Fall OBX Adventure

September and October are my favorite months in the OBX. The weather is normally gorgeous with big bright blue skies, the crowds are low, and it is just so peaceful and perfect. This past week wasn't the normal fall weather, but Kellen, Maddie, and I still had a wonderful time visiting with my family. And once our friends that had rented in the OBX last week went home, the weather did turn pretty lovely - sorry friends!

It is so weird to have to plan vacations around school. I guess you get used to it, but when I first thought about my fall adventure, I assumed Noelle would be with me too. Not so much with Kindergarten in full swing. Noelle and her daddy held down the fort and went about our regular lives.

Kellen, Maddie, and I journeyed through the rain to get to the OBX a little after midnight Wednesday night. Thursday was spent resting and playing inside in the rain, and then Friday we headed to Corolla to see the outside of the lighthouse and to do a program at the wildlife center after exploring the center for a bit. Kellen, my mom, and I learned all about dragonflies and damselflies and then went on our bug hunt. When we got back it was time for crabs and they were some of the yummiest I have ever had!

Saturday the weather turned beautiful and we hit the beach in the morning. Our kite lasted about 3 minutes in the wind but the sand and sun were warm. My mom and Kellen even got in the ocean which was still 74 degrees, warmer than Ocean City much of the summer. We spent the afternoon at home with friends that had traveled to the Outer Banks for a wedding before going to church, eating, and then walking back up to the beach with flashlights to look for ghost crabs.

Sunday the weather was again gorgeous and we spent the morning at Jockeys Ridge. We hadn't made it to the sand dunes in August and I was excited to see how Kellen liked them now. He did great, walked almost the entire way, and had quite a roll down the dunes.

At lunch time on Sunday, we celebrated Kellen's birthday a few weeks early and he opened up presents from my parents, brother, and grandmother. We then sang and shared two cupcakes my mom had gotten. The costumes and pirate ship were huge hits and he spent the rest of the trip singing and playing like a pirate or dinosaur. Later, my aunt and uncle arrived to visit my grandmother and we all had a lovely dinner of scallops and tuna - yum!

On our last day the weather was a little more overcast and Kellen had suffered from three night (and day) terrors between nap Sunday and bed Sunday night. We stayed close to home, Kellen attempted the cold pool, we all took lots of walks, played in the driveway, and had another great meal before it was time for Kellen and I to leave town.

Wednesday and Monday nights are my new driving nights as I hit no traffic or construction either way and made it in 5 hours exactly each trip. Kellen is awesome in the car. We don't have any electronics that work while we are in the car for the kids so he just looks out the window, chats, sings, and gives foolish grins when he knows he should be sleeping. While I don't ever want to drive to Florida, I am confident he would be great during the trip. And Maddie was so worn out from all the extra exercise (and food) she gets at grandma's house, that she didn't make a peep on our trip home either.

We are glad to be back and to see Noelle and Bryan, but sad it is back to reality for us as well! We get to see my mom again Halloween and my whole family twice in December though so we are looking forward to more visits soon!

Working the Land

On Saturday morning we got the crew on the road early to hit up Larriland Farm. We had been less than enthusiastic about the apples we had gotten lately from the store, so we thought what better way to get good ones than pick them ourselves! Since we had to journey 35 minutes to get to the farm, we decided to make a morning out of the adventure and pick other crops while we were there too. A few hours later we had three heads of cauliflower, a few pounds each of broccoli and tomatoes, fifteen pounds of apples, and a container of raspberries. It was a gorgeous day, everyone had fun and was on great behavior, and we are now really appreciating the fruits and vegetables of our labor! So far I have made cauliflower rice for the freezer, roasted broccoli for dinner, and we have had lots of fruit. On the agenda for tomorrow's dinner is some homemade cauliflower cheddar soup with bacon. I'll also do some baking with the apples if we don't get through them quickly but since my boys are apple fiends, that may not be a problem!

Picking berries. Off the bush and straight in to his mouth. 

The cauliflower plants were as big as one of my little ones!

Bryan was serious about his broccoli and cauliflower trimming!

We were falling behind the true workers of the day as Kellen ate his way through the farm. This kid is either growing or the fact that he pretty much goes to bed before dinner every night is catching up to him! 

Saxton Selfie in the Orchards

Noelle's Five Year Stats

Wednesday I picked Noelle up from school early for our visit to see Dr. Burke. At this point, Noelle is an old pro with doctor's appointments. She knows she doesn't get any shots (we do flu mist for her) until she is quite a bit older so things are smooth sailing with her at these visits right now.

First, can we just take a look at this picture? My daughter looks so old and mature these days I can pretty much not stand it. I love watching her grow in to an amazing young lady but it is happening so fast!

When we got to her appointment we were called almost immediately. Noelle had her hearing and vision checks and passed with no problems and then they did her height and weight. Official measurements:

44 pounds
44 1/4 inches

These are pretty accurate I think. According to the growth charts they provided that put Noelle at the 79% for height and 75% for weight. She is tall and muscular and lovely in my non-biased opinion! If she stays on her current trend, she should be around 5 foot 6 inches when she is grown, very impressive with her 5 feet mommy.

When Dr. Burke came in, she examined Noelle, we discussed her Hopkins appointments with urology and GI, and Noelle was pronounced healthy and growing fine otherwise. We were out of their from door to door in under 30 minutes, including a bathroom break which I thought was pretty great!

Noelle has two Hopkins appointments in October and we have Kellen's three year old well check that month as well so it will be a busy month of doctor's visits. Here's to hoping we don't have any additional sick visits thrown in there!

