NC Trip: Week 5

Week 5

Week 5 was another busy week.

We attempted to shove as much stuff into this week

as we possibly could!

Tuesday we did one of my absolute 

"MUSTS" for an NC Fall!

The fair!

My mom and I took the munchkins to the fair.

And for the first time in 8+ years,

I could not use the

"I'm nursing"

or 

"I'm pregnant"

excuse to eat absolutely

anything 

and 

everything

I wanted!

Each of the kids got a sheet of ride tickets

to use however they wished.

The hard part about this concept for my oldest child

is he wants to wander around for ever

looking at all of his options before he makes a decision!

Here is Mr. Cool chillin on the swings before they got started.

Ms. Priss and I decided to go along for a ride too

(even though these things make me wanna HURL! -

I don't do merry-go-rounds well either)

J and Mr. T hung out with Nana and watched from

the sidelines.

(Trust me - there is a Nana there - 

if you look closely - you can see that J has

sprouted an arm from the side of his head)

Another popular exhibit and must do for our crew is the

"Garden" exhibit that the fair sponsors each year.

The kids get a basket, then they walk through the 

real plants full of their fruit and pick fake 

items off of the fake plants.

Bringing the harvest to market...

After they pick their potatoes, strawberries, apples and blueberries,

they take them to the "market" to sell.

They are given "money" for their food,

then they take it into the "store" and trade it 

in on a goodie bag.

It is SUPER cute!

Mr. T was super proud of giving them his 

harvest.

  

Here was a photo op.

I am not sure how Ms. Priss thinks this is a smile.

But this is what happens when you tell her to smile,

aye!

Another must visit exhibit for our crew.

The collection of GIANT pumpkins!

This is the BEST picture of the 4 I took of them

sitting in front of these things...

Ugh!

Then we went around to check out the mommy & baby animals

also in this building.

Mr. T liked the brahma bulls.

Ms. Priss liked the mommy & baby pigs.

(She takes after her momma - these are a fav of mine too)

Then the chicks & ducks...

Who knew poultry could be so mesmerizing?

Wednesday

Wednesday we had another ortho appt 

for J's arm.

There was a little piece over the knuckles at his hand

that was a little wiggly.

I wanted to make sure that we did everything we could

to prevent the break from slipping,

so I asked that they reinforce that area.

J decided on black cast material for the new piece.

It didn't adhere well at the top, so there was a flap

that would not lay down.

So mommy had to get creative. 

We added a little medical tape 

to keep that area down.

So here is what the resulting cast looked like.

Thursday 

Thursday we hit the local Children's Museum.

We love this museum!

And went about once every couple of months when we lived there.

Ms. Priss loved playing with the little treehouse dollhouse.

Mr. T, the choo choos.  He is a choo choo baby lately!!

I think he could have stayed here all day!

The older boys spent some time trying to tell 

two other kids how to play chess.

Eventually they let the other kids play in peace.

So J decided that a broken arm wasn't enough,

he needed to act like he had a broken leg too...

And took a stuffed kitty along for the ride.

Poor cat!

Mr. Priss decided to do some shopping 

and tell me all about it in the process.

(She is a cutie, isn't she?)

Then we checked out a science experiment they had set up

in the main aisle of the museum.

This experiment was little launch rockets.

They used those 35mm film canisters,

alkaseltzer & water.

Put water in the canister, then drop a little piece of 

alkaseltzer in there, then quickly put the lid on 

and flip it upside down.

Then stand back and wait...

Here is what happened!!

We did quite a bit more at the museum, 

but apparently I didn't get any more pictures.

We finally left the museum and headed over to 

my bestie's house!

We have been friends since we were 7...

that is a LONG time!

We had plans to cook out and do dinner together.

The boys took a break from playing basketball,

or throwing a styrofoam airplane around,

or chasing the 14 yo brother's R/C car up and down the street,

to play a little bit of video games.

I was thrilled to see that J was figuring out how to 

do it one handed!

We ate dinner, visited and chatted a bit,

then she decided that they baby needed a bath.

So we bathed him.

Then after drinking a bottle of wine between the two of us 

(yes, out of coffee mugs),

and at the begging of the kids,

we opted to spend the night!

So there we were,

7 kids and 2 adults 

in her 2 bedroom condo.

But you know what - IT WORKED!

This is how to stack 4 kids in one room...

She and I are so similar in how we are raising our kids,

it worked.

They all listened

to both moms...

It was great!

Friday

We got up the next morning and saw her kids off to school.

Then we headed out.

We had to get back to Nana & Papa's and shower and pack...

daddy was arriving that evening!

So we squeezed in a little school work.

And some naps and packing...

then headed to the airport to get daddy!!

We were so excited!

My dad had been a lifesaver

and had fed the kids for me while I packed the car.

He even brought sushi home for me and the hubs!

Why were we packing?

Cause we were FINALLY headed up to Virginia

to see my husband's mom, sister & niece.

Daddy's flight got in around 8pm 

and we had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of us.

The kids were bathed & fed.

We had daddy in the car...

we were a happy crew!

