Topsail Island

We spent a wonderful few days on Topsail Island, NC last week and love our annual tradition of vacationing at this beautiful beach.  We were thankful to be able to spend time with so many of our family members this year and visit with everyone.

3 generations of Mimi's girls.

These cousins grew up going to the same beach together every year since childhood (Mark joined this group 10 years ago at Topsail!)

Leah amazed us by sitting in the sand, happily entertaining herself by digging and playing with toys.  When Luke was Leah's age, he did not like to walk on or touch sand at all.  Surprisingly, our little girl did not mind being covered head to toe in sand, and even scooped up a giant fistful to put in her mouth (she won't ever do that again!).  Leah was fearless in the water, too, and walked right into the ocean, splashing and sitting in the surf.  She is at such an adorable age to don her bathing suits and floppy hats, and we loved watching her play at the beach.   

I love the rear view (and chunky legs) here.

Luke was thrilled to go in the "deep ocean" with Daddy, and talked about going fishing to catch "a shark or scuba diver."  He tried a body board and a raft in the water for the first time this year, dug huge holes in the sand, and was fascinated by the tickle crabs that he caught.

At the fishing pier. 

Surfer Luke?!

Beanie and Luke in the ocean.

My annual shot of the boys.

If nothing else illustrates how different my two children are, the following pictures will give you an idea. 

Luke's favorite activity at the beach:  Drawing a "racetrack" in the sand and running laps with Daddy.  He ran this course over and over again, pretending to be Lightning McQueen, shouting, "I AM SPEED!"

One of Leah's favorite things:  Peacefully lounging in a beach chair, relaxing and watching the waves.

Here is a slideshow of more of our Topsail Island beach pictures:

June Highlights

One of my goals for our summer routine is to do something fun for the children every day.  These activities don't have to cost money or even require us to leave the house, and we've done quite a variety of things this month.  Here are some of our June highlights:

We've been participating in the summer reading program at our local library and have attended several programs this month, including a children's comedian and magician, a puppet show, and the Bubble Lady.  Each week, I feel a sense of gratutide for these wonderful, free, age-appropriate activities that welcome toddlers and preschoolers.  Luke has amazed me by waiting patiently in line, sitting still for long periods of time and listening attentively, and recalling his favorite parts of these shows.  I usually pack about 45 snacks for Leah and try to keep her quiet and busy in the back of the room, and it's a great weekly outing for us. 

Today we splashed in the fountains downtown, watched the ducks swim in the Reedy River, and played mini-golf at a cute indoor course.  It was 106 degrees as we got back in the car after this outing, so we were especially thankful for our air-conditioning!

Last Friday, we had a stay-at-home lazy day.  As you can see, Luke picked out his own outfit, complete with Band-Aid on cheek (purely cosmetic) and his treasured fireman boots.  Around 11:30 a.m., we heard the musical tinkle of the ice cream truck, and Luke asked me if he could have ice cream for lunch.  I think I shocked him (and myself) by replying, "Sure!".  Luke has never purchased ice cream from the truck before, and longingly watches it drive by our house every day.  We flagged the truck down and the driver pulled right into our driveway.  Luke was amazed at all of the different choices (Dora, Sponge Bob, Rocket Ship Popsicles!), and quickly decided on a Spiderman-shaped frozen treat.  He sat on the front porch, licking his quickly-melting ice cream, which was dripping all over the place.   My heart was so full, seeing how much this adventure meant to my little guy, what a wonderful, simple childhood memory we were making, and what fun Luke had on what he called, "Ice Cream Day!"

Luke and Leah also have been having lots of fun playing at home together this month.  I do spend quite a bit of time serving as a referee and encouraging sharing of toys, but there are so many cute moments when they are together that it's all worth it!  Here they are giggling and hiding in Luke's toy box with all of his stuffed animals:

Doctor Luke made his annual house call this month to check on his sister.  Sweet Leah patiently tolerated shots, having her eyes and ears checked, her blood pressure and temperature taken, and listening to her heart:   

This is a picture from Dr. Luke's last house call, last May.  My, what a difference a year makes!

Although I would like to forget some of the noise and dust that has accompanied the construction of the new house next door this month, all 3 children continue to be mesmerized by the process.  We're hoping that most of the building occurs in July while we are at the beach, so that we can conveniently miss much of the racket:

We also returned to the Greenville Children's Museum this month, and both kids had a ball.  It's fun for me to see how they explore different and new exhibits each time we go, and how we are able to stay longer at every visit as their attention spans increase.  The race car exhibit was a favorite this time, as well as the grocery store section:

 Luke attended Vacation Bible School in the mornings last week (another first for us), and he  absolutely loved it.  As the week came to an end, Luke asked, "Can I go to Vacation Bible School EVERY day?!" which made me so happy with our decision to have him participate this summer.  Luke adjusted so well to this new experience, and it was a terrific, fun-filled week of Bible stories, songs, and new friends.  The children sang 2 of the VBS songs in church on Sunday (complete with hand gestures and movements), and as usual, our little man contributed his own unique flair to the performance.  About two lines into the first song, there is a move where the kids turn around in a circle.  Instead of completing the entire 360 degree rotation, Luke decided to turn only halfway, and remained with the back of his head facing the congregation for the rest of the program.  I couldn't stop giggling, as it's so typical of Luke to stand out in a crowd and do things his own way. 

