A trip and more

This little one broke my camera, so for the next few months until we get a new camera, get used to fuzzy pictures. I managed to make it so that I can get my camera to take reasonable okay pictures if I zoom in exactly the right amount, but it is still not good pictures, so excuse them for now, and enjoy the fact that at least there is some evidence as to who broke the camera in the first place.

(This happened a few days before we left on our trip)

Last week I got the chance to take my 2 girls and meet up with a few family members in the Outer Banks. For people like me, it was on the coast somewhere in North Carolina. We had loads of fun. My sister rented this huge house and we all just crashed her vacation, so thanks Jen, but mostly thanks Chris (her husband, who I am sure could have done with a vacation alone).

This is all of us a a famous lighthouse. I was there and I am still not exactly sure why it is so famous, but it is, so we took a picture in front of the sign near it.

The house was right off the beach, so that is naturally where we spent most of our time. Here Ali and Kat are making sand birthday cakes.

We got to fly some kites. This is my niece Madeline flying a kite. If you look very closely you can see the small kite very far away.

Ty conquered the kite, but he had to use all his muscle, because it was very windy.

Ali did NOT want to fly it at all... she is great at pouting.

The part of the trip I was most worried about was the flight. Uncle Nick got on the same flight as us with his son Philippi. That made the trip wonderful for Ali.

Kat had no problem on any of the flights. I brought the car seat and she slept almost all the way there and back. But if you look closely you can also see that I brought the binky back for the trip. I am paying for it now, but it was a lifesaver on the flight.

Ali also started gymnastics. Well she started a few months ago, but I finally remembered to bring the camera (now that it is broken I remember...go figure)

Big jump! That jump rope is literally 3 inches off the ground.

Balance beam! Go Ali! She loves this class. The teachers don't push too much, and Ali has so much fun the whole time. They have to be 3 to get in the class, so Kat is always on the sidelines mimicking what they are doing in the class. She will be ready when it is her turn.

I know that this post is already way too long, but I have to add this one in. Gaby and Paul took a little trip away and I got to watch Dez. He got sick the next day. Maybe because he missed them so much. For those who know Dez, they know he is ALWAYS moving, so to see him all cuddled up on the couch and lethargic was so sad. Poor boy, but he will be running this house and his again by tomorrow.

Scholastic achiever!

When I was younger I loved school. I loved that there were loads of new boys to kiss each year, and I loved recess, and I loved to do math and English. I loved to have TV time once a week where we watched "Reading Rainbow." But one of the things that I loved more than most people would think is reasonable is the scholastic book catalog. My sister, Adele, and I would pore over each catalog once it came out, and then we would beg (thinking back my mom was probably really annoyed by the begging) to be able to get the book that we wanted. She would usually only order about one for each of us, but I LOVED it. For some reason it was an even better place to get books than a book store, perhaps because of all the pictures.
When Ali started school, I knew that she would like it. She had a bit of a shaky start because most kids in her class were together last year. But of course, she made a few friends and now she loves school. One thing I hadn't counted on was the Scholastic catalog. When we got it, I didn't even let my girls read over it before I had. I love that thing. Even now that I am way too old I still love that catalog, and it brings back such good memories of all the wonderful books I got to read as a child. I am such a nerd...

Here is our first order.

PS I dyed my hair black, what do you think?