Enjoying the Ocean

This past weekend we drove down to Wilmington, NC to enjoy the beach and an aquarium. Cousins Gabby and Madeline have been visiting the past 2 weeks. Katrina wanted to go down to let them see and enjoy the beach. So, with 13 kids we headed out on an adventure. Joey helped us drive the way there and Matt helped us drive back home. Staying Friday night allowed us to see the aquarium and go to the beach a couple of times. I enjoyed hanging out on the beach relaxing under the umbrella. It was a little stressful keeping track of all the kids. Blake did really well sleeping under the umbrella in a little portable bassinet. Julia had fun playing with Sofia and her toy mermaid in a little pail of water. Brayden did a lot of hole digging and playing in the ocean with Santiago. Kylee did great with Paloma riding waves in on a boogie board and inter tube. Amazingly the only incident that happened was Gabby getting stung by a jellyfish. We made it back home Saturday night with all the kids we left with.

Durham Bulls baseball

Each summer the Duke Eye Center has a night out to a Durham Bulls baseball game at the beginning of the academic year for everyone to get to know each other.  They reserve a large party section, provide food, and invite all the families.  We had a great time.

Ricardo Santaella and Brad Feldman were my cornea co-fellows, both of them great guys.

Seeping Booty

Independent 2year old. She wants to do everything herself. She doesn't like to wear clothes at home, she only likes to wear pink tutu she calls Seeping Booty and her Cinderella dress. She has her favorite friends kitty cat and Randy. Kitty cat is currently the favorite. Kitty cat likes to lick people. When she licks Julia she laughs and laughs and says, "Mommy Kitty cat licking me." She takes after Kylee and loves mermaids and princesses.

Swimming in the Summer

With only a month of break between the school years the time went quickly. Having the YMCA conveniently across the street helped us spend most of our time at the pool. The first 2 full weeks Kylee and Brayden spent their mornings taking swimming lessons. I was happy to see that they both improved and now feel more confident in the water. We also spent several afternoons at the pool playing with their cousins. It is too bad that the fun had to end so quickly.

Camping

After a three year break from family camping, we spent three days and three nights of our July 4th weekend camping at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. Matt has been anxious to go camping with the family again ever since our summer camping spree in Maine. We shared a group campsite with Katrina and Joey Gaspar de Alba and Melissa and Justin Crane and their families. With a combined total of 13 children there was not a dull moment. We arrived at the campsite just after dark on Thursday evening. The Gaspar de Albas and Cranes had arrived earlier and set up camp.

Friday morning we spent some time putting up extra tarps, which ended up being worth while with the intermittent showers the rest of the weekend. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and getting dirty. Our group campsite was conveniently across the road from a field with a swing set and trees to climb. The kids enjoyed exploring, going on hikes, roasting marshmallows, and sitting by the fire. They celebrated the 4th of July with glow sticks and s'mores.

Brayden didn't appreciate all the spiders. His favorite part was playing in and watching the waterfall. He was trying to keep up with his cousins Mario and Jose climbing the rocks around the waterfall and slid down a rock and hit his mouth and got a pretty nasty fat lip. Kylee's favorite part was the last hike with Justin and Melissa when she got to hold a centipede and see salamanders. She is a nature lover and is fascinated by living creatures that might disgust other girls her age. Julia enjoyed pushing Denali's toy stroller around the campsite and sitting in her pretty pink camp chair. Blake did great for a two month old. He took some serious naps in his netted bassinet and seemed to know and enjoy that he was out of doors.

Sunday afternoon, we finished up the trip with the kids loaded in the cars and the car toppers strapped on, spending a frustrating hour and a half thinking we were stranded with transmission trouble before figuring out that one of the kids had pushed the Suburban four wheel drive into neutral. I guess that helped all of us appreciate being able to get home a little more.

Funny quotes from the camp out:
7-3-08 - On the way to the camp out the kids were watching movies on our portable DVD player in the car. Julia was pulling on the cords and I told her to stop. She started to cry because she had gotten in trouble. I tried to distract her and told her to watch the movie. She stopped crying and said, "NO, I crying." Then she proceeded to continue crying.

7-4-08 - After lunch Brayden was trying to throw something away in the trash. Somebody had moved the trash bag and hung it up on a pole. When Brayden noticed the trash bag gone he got really concerned. He said, "There is something really wrong. Somebody stole our trash."

First day of school

Kind of crazy that it is the middle of the summer and it was Kylee and Brayden's first day of school July 7th. They started in a new year round school. I feel bad they have to go to school when it is so hot outside, but I am also excited to try to get a routine down with Julia and Blake. Brayden was nervous to start Kindergarten and Kylee was excited to go and see what it was like. When I picked them up the first thing Brayden said was, "Can I eat something I am so hungry?" I had noticed earlier in the day that it was pretty quiet at home without Brayden constantly asking to eat. Brayden said he liked every single thing about his first day of school and that it was too much fun. Kylee said her teacher was nice but her art teacher was really nice. She also enjoyed her first day.