June seems like it has flown by with all of our summer activities, and we've had a great, full month!

Water Park!

In an attempt to stay cool and beat the heat, we visited Otter Creek Water Park yesterday.  We spent a great family morning splashing in the water, and have made it an annual summer tradition to visit this local park.  For the first time, Luke was officially tall enough (42 inches +) to ride the "big kid" water slide, and he LOVED it!  He and Mark rode in a raft down the "twisty turny" tube slide numerous times, and although you may not be able to see it in the below picture, both of my boys wore grins of pure joy!

    

Another first for Luke was that he was ready to ride down the tadpole slide without Mommy or Daddy.  We were so proud of our brave big boy, and remarked on what a change this is from last summer when Luke sat on our laps to go down this slide:

 

Leah stayed cool in the shade, tentatively splashed in the sprinklers, and loved the zero-entry pool.  She walked right into the water, and looked quite adorable wearing her required life jacket: 

As usual, Luke boldly ran through all the sprinklers, enthusiastically splashed and played, and burned a ton of energy having so much fun:

   

 After a picnic lunch, we collapsed into wet piles in the car, wiped out from our busy, full morning. Leah fell asleep practically before we pulled out of the parking lot, Mommy daydreamed about taking a long shower, Daddy looked forward to an afternoon nap, and all of the sudden we heard a little 4-year-old voice ask, "Can we come back to the water park again tomorrow?!" 

Finding Nemo

Luke recently watched Finding Nemo for the first time, and is currently interested in all types of sea life.  I thought that it would be fun to take a day trip to the Atlanta aquarium to visit some of these ocean animals in person, and have our own Nemo adventure.  We met our Atlanta friends at the aquarium on Thursday and spent a great day exploring and checking out all of the aquatic creatures.  Luke was underwhelmed when we actually "found Nemo" and located the clown fish exhibit, but he did love the jellyfish, rays, and sharks.  We also had tickets to the dolphin show at the aquarium and both Luke and Leah enjoyed watching the dolphins jump and play.  Mark and I took Luke to the Atlanta aquarium for the first time when he was 20 months old, and it was fun for me to watch Leah (who is just a few months shy of this age) explore the aquarium and react to the sea animals, much like her older brother did at her age.  Here are some pictures from our day:      

Leah, Luke, and our friend, Ashleigh, at the Ocean Voyager exhibit.

Luke and Ashleigh petting the sea anemone.

My two fish.

My attempt (with Leah) to recreate the "profile" jellyfish photo I took of Luke at this age...  not quite as successful!

Fascinated by the large sea animals. 

Leah preferred watching the little fish swim.

The kids' favorite activity by far was the "moving sidewalk" exhibit that was surrounded completely by glass.  As you ride through a 100-foot tunnel, hundreds of fish swim all around you.  When a large shark passed right overhead, Luke and Ashleigh began screaming and squealing, pointing and jumping up and down with excitement.  They didn't stop until the end of the tunnel, and were quite a sight.  I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard at their unbridled enthusiasm.  Hopefully these pictures capture some of their incredible astonishment and amazement: 

(The two older girls beside Ashleigh and Luke have reactions typical of most people: open mouthed silence and wonder.  Now picture two squealing, overjoyed preschoolers among all of these quiet tourists.  Got it?!)


We also made a brief stop at Centennial Park, which is located across the street from the aquarium in downtown Atlanta.  There are great fountains for children to splash and play, and Luke and Ashleigh had a great time in the water while their younger siblings watched.  Here's my cute man enjoying the splash park:   

Our day at the aquarium made us very excited for our vacations at the ocean next month where we will continue our pursuit to find Nemo!

When Mommy's Away...

... the children will play!  The above picture captures their personalities so well: Our silly, wild man, and our demure, sweet girl!

I met my college girlfriends in Baltimore & Washington D.C. for an overnight reunion last weekend, and it was the first time that I have been away from Leah for more than a couple of hours. I had a great time with the BBs, and knew that L & L were having a blast with Daddy on Saturday. Mark took the kids to our annual Touch-A-Truck event downtown, and proved once again that everything is much more fun when Daddy in charge:

I promise, they are having fun here!

Luke's dream job: Operating heavy machinery as a 'struction worker.

This may be the only time Luke lets his sister be in the driver's seat.

Greenville's newest trolley driver.

In the aerial bucket truck!

Boys and their tractors...



This little boy still loves his firetrucks!



The sweetest little Fire Chief in SC! 

Somehow the pink dress just doesn't fit in here...

And to top off their exciting morning with the trucks, my family went to Frankie's Fun Park in the afternoon and played arcade games and had pizza for dinner.  What an exciting day they had!