Out of the mouths of babes--September

I'll admit it. I had a lazy month. There were a few occasions when the kids were being hilarious and I thought, "You better go write this down or you'll forget." But the lazy half of my brain said, "No, that was too funny. You'll remember it." Lesson learned? The lazy half of my brain is a liar! I'll try to ignore her in October.

9/18--Brandon LOVES to eat crab legs. I don't get it. I can't stand them. Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa treated us to seafood while at the Outer Banks. Brandon jumped on that offer and got his favorite meal. While he was eating, he commented,

"This is heaven on a fork!"

9/19--Whit found a very pretty rock on the beach and said,

"It's like a little masterpiece."

9/25--Ate dinner at Wendy's. Brandon didn't finish his kids meal because he was "too full." As we were driving away and telling him he didn't need any snacks tonight he said, "I'm seriously full! I couldn't consume another bite."
Drew: Brandon, you crack me up. "Consume?"
B: Yes. I have a very advanced vocabulary.

That's it! Only three things!
We gotta supplement a little here.
This was fun:

Grandma brought Brandon a Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser.

We didn't have time to do it while they were in town,
so that was our Family Home Evening activity this week.

We got it all set up with seven mentos in
a tube and a trigger to pull.

Here's how it went down:

It was awesome!
I had crappy camera work, though.
Didn't expect it to go THAT high.

Neither did Whit.
She got soaked!

Brandon consuming the last of the Mentos-flavored Coke.

Here was Whit's new talent of the month:
Scooter-boarding
Looks dangerous, right?

Right.
(She was not injured. Phew.)

One random funny:
Andrew and I are surprised/disturbed/laughing
at some of the names of kids in kindergarten at
our kids' school. Are you ready for this?
(Yes, I took photos. I needed visual proof
or you would think I was making these up!)

There's Vinson.

And his classmate Vision.

Silver is in a different class.

And one poor teacher has all of these students
together: Xandrea, Precious, Jewelia, and the
show-stopper: VOLTRON.
(Click to enlarge--I'm not joking!)
I feel much safer knowing that the
Defender of the Universe is just down
the hall from Whit.

And, finally, this month's bonus pics of Care Bear:

She's sixteen months old now.

I would describe her as energetic,
curious, and playful. She loves animals...
especially from a distance.

She loves to be outside.
Apparently, she's into safety because she found
B's helmet and put it on before her bike ride.

Here she is chillin with Mia at the library.
She is still a Mama's girl, but loves her Daddy, too.
She has started talking up a storm lately.
Her favorite words: No, Mama,
bobo(used when she fills her diaper),
woof woof, shoes, and stuck.

The Outer Banks

We had a fabulous trip to the Outer Banks with Andrew's parents last week. It was our first visit. Here's the re-cap.

HIGHLIGHTS

*Fun activities with Grandma in the van

like Wikki stix, mosaics, drawing cartoons,
playing "Name That Tune" and telling stories.

*catching our first glimpse of the ocean

We went down in our clothes just to walk along the shore.

Ha! Should've known that never works with B.

*Boogie boarding

It was overcast for most of the trip,
but the water was still warm.

Woo hoo!

The sea was angry.
There were some pretty big waves.
It was a workout just to walk into the ocean.

*Quality time with Dad

*Getting buried in the sand

Once wasn't enough for W.

*The shark tank at the aquarium

*Also enjoyed the touch tank

Feeling the sting rays made Andrew and I
reminiscent for our cruise.

*Digging for fossils

I think Andrew was the only one who
found shark teeth.
(BTW--My camera lens did NOT like that
salty sea air. Sorry for the foggy pics.)

*Eating crab legs

*Enjoying a sunset on the sound

*Visiting our first lighthouse ever--Bodie Island

*The cool stained glass window on our beach house

*Bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa

*Visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial
(Whit was having a rough morning!)

Took a nice little hike to get to the top.

The kids made kites.
Whit could actually fly hers.
B got really frustrated with his.

*Saw tons of birds and airplanes--
two of Caroline's very favorite things

She makes this sign whenever
she hears a plane.

