Outer Banks- Pool time!

The house we rented had everything needed to entertain toddlers!

The pool was cool, felt a bit colder than the ocean, but it got used for sure!

 Abby loves to swim with Will......guess daddy thought the water was too cold!

 The house even had a swing off the lower deck! Perfect!!!

 Will & Tracey brought their corn-hole (bean bag toss game), so it provided dry outdoor adult fun!

 And of course, the boys got their time to drink....and drink some more!

 Friends for 8+ years in the Navy, from OCS in Pensacola, great memories to keep adding to!

Outer Banks- Beach Days!

The first 4 days of our trip were sunny and gorgeous, low to mid 80's! 

So we made it to the beach each day for a few hours! Really, as long as the kids would let us!

 Maddy doing her best sand diving....she loves to get messy!

 Enjoying the sun....with my feet in the water, and being 'mom' all at the same time! Can't beat it!

 The kids shady play area! Dan was a good sand castle builder!

 Maddy relaxing! She did great all week at the beach and never broke down. All my summer trips to our local beach must have prepared her well.

 Kolbey LOVED the sand and water!

 Mike and Will, talking in the water

 The kids, doing their best digging!

The best part about our location was it was quiet and there weren't any mobs of people. So the kids had the whole area to themselves, and you never had to spot them in a crowd. It was almost a private beach feeling. So nice!

 The kites! How many Navy guys does it take to fly a kite?? 3!!!!

And they did it well.

 Our beach setup!

 LOVE!!!

Outer Banks Vacation 2011

We just got back from our first official family vacation, and it was a week with great friends in the Outer Banks, NC! This was a great week with all three kids, relaxing 100%!

Our house that we rented was in Whalehead Beach, which is in Corolla, NC, just a few miles before the 2-lane highway disappears and becomes beach driving only to access homes/beach further north. 

I will break out the rest of our trip photos in a few postings, but here is our group:

The Smiths, Dan & Jessica with Kolbey (same age as Maddy), and Tracey and Will

(Our group picture would have been on the front steps of the house, but we waited til the end of the trip and it rained the last 2 days.....oh well)

And here is the house we rented! Would do it again in a heartbeat! Best place to go, and relax with young kids!! It had 4 bedrooms and 4-1/2 baths, a private pool & hot tub, and was less than a 5 minute walk to the beach! Which we did a lot!!!

Abigail Smith!

Abby starts preschool in two weeks!, this is the pose she gave me!!

I took this photo to print for her emergency card folder! This is her last year of preschool. Next year is Pre-K! So excited for her to start a new year with new teachers!!

My silly girl

Chicken Eggs

We took the girls to the Virginia Childrens Museum again yesterday. They had a great time, and Maddy found something to keep her busy. She took the eggs from under the chickens and kept returning them to the barrel......which repeats the process. She stayed there for 10+ minutes just doing that!

Cute video:

So LOUD!!!

I warn you.....turn down your speaker volume a bit. 

The girls were being goofy while eating their dessert last night, and started an all too common yelling competition at the table. Maddy LOVES to chime in with Abby these days, and copy everything she does. Maddy is definitely the louder kid!

Here is the video of them screaming.....

Post Irene Clean Up

Here are photos of the aftermath.....not much to report!

Thankfully!!

 Hardly any down branches

 The trees survived

 Only minor debris in the pool (which occurred the last few hours of the storm when the winds changed direction....before that it was almost clear!) Our trusty pool cleaner machine sucked up all the leaves in about 5 bag fulls!

The unannounced visitor from Irene.......a pesky black widow that apparently took refuge in our mailbox......he is now on a permanent vacation!!! :)

Fun with Friends

We had our friends Addison & Casey over yesterday (it was my week to watch the girls; my girlfriend and I have been trading off a day each week all summer, where we drop the girls off and get time to ourselves for the morning......soon to end :(

Caught some cute photos yesterday of them playing outside. So I played with the color editing software and had some fun with the new camera!

