Beach day 3

After an awful thunderstorm in which we lost power, we took the kids and William to Jockey's Ridge for some kite flying and sand rolling.

Here's the storm rolling in.


It was a beautiful night to climb some sand dunes!

The pictures don't do these sand dunes justice. It's a hike up to the top (almost straight up) and a lot of fun to run down. Or roll down as Lu was doing in the picture (that's him in the red shirt with the leg in the air).


Or back flip down, like William is doing.


Even Miss Alice made it to the top!







Alice being cute.

A visit to Cousin Allyson's House (Croatan Ridge)

We spent Tuesday (that's last Tuesday, when we were on the outer banks!) hanging out with some relatives at their beach house. And what a beautiful house it is!



This is the pool house.


The guys fished all day.


While the ladies gabbed. You can tell that Alice is ready for a nap by the way she's twisting her hair and sucking on her nuk. The telltale signs of a tired child.


Love the outdoor fireplace.


The bar


Lu absolutely loved the pool. Especially when his cousins (3rd cousins once removed or some odd thing) threw him up into the air.


It was so nice to spend the afternoon with relatives that we never get to see!

Beach Week 2010

We took a week-long family vacay to the Outer Banks. I love the beach and would love to make it a family tradition and go every year. The kids love the sand and swimming. Especially, the swimming. Lucius learned how to swim without his life vest in the pool. Such a huge accomplishment. Especially considering that 4 months ago he was scared to get into a pool. He's so proud of himself and we're super proud of him too!

Alice kept trying to run into the ocean squealing with delight. It was all we could do to keep her safe!

Here are some pictures.

Soon after arriving on the Outer Banks.




Yes, I'm THAT old lady. The one with the big hat and rolled up pants at the beach.



I hate to say it, but this is the only family shot that we got. It looks circa 1955.


The 'rents. This summer it was me (and family), my parents, and my sister and her family. My brother Darren and two of his kids came for Friday and Saturday.


Rik (my brother-in-law) caught this fish. I believe it was the only one caught shore fishing. They did catch a few on the pier, but not enough for an all out fish fry.


Fishin' and flyin'. This was Lu's first time flying a kite. He enjoyed it...as long as it didn't crash into the ground. That was cause for major drama.

Flying a kite takes lots of concentration.



Miss Alice loved the beach too.


She loved washing the shells in the bucket.

My Mom posing on the deck of our house. The house was really nice. Oceanfront, private pool/hot tub, 6 bedrooms with 6.5 baths.

Ahhhhh, the beach.

So relaxing. Makes me want to be there all the time.


In fact, I've decided that my next life goal is to buy a beach house. A few days before we left I came up with THE perfect name for a beach house. It was the name of my paternal grandfather's restaurant...The Shell Chateau. How perfect would that be????!!!!! The name is the most important part of a beach house, right? So, I spent the whole week thinking about the type of beach house I wanted (oceanfront with private pool/hot tub, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms etc...), window shopping for possible decorating ideas and spending some time on zillow looking up the current asking prices of nearby homes. And then I realized that I need to change professions QUICK in order to have my Shell Chateau someday...the going price of the house next door was 2.5 million.
Someday...someday...must start rolling my pennies ASAP.

15 month check-up

"The Cream Cheese Monster"


Alice had her 15 month check-up on Friday. Seems like she's doing well! Not that we're surprised.

Here are her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches (50th %tile)
Weight: 20.3 lbs. (10th %tile)
Head: 441/4 (I didn't even ask what %tile that was).

It's hard to believe that she's only 10th for weight considering how much food this girl eats. She's our garbage disposal. Once she's done she goes around to everyone elses plate for seconds, thirds, fourths....she especially loves when her little friends don't finish their food so she can help her self to their leftovers.

Preschool Pictures

How cute are these?

Look at that hair!



The kids were allowed to pose with a favorite toy. Was there ever any question as to who would get the honor?



Oh, my Lucius is a boy. A big boy. No baby left in him. I feel like it happened overnight. We've only been in NJ for 2 years, but when we moved here Lucius was barely talking and still in diapers. Now he's a big boy. And he won't let you forget it.

For the past couple of months he's been into stories. As in, Tom or I (mostly Tom) has to make up 3 different stories everyday. Everyday! These stories typically involve some combination of Batman, Superman, Sportacus, or any number of Nick Jr. characters plus a villain or two (Penguin, Joker, etc...). That's a lot of creativity and thinking that we just don't have after working in academia all day. A couple nights ago Tom was driving home and telling the requisite "driving home from daycare" story when he wasn't paying attention and (barely) ran a red light. Unfortunately, it was the one light in town that has the red-light camera attached to it. So, no more stories while Daddy is driving since he got a ticket. I guess that's a win-lose for us?

In other news, Lu's been writing his name really well. We're impressed whenever he does anything remotely educational. For the most part he's content playing with his action figures and that's about it.

He's finally getting to the really fun age. The age where he's easy to take places and gets excited about things that I have fun doing too. ;) We're headed to the beach in a few days and I'm so excited to spend the day in the surf and sand with him. I don't have to worry about him pooping in those god awful swim diapers, or him having to take two naps or day, or waking us up at 5am. Four year olds are much easier than 1 year olds...in some ways. The whole attitude and fighting I could do without!

Memorial Day

A big thank you to all of the men and women that have served our country!!

We had a wonderful Memorial Day. We spend time with friends at the parade, community picnic, and pool/hot tub.

Watching the parade.



Alice's first lollipop courtesy of Miss Donna.


I guess Lucius will not be joining a biker gang. They were just too loud for him.


He asked the balloon lady for Batman and boy, did she deliver!


In the Haugh's pool. It was a little too cold for me.


Hot tub time! Now, I did enjoy some hot tub time. Tom said that if he gets tenure then we can get a hot tub. I'm totally holding him to that!


Even Alice got some pool action. Although, she was asleep for most of the afternoon.


My bathing beauty. How cute is that suit?

Updates, updates

Wow, I'm really behind. I don't even remember what we've done in the past few months until I look at the pictures on the camera.

It appears that we went strawberry picking.




I got a remote for the camera. Here's Lu taking his own picture.


And we still have a silly boy in our house.


Alice's new boyfriend. She wouldn't leave him alone!


Alice is taking after her Jagee and developing a love of soil.


So much dirt, so little time...




She even had to taste some.