they are trapped inside for one more day? Head north to the mountains! 

Enjoy the scenery

Every night is a sleepover!

Enjoy wide open spaces, perfect for chasing butterflies.

Get to know the neighbors.

Catch a lightening bug.

Enough to fill a jar. 

Play in the rain. 

Ride an ATV.

Spend an entire day with nothing to do but play. 

Eat every meal outside.

Try your hand at fishing. 

Throw it back so you don't have to eat it. 

Try express fishing, never leave your line in the same place for more than 20 seconds. 

Don't forget your cool glasses. 

A pond with a view.

Go pick some blue berries.

And eat them by the handful while drinking fresh lemonade.  



Then return home refreshed and ready to tackle real life again. After you get the A/C replaced.