Quick Storm Update

We are 100%!!!! We survived our first hurricane, which ended up being much weaker than they anticipated, or we just got lucky, who knows. We woke up to bright blue and sunny skies this morning.
The worst of the wind came last night, late. Before that there weren't even any leaves in the pool. But now there are MANY!! So some cleanup will ensue.
Anyhow, so we never lost power, and so far no down trees and no visible roof damage. Just some yard debris, which is much more minimal than we had expected. Post storm photos to come later!

All is well! Thank you to all who inquired as to our well being while the storm passed!
Now we are just hopeful that our rental house in the Outer Banks will still be available in two weeks for our vacation......we shall see!

Indoor Fun....

With the storm keeping us indoors, the kids are in crafty heaven today!

Lots of fun stuff to do.....starting with Play-Dough!!!! 

Painting and cutting are up next after naps! And as long as the power holds up, movies galore!!

Pre-Hurricane Preparations

IRENE is coming!!! So Mike prepared the yard by moving everything into the garage to be safe from the high winds and rain. This empty yard looks like we are moving out....but no.....just housebound due to the oncoming hurricane. The pool fence is down, and the kids toys are in the garage and hiding on the side of the house! Abby had a funny look on her face yesterday after naps when she saw her yard empty.

 Mike successfully squeeze both cars in the garage (to avoid having them hit by flying objects), along with......the pool fence, BBQ, 2 patio sets,, kids toys, bikes, 2 trash cans, 2 umbrellas.....and more! 

I will update photos tomorrow morning after the worst of the storm has passed. Hoping for NO down trees.......and the pool not filling over the side....Mike's already gone out once and drained it quite a bit, but the level is up again 3hrs later. Might be an endless battle.....

So far it started raining overnight, and a big wind/rain storm ensued at 5am but only lasted 15 minutes. Its been minimal wind/rain since we've been up this morning.

My girls!

After two weeks of fun company, we had a nice lazy weekend.

Abby got a special treat and got to accompany me to my hair salon for our hair cuts on Saturday.

It was the first time having her hair professionally washed, cut and blown out! She loved it.

But was very serious in this photo....

 Maddy is just my cutie patootie....and I had her all bathed and blow dried her hair for the first time ever Saturday night, because we went and had professional family photos taken on Sunday. So her hair actually looked tame! Mike suggested I blow it dry more often......amidst the crying.....no thank you! Special days only!! But she is cute nonetheless!!

And FYI.....yes we incurred our first East coast earthquake today....but we are all 100%

It was very minor, but startling nonetheless. People out here just aren't used to them, so they took it as a big deal. No damage in our area at all. Just preparing now for the real threat....Hurricane Irene, which is supposed to hit on Sunday as of now. We shall see how that pans out! 

Grandpa Ron's Visit

My dad came to visit this week!! 

The girls had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa, and taking him to their favorite places.

Of course no summer visit is complete without swimming!

We swam every day!! Here Abby climbed on his shoulders.

 Last night before he left, he, Mike and Abby played 'Candyland'...and Grandpa won!

 Of course on day 3.....Maddy gets comfy and wants to snuggle with Grandpa

 Maddy showed Grandpa the goats at the zoo

 Getting a nice push around the zoo

 I caught a great shot of the lion perched on his rock

This zoo girl wanted to wear Grandpa's hat

 The tiger was taking a nap right on the other side of the glass

 What a ride!!! Maddy loved the attention, as usual

 Both girls got to paint one day, for Maddy this was a first

 THE BEACH!!!!! (Grandpa rescued Abby's doll she brought to the beach)

 Maddy, all ready to dig (with new buckets and shovels I got for them)

 Abby let Grandpa take her in the waves

 Woohoo!!! Mommy made it into a beach photo....thats a first. All these beach trips with company, I've been acquiring quite the tan!!

 Grandpa and his grandaughters!

We had a WONDERFUL visit, and it could have been longer. The girls just got used to having him around, and Abby woke up this morning and asked if Grandpa was still sleeping upstairs:) But then I told her he had to ride on an airplane home, and she remembered I told her the night before that he had to go home to feed his dog! Thanks for a great week dad!!