All Aboard the Choo Choo Train

On Sunday the kids were great at church, the weather was beautiful, and we were ready for an early adventure so that naps could be on the afternoon agenda. Kellen has not been napping much lately, making for some ugly behavior on a few occasions, and school is really taking a toll on Noelle, so Sunday afternoon naps are almost as sacred as Sunday morning church service right now. So off we went at 10:05 to Leakin Park to check out the miniature steam trains. I had taken the kids here once before and it was fun but not something I wanted to do again on my own. This time I had back up!

The trains didn't start running until 11 so we started off with some playground fun. Noelle enjoyed climbing, Kellen enjoyed driving, and we chatted and enjoyed the fall-like temperatures.

After a little playtime we got in line to be on one of the first trains. Our strategy worked, they started running a little bit early, and we got on the very first train of the day. The pictures don't really show what we are doing, but Kel and Bryan rode in the caboose with Noelle and I in the car in front of them as we journeyed down the tracks around the park.

After the ride the kids agreed to go home, eat lunch, and hit their beds without a battle! I would say the outing was definitely a family win. Local friends, if you haven't yet checked out these trains that operate one Sunday a month spring through fall, do it!

The Heart Room

The first Friday of September, Kellen started his real preschool adventures in the Heart Room. He did have a sneak peak of school this summer on Tuesday mornings, but that was in the young 2 year old play room. In the heart room, Kellen will start out each Friday morning finding and tracing his name and there will be a little more structured educational time. Kellen is currently the youngest one at daycare by about 2 years. In fact, he is the only little one there from 12-3:30 each day as the next youngest does afternoon Pre-K. This means he is very used to playing with the older kids and very used to getting his way. Preschool with other older 2 year olds/younger 3 year olds will be a nice change for him as he learns more how to share and be kind. He also shows lots of interest in books and counting but little in letter and number recognition so I am hoping school will help with these skills as well. I know each kid is different, but it is hard not to compare your own! Noelle was in a very different educational place than Kel is in at this age but I know both my little ones are smart and doing things on their own schedule!

Our Friday morning started off with getting Noelle on the brown bus and then walking home to take a few pictures and get ready for school. Kellen liked the idea of pictures but wasn't cooperating with his sign. The only picture you can almost read is blurry of him - oh well!

We then got in the purple bus (AKA mom's gray sonata) and drove to school. Kellen was excited to run in to the classroom, hug the teachers (who he knew from drop offs and pick ups the past two years), and scribble on his name. He refused to let me trace the letters with him and I am hoping that by the end of the year he will have made a lot of progress in this area!

When I picked Kel up three hours later (after 2.5 glorious hours of grocery shopping and doing solo errands) he told me he loved school. And he had his hand print bag, the trademark of our preschool. He was so excited to compare it with Noelle's old one when she got home from school. I think the heart room and Kellen are going to be perfect matches and am excited for a great year!

Laboring?

Labor Day weekend was a friend and pool filled extravaganza. Our festivities started Saturday with our last foreseeable Miami friends in Maryland gathering. Lindsay, Adam, and Christopher head back to the Midwest soon, but before they go we had one last hurrah. Adam was on caipirinha drinks and he made quite a lovely concoction. After our happy hour, we took the kids to the tire park to release some of their energy and enjoy the beautiful weather before dinner.

 

We will certainly miss the Dobuckis but know we'll see them again, hopefully in Disney World since they share our love of the happiest place on Earth!

Sunday we saw more friends. I came unprepared for the baby pool and water slide but decided to just go with it and let the kids go crazy. Kellen, in particular, really got in to the play in the pool with your clothes on fun! Noelle was able to spend some time with one of her new classmates and it was great to meet her family for a bit, as well as to spend time chatting with older friends. I hope this event will be a new holiday tradition!

Monday we started the morning off at Bob Evans, one of Noelle and Bryan's favorite spots. I was flattered they allowed Kellen and I to attend their outing, but was less impressed with the adventure than they were. Perhaps it was because the waitress was clearly less interested in my side of the table, but I'll stick to breakfast at home in the future!

Monday afternoon was time for another BBQ, this time white themed. The kids were worn out at this point and the temperature went from beautiful, fall weather to crazy, hot and humid summer weather seemingly overnight. There were a few smiles at the beginning of the fun but they quickly diminished as the hot weather and tired bodies won out and we took the kids home for an early bedtime. It was nice to get out and have some more lovely food with friends before our early departure though! And somehow our white even stayed pretty darn clean!

It was a great holiday weekend of little laboring and lots of parties! Of course that meant the weekend after was time to catch up with lots of house and yard projects but it was worth it to have a nice weekend before the craziness!

Volcanoes

The Friday before the long Labor Day weekend, Noelle had off school thanks to her staggered Kindergarten start so the kids and I headed over to our friends Melissa and Kolton's house to explore volcanoes for the morning. First, Noelle and Kolton read books about volcanoes. Kellen preferred to play with the train table with his other friends. In fact, he didn't want to leave the train table to go build his volcano but thankfully he is pretty small so I picked him up and carried him outside for the fun!

Once we got outside we used brown play dough, cups, and foil to mold our creations. Then it was time for some baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring to watch the eruptions. Kellen was pretty glad his mom carried his stubborn self downstairs by this time! The eruptions were cool and Noelle was especially excited to do science since I always tell her that is part of what mommy does at work.

After the eruptions, Noelle did a volcano craft while Kellen did more train table playing. Pretty typical of my son! Ms. Rose always tells me she can't tear him away from the one at daycare even when the other kids are playing something way cooler in the backyard!

Noelle got a little science kit for her birthday that includes a lot of activities like this and other basic kitchen chemistry experiments. I can't wait to do more with her (and Kellen as he gets a little older and appreciates them more!) We already did some acid base color change reactions the other day and Noelle had a ball! Kellen also enjoyed them, but mostly wanted to spill and splash the colors all around.

Thanks for inviting us to learn and play, Melissa and Kolton!