*Jockey's Ridge
I think this was my favorite part.
After church on Sunday, we had a
picnic lunch and then walked out to
the sand dunes. It was heavenly.

The sand was so fine and powdery.
Felt wonderful between my toes.

It's a popular hang-gliding spot.
(That's just a stranger, but watching him did
make me think about trying it sometime.)

Instead we flew kites.

Brandon found that the store-bought
kind work much better than the one he made.
He got all the way to the end of his string.

I felt like we had walked into the middle of the Sahara.
(With a little oasis behind us.)

It was a great place to play catch with a football.

DOWNSIDES

*There is very little beach to speak of.
It is a short distance from water to sea grass.

*Andrew and B got caught in a rip current.
It was scary.
Thank goodness Andrew is so tall.
Even though they were pretty far out,
he was able to touch the bottom and bring
them back in to shore.

*Caroline did not like the water OR the sand.

She was happy to sit on my lap.

Hopefully next summer she'll enjoy the beach more.

And, thankfully, she took some great naps while we played.

Although we had a great trip and I'm so glad we went, we all decided we'd rather go back to our usual Carolina/Kure Beaches in the future. Shorter drive, more beach, smaller waves.

Congrats to Mark and Taylor

Holy cow. That was a whirlwind trip. It's always hard traveling to different time zones, especially with little ones in tow. But I'm so glad I could be there to celebrate Mark and Taylor's special day. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Taylor looked gorgeous. Even Mark cleaned up nicely. I have a ton to do before heading off on our next adventure in two days. (Yes--the fun just keeps coming around here!) So, here are some of my favorite pics.

Caroline's favorite toy in the airport: her stroller

I love the desert!
I wish I had a palm tree in my front yard.

Or a cactus or two.

We spent quality time with Paul, Daneen, Carson and Sydney.
We all squished into Daneen's mom's car to drive from Phoenix
to Winslow and back. Carson was such a good sport.

And it was it a pretty smooth trip.

We stayed our first night at Marilyn and Joel's cabin.
You guys rock!

It was beautiful! And since Caroline woke up
at 4 am, we had plenty of time to enjoy it. :)

Carson was a great big cousin.

Sydney and Caroline checking each other out.

Aaaaaah--It still feels like home.

Paul and Daneen humored me and took
my picture "standing on THE corner."

Then they got in on the action...
just in time for a high school friend to
drive by and wonder what the heck
we were doing. :)

"It's a girl, my word, in a flatbed Ford."

On our way to the wedding.

Patiently waiting for the ceremony to start.

Daneen looking Hollywood with Sydney.

The happy groom

My fave pic from the whole weekend.
One of the bridesmaids let Caroline
borrow her flowers. Think she enjoyed that?

My fam!
Destiny, Me, Celeste, Dad, Mom, Paul, Mark

The reception

Cutting the cake

Beautiful Taylor ready to throw the bouquet.

Carson caught the garter...again!

He thought it would make a cute headband for Sydney.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Irene

Grandma Cuca with Caroline and me

Destiny and Robby

And after just 2 days of fun, we had to leave.
The desert landscape on the drive back to Phx.

Did I mention that I love AZ?

The flights were a little better than I expected, but
still really bad. This is what our four seatmates went through:
*got orange juice spilled on them
*sippy cups thrown at them
*Caroline begged to have their food
when they were eating
*She also offered to share her snacks
(One of them took her up on her offer.)
*She threw a toy camera at one lady...
and hit her right in the chest
*She sprayed water on another
*Kept giving crayons to them when she
was done with one color and ready for another
*Kicked them repeatedly while squirming
*She turned off and on their reading lights
*They retrieved toys that she dropped
*Had to listen to her say "No" over and over
and over again. (It's her favorite word right now.)

It wasn't pretty, friends.
But, amazingly, they all handled it well.
In fact, three of them even seemed to enjoy the ride.
Maybe they were just good actors.

In between all the chaos,
I loved watching the clouds go by!

Here's to hoping we don't have to fly again
until Caroline's old enough to enjoy
a portable DVD player!

Congrats, again, to Mark and Taylor. We love you!