Link promoted for the first time in his karate class this morning and I was very proud of him. He was quite proud of himself, too, and decided that the karate uniform that he once scorned was cool enough, now, to be worn all day long…even to the dentist. I was happy to oblige. After all, he did have a new yellow belt to show off. Oh, and that board that he is holding was smashed in two by some serious Chuck Norris foot action.
The day continued on a good note afterwards when all 3 of the children had their dental check ups and not one cavity among them. The dentist couldn’t get over how well Loolie cooperated for her ripe young age and, honestly, neither could I. She spent the whole morning telling me how “she didn’t love the dentist” with a little pout on her face. I just knew she was going to let that dentist have it but she didn’t and even came away telling me that it was fun.
So there are a lot of pix from the month of October that I haven’t gotten around to posting yet mainly because of the sheer volume of them. Takes a lot of time to go through and get them ready to post and with October being a month of photo opps they sure do pile up. We had my sister’s wedding, group birthday party for Loolie, Link, Cousin G and Cousin HA in Alabama, Pop’s birthday, Loolie’s party here, Halloween and then Link’s party here…whew! On top of that, I’m having difficulties with Wordpress right now and can’t seem to upload any photos. So, if you want to take a look at them go here. This is over there, too, but I’m going to post it here as well. It’s Sister’s wedding video…enjoy (we all did…especially when she dropped his ring down into the creek below!)…
Dad had a coupon for a dinner at Fiddlin’ Pig, a barbecue and bluegrass restaurant, so we loaded up the minivan and headed on over. The food was good and it was fun to listen to the live bluegrass playing right along with it. We were seated right next to the dance floor where a brother and sister were having fun dancing around on it while we ate. They had Loolie enthralled and I could tell that she wanted to be right out there, too. So when I finally asked her if she wanted to get out and dance on the dance floor, it was no surprise to me that she jumped at the chance and went right on over. At first, she stood on the edge and just tapped her foot, then she got the whole leg into it and before we knew it she was dancin’ away! Although she looks a little put off by the young gentleman in the video who was trying to dance with her she did eventually warm up to him and the two of them held hands and danced all over the place. I wish we would have gotten that on video, too. The video we do have is short and grainy since it was taken on my phone, but you get the idea.
So, Meem…you’ll be happy to know that when she had the chance to sit it out or dance…she danced.
Well, I have finally gone through all the gazillions of pictures from the beach and whittled them down to just 50 something! I still can’t figure out how to make a gallery though and put the pictures in order so I apologize for the randomness of them all. Hopefully it isn’t too confusing. There are video clips in separate posts under the photos. Thanks to my friend, Jennifer, who has now introduced me to a MUCH easier way to post videos (and she doesn’t even know it…got the idea from her blog). Bye Bye You Tube!
We had such a wonderful time at the Outer Banks. The weather was perfect despite Tropical Storm Hanna, who moved through very quickly and uneventfully and only managed to foil our plans to spend Saturday at the Asheboro Zoo. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it forced us into plan B for an activity to break up the long 10 hour drive to Cape Hatteras and we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh instead. We love the zoo, but since we have already been there before it was nice to experience something new. We spent that evening with Great-Grandaddy and Aunt Karen before staying in a hotel in Rocky Mount. It was so precious watching Loolie interact with her Great-Grandaddy and Aunt Karen fed us a fabulous meal so our Saturday was a great beginning to the week to follow. Sunday morning we awoke to blue skies and had a smooth, peaceful trip driving on over to the coast where we found our beloved beach rental just the way we remembered it and the ocean just as magnificent as it always is!
Is he a racoon? The kids loved the costumes!
Link’s attempt at attracting the gulls
The kids enjoyed watching this big guy
Butterfly costume at the Sciences Museum in Raleigh
Dad and Lucky getting right on in
Here’s what the big boys did all week
Yes, fish were caught!!! Yea!!!
Mom got a good scolding from Loolie over standing in the street.
Look how small Loolie looks!
In front of the Bodie Island Lighthouse
Loolie’s first ride on a boat
Loolie’s first moments on the beach
Loolie liked to help Grandaddy walk…so precious
Link getting smooshed by the big frog!
Just before climbing to the top
What the inside of the Ocracoke Lighthouse looks like
Loolie turned out to be an excellent kite flyer!
Pop giving kite flying lessons
The view of the lightkeepers house from the top of the lighthouse
On the ferry to Ocracoke Island
Looking at the model of the Elizabeth II on Roanoke Island
Link at the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Looking at the alligators at the Aquarium
Checking out the wild ponies on Ocracoke Island
Link worked hard that morning to feed some gulls
Buried in the sand
Loolie met her Great-Grandaddy for the first time
It’s always fun to bury your feet
Meem and the kids building sand castles
Loolie as a mermaid
Mom and Link at Bodie Lighthouse
The beautiful Ocracoke Lighthouse
Loolie walking up the Ocracoke Lighthouse
Our first time inside Ocracoke Lighthouse
One of the wild ponies on Ocracoke Island
Lucky at Jockey’s Ridge
Link as an octopus
Climbing the largest sand dune on the Atlantic coastline (I think)
Why we can’t go back to the Wright Brothers Museum!
Playing at the Science Museum
Link aka Blackbeard the Pirate
Taking it all in
Nothing like running from the waves!
Link had to run to it. He loved the lighthouses!
Link’s masterpiece
This guy became Link and Loolie’s favorite creature
I had to catch Loolie at the Museum of Natural Sciences while she was checking out these sculptures. Her little mind was working overtime trying to figure out why these people were so still. It was adorable.
On Saturday we took the kids to the Nature Center for the afternoon. We were lucky enough that they still had their butterfly exhibit going and that is our favorite spot to go. When you go inside the screened in habitat you get a squirt of sugar water on your hand so that you can attract the little creatures and hopefully get a chance to hold one. It took some patience but it was finally achieved by all except poor Loolie. She got close, though.
The kids also really like the wolf exhibits. We got a really good look at this gray wolf since he was lounging right by the fence. They have a large habitat so most of the time they are far off when we try to see them so this was a special treat.
There are peacocks that roam freely around the Center and every once in a while when we go we get a chance to see them open up their tail feathers. They didn’t do it this time but I couldn’t believe how close the bird was letting Link and Loolie get to him. It was making me very nervous!
Link promoted for the first time in his karate class this morning and I was very proud of him. He was quite proud of himself, too, and decided that the karate uniform that he once scorned was cool enough, now, to be worn all day long…even to the dentist. I was happy to oblige. After all, he did have a new yellow belt to show off. Oh, and that board that he is holding was smashed in two by some serious Chuck Norris foot action.