After arriving around midnight to family we hadn't seen 

in well over a year,

we finally crawled into beds.

More on the VA Trip next posting.

NC Trip: Week 4 - The Beach!

Week 4

Every year, for as long as I can remember

my family would spend at least 1 week at the beach.

Being 1500 miles away from my family,

and a baby cousin due in September,

we didn't make it to the annual beach trip.

Our oldest had been BEGGING to go to the beach

for MONTHS!

The weeks ticked off the calendar

and we never made it to a beach in Texas.

So I promised (which I NEVER do)

that I would take him to the beach when

we went back to NC.

We had 2 different options of where to stay,

thankfully.

So after waiting on others to be 

"ready"

or 

"available"

I got tired of waiting 

and decided to bite the bullet

load up my kids

and take them to the beach by myself!

We went to my grandmother's camper

at Myrtle Beach.

She has a place down at a large campground

down there.

I was comfortable doing this, 

because I had been there before,

it was small enough for me not to 

worry about where the kids were 

but big enough that we were

not literally tripping over each other.

I made the decision Wednesday morning

and we were packed and loaded by 10am!

We stopped for lunch and then got back on the road.

We arrived at our destination about 3 1/2 hours after we started.

The hardest part of the entire trip...

getting everything turned on!

Mainly the hot water/propane!

I had to get help with that one.

But the rest was smooth sailing.

We did very well!

I think I surprised myself and everyone else

with how well we managed...

by ourselves.

I would have happily stayed longer,

but we had an ortho appt,

for a broken arm,

to get back to.

I also had a coughing asthma kid on my hands,

who hadn't recovered from the fur from the previous weekend

and here I was putting him in another environment 

that the same fur was in...

and was getting a little worried.

We got him to the doctor back in NC

and found out he had walking pneumonia!

My broken boy developed a cough too

and wound up with the same thing!

But we had a great time at the beach while

we were there!

I did let the kids get their toes wet.

The idea what to get JUST their toes wet...

but 4 kids at the beach 

you all know how well that worked out...

Our first trip down to the beach they listened 

and did well staying dry...

buy it wasn't from lack of trying to get wet!

We didn't stay long the first day,

too much other stuff to do to get set up,

but I HAD to let them get their toes sandy!

Mr. T took a bath in a toddler sized tub to 

get said dirt out from between said toes...

Since we were solo in a camper,

I splurged on dinner

and let them get those 

cute kid looking 

"Kid Cuisine" things...

NONE of the kids liked them!

(No complaints here!)

The next day we hit the Ripley's Aquarium 

we had a great time

but unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out that well.

So here's some of the "better" ones,

you'll get the idea...

Look mom!!!

Um, exactly HOW thick is this glass?

Didn't I hear a news story recently about

an aquarium breaking and sending

sharks out onto the floor??

I absolutely LOVED the colors of 

this exhibit!

Beautiful!!!

We got to see a two different feeds in two different exhibits,

where one of the

aquarium workers got into the tank with the 

fish.

Ack!

One even posed with us!

J playing with the horseshoe crabs.

The kids really enjoyed seeing the divers in the 

tanks with the fish!

We got to pet rays too!

It was a nice little excursion while on our

mini-beach vacation.

Later that day,

we hit the beach again

for another quick visit.

This is more of what our living quarters looked like.

We didn't mind the closeness

and quaintness,

actually made it a LOT easier on me

since I was by myself.

The next day we hit the beach for a little longer.

And the kids got a little wetter this time.

Oh well...

(this was totally NOT posed!)

And this is what daddy calls

"a sugar cookie".

In the military,

one of the ways they "smoked" the recruits

was to have them put on clean uniforms,

then make them go jump in some body of water

then into a sand pit and roll around.

Then go shower and change into another clean uniform.

Daddy remembers these "sugar cookies" well,

and Mr. T has given new meaning to the phrase here!

The long and uncomfortable walk back!

Hahah!!

After shuttling them each into the shower/bath,

praying we would have enough hot water,

I figured they could have dinner & a movie.

Thank goodness for laptops!

And no "TV dinners" tonight,

mommy actually cooked some stuff

using the toaster oven, miniature gas stove

and microwave.

But we did learn

that you cannot run the microwave and the toaster

at the same time.

Took me a couple of times of tripping the breaker

to figure that one out though.

Our final day there,

we hopped in the 2 seater golf cart

and headed to the little diner

on the pier.

I left the littles in their jammies.

Then we walked down the longest pier on the east coast.

We even did a couple of loads of laundry in the stackable unit my 

grandmother has in there. 

But the dryer didn't work,

so we had to hoof it down to the campground laundry mat

to dry our clothes,

while we played on the little playground across the street.

At the end of the little trip,

I am thankful I didn't wait until someone else could go with us.

We might not have made it.

It also did a lot for my confidence on handling these

four monkeys on a little vacation,

by myself!

They did great!

I did great!

We did great!

Here are a couple short videos I shot of our adventures.

#1 sets up the BEST stiff arm move on #2.

Mr. T is already living up to the "pesky little brother" title!

Haha!

Enjoy!

Beach Video #1

Beach Video #2

Beach